by | Apr 2, 2021 9:01 am | Comments (19)
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Fiber internet, coming soon to a neighborhood near us?
New Haven is trying again to bring high-speed Internet service to neighborhoods citywide, with a $1 million planned pilot and possible help on the way from D.C.
by | Apr 1, 2021 1:40 pm | Comments (11)
Thomas Breen photo
The new Q House, coming online this summer.
LEAP’s Fernandez: Ready to roll.
The city has tapped the youth tutoring and recreation agency LEAP to oversee programming at the reborn Dixwell Q House community center.
by | Mar 31, 2021 12:12 pm | Comments (24)
City of New Haven chart
Recent history of rising city pension costs.
Thomas Breen photo
Budget Director Gormany: Expect those numbers to keep going up.
City pension payments could jump by 26 percent next fiscal year thanks to a new, more conservative way that the city estimates pension fund investment returns.
While that one-year increase is steep, the city budget director cautioned, it also marks just the beginning of a gradual shift towards more responsible — and costly — city pension budgeting.
by | Mar 23, 2021 9:35 am | Comments (17)
City of New Haven
The city plans to ditch a vacant lot (bottom right in photo) to facilitate the development of next phase of Corsair.
Thomas Breen pre-pandemic photo
City’s Carlos Eyzaguirre: Lot is currently empty and trashed.
Forty-four years after first acquiring a triangular sliver of highway-adjacent land from the state, the city plans to give it back — with the hopes that the parcel could soon sprout roughly 70 Upper State Street apartments as part of “Corsair II.”
by | Mar 23, 2021 9:35 am | Comments (4)
Madison Hahamy Photo
Monday’s vigil outside City Hall.
With chants of “cuando peleamos, ganamos” (“when we fight, we win”) and “¿Quién marchó, quién gritó, quién testificó? Nosotros” (“who marched, who yelled, who testified? Us”), activists made a plea not to forget the individuals who have lost their lives due to Covid-19.
by | Mar 22, 2021 4:52 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen photo
The empty pit at 31 Sheffield Ave. Landlord Edward Zislis (below): New 3-family home in the works.
Zoom
A new three-family house on Sheffield Avenue is one step closer to rising from the ashes of its burned-down predecessor — and, two neighborhoods away, three new townhouses won the thumbs up to pop up atop a Humphrey Street backyard.
Continue reading ‘City Plan OKs 3-Family Home, 3 Townhouses Aimed At “Missing Middle”’
by | Mar 18, 2021 4:55 pm | Comments (14)
Thomas Breen photo
Safety-Kleen tank farm, plus two tanks (pictured in yellow below.)
Safety-Kleen
A used-oil company won city permission to build two new storage tanks — and therefore more than double the amount of used oil it can hold on site — at a riverfront tank farm it owns in the Annex.
The approval came after a discussion of the environmental impact of having 115 oil tanks, and counting, located in New Haven.
by | Mar 18, 2021 11:59 am | Comments (5)
Thomas Breen photo
A sign outside Parking Lot A of the new Westville Music Bowl.
Langan Engineering
The updated traffic and parking plan for the 2021 season.
The operators of a new Westville outdoor-music venue plan to keep Yale Avenue open to through traffic this concert season, as they dramatically scaled back the site’s parking plan to correspond to a Covid-induced capacity cap.
Continue reading ‘Westville Music Bowl Drops Street Closure Plan’
by | Mar 17, 2021 3:05 pm | Comments (3)
Thomas Breen photo
PSAP Director George Peet shows call operator work log.
Are union contract-mandated scheduling requirements hampering the 911 call center’s ability to run effectively, including having bilingual call operators available 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
Or is the department simply not doing enough to recruit, hire, and train Spanish-speaking employees?
by | Mar 16, 2021 4:39 pm | Comments (5)
Emily Hays Photo
City youth and rec chief Gwendolyn Busch William: “It was so exciting” to get that first paycheck.
Gwendolyn Busch Williams has never forgotten how great it felt at 14 years old to receive her first paycheck at a summer cashier’s job.
by | Mar 16, 2021 10:19 am | Comments (15)
File Photos
Roth (left): Carabetta can and should pay more tax. Walker-Myers (right): Rain was coming down into apartments.
Alders overwhelmingly approved a 17-year tax break for a failed Dwight housing co-op on the brink of demolition and reconstruction, amid objections that the affordable housing deal is too generous for the project’s developer.
by | Mar 15, 2021 5:48 pm | Comments (17)
Emily Hays Photo
GOP chief Carlson: “Bizarre.”
The Elicker administration advised election officials to create a new barrier to people seeking voter information — advice it now says it will withdraw in the face of complaints.
People working on 2021 municipal campaigns learned of the new barrier in recent weeks when they asked to see ward voter registration lists.
by | Mar 12, 2021 1:15 pm | Comments (14)
Thomas Breen file photos
Top city workers who have retired or resigned in 2021 so far include (pictured) former CAO Scott Jackson, outgoing nursing director Jennifer Vazquez, former Asst. Fire Chief Mark Vendetto.
