Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Dorian Bauknecht: 46 years, and counting.
Dorian Bauknecht showed at Marshalls as usual, like she has nearly each weekend for the past 46 years. Unlike either five or forty years ago, she made sure her car doors were locked and her wallet was securely hidden, in fear of robberies that almost never occur in the shopping plaza but that have become hotly discussed throughout town.
Bauknecht, like many in town, has been hearing anecdotes, fears, and sometimes warnings from family, friends, and vocal social media users regarding an uptick in crime — and more specifically, hesitancy to continue shopping in Hamden.
But the 51-year-old returned this past Sunday to Marshalls, the off-price retailer which promises “your surprise is waiting” on their shelves. As a 5 year old, she spent Friday nights with her mom at Marshalls when it was on Whitney Avenue. Later, she began taking ritualistic solo trips as a mother herself during general errand runs when the store moved over to its current location at iconic Hamden Plaza, the first suburban shopping center built in Connecticut, which opened in 1955.
She’s not ready to join the supposed move of some veteran Hamden shoppers to stores in North Haven. And she’s not alone.
The issue of public safety in Hamden’s shopping centers turned out to be the most dividing question discussed throughout this November’s town mayoral and Council races. During debates, Republican candidate Ron Gambardella recalled hearing senior women tell him repeatedly on the campaign trail that they were too fearful of being robbed or assaulted to keep shopping in town. Pat Destito, an Eight District Legislative Council candidate who lost to his Democratic opponent, Ted Stevens, by just 11 votes, related to female voters while canvassing by telling them that his wife leaves her purse at home when she goes grocery shopping. Click here to read about one neighborhood of women who told Destito about their reluctance to go shopping alone, or at all, in their town.
While Gambardella and his slate advocated for a stronger police presence in the Hamden plaza and other shopping centers, victorious Democratic mayoral candidate Lauren Garrett argued that Republicans were engaging in fear mongering tactics and that the level of crime Hamden was experiencing was sensationalized online through social forums. She called the spike in crime part of a national trend in response to the pandemic. Now that she’s elected, she said plans to combat public safety through using economic development to confront root issues like food security, housing, and job opportunity. Gambardella insisted that more policing had to come first before the town could attract new businesses and consumers, as well as retain those threatening to take their business to North Haven or leave Hamden altogether.
For loyal shoppers like Bauknecht, shopping in the plaza is a nostalgic act. While looking out at the familiar shopping center on Sunday, she motioned towards Di Matteo’s, a pizza place in the plaza, remembering her grade-school friendship with the owner’s daughter.
That doesn’t mean she’s not concerned about crime and how local leaders talk about it.
“I’m rooted and I refuse to leave… I’m almost paid off with the house,” she said. “But I’m heartbroken at the direction the town is going in.”
Bauknecht, a registered Democrat, has lived in Hamden her whole life; her father even ran for mayor in 1973 (but lost to Lucien DiMeo, the Republican mayor who served until 1979).
But this year, she voted for the Republican slate, proudly placing a “Democrats for Gambardella” sign on her front lawn. She said she felt that the Republican slate was the only one to foster a culture of respect towards public safety officers, namely the police.
Bauknecht, who teaches kindergarten at Spring Glen School, said “I start from there, telling them” the officers are their “friends, not enemies.”
Nextdoor Fears; Rare Reality
On Nov. 1 — the day before the general election — Hamden police announced that a “61-year-old female” was “knocked down to the ground from behind and had her pocketbook forcibly taken from her” at 7 p.m. by a “black male, approximately 16 – 17 years old” in the plaza parking lot at 2100 Dixwell. The report stated that the victim sustained injuries to her lower and upper extremities.
In response to the news, a Centerville resident wrote on the neighborhood social network Nextdoor, “How Many More Women Need 2 Be Attacked in Hamden??”
The post elicited over 60 comments: Linda Cardillo of Kenwood Avenue recommended carrying a “small alarm device” to stores. Christina Vega of Whitneyville suggested shopping in Orange or Milford at “Costco, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods.” Debi Oneill of Burton Road wrote, “I was recently in FL and I tell u I actually got gas BY MYSELF first time in months… CT is not good these days !!”
“It’s sadly become a norm that this is a weekly occurrence,” Mike G. of Sherman Avenue wrote.
The topic has been discussed heavily in popular, local social media groups, like Hamden Crime Watchers and the Hamden Progressive Action Network. The discussions highlight the number of residents — primarily older and often white women — who are openly concerned about going shopping in town, as well as those who are concerned that the fears are unfounded, negatively affecting Hamden’s businesses, and perhaps stemming from a discomfort with Hamden’s evolution towards greater diversity and urbanization.
