by | Aug 7, 2020 4:04 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen photo
Rev. Ricardo Heredia (at podium) leads a prayer on the second floor of City Hall.
Pastor D’Hati Burgess with mask showing the late Kiana Brown.
City elected officials and local clergy invoked the power of prayer Friday afternoon as they reflected on the devastation wrought so far in 2020.
Continue reading ‘Amidst Traumatic Year, Leaders Pray For Peace’
by | Aug 6, 2020 7:30 pm | Comments (3)
Ko Lyn Cheang photo.
Justin Elicker.
Tropical Storm Isaias knocked more power out of more New Haven homes than Hurricane Sandy, forcing the city Thursday to do triage — or tree-age — to get streets cleared.
Continue reading ‘Mayor Urges Patience During Post-Storm Clean-Up Tree-age’
by | Aug 5, 2020 2:30 pm | Comments (1)
Ko Lyn Cheang photo
Complete Count Committee members Joe Ugly, Valencia Goodridge, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Bianca Bowles and Addie Kimbrough).
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro blasted the Trump Administration Wednesday afternoon for ending Census counting efforts early, a move she described as an issue of civil rights, economic justice, and racial justice.
Continue reading ‘Officials, Census Workers Slam Deadline Switch’
by | Aug 5, 2020 10:46 am | Comments (5)
Zoom
Monday night’s virtual aldermanic hearing.
Peace will be on the ballot this November — in the form of a nonbinding referendum asking New Haveners how they’d like Congress to spend the majority of the federal budget.
On the military, as is currently the case? Or on jobs, education, environmental sustainability, and other human services instead?
by | Aug 4, 2020 1:44 pm | Comments (2)
File photos
Newly confirmed CRB members, clockwise from top left: Counsel, Avshalom-Smith, Pescatore, Peralta, Ross-Lee.
The Board of Alders unanimously approved the appointment of five additional members to the Civilian Review Board, bringing that decades-in-the-works local cop accountability board one step closer to formally convening.
Continue reading ‘5 OK’d For CRB; 4 Tapped For Housing Commission’
by | Aug 3, 2020 4:11 pm | Comments (49)
Thomas Breen photo
Asst. Chief Jacobson: Fines work better than arrests.
The mayor and top city cops have proposed increasing fines for illegal dirt bike and ATV riding from $99 to upwards of $2,000 per offense, as part of a broader revamp of a law designed to deter loud, reckless speeding along city streets, parks, and sidewalks.
by | Jul 30, 2020 3:41 pm | Comments (2)
City of New Haven
The city anticipates ending the last fiscal year with a $7.8 million deficit — a projected budget hole nearly half as large as that predicted last month, thanks in part to pandemic-induced revenue shortfalls coming in better than expected.
by | Jul 30, 2020 12:17 pm | Comments (2)
Justin Elicker entered the Mayor’s Office with a 100-day plan that has been sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic and the most sustained street protests in recent history in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Continue reading ‘“100-Day Plan Will Happen — Just Not In 100 Days”’
by | Jul 29, 2020 2:04 pm | Comments (8)
Maya McFadden Photo
Visitors this month to Lighthouse.
Out-of-staters will not be allowed in Lighthouse Park. A new duo of nurses, meanwhile, will hit nursing homes, schools, homeless shelters, and other facilities to spread preventive advice and check up on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Continue reading ‘City Seeks To Stay Step Ahead Of Covid-19’
by | Jul 28, 2020 12:52 pm | Comments (14)
File Photos
Nominees, clockwise from top left: Counsel, Avshalom-Smith, Pescatore, Peralta, Ross-Lee.
Devin Avshalom-Smith intends not just to hear cases of police misconduct, but to work toward building trust between the community and police, if he lands a seat on the Civilian Review Board.
by | Jul 24, 2020 9:48 am | Comments (6)
Maya McFadden Photo
Erick Sarmiento with son.
After living in New Haven for the past four years, Erick Sarmiento is now looking forward to him and his son living with fewer concerns about being harassed about immigration status.
Continue reading ‘Mayor Signs “Welcoming City” Order To Protect Immigrant RIghts’
by | Jul 22, 2020 11:38 am | Comments (2)
ELKUS MANFREDI ARCHITECTS
101 College St. rendering.
A planned new 10-story, 500,000 square-foot bioscience lab and office tower won its last needed city approval, paving the way for construction to start later this summer.
by | Jul 14, 2020 1:10 pm | Comments (6)
Paul Bass Photo
Corp Counsel King: These lawyers are good.
A request by the city’s top lawyer to boost the maximum compensation for the firm Howd & Ludorf from $99,500 to $167,700 sparked discussion about the cost of hiring outside lawyers to help New Haven fight lawsuits.
by | Jul 9, 2020 3:15 pm | Comments (1)
Zoom
Monday’s Board of Alders virtual meeting.
