by | May 2, 2023 1:58 pm | Comments (5)
Lisa Reisman photo
Princesses abounded at a LEAP-hosted Halloween festival last fall at the Q House.
A local youth tutoring and recreation nonprofit won final approval to run the Dixwell Q House community center for at least the next five years.
Continue reading ‘Alders Approve Renewed Q House-LEAP Contract’
by | Apr 27, 2023 4:37 pm | Comments (11)
Contributed photo
Ms. Colon's 2nd grade classroom takes home the John C. Daniels first place March Madness prize.
How does an elementary school more than halve its chronic absenteeism rate, down to 25 percent, in a year?
John C. Daniels School leaders had one answer for City Hall public-education watchdogs: supplement district-wide support services with a series of homeroom attendance contests that get kids to cheer on one another for showing up to class.
Continue reading ‘Attendance Update: More Students Showing Up’
by | Apr 26, 2023 12:25 pm | Comments (3)
Liz Grace photo
486 Middletown Ave., soon to become senior housing?
A sketch of the anticipated seven-unit complex.
A local engineer won city permission to build seven apartments in Quinnipiac Meadows for seniors hoping to spend their final years in their own homes.
by | Apr 24, 2023 2:44 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
On the job at a Chapel Street construction site.
A city plumbing inspector is rising the ranks to become New Haven’s next top building official — as the department he’ll run continues to struggle to hire enough inspectors to meet the demands of the city’s construction boom for sub-suburban pay.
Continue reading ‘New Building Official Tapped As Boom Stretches Budget’
by | Apr 21, 2023 5:24 pm | Comments (4)
Laura Glesby photo
A hundred people attended Thursday's public hearing.
Jobs. Education. Climate change mitigation. Libraries. Housing. Traffic safety.
The Board of Alders Finance Committee heard over 50 last-minute pitches for more funding for these critical needs as they wrap up their review of next year’s city budget.
by and | Apr 21, 2023 3:37 pm | Comments (14)
Laura Glesby Photos
Myra Smith: "Even those who have affordable housing are living in deplorable conditions."
Around a hundred education, climate, library, transit, and housing advocates sat through hours of public testimony on Thursday night.
A resounding call for more affordable housing and better housing code enforcement filled the Board of Alders’ chambers, as roughly 100 community members gathered for a final round of public testimony on next fiscal year’s proposed city budget.
by | Apr 21, 2023 1:13 pm | Comments (15)
Thomas Breen photos
Lifetime parks commission members Carl Babb, David Belowsky ...
... and Hector Torres.
David Belowsky, Carl Babb, and Hector Torres haven’t yet figured out the secret to living forever.
If they do find that key to immortality, they’d likely be able to stay on the parks commission for just as long — even if the city does wind up dropping the board’s longstanding, and mysterious, lifetime appointments.
Continue reading ‘Immortality Loophole Looms For Board Lifers’
by | Apr 21, 2023 8:43 am | Comments (7)
Contributed by LEAP
A LEAP production of the Nutcracker this past winter.
A local youth tutoring and recreation nonprofit took another step closer to remaining in charge of the recently-resurrected Q House community center as alders endorsed a contract that could last 10 more years.
by | Apr 20, 2023 9:16 am | Comments (29)
A rendering of the Roger Road home and proposed detached ADU.
A Westville homeowner got the go-ahead to convert a two-car garage into housing for his aging father — after applying for zoning relief to raise the building’s roof and responding publicly to a neighbor’s concerns about property values and personal privacy.
by | Apr 19, 2023 8:48 am | Comments (0)
Looking for a crash course in how New Haven city government works?
There’s a school for that — Democracy School, that is, which is now accepting applications through Friday for a new 30-student cohort.
Continue reading ‘Democracy School Applications Open Through Friday’
by , and | Apr 18, 2023 2:18 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen Photo
LCI's Javier Ortiz on a recent housing code inspection.
If Mayor Elicker wants to improve public health and safety in New Haven, he must invest in stronger housing code enforcement in this year’s budget and increase tenant oversight of the Livable City Initiative (LCI).
by | Apr 18, 2023 1:47 pm | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby photo
Newhallville Alder Edwards: "Join a community management team. ... Sponsor a clean up ... Spread the word."
The “people have the power” — and alders must work to keep those democratic currents flowing, inside and outside City Hall.
Continue reading ‘Alders' State Of The City Centers People Power’
by and | Apr 14, 2023 1:59 pm | Comments (36)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Mayor Justin Elicker and Police Chief Karl Jacobson Friday.
