by | Apr 15, 2022 10:35 am | Comments (10)
Thomas Breen photo
City Health Director Maritza Bond at Thursday's budget workshop.
Should the city add two new public health nurse positions to the budget … at a time when 25 already-existing nurse positions are vacant?
by | Apr 14, 2022 1:12 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
Mayor Elicker at Thursday's presser with city, state and federal partners.
The Elicker Administration has launched a new local-state-federal partnership focused on helping formerly incarcerated adults who are at risk of being victims or perpetrators of gun violence.
Continue reading ‘City Touts Gun Violence-Prevention Partnership’
by | Apr 14, 2022 12:13 pm | Comments (6)
Monday night's Finance Committee meeting.
Invest in safe, affordable, owner-occupied housing.
Committee alders heard that plea again and again and again during their first public hearing on the Elicker Administration’s proposed $53 million federal-aid spending plan.
Continue reading ‘Housing Calls Resonate At Covid-$ Hearing’
by | Apr 13, 2022 4:00 pm | Comments (6)
Laura Glesby Photo
Fair Haven Alders Jose Crespo and Sarah Miller, at right, pore over drafted ward map with new city map whiz Jacob Conshick.
Sarah Miller arrived at the Board of Alders chamber with a mission: to reallocate the six blocks of the Annex neighborhood that she represents along with a portion of Fair Haven so that residents don’t have to cross a bridge in order to vote on election day.
Continue reading ‘Adventures In Redistricting: Annex Slice Annexed’
by | Apr 11, 2022 10:44 am | Comments (11)
Alders Richard Furlow and Charles Decker at Legislation Committee hearing.
A proposed rent-capping amendment to the city’s new “inclusionary zoning” (IZ) law is now one vote away from adoption, after committee alders voted unanimously in support of the update.
by | Apr 7, 2022 1:37 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
Mayor Justin Elicker, Republican challenger John Carlson, Aly Heimer at 2021 Democracy Fund debate.
Following up on the Democracy Fund’s biggest year yet, the municipal public-financing program is considering expanding into other citywide electoral contests beyond just the race for mayor.
by | Apr 6, 2022 1:05 pm | Comments (15)
Cannabis zoning map proposal; legal sales districts shaded in purple.
Should the city allow for the legal sale of cannabis on Long Wharf? Or is recreational pot not a good part of the plan for that to-be-developed waterfront district?
Local legislators grappled with those questions — among many others — as they worked through a first draft of the city’s proposed zoning regulations for where marijuana sales may and may not take place in town.
Continue reading ‘Cannabis Zoning Q: What About Long Wharf?’
by | Apr 6, 2022 9:33 am | Comments (10)
Alder Steve Winter with Beulah's Darrell Brooks after vote.
BEULAH LAND DEVELOPMENT/ HELP USA
New apartments planned on Dixwell.
A local affordable housing developer’s bid to build 69 new apartments atop “Joe Grate’s lot” on Dixwell Avenue moved forward yet again, after alders unanimously voted to amend a tax-abatement and land-sale agreement with terms more generous to the builder.
by | Apr 5, 2022 3:49 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen photo
Downtown Alder Eli Sabin speaks up in support of zoning change.
PMC image
13-story apt. tower proposed for 78 Olive.
Alders overwhelmingly approved rezoning an Olive Street lot to make way for a proposed 13-story apartment tower to be built on the downtown edge of Wooster Square.
Local legislators took that vote Monday night during the latest regular bimonthly meeting of the full Board of Alders. The in-person meeting took place in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
Continue reading ‘Denser Zoning OK'd For Olive St. Tower Site’
by | Apr 5, 2022 9:24 am | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen file photo
High at Elm: Slated to become Yale-controlled ped plaza
Thomas Breen photo
Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison: This deal brings town, gown closer together.
The Board of Alders unanimously approved a deal for Yale to increase its voluntary payments to the city by $52 million over six years — and design and control a city-owned pedestrian plaza on High Street.
by | Mar 31, 2022 1:37 pm | Comments (13)
Cannabis could be sold within the purple areas of this map.
Planners passed forward a map of suggested places to allow cannabis sales in town — while recommending that alders mellow out rather than rush to finalize rules, and that they redo the math calculating distances from dispensaries to public schools.
The City Plan Commission offered those recommendations after an hours-long debate Wednesday night.
by | Mar 30, 2022 4:51 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
Beaver Hills Alder Brian Wingate (second from right) and West Hills/West Rock Alder Honda Smith (right) check out the west side's political boundaries.
Try to keep both sides of the same street in the same ward.
Ensure that a single voter’s polling place doesn’t change every other year.
And please — please, please, please — release a draft map before the final vote so that members of the public can weigh in on proposed new ward boundaries.
Continue reading ‘Redistricting Rec: Keep Neighborhoods Together’
by | Mar 23, 2022 3:48 pm | Comments (22)
Hester St image / Thomas Breen photo
Consultant report: Try out guaranteed income pilot with ARPA $. Mayor Elicker: Not worth it with this pot of money.
Should the city use federal aid to send $500 per month to a small group of economically vulnerable residents?
