Yaakov

A Message to the Community:
In mid-February, Supervalu Inc. announced that it was pulling all Shaw's supermarkets out of CT. Immediately upon hearing the news, the Greater Dwight Community Investment Corporation and its partners began examining options and seeking a replacement. No one is willing to accept a "food desert" in this neighborhood, and GDCIC is working initially with Yale University Properties, which has both extensive experience in supermarket real estate and a strong desire to avert this possibility.

It is of critical importance that the community remains engaged on this issue. Attached to this sheet we have included a brief survey, the data from which may be valuable in assisting the GDCIC and its partners secure a new, full-service supermarket for the Dwight location. In addition to distributing the survey, here are things you can do to help:

1. Once Shaw's goes dark at the end of March, help us ensure that the Plaza remains a safe place. Visit the site often and shop at the other stores in the center to that it remains a financially healthy community asset. Also, consider creating a formal block watch.

2. Collect the names and signatures of people committed to having a full-service supermarket in central New Haven, and have them complete the survey attached.

3. Make it known in conversations with friends, elected officials, and inquiring journalists that the community deserves a full-service supermarket in this space. If you have a moment, submit a comment to Supervalu, the owners of Shaw's, at http://www.supervalu.com/sv-webapp/contact/contact.jsp. Let them know how important it is to the community that they assist us in obtaining a full-service replacement store (please keep the messages civil, as we continue to work with Supervalu to reach a mutually-acceptable resolution).

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. WE ARE COMMITTED TO KEEPING THE COMMUNITY INFORMED AS THIS PROCESS UNFOLDS. WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.

What can we do as neighbors? We can go door to door and bring this survey to your neighbors! Instructions for returning the survey are on the bottom of the page: http://tinyurl.com/newhavengrocer

Shaw's is closing all CT stores but has not found a buyer for the Whalley Ave. location. The New Haven region could really benefit from the opening of a year-round market inside and around the Shaw's shopping center (there is an enormous, underutilized parking lot there also). I'm not sure about the zoning so I'm hoping someone could check on that.

The market could potentially provide year-round access to fresh produce and crafts, it could serve the city as a public space, and simultaneously help to sustain the local economy in these uncertain times.

Bike rack at Stop and Shop is almost completely unusable. It is not a standard rack. As a result cyclists are forced to shop elsewhere, or to lock up to things like railings and shopping carts to keep their bikes safe.

Someone has spray-painted the N word on a house. I'm not exactly sure of the street number, but I think it was 677/678 or around there.

This needs to be cleaned up immediately and investigated by police. Also calling the non-emergency line.

A lime green dirt bike has resurfaced this afternoon following a period of relative peace in the neighborhood. At one point the rider (see attached photo) abandoned the street for the sidewalk without any apparent reduction in speed which I'd estimate at 40 mph. I hope the photo helps.

The dumpster that Mandy Management has provided for the apartment building at the corner of Edgewood and Sherman is far too small for the number of units in the building. As a result, trash is often overflowing, and ends up littering the block.

A larger dumpster (or a second dumpster, or more frequent emptying of the dumpster) needs to be provided.

The amount of speeding and red light running at this intersection is obscene.

Cars are speeding past at rush hour more than 20 MPH above the limit, amidst crowds of pedestrians and other vehicles. The red light signal is not obeyed.

It is only a matter of time before a driver loses control and kills or injures several people, as has happened recently at similar intersections (like Crown & College). The very poor pedestrian visibility at the corners, inadequate lighting, and use of line crosswalks rather than the more effective zebra-style crosswalks, only makes matters worse.

Can some police enforcement be added here as a temporary fix, up until the time that the intersection can be rebuilt to a higher standard? Is it even possible to stop red light runners here?

Ultimately, the intersection should be redesigned, like many in other US cities have been, so that travel at more than 15 miles per hour becomes uncommon. I've posted details on similar issues in New Haven about how raised and tabled intersections have been widely used in cities like Boulder, Cambridge Massachusetts, etc.. They have been proven to be extremely effective - not to mention much more cost-efficient than regular police enforcement.

Given that this is in the heart of campus, if Yale University is serious about making sure that students, staff and faculty are not continuing to get injured and killed every year, it should consider pushing the city for a redesign as soon as possible.

So what's the plan with getting rid of these idiots who are terrorizing us with their dirtbikes and ATVs? Does our new mayor, Toni Harp, have any ideas? Or are we going to continue to be subjected to their noise and their flagrant disregard for safety? Is there ever going to be a point when we can enjoy a sunny afternoon without it being interrupted by dirtbikes speeding through Edgewood Park? How many more times is my baby going to be waked up by these guys speeding down our street? It's absolutely out of control.

I know the police are busy but its ridiculous that we are allowing people to destroy this park by putting their cars on it, consider the environmental hazard of oil leaking into the grass area as well.

It is a daily occurrence that I am seeing cars parked on the public green area that divides the two directions of Edgewood ave, the issue happens in the evenings. This is unacceptable especially considering taxpayers pay to maintain this property.

If there is not enough parking in the area then maybe the zoning needs to be looked at as far as the rental properties.

Cars illegally parked on Edgewood avenue mall

Norton is more than wide enough for bike lanes (road diet) in each direction. The primary benefit is that narrowing the vehicle travel lanes in this way would help calm traffic.

I posted this issue back in December 2012, but it was archived, despite that nothing seems to have been done. It has been reported to LCI both directly and through seeclickfix.

I'm not sure the status of this house (it was for sale, not sure who owns it now), but parts of the roof have fallen off into the neighbors yard, and there is a lot of trash dumped in the back yard.

The 3rd floor residents moved out because of plumbing problems that they said leaked down into the unoccupied second floor, and the occupied first floor.

On seeclickfix, LCI said that they were at the property in December and assigned a case number for inspection, but no progress seems to have been made. The property continues to literally fall apart.