ewg

I can't believe I'm posting this here, but what the hell.
I found a child's mitten today on Canner Street, near the corner of St. Ronan, and thought someone might be missing it. This is more than a little silly to post, but on the other hand, a child with cold hands is, I know from experience, a sad, sad thing.

At 1.15 this afternoon, Blue Line bus 29 ran a red light and came distressingly close to plowing into a friend of mine, who was walking with me -- we were both walking our toddlers home from nursery school, and had waited a ludicrously long time for the light to change so that we could cross safely. Having WAITED for the light, we then had the life scared out of us by having the Yale Shuttle barrel through the red light, honking his horn at us. Clearly this intersection needs serious help to improve pedestrian safety... and the Yale shuttle driver needs to be reminded to not go through red lights.

There are three street lights on Church Street, one of which is right in front of the entrance to Casey Family Services, that need help. The glass things/prongs surrounding the bulbs need to be replaced or fixed; and the pole for the light in front of the office sways in truly alarming fashion. My child was terrified that it was going to fall on us, and while I didn't *think* it would, I had a hard time sounding confident as I tried to reassure her....

Pedestrian crossing button not working right

During the recent election I discovered that people who used to live in a rental property I own, several of whom have not lived here for years, are still listed as registered voters in New Haven. With a little bit of imagination, it becomes clear that in this city, with such a transient population, it's likely that the statistics re: registered voters/# of such who vote in any given election, etc., will be really inaccurate, which is not a good situation. There must be a way for City Hall to clean up these records. It is important and necessary work, though I'm sure massively tedious; how do we get this done?

The gate closer to the sandbox at East Rock Park's playground (College Woods?) is coming off -- one hinge was broken this morning and by the time I write this it's entirely possible the gate's hinges are both broken. Which means the gate is just open. All the time. And the detached piece of gate is propped up just waiting to topple onto someone. This is totally dangerous. Please, please, please re-attach that gate!

The "car" in the playground which is used CONSTANTLY by small children has a broken gearshift. Is there any way to get this replaced? Not sure if the piece that remains is dangerous but....

Stupid graffiti is written with silver pen on the jungle gym at East Rock Park. It's graphic as hell and I'm not a prude myself but I can easily imagine that other parents will not be thrilled to see this, either; and frankly I wouldn't want to have to explain some of this crap to a five year old.... is this something the Parks Dept. will clean up or do citizens need to figure out a way to remove it?

The playground at East Rock Park (College Woods) is heavily used but for as long as I can remember, the latches at the two gates have never worked. This ain't good, folks. It's a safety issue for the kids who play there and a peace of mind issue for the parents of the kids.

On Nicoll Street, just past the last apartment building, before you get to Canner Street, there's a pile of rotten wood from some building or project or something, which has been sitting on the sidewalk for weeks if not months. It's an eyesore and probably dangerous. Similarly, that stretch of Nicoll to Canner, and then around the corner for the first block of Canner, is for some reason just exceptionally litter-filled. I've tried to pick up bits and pieces when I could, but this is really beyond what I can handle on my own. Can LCI or Public Works deal with this? It's just disgusting and hazardous.

Around 11.30, 11.45 this morning I was waiting for the walk signal at the intersection of Orange/Cold Spring St. near the park. The east-west route had a red light, and I watched as a Public Works van (CT lic. 207-NH, van 39) driver quickly looked both ways and then drove right through the red light. He turned on Anderson St., and I walked that way to give myself the opportunity to see him then drive the wrong way on Anderson Street too... When I happened to notice a police car a block away, I thought, "Ok, I'll ask if this is kosher," and received a fairly roundabout/evasive answer from the cop, who did tell me several times that it is my right to file a complaint with public works. I'm not prepared to go that far right now but I'm posting this (long-winded complaint) here to see if anyone else has made similar observations of late...

A white car has been parked on Cottage St. (the northern side) near Foster for a good long time now... not sure how long, but: windows are open; there's snow piled up in the front passenger seat; the armrest between the front seats looked charred up or something; the front is bashed in... Could steps be taken to have this eyesore (and temptation, perhaps, for further bad news) removed? I did phone the local substation last week but nothing's happened yet. Surely the folks who live there would like this car removed??

More drug deals are happening on Nicoll Street, one was spotted today at about noon...

Three young men were riding dirt bikes on Nicoll Street -- both on the street and on the sidewalk. Obviously, not such a great thing.