by | Nov 23, 2022 9:30 am | Comments (16)
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So long, fares? Alders endorse permanent holiday.
A week before the state legislature gathers to vote on whether CT Transit buses should remain fare-free through April, the Board of Alders formally called on state government to make public buses free to ride forever.
Continue reading ‘Alders To State: Make Bus Rides Free Forever’
by and | Nov 22, 2022 9:34 am | Comments (16)
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The approved new Wooster Square monument.
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The Wooster Square Monument Committee at the site of the past and future statues on Tuesday.
(Updated) The group charged with coming up with an Italian heritage-celebrating sculpture to replace the long-gone Christopher Columbus statue in Wooster Square Park gathered at the site of the past and future monuments on Tuesday to celebrate a major milestone for the project — and to kick off a $300,000 fundraising drive.
by | Nov 21, 2022 1:50 pm | Comments (2)
Assistant Chief McCarthy shares safety tips on lithium-ion batteries.
Check lithium-ion-powered vehicles and devices regularly for damage. And make sure to use manufacturer-sanctioned chargers, rather than potentially unsafe off-brand replacements.
Top fire department officials delivered that advice during a City Hall workshop focused on how to prevent explosions of increasingly ever-present lithium-ion batteries, which power everything from electric cars and bikes and scooters to laptops and smartphones.
Continue reading ‘Explosion Wary, Alders & Fire Officials Focus On Electric Vehicle Safety Tips’
by and | Nov 21, 2022 11:00 am | Comments (0)
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Fair Haven Health CEO Suzanne Lagarde and attorney Meaghan Miles at Thursday's Board of Alders Legislation Committee meeting.
Fair Haven Community Health Care (FHCHC) is on its way to getting new city approvals to bring more cars to its grounds — as the nonprofit advances towards executing a broader vision of expanding its community healthcare campus on Grand Avenue.
Continue reading ‘Clinic's Parking, Expansion Plan Advances’
by | Nov 14, 2022 12:41 pm | Comments (6)
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The soon-to-be-resurrected Hill Cooperative Youth Services Building.
Plans to bring a former Trowbridge Square community center back to life took a big step forward as the Board of Alders formally accepted $1.5 million in state funds to renovate and reopen the Hill Cooperative Youth Services community center, formerly known as the Barbell.
Continue reading ‘Alders Accept State $ For Barbell Revival’
by | Nov 14, 2022 8:49 am | Comments (12)
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Blake Field: State-funded upgrades en route.
Parks and fields across the city — as well as a flood-prone westside road — are a big step closer to receiving long-awaited improvements, now that the Board of Alders has formally accepted state money earmarked to make those upgrades a reality.
by | Nov 11, 2022 3:00 pm | Comments (14)
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360 State St.
The city has received a one-time windfall of $2.7 million in deferred building permit fees from the now-former owner of 360 State St., thereby closing out two parallel developer deals that date back more than a decade.
by | Nov 11, 2022 8:56 am | Comments (3)
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Officer Chad Curry at Thursday's Board of Alders meeting.
After one bullet grazed his ear and another lodged in his shoulder, Officer Chad Curry got up to chase the man who fired at him.
The Board of Alders honored that perseverance and service in an official citation Thursday evening, just over a month after a shooting injured the police officer.
by | Nov 10, 2022 2:01 pm | Comments (13)
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Ready for pandemic-relief-funded repairs?
The Elicker Administration is looking to spend $4.5 million in federal pandemic-relief aid on new fire trucks, new police department SUVs, and comprehensive repairs to the city’s aging fire hydrants.
by | Nov 9, 2022 3:07 pm | Comments (18)
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A contingent of Wilbur Cross community members, including Board of Ed Student Representative Dave John Cruz-Bustamante, art teacher Melody Gallagher, and soccer captain Matteo Festa.
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A lightly muddy Blake Field on Friday afternoon.
Broken ankles. Used syringes. Mud-induced match cancellations. Low morale.
Those were just a few of the high school sports-related obstacles that Wilbur Cross coaches and students spoke out about having to surmount time and again, as they successfully urged alders to move forward with long-awaited upgrades to the East Rock Athletic Complex.
Continue reading ‘Student-Athlete Pleas Power Field Repairs’
by | Nov 9, 2022 2:07 pm | Comments (2)
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A seven-year plan to convert an empty Elm Street bridal shop into seven stories’ worth of new apartments took another step forward after the building’s new owners won a key city approval.
by | Nov 8, 2022 3:51 pm | Comments (1)
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Among the 400 same-day registrants (as of 4 p.m.) lining up to vote at City Hall.
Yale School of Management student Brittany Swanson waited too long to send in an absentee ballot to vote against celebrity physician and Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania this election.
So she instead found herself at City Hall, registering to become a New Haven voter to throw some last minute support towards Connecticut’s Democratic ticket.
Continue reading ‘Pennsylvania Transplant Votes Blue Thru EDR’
by | Nov 8, 2022 9:53 am | Comments (3)
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The proposed new Wooster Square Park monument.