Thomas Breen file photo
City Building Official Jim Turcio (right) on the job with (now-retired) Asst. Fire Chief Mark Vendetto.
Twenty-four municipal workers have resigned already in 2021, more than double the rate at this point in 2020 — and the building department, for one, desperately needs help.
by | Mar 9, 2021 5:06 pm | Comments (14)
Thomas Breen pre-pandemic file photo
City Assessor Pullen: Reporting on latest figures, preparing for reval.
Nearly 60 percent of all city real estate value — or $8.5 billion in total — remains off the tax rolls, as City Hall gears up for a twice-a-decade property revaluation.
Continue reading ‘59.57% Of City Real Estate Tax-Exempt In Latest Annual Calculation’
by | Mar 9, 2021 12:00 pm | Comments (12)
Paul Bass Photos
One neighbor’s plea posted on a Central Avenue tree.
Lucy Gellman / Arts Paper photo
Mitchell library: In City Hall’s crosshairs.
Teachers, parents, artists, and bibliophiles lined up to blast the mayor’s proposed shutdown of Mitchell branch library, decrying the “absurdity” of threatening to close a core community institution that makes up only 1/20th of 1 percent of the city budget.
by | Mar 8, 2021 2:01 pm | Comments (15)
Facebook Live photo
Chris Murphy in New Haven Monday.
The soon-to-pass federal Covid stimulus bill will send close to $100 million in direct aid to the city and then millions more to the schools and other local agencies.
But in itself it won’t solve the city’s budget problems or prevent a tax hike.
by | Mar 5, 2021 2:17 pm | Comments (20)
Paul Bass pre-pandemic photo
Jefferson: returning to City Hall.
Former city fair-hiring chief Nichole Jefferson has won her job back — along with roughly $300,000 in back pay — thanks to a State Supreme Court ruling that ends a legal dispute that spanned over five years and two mayoral administrations.
by | Mar 4, 2021 1:01 pm | Comments (22)
The following was submitted by presidents of four city government unions:
The “Crisis Budget” proposed by Mayor Elicker containing program and service cuts will undoubtedly inflict harmful impacts if passed.
Continue reading ‘Opinion: Tap Yale Rather Than Slash City Budget’
by | Mar 2, 2021 10:07 am | Comments (4)
Zoom
Monday night’s board meeting.
The Board of Alders has a new, official legislative agenda.
by | Feb 26, 2021 11:31 am | Comments (24)
Thomas Breen file photos
New Haveners who testified Thursday night. From left to right. Top row: Dave Cruz Bustamante, Kim Hart, James Bhandary-Alexander. Middle row: John Lee, Remidy Shareef, Iva Johnson. Bottom row: Howard Boyd, Mareika Phillips, Karen DuBois-Walton.
From legalizing accessory dwelling units to endorsing Medicare for All, dozens of civically engaged New Haveners offered the Board of Alders a policy-specific roadmap for how to help realize a safer, healthier, and more equitable city.
Continue reading ‘Dozens Fill In The Details On Alder Agenda’
by | Feb 24, 2021 11:35 am | Comments (16)
Christopher Peak pre-pandemic photo
Carabetta’s Muniz: Tax break makes project “pencil out financially.”
Zoom
Roth: Builder should pay more.
A proposed tax break for a failed Dwight housing co-op on the brink of demolition and reconstruction moved ahead — after debate about how it fits into efforts to promote affordable housing and avoid a local tax hike.
Besides tax forgiveness, the overall project includes a $1.5 million “development fee” for the co-op’s buyer and $400,000 in federal anti-poverty block grants along with a building contract for a construction affiliate.
by | Feb 19, 2021 10:50 am | Comments (10)
Paul Bass photo
At scene of 2021’s first two homicides, on Winthrop Avenue.
With shootings up in New Haven, New Haven police plan to up their depleted shooting task force in response.
Continue reading ‘As Bullets Fly, Shooting Task Force Reviving’
by | Feb 17, 2021 6:11 pm | Comments (6)
Neighbor Nine Johnson: In support of “anything to help us prosper.”
Thomas Breen photos
558 Winchester Ave.: Now approved for city ownership.
City plans to convert vacant Newhallville properties into affordable owner-occupied homes took another stride forward, as alders signed off on the public purchase of a long-blighted three-family house at the corner of Winchester Avenue and Starr Street.
by | Feb 17, 2021 4:31 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen pre-pandemic photo
New day coming: ConnCAT’s Clemons pitches project at public meeting.
Dixwell Plaza’s planned redevelopment took a key step forward as alders voted to sell two parcels in the decaying mid-century shopping strip to a local team that plans to build apartments, stores, and cultural venues in the heart of New Haven’s historic Black neighborhood.
by | Feb 17, 2021 10:53 am | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
Protesters at a Black Lives Matter march in June.
The Board of Alders unanimously adopted nearly 50 recommendations seeking to recognize and undo the negative health impacts caused by systemic racism against Black, Native American, Asian, and Latino residents.
Continue reading ‘Alders Adopt Plan To Fight Racism In Public Health’