Grass-Cutting Crew Readies Dixwell For Freddy

Tim Turner revved to life the engine of an Echo SRM-225 weed wacker and tidied up a grassy plot by a Dixwell Avenue bus stop — as part of a corridor-long cleaning effort to get the neighborhood ready for this weekend’s Freddy Fixer Parade.

Turner has been working with Green Elm Construction’s Rodney Williams, among other Green Elm crew members, and Dixwell Avenue resident Fred Christmas all week mowing grass, trimming weeds, blowing away leaves, and picking up stray trash from the tree belt from Bassett Street on down Dixwell Avenue.

That work resumed late Thursday afternoon near Dixwell and Gibbs Street, where Turner wacked weeds and picked up a plastic takeout container on the street-adjacent greenery by the northbound bus stop.

Williams said that Green Elm’s been doing this Dixwell beautification work to help prep the avenue for this Sunday’s latest annual Freddy Fixer Parade, a decades-old hallmark of New Haven’s Black community that is being organized this year by Diane Brown and Petisia Adger. The parade started as part of an effort to clean up and beautify Dixwell, a goal that has remained a central part of the annual event’s mission.

“I would like people to see what the community could look like,” Williams said about the importance of keeping the grass trimmed and clean for the parade. ​“Dixwell is a major artery” for the city. Staying on top of a tidied tree belt on Dixwell ​“sets a precedent for the side streets,” and encourages neighbors to cut their own lawns too.

Williams and Christmas said that they’ll be hiring more than a dozen local teenagers on Saturday to continue with the greenbelt cleanup.

“This is beautiful,” Christmas said. Turner was straightforward in describing the goal of his weed wacking and lawn mowing on Dixwell: ​“Make it look good,” especially for the parade.

Williams appraised Turner’s work as he walked the weed wacker around the Dixwell-Gibbs bus stop. ​“When you cut it and edge,” he said, it’s like ​“going to the barbershop.” Just tidying up, making the avenue look a little fresher.

Williams and Hudson Meridian Senior Vice President Steve Calicchio said that Hudson Meridian, the developers behind the new 398-unit apartment complex nearby at 201 Munson St., donated $3,500 to make this Dixwell Avenue grass-cleanup work happen.

“We want to build the neighborhood up,” Calicchio said about the motivation for the donation. ​“I’m building in the neighborhood. We’re giving back to the neighborhood by putting up nice housing.” This grass-cutting donation is in that same vein.

And what’s the latest with 201 Munson?

Calicchio said that his company’s ​“90 percent complete” with the development. He predicted being done with the residential portion of construction by the end of July. The pool construction should be complete by the fall.

In fact, Calicchio said, 12 tenants have already moved into the first townhouse style apartments at 201 Munson. That number of residents should increase to 20 by Monday.

A New Haven firefighter who lives near Dixwell and Gibbs, and who declined to share his name for this article, walked out of his home Thursday afternoon as Williams, Turner, and Christmas were cleaning up the tree belt. Williams thanked him for keeping his own lawn trim and clean.

“It’s great,” the firefighter said as he looked up and down the avenue at all the clean green. ​“I wish it wasn’t just for events” but like this all year round.