by | Dec 5, 2023 8:00 am | Comments (0)
The 2023 hurricane season is underway and New Haven residents should plan for the possibility of flooding, which may lead to impassable roads, power outages, and property damage. To learn how to prepare for a flood, visit here.
Continue reading ‘Resilient New Haven: Continuously Improving Hurricane and Flood Preparedness’
by | Nov 30, 2023 8:35 am | Comments (18)
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Asst. Chief Bialecki at July swearing-in ceremony.
Assistant Fire Chief Justin Bialecki is stepping down from his city job at the end of the week, after nearly two decades with the New Haven Fire Department, including four months in the second-to-top role.
by | Nov 22, 2023 8:32 am | Comments (4)
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Alder Troy Streater, who petitioned for Geneva Pollock Way, on the block between the two renamed corners.
Geneva Pollock and Pearlie Napoleon were friends who both dedicated their lives to their students and their Newhallville community. So it’s fitting that the street corners soon to be named after them will be located just one block apart.
by | Nov 20, 2023 9:10 am | Comments (21)
Church to Elicker: "Turn on the heat"
Sixty tiny-home supporters at a church in North Branford lifted their voices in song. It was about electricity and housing affordability, and aimed at New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker.
Continue reading ‘Suburban Fundraisers Sing For Hill's Tiny Homes’
by | Nov 16, 2023 12:54 pm | Comments (7)
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Friends Jean-Claude Harrison and Philip Paris after testifying before the Health and Human Services committee.
A few days after obtaining stable housing, Philip Paris approached a committee of alders with a message he’s still trying to fully believe: that regardless of the fact that his addiction played a role in his homelessness, “my need is just as valid as anyone else’s.”
Continue reading ‘Homelessness Update Uncovers Mental Health Toll’
by | Nov 13, 2023 11:38 am | Comments (8)
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Eliza Halsey at Thursday's Board of Alders meeting.
The Board of Alders officially approved local charter school founder Eliza Halsey to lead the city’s social services department — while passing new mechanisms to enforce elevator maintenance and salons’ health code compliance.
Continue reading ‘Halsey Confirmed As New Social Services Chief’
by | Nov 9, 2023 9:31 am | Comments (41)
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Church near Elm: Two-way street approacheth?
The city’s transit department is moving ahead with plans to convert a handful of downtown streets from one-way to two-way — and is seeking public input before deciding how many parking spots should remain on George Street, where protected bike lanes should go on York, and whether or not to place a Bus Rapid Transit lane in the middle of Church Street.
Continue reading ‘Wanted: Public Input On 2-Way Street Conversion Proposals’
by | Nov 7, 2023 9:42 am | Comments (13)
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Mayor Elicker (right) and one side of the contested flyer.
New Haven’s public financing program board members delayed acting on a complaint filed against the mayor’s reelection campaign until after the election, leaving up in the air just how directly taxpayer-funded local candidates can urge voters to support ballot measures like this year’s charter revision.
by | Oct 27, 2023 9:52 am | Comments (10)
URI Director Colleen Murphy-Dunning and Mayor Justin Elicker.
The Yale-affiliated environmental nonprofit that already oversees city tree plantings has been tapped to help figure out the future structure of New Haven’s parks department.
Continue reading ‘URI Picked To Consult On Parks Department Redo’
by | Oct 24, 2023 1:32 pm | Comments (2)
Yash Roy photo
Community Services Administrator nominee Eliza Halsey, at City Hall Monday.
The founder and long-time executive director of a Blake Street public charter school is one big step closer to becoming the city’s next head of social services, after winning a vote of support from a key aldermanic committee.
Continue reading ‘New Social Services Chief's Appointment Advances’
by | Oct 23, 2023 12:51 pm | Comments (5)
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A design of 6 new senior apartments coming to Ferry Street.
Six new one-bedroom apartments for seniors are coming to two vacant lots on Ferry Street, in a developer’s bid to help elderly residents get out of nursing homes and back into neighborhoods.
by | Oct 20, 2023 12:19 pm | Comments (51)
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David Belowsky: Vote no to charter revisions — and let him live out his life on the city's Board of Park Commissioners.
Lawn signs opposing changes to the city’s charter have started popping up around town — after the chair of New Haven’s parks commission printed 25 “Vote No” placards in a bid to preserve his lifetime seat on the volunteer body that oversees public greenspaces.
That man, David Belowsky, isn’t the only New Havener paying attention to this year’s general election ballot question.
Continue reading ‘Parks Lifer Campaigns Against New Charter’
by | Oct 19, 2023 11:57 am | Comments (10)
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45 Church St.: Get ready to club.
Those looking to boogie in a vacant former bank may soon be in luck — now that a new nightclub called “The Vault” has received its final needed city approval to open in the marble-columned confines of the ex-Connecticut Savings Bank on Church Street.
by | Oct 18, 2023 2:00 pm | Comments (1)
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Majority Leader Furlow (center) at Monday's Board of Alders meeting.
