Downtown Wooster Square Community Management Team @dwscmt - Tumblr Blog

DWSCMT June Meeting

Dear Neighbors,

Our next CMT Meeting will be in one week, on Tuesday June 9th, at 6pm, in City Hall Meeting Room 3. I will send the zoom link and agenda closer to the day of. Please reach out if you have any events you'd like for me to include on the agenda. Below are the notes from last meeting, a few upcoming events, and a poster for a teen who is unfortunately currently missing. As always, reach out with any questions. Best, Rhea

Upcoming Events:

Wooster Square Movie Night

June 5th, 6-9pm, Wooster Square Park

Inside Out 2!

Wooster Square Art Bazaar

June 20th, 5-10pm, Russo Park

PUPPETHVN - Puppet Show at NXTHVN!

Saturday, June 13th, 2-4pm, 169 Henry St, New Haven

https://www.nxthvn.com/calendar/puppethvn/

Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund (LISCIF) Learning Exchange

Thursday, June 25, 9:30am-3:30pm, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave, NY

https://estuaries.org/event/liscifs-annual-learning-exchange/

April 2026 DWSCMT Meeting

DWSCMT will meet on Tuesday, April 21 at 6pm at City Hall. There will also be a hybrid (Zoom) option -- please contact us ([email protected]) for details.

#nhv #downtown #woostersquare #dwscmt

March 2026 DWSCMT Meeting

The DWSCMT is coming back! Please consider attending this hybrid meeting.

Downtown Wooster Square Community Management Team Tuesday, March 24, • 6:00pm • City Hall (165 Church Street) + Zoom option

The Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team (DWSCMT) in New Haven, CT, is a volunteer-led group addressing quality-of-life, public safety, and development issues across New Haven's Downtown and Wooster Square neighborhoods. More information to come.

October Meeting Recap

Hi Downtown and Wooster Square Community,

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our November DWSCMT meeting! Below are the minutes from the meeting.

We hope to see you at our next meeting on December 17th at 6pm in City Hall, Meeting Room #2. _____________________

New Haven Police Department

Be thoughtful about having visible items in your car to prevent car break-ins

Get excited for Holiday Village on the Green! See here

Yale

Update on 1145 Chapel: See more information here.

Many events and activities coming up! See full calendar here.

Town Green Special Services District

Fall planting is happening! Planted over 1000 plants

Completed 16 Windowed Worlds exhibits — 5 more to go up in the next month or so

Small Business Saturday is November 30th

NHFPL

Check out nhfpl.org for full list of exciting upcoming events!

Updates for Alder Roth (Ward 7)

At-Large landlord hearing: Part 2 of the City Services and Environmental Policy hearing will be held on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 6:00 pm. Hartford just passed an ordinance dealing with large landlords, including calling for much more transparency around who actually owns large properties, which seems like a good model for New Haven to look at.

City bonding: The city recently issued $28.94 million in refunding bonds and $60.7 million in new general obligation bonds. The latter is for the two-year capital budget, which the city is initiating this fiscal year, saving on the costs of having to go through the bonding process annually. The city received a premium of about $5 million dollars, in exchange for paying a higher rate on the bonds. As FRAC Chair Mohit Agrawal has said, taking a premium is not a bad idea in and of itself, so long as it is used in a responsible way - like invested in the pension funds, or used to pay down existing debt. I agree, and will watch to try to ensure the $5M is not instead used to cover general operating budget expenses like police and fire overtime, which typically come in over budget.

DataHaven

DataHaven has released their Greater New Haven Community Index.

See and download full report here.

Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, Inc

For general info on DESK, see here.

For info on their Thanksgiving for All program, see here.

For info on their Giving Tuesday event on Dec. 3, see here.

For info on their Breaking Bread event in March, see here.

Details on our Community Development Block Grant proposal: email Executive Director, Steve Werlin, at [email protected]

Commercial Gateway Zoning District zoning

Anika Singh Lemar attended on behalf of the City Plan Department to go over the proposed edits to the Commercial Gateway District zoning ordinance. See edits here.

275 Orange Street

Paul Wessel of the Connecticut Children's Museum expressed concerns about the proposed development at 275 Orange Street. The proposed development is a seven-story building with plans to move the Pinto/Eli Whitney building closer to the Children's Museum.

