SCSU

This city needs to crack down harder on those using cell phones while driving. People's driving skills in this area are poor enough without an added distraction.

I'm bringing this exhausted topic up since I saw a woman hit (lightly bump into) a young boy on Main Street Anx (East Haven/New Haven line) sidewalk yesterday. She was so engrossed in conversation that she didn't bother to stop, merely paused for a second before continuing down the road. The child appeared to be shaken up but okay, so I followed her for the next few blocks. She again went too close to the sidewalk and nearly missed hitting an elderly woman on a motorized wheelchair near Tolli's.

The fact that she wasn't phased by this incident shows that stricter laws need to be enforced, since people are too uncaring, stupid, or arrogant to be responsible for themselves.
Far too many people are endangering others daily by disregarding this law. I can't care how skilled of a driver you feel you are, pull over to use your phone.

(And yes, I have this individual's license plate number, should the child's parents see this post.)

Earlier this week I thought it would be nice to buy a lunch at a nearby cafe and take it out on the Green to eat. Think again---

Nearly ever bench in the green is being used by homeless people to sleep on and hang out on all day and all night. Many of them are trashed (the benches and the homeless dudes). Even when you find an empty bench it is surround by the trash they leave behind.

When I say I want this issue "fixed" I don't mean sterilizing the homeless, and I realize times are tough. I just wish that everyone could use the green and it wasn't a rough sleeping encampment treated like junk by derelicts.

At the outdoor concert last weekend, police came around and forced people to leave their post-concert eating, drinking, and conversing at 10pm. Do they make the homeless people leave? No. Seems like the wrong set of priorities for use of public space.

working on state st in new haven on thur night and i heard a dog barking in a wooded area near the railroad tracks. i went to the fence line to see where it was coming from but it was so dark i couldnt see . he was barking and barking , it was so hot out still at 11 at night so i hopped the fence and went down to the rail tracks and there was a poor little pitbull tied to a tree. i called animal control and no answer , i called new haven police dept and told them and the dispatcher was no help and she said is the dog mean or injured because animal control will not come out for that unless animal is a danger or injured and i said so your gonna let him stay there till the morning in this heat and poss die ??? she said she would send a police officer . i waited for over an hour still no n.h.p.d . so i called amtrak police since the dog was on there side of the fence and they were great they said they were on there way . 2 officers showed up within min , hopped the fence and went down to the dog but couldnt get him because he was affraid and wouldnt let us near him . so they called new haven police to have animal control respond . after all that animal control came out when they could have came out when i called 2 hours ago . animal control needs to do there job and help animals not look for reasons not to . its not about money , its about helping the animals . there used to be a great person working there years ago and i think his name was bob . he cared for the animals and went out of his way for them . the idiot in charge now gives everyone a hard time when you call about a dog in need of help , it all about the time , overtime cost ect . i think her name is [content removed by administrator] !!! if you dont like working with animals go back to street patrol or are you to lazy ?????

I commented on this on another thread, but it seems like it might be worthy of a larger discussion.

I am consistently amazed at the LAWLESSNESS of driving in New Haven (speeding, running lights and stop signs, illegal passing, and so on).

My personal theory is that it is because the NHPD does not seem to patrol traffic violations (with the exception of the occasional drone radar unit that tells you how fast you're going).

But maybe if police handed out moving violations (as they seem to do everywhere else!), people would become more conscientious on the roads.

Thoughts??

It has come to my attention and many other citizens in New Haven county and even visitors to our city, that the meter maids are FRAUDUENTLY writing tickets when a person puts money in their meter and enters a building. The meter maids will write the tickets before the meter even runs out. This is outrageous! How can the city justify this? Certainly there are tons of people who illegally park, but I believe the meter maids are targeting people and paying people at that! In addition, they are letting tons of illegally parked people get away!! Why??? Because they are lazy!!! Why not hire people who wouldn't mind doing there job instead of creating a bad reputation for the city. If they don't want to do their jobs right, then fire them. But the citizens of New Haven, will not put up with this blatant disrespect!

This intersection was a million times more efficient, safer for pedestrians, and non-rage-inducing before these GOD AWFUL camera lights were installed. (Maybe they have their place in certain locations, but it seems like every intersection that has been changed to camera lights is way worse now than it was before on a timer system)
1. light is always green on State St. If you are on Olive/Grove or turning off State you will wait forever, watching all of two cars go by on State.
2. Pedestrian cross walk takes equally long to change. By the time it finally does, the person has long since given up on it and just crossed anyway. I felt much safer as a pedestrian when this light followed a regular, predictable pattern.
3. Right lanes on Olive and Grove should be right turn only, and I believe used to be. The absolute worst is when you want to turn right, but have to sit at this interminable red light because some dummy is sitting in the right lane.
I, and others I know, have complained directly to the transportation dept. before to no avail. Just hope this can be improved in some way.

When writing SCF post titles, I know that using attention getting titles helps drive up visibility, but I apologize in advance for my inflammatory title, but in this case, I'm seriously concerned that unless a change is implemented soon, someone is going to lose their life.

The issue at question is the redesigned northbound left turn lane on State Street turning onto Grove.

The new signal is now "at eye level" across the street on the traffic island and removed from the other cluster of lights.

THREE TIMES in as many days, I have seen drivers COMPLTELY miss this light, and take a left turn across traffic with the main green light.

I thought that the first time I might just be a fluke, but seeing it again, and again, the most recently being last night and I think that we have a serious problem on our hands.

There are almost zero eye level lights in this city, and this one in particular is a change from the old intersection.

The light is extremely hard to see, and unfamiliar drivers can miss it completely.

This needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. It is only a matter of time that someone takes a left across traffic, and someone barrelling down State Street going south plows in to them.

I'll post pictures, and spend a few minutes today seeing if I can video tape this happening.

I was riding my bike to work this morning down Temple St. A city bus (the extra extra long kind, #1046 to be exact) speedily came up from behind me, passed me, and immediately pulled over to the right to make a stop, thus trapping me between it and the sidewalk. People then started getting out of the various doors and I just about knocked one over while I was slowing to a stop (of course apologizing and explaining that Gosh, sorry, I was just cut off by the bus!).

I feel as if city buses do not have regard for cyclists most times, and this incident was especially dangerous. The driver should have slowed down behind me and let me pass the bus stop area before pulling over, obviously.

Just a note to say that the past few days there has been a whole lot of trash scattered all over the New Haven Green. It seems much worse than other times, even compared to early last summer. Embarrassing to walk through there with visiting out-of-towners, and sad for those of us who really love using the Green as a public space. It's the center of the city we're so proud of; it shouldn't be covered in garbage.

The New Haven Green smells heavily like urine and is littered with trash (including sharp glass fragments from many broken alcohol bottles, which is dangerous). It's embarrassing for the city to have our central square be in such a state, but more embarrassing that our inattention to the homeless is what causes it to be so. What is New Haven doing to help those who most need it and, in so doing, helping to preserve our public spaces?

Please add a Pedestrian "Walk" signal or a "Yield to Pedestrians in Crosswalk" Sign at the corner of Temple and Grove Streets. Currently, there is a large number of vehicles that turn right onto Grove Street from Temple St. during the morning rush. However, this traffic typically will not yield to pedestrians crossing Grove Street on a green light. It is quite dangerous as a pedestrian, because the turning cars are in your blind spot, so you cannot see whether anyone is coming while you are crossing the road. I have been repeatedly cut off by fast-moving cars turning in front of me when I am in the middle of the crosswalk.

Many cars do not stop for pedestrians using the crosswalk across Grove at Hillhouse. Cars generally seem to be travelling too fast along this stretch.