by | Jun 7, 2021 1:32 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photos
Alexandra Daum: Raising bar at the zoning board, cashing in on real estate market.
A top state economic development official and local zoning board member is also a city landlord on the move — actively buying, renovating, managing, and selling rental properties in New Haven’s red-hot housing market.
by | Jun 7, 2021 9:18 am | Comments (2)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Dr. Tiffany Renee Jackson
A twice postponed Arts on Call performance got its chance to shine this past Saturday as renowned classical and jazz vocalist Dr. Tiffany Renée Jackson entertained and educated a grateful audience with a special Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn-centered program in a cozy shaded corner of Wooster Square Park.
by | Jun 1, 2021 8:56 am | Comments (3)
Emily Hays Photos
Senior Camp Wender weeds while junior Ahniya Holder waters.
Senior Johanyx Rodriguez: This color is making me happy.
High School in the Community (HSC) seniors returned to their school building after a year of remote school determined to leave a legacy.
For Camp Wender, that meant revitalizing an old school garden. For Johanyx Rodriguez, it meant creating a coral-colored senior lounge.
by | May 27, 2021 5:04 pm | Comments (4)
Paul Bass Photos
Thanks to lucky timing, the lumber’s arriving at Tower Lane construction site, where Carlos Rivera (below) was hard at work this week.
The money’s still flowing to fuel New Haven’s building boom — but builders are scrambling to meet soaring lumber prices and find materials disappearing in a backed-up international supply chain.
Continue reading ‘Builders Tackle Supply Snags, Price Hikes’
by | May 25, 2021 3:49 pm | Comments (1)
Paul Bass Photo
Eugene Dawson on work break, with “Capricornia.”
Eugene Dawson took a break from building one of New Haven’s new apartment complexes to summon the spirit of the stars and a child’s possibilities.
by | May 25, 2021 9:27 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photos
There was already one message written on the large black circle with the prompt “I hope,” written in several languages. That first inscribed message read “that our memories will not all be of darkness.”
The disk was located at the entrance to the Wooster Square Farmer’s Market this past Saturday morning. A woman with a child in a stroller approached the disk with a white marker. She knelt and added her own message. Within the hour, many more would follow.
by | May 14, 2021 4:48 pm | Comments (6)
Maya McFadden Photo
The scene at 335 St. John after this week’s partial collapse.
Maybe there was no car.
And maybe that raises questions about why a 169-year-old building partially collapsed in Wooster Square.
by | May 13, 2021 12:46 pm | Comments (13)
Maya McFadden Photos
335 St. John St., the morning after.
Benedict Aarestrup, with Selma, after vacating next-door apartment.
Crews are trying to save a multi-family house after a portion of it collapsed overnight.
by | Apr 30, 2021 8:45 am | Comments (0)
Persephone Hoffman / James Hillhouse High School
“Foraged Picnic”
The following is a poem written by Metropolitan Business Academy student Keiara Orr and republished from the magazine Elm City Sage.
by | Apr 26, 2021 8:52 am | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photos
Rae’gean Oakley with park’s new barrels.
Technically, the annual festival was canceled. Crowds still turned out for the second straight weekend to enjoy Wooster Square Park’s cherry blossoms — with the addition of a year-round tribute to their brilliance.
Continue reading ‘Public Art (Cherry) Blossoms In Wooster Sq.’
by | Apr 14, 2021 10:33 am | Comments (5)
Sarah Bass Photos
The magnificent cherry blossoms have begun their annual display of natural beauty in Wooster Square Park.
Continue reading ‘Covid Kills This Year’s Cherry Blossom Festival — But Not The Blossoms’
by | Apr 12, 2021 4:18 pm | Comments (1)
Emily Hays Photos
Al Proto: Grand was the Avenue of the Americas.
A vaudeville theater becomes a church. A church becomes a parole office. An integrated boys’ swim club becomes a swim-focused nonprofit.
A group of dedicated ethnic historians sketched out these transformations and more neighborhood lore in what will eventually become an official Grand Avenue tour.
by | Apr 8, 2021 9:52 am | Comments (5)
Gary Bimonte, at right, demonstrating his pie chops for a 2016 airing of Vice Media’s Pizza Show
Gary Bimonte, co-owner of Wooster Square’s legendary Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, died Wednesday night after a heart attack, police reported.
by | Mar 29, 2021 9:00 am | Comments (14)
Alder Ellen Cupo, Hunter Ian Cupo Dunn and Alli Warshaw at Saturday’s cleanup.