Developers of the project attended to provide information on the project

Update: The City Plan Commission voted to table the site plan review of 275 Orange Street in order for there to be a public meeting for further discussion by community members.

City of New Haven Economic Development

Downtown Crossing: See flyer update here.

Millennium Plaza: Working with GSA (they own the Federal Building) to tie waterproofing into the plaza. The city is interested in activating the plaza and welcome ideas, email Giovanni Zinn at [email protected].

98 Olive Street: A development that will include 31 housing units — 1 studio, 19 1-bedroom, 11 2-bedroom. If you have questions, email Ben Trachten at [email protected].

See you next meeting!

DWSCMT

October Meeting Agenda

Hello Downtown and Wooster Square Community,

This is reminder of the upcoming October DWSCMT meeting on Tuesday, October 15th at 6pm at City Hall (Meeting Room #2). Below is the agenda for the meeting. Please bring neighbors and friends!

Neighborhood Public Improvement Program Update: We will have an update on our NPIP process at this meeting. Come to provide your input and thoughts on the process!

Every month, we have regular monthly reports from various Downtown-Wooster Square representatives.

New Haven Police Department

Livable Cities Initiative, Carmen Mendez

Town Green Special Services District

New Haven Free Public Library

Alders (Ward 1, 7, 8)

Every month, we have special presentations from community members, city officials, and more.

Y2Y New Haven: Representatives from the Y2Y New Haven team will be attending to provide an update on their progress.

Public Health Signage, Esther Armmand: The City of New Haven will attend to present on a new public health signage initiative. See more information here and here.

Economic Development Presentations: There will be two presentations on economic development projects in Downtown-Wooster Square including 1) 275 Orange Street; 2) 418 State Street/105 Court Street (John E. English Building). For 418 State Street / 105 Court Street, they have included this added information: "MOD has operated the building as a commercial building for the last several years, but due to a declining market for commercial space in that area has decided that it is most feasible to convert the building into approximately thirty-nine apartments, while maintaining a commercial space along Court Street. MOD is seeking State Historic Tax Credits for the building, and there is no major anticipated exterior work to the building other than to rehabilitate the brick and exterior structure, and add a rooftop deck to the existing roof." We are waiting on further information for both projects to provide community members before the meeting. Once we have any further information, we will send out for review.

Neighborhood Public Improvement Program Discussion: After our last CMT meeting, the DWSCMT Executive Board was excited about the suggestions around the process! We were interested in best practices around participatory budgeting and met with Alexander Kolokotronis — who has expertise working with a variety of participatory budgeting efforts including the Participatory Budgeting Project. We've invited him to attend our CMT meeting to propose a possible process and get input from attendees!

See you there!

DWSCMT

September Meeting Recap

Hi Downtown and Wooster Square Community,

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our September DWSCMT meeting! Below are the minutes from the meeting.

We hope to see you at our next meeting on October 15th at 6pm in City Hall, Meeting Room #2.

_____________________________

DWSCMT Called To Order 6:01pm.

Special Announcement:

Tanaysia Jefferson: "Community Conversations" event @ Hillhouse High School (Floyd Little Athletic Center), October 17, 6-8pm

New Haven Police Department

Increase in thefts from auto, several from the same parking lot; one arrest has been made

Several thefts involved laptops left visible on seat

Commercial burglary on Crown St.; warrant has been issued

Officer DeSetefanis is on duty M-F 10am-6pm, working on quality-of-life issues downtown for next month on trial basis

Town Green Special Services District

18 displays by local artists in currently vacant retail spaces, "Windowed Worlds," featured in New Haven Biz magazine and New Haven Independent

New planters on Chapel Street

200 total ground planters, 160 hanging planters will be out until colder weather arrives

New Haven Pride Week: Sept. 21 festival on Center St (street will be closed down); begins at 2pm

New Haven Night Market October 4

NHFPL

City Librarian Martha Brogan is retiring; outside consultant has been hired to find a replacement; new director will start Nov. 1

US Census job fairs; Oct. 21 and other times, see nhfpl.org

"Democracy in Crisis" series at Ives; "Democracy in America" series at Wilson branch library

Book clubs (ongoing)

Windham-Campbell literary awards events at Yale; some events will be at library locations; see https://windhamcampbell.org/festivals/2019

Alder Roth (Ward 7) + Other Alders

E-scooters hearing originally scheduled for Sept. 25; rescheduled for public hearing in October @ Community Development Committee of BOA

Homeless bill of rights; discharged from Human Services Committee, re-assigned to different committee (probably Legislation)

New NHPD contract approved by Alders, hopefully it will improve retention of officers

Thursday Sept. 25, 6pm - Finance Committee hearing on NHFD contract

5 new lead inspectors approved by BOA for Health Dept.

