Steve's general downtown area

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)

The bridge on Court Street between State and Artizan is unbelievably dark. The same bridge on Chapel has 2 lights and yet far more people travel via Court from downtown to get home to Wooster Square. Please fix!

Nominate New Haven Here:
http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options

For More Info Visit:
http://bit.ly/cpfchk

Join the Facebook Group:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=309439846644

Google is planning to build, and test ultra-high speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the country. They will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. Google will offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000, and potentially up to 500,000 people.

Huge pothole on the middle of the street. Took out 2 of my tires.

Yet another 8 cars (at least) in the Wooster Square area have been broken into with crow bars early in the morning of 11/12/10. NHPD were on scene as at least 2 perpetrators were witnessed fleeing the area. The Wooster Square area has been under siege by this rash of car break-ins over the past several months. Enhanced NHPD patrols are needed between 12a and 5a to catch the thieves/vandals in the act. Countless vehicles have been hit in the past 3 weeks, despite no visible items or other items of value in the cars.

A former comedy club, this Yale-owned storefront at 986 Chapel Street has been empty since before Bruce Alexander came to New Haven in 1998. (Out of fairness to Bruce, Yale didn't take ownership of this piece of the Schiavone portfolio until 1999.)

C'mon Bruce, you're a real estate whiz. I know you and Yale can do better, -- especially given the fact that this is such a great location. Renovate the hideous storefront into something respectable, and then I bet you'll find a good tenant in a hurry.

PS -- It is not okay that next door at 976 Chapel is also a permanently dead storefront. I understand that it is such a big space that it's tough to rent. However, lower the rent if you have to! This is prime real estate, and the neighborhood deserves another lively retail tenant.

Bruce's bio here:
http://www.yale.edu/about/alexander.html

email Bruce, (politely please), at bruce.alexander@yale.edu

makes court street very dark