Litter-Busters Hit Grand Avenue

Carmen Mendez popped by Dayvett’s Gifts with a plea, and a warning: ​“Please be kind and help us keep Fair Haven clean and green. Please pick up litter and do not put bulk trash out illegally.”

The warning was written on a flyer. Mendez, Fair Haven’s neighborhood specialist from City Hall’s Livable City Initiative (LCI), brought a stack of the flyers to distribute Saturday on Grand Avenue as part of a campaign to clean up the lively commercial corridor.

Mendez was joined on her rounds by Darlene Casella, a longtime Fair Haven resident who’s on the board of the community management team, and management team Co-Chair and neighborhood organizer Lee Cruz.

The crew delivered packets to businesses containing rules and regulations on litter, as well as flyers to discourage their customers from littering. They also heard about challenges the business face, and promised help.

“We’re riding the coattails of the good work the community did over at the Grand Cafe,” Mendez said, referring to the evening ​“occupations” of the East Pearl Street watering hole’s parking lot by Fair Haveners in September to calm a violent hotspo.

The anti-litter campaign goes to the ground level of the crime problem, Mendez said.

“We’re attacking the litter problem because it sends the message that this is a place that doesn’t care about itself, that doesn’t watch over itself,” she said.

It’s also good business. ​“When you see sidewalks in a shopping district littered with trash, you might think twice about going inside,” Casella said.

The aim, she said, ​“is to change people’s mindsets, and that begins with the merchants understanding their responsibility to the community and letting their customers know that littering is not OK.”

“We’re just giving merchants a warning right now, because the enforcement is coming up,” Mendez said, as she crossed Atwater Street. ​“They get a notice, and then they have 10 days to cure, and if they don’t, they get a citation which is $100 per day per violation.”

At Dayvett’s Gifts, at 259 Grand Ave., owner Inis Valdez was in the back, making decorations by hand for a baby shower. All manner of gowns — for baptisms, quinceañeras, and weddings — crowded the front of her shop.

“This is an education flyer,” Mendez told her. ​“It talks about keeping New Haven clean, it talks about the law, the rules, stuff like that. Whenever you have someone come in, think about giving them this flyer, hopefully it will help keep her sidewalk litter-free.”

Valdez said she would do it. ​“She’s committed to keeping her area clean,” Mendez said. ​“That’s pride. She’s been here since 2002, and her business survived Covid, that’s how popular it is. I mean, look at these dresses. She’s got a nice selection here.”

People’s Laundromat on 238 Grand Ave was bustling. The owner was not there. Nor was the manager. Mendez introduced herself to an employee. She handed her a stack of flyers.

They talked in Spanish for a while. ​“We’ll do it. We’ll keep it clean,” the employee told Mendez. But then she added that drug use takes place in the back of the property. She said employees call the police ​“all the time,” but they don’t always come.

Mendez promised to help. Before heading out, she gave the employee her business card.

The next stop was Green Place Nutrition, a purveyor of Herbalife Nutrition products. There was a customer at the juice bar, sipping from a tall glass.

“I try to keep the outside nice, but it’s very hard during the business day, and litter is definitely a problem,” said Laura Roldan, one of the business’s partners. Roldan said she also works in Guilford. ​“People won’t come to this area because they say it’s dirty and dangerous. The litter contributes to that.” 

At Cositas Deliciosas, on 271 Grand Ave., smoothie enthusiasts crowded the narrow aisle. Merengue music blared.

There was no sign of the owners, Miguel Xicohtencatl and Cecilia Serrano, who live upstairs, according to Cruz.

The cashier agreed littering is a problem. She promised Mendez to tell the owner, and thanked her for the card.

​“My general sense is that these merchants are genuinely concerned about the litter,” Mendez said. ​“It’s a serious issue for them, and they’re willing to do what it takes. That tells me they do care about the neighborhood.”

“What I learned today was they’re also concerned with issues that go beyond litter, quality of life issues,” she said amid the suddenly lively sidewalk traffic. ​“Talking about litter was the opening, and that gave them the opportunity to talk to me about other things, and gave them someone they could contact.”

She stopped for a moment, pointing out a building under construction that will house a breakfast place.

“For all the problems, it’s surprising to most people how much this little area thrives,” she said. ​“These merchants have a real entrepreneurial spirit. That’s why it’s so important to take that extra step of cleaning up the litter.

“That’s why,” she said, ​“we’ll keep coming back, until that happens.”