David Yaffe-Bellany Photo
A paving crew on South Genesee Street.
New Haven is well known for its pizza. But it might be looking toward the nation’s biggest pizza chain to help stretch its dough — its paving dough, that is.
Alders could pave the way for the Elm City to accept a grant from Domino’s Paving for Pizza Project. The Harp administration has submitted a request tot he Board of Alders to allow the city to apply for and accept a $5,000 grant from the pizza chain’s paving project.
A report from City Plan recommends that the city move forward with the request. Alders received that recommendation as a communication during their most recent bi-monthly meeting at City Hall Tuesday night.
The request is part of a project between the CSA and students at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School. Should the city be granted the money, Domino’s also would throw in a little extra for a pizza party for the students to celebrate on the day that pothole repairs are made in the city, according to a report provided by the City Plan staff.
The grant would be used for potholes and paving near Coop High. City Plan staff pointed out in its report that though improvements have been made near the downtown school on College Street, particularly with new on-street parking between Crown and George Streets but new projects like the forthcoming RMS hotel at George and High Street have had an impact. Staff also noted that the Department of Public Works keeps busy fixing potholes. Using SeeClickFix, the department repaired 638 potholes in 2016, and 763 in 2017.
Should the city be given the grant, it must use the $5,000 strictly for filling potholes and paving to be completed this fall, according to the report.
The city and Coop also might be part of the pizza chain’s national marketing campaign to showcase its brand. (Domino’s has left its mark on the towns and cities where it has paved, stamping its logo over repaired holes.) Earlier this year, Domino’s, which got its start in another college town, Ann Arbor, Mich., surpassed Pizza Hut as the largest chain pizzamaker in the world based on its global retail sales. Around mid-2018 it began providing grants to cities and towns to repair their streets, with a goal of touching all 50 states.
Domino’s spokeswoman Jenny Fouracre-Petko said the company is not releasing the names of the cities and towns that have applied for the grants but said the requests are “in the tens of thousands.”
Westville Alder Adam Marchand, who serves on the City Plan Commission, said that the idea to apply for the grant was well received by commissioners and generated little discussion at last month’s meeting.
So far, Paving for Pizza has filled potholes in Bartonville, Texas, Burbank, Calif., Athens, Ga., and Milford, Del. Domino’s recently announced plans to do the same in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., Fitchburg, Mass., Kinston, N.C., Des Moines, Iowa, Marion, Texas, Havre, Mon., Milwaukee, Wis., Hamtramck, Mich., Grand Forks, N.D., New Orleans, La., and Jackson, Miss.
Though the Elm City wasn’t chosen in this round, there still might be time given the company’s goal of filling potholes in every state.
The cash-strapped city might be turning to Domino’s for a little help to make its road repair dollars go further, but it knows where it stands in the hierarchy of delicious pizza pie.
“As New Haven is the unrivaled pizza capital of the United States the Commission is compelled to highlight our national significance, quality, and innovation,” City Plan staffers wrote in their report. “New Haven not only is home to standard-bearers in Pepe’s, Sally’s and Modern but also to anchor establishments in neighborhoods like Grand Pizza in Fair Haven and Ernie’s on Whalley Avenue. Domino’s has been able to thrive in our highly competitive marketplace, which is a testament to their product’s longstanding base of support.”