Gazebo Government Delivers An Answer

The people who run Brenda Olmedo’s government came to a park near her home to hear how to do better. Olmedo was ready with a four-year-old complaint.

The occasion was a ​“Meet the Mayor” event held after sundown Tuesday in the Edgewood Park gazebo.

Some mobile lighting, courtesy of the NHFD, illuminated the premises like a 1950s sci-fi movie set as the first officials gathered and prepared for the crowd.

Mayor Justin Elicker brought with him to the event top officials and neighborhood representatives from his parks and public works, economic development, police, engineering, and anti-blight agencies to meet one on one with Edgewood, Beaver Hills, and Westville neighbors at different tables. He told the crowd he hopes to connect government more with people at the grassroots and make it more responsive in his upcoming second two-year term. The mayor is pictured above hearing from one neighbor about tree roots buckling and cracking sidewalks along Edgewood Avenue by Edgewood School.

Brenda Olmedo (pictured) headed first to the table captained by Livable City Initiative (LCI) Acting Director Arlevia Samuel, Deputy Director Mark Wilson, and new LCI neighborhood rep Raymond Jackson.

“People keep crossing the street,” Olmedo reported, ​“and I can’t see them.”

Olmedo lives on Whittlesey Street, off Whalley Avenue. She works in the financial department for Achievement First schools. Since moving here from California four years ago, she has had trouble getting used to the lack of street lighting in her neighborhood. She finds it hard to drive after dark. ​“I can’t even go to the corner store. It doesn’t feel safe.”

Does the city have any plans to improve lighting? she asked.

The LCI team heard her out, took down information — then directed her to the head of public works, Jeff Pescosolido, at a nearby table.

Meanwhile, Lakiya Nichols was telling Deputy Economic Development Administrator Carlos Eyzaguirre (they’re pictured above) about cracked sidewalks on her block of Davis Street. Eyzaguirre took down her contact information and promised to come take a look.

“I’m your neighbor!” Eyzaguirre, who lives in Westville, told her as she moved on.

Nichols said she found the city official ​“very approachable, very friendly.”

“I wasn’t looking for guarantees,” she said. ​“I felt heard.”

Over at Table Pescosolido, Brenda Olmedo, now joined by Sergio Olmedo Ramirez, waited patiently while another neighbor pressed the public works chief for 10 minutes on a street-safety issue.

Finally, her turn came.

“I’m driving anywhere after 5, and people are crossing the street — I can’t see them,” she said. ​“There seems to be no safety.”

Pescosolido listened, then informed Olmedo that she had again come to the wrong table: City Engineer Giovanni Zinn is working on street lighting.

But the stop wasn’t in vain. Ramirez told Pescosolido about pothole problems in their neighborhood. Pescosolido said this season’s permanent pothole patching program is coming to an end because of cold weather. But he took the information and said he’d see about a temporary patch to carry over into the spring.

Another Davis Street neighbor, Dessara Bryant (pictured), was looking to speak to both officials and other citizens about the issue on her mind: easements. She noted that property owners are often confused about who’s responsible for maintaining commonly used spits of land adjoining multiple homes. Some easements have been handed down for a century, and some property owners don’t live in the neighborhood. So on her block, for instance, a commonly used piece of turf has become ​“raggedy.” But no one’s sure who’s responsible for paving it. ​“It would make sense to have everyone pave it together,” she said. LCI said it lacks jurisdiction to handle the matter, so she should take the initiative, she said. She plans to follow up with her neighbors — and would like to see the issue discussed more broadly citywide.

Over at Giovanni Zinn’s table, Brenda Olmedo again waited her turn. She was third in line.

This line moved faster.

“I’m driving around. I can’t see people crossing the street. I want to hear what the plans are” to improve lighting, she told Zinn.

He’s working on several plans, Zinn responded.

For starters, the city is replacing LED streetlights it put up some years ago. So that should bring some quick improvement, he said.

He’s also overseeing a $5.5 million Whalley Avenue corridor improvement plan focused on pedestrian and cyclist safety. Lighting’s a big part of that, he said. The plan is progressing, and the city plans to install 12-foot-tall ​“pedestrian lights” along the avenue, along with raised intersections and improved crossings.

However, it’s doing so only on the stretch of Whalley it controls — from the Boulevard to downtown. Whittlesey, Olmedo’s corner, is two blocks in the other direction, right past another treacherous intersection, with Blake. The state controls that stretch.

Zinn said he does have a meeting scheduled with the state Department of Transportation in a few months to discuss improving safety on that stretch. He’ll then report to the neighborhood on next steps. So plans are in the works. But they could take a few years.

Olmedo spoke about how in California, the government inserted reflective pieces in the road to help illuminate the night. She said she’d been told that New Haven can’t do that because snowplows break them. Zinn said that’s true, but the city’s traffic and parking department is using reflective signs and fresh road markings with glass beads.

Zinn took her contact information and promised to follow up.

Afterwards, Olmedo said she felt she did receive ​“good answers.”

“It’s still a short-term fix. The project seems to be a long time. The lighting has been horrible for years,” she said.

On the other hand, the replacement of the LED streetlights should help. And she enjoyed learning who’s who in her local government.

“At least I know,” she said, ​“who to bug now.”