by | Nov 23, 2016 9:21 am | Comments (16)
Allan Appel Photo
Carlos Alvarado, who sleeps on the back seat of a Honda Civic, picks up his new bag Tuesday.
In addition to eggs, oatmeal, orange juice, yogurt, and granola bars, a special pre-Thanksgiving item appeared on the menu for homeless diners at Wooster Square’s Sunrise Cafe: sleeping bags that can keep them warm when it’s as cold as zero degrees out.
by | Nov 16, 2016 2:04 pm | Comments (2)
Paul Bass Photo
The first delivery of water came even before Williams Tisdale, Donald Williams and Jamal Watts finished planting a new cherry tree on Artizan Street Wednesday.
by | Nov 16, 2016 1:33 pm | Comments (3)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Lloyd behind the controls.
If city zoners say OK, the former home of a Wooster Square auto body shop will become the new home of an Elm City music recording studio.
by | Nov 1, 2016 8:20 am | Comments (2)
The following was submitted by LEAP Executive Director Henry Fernandez about the organization’s Oct. 28. Halloween festivities.
LEAP’s annual Halloween Party was a blast. Hundreds of children, parents, grandparents and volunteers joined for a magical and spooky night complete with games, pumpkin painting, trick-or-treating, movies and a “haunted house” that was in fact a haunted locker room. Here are some highlights.
by | Oct 20, 2016 7:53 am | Comments (10)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Harris at groundbreaking.
Brenda Harris is becoming a minor celebrity at Farnam Courts redevelopment groundbreakings.
The lifelong tenant — shovel in hand and hard hat atop her head — wielded a shovel at the groundbreaking for the now almost-done first phase of the redevelopment at the 75-year-old public-housing complex on Grand Avenue. And she was there again with a shovel Wednesday as phase two of its rebuilding got underway.
by | Oct 19, 2016 11:00 am | Comments (0)
The following was submitted by LEAP.
If you are looking for a fun and safe way to celebrate Halloween with your kids, LEAP has the perfect answer! Join LEAP and our neighbors on Lyon and William Streets for the organization’s annual Community Halloween Festival for children. The Festival will be held Friday, Oct. 28, at LEAP’s community center at 31 Jefferson Street in New Haven from 4:30 to 7:30 pm.
by | Oct 6, 2016 12:07 pm | Comments (8)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Wooster Square neighbors with Holly Parker of Nelson Nygaard.
Imagine State Street handling the same volume of traffic as now, but running straight and in two directions all the way from Grand Avenue to Water Street. Imagine narrower lanes slowing traffic for pedestrians, plus “cycletracks” on either side of the boulevard that divides downtown and Wooster Square.
Continue reading ‘State Street Loop In Planners’ Crosshairs’
by | Sep 25, 2016 10:44 am | Comments (0)
Spencer Bokat-Lindell Photo
Paul Bass File Photo
The late Officer Krause.
One night in 2004, Officer Peter Krause was on duty when he noticed an inebriated young man stumbling through Wooster Square. Instead of arresting the man, Krause — or “Officer Pete” to the neighbors — sat him down on a nearby bench to chat about his night.
When an ambulance arrived, Krause escorted him to the hospital, where the young man was detoxed, and told him that he was free to talk anytime.
by | Sep 21, 2016 1:28 pm | Comments (0)
Aliyya Swaby Photo
Yale Peabody’s Jim Sirch helps unveil student-made sign to mark the habitat entrance.
Students serenade audience before unveiling.
Julie Peterman said the most difficult part of building a habitat behind Conte West Hills School was preparing the ground — given that a 1964 factory burning left pieces of brick and concrete hidden under the soil.
by | Sep 18, 2016 2:04 pm | Comments (3)
Early drawing for proposed 87 Union project.
A Philadelphia developer appears to have reached the end of the line in its efforts to stop competitors from building hundreds of new market-rate apartments at the edge of Wooster Square, connecting the neighborhood to downtown.
by | Sep 14, 2016 5:38 pm | Comments (3)
Paul Bass Photos
Ben Berkowitz shows summiteers the Union Street dog park.
Hausladen on traffic-calmed Olive Street.
Ross Whitsett walked by a crowd of visitors from across the country as he navigated Olive Street on his way downtown for a sandwich. He noticed a man with a suit telling the visitors about traffic-calming.
“There are no crosswalks anywhere around [Wooster] Square!” Whitsett called out to the suited man.
The suited man explained that the state had just paved the neighborhood’s main roads, that restriping will follow soon.
“When’s it going to be painted?” Whitsett pressed.
by | Aug 2, 2016 12:58 pm | Comments (17)
Paul Bass Photo
Morrison at Monday night’s meeting: Monterey’s low-income housing “doesn’t look like ‘low-income housing.’”
