Town Green District PLUS

Ideat Village permits for Pitkin Plaza have been curtailed from having any amplification after 7:45pm, impacting most of our free, outdoor, participatory programming. This decision is arbitrary, and not in the best interests of the public at large. We have diverse, eclectic programming scheduled to go until 10pm, as we have done downtown, in the City of New Haven, for the last 9 years.

Recent layoffs have meant that as of February 28, 2011, the total number of hours that the New Haven main library branch opens have been reduced from 185 hours per month to 148. The branches have taken the brunt of the reductions, with monthly hours reduced from 136 to 96 including elimination of Saturday hours.

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/branches_make_last_saturday_loans/

The closing of the libraries is a crucial issue of public space and civic vitality in New Haven. Libraries should be active community hubs where neighbors can meet and cement relationships, not abandoned buildings.

Public Libraries are educational agencies that provide materials and services to all members in the community from preschoolers to seniors. The library is accessible to students for study and research when public schools are not open. The library provides the only computer access some public school students have to complete their homework assignments.

Public Libraries help build a strong economy. Our unemployment rate has been at least 12%, and likely to be above 50% among youth in some city neighborhoods. Many employers have transitioned to online employment applications. Public Libraries provide the only access some people have to computer technology and job searches.

Please "vote" here if you believe that the City of New Haven should immediately restore all of the eliminated library hours, either through re-hiring of laid off employees or through other measures.

Information, updates and additional ways to advocate for this issue will be posted here and you will receive them if you request to be notified of updates.

(I have posted this at the request of an elderly New Haven resident who no longer has access to the internet, due to closing of library hours on Saturday in her neighborhood)

This is what the street looks like at 9:30AM. Massive excess of road capacity which leads to speeding, combined with poor conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.

A buffered bike lane, which is a standard in NYC and Philadelphia now, would make the street safer for all road users by narrowing it and reducing speed.

This is a very popular bike route and with an actual lane, bike use would triple overnight (based on experiences of other cities that do this). This would free up more parking for local businesses to thrive and hire more staff.

I have seen cops on a daily bases park illegally underneath the stop light, get out of their car, walk into starbucks, get a coffee and walk out to their car and leave. I am pretty sure that they are only allowed to break the law for reasonable reasons or if they are doing something positive like stopping a crime. I don’t think getting a coffee or going to News Haven applies to this situation. I would like it stopped, and for our cops to start obeying the same laws they enforce on us.

Ideat Village permits for Pitkin Plaza have been curtailed from having any amplification after 7:45pm, impacting most of our free, outdoor, participatory programming. This decision is arbitrary, and not in the best interests of the public at large. We have diverse, eclectic programming scheduled to go until 10pm, as we have done downtown, in the City of New Haven, for the last 9 years.

more needs to be done to prevent this coffeeshop from becoming a hangout for the homeless. (i don't deny that more needs to be done FOR the homeless, but this one business should not shoulder that burden/suffer because business is driven away.)

every time i visit here, i hear disrespectful language yelled across the store, conversations about drugs including potential drug deals right in the store, and generally offensive conversations. it is very frustrating that this happens often in front of children and first-time visitors to new haven.

i see the same several faces every time who commit these acts. after one guy yelled "f you" loudly across the entire store, i turned and made a motion to calm down with my hand, because there was a 3 or 4 year old in line behind me. he responded with " bl*w me".

bars can ban certain customers who do not behave themselves. can starbucks begin to do the same?

Downtown New Haven badly needs a fresh produce market. Market analysis backs up this claim. The developers of the Shartenberg tower have had trouble recruiting the likes of Trader Joe's and Whole Foods to occupy retail space in the tower. Citizens need to get involved in persuading out-of-town retailers to consider this space (i.e., Fairway in NYC). Interested grocers should contact the City of New Haven Economic Development Office.
http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/economicdevelopment/DoingBusiness/

AT&T is opening a retail store at 936 Chapel St., where the old tattoo shop used to be. This is probably the ugliest storefront in all of downtown -- completely covered in black styrofoam. The building owner has not been motivated to improve their building, but perhaps AT&T can be persuaded that they owe it to New Haven to make their business look halfway decent. I've already written their "corporate citizenship" PR representative, requesting that they at least remove the dryvit. I would also like to see that their signage, when installed, is of appropriate quality and scale. (The tattoo shop had a plastic sign about five feet tall.) Is there any local approvals process that has guidelines for signage?

I've been risking life and limb for years crossing Whitney Ave at Audubon Street. I need to get across there to an office, so going all the way to the end of the block to a crosswalk isn't viable. In fact I've seen MANY New Haven cops cross here, not to mention families going to CAW, ACES, and NMS. This intersection needs a crosswalk at minimum, an extra stoplight would help, and most of all, NO MORE DOUBLE PARKING on Whitney Ave.

These cars are unsightly and need to be removed permanently.

From the NH Independent:

Cars Remain

Some six months ago, parked cars started showing up in the federal plaza behind City Hall, which is under the jurisdiction of the federal General Services Administration (GSA).

Cathy Menzies, a spokeswoman for the GSA, said at the time that parking was permitted in the plaza on a temporary basis only, while garage repairs displaced federal employees.

A recent visit to the plaza found about a dozen cars still parked in the plaza.

In an email on Monday, Menzies offered the following statement: “The Giaimo garage has been reopened but there are still a couple of contractors working on the plaza as part of the garage repair project that should be completed within the next couple of weeks.

“Limited parking behind the courthouse for U.S. Courts and U.S. Marshals’ vehicles has always been permitted.”

Ever since the city began charging $50 for bulk pickup, there has been a significant uptick in illegal dumping: furniture, tires, TVs, mattresses, etc. can be found on curb strips all over New Haven. The problem “seems” to have gotten even worse since residents no longer can schedule pickups via phone or online, but are required to go to Public Works and pay in person.
So could someone with an insider access to Public Works expenses provide us with a “before” and “after” breakdown?
Is the city actually saving money by charging for bulk pickups?
Or is the cost of picking up and disposing of illegal bulk piles throughout the city costing more?
Despite what such research ultimately finds, the significant decline in “quality of life” due to junk piles all over our neighborhoods is indisputable.