The city’s top employees are set to make more money and hopefully see more job competition — now that the Board of Alders has approved salary range bumps and automatic cost of living adjustments for department heads, coordinators, and managers not covered by public-sector unions.
by | Oct 17, 2023 9:04 am | Comments (23)
Alder Marchand: "This facility will support people on their journeys towards being housed.”
The Board of Alders signed off on a new $3.5 million contract with a local nonprofit that will oversee the crisis bed program at a Foxon Boulevard hotel that is slated to be converted into a homeless shelter before winter hits.
Continue reading ‘$3.5M Hotel-To-Homeless Shelter Contract OK'd’
by | Oct 16, 2023 9:58 am | Comments (16)
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A "smart" MK5 meter and a "dumb" MK3 meter on display, as described by city traffic deputy Bijan Notghi.
Drivers may soon uncover new routes to pay for parking in New Haven — as the city looks into buying 1,400 new meters and 50 new kiosks with capacity to accept card taps and Apple Pay rather than just inserted credit cards and coins.
by | Oct 12, 2023 1:10 pm | Comments (25)
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City Director of Community Resilience Carlos Sosa-Lombardo (right), with Continuum's John Labieniec: “Our goal is to help as many unhoused community members as possible in advance of a harsh winter season.”
Case management, healthcare, meals and 112 crisis beds took a step closer to replacing the typical hotel rooms of the Days Inn on Foxon Boulevard — as alders moved ahead a proposed $3.5 million contract with a local homelessness services nonprofit that will oversee the conversion of that hotel into non-congregate shelter space.
Continue reading ‘Hotel-To-Homeless Shelter Contract Advances’
by | Oct 12, 2023 8:55 am | Comments (10)
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Fatou braids a client's hair, hopes for more landlord accountability.
A new layer of city regulation is coming to local hair, piercing, tattoo, and nail salons — sparking a debate over the burden of annual inspection fees, and prompting one African hair braider to hope that more leverage against neglectful commercial landlords is on the horizon.
by | Oct 10, 2023 1:54 pm | Comments (12)
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Bella Vista tenant Marie, at a busted elevator last December.
New Haven landlords could soon face stricter penalties for neglecting to fix broken elevators — as part of a city push to make sure disabled tenants aren’t left stranded in their apartments.
Continue reading ‘Going Up! Broken Elevator Crackdown Proposed’
by | Oct 9, 2023 8:55 am | Comments (35)
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Beaver Hills Alder Tom Ficklin (right), with city Environmental Health Director Rafael Ramos: New Haven should "not wait for anyone else and instead be a leader" on a menthol ban.
The city’s health director and a Beaver Hills alder are calling for a citywide ban on menthol cigarettes — while small business owners warned that such a prohibition could drive customers to look to other shops in other towns for not just smoking products, but also bread and milk and gas.
by | Oct 6, 2023 12:26 pm | Comments (29)
Thomas Breen file photo
Outside of Fair Haven School in September, amid school-closing heat.
The school district currently has 12 repair workers to cover 56 buildings — posing perhaps the largest roadblock to keeping schools open amid heat waves.
Continue reading ‘School Maintenance Rx: "We Need More Staff"’
by | Oct 5, 2023 4:29 pm | Comments (30)
Thomas Breen File Photos
City inspector Javier Ortiz at a Vernon Street apartment in April.
Renting out unsafe homes could soon get a lot more expensive for landlords, if a proposed hike in housing code violation fines becomes a reality.
by | Oct 4, 2023 8:29 am | Comments (13)
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City Economic Development Officer Dean Mack: "We're moving away from the municipal option. We are right now focusing on more of a market-driven option."
New Haven is still trying to bridge the digital divide, and has turned to the private market to do the heavy lifting.
by | Oct 3, 2023 12:37 pm | Comments (10)
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Yale's Science Hill, soon to boom with new lab and classroom building.
Yale took three small steps forward in its plans to construct a football stadium-sized — at least in square footage — physical sciences and engineering building on university-owned property known as “Science Hill.”
Continue reading ‘Yale Steps Towards Major Science Development’
by | Oct 3, 2023 9:00 am | Comments (54)
Thomas Breen photos
City Director of Community Resilience Carlos Sosa-Lombardo, with Community Services Administrator Eliza Halsey: This is a "game changer."
Thomas Breen file photo
Quinnipiac Meadows Alder Gerald Antunes: Not the right plan, not the right place.
The Board of Alders overwhelmingly approved the Elicker administration’s plans to spend $6.9 million in mostly federal funds to purchase the 56-room Days Inn hotel on Foxon Boulevard and convert it into a non-congregate homeless shelter.