Or would such a “guaranteed income” pilot program offer too little long-term bang for the city’s buck, and is therefore not the best use of New Haven’s limited pandemic-relief funds?
by | Mar 22, 2022 11:41 am | Comments (5)
Former pizza spot at 82-90 Wall St. today...
Yale image
... Yale's planned transformation of the site.
Yale’s plans to convert a former Wall Street pizza restaurant into classrooms and gathering spaces took a small step forward, as alders unanimously approved a resolution stating that the project won’t require any changes to the university’s central campus parking plan.
by | Mar 21, 2022 4:18 pm | Comments (3)
Thomas Breen photos
New Public Safety Communications Director Kevin Stratton and Acting Director of Elderly Services Tomi Veale on Monday.
Mayor Justin Elicker continued filling out City Hall’s top ranks, tapping two new department heads to lead the city’s 911 call center and its programming for elderly residents.
Continue reading ‘Mayor Taps New Directors For 911, Elderly Services’
by | Mar 21, 2022 9:09 am | Comments (10)
City Plan commissioners weigh zoning change.
A proposed rent-capping amendment to the city’s new “inclusionary zoning” (IZ) law is one step closer to adoption, thanks to a favorable vote by the City Plan Commission.
by | Mar 18, 2022 3:10 pm | Comments (7)
Laura Glesby Photo
Michael Gormany faces Alders Anna Festa, Ron Hurt, and Adam Marchand at Thursday night's budget hearing.
City Hall plans to grow and restructure its technology department to focus more on fending off cyber-attacks and adapting to an increasingly online world.
by | Mar 17, 2022 10:11 am | Comments (15)
Alpha Acquisitions LLC image
Proposed 15-unit mixed-use building at 793 State.
A Madison-based developer won permission to build 15 new apartments atop a vacant State Street lot.
by | Mar 16, 2022 3:53 pm | Comments (39)
Thomas Breen photos
Fair Haven Alder Ernie Santiago, Prospect Hill/Newhallville Alder Steve Winter, and Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers at budget workshop.
How low could the mill rate go if the mayor scraps his planned reval phase-in?
36? 32.7? Somewhere in between?
Top city budget officials and committee alders debated that question during the first “workshop” on Mayor Justin Elicker’s proposed $633 million budget.
by | Mar 15, 2022 9:15 am | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen photos
Hailing Yale-city deal, clockwise from top left: Dolores Colon, Jahmal Henderson, Abby Feldman, Alejandro Rojas, Ken Suzuki, Rebecca Corbett.
A deal for Yale to increase voluntary payments to the city by $52 million over six years — and design and control a pedestrian plaza on High Street — won a key preliminary aldermanic approval, as supporters hailed a potential turning point in town-gown relations.
by | Mar 10, 2022 4:39 pm | Comments (30)
Emily Hays photo
Patricia Wallace: Seniors, renters feeling the squeeze.
Even if the city phases in higher property values over the next five years, landlords will likely pass along higher rents next year — if the mill rate doesn’t drop further.
New York-based developer Nitsan Ben-Horin offered those words of caution during a virtual “town hall” about the mayor’s proposed Fiscal Year 2022 – 23 (FY23) budget. And he wasn’t alone, as landlords sounded an alarm.
by | Mar 7, 2022 9:22 pm | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen photos
Fire Chief Alston (right) with Asst. Chief Justin McCarthy and other fire chiefs from throughout region at Monday night's vote.
Fire union members and leaders standing in opposition to Alston's reappointment during the vote.
With over a dozen city firefighters standing in opposition at the back of the room, and a half-dozen regional fire chiefs sitting up front in support, the Board of Alders unanimously approved John Alston’s reappointment to serve another four years as the head of the New Haven Fire Department.
by | Mar 3, 2022 9:13 am | Comments (18)
City of New Haven image
The current boundaries for New Haven's 30 wards.
Thomas Breen Photo
I'll trade you a block for an alley: Vice-Chair Sal DeCola and Chair Evelyn Rodriguez launch map re-drawing process.
Alders gathered in City Hall for their first in-person committee of the new year — to kick off the once-a-decade process of drawing new ward boundaries to squeeze in 4,244 new New Haveners into the right spots.
Continue reading ‘Bring Out The Maps! Ward Redistricting Starts’
by | Mar 2, 2022 2:45 pm | Comments (7)
Chris McKeon
The proposed zone change.
The Board of Alders’ legislation committee unanimously supported a request to rezone the lot at 78 Olive St. on Tuesday evening, inching one step closer to a 13-story apartment building at the site.
by | Mar 1, 2022 4:00 pm | Comments (36)
Thomas Breen photo
Budget Director Gormany, Mayor Elicker at Tuesday reveal.
Elicker's FY23 general fund budget revenue.
Libraries open on Sundays.
New neighborhood specialists, police supervisors, school nurses, and city tech staffers.
Higher “fixed-cost” payments around pensions, debt service, and utilities.
And a shaved mill rate — along with a tax-bill bump for most New Haven property owners.
Those are highlights of a $633.1 million general fund budget for Fiscal Year 2022 – 2023 (FY23) proposed Tuesday by Mayor Justin Elicker.