Emily Hays Photos
Dominic Warshaw wanted to meet their neighbors.
Roughly 30 people came out Saturday to Lyon Street and William Street for a “gayborhood” cleanup, with a dual focus on beautifying the blocks and meeting fellow LGBTQ neighbors.
by | Mar 17, 2021 5:55 pm | Comments (2)
Courtney Luciana photo
Loretta and Louis Abate.
Regardless of lines going out of the door of New Haven’s renowned “Little Italy” restaurants, many owners didn’t think they were going to make it through the pandemic.
Continue reading ‘Wooster Square Rolls With Pandemic, Ready For Spring Rejuvenation’
by | Feb 25, 2021 10:58 am | Comments (16)
Dylan Sloan photo
Parisi, outside Wooster Square apt.: Rent’s too damn high.
A Wooster Square woman facing a $150 monthly rent hike has appealed to state court — putting on trial, so to speak, the way New Haven’s Fair Rent Commission handles landlord-tenant disputes.
by | Feb 19, 2021 12:45 pm | Comments (3)
Google photos
35-145 Cooper Pl.
A New Jersey investor has expanded his west side residential holdings by picking up a 137-unit Upper Westville apartment complex for $21 million — more than double the value the city places on the properties.
by | Feb 17, 2021 12:08 pm | Comments (0)
Laura Glesby Photo
The pole and its new support system, which tower 40 feet.
A 40-foot utility support pole plunked in the flowerbed at the corner of Wooster and Olive streets will return to its original location across the street, on a block being transformed into a six-story apartment complex.
The developer who first moved the pole made this promise to Wooster Square neighbors Tuesday evening.
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 1, 2021 10:32 am | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photo
Honda Smith and Andrea Daniels-Singleton in the kitchen before hitting the road to deliver meals in West Hills.
As temperatures swooped below freezing, New Haveners delivered sustenance to their neighbors: bags of prepared beef and potatoes for seniors in West Hills, groceries for hungry families in the Hill, Mystic cheese and locally produced honey for farmers market shoppers in Wooster Square.
Continue reading ‘1 Day, 3 Pivots: Neighbors Feed Neighbors’
by | Jan 29, 2021 4:23 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen pre-pandemic photo
Mendel Paris (left), the new owner of the former “Paradise” property at and behind 86 Fitch (below).
Local landlord Mendel Paris has purchased the former west-side headquarters of a scandal-plagued landscaping company, in one of the city’s latest property transactions.
by | Jan 20, 2021 1:48 pm | Comments (46)
Luke Melonakos-Harrison: “We’re facing a housing crisis of almost unimaginable proportions.”
Ahead of an anticipated deluge of evictions, advocates are pushing for the state to guarantee legal representation for tenants who find themselves in housing court.
by | Jan 15, 2021 5:02 pm | Comments (7)
Maya McFadden Photo
Matt Grabel: What’s that smell?
Matt Grabel caught a whiff of something that smelled like a gas leak coming from his basement. His Wooster Square neighbors smelled it, too, in their homes.
by | Jan 14, 2021 10:27 am | Comments (0)
Parker, Benton, Chew.
Drums, keys, and guitar meander for just a moment. A sampled voice intones, “the city, the city, the city — the city of Townsville.” Then adds, almost at a scream, “is under attack!” The instruments snap into focus, digging into an urgent groove that’s one part anxiety, three parts creative energy. “Watch me go!” Moon Cha sings, mixing fear and exhilaration.
It’s from “Mojo Jojo,” the second song off of 900 Grand, a new album from a new band, Mightymoonchew, that combines the talents of three young New Haven musicians — Thailend Parker (a.k.a. Moon Cha) on vocals and guitar, Marcus-Aurelius C. Benton on keys, and Chris Chew on drums — who mine the chaos of 2020 to blaze a wide trail into 2021.
Continue reading ‘Mightymoonchew Captures The Summer of 2020’
by | Dec 24, 2020 10:26 am | Comments (2)
Bruce Seymour Photos
“I was walking past Lucibello’s this morning,” Bruce Seymour wrote in on Thursday after visiting the Grand Avenue Italian pastry shop, “and was inspired to send you these pictures.
“The line runs AROUND the building. Everyone socially distancing, and getting some of the best cookies in the world.