by | May 30, 2012 8:00 am | Comments (26)
The ghosts of budget deliberations past — hours-long wrangling over surprise last-minute maneuvers, split votes, angry taxpayers massing with anti-government placards — vanished from City Hall as lawmakers unanimously approved close to $500 million in new spending in less than half the time of a “Saturday Night Live” episode.
Continue reading ‘In 40 Minutes, $486.4M City Budget Passes’
by | May 18, 2012 8:21 am | Comments (25)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Aldermen Elicker & Hausladen vote for bigger cuts to the budget, without support from colleagues.
No to new parking fees at Lighthouse Point Park. Yes to Helene Grant School construction and New Haven Academy renovation. No to a new police communications manager and a new home for Hyde School. Yes to a study of the city’s school “configuration.” No to a property revaluation in two years.
by | May 4, 2012 8:18 am | Comments (30)
Helene Grant, New Haven Academy and Hyde schools may not get new or renovated homes if a new budget-trimming proposal becomes law.
by | May 1, 2012 7:47 am | Comments (23)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Esserman: “I have no friends and don’t want any. I don’t dance.”
In order to make community policing successful, the department needs to have a presence on Facebook and Twitter, Chief Dean Esserman told aldermen Monday night. Lawmakers didn’t click the “Like” button.
Continue reading ‘Chief Wants Cops On Facebook; Aldermen Balk’
by | Apr 26, 2012 8:08 am | Comments (1)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
The Finance Committtee takes it in.
Say you’ve got a street light out on your block. You’re not sure what number to call to report it, so you just call the mayor’s office, expecting to be transferred to voicemail limbo. Instead, the person answering the phone immediately punches your problem into a website that automatically issues a work order. What’s more, she calls you back a day later, when the site tells her your light has been fixed.
by | Apr 20, 2012 8:04 am | Comments (9)
Thomas MacMIllan Photo
Cynthia Teixeira is not having it.
A new $41-million school attached to Hillhouse will bury the neighborhood in traffic and might lead to “gang rivalries,” Beaver Hills neighbors warned Thursday night.
by | Apr 16, 2012 4:04 pm | Comments (14)
In a new web video, East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker breaks down the mayor’s proposed $486.8 million budget and says the city is going about it all wrong.
by | Apr 12, 2012 3:07 pm | Comments (51)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Megna: “Concerned.”
Time’s running out on New Haven’s proposal to cushion East Rock homeowners from tax sticker shock, as hometown legislators hold out for key changes and the mayor accuses them of “myopia.”
by | Apr 4, 2012 8:18 am | Comments (8)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Acting City Controller O’Neill at Tuesday night’s hearing.
It will suddenly cost $118,000 more to lease a warehouse to store evicted people’s stuff this coming year. That number — and a few others, including the cost of outside city lawyers — prompted a broader fiscal debate about how New Haven spends its money as lawmakers scrutinized the fine print of a proposed $486.8 million city government budget.
by | Mar 29, 2012 2:11 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Jorge Perez wanted to know why the fire department just filled a position that, according to the proposed budget he was looking at, would soon be eliminated.
The man making a presentation to his committee, New Haven government’s budget director, didn’t know the answer. Then Perez’s phone rang.
by | Mar 8, 2012 9:35 am | Comments (5)
Caitlin Emma Photo
Mayor John DeStefano heard tales of woe Wednesday night from East Rockers like Karen, who said she and her retired fiance don’t have the money in these hard times to pay a big new tax bill.
“I’m heartsick about it,” said Karen, who declined to give her last name. “I feel like we’re being pushed out of our homes.”
by | Mar 7, 2012 12:04 pm | Comments (5)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Rafael Rivas and Lonnie Shepard load recyclables on Marion Street.
Trash is down. Recycling is up. And the city is reaping the benefits — to the tune of $2 million.
by | Mar 2, 2012 12:16 pm | Comments (5)
Rob Smuts’s title kept falling down. When he figured out why, he realized it meant good news for the taxpayer.
by | Mar 1, 2012 4:10 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Buoyed by grand list growth, Mayor John DeStefano proposed a $486.8 million new city budget that he said would add cops and firefighters while cutting most homeowners’ taxes — a more optimistic scenario than last year’s unveiling.
by | Dec 29, 2011 9:00 am | Comments (2)
From the police department to the schools to neighborhood voting precincts, New Haveners made new demands on entrenched power this past year, and now face the challenge of translating protest into palpable change in 2012.
Continue reading ‘2011: The Year Grassroots Challenged Power’
by | Aug 10, 2011 8:21 am | Comments (75)
Allan Appel Photo
It’s official: Downtown visitors will need to feed meters like this one for an extra five hours, thanks to a vote that went down to the wire at the city’s traffic commission.
by | Aug 1, 2011 8:14 am | Comments (17)
Last August’s AFSCME message.
The first aftershocks of the labor debacle in Hartford may have been felt in New Haven, where City Hall and negotiators for school custodians have stopped fighting and managed to reach a long-elusive contract agreement that includes a Solomonic solution to an outsourcing dispute.
by | Jul 20, 2011 3:44 pm | Comments (16)
Paul Bass Photo
A little-known government committee reviews bids.
In New Haven, some people heard alarm bells. In the bond market, underwriters heard opportunity knocking — so six of them lined up for the chance to buy bonds from the city.
by | Jul 11, 2011 7:55 am | Comments (6)
Darryl Brackeen, Jr. screwed a camcorder onto a tripod, set it up in his front yard, and unveiled his latest campaign proposal — handing out numerical grades to city workers and departments.
by | Jul 6, 2011 8:03 am | Comments (19)
Melissa Bailey Photo
City government workers like Shirley Dixon may still be typing into their HP computers if a mayoral candidate wins office, but they may have to start “renting” the machines.
by | Jun 29, 2011 5:54 pm | Comments (15)
Christine Stuart Photo
Malloy & the mayors after union vote, before the city whack.
After promising to shield New Haven in round one of his last-minute budget cuts, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy now proposes to send New Haven a new $5 million-plus hit — and a move to stop him has begun.
by | Jun 7, 2011 7:36 am | Comments (10)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Alderman Shah.
A year ago, aldermen passed a budget with a soft center by the name of Innovation Based Budgeting (IBB), a nebulous multimillion-dollar revenue and savings plan that never lived up to its promise. On Monday evening, aldermen agreed to sell a downtown parking lot to fill the hole left by IBB.
by | Jun 1, 2011 7:51 am | Comments (7)
Ward.
A $3 million plan to lease a downtown parking lot is a de facto sale of the property to Yale. So why not just sell it? One reason: The city isn’t sure it owns it.
Continue reading ‘Minus Title, Broadway Lot “Lease” Speeds Ahead’
by | May 23, 2011 6:43 pm | Comments (12)
Alderman Shah, chair of the Finance Committee, presented the budget.
With a handful of dissents, the Board of Aldermen voted Monday night to approve a $475 million budget for the coming fiscal year.
by | May 20, 2011 7:33 am | Comments (94)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Ken McGill shows Alice how to use a meter.
To fill a budget hole, the city wants people to start feeding parking meters until midnight — prompting protests from downtown restaurateurs who feed customers until midnight.