Wall Street Closure Deal Resurfaces

City lawmakers are poised to reconsider the two-decade-old deal allowing Yale to close High and Wall streets to traffic and reopen a discussion that was a flashpoint in town/gown relations.

Justin Elicker, who chairs the Board of Aldermen’s City Services and Environmental Policy Committee (CSEP), said he plans to hold a workshop in February on Yale’s continued closure of portions of portions of the streets, followed by a public hearing at a later date.

Yale assumed control of those streets from the city back in 1990 and closed them to most vehicular traffic. The deal included a vague clause calling for the city to reevaluate it after 20 years — leading to a debate over whether it needs to be extended and whether lawmakers can, or should, try to exert legal leverage.

The matter last appeared on the Board of Aldermen’s agenda in December 2011, when it began to spark a power struggle between lawmakers and Yale. Click here, here, and here for more background.

During the fall of 2011, the issue prompted a high-stakes game of poker, as aldermen threatened to ask Yale for more money to keep the streets closed and the university warned the move would backfire on the city when Yale reconsidered its voluntary contributions. The matter was shelved immediately before the Board of Aldermen saw a big changeover from the 2011 elections.

Revisiting the issue offers a chance for a fresh start to negotiations, with a crop of aldermen with strong ties to Yale labor unions that are accustomed to negotiating with the university. Those unions have a history of calling for Yale to contribute more to the city; however in the past few years that relationship has grown far more cooperative. It remains to be seen how the High-Wall discussion will unfold this time around. Several aldermen interviewed said they’re adopting a wait-and-see attitude. One alderwoman said Yale should not expect to have the streets for free.

Last Time

Thanks to the 1990 agreement. High Street between Elm and Wall is closed off to cars and bricked over as a walkway that is now part of Cross Campus. Wall Street between York and College is theoretically closed to car traffic and parking. (Permitted Yale vehicles use it.)

In exchange for taking over the streets, Yale in 1990 gave the city $1.1 million and agreed to a package of other concessions, including yearly voluntary payments for fire services, the addition of the Yale golf course to the Grand List, and an investment of $50 million over 10 years in economic development.

The university has since surpassed the original agreed-upon annual contributions, giving more each year to the city than the deal required.

The deal included a provision that the agreement be revisited after 20 years. The 20-year review landed in 2011 in front of the aldermanic CSEP committee in the form of a proposal by the traffic and parking department to have the streets remain closed indefinitely.

Controversy ensued. Yale interpreted the 20-year review as limited to simply looking at whether the street closings are causing any traffic problems. Some aldermen characterized the 20-year review as a chance to renegotiate the deal completely and perhaps secure larger payments from Yale for the continued closure of the streets.

Several contentious public hearings ensued. At the final of these, in December, lawmakers punted. They tabled the issue, passing it on to the new crop of aldermen who took office in January 2012.

The matter sat on the table for over a year, never appearing again on the CSEP agenda during all of 2012.

Chairman Elicker, an East Rock alderman, said he wants to move forward with it now, but hadn’t put it on the agenda because it seemed that people weren’t ready to vote on it. The new Board of Aldermen had to learn the ropes in 2012 as well as tackle the knotty problem of redistricting.

Now, beginning the second year of the term, is a good time to revisit the street closure deal, Elicker said.

“I’ll put it on the agenda,” Elicker said. He said CSEP will hold a workshop on the matter at its February meeting to get new members up to speed on the history of the issue. Then CSEP will hold a public hearing at a later meeting, he said.

This Time

“In my opinion, let’s move on with the thing,” Elicker (pictured) said.

Elicker said he thinks the street closure is working well. People, including him, enjoy having that part of High Street as a pedestrian-only zone, he said.

But the city needs to have a clear agreement with Yale the streets, he said. ​“I think the city should always have the right to take back those streets.”

Yale could do more for the city, Elicker said. He mentioned linking up Yale’s various shuttle and transportation systems with CT Transit, and expanding Yale’s entrepreneurial incubators to more New Haveners. But the street-closure deal is not the vehicle for trying to wrangle more out of Yale, Elicker argued.

As a labor-backed alderwoman-elect in late 2011, Dixwell’s Jeanette Morrison said she was ready to wrangle. Yale is a huge corporation and could do more to support the city, she said at the time.

Asked again about the deal this week, Morrison offered a more conciliatory tone. She has shifted her stance since taking office, she said.

“In being in this position, I see that Yale gives and they help out the city,” she said. ​“I’m starting to learn more about the whole process as far as the relationship-building between different entities … and now that I’m wearing that hat, I’d like to look at the situation again.”

Morrison, who sits on the CSEP committee, said she’s not sure what she will decide on the deal review now.

Board President Jorge Perez declined to comment on the deal. He said he tries not to influence the work of committees to which he doesn’t belong, including CSEP.

“I personally don’t have an opinion on it,” said Hill Alderwoman Jackie James, vice-chair of the CSEP committee. ​“It’s up to the community and the people in the city to give us input on this process.”

“I think it’s good that it’s coming up and I think we ought to keep an open mind,” said Westville Alderman Adam Marchand, who sits on the CSEP committee. ​“We need to look at the facts and hear the arguments.”

East Rock Alderwoman Jessica Holmes, who is not on the committee, said the streets have value and if Yale wants to continue to control them, the university may have to be prepared to pay for the privilege.

“Twenty years ago, it seemed like there was value to Yale to have control of those streets and it was in the city’s interest to let Yale be in charge of those streets,” Holmes said. ​“That could very well be the case again. … We can’t afford in this financial climate to give anything away.”

Yale has made progress in town/gown relations, but the relationship needs to be worked on over time, Holmes said. ​“Negotiations need to be continuous.”

As for Yale’s position: ​“The issue is in the hands of the Board of Aldermen,” said Lauren Zucker, Yale’s head of New Haven affairs. ​“That’s all there is to say at this point.”