by | Mar 28, 2022 4:37 pm | Comments (15)
Police chief job posting, on city-hired consultant's web page.
Mayor Justin Elicker on Monday: Survey coming soon.
Interested candidates can now apply to become New Haven’s next permanent police chief.
by | Mar 28, 2022 1:21 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photos
City community resilience director Carlos Sosa-Lombardo (second from left) with social services chief Mehul Dalal, Rev. Abraham Hernandez, and Continuum of Care CEO Patti Walker.
Thomas Breen photo
New uniforms and logos for COMPASS team.
The Elicker Administration’s proposed non-cop emergency response initiative has a new name, new uniforms, a new subcontractor charged with sending out social workers to certain 911 calls — as well as $2 million of newly approved federal support.
What the long-delayed project still does not yet have, however, is a new start date for when its pilot program will actually begin.
Continue reading ‘Crisis Response Plan Gets $2M, Subcontractor’
by | Mar 28, 2022 9:29 am | Comments (7)
At virtual court hearing, clockwise from top left: Prosecutor Lisa D'Angelo, Angelo Reyes, defense attorney Alex Taubes, Judge Gerald Harmon.
As tears rolled down his face, a Fair Haven developer pleaded with a judge to reduce his 25-year prison sentence after considering his poor health, loving family, model behavior behind bars, and professed innocence of the two arson convictions that have left him incarcerated for the past half-decade.
Continue reading ‘Fair Haven Arsonist Seeks Sentence Reduction’
by | Mar 25, 2022 1:10 pm | Comments (10)
Johnathan Cruz outside his Beers Street apartment building.
Johnathan Cruz is ready to leave Connecticut and return to New York City.
He just wishes that a state judge had given him and his 3‑year-old son a bit more time to vacate their Beers Street apartment.
Continue reading ‘"Lapse" Eviction OK'd After Sec. 8 Debate’
by | Mar 24, 2022 11:56 am | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
Dean Howard in his Frederick Street apartment.
After breaking both of his feet and fracturing his kneecap in a scooter crash on Whalley Avenue, Dean Howard fell behind on rent — and got hit with an eviction lawsuit.
His Stamford-based landlord has now withdrawn the case, after Howard caught up on what he owed with the help of his employer, his dad, and a state assistance program.
by | Mar 23, 2022 5:58 pm | Comments (29)
Seniors turn out Wednesday to hear from town officials and Hamden Plaza's owner about shopping-center safety.
Miller Memorial Library employee Kathy Galasso wasn’t at work Wednesday — but she sent a public explanation to her boss and 100 fellow seniors from her “uncomfortable hospital bed” where she is currently recovering from two pelvic fractures sustained during a broad daylight carjacking at the Hamden Plaza.
Continue reading ‘After Plaza Attack, Seniors Press Officials’
by | Mar 23, 2022 9:06 am | Comments (7)
An owner-occupant landlord in the Hill won permission to evict two of her downstairs tenants as she tries to modify her mortgage loan and find new renters.
Continue reading ‘Hill Landlord Prevails In "Lapse" Eviction’
by | Mar 21, 2022 9:24 pm | Comments (17)
Paul Bass Photo
Cousin Ranisa Sweat, close friend Nevaeh Kellman at evening vigil.
Contributed
Keiron Jones.
Keiron Jones, a Hillhouse High School junior who was acing his classes and seemed bound for college, died Monday from injuries suffered in a shooting.
Continue reading ‘Hillhouse Junior Shot Dead; Recalled As Warm Young Man Focused On A Bright Future’
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 21, 2022 9:05 am | Comments (4)
A 74-year-old woman was hospitalized with “serious injuries” after someone attacked her and stole her car in the Hamden Plaza parking lot.
by | Mar 18, 2022 2:16 pm | Comments (8)
Case unfolds in virtual court.
A local landlord struck out on his second attempt to evict a Norton Street tenant — as his lawyer promised to file a third lawsuit soon.
by | Mar 16, 2022 6:30 pm | Comments (1)
Police are investigating an apparently untimely death on the west side of town.
by | Mar 16, 2022 12:35 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen file photo
A Covid test at former Murphy clinic in Day Street park.