Alders unanimously signed off on the city’s plan to allocate over $5 million in federal Covid-19 relief towards rapid rehousing, rent and utility support, food and basic need assistance, mental health care, and a host of other social services for New Haveners directly affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
by | Jul 7, 2020 7:26 pm | Comments (43)
Dixwell station Facebook page
Now-retired veteran city firefighter Bob Crisco.
After sending an image to colleagues making fun of the police killing of George Floyd, a 25-year veteran city firefighter retired on July 4 — averting discipline from commissioners who said they could do little more than condemn his behavior.
by | Jul 7, 2020 5:27 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen file photo
The grant in question would pay for nurses to make regular visits to Covid-vulnerable local nursing homes like RegalCare.
Thomas Breen file photo
Alder Brackeen: City tried to dodge proper process.
A Westville alder single-handedly blocked the Health Department’s request for the expedited approval of a $100,000 Covid-19 support grant.
He defended the move as forcing the city to follow the proper legislative vetting process.
The city decried the move as putting at risk much-needed potential funding for infection control during the current pandemic.
by | Jul 7, 2020 4:40 pm | Comments (4)
Ko Lyn Cheang photo
Divy Geli attends to a customer of 16 years, Maila Oksanen.
Audubon Street barber Divy Geli knows his shop would benefit from a cash infusion provided by a newly-announced low-interest loan program targeted at helping minority- and women-owned small businesses in New Haven.
What he’s not so certain of is whether it’s worth tapping into the program and taking out a loan he may not be able to pay back.
by | Jul 7, 2020 12:40 pm | Comments (15)
Thomas Breen file photo
Tracey Meares at a public library talk in March.
Yale Law School professor and nationally-celebrated police reform expert Tracey Meares is now officially a member of the city’s Board of Police Commissioners.
Continue reading ‘Reform Expert Approved For Police Commission’
by | Jul 7, 2020 9:24 am | Comments (4)
WFSB
“Black Money Matters! Brown Business Matters” protesters chanted at a rally outside City Hall, demanding more jobs for Black and Hispanic New Haveners on the Dixwell Community “Q” House project.
Continue reading ‘Q House Protest Cry: “Black Money Matters”’
by | Jul 3, 2020 6:04 pm | Comments (1)
Thomas Breen Photo
Registrar Evans: Focus on keeping people safe.
New Haven voters who turn out for the Aug. 11 presidential primaries can expect to see some changes: Poll workers will wear protective gowns and masks. They will hold the door so voters don’t have to touch the handle. Someone will squirt sanitizer into their hands. Poll workers’ temperatures will be taken. Voters will have to maintain six feet distance from each other.
Continue reading ‘Safety Measures In Place For Primary Election’
by | Jun 30, 2020 6:34 pm | Comments (0)
Ko Lyn Cheang photo
Jose Merced at his salon: Hanging in for now.
Jose Merced watched customers disappear and the rent bills mount at La Isla Barbershop on Washington Avenue in the Hill. Now he’s hoping a pot of federal COVID-19 relief money headed toward New Haven will offer him some belated business-survival relief.
by | Jun 29, 2020 3:37 pm | Comments (15)
Sophie Sonnenfeld Photo
Good-bye Columbus; who’s next?
Twenty-four New Haveners will begin deciding what will replace the 4,000-pound statue of Christopher Columbus in Wooster Square Park.
Continue reading ‘Committee Named To Consider Columbus Replacement’
by | Jun 29, 2020 10:48 am | Comments (11)
Contributed Photo
Artwork would be displayed in the first floor windows around the Amistad Memorial (pictured).
The City of New Haven Department of Arts Culture and Town Green Special Services District are seeking a New Haven-based artist or artists to design temporary, two-dimensional artwork for display on windows of City Hall next to the Amistad Memorial at 165 Church St. Artwork should reflect the importance of black and brown lives, influences and culture on our New Haven communities.
Continue reading ‘Call For Art On Black Lives Matter For City Hall’
by | Jun 24, 2020 5:33 pm | Comments (28)
Thomas Breen photos
Columbus statute standoff in Wooster Square earlier Wednesday. Below: Elicker at City Hall presser.
Mayor Justin Elicker spent Wednesday in his office at City Hall as defenders and critics of Wooster Square’s now-removed Christopher Columbus statue engaged in a tense seven-hour standoff less than a mile away.
The mayor defended that decision in an afternoon press conference as avoiding playing a “not productive” role. He also responded to the question of why the city waited a week to take down the statue in the first place, giving mostly out-of-town opponents of the move time to organize opposition.
by | Jun 23, 2020 11:44 am | Comments (32)
Tom Breen Photo
Meares at the New Haven Free Public Library in March.
Leading criminal justice change expert Tracey Meares moved one step closer to becoming a city police commissioner — sketching a vision for how the commission could be reimagined as an accountability system for law enforcement.