A laborious and sometimes controversial process to replace the long-gone Christopher Columbus statue in Wooster Square Park took a big step closer to completion — as alders favorably recommended a new Italian-American-heritage-celebrating monument, which could cost $250,000 in privately raised funds to build.
Continue reading ‘Alders Endorse Columbus Statue Replacement’
by | Nov 7, 2022 4:40 pm | Comments (9)
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City librarians Samantha Bailey, Diane Brown, and Jennifer Gargiulo: Libraries are "stretched," can't take on Sunday hours at this time.
Over a dozen city librarians rallied at City Hall to send a message to the mayor that they need better pay — and that Sunday hours just won’t do, especially given the city’s current staffing crunch.
by | Nov 7, 2022 9:00 am | Comments (21)
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Wanda Perez: Buses are a lifeline to doctors, food pantries, family.
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Fares, be gone!
As she juggles the cost of everything from utilities to laundry, the past seven months of fare-free buses have given Wanda Perez one less expense to worry about.
“That helps me go to my doctors’ appointments, to see my loved ones,” Perez told a room full of bus riders, transit advocates, and alders — as they collectively pushed for making the state’s temporary bus fare holiday permanent.
by and | Nov 4, 2022 4:01 pm | Comments (34)
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Attorney Ben Crump (center) leads Friday's vigil.
Randy Cox’s family and legal team stepped up the pressure on the Elicker Administration to “act now” and do their part to help the paralyzed 36-year-old New Havener — a month after his attorneys filed a $100 million civil lawsuit against the city, and as the highest payout the city’s insurance companies could cover appears to be $30 million.
Continue reading ‘Cox's Lawyers Slam City For "Justice Delayed"’
by | Oct 24, 2022 10:38 am | Comments (19)
144 more apts., coming soon to Blake?
Dixwell Alder Morrison: Do better, developers.
Two plans that promise to bring a total of 256 new apartments to Westville and Long Wharf moved ahead — as alders pressed for more affordable units and questioned whether the city’s recently adopted “inclusionary” housing law goes far enough.
by | Oct 19, 2022 4:09 pm | Comments (4)
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Nemerson: "I don't take it personally."
The Board of Alders put the kibosh on Matthew Nemerson’s potential return to City Hall by rejecting the former economic development administrator’s bid to breathe new life into the city’s redevelopment agency.
by | Oct 19, 2022 12:09 pm | Comments (0)
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Tenants' union members and advocates at City Hall in November 2021.
Local tenants’ unions now have an official path forward for being recognized by the city in order to participate in housing-related investigations, thanks to the Fair Rent Commission’s adoption of a new set of union-related rules.
by | Oct 18, 2022 10:01 am | Comments (2)
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173 Ivy St.: Now OK'd to be bought, or taken.
The Board of Alders signed off on the city’s plans to acquire two tax-delinquent vacant Newhallville lots for $150,000 — or by eminent domain, if necessary — in a bid to create more parking for the future adult education site.
Continue reading ‘Alders OK Lot Purchases, With Eminent Domain Option’
by | Oct 17, 2022 8:57 pm | Comments (0)
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Alder Antunes (right) with Officer Hinton's wife Genoveva and kids.
Mourners at Monday's Board of Alders meeting.
Several dozen city cops, family members, and friends turned out to City Hall to honor the life of New Haven Police Officer Michael Hinton one day after the eight-year veteran died of cancer.
by | Oct 14, 2022 4:27 pm | Comments (17)
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Vacant 44 Brewster St. lot: Will city acquisition be "friendly"?
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Poitier: Eminent domain "is not going to kick it."
The Elicker Administration is looking to pay a Hamden-based landlord $150,000 to acquire two vacant and overgrown Newhallville lots — both of which are currently wrapped up in a tax foreclosure lawsuit, and both of which could be taken by eminent domain if the city and the property owner can’t reach a deal.
by | Oct 13, 2022 1:43 pm | Comments (13)
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Claudia Herrera at the 2019 Democratic Town Convention.
Fair Haven community activist, Democratic ward co-chair and professional dental assistant Claudia Herrera will be the next alder for Ward 9 — not because she especially wants the job, but because she couldn’t bear the thought of an “empty chair” representing her neighborhood.
by | Oct 11, 2022 3:44 pm | Comments (2)
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Blank absentee ballots recently arrived at 200 Orange.
One of the two closed absentee ballot kiosks on Orange St.
Hundreds of absentee ballots are now ready to be sent out to New Haveners looking to vote remotely in November’s election … while two of the city’s four absentee ballot drop boxes are currently closed, one because of a problem with its lock, the other because it was hit by a truck.
Update: As of Wednesday, both of the previously busted drop boxes had been fixed. Click here to read about those repairs.
Continue reading ‘Absentee Ballots Ready; 2 Of 4 Drop Boxes Closed’
by | Oct 11, 2022 9:25 am | Comments (17)
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Vacant Grant St. factory building: Future home of 140 apts?
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McCollum (right): Looking to "reposition" derelict industrial property.
The city plans to sell the publicly owned portion of a vacant Grant Street factory building to a local developer who is looking to build up to 140 new apartments, mostly for renters over the age of 50.