by | Jan 9, 2025 2:12 pm | Comments (8)
Paul Bass Photo
Justin Elicker swearing in Lisa Milone.
A Democratic mayor swore in a Republican election official with calls for bispartisan cooperation as GOP members cheered them on.
by | Jan 8, 2025 4:49 pm | Comments (9)
Paul Bass file photo
Parks Chair Belowsky: No longer term-limited by mortality.
The Board of Alders unanimously voted to uproot the parks commission — along with its lifetime appointees — and compost it into a new board with limited terms.
by | Jan 7, 2025 11:10 am | Comments (5)
Architectural rendering of Dewitt Street redevelopment.
The redevelopment of a former housing cooperative in the Hill will soon net 64 new (mostly) affordable apartments, with another 40 units set to be renovated over the next two years — thanks to a second alder-approved tax break.
by | Jan 6, 2025 4:28 pm | Comments (4)
Justin McCarthy.
The mayor has tapped a former city assistant fire chief to oversee the fire department — as well as police and 911 — as New Haven’s next chief administrative officer.
Continue reading ‘Former Assistant Fire Chief Picked For CAO’
by | Dec 20, 2024 12:06 pm | Comments (7)
What might one day be built at 924 Grand.
A long-in-the-works plan to open a youth homeless shelter in Wooster Square got another jolt of public funding, as the Board of Alders approved spending $500,000 in federal Covid aid to help finance its construction.
by | Dec 19, 2024 12:00 pm | Comments (24)
5 demolished buildings to be repurposed as brick mural, on ground floor of new Yale drama building at Crown & York.
Yale won a key city approval for its plans to construct a new seven-story drama school and Yale Repertory Theater building — at a downtown corner where the university intends to demolish five existing buildings, and then incorporate the brick wreckage into a new mural.
by | Dec 18, 2024 10:38 am | Comments (6)
Nathaniel Rosenberg photo
Public Safety Committee Chair Wingate (standing) at Monday's board meeting.
City police officers will soon have access to overdose-reversing medication, as well as artificial intelligence-written police reports, thanks to two approvals by the Board of Alders.
Continue reading ‘Narcan Pouches, AI Reports Cleared For Cops’
by | Dec 17, 2024 11:37 am | Comments (7)
Nora Grace-Flood file photo
Health Director Bond: RFP error corrected.
More than 20 representatives from nonprofits that help people living with HIV/AIDS sent a letter to the mayor criticizing the city for changing how it handles a federal grant program — and warning the Elicker administration against “dismantling” a system of care they say works just fine.
The Health Department has responded by correcting an error regarding who is eligible to apply for these funds, and by arguing that centralizing oversight with city government is necessary to bring this program into compliance with federal requirements.
Continue reading ‘HIV/AIDS Program Mistake, Change Spark Pushback’
by | Dec 13, 2024 1:12 pm | Comments (26)
Thomas Breen photo
Ex-El Amigo Felix on Whalley: Still the pits.
A 14-block rezoning that was intended to promote dense, mixed-use development on Whalley Avenue has yielded no new places to live in the nearly five years since it was approved by the Board of Alders.
by | Dec 11, 2024 3:48 pm | Comments (27)
Thomas Breen photos
That's trash, behind row of vacant Ocean homes.
LCI attorney Williams and hearing officer Bernblum: You're fined.
(Updated) A Livable City Initiative (LCI) hearing officer approved more than $130,000 in anti-blight fines for six vacant Ocean Management properties that look like, well, trash.
by | Dec 9, 2024 12:51 pm | Comments (23)
City Plan Department map
Under proposed zoning update, new smoke shops wouldn't be allowed to open within the orange circles, which describe a 3,000-foot radius for each existing licensed tobacco retailer.
Would barring new smoke shops from opening within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, and places of worship do enough to protect neighbors from those retailers’ harmful wares?
Would imposing a 3,000-foot buffer between new and existing tobacco sellers only serve to protect existing stores’ “monopolies” on their blocks?
And, taken together, would these two distance restrictions effectively impose a citywide ban — when the law’s sponsors simply want to limit, but not outlaw, new shops from popping up?
Continue reading ‘No Smoke Shops Here. No Smoke Shops There’
by | Dec 6, 2024 4:23 pm | Comments (41)
Thomas Breen file photo
Schools Supt. Madeline Negrón: “I am ready to stand and fight for the education that every child deserves … regardless of their immigration status.”
Retraining city employees on the “welcoming city” executive order. Confirming public school students’ emergency contact information. Securing federal grant money in contracts as soon as possible, before it can be revoked.
