by | Nov 15, 2024 3:14 pm | Comments (23)
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Landlord and Alder Kampton Singh: Licenses are not a problem because "I follow the rules."
Bill Santillo walked into City Hall with an open mind, ready to learn about a landlord licensing program he’d once staunchly opposed.
by | Nov 15, 2024 11:12 am | Comments (6)
Nathaniel Rosenberg photo
Church Trustee Lee and Pastor Hardy talk up elevator benefits.
A second-floor meeting room at City Hall was temporarily transformed into a standing-room-only celebration of a religious community — as parishioners of St. Matthew’s Unison Free Will Baptist Church turned out in force to support adding an elevator to make their sanctuary more accessible for the elderly and disabled.
by | Nov 11, 2024 5:12 pm | Comments (2)
Jabez Choi photo
Bridgette Prince: "For us to just be recognized for this one day is a disservice.”
With the help of a student orchestra and a slate of elected officials, City Hall speakers celebrated Veterans Day by honoring sacrifices, emphasizing the necessity of mental health and housing supports, and recognizing the challenges of returning to the “mundane” when one’s military service is done.
by | Nov 11, 2024 12:48 pm | Comments (7)
New City Parks Director Max Webster.
City government’s newly un-merged parks department has a new director, a Yale forestry school grad who most recently worked in the public greenspaces of Chicago.
by | Nov 7, 2024 4:03 pm | Comments (95)
Paul Bass Photo
Geter-Pataky completes paperwork for a client inside New Haven's vital statistics office.
Wanda Geter-Pataky found a way to supplement her income while on paid leave from her Bridgeport city job and facing criminal charges for ballot fraud: Bring crews of out-of-state non-citizens to marry as many as 100-plus Americans a month at New Haven City Hall.
by | Nov 7, 2024 1:22 pm | Comments (16)
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LCI hearing officer Bob Megna: Fines approved.
It took an hour and a half for volunteer hearing officer Bob Megna to issue $1,000 fines to 27 local landlords — part of the city’s latest effort to revive a mandatory landlord licensing program after a lapse in enforcement.
Continue reading ‘$27K In Fines OK’d For Unlicensed Landlords’
by and | Nov 5, 2024 9:45 pm | Comments (19)
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EDR detritus at City Hall.
Laura Glesby photo
Luisa Miliano: Thrilled to vote, regardless of line.
(Updated) Four hours after arriving at City Hall to cast her first vote as a new U.S. citizen, Luisa Miliano found herself still waiting and waiting — along with 100 others — to make it to the end of Election Day Registration.
Continue reading ‘Would-Be Voters Wait Hours After Polls Close’
by | Nov 5, 2024 1:35 pm | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen photos
Makenzie Webber: "No Trump."
Tyrone White: "He's got what it takes to run this country."
The wait is on, for Election Day Registration.
Makenzie Webber waited and waited and waited — for two and a half hours — to same-day register and then vote for Kamala Harris. Tyrone White eyed that same long line at City Hall and decided to leave early before casting his ballot for Donald Trump.
Continue reading ‘Same-Day-Registration Voters Line Up & Wait’
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)
Laura Glesby Photo
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)
Thomas Breen photo
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)
Laura Glesby photo
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)
Nathaniel Rosenberg photo
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)
Thomas Breen photo
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)
Allan Appel photo
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)
Thomas Breen photo
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 file photo
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’