While many are focused on “how many more” will be robbed or assaulted in town, another question that still seems unclear remains: How many women and Hamden residents have actually been “attacked” in town?
Over the last five years, certain categories of crime have risen in town. The number of robberies reported between January 1 and Nov. 8 increased from 21 to 50 between 2017 and 2021. (The numbers for that given time period for each year in between were 46 in 2018, 43 in 2019, and 53 in 2020.) During the same 10-month period, motor vehicle theft incidents went up from 83 reported incidents in 2017 to 113 in 2018; 128 in 2019; 200 in 2020; and 173 in 2021. Thefts of motor vehicle parts and/or thefts from inside cars increased from 302 in 2017 to 306 in 2018; 306 in 2019; 300 in 2020; and 353 in 2021.
There were zero homicides through Nov. 8 in 2017, one in 2018, zero in 2019, two in 2020, and three this year. The number of shootings through Nov. 8 in 2017 were 42, 27 in 2018, 29 in 2020, 48 in 2020, and 54 in 2021. Weapons violations in turn grew from 13 in 2017, 13 in 2018, 11 in 2019, 19 in 2020, and 23 in 2021.
“We are aware that there has been an uptick in crime in the area, without question,” Hamden Plaza’s Andrew Bermant told the Independent on Tuesday. Bermant has managed the plaza since 2000; his father, David Bermant was the original developer of the site in 1956.
He also said he and his onsite maintenance crew have not heard any complaints or concerns from residents or retailers. Bermant, who lives in California, does not engage in Hamden social media circles.
Yet only three reports have been filed for incidents in the Hamden Plaza within the past five years — all of which took place after 2019.
Bermant said he can’t remember any incidents taking place at the shopping plaza since he started his job in 2000 until the pandemic. Then, in 2020, there were two reported events that caused him to take action.
On Jan. 16, a series of “purse snatchings” took place at both the Hamden Plaza and Hamden Mart, a shopping mall located on the other side of Dixwell from the plaza, between 4:45 p.m. and 5:18 p.m. According to the report, a group of “young male juveniles” working out of a stolen car approached five different women and grabbed their purses. One of those women was able to “fight” back and “gain control of her property.”
More than half a year later, on Sept. 8, “3 or 4 teenaged males” approached a woman around 7 p.m. as she was attempting to get into her car. One of the boys pointed a firearm at her and demanded her keys, and then another one “pepper-sprayed” her in the eyes. They stole her vehicle and her wallet.
Other than the pre-election purse snatching, those were the only two events police responded to in the plaza.
Other events have taken place at Hamden Mart over the past few years. On Feb. 19, 2021, at around 6:30 p.m., a 63-year-old female Hamden resident had her pocketbook stolen while she was unloading groceries into her car. The individual who grabbed the bag then got into their car and fled, but the strap of the bag was caught on the woman’s arm and she was reportedly “dragged” alongside the vehicle for about 40 feet; however, she stated that she was not injured. (Watch the video here.)
According to police reports, it appears that the only other purse-snatching to have taken place in the past five years was at the Whitneyville Food Center at 10 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2019. A 90-year-old woman who had just withdrawn a substantial amount of money from a nearby bank had her purse stolen by a “white or Hispanic male, 30 years of age.”
Bermant told the Independent that after the purse-snatching spree last year, he first responded by upgrading to an LED lighting system, increasing the light intensity of all 72 fixture heads from the minimum of one foot candle to one and a half foot candles.
After the carjacking, he invested in a video surveillance system that provides coverage of the entire plaza parking lot, including exits and entrances to stores. Now, when crimes take place, he is able to send footage to the police for processing.
In total, he said, he has spent $225,000 on new security systems.
He also clarified that the plaza has had “onsite security” since 2000. Between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., there is one driver hired to rove the parking lot. There’s also an onsite maintenance employee on call from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; that’s to whom tenants know to report any incidents.
“It’s not a good place for the bad guys to come,” he stated. Though Bermant said he wouldn’t be opposed to a heightened police presence in shopping centers, he added: “Our shoppers are safe, our stores are safe, and the retailers are all extraordinarily supportive of the changes we’ve made.”
Hamden Chief of Police John Sullivan added that the police union contract requires the department to meet a minimum manning requirement of seven or eight officers out on patrol, depending on the date and time. The town is broken down into eight patrolling areas; that means one officer is responsible for patrolling the west side of Dixwell, which includes the plaza, and another for covering the east, which includes the shopping mart.
During Monday’s Legislative Council meeting, Sullivan was granted a $350,000 intradepartmental transfer to account for unexpected overtime costs. He said that the department is currently down around 15 officers, and that he has “depleted our street interdiction division, there’s no one in community policing… one of our SROs is out… our traffic division has been reduced to three officers,” because individuals have been pulled from their position to fill the minimum patrolling requirements.
