by | Apr 6, 2021 9:07 am | Comments (16)
City of New Haven slide
City workers and administrators are leaving their jobs at a quicker clip than local government can find replacements.
Why is that happening? And what can the city do to catch up?
by | Apr 2, 2021 12:17 pm | Comments (5)
Emily Hays Photo
Sweeper operator Robert Roberts turns the Pelican Thursday on day one of spring street-cleaning season.
That parking space looked big enough for maybe a sedan. But a city street sweeper?
Robert Roberts was undaunted. He’d been here before.
by | Apr 1, 2021 3:02 pm | Comments (12)
Asst Chief Sharp.
More than four decades of New Haven policing experience is leaving the police department this month, with the retirement of two top cops who have clocked more than 20 years each on the job.
by | Mar 31, 2021 1:47 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
CT WFP Senior Organizer Luis Luna: Now is time for transformative action.
WFP slide
8 pillars of the THRIVE agenda.
With the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in the rearview and a nationwide debate over a $2.5 trillion infrastructure bill about to start, labor activists have launched a campaign to pressure the federal government to keep spending big — this time with a focus on jobs and the climate crisis.
Continue reading ‘Push Commences For Trillion-Dollar “THRIVE” Agenda’
by | Mar 26, 2021 9:35 am | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen pre-pandemic photo
Labor Committee Co-Chairs Julie Kushner and Robyn Porter, in support of gig economy study bill.
State lawmakers advanced a bill that would study — but not take any immediate action on — whether or not Uber and Lyft drivers and other gig economy “independent contractors” should be classified instead as employees.
by | Mar 25, 2021 5:29 pm | Comments (10)
Laura Glesby photo
Housekeeper Everlana Allen with fellow workers at a protest outside the Omni in August 2020.
Following in the steps of New Haven’s Board of Alders, state lawmakers advanced a “worker recall law” that would require Connecticut businesses to give recently laid-off former employees first dibs at returning to their old jobs.
by | Mar 25, 2021 9:49 am | Comments (9)
City of New Haven
An uncovered and rusty exhaust fan at Fair Haven School, juxtaposed with properly covered fans on another rooftop. This photograph was taken last fall when city inspectors discovered widespread long-term neglect in maintenance of schools.
New Haven Public Schools
Tom Breen Pre-Pandemic Photo
Board member Conaway: Bring back people who worked with these machines.
Bringing 19 custodial and maintenance positions back onto the New Haven Public Schools payroll would cost only $80,000 more than outsourcing over the course of five years.
Schools Chief Financial Officer Phillip Penn provided that updated cost estimate to the Board of Education this week.
by | Mar 24, 2021 5:00 pm | Comments (7)
Thomas Breen photo
Rideshare drivers rallying Wednesday outside Union Station.
A state bill to help Uber and Lyft drivers organize unions has made for strange bedfellows: The drivers are lined up with their employers, and against the state AFL-CIO.
Continue reading ‘Uber Bill Splits Labor, Drivers, Big Tech’
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 17, 2021 1:51 pm | Comments (8)
Christopher Peak Pre-Pandemic Photo
CFO Phillip Penn.
Phillip Penn plans to leave his position as New Haven Public Schools’ chief financial officer this summer for a similar role in Hartford Public Schools.
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 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 10, 2021 6:39 pm | Comments (10)
Maya McFadden Photo
Alehya Moseley at the bus stop: What about back-up drivers?
A sudden surge of drivers calling in sick led to ten more cancelations of New Haven bus routes— and riders changing their plans to adjust.
by | Mar 10, 2021 10:52 am | Comments (4)
Staff file photos
Newly promoted Sgts. Lizmarie Almedina, Rosa Melendez, Jasmine Sanders, and Savannah Smith.
Allan Appel pre-pandemic photo
New Chair Evelise Ribeiro with outgoing Chair Anthony Dawson.
Women made strides at the Women’s History Month meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners, where a woman was elected chair and four female officers were promoted to sergeant —as the city’s new female chief held court.
by | Mar 9, 2021 11:08 am | Comments (0)
Courtesy Photo
New Shubert Executive Director Anthony McDonald.
The Shubert Theatre has a new executive director, promising to bring new energy and diversity to downtown’s historic stage as he steps into a role his predecessor commanded for two decades
by | Mar 8, 2021 3:20 pm | Comments (4)
Emily Hays Photo
The Shubert and College Street Music Hall
The action took place offstage and on the street Monday, as a dozen stagehands stood in the cold in front of College Street Music Hall to assert that the concert venue is not willing to offer them the same benefits there as the Shubert Theatre does across the street.
Continue reading ‘Stagehands Picket College Street Music Hall’
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 2, 2021 1:44 pm | Comments (2)
Lt. Clarke receiving his promotion.
Five firefighters became lieutenants Tuesday at the latest meeting of the Board of Fire Commissioners.
by | Feb 25, 2021 2:13 pm | Comments (15)
Five Yale cops responded to the “Call of Duty.”
Unfortunately, they were responding to the video game by that name. Not their job.
And they were on duty.
by | Feb 23, 2021 2:11 pm | Comments (3)
Genevive Walker, the new ConnCAT CEO.
Genevive Walker is taking command of one of New Haven’s leading youth and workforce development nonprofits, the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT).
by | Feb 11, 2021 1:22 pm | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen File Photo
Director of Public Health Nursing Jennifer Vazquez has resigned.
March 12 will be Jennifer Allis Vazquez’s last day as New Haven’s director of public health nursing.
Vazquez has played a prominent role in helping schools partially reopen during the Covid-19 pandemic.
by | Feb 10, 2021 10:33 am | Comments (16)
Thomas Breen File Photo
Construction on the new Q House.
Reward construction firms with a history of hiring women and Black and Latinx workers. Hold companies that fail to meet those goals accountable. And create more of an apprenticeship “pipeline.”
Those and other ideas emerged Tuesday night at the latest task force session on improving city affirmative action laws for contractors and construction workers.
Continue reading ‘Pipeline Proposed For Minority Contracting’
by | Feb 9, 2021 2:35 pm | Comments (4)
Pre-pandemic File Photos
Laurie Lopez on the blight beat in Fair Haven.
Laurie Lopez is about to start a new city job that continues the mission she has pursued with passion for decades in Fair Haven: cleaning up trashed public areas so everyone can enjoy them.
by | Feb 4, 2021 9:16 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
Operators of a newly opened Reentry Welcome Center in Wooster Square are calling on the community to join them in the quest to help formerly incarcerated New Haveners get back on their feet.
by | Feb 4, 2021 6:57 pm | Comments (38)
File Photos
DuBois-Walton (left): Support Officer McKernan. Elicker (center): Officers tried to “de-escalate.” Antunes (right): Suspend Officer Cole.
Gerald Antunes watched a police officer grab a man’s head and punch him in the head. He watched a policewoman step in to stop the pummeling.
Antunes thought back to when he, too, stopped a fellow officer from hitting a suspect.
Continue reading ‘Cop’s Head-Punches Prompt Policing Debate’