Beaver Hills Mobilizes For Sidewalks

It was rush hour on Crescent Street, and cars were zipping by well past the speed limit. A pedestrian tried to stay clear — but with no sidewalk available, he had to navigate a narrow shoulder.

The pedestrian unwittingly underscored a point Beaver Hills neighbors were making at that very moment.

“We want a walkable city. This is not walkable,” one of the neighbors, Beaver Hills Alder Shafiq Abdussabur, said, motioning to the pedestrian.

Neighbors in Beaver Hills have grown increasingly concerned about the safety of this stretch, which has heavy foot traffic but no sidewalks. 

They have rallied around a petition to request new sidewalks constructed on the south side of Crescent Street, between Ella T. Grasso Boulevard and Colony Road (see below), and on Bellevue Road. They are urging the Board of Alders to approve the City of New Haven’s request for sidewalks in an effort to ​“increase the safety and walkability” of their neighborhood.

“Because of the current lack of sidewalks, Beaver Hills residents are forced to walk across our neighbors’ lawns, walk in the non-existent shoulder of Crescent Street, or cross the very busy Crescent St. street without a crosswalk,” the petition reads.

“I live halfway up the block, and I walk down here with my kids a lot to go to Beaver Ponds Park,” said lead organizer Rebecca Cramer. Walking to the park has been challenging, especially when her kids were younger. 

Cramer is a co-leader of Friends of Beaver Ponds Park along with Nan Bartow, Joan Hilliard, and James Cramer. The organization had a meeting with the Elicker administration last summer to discuss installing sidewalks. 

“We learned after the meeting that while the city is willing to construct the sidewalk, the whole Board of Alders has to approve it,” Cramer said. The administration asked for Cramer to create a petition to show the widespread neighborhood support for the installation.

(The vast bulk of neighborhood requests in New Haven are to fix existing sidewalks. Those requests go first for competitive vetting before a Resource Allocation Committee, then to the Board of Alders. Requests for new sidewalks are far less common, and go straight to the board.)

The petition now has over 180 signatures. ​“Of those, about 98 percent live in the neighborhood. So it’s not activists; it’s neighbors who care,” Cramer said. 

“This is a clear thing that will have a clear effect on quality of life for our neighborhood,” said Cramer.

“The city is able to do it. They just have to get the will. And to get the will, they need pressure from the residents,” Bartow said.

Abdussabur said he is grateful for the ongoing community organization in his ward. ​“They’re already organized, so I’m just a helper. Tell me what to do, and I’m here to do it. They want a sidewalk, and I’m going to everything I can do to make sure we get a sidewalk.”

The alder highlighted the various demographic groups that the sidewalks would benefit. ​“There is no handicap access, so if you have a wheelchair, where do you go? I would imagine the road’s not even in compliance with ADA regulations.”

Walkable streets would also benefit the Hasidic Jewish community in the neighborhood, he said. Community members do not drive on the Sabbath or on religious holidays. ​“Walking to synagogue is part of their worship,” so sidewalks are necessary ​“out of respect, showing fairness and equality.”

“We now have this [city] Cultural Equity Board that we’re pouring money into. Practice what you preach. Give us a sidewalk,” he said.

Cramer added that students and faculty at nearby Southern Connecticut State University would also be impacted since they traverse that street as well. 

“We want children to be able to walk to the park or visit friends by themselves when they’re old enough, and right now it would not be safe for them to do that,” said Bartow.

Cramer said the speed limit is supposed to be 25 miles per hour, but many drivers exceed 40. ​“It’s just a speedway. Nobody cares about the speed limit.” 

“This area does not have the feel of a residential community,” added Abdussabur. He said the key part is that the sidewalks will connect the residents to each other and to the green space. ​“The way we design communities tells a story about who we are, how we treat and feel about other people.”

Along with the sidewalks, organizers are hoping for speed bumps or speed cameras to maximize safety. ​“Slowing down cars and helping people see that this is a neighborhood and not just a speedway will help,” Cramer said.

Organizers are hoping that sidewalks and speed regulation will increase not only pedestrian safety but also overall neighborhood safety. ​“Out of all the areas in the ward, I have been here the most for gunshots,” Abdussabur said. 

Bartow said she was working in the garden at the park around noon with Yale Forestry students last August when there was a shooting along Crescent Street. And in January of this year, there was another shooting at the same intersection.

“Now the city is flush with millions and millions of [federal pandemic relief] dollars. We’ve got $10 million coming in from Yale that could get earmarked just for something like this. We have money, we have interest, we have need, and we have the will. We just need city management to work with us and close the gap.”