A federal judge has thrown out six of eight counts in a Covid-test-reimbursement lawsuit filed by Dr. Murphy (pictured) against Cigna.
Doctors can’t sue insurers under the CARES Act for withholding Covid-test reimbursements, a federal judge ruled — as part of a broader order that dismissed much of a lawsuit filed by pandemic “profiteer” Dr. Steven Murphy against the insurance giant Cigna.
by | Mar 15, 2022 4:46 pm | Comments (11)
Mandy Mgt.'s Menachem Gurevitch, attorney Ari Hoffman in court Tuesday.
A Mandy-owned property at 29 Dickerman St.
A state judge ordered the owner of the local megalandlord company Mandy Management to pay $5,250 in fines after he pleaded guilty to 21 different housing code violations at a handful of New Haven rental properties.
Continue reading ‘Judge Fines Megalandlord $5K For 21 Violations’
by | Mar 14, 2022 10:58 am | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
Acting Chief Dominguez (right) at Thursday's presser.
The city has begun looking for a contractor to install 500 police surveillance cameras across New Haven as part of a federal-relief-funded effort to prevent and solve shootings and homicides.
Mayor Justin Elicker and Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez made that announcement Thursday during a crime-update press conference on the third floor of police headquarters at 1 Union Ave.
Elicker said that the city has posted a Request for Proposals (RFP) to find a contractor who will help roll out an expansion of the police department’s video surveillance network.
The Board of Alders signed off on that expansion in December when local legislators overwhelmingly approved the Elicker Administration’s request to spend $12 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money on a host of public safety and technology initiatives. That allocation includes $3.8 million to buy and install 500 new surveillance cameras at crime hotspots around the city.
The RFP that the city recently posted is looking for a company “that would bring in the cameras,” Dominguez said on Thursday, “bring in everything we need, and also do the work of putting them up and connecting them so that we would be able to connect to our current system.”
The RFP itself, which can be read in full here, goes into greater detail as to what the city is looking for with this surveillance-camera-expansion project.
According to the city’s Public Purchasing Portal, the Elicker Administration first posted the camera-expansion RFP on Feb. 17. The last day for companies to apply for the bid is March 22.
“The City of New Haven (the “City”), is requesting Proposals from qualified firms to provide design, installation and configuration of up to 500 cameras to expand its camera network,” the document’s introduction reads. “This includes, but is not limited to, camera system design (i.e. camera and network equipment, installation, configuration), all associated camera system equipment (i.e. servers, storage, cameras, housings, software, network infrastructure, cabling, wiring, point to point and access points) and installation in coordination with the existing citywide camera system and network.”
It states the city’s camera system currently includes “over 250 cameras throughout [New Haven’s] 18 square miles providing coverage at key facilities and through neighborhood corridors, parks, business districts and hot spots.”
It also says that the city’s Camera Network Video Recorder (NVR) system is overseen by the city’s Department of Information Technology and the Chief Administrator’s Office, and is “guided by an interdepartmental working group comprised of its major users including the Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking, the Police Department, the Chief Administrator’s Office, Information Technology and the City’s Controller.”
The city’s current camera infrastructure “includes an array of connections from dark fiber to microwave point to point links. The City operates all its cameras based off Milestones NVR. The system contains many pieces of infrastructure, multiple network sites and multiple servers in multiple locations.”
The services that the city is looking for a contractor to complete for this project, meanwhile, are focused on the design and implementation of a camera program expansion “for the Police Department to ensure that coverage is maximized to capture evidence related to crime and accidents.”
The RFP asks for a prospective contractor to include a “structured price plan” for four different scenarios. To quote directly from the RFP, those scenarios include:
• Replacing a camera with existing infrastructure to an Axis camera. Intersections are typically 4 way cameras and monitoring cameras are typically a PTZ camera.