CSEP hearing on public nuisance violations (sidewalk shoveling); public hearing officer should be in place by Dec. 2019

Residential parking permits expire Sept. 30, grace period until Oct. 31 - please contact New Haven TT&P

Alder candidates: Ellen Cupo (ward 8) [email protected], Eli Sabin (ward 1) - [email protected]

Coliseum Site Redevelopment

275 S. Orange St - Coliseum site formerly owned by Live Work Learn Play, now will be developed by Spinnaker Real Estate Partners & Fieber Group

Year-long process to design

Community forums / info sessions will be held Sept. 24, 6pm @ 200 Orange St G-2; also Sept. 25 (same time & location)

Project Team includes KDP, Beinfield Architects, Newman Architects, Fuss and ONeill

Operating under same LDA as previous developer - dates were extended

No hotel/conference center as previously envisioned

Emergency Shelter Management Services

Aaron Haley is the new director of Grand Avenue shelter

Mr. Haley's goal is to "clean it up a little bit," make some architectural improvements (facade), get community more involved and vice versa

Wine tasting fundraiser at Canal Dock Boathouse on October 24, 6-10pm "Autumnal Soiree" - for more info, see www.esmsshelter.org

Shelter is NOT moving to other location (as some rumors suggested)

Capital improvements: possible installation of laundry room and storage areas, but occupancy not increasing (currently 75)

Hours are currently 4pm - 7am, sometimes morning hours extended in wintertime

Neighborhood Public Improvement Program Discussion

See notes from Aug.

New message from LCI: NPIP allocation must be determined by DWS residents, not others. We are learning more about this update — will provide updates during October meeting.

See you next meeting!

DWSCMT

September Meeting Agenda

Hello Downtown and Wooster Square Community, This is reminder of the upcoming September DWSCMT meeting on Tuesday, September 17th at 6pm at City Hall (Meeting Room #2). Below is the agenda for the meeting. Please bring neighbors and friends! See below for our Neighborhood Public Improvement Program announcement and process. --- Neighborhood Public Improvement Announcement This year, the City of New Haven’s Livable City Initiative is devoting $20,000 to each Community Management Team through the Neighborhood Public Improvement Program (NPIP). The goal of NPIP is to use these funds towards public improvements in each neighborhood. This is exciting news — and a big responsibility. For the Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team, it is deeply important to us that how these funds are used are collectively decided upon and that the process is transparent and open. That’s why DWSCMT will be hosting a Neighborhood Fund Competition – an opportunity to organize, apply, and pitch your idea on how to use this funding to make the most impact in our community. In the past, this funding has supported public art, park benches, high-school interns, pedestrian crossing signs, and more. We strongly encourage all to apply. How it works: 1. Before you apply: If you need support on your application or have questions, you can sign up to sit down with a member of the DWSCMT Executive Board for Office Hours. We want everyone to be supported in this process! Email DWSCMT at [email protected] to set up a time to meet or talk by phone. 2. Apply: Fill out this application by November 1st (see below if you’d like a paper application!). 3. Public Input: Between November 2nd and November 30th, all applications will be made public with the ability for all to provide input, ideas, and suggestions. 4. Selection: Based on the public input and criteria, five of the applications will be selected by the DWSCMT Eboard to have the opportunity to pitch at the DWSCMT December meeting. Applicants will be notified by December 4th and a public notice will be sent out about the selected projects. 5. Pitch: During a portion of DWSCMT’s monthly meeting on December 17th at 6pm at City Hall, selected applicants will give a 5-minute pitch with the opportunity for 2 questions from the attendees. 6. Vote: During the same December 17th meeting, voting members of DWSCMT will vote for the most high-impact idea(s). Depending on the amount required per project, multiple projects will be selected for funding. Questions? Need an offline application? Have further questions? Message us or email us at [email protected]. Also, give us a call at (859) 536-4791. DWSCMT wants to make sure that as many individuals know about this opportunity as possible. Would you like us to speak at your organization? 6th-grade classroom? Church service? We’d love to come if we can. Send us an email or give a call at (859) 536-4791.

