Sick and tired of suburbanites disrespecting our city.

You know, when I go to the suburbs, I don't drive like an a**-hole, and I don't park my car where it doesn't belong.

It'd be nice if Ms. Menzies' federal employees could show us the same respect!

This isn't acceptable, and it is also potentially dangerous to the many children who walk through the area (especially since many parked vehicles are actually light trucks / SUVs that can kill a person even when traveling at very low speeds).

Please post photos showing how unsightly this is.

Where have you guys been. I walk through that plaza sveral times a day and have NEVER even seen a car egressing that area. Would you rather they park in front of City Hall? Oh wait they do, dozens of them took up 90% of the spaces in front of City Hall on Orange Street all summer-(although it is down now that construction is wrapping up). Must be a better solution. Too bad no one will help Traffic and Parking with a solution.

The GSA bureacrats have no shame - let's see most other people who work downtown park in garages and parking lots - oh and they have to pay and walk half a block or so. Time to move this complaint up the food chain since the local folks just watching out for themselves and don't even care how ridiculous they sound justifying parking there.

Tony B.

Tony,

Has the City submitted an official complaint to Rosa DeLauro's office?

I contacted Rosa Delora's office several times. She has not responded since July. I contacted the Fleet Management Center for Goverment vehicles, but if an agency has their own fleet, then there is no regulation or recourse. I have called some of the letter agencies only to be passed around from department to department with no answer. Where would up the food chain be? If the seems to be too many cars with "official business parking" shouldn't these be issued by traffic and parking? I could craft one of those signs and put some lights in my front dash and who would know the difference??
It is so unfair that the people who work for a living must pay over $100 a month to park and the GSA gets to park for free where ever they want AND take up street parking that would yield the City income.

Mark: I have been working in the Connecticut Financial Center (directly adjacent to the plaza) for nearly five years now. I don't recall ever -- not even once -- seeing a child walk through the plaza.

The sad fact is, this plaza is a great example of one of New Haven's shamefully underutilized public spaces. Like the Green, it's a walk-through at best for all but a few days of the year, and it's no wonder the Feds see a parking lot as the highest and best use for this space.

Why not open it up to commerce, turn it into a marketplace and line it with cafes during the summertime? Maybe then people will give a @#$% if the feds want to commandeer it.

I absolutely agree that these need to be removed and glad that this issue was raised.

uncle egg:
that's funny, because on my walks to and from work, i see children either with parents or just out of school walking there all the time. you must be too buried in your work to see it.

but, i will say that i have thought the same thing about an open air market of sorts at this location. the farmers market? some food carts? the city could sell discounted vendor rates to local artists for the weekends?
the opportunities are endless. thanks for mentioning it!

Has anyone talked with Aldermen about this issue? I agree with Juli that the plaza and the area around it is often used by children, perhaps even moreso during after school hours and weekends than during the day.

Photo of parked vehicle, parked right within a sculpture that had previously been an attractive place to walk by.

For Gods sake can anyone think about the children !!!!

to "such a farce"-
it is simply a public plaza. it is not a parking lot. new haven has far too many lots and garages for these workers to need to park in a public plaza.
people (and yes, children) constantly walk through here. why should we dart around vehicles in a public plaza?

If we don't use it as a public space, we might as well use it for a parking lot. And let's be clear: We don't use it as a public space -- we park an ugly sculpture there (sorry) and use it as a cut-through.

I'm sorry, but if we don't figure out how to make better use of our public spaces, then we might as well not keep them as public spaces.

Our Green, frankly, is an utter waste of space -- it gets put to good use a couple of nights a year, but that's about it. (Compare that with any plaza in Barcelona, just to pick out a random example.)

You aren't from around here if you think we don't have a parking problem. Have had one for years. Why would kids want to "play" on a brick/stone surface, I mean really, lets get pratical about this. Its BEHIND the federal courthouse and the only egress you can get to where you have to go through the cars is down a narrow dark alley. Is this where you bring your kids??? Walking straight thru from the fed bldg entrance by the financial tower you don't even notice the cars, which egress through the dark alley.

