Hamden Seeks Order For UI Streetlight Sale

Hamden will try to convince state regulators to order United Illuminating to sell its streetlights to the town — and to any other town that wants them.

Mayor Curt Leng revealed the news during an appearance on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline Hamden” program.

He said he has enlisted attorney Brendan Sharkey (a former state House of Representatives speaker) to draw up an application to present to the state Public Utilities Regulatory Agency (PURA), which has oversight over UI. The application would require UI to sell its 6,975 Hamden streetlights to the town.

The utility has rejected Hamden’s request to buy them. And a state bill that would have required such sales ​“has not moved forward” this legislative session, Leng reported.

“It makes a lot of sense for the town. It saves money. It gives us more control over the lights. It’s better for the environment,” Leng said of a sale. (Click here for a previous article detailing environmentalists’ arguments in favor of a sale and UI’s response.) The town estimates it could save $650,000 and cut down on light pollution by controlling the lights and switching to LED bulbs. UI currently receives a little over $1 million a year from Hamden for the streetlights.

Hamden is one of the 17 towns in the UI network. Eversource, which provides electricity to most towns in the state, is legally obligated to allow towns to purchase their streetlights because of a 2001 court case in Torrington. No such legal obligation exists for UI; New Haven is the only community in its network to own its streetlights (and it is saving energy as a result).

Stepping Up Policing, Anti-Hunger Efforts

Also on ​“Dateline Hamden,” Leng said he was surprised at the extent of the racial divide in responses about policing in a recent Quinnipiac University poll of the town.

In the poll, which Leng said he asked QU to conduct, 62 percent of Hamden people overall reported approving of how cops police the town — and only 11 percent disapproved. African-Americans reported far different experiences: 50 percent approved, and 43 disapproved. (Click here for a full story on that.)

The results ​“state very clearly that … we have to work harder to build trust,” Leng said.

The mayor resolved to add at least one full-time community policing walking beat this coming fiscal year despite the decision by the Legislative Council to shoot down his request for six new walking-beat positions. Council members argued that the town couldn’t afford the position. Member Lauren Garrett (who’s running for mayor against Leng) argued during a Monday ​“Dateline Hamden” appearance that all cops should incorporate some walking time into their daily beats rather that create a smaller number of purely walking-beat positions.

“Having every officer get out of the car and walk in the community is something I agree with. But you have to be practical too,” responded Leng, who revived walking beats when he became mayor four years ago. ​“Hamden has 240 miles of road. To try to have a meaningful presence in all of our neighborhoods on that size of geographic property is almost impossible.” He noted that Hamden’s force patrols a town of over 33 square miles with a quarter of the number of cops the combined New Haven and Yale forces have patrolling that city’s 18.7 square miles with twice the population.

He expressed support for the idea of creating policing districts with ​“management teams” of citizens who meet regularly with district cops, perhaps with a pilot in one southern Hamden neighborhood. He was asked about the idea of having the town’s Newhall neighborhood’s citizens and cops merge with the Newhallville community management team just across the line in New Haven. He said he’d be open to it.

In the ​“Dateline” appearance Leng also spoke of stepping up efforts to address hunger in the town in the wake of a United Way study showing that one of eight town residents experience food insecurity. He spoke of plans to double the monthly distribution at the Keefe Center food pantry and is ​“exploring” a mobile food pantry. He noted that a couple of local churches currently offer a weekly ​“dollar meal” for the hungry; he said he has been ​“talking with the faith community” by having more churches follow suit so such meals will be available every day of the week.

Click on the play arrow to watch the full episode of WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline Hamden” with Mayor Curt Leng: