BBQ, Bumps & Bullets: A CMT Snapshot

Old potholes are plaguing Seneca Road. New bike lanes are popping up on Yale Avenue. Persistent wood smoke is clouding over Cleveland Road. And gunfire is rattling South Genesee Street.

That street-level snapshot of life in Westville and West Hills came into focus during the latest monthly meeting of the neighborhoods’ community management team.

Wednesday’s night’s monthly virtual CMT meeting offered a trenchant — if inevitably limited — view of what it’s like to live on the west side of town at this very moment.

The discussion focused less on citywide policy considerations (though Westville Alder Adam Marchand did give a brief update on an upcoming legislative hearing about inclusionary zoning) or crime trends related to a months-long uptick in violence across New Haven.

The two dozen participants focused more on what it’s like to live on a handful streets in Westville and West Hills at this particular moment in time — and on how neighbors can work with city staffers and elected officials to have their concerns, minor and major alike, addressed.

Referencing a recent aldermanic hearing about standardized training for community management teams across town, Westville/West Hills CMT Chair Joshua Van Hoesen hit on what makes these very ​“grassroots” organizations so special in New Haven public life.

The police lieutenant and Livable City Initiative (LCI) neighborhood specialist and alder(s) and neighbors who do show up to these gatherings are not required to be there. They keep coming any way, month after month after month, in an effort to work together to make their neighborhood that much better of a place to live.

Which, with so many challenges facing the city, is a democratic phenomenon worth celebrating. Wednesday evening’s meeting illustrated just how grassroots the energy and action can get.

A Bumpy Ride On Seneca

So, what quality of life concerns did come up Wednesday night?

Representing Seneca Road on the far west side of town, Laine Driscoll said that her block has long suffered from that scourge of rubber tires everywhere: potholes.

“It’s a well-traversed cut through from Fountain down to Whalley and Amity Road,” she said. ​“As I understand it, the road hasn’t been paved in 30 years,” only patched here and there.

“We just really need to know when this road will be repaved.”

LCI Neighborhood Specialist Ray Jackson said that he too noticed just how bumpy the road was on a recent driving tour of the neighborhood, when he was looking for ditched trash and signs of blight.

“I’d hate to say the words I used when I came down the road and hit a pothole,” he said. ​“I am going to make a complaint about that and put it on SeeClickFix.”

Driscoll said that the road is ​“so very sandy.” Perhaps, she suggested, it needs to be scraped and a new foundation should be put on.

That’s a pretty steep slope from Fountain, isn’t it? asked Westville Alder Adam Marchand. Is there a lot of water ​“sheeting down the road during storm events?”

There is, Driscoll replied. Some storm drains do catch the water. But there’s quite a bit of runoff.

Marchand said it sounds like the road needs to be assessed by a professional engineer to determine the best solution. Perhaps it’s just a matter of milling and repaving. Perhaps there’s something more structural and hydrological to be concerned about.

Marchand explained that, every year, a city-aldermanic body called the Resource Allocation Committee (RAC) makes decisions about which sidewalks to replace and which streets to mill and pave citywide. It’s ​“a combination of need and equitable distribution of street repairs across the city,” he said.

Marchand encouraged Driscoll to work with her alder, Upper Westville’s Darryl Brackeen, Jr., to try to get Seneca assessed by the city and potentially on the next RAC milling and paving list.

“We are constrained in terms of our resources and our ability to pave streets,” Marchand said. ​“If we were to pave every street that residents want us to pave, there’s no way for us to do that due to our resources.” So the alders and the city have to make such decisions ​“as judiciously as we can about the greatest level of need. I encourage folks not to get discouraged.

New Bike Lanes On Yale

Roughly two miles east of Seneca’s bumpy road is a Westville street that has been recently milled and paved — and now boasts a new two-way ​“multi-use” bike lane.

That street is Yale Avenue.

Marchand said Wednesday that Yale between Edgewood Avenue and West Rock Avenue now has new ​“contraflow multi-use trail, buffered by a painted buffer zone and a parking lane.”

Those are just the first street improvements to take place on Yale, he said.

The several-block stretch near Edgewood School will also soon receive three speed humps, two raised crossings, and more street paint and signage that direct people to where they should park. Next spring, he added, a peanut-shaped rotary should be installed at the intersection of Yale Avenue and Chapel Street.

Marchand thanked Westville top cop Lt. Elliott Rosa for helping Edgewood School parents understand where they can park to pick up and drop off their kids on the reconfigured street.

“It’s a process for sure,” Marchand said about the improvements to Yale Avenue. Ultimately, he said, these should slow down car speeds, make it easier and safer for non-automobile users of the road to get up and down the block, and will build out the city’s bike network by connecting Yale Avenue to the in-the-works protected cycletrack being built on Edgewood Avenue.

“We are making steps together to improvement the safety of the streetscape in Westville and Ward 25,” he said.

Wood Smoke On Cleveland Road

Later in the meeting, Jeanne Dubino brought up a quality-of-life concern that she and her neighbors have noticed as of late on Cleveland Road.

That is: cloudy, pungent plumes of smoke coming from a backyard fire pit.

“I don’t know what can be done,” she said. ​“With all of the heavy, heavy smoke in the air, I don’t know how to handle this.”

She said the neighbors with the fire pit are lovely people, and she has no interest in getting them in trouble with city authorities or creating ​“bad neighborly feelings.” She did say that the smoke was so bad the other day that she called the police — and a fire truck arrived, even though there was no out-of-control fire.

Lt. Rosa noted that a city ordinance permits backyard fires so long as they’re used for cooking or barbecuing. ​“It is a fire department matter,” he said. ​“When we show up, the fire department is going to determine if it’s out of control or too big. That’s out of our range of expertise.”

In the Zoom chat, Van Hoesen sought to clarify the city’s position on fire pits by posting a comment made by a city worker on SeeClickFix on this very issue several years ago.

“The City Fire Marshal’s Office indicates that open burning is prohibited in New Haven so fire pits cannot be used to burn leaves or brush,” he wrote, quoting that SeeClickFix comment. ​“However, a fire pit is allowed if it is used to cook food. Should a neighbor register a complaint about use of a fire pit or any open burning the Fire Department is obligated to go to the location and extinguish the fire.”

Gunfire On S. Genesse; Stolen Cars Across The Neighborhood

During his crime update to the management team, Lt. Rosa emphasized how neighborhood concerns stretch well beyond potholes and wood smoke.

He said that ​“South Genesee [Street] got shot up again” on Tuesday night. ​“They’re looking to kill someone out there,” he said. That section of West Hills is therefore a focus for his team of beat officers, he said.

Rosa noted an ​“extreme spike in motor vehicle thefts” recently on the west side of town. Neighbors reported seeing a white tow truck going block by block, picking up cars and stealing catalytic converters, he said.

“We ended up towing a white truck” recently, Rosa added. Hopefully that will put an end to the rash of car thefts.

Alden Avenue resident Dennis Serfilippi said he’d like to see increased law enforcement or security presence at Westville Plaza as well. There’s already been quite a bit of violence there so far this year, he said. He warned that the loitering that currently takes place in the plaza could result in additional violent crime.

Rosa said that the police department’s ranks right now are pretty thin.

“We hold about 11 officers a day,” he said, ​“not allowing them to go. That extra duty is few and far between, because they’re already being inundated, working 16 hours a day.”