by | Oct 31, 2024 3:38 pm | Comments (11)
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Supt. Negrón (right), with schools CFO Hannans: “I don’t see it as a cushion.”
Is a $3 million budget-balancing fund for New Haven Public Schools a “cushion” or a “lifeline”?
It depends on who’s asked.
by | Oct 31, 2024 12:27 pm | Comments (26)
Thomas Breen file photo
Hearing Officer Cormie: Trying to give both sides a “fair shake.”
Nine volunteer “judges” now work out of City Hall — presiding over quasi-judicial proceedings that can result in hefty fines for landlords who are cited by the city for unsafe or unsightly properties.
by | Oct 30, 2024 5:10 pm | Comments (5)
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Union Prez Cotto and Chief Jacobson: “This is a game changer.”
A proposed new six-year police union contract would boost not only salaries but also officers’ morale and mental health, thanks in part to an overhauled time-off system in the agreement.
Police Chief Karl Jacobson made that pitch on Tuesday evening to the Board of Alders Finance Committee, which unanimously voted to recommend the tentative labor deal’s approval.
by | Oct 30, 2024 8:29 am | Comments (19)
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269 Humphrey: 6 apartments now. 15 to come.
An East Rock landlord won permission to boost the number of apartments at a Humphrey Street house from six to 15 — after a local attorney pointed out that the existing building contains four floors, not three, and therefore has enough gross floor area to accommodate the higher unit count.
by | Oct 29, 2024 8:44 am | Comments (29)
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Mist Tobacco and Convenience owner Farooq Alwajih (pictured in his other business, Audubon Market): “I personally hate smoke shops.”
New Haven could soon see restrictions on new smoke shops — limiting where they can locate and prohibiting window displays full of smoking accessories.
by | Oct 28, 2024 10:13 am | Comments (4)
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Principal Foreman: On a mission to "Transform Troup."
As more than 90 percent of Troup School’s students have been showing up for classes so far this year, Troup School Principal Eugene Foreman showed up to a Morris Cove gala — to be recognized for helping turn around the reputation of a state-designated “turnaround” school.
Continue reading ‘"Turnaround" Troup Principal Honored At Gala’
by | Oct 25, 2024 10:51 am | Comments (29)
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Supt. Negrón (center): School security down from 100 in 2010, to 56 today.
The number of security guards in city public schools is down 44 percent in more than a decade, resulting in a shortage that sometimes forces the district to shuffle officers around to multiple schools over the course of a single day.
by | Oct 24, 2024 4:06 pm | Comments (2)
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188 Bassett, all cleared for Adult Ed renovations.
The Elicker administration won a key city approval for the planned relocation of Adult Ed from the Hill to Newhallville, as the City Plan Commission signed off on “gut” renovations of a long-vacant Bassett Street building.
by | Oct 24, 2024 1:22 pm | Comments (73)
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Demetry Belfort (right), with Brielle Quarles: “If Trump wins, so be it. I’ve voted my principles."
Brielle Quarles and Demetry Belfort don’t believe the doomsday-for-democracy prophecies of a jack-booted Trump future.
They feel burned by an Obama presidency that failed to deliver systemic change on housing, policing, immigration, and American “imperialism.”
And they don’t approve of a current Democratic Party leader who flaunts ownership of a Glock pistol.
So, with a commitment to their principles, they voted for a third-party potential spoiler.
Continue reading ‘Disillusioned With Dems, Couple Votes Stein’
by | Oct 23, 2024 5:32 pm | Comments (11)
Paul Bass file photo
PSAP chief Joe Vitale (center): Frontier "equipment failure" potentially to blame.
By 11:50 a.m. on Tuesday, it was clear: the city’s 911 operators had a problem.
When they tried to make calls from the system’s landline phones — whether to check in on a civilian in trouble or connect with another department — they were met with a fast stream of discordant beeps.
by | Oct 22, 2024 3:00 pm | Comments (23)
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Jianchao Xu's property manager, David Kone, at LCI hearing: "Obviously, there's been some miscommunication."
A Bethany-based landlord was hit with $18,200 in city fines — as part of a rejuvenated quasi-judicial process designed to give the Livable City Initiative (LCI) more teeth when confronting negligent rental property owners.
Continue reading ‘Landlord Fined $18K For Missed Inspections’
by | Oct 22, 2024 1:27 pm | Comments (32)
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LCI's Liam Brennan (center) and Javier Ortiz with Fire Inspector Steve Martin at an inspection on Nash St.
Watch out, derelict landlords: housing code violations can now come with a $2,000-a-day price tag levied directly by the city.
The Board of Alders instituted that maximum fine for landlords renting out units that are deemed to be unsafe on Monday evening, escalating the consequences from a previous $250-per-violation fine.
Continue reading ‘Alders Approve $2,000 Fines For Landlords’
by and | Oct 21, 2024 2:07 pm | Comments (53)
Dozens wait to cast their ballots, at around 10 a.m.