Every month, we have regular monthly reports from various Downtown-Wooster Square representatives.

New Haven Police Department

Livable Cities Initiative, Carmen Mendez

Town Green Special Services District

New Haven Free Public Library

Alders (Ward 1, 7, 8)

Every month, we have special presentations from community members, city officials, and more.

Emergency Shelter Management Services (ESMS): Mr. Aaron Haley, the new Executive Director of Emergency Shelter Management Services (ESMS) located at 645 Grand Avenue, will be presenting about the shelter. They are actively re-envisioning some of the shelter’s operations, and how it engages with the community at large. They would love to hear from the community about how they would like to get involved, and invite them to join them as they grow.

Arts Council: The Arts Council will be presenting on their latest programs. Learn more here.

Spinnaker and Fieber: Spinnaker and Fieber will be attending to discuss the former Coliseum site.

Neighborhood Public Improvement Program Voting Discussion: We will be hosting our second discussion about the Neighborhood Public Improvement Program – specifically around the question: For determining the use of the NPIP funds, should we open up voting for these funds to beyond DWSCMT voting membership? See DWSCMT By-Laws on voting membership here. Our goal is to discuss this issue during our September meeting, with a vote during our October meeting. See the New Haven Independent article on our August discussion here.

See you there! DWSCMT

August Meeting Recap

August Meeting Agenda

Hello Downtown and Wooster Square Community,

This is reminder of the upcoming August DWSCMT meeting on Tuesday, August 20th at 6pm at City Hall (Meeting Room #2). Below is the agenda for the meeting. Please bring neighbors and friends!

In addition, during the meeting, we will be walking through the process for the Neighborhood Public Improvement Program funds.

Every month, we have regular monthly reports from various Downtown-Wooster Square representatives.

New Haven Police Department

Livable Cities Initiative, Carmen Mendez

Town Green Special Services District

New Haven Free Public Library

Alders (Ward 1, 7, 8)

Every month, we have special presentations from community members, city officials, and more.

Havenly, Caterina Passoni: Havenly employs refugee chefs to produce, market and sell high quality snacks while preparing them for employment in the food industry with culinary training, ESL classes, and interview prep. Learn more here.

Citywide Open Studios, Artspace: Artspace will attend to talk about their upcoming Citywide Open Studios. The festival’s theme is Older, but Younger, focusing on inter-generational dialogues and exchanges. Learn more here.

Union Station Development Plans, Anstress Farwell: The state's plan to go ahead with garage at Union Station is prompting community organizations to join together to respond.

Site Projects, Inc., Laura Clarke: An update on the Sheila de Bretteville public art installation on Union Avenue in the Route 34 Underpass.

See you there!

DWSCMT

July Meeting Recap

Hi Downtown and Wooster Square Community, Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our July DWSCMT meeting! Below are the minutes from the meeting. We hope to see you at our next meeting on August 20th at 6pm in City Hall, Meeting Room #2.

EBoard Updates

Neighborhood Public Improvement Program funding has been approved for the current fiscal year 2019-’20: $20,000 for each management team, June 20, 2020 funding allocation deadline, all expenditures must be approved by LCI

Civilian Review Board -- Neighbor Steve Hamm has been appointed as representative from our CMT district by the Mayor's Office; August 5th at City Hall there will be a vote on all nominees at Alder meeting

New Haven Elections Task Force will be meeting 2x more in July, 6pm at 200 Orange Street Room G-2: July 24th @ 6PM, July 31st @ 6PM

Mayoral election AND Board of Ed election (District 2): Wards 1, 7 and 9 are in District 2 and will be voting for BOE rep in the primary/general. Ward 8 is outside the district.

New Haven Police Department

1 car break-in per week, down from 5-6 per week at last check-in

Residential burglary on Temple Street last week: No signs of forcible entry, Isolated incident for now

Peace Squad Officer Booth will likely be leaving the department for another department

Green Initiative has been reduced due to staffing issues; PD attempting to maintain strong presence, at surrounding restaurants

Officers Cole and Mortalie attending meeting to get to know the neighborhood

Questions

What’s being done about dirt-biking? Our policy is to not engage in pursuit due to increased risks. Assistant Chief Karl Jacobson will be piloting some new drone policies

Homeless people on Grand Avenue doing drugs at the bus stop -- what’s being done? Officers have been at the church daily. However Ferraro’s is out of the district. Lt. O’Neill will follow up on this.