Those are some ways that New Haven officials are preparing — not panicking — ahead of an anticipated immigration crackdown promised by the incoming president.
by | Dec 5, 2024 3:09 pm | Comments (13)
Contributed by Melissa Cardoso Guerrero
Melissa Cardoso Guerrero (right): Zoning approval "was kind of a challenging process."
Longtime early educator Melissa Cardoso Guerrero spent multiple months and $350 seeking zoning relief this past summer, with the goal of expanding her Fair Haven-based childcare center beyond her current six-child limit.
As of this week, childcare providers no longer have to go through that zoning board process in order to open up in a residential district — an effort to remove one barrier for those hoping to start, move, or expand a childcare center in New Haven.
by | Dec 3, 2024 3:26 pm | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen photo
Expect more of this, now that tenants unions can form at buildings with at least 5 rental units.
Five thousand more apartments’ worth of New Haven renters are now eligible to form tenants unions — thanks to a Board of Alders-approved update to the laws governing the Fair Rent Commission.
by | Nov 27, 2024 2:07 pm | Comments (35)
Might this one day be built at 924 Grand?
Laura Glesby Photo
Youth Continuum's Tim Maguire (right), with city Homeless Services Director Velma George: Looking to create "a one-stop shop for unhoused youth."
A proposal for a peer-led youth homeless shelter in Wooster Square is back on the table — with a higher price tag and a new design prioritizing privacy and public health.
Continue reading ‘Alders Advance $500K For Long-Delayed Youth Shelter’
by | Nov 26, 2024 1:49 pm | Comments (0)
Thomas Breen photo
Suzio truck rolls on out of the Chapel St. concrete plant.
Expect 4,000 fewer truck deliveries per year to an industrial riverfront stretch of Chapel Street — as a Meriden-based concrete company plans to build out capacity for train transport, instead.
Continue reading ‘Concrete Co. Eyes More Trains, Fewer Trucks’
by | Nov 26, 2024 10:40 am | Comments (59)
Zachary Groz photo
Naranjo at ULA's City Hall protest: "We're full of fear.”
Paula Naranjo fought back tears as she spoke on the front steps of City Hall about what Donald Trump’s second presidential administration could mean for New Haven-area immigrants like herself.
by | Nov 25, 2024 3:04 pm | Comments (19)
Thomas Breen photo
Barnett Brodie (left): "It's impossible for me to match shingles from 50 years ago" or to force tenants to clean hallways.
The landlord didn’t contest that tenants kept a laundry basket in a common hallway. Or that he had old shingles on the house.
He did wonder why the city was pushing him to do something about it or potentially face a fine.
by | Nov 25, 2024 12:52 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen file photo
Next stop: Gas station.
A highway-adjacent diner took a big step towards becoming a gas station, thanks to approvals granted by the City Plan Commission.
by | Nov 25, 2024 11:39 am | Comments (2)
Proposed elevations for the 2 new apartment buildings.
A Milford-based development team has won permission to construct 60 new apartments atop 2.25 acres of vacant land in Fair Haven Heights.
by | Nov 22, 2024 1:25 pm | Comments (27)
Thomas Breen file photo
Siri, get me rewrite ...
New Haven’s police chief has a new strategy to get cops out from behind the desk and into the city’s neighborhoods — police reports written by artificial intelligence.
by | Nov 21, 2024 3:59 pm | Comments (22)
Thomas Breen photo
Hearing officer Megna, with LCI attorney Bedosky: "That's a big fine for a two-family home."
(Updated) A Queens-based landlord is on the hook for $25,500 in fines — after missing a City Hall hearing he said he didn’t know about, that concerned two LCI inspections he was surprised to learn he’d skipped.
by | Nov 21, 2024 9:55 am | Comments (12)
Nathaniel Rosenberg photos
Alders Smith and Hubbard examine Narcan nasal sprays.
Every New Haven police officer may soon carry overdose-reversing medication — in a donated pouch on their uniform’s vest.
by | Nov 20, 2024 2:22 pm | Comments (20)
Laura Glesby photo
Majority Leader Richard Furlow to Board of Ed: "Get it together."
The Board of Alders issued a lifeline — along with a warning — to the Board of Education, as they unanimously approved transferring $8.5 million from the city’s surplus for the school system’s use.
by | Nov 19, 2024 12:07 pm | Comments (10)
Laura Glesby file photo
Ismail Abdussabur: Looking forward to "more time at home."
The Board of Alders unanimously approved a long-awaited, six-year police union contract — to applause from an audience of police officers who have worked for two years without a contract.