Thomas Breen photo
Kenneth Barnes: "I just want the world to be a better place."
Dozens of New Haveners lined up on the second floor of City Hall Monday morning to cast the city’s first early ballots in this year’s long-coming presidential election.
Continue reading ‘First Early Votes Cast In General Election’
by | Oct 9, 2024 2:47 pm | Comments (31)
Thomas Breen photos
More like Underpass Haven: By Exit 6 ...
... near State and James ...
It doesn’t have to be like this.
The Elicker administration and East Rock / Fair Haven Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith have asserted as much — well, not in those exact words — about the current state of neighborhood-slicing highways, as they seek $2 million in federal funds to help plan a brighter future for underused underpasses.
by | Oct 9, 2024 12:23 pm | Comments (2)
In a bid to help make sure that New Haven doesn’t have to give back any of its $115 million in federal pandemic-relief aid, alders unanimously approved a set of interdepartmental agreements to “obligate” much of those funds before a Dec. 31, 2024 deadline.
Continue reading ‘Alders Approve ARPA Aid "Obligation" Agreements’
by | Oct 8, 2024 4:54 pm | Comments (37)
Laura Glesby Photo
Near Grand Ave. and Murphy Dr., soon to be "Emma Jones Justice For Malik Corner."
The corner where East Haven police officers chased, shot, and killed 21-year-old Malik Jones in 1997 will not be called “Malik Jones Corner” after all.
Instead, the Board of Alders decided to name that intersection after Jones’s mother, Emma, and the campaign for police accountability she has carried forth after his death.
Continue reading ‘"Emma Jones Justice For Malik Corner" OK'd’
by | Oct 3, 2024 9:46 pm | Comments (44)
Nora Grace-Flood file photo
Mayor Elicker: The city's "financial situation is on stronger footing than it has been in many, many years."
Increased state aid, building permit revenue, and savings due to staff vacancies helped the city end last fiscal year with a $16 million budget surplus — a portion of which the mayor now plans to direct towards New Haven’s public schools.
Continue reading ‘$16M Budget Surplus Announced; $8.5M Schools Investment Proposed’
by | Oct 2, 2024 8:37 am | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen file photo
At the Washington Ave. metal scrapyard.
A four-acre scrapyard in the Hill can continue to recycle 100 tons of metal per day, after securing a five-year special permit renewal from the City Plan Commission.
by | Sep 27, 2024 1:38 pm | Comments (33)
Cross girls' locker room, photo courtesy of Cross counselor Mia Comulada Breuler.
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) leaders said the district needs 33 more tradesmen to just begin working towards addressing its thousands of building-disrepair work orders — while the head of the school system’s custodial union called for more in-house hiring, and less private contracting.
Continue reading ‘Understaffing Blamed For School Building Decay’
by | Sep 26, 2024 3:45 pm | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen photos
Union Station, get ready for some new neighbors ...
... at the TOD coming soon-ish to the east parking lot?
Four developers are in the running to build up a state-owned surface parking lot adjacent to Union Station — as part of a transit-oriented development that is likely still several years away from breaking ground.
by | Sep 26, 2024 12:59 pm | Comments (12)
Maya McFadden photo
Michael Carter: CAO Act II looming?
Four days before his public school district operations consultant contract is set to expire, Mike Carter is still “undecided” as to whether or not to stay in the post — or, potentially, return to his former top City Hall job.
by | Sep 19, 2024 11:56 am | Comments (28)
Laura Glesby File Photo
Regina Rush-Kittle: "I do not have a job in Hartford. I do not have a job in Hartford. I do not a job in Hartford."
(Updated) Three months after New Haven changed the law to allow one top city official to remain in her job, that official is packing up and leaving town.
by | Sep 18, 2024 12:09 pm | Comments (36)
Laura Glesby Photo
Two handmade signs, only one still legible, commemorate the Grand Avenue block where Malik Jones died.
Norm Clement joined a dozen public testifiers early in September to call for an official corner sign honoring Malik.
The words “Justice For Malik” have nearly faded from one hand-painted wooden board nailed to a Grand Avenue post.
A more durable sign bearing Malik Jones’s name may soon rise alongside it — inscribing the memory of a bright, adventurous 21-year-old whom an East Haven cop shot to death in 1997.
by | Sep 17, 2024 9:40 am | Comments (16)
Laura Glesby file photo
Finance Chair Marchand: "There’s a fair amount of money that has not been spent.”
More than three years after a flood of federal pandemic-relief aid started to make its way towards New Haven, the Elicker administration has spent less than half of the $115 million received by the city — and now has two years to get the rest out the door, or potentially have to give some of that money back.
by | Sep 6, 2024 4:40 pm | Comments (1)
Laura Glesby photo
Democratic Registrar Shannel Evans: “I believe [early voting] went great, besides the numbers.”
New Haven voters will have a chance to cast their ballots early in the November election from Oct. 21 through Nov. 3 at City Hall — where about 10 parking spots will be reserved for voters.