Livable Cities Initiative

Carmen has been getting rid of illegal debris -- more volume than usual. People who want to get rid of bulk trash must schedule an appointment with Public Works

New graffiti at Jefferson and Grand, at Project MORE, will be removed by LCI

Bill Carone at Parks Department has promised to get ping-pong tables up within 2 weeks.

Questions:

State / Grove is totally overgrown with weeds. What’s the plan? Carmen will mention it to their team.

There’s a bench in Wooster Square Park stating that it has been donated by the management team, has some graffiti on it - Carmen will follow up on this.

Various break-ins at blighted property at 601 Chapel Street -- how can we prevent this building from getting burned up? Carmen has issued citations to building owner and will try to follow up

Town Green Special Services District

Happy hour every Thursday 4-7pm, Friday 4-7pm. Free event. Kid and dog friendly. Games from Elm City Games.

Flights of Fancy coming up July 25. Tickets available online, downtownnewhaven.com

Windowed World fliers -- accepting artist proposals. Deadline July 31st. Application online.

From Intersection to Connection: Following up on April event, 5-6:30pm July 16th @ Trinity Bar and restaurant

Flower program is up and running. Increased planters on Chapel, 22 more planters to go from College to Church. Goal is to create a more cohesive look / feel. Around 2400 plants currently

Questions:

Will fountains in the Green be fixed? Will tables get put out? That fountain doesn’t belong to the Town Green District. Tables + chairs were put out for a number of months, but they were misused which violated TGD’s agreement. No safety ambassadors to help monitor the area. TGD in talks with proprietors to put tables + chairs out on the Green.

On Wooster Street by the park there used to be a piano -- will that be coming back? That’s out of TGD’s district, however Arts Council has placed a piano in Temple Plaza AND on Audubon bump-out. Daniel Fitzmaurice from the Arts Council would be able to swap these out / get them fixed. Lauren Brown is working on finding a coordinator for the Wooster Square piano

Will any new planters be on Crown between Church and Orange? Yes! ASAP...maybe not this year. They’ll probably be closer to Orange / Ninth Square area.

For the Green, can we have a synthetic ice rink in the winter? TGD will bring it up / research it.

NHFPL

Library partnering with Yale New Haven Hospital. Every newborn baby who is resident of NHV will receive a library card. Information attached to card printed in English and Spanish

Many events this summer, check nhfpl.org

Children’s room full of activities every day

For adults, “The Public” will be screening at the library on Saturday, July 27th. Followed by discussion

Tuesday July 23rd, Amazon will be in the library hiring workers for new North Haven facility

Ives Squared will be hosting virtual reality workshops in August

Alder Harris (Ward 8)

Welcome to Brenda Harris, new Ward 8 Alder

BOA meets monthly on first Monday June, July August

August 5th @ 7PM next meeting

Held a meeting with Y2Y late June. City Plan Commission allowed them approval to build second story addition

Brenda Harris’s number is 203-640-5436

Tenants at Farnam Courts are being moved out for new Mill River Crossing development

Ward Committee Meeting held meeting last night with all new mayoral candidates

Ellen Cupo is running for Ward 8 alder and was endorsed by ward committee

Alder Roth (Ward 7)

Mayor’s “5 year budget” was supposed to be submitted by July 15th

A meeting has been requested on the topic of electric bikes in the city

Orange Street will be closed from Wall to Grove to cars (not to pedestrians) July 27th - August 11th due to Frontier construction (this may be postponed to later in August)

Justin Elicker, Mayoral Candidate

Learn more about Justin's platform here.

Phone number: 203-500-2969

Youth Hostel, Paul Hammer

Paul Hammer -- bringing a youth hostel to Wooster Square

Would need to be downtown or downtown-adjacent

Inexpensive accommodation for international travelers

Currently in the process of looking for sites

This hostel would be privately owned + affiliated

It would be easiest to do this project in a commercial zone

People who stay in a hostel typically stay for ~3 days

The fact that New Haven is a transportation hub / home to many colleges and universities is a huge draw.

Contact: [email protected]

Questions:

How many hostelers per room? 2 sex-segregated dormitories (male + female). Each with 10 bunks; 4-6 bunks per room. Possibility for 1-2 handicap-accessible private spaces

Are there any other hostels in New Haven? No. Yale students would be into the idea of a hostel.

Would there be food service? Maybe.

Is there an onsite person managing the place? Yes.

Pine & Iron Axe Throwing

Read more about the project in the New Haven Independent here

See you next meeting!

DWSCMT

Hello Downtown and Wooster Square Community, This is reminder of the upcoming July DWSCMT meeting on Tuesday, July 16th at 6pm at City Hall (Meeting Room #2). Below is the agenda for the meeting. Please bring neighbors and friends!

June Meeting Recap

Hi Downtown and Wooster Square Community,

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our June DWSCMT meeting! Below are the minutes from the meeting.

We hope to see you at our next meeting on July 16th at 6pm in City Hall, Meeting Room #2.

New Haven Police Department

Increase in car break-ins

Do not leave expensive items in your car and lock your doors

Livable Cities Initiative

Issues with bulk trash dumping by students who are leaving town

Ping-pong tables — hired someone and getting a date for installation shortly; will likely have a ribbon-cutting

Town Green Special Services District

Happy Hour in the Plaza events in Temple Plaza – every Thursday & Friday, 4:30-7:30PM (weather-dependent) – www.happyhournhv.com

Flights of Fancy shopping/retail & wine crawl – Thursday, July 25th - $20 advance discount tickets available now – www.downtownnewhaven.com/fof

Windowed Worlds vacant storefront art project recently completed 900 Chapel St. displays at space between entrance and Halal Guys in partnership with Ives Squared, as well as an in-progress work at the former Buffalo Wild Wings space, in partnership with art school ACES/ECA. We have a list of storefronts and are working with interested property owners to brighten their currently vacant spaces

Turf grass was installed in Temple Plaza 2 weeks ago, we are encouraging pet owners to continue using the designated pet turf area in the Plaza

There is a possibility for bistro tables & chairs on the New Haven Green, however we are not permitted to operate on the Green, so the issue of maintenance with our Ambassadors is something we have to tackle

NHFPL

As always, so many events happening at the library this summer! See all events here.

Alder Roth (Ward 7)

NPIP: Have been told by Acting Budget Director for the city that we will get NPIP money from FY 2018-19 and from FY 2019-20 as of July 1, 2019. $100,000 is allocated to the program for each yr, to be divided by 12 CMTs. So a total of $200,000 will be divided. But waiting for something in writing to make this clear for all CMTs.

CRB: Waiting for Mayor’s Office to submit names to the Board of Alders. (It appears the interview process is starting.)

Taxes: Property taxes, including car taxes, due on July 1. (No mill rate increase this year.)

Early trash pick-up hearing: City Services and Environmental Policy Committee meeting on Thursday, 6/27 at 6 pm in the alder chambers will include a hearing on private trash contractors picking up trash before the allowed time: 5 am Downtown/ 6 am elsewhere. Please attend/speak if you have an example(s) of a violation to share.

Air Rights Garage (ARG): The loud repair project they are doing may continue until the end of the year. There was not a heads up about this project in advance of it starting. Alder Roth has asked for details to share with the community on why the project is happening, the timing, and noise expectations. Alder Roth has also asked for them to try to reduced the sound through any possible noise mitigation efforts.

Bollards at York and S. Frontage: This project has been in the works for over two years, based in part on a woman being killed there in January 2017 when a car was driven into the sidewalk. After the CMT meeting, Alder Roth learned the bollards should start to be installed in late Aug or September. And that new sidewalks will be built between College and York, both on MLK Jr Blvd (ARG side of street) and S. Frontage.

88 Olive Street Update:

A group of neighbors met on Thursday, June 13th to discuss next steps for 88 Olive Street.

Next steps include: (1) Sending a letter drafted by DWSCMT Eboard and Alder Roth to Department of Public Health and PURA (Public Utility Regulatory Agency); (2) Carlos of the City of New Haven Economic Development will be reaching out to UI to ask for the environmental reports; and (3) Carlos of City of New Haven Economic Development will be following up with the Building Department.

Learn more about the issue here

240 Greene Street (known as St. Michael’s)

This project is 240 Greene Street (known as St. Michael’s) with Michael Massimino of Mass Construction (the developer's representative)

See copies of the plans here

Read more in the New Haven Independent here

123 York Street (known as Crown Court expansion)

This project is 123 York Street (known as Crown Court expansion) with the principal Sholom Andrusier

See copies of the plans here

Read more in the New Haven Independent here

See you next meeting!

DWSCMT

June Meeting Agenda

Hello Downtown and Wooster Square Community,

This is reminder of the upcoming June DWSCMT meeting on Tuesday, June 18th at 6pm at City Hall (Meeting Room #2). Below is the agenda for the meeting. Please bring neighbors and friends!

Every month, we have regular monthly reports from various Downtown-Wooster Square representatives.

New Haven Police Department

Livable Cities Initiative, Carmen Mendez

Town Green Special Services District

New Haven Free Public Library

Yale

Alders (Ward 1, 7, 8): Including our new Alder for Ward 8, Alder Harris!

Every month, we have special presentations from community members, city officials, and more.

PolitiXentral: A presentation from a startup that is building a mobile app that aims to increase voter turnout by creating a bridge between voters and their politicians.

Elmseed: Elmseed is a Yale undergraduate organization that provides motivated entrepreneurs with access to one-on-one personalized consulting, business training, technical assistance, and a network of peer support. See more here.

City of New Haven Economic Development: We will be hearing presentations about two projects happening in DWS including 1) 240 Greene Street (known as St. Michael’s) with Michael Massimino of Mass Construction (the developer's representative); and 2) 123 York Street (known as Crown Court expansion) with the principal Sholom Andrusier.

See you there!

DWSCMT

May Meeting Recap

Hi Downtown and Wooster Square Community,

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our May DWSCMT meeting! Below are the minutes from the meeting.

We hope to see you at our next meeting on June 18th at 6pm in City Hall, Meeting Room #2.

Special Announcement: Neighbor Steve Hamm will be premiering his new documentary, "Shift Change" re: community policing in New Haven; June 4, 6:30pm at Yale's Whitney Humanities Center as part of NH Docs film festival

New Haven Police Department

Rash of car break-ins - mainly Orange, Crown, Church St

Theft from auto in Wooster Square due to unlocked doors

Robbery in Temple St. garage

Adding more bicycle beats for summer - 1 additional team in Wooster Square

Lt. Maher will be making "get to know your officer" biographical information sheets to introduce officers to community

Noise levels complaints handled by bar detail - NHPD is getting new decibel readers

Livable Cities Initiative

Issues with bulk trash dumping by students who are leaving town

Issues with tree belts and tree wells

NPIP - trying to clarify whether it is in 2018-2019 budget and if those funds will be rolled over

597 Chapel St. blight - notice of violation was issued by certified letter

Town Green Special Services District

Night Market very successful, another one coming up in October

Event series June 6 - Aug 23 - every Thursday & Friday Happy Hour at Temple Plaza with game zones & live music

Working to fill empty storefronts at 770 and 900 Chapel

Expansion of terrasse program - new ones outside Te Amo Tequila & Midpoint Coffee

Ambassadors are in "spring cleanup mode" with caring for public seating areas in Temple Plaza, Pitkin Plaza, etc

35 new trees in district

NHFPL

Winner of a national library award - one of only 5 in the country - congrats!

"Downsizing Donation Guide" - great recycling/reuse guide prepared by neighbor Elaine Piraino-Holevoet

May 23 - Big Read discussion group

Alder Roth (Ward 7)

State & Bradley Mural Project: Arts for Learning CT along with the Bradley Street Bike COOP and Alder Roth are collaborating on a mural project on the Trumbull Street underpass on the corner of State Street and Bradley Street in New Haven this summer: Priming day is June 30th @ noon. Donate here.

Budget deliberations and vote on Tues. 5/28 at 7 pm: Almost positive there will be no mill rate (and hence no tax) increase. But she, along with some other alders, will push for some amendments to the Finance Committee version of the budget, to make it more fiscally responsible long term.

Along with Haci, have asked for an alder committee hearing on trash pick up and how to better enforce rule that contractors cannot come pre-5 am. Also to see if at all feasible for 5 am time to be pushed back a bit.

Mayor’s Office (or at least Esther Armand) has been asked to provide the alders with a report on all the names submitted for CRB citywide.

Brenda Harris was elected the Ward 8 Alder to finish out Alder Greenberg’s term! Congrats Brenda.

Open Labs:

Science outreach program for middle schoolers led by Yale graduate students

See http://theopenlabs.org/

New Haven Department of Transportation, Traffic, & Parking

Working on new active transportation master plan - partnership of CARE, NHCAT, NHDOT

16% of New Haven's population walks to work, 3% bike to work; 45% do not drive

June 20 "Safe Routes for All" planning kickoff @ NHFPL, dinner provided, there will be Spanish translation

Downtown Crossing Update

Multi-phase project intended to unwind the highway and reconnect neighborhoods, reconnect city to itself

Phase I was 100 College St. site (Alexion)

Phase II is Orange Street construction, i.e. creating normal street grid to link two parts of South Orange Street over the connector

Phase II begins late spring 2019, scheduled for completion July 2021, includes plans for work safety zone, maintenance of traffic; 9 construction stages involving different lane shifts

Phase III will involve Temple Street and will begin in 2021

During Phase II construction motorists may want to use alternate routes, avoid lane closures during peak morning and afternoon commutes to the extent possible

Phase II will also include a 'protected intersection' for cyclists

88 Olive Street - United Illuminating

Demolition of decommissioned electrical substation

Remove all materials from site, soil removed around foundation of the building

Site will be retained by UI

Neighbors are concerned that UI will be destroying a historic structure for no valid reason other than eliminating a tax liability

See more in the New Haven Independent here

See you next meeting!

DWSCMT

May Meeting Agenda

Hello Downtown and Wooster Square Community, This is reminder of the upcoming May DWSCMT meeting on Tuesday, May 21st at 6pm at City Hall (Meeting Room #2). Below is the agenda for the meeting. Please bring neighbors and friends!

Every month, we have regular monthly reports from various Downtown-Wooster Square representatives.

New Haven Police Department

Livable Cities Initiative, Carmen Mendez

Town Green Special Services District

New Haven Free Public Library

Yale

Alders (Ward 1, 7, 8)

Every month, we have special presentations from community members, city officials, and more.

Open Labs, Josie Jacob-Dolan: Open Labs organizes a variety of science demonstrations and activities aimed at teaching families about science in fun and engaging ways. They are interested in expanding the events they do in collaboration with different neighborhoods. To learn more, see here.

Youth Hostel, Paul Hammer: Paul Hammer, alongside Diana Nastri (GR&L Realty), are interested in potentially bringing a youth hostel to Wooster Square. This is the start of their exploration, and they'd like to begin a conversation, gauge interest, and answer questions with a view towards moving forward on this project with community involvement.

Transportation, Traffic, & Parking on the City’s 1st Active Transit Master Plan: The Transportation, Traffic, and Parking Department – in collaboration with the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE) and the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center – is organizing a citywide effort to increase active mobility (biking, walking) in neighborhoods by creating the City’s first Active Transit Master Plan.

City of New Haven Economic Development: We will be hearing presentations about two projects happening in DWS including 1) Downtown Crossing: The presentation will provide an overview of Phase 2 construction which will reconnect Orange Street, as well as a quick overview of the entire project. Phase 2 construction is set to begin at the end of May. Attendees will be able to ask questions, sign up to receive project news and construction alerts for future detours, traffic shifts; and 2) 88 Olive Street Demolition (United Illuminating).

See you there! DWSCMT

April Meeting Recap

Hi Downtown and Wooster Square Community,

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our April DWSCMT meeting! Below are the minutes from the meeting.

We hope to see you at our next meeting on May 21st at 6pm in City Hall, Meeting Room #2.

---

Important Announcements:

• Ward 8 Special Election: The election will take place May 17. All ward 8 voters are eligible and the polls will be open 6am-8pm. See

www.newhavenvotes.org

for more information.

• United Illuminating Presentation about 88 Olive Street Demolition: Because of a family event, they will present in May about Olive Street demolition project. DWSCMT Eboard will be asking for a possible extension of the 90-day demolition deadline to allow for more community input.

• Civilian Review Board: DWSCMT