(Updated) A 12-year veteran city employee turned herself in Friday after the mayor and police chief held a press conference announcing a warrant for her arrest for allegedly falsifying timesheets and stealing over $11,400 in overtime in her most recent role as a Building Department executive admin assistant.
Continue reading ‘City Employee Arrested For Alleged OT Theft’
by | Apr 14, 2023 9:08 am | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen file photo
Librarians Soma Mitra and Phillip Modeen at a November City Hall rally.
The main library at 133 Elm.
Pay the city’s top librarian a higher salary. Pay every library worker a higher salary.
Interim City Librarian Maureen Sullivan made that funding pitch as she detailed the budget asks for one of New Haven’s most cherished and nationally celebrated public services — which, she argued, could do with a little more city fiscal love.
by | Apr 13, 2023 9:13 am | Comments (17)
Thomas Breen file photo
Charter Revision Commissioners: $5K could encourage more New Haveners to run for local legislative office.
Should alders receive their first pay raise in more than three decades — or is a $2,000 annual stipend enough to cover some of the costs of local legislators’ time-consuming and basically volunteer public-service jobs?
by | Apr 10, 2023 3:13 pm | Comments (30)
Laura Glesby Photo
Just over two-thirds of alders attended last Monday's full board meeting. (The missing alders in this photo include some with relatively strong attendance records, like Honda Smith, Sal DeCola, and Eli Sabin.)
Only 24 of the city’s 30 alders on average have attended full Board of Alders meetings this term, raising questions about a spike in local legislative absences.
by | Apr 10, 2023 2:43 pm | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen file photo
Darryl Brackeen, Jr. is stepping down this month from his role as Upper Westville’s alder, becoming the fourth local legislator this term to resign his seat.
by | Apr 10, 2023 9:18 am | Comments (2)
Laura Glesby Photo
Janice Parker: "We do our jobs diligently, and we deserve this raise."
After alders approved a long-anticipated city parks and blue-collar labor union contract, Janice Parker slipped out of the legislative chambers, teary-eyed and grinning. The moment she passed through the door, she burst into a victorious dance.
“It’s about time! Oh God,” she said.
by | Apr 4, 2023 11:14 am | Comments (19)
Pennrose image
A rendering of the proposed Pennrose development.
(Updated) The Elicker administration has submitted a plan to sell Fair Haven’s long-vacant former Strong School property to a developer for $500,000 — with a 20-year tax break — to create 50 affordable apartments.
by | Apr 3, 2023 12:51 pm | Comments (3)
City of New Haven images
New Haven is one step closer to having a quasi-public nonprofit charged with buying, fixing up, and selling blighted properties before megalandlords get there first, now that the Elicker Administration has formally submitted plans for a new city Land Bank.
by | Mar 31, 2023 5:34 pm | Comments (22)
Maya McFadden photo
Supt. Tracey: "I might be leaving here not closing a budget" if full $207M is not approved.
NHPS slide
Top school-district officials pitched alders on sending the Board of Education $207 million next fiscal year — as they made their case for why rising teacher salaries and special education costs warrant $4 million more than what the mayor has proposed.
Continue reading ‘Schools Seek $4M Above Mayor's Budget Rec’
by | Mar 31, 2023 4:18 pm | Comments (25)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Parks: "I wish nothing but success for the next coordinator of the Office of Violence Prevention."
Reuel Parks is stepping down from his role as the city’s first ever violence prevention coordinator roughly three months after taking on the new Elicker Administration job.
Continue reading ‘Violence Prevention Coordinator To Resign After 3 Months On The Job’
by | Mar 31, 2023 12:02 pm | Comments (8)
Laura Glesby photo
Police Chief Karl Jacobson: "Violent crime and crime scenes drive overtime."
NHPD data
Top city cops moved to transfer $4.3 million of unused salary funds to help cover staffing-gap-induced overtime overages — as they also looked to prevent another fiscal hole next year by upping the overtime budget and hiring more detectives, supervisors, and animal control officers.
by | Mar 29, 2023 8:54 am | Comments (11)
Paul Bass Photo
LCI Executive Director Arlevia Samuel at WNHH FM.
After watching New Haven’s neighborhoods evolve from every perspective, Arlevia Samuel is now in charge of adapting the “livability” quest to a new era.
by | Mar 28, 2023 12:22 pm | Comments (11)
Zoom photo
4-year terms, on the table at latest charter-review panel.
Hartford and Middletown recently moved from two-year to four-year terms for their mayors and local legislators. Should New Haven do the same?
The Charter Revision Commission considered that question while hearing from representatives of four other Connecticut towns, all of whom spoke in support of longer mayoral stints in office.
Continue reading ‘If It's Good Enough For Hartford, Middletown ...’