Laura Glesby photo
What time is it? New clock time!
A clock unveiling at Kimberly Square was running late — until Rafael Flores ran across the street with a ladder, right on time.
Flores had been watching from his barber shop, Hall of Fame Barber Shop, as small crowd of 30 city officials and Hill stalwarts gathered at the triangular island of Kimberly Square for a press conference on Monday afternoon.
They had convened to celebrate the installation of a long-awaited clock on that island, named after two longtime advocates for a closer-knit community in the Hill.
The only problem? The top of the two-sided clock remained covered in black plastic, too high up for anyone present to reach.
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn got on the phone. “I need a step ladder,” he said into the receiver.
“You guys need a ladder?” Flores called out from across the street. He sprinted into the barber shop and promptly emerged with a folding ladder, ferrying it over to a chorus of applause from the press conference attendees.
It was that very spirit of neighbors helping neighbors that the group had gathered to honor that afternoon.
The clock, which members of the Hill South Community Management Team decided to sponsor back in 2015, features a plaque commemorating two longtime friends and community leaders: 83-year-old Johnny Dye (also known as the “mayor” or “godfather” of the Hill) and the late Vin DiLauro, who owned the nearly 100-year-old Columbus Auto Shop.
The pair of friends collaborated as fierce advocates for their neighborhood. Dye and his wife, Martha, would host block parties and cookouts in their backyard. They would organize buses to take local kids to the Long Wharf waterfront, community cleanups, and road races, where the kids would be tasked with distributing water bottles to runners. DiLauro would frequently lend financial support to these kinds of initiatives, Dye said, in addition to serving as his co-conspirator on the neighborhood’s management team.
“They were wonderful friends,” said Mary Ellen DiLauro, Vincent’s wife. “They were trouble,” she added with a smile.
Mayor Justin Elicker with Johnny Dye.
The management team came up with the idea for the Kimberly Square clock in 2015. They decided to utilize a $10,000 grant from the Neighborhood Public Improvement Program, a city initiative that, until 2020, allotted each management team in the city funds to spend via a resident-led budgeting process. The Hill South management team decided to fund what they hoped would become a “historic icon,” said Hill Alder Kampton Singh.
Singh and Livable City Initiative Director Arlevia Samuel said that the city waited to install the clock until some street improvements were made to the Kimberly Square area, which is why it took nearly 10 years for the clock to materialize. More upgrades for the intersection are planned for 2024, according to Zinn, including raised intersections, improved crosswalks, and a cycle track.
“Every time I’m gonna drive by this clock, I’m gonna think of Mr. DiLauro, of you Mr. Dye, and of my upbringing here in the Hill,” said Livable City Initiative project manager Jeffrey Moreno, a former Hill neighborhood specialist who helped bring the clock to fruition.
The clock signifies that “the Hill is strong and the Hill is vocal,” said Mayor Justin Elicker.
As the press conference came to a close, Zinn carefully climbed up the ladder and used a giant pair of scissors to clear away the plastic, revealing a double-sided clock with roman numerals, the New Haven seal, and the words “Hill South” emblazoned on each side atop the face.
“God bless everyone,” said Dye. “All my neighbors and all my future neighbors.”
Across the street, a few people recorded the scene on their phones.
Flores said he didn’t know of the people honored on the clock, but that he appreciated the new landmark across from his barber shop: “It’s something nice for the community.”
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn cuts open ...
... and unveils the new clock.