I can't believe security even allows cars back there. I don't think the Security for the Federal Building would like to see anyone back there playing or hanging out Too many security issues. Besides these cars are for the Federal Judges and staff no? Do they drive faster than 5 mph when they leave the plaza??

There are always vehicles parked here. Will this ever change?

Why not use it as a parking lot? As a public space, this plaza is an abject failure. Except for the two or three days a year it's actually used for an event, it's nothing more than a cut-through and a place to hide an ugly sculpture. Kids don't play there. Adults don't congregate there after work. Skateboarders occasionally pay it a visit, but they'd be just as happy if it were officially designated a parking lot.

New Haven's public spaces, starting with the Green, are utterly wasted. Until we take a cue from other cities elsewhere in the world that know how to use public spaces in ways that people enjoy -- and that generate tax revenue -- I'm fine with parking cars in them.

Another example of New Haven's wretched zoning. Only in New Haven could this space be a failure as a parking lot and a plaza. It's completely dead - there is no reason to go there - except to park, or cut through. The city couldn't even make this dead zone work as a farmers market. You can't force activity into a lousy space and expect it to succeed. The meaningless pile of scrap metal - the "sculpture" doesn't help either - it's like a scab on a sore. This place rivals the deadness of Pitkin Plaza (Devil's Gear is keeping it on life support), another testament to the incompetence of New Haven's city planning department.

The City of New Haven, Alderman Doug Hausladen, the Management Team, neighboring property owners have all been working to resolve this issue. We meet with General Services Administration on Friday, who said that parking would be reduce to about 3 cars for disabled people working in the Courthouse, and some parking by Federal Marshals dropping-off prisoners. While this would be an improvement and a step forward, it would still interfere with the public's fair use of the space, and the enhancement of downtown property values. It would also cause continuing damage to the waterproofing membrane that protects the underground garage. The membrane has been damaged by the parking (it was not a use that was planned for the area) and it will need to be repaired this summer. So while this has provided free parking for court workers, the public is paying the price in major repairs, and in the loss of the fair use of a public place.

Just Friday PM, two women in a white four-door sedan flew over the sidewalk, completely disregarding the pedestrians there (including me).

Here are the recent news articles:

The New Haven Register
Officials confer on parking in New Haven's Federal Plaza
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/02/10/news/new_haven/doc4f35dbcbb9398276186234.txt
Friday, February 10, 2012 PM

The New Haven Register
Parking on Federal Plaza in New Haven a thorny issue; Meeting planned Friday over dispute
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/02/09/news/new_haven/doc4f3486f509bba531097506.txt
Friday, February 10, 2012 AM

This should be combined with ticket # 113758

Aloha, I have seen increased STATE OFFICIALS/CITY OFFICIALS park in the walk way between the city and state building over the last 4 months. I was at a meeting where it was explained to me that the reason was there was parking garage repairs 2.5years ago and the since the repairs are done. Officials still think this is there private parking lot.
This sends not only a bad image message, but kids and families walk though there on a regular basis and it is unsafe and NOT ZONED a parking lot.
Let alone the grease stains and tire marks.
This ally way is used for public movie nights and other outdoor activities.
Any thoughts on how we can reclaim a beautiful break area from officials abuse?

There are still GSA vehicles illegally parked here, as well as in front of the building along Church Street (which often blocks visibility and could lead to serious injuries or a fatality).

A week ago I received another letter from the feds saying they would banish "all unauthorized vehicles" from the plaza after they finish renovating the plaza this summer. Unfortunately they have been saying similar things for the past two years. Their letter was a response to an inquiry that I made directly to the federal court system. While essentially deflecting responsibility, the chief judge and administrative clerk for the federal courts in Connecticut are now aware that we do not approve of court employees parking in the plaza. The contact for GSA is james.nelson@gsa.gov in case wants to register a complaint directly. I don't think GSA has a SCF watch area, so they may not be paying attention here.

Thank you for the update, abgoode. It's a good idea for people to contact GSA and their representatives directly about this serious issue.

See also this news story from this week:
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/politician_sneaks_onto_roof/

thanks for sticking with this issue, everyone!

it really has been a problem for far too long. such a misuse of space.