Alders Walk, Knock For Fair Haven’s Future

“There used to be flowers here,” Claudia Herrera remembered as the Fair Haven/East Rock alder approached a litter-strewn triangular island at the intersection of Monroe and Alton Streets.

“Claudia, this should be a cleanup site,” suggested Herrera’s colleague, fellow Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller.

They noted down the intersection as one place they could gather neighbors to help beautify in the future — and then moved on in their day’s mission to find more neglected corners to ​“adopt” and spruce up to help make Fair Haven that much better of a place to live.

On Sunday afternoon, the pair of legislators embarked on the first of many such walks about Fair Haven together, marking a new collaboration between two of the six alders representing Fair Haven. 

They were joined by a handful of constituents and Fair Haven top cop Lt. Michael Fumiatti on a mission to knock on neighbors’ doors, identify infrastructure that needs improvement, and encourage residents to keep their political representatives updated on the quality of life where they live.

For this inaugural neighborhood walk, the group focused on Peck and Monroe Streets in the Fair Haven section of Ward 9. They planned to visit Ward 14’s stretch of Fair Haven closer to the Quinnipiac River two weeks later.

Walking along with the group, street outreach worker Frankie Redente, Jr., who grew up and still lives in the area, recalled that as a kid, he was forbidden from walking by ​“the triangle” at the Alton-Monroe intersection because of his parents’ concerns about the area’s safety.

“All this stone used to be a wall,” he marveled at the rubble of slate largely covered by overgrown grass.

“This is an improvement” compared to how the triangle looked a few months prior, said Herrera.

The group walked one block further to Castle Street, the quiet block where Herrera lives. ​“This corner was the worst of the worst” when she moved there two decades ago, she said. ​“This house” — she pointed across the street — ​“used to be full of drugs.”

Years ago, Herrera and her neighbors formed a block watch of sorts, using a system they called ​“adopt-a-corner.” They organized neighborhood clean-ups, planted trees with help from the Urban Resources Initiative, and reported quality-of-life concerns to police and city officials.

That spirit of adopting a corner is a culture Herrera and Miller hope to revive among their Fair Haven neighbors. To Herrera, her Castle Street corner is proof that ​“what we’re doing now, it works.” 

The very first elm tree she helped plant is sturdy now, with branches long enough to shelter the sidewalk.

Most of the residents that Miller and Herrera approached responded warmly to their visit. 

Tracey Campbell told the alders that she had just moved to Peck Street, and had lived in the southern section of Fair Haven about nine years prior. This area, she said, is more peaceful — ​“it’s actually quiet.” She said she doesn’t have any complaints.

“Is everyone in this house registered to vote?” asked Miller.

Campbell thought for a moment. ​“I don’t think my son is.” 

Miller handed her a registration form and offered to pick it up later to drop off at City Hall.

“It means a lot that they came,” Campbell said as the alders moved on to the next house. She said she’d never met her alder before.

Peck & Blatchley = Car Crash Central

At one Peck Street house, a resident who identified herself as Erika approached the canvassers with trepidation.

She turned to the one person she recognized: her neighbor, Petisia Agder. ​“I got a text from my dad saying the cops are in our yard,” she said.

Agder and the alders reassured Erika that her family wasn’t in trouble; they were simply visiting to introduce themselves. 

Over the course of the conversation, Erika seemed more at ease. She’s lived in that house her entire life, she said — for 29 years. As a child, she wasn’t allowed to wander far. Now that she’s grown up, she’s become wary of the fast-going traffic on Peck Street.

“This not being a one-way is terrifying,” she said, referring to Peck. Cars speed frequently in multiple directions, she described. Monroe, meanwhile, is supposed to be a one-way street, but she frequently sees cars driving in the wrong direction.

Another concern is that ​“school buses park all along the street,” which is close to the Achievement First charter school known as Elm City College Prep, Erika said. She added that the row of tall buses makes it hard to safely pull out of the driveway.

Over the course of the afternoon, Ward 9 residents raised concerns about loud barking sounds emanating from the Paw Haven dog daycare center across the train tracks and a car that’s been abandoned on the street for months. That facility is the subject of an ongoing noise-related lawsuit filed by Adger.

The canvassers snapped photos of fallen street signs and broken-up sidewalks to report to See Click Fix.

Most commonly, Peck Street residents echoed Erika’s concerns about traffic.

Olga Rivera, who joined the canvassers from her house on Blatchley Avenue, has found a mission in drawing city officials’ attention to the intersection of Blatchley and Peck. That intersection, which often greets cars speeding off of the highway, has seen car crashes for decades.

Rivera estimated that in the summer, there are two crashes a month. 

There’s no traffic light there; only two stop signs and a blinking yellow light.

To Rivera, that infrastructure isn’t enough. She wants to see a fully-functional, tri-color traffic light. Maybe even a speed table.

One couple told the canvassers that they’d witnessed six car crashes on Peck Street.

Philip Wright has lived on the street for more than two decades, and said that perilous traffic incidents are a ​“weekly thing” on Peck Street. 

“Obviously, the stop sign and the blinking light isn’t working,” Wright said

“We’re going to do a follow-up,” Herrera promised as Wright accepted a flyer with the alders’ contact information.