• Adding a Camera to fixed Point to Point mesh network utilizing carrier grade equipment (cambium or Motorola is our preferred vendor)
• Replacing a tower Based Microwave link with a new private frequency that is registered with the FCC.
• Creating new infrastructure via Fiber at a cost per foot.
“The successful Respondent will not use access to the City’s Camera System or facilities for any unlawful purpose and shall comply with all valid rules and regulations applicable to the premises or the businesses conducted on the premises,” the RFP reads. “The vendors will not access or view the city’s NVR system without first getting direct written consent from the IT Department.”
The RFP states that the contractor shall have at five years of experience in “enterprise camera system services,” as well as five years working directly with a local government, among other qualifications.
The RFP does not state a specific dollar amount for the expected cost of the camera-expansion work. Rather, it says that the contractor “will be paid based upon a percentage completion of the total project design.”
by | Mar 11, 2022 12:19 pm | Comments (3)
Trequon Lawrence.
Half a year since 27-year-old Trequon Lawrence was murdered, his family is looking to help others grieving over other unsolved homicides.
Continue reading ‘Slain Man's Family Launches Foundation To Spread Healing And Peace’
by | Mar 10, 2022 1:33 pm | Comments (9)
Thomas Breen photo
Chief Dominguez (right) at Thursday's presser.
City police have made six arrests and obtained a warrant for a seventh for various shooting incidents that took place between May of last year and Thursday.
by | Mar 10, 2022 8:46 am | Comments (7)
THE COMMUNITY BUILDERS, INC. image
Draft rendering of new apartment building.
Emily Hays file photo
Kensington Playground.
Maybe the developer will build around the trees?
A city-hired attorney offered that defense in state court during the latest hearing about whether or not New Haven violated a state environmental law by agreeing to sell a Dwight public greenspace.
Continue reading ‘Park Case Q: Might Trees Remain Standing?’
by | Mar 9, 2022 4:00 pm | Comments (13)
Capt. Zannelli: New policy in line with state mandates.
Police commissioners unanimously signed off on a new alcohol and drug policy that adds anabolic steroids to its list of prohibited substances, and that maintains a departmental ban on marijuana use — even though the state has newly legalized recreational cannabis.
Continue reading ‘New Police Drug Policy Approved; Cops May Not Toke’
by | Mar 9, 2022 3:59 pm | Comments (1)
Hamden police charged a 19-year-old man Tuesday with shooting dead Herman Bellamy on Jan. 15.
by | Mar 9, 2022 9:02 am | Comments (4)
Zoom images
Newly promoted detectives, clockwise from top left: Allyn Wright, Maegan Moran, Samantha Romano, and Larnell Jackson.
City police commissioners unanimously signed off on 10 new promotions designed to fill vacancies in the detective bureau.
by | Mar 7, 2022 6:33 pm | Comments (5)
NHFD
One of the burned-out cars.
(Updated) Someone lit four cars on fire in Fair Haven, on a night when a stolen car also ended up in the Edgewood Duck Pond.
Continue reading ‘Arsonist Torches 4 Vehicles; Stolen Car Pulled Out Of Duck Pond’
by | Mar 7, 2022 2:51 pm | Comments (1)
Lisa Craggett, mother of New Haven gun violence victim Jacob Craggett, appearing in True Conviction episode.
Eight years after a murder upended their lives, members of a New Haven family are about to tell their story to a national audience.
by | Mar 4, 2022 5:03 pm | Comments (12)
In virtual court Friday. Clockwise from left: Assistant Corp Counsel Blake Sullivan, Judge Michael Kamp, plaintiff attorney Jerald Barber.
Sharpen your pencils and get ready for some close — and contested — readings of the city charter and code of ordinances, in an ongoing legal case that may influence who helms the police department.
by | Mar 4, 2022 3:48 pm | Comments (3)
Thomas Breen photo
Chief Dominguez (right) Friday with the mayor and Whitaker's family.
City police have arrested a 23-year-old man from the Hill for allegedly shooting and killing Richard Whitaker, Jr. on Columbus Avenue in June 2021.