A developer won a 20-year tax break worth over $10 million — with a proviso that keeps track of whether low-income renters benefit.
by | Jul 26, 2016 7:44 am | Comments (6)
David Yaffe-Bellany Photo
U-Haul’s Scioritino: Sky’s not falling.
An historic building transformed into a corporate warehouse. A line of noisy trucks speeding through the neighborhood day and night. An opportunity for growth foiled by a chain of broken promises.
by | Jul 25, 2016 2:12 pm | Comments (0)
Aliyya Swaby Photo
Martindale at work.
Wood dust flew in all directions as Chris Martindale sawed down a sick ash tree near Greene Street in Wooster Square Park.
The city parks employee was the one doing the chopping, but the tall tree had already succumbed to the burrowing of a tiny green beetle.
by | Jul 25, 2016 7:50 am | Comments (3)
Rohan Naik Photo
Society members and churchgoers pose with a banner.
Tony Vitolo doesn’t move the way he used to, but in his old age he remains just as passionate about his heritage.
by | Jul 22, 2016 4:28 pm | Comments (16)
File Photo
Cofrancesco at a fire commission meeting.
“Help me! Help me!” Patricia Cofrancesco was screaming.
A crowd formed around her. “Motherfucker, you killed her!” came one yell. Another: “Motherfucker, you’re going to get it now.”
by | Jul 22, 2016 8:15 am | Comments (0)
Daniela Brighenti Photo
Ruel Dixon works as a behavior analyst for Middletown’s public schools. In the afternoons, he gets to change out of his work clothes, put on his large-soled boots and step for what he calls it “the love of the art.”
Continue reading ‘Omegas Heading To Vegas For The Step Crown’
by | Jul 21, 2016 7:52 am | Comments (18)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Engineer Tim Onderko explains plan for future U-Haul site.
Plans to turn the former C. Cowles & Co. factory on Water Street in to a U‑Haul storage facility moved closer to reality, while a developer pulled the plug for now on her own plans to provide boat storage along the Qunnipiac River.
Continue reading ‘Bid Fails To Stop U-Haul Storage Facility’
by | Jul 19, 2016 7:41 am | Comments (8)
If pizza-heavy Wooster Street were laid with cobblestone and lined with a mix of Italian and non-Italian-Amiercan businesses — would it attract more pedestrians?
by | Jul 11, 2016 7:25 am | Comments (7)
Aliyya Swaby Photo
Opposition organizer Kerekes.
State officials scaled back plans for promoting historic preservation in Wooster Square after a small but vocal group of neighbors protested the proposal.
Continue reading ‘Opposition Kills Historic District Expansion’
by | Jun 27, 2016 7:37 am | Comments (14)
Aliyya Swaby Photo
Kerekes: A gateway to more restrictions.
Soto: Opportunity, not risk.
Barbara Iannaconne has spent thousands of dollars on renovations to bring 86 William St. to the modern age from 1870 over the last 29 years. Now she worries that if all of Wooster Square becomes “historic,” she’ll have to spend more money — money she doesn’t have.
by | Jun 24, 2016 7:04 am | Comments (0)
Daniela Brighenti Photo
Standing in front of hundreds, Marie Apicella carefully tugged on one side of a soft, red curtain. On the other side, Anthony Pisanelli did the same, the two unveiling the statue of Saint Andrew the Apostle, the patron saint of Amalfi, Italy.
Continue reading ‘St. Andrew Reappears — & The Party Starts’
by | May 30, 2016 9:40 am | Comments (1)
Allan Appel Photo
Rhoda Zahler Samuel leads pilot walking tour.
The former settlement house site, where Cavaliere played as a boy.
A mission to develop New Haven’s rich ethnic history into structured neighborhood “walks” added some new data: Emiddio Cavaliere’s memories of how kindly old Mr. Gitlitz took care of Italian-American kids like him at the original Farnam Neighborhood House, in Wooster Memorial Park.
Continue reading ‘Walking History Project Mines Wooster Sq.’
by | May 18, 2016 7:28 am | Comments (0)
Aliyya Swaby Photo
Kraus, Yagovane on site.
Clocks retail a buck fifty.
More than half a century after the New Haven Clock Factory closed, the images of long-gone workers on the factory floor and the artists who squatted there after the machines fell silent appeared on the crumbling walls.
by | Apr 21, 2016 10:04 pm | Comments (12)
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Bill Clinton inside Pepe’s Thursday evening.
In Connecticut campaigning for the Democratic presidential campaign of his wife Hillary, former President Bill Clinton surprised the patrons of Wooster Square’s Original Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana at just after 6 p.m. Thursday.