West River

Judge: City Dragged Feet On Lead

by | Jun 27, 2018 3:17 pm | Comments (4)

Thomas Breen photos

West River tenant Jennifer Williams and her 2-year-old son, Elijah Hall.

Legal aid’s Amy Marx, city’s John Rose, Jr. clash in court for 3 hours.

A Superior Court judge ordered the city to pay for the relocation of two West River tenants to an area hotel through late July in the court’s latest rebuke of the city Health Department’s handling of child lead poisoning cases.

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City Sued Over Handling Of Lead Poisonings

by | Jun 7, 2018 7:54 am | Comments (4)

Thomas Breen photo

Jennifer Williams and her son Elijah Hall.

The upstairs tenants of a West River home at the center of an ongoing legal battle over city lead inspection protocol have filed a lawsuit against the city for failing to protect a child’s health with the timely investigation and enforcement of the abatement of lead paint hazards.

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Nature — Or Blight?

by | May 29, 2018 7:17 am | Comments (17)

Thomas Breen photo

Delroy May: “We just plant vegetables.”

The back lot of 74 Porter, subject of LCI order.

Come back next month, Delroy May and Sylvia Stephens promise, and you’ll see organic vegetables starting to grow.

Right now, a city inspector ruled, he sees a blighted mess and a potential safe haven for rodents — and has ordered it cleaned up.

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City’s Lead Inspection Goes On Trial

by | May 24, 2018 7:20 pm | Comments (15)

Lead inspector Glenda Buenaventura on the stand Thursday.

Thomas Breen Photos

Amy Marx (right) introduces new evidence in support of her post-abatement concerns.

The city said a family could move a poisoned child back into a West River apartment.

A judge ruled otherwise — after hearing the city lead-paint inspector get grilled on the stand.

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2nd Child Poisoned; Where’s The City?

by | May 8, 2018 4:08 pm | Comments (10)

Thomas Breen photo

Jennifer Williams and her son Elijah, out grocery shopping.

A second child at a West River home has tested as having elevated blood lead levels just two weeks after his downstairs neighbors received a temporary stay on their eviction because of lead paint levels found throughout an apartment — a problem for which both sides ultimately blame the city’s health department.

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High Lead Levels Stall Eviction

by | Apr 27, 2018 1:58 pm | Comments (22)

Thomas Breen photo

Tenants Muhammad (right), his wife Akhdar, and their four children.

A New Haven housing court judge ordered the landlord of a two-family house in the West River neighborhood to temporarily relocate the first-floor tenants he is trying to evict until he can prove that the high lead levels on the walls, doors, windows, and floors of his building are not unduly toxic for the young parents and their four young children.

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Displaced Tenants Must Find New Homes

by | Feb 26, 2018 11:21 pm | Comments (8)

Markeshia Ricks Photos

Firefighter leads family into 66 Norton to retrieve belongings.

Elsa and Emily reunited (and it feels so good).

Elsa Bradley got to return home” for a few minutes Monday, in the company of a firefighter — and left reunited with Emily, the beloved parakeet she left behind in a building feared ready to collapse.

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Displaced Tenants’ Next Move Uncertain

by | Feb 23, 2018 6:15 pm | Comments (13)

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Shelly Sutherland, Elsa Bradley at the Three Judges Friday.

New Haven Building Department photo

An eroded support beam in the basement of 66 Norton. The beam has a large hole caused by rot and decay.

A day after having suddenly to gather their belongings within 45 minutes to flee their structurally unsafe apartment building, Shelly Sutherland and Dwain Perkins and their three children were holed up in a dingy motel room with no way to cook food or heat their baby’s bottle — and no idea where they’re headed next.

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80 Relocated After Apartments Condemned

by | Feb 23, 2018 12:02 am | Comments (12)

Thomas Breen Photo

Tenant “Q” and her two kids prepare to retrieve belongings.

Hillhouse high sophomore Angel Fletcher, leaves 66 Norton after packing his bags.

Eighty New Haveners had 45 minutes to pack up their belongings and flee their homes Thursday night when officials temporarily condemned a 41-unit apartment complex on Norton Street because of unsafe conditions.

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Mini-Marts Belong ... Where?

by | Aug 10, 2017 1:11 pm | Comments (5)

Christopher Peak Photos

Former Santa Fleet station; attorney Tim Yolen (inset).

If no one lives near a convenience store, can it truly be considered convenient?

New Haven planning boards are mulling over that Zen-like koan as they consider the merits of allowing a gas station and convenience store to open at 670 Ella T. Grasso Blvd., near the thoroughfare’s intersection with Boston Post Road.

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“3 Musketeers” Run Jointly For Reelection

by | Jun 28, 2017 2:28 pm | Comments (4)

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Hamilton, Douglass and Walker at the announcement.

They’ve worked together to fight blight and slumlords and to plan for development on Route 34. Now the three alders — dubbed Three the Hard Way” and the Three Musketeers” — representing Dwight, Edgewood and West River are seeking another term to focus in on jobs for their constituents.

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