Still Shopping
Hamden Plaza: Safe enough for everyone except the disabled.
“Nobody’s helping us,” said Nila, an 80-year-old Mix Avenue resident who was on her third trip of the week to ShopRite last Sunday.
She wasn’t talking about purse snatchings or carjackings. Her biggest concern: Accessibility.
Nila, a retired journalist, migrated from the Philippines to New Haven in 1973 before moving to Hamden in ‘99. She lives alone and has knee issues as well as spinal erosion, which gives her neck pain. She can’t carry heavy bags of groceries up her stairs.
Instead, she goes on three trips every week to ALDI, located in Hamden Mart, to lessen the load.
Sometimes it’s hard to find handicapped parking close to her chosen stores. She regularly sees “able bodied men getting out of those handicapped parking spots.”
Whenever she goes to the Hamden Plaza or Hamden Mart, the patrol officer is just parked in front of Walmart, Nila said. On occasion, she has seen officers approach men parked in handicapped spaces, but has observed them laughing together rather than the officer clearing the spots.
“They should put a stop to that,” she stated.
Other than that, she tries to be extra cautious when she sees “rowdy teenagers” hanging around storefronts, given what she has read about older women being targeted in town. She’ll sit in her car until they pass on, then go into the shops.
Once, two years ago, she left her new cane outside of Walmart while shopping. It was gone when she came back out.
All in all, Nila said, she loves living in town. She remembered a story her niece, who lives in Canada, told her recently about being kicked on the street there by a man who went out of his way to assault her; Nila said they interpreted the action as an extension of hostility and hate towards Asian Americans. Nila noted that she hasn’t experienced anything like that while living in Hamden.
She doesn’t perceive Hamden as less safe than neighboring towns. For basic groceries and goods, she’ll stick with ALDI and ShopRite. She does go to North Haven — for the unlimited breadsticks at Olive Garden.
Meanwhile, Dorian Bauknecht said the only reason she has chosen North Haven shops over Hamden’s at times was the “ridiculous” mask mandate imposed by the town. Sometimes she’d go Stop & Shop out of town to avoid covering her face when Hamden still required residents to do so. (Mayor Leng has since partially rescinded the mandate).
While crime rates and/or anecdotes don’t influence where she shops, they have fed her political perspective and social outlook.
Her family members, she said, are Italian immigrants who made themselves from the bottom up. Others should do the same, she said, and not always depend on handouts.
She’s not going to stop supporting her town due to a small possibility of getting her wallet stolen she said; she can take precautions. But something else that annoys her is the growing presence of homeless people throughout the town’s shopping centers.
“They’re bold and brazen,” she said, describing the discomfort she feels when “some guy” stares at her 17-year-old daughter through the car window.
She avoids certain roads and street corners where she regularly sees homeless individuals.
“Hey!” Bauknecht suddenly shouted. West Woods kindergarten teacher Laura Perretta and her daughter, Juliana, and husband, Tony, were also approaching Marshalls for Sunday shopping. They joined the conversation.
“I don’t feel safe,” said high school sophomore Juliana. She often walks from the high school to Panera with her friends after sporting games because “there’s nothing else to do” in town. But she said she always feels uneasy — not because of past experiences or local news, but because of videos of girls across the country getting harassed that she constantly encounters on her social media channels.
“No matter where you are, the world is messed up,” she said.
Bauknecht said she worries about a new generation being too politically correct. Catcalling, for instance, is not a danger to anyone: “Take it as a compliment and move on,” she advised.
When Juliana expressed fears about running alone on the Farmington Canal Trail, however, Bauknecht suggested hitting the trail in Cheshire, rather than Hamden. She reasoned that she has noticed several homeless encampments by entryways to the canal, like at the abandoned pretzel shop “Hop Knot” on Dixwell.
“Today as opposed to ten years ago, you have to be cautious,” Laura reflected. “There are so many people down and out.”
Once it gets dark out, Laura doesn’t go to the store without Tony.
Tony feels safe, he said. “I’m a male. These two,” he pointed to his family, “no.”
They said they are unsure whether more police in plazas would successfully reduce crime. It would make them feel safer.
“You can never over-police!” Tony asserted.
Laura argued that many crimes are perpetrated by repeat offenders. The town needs more rehabilitation programs and school mental health resources, she said. In her mind, putting money into social support systems is equally important to investing in a greater police presence.
Despite their concerns, the Perrettis, like Bauknecht, still shop within their town, rather than outside of it.
Why not North Haven or Orange, as their NextDoor neighbors suggested?
Bauknecht answered for all of them: “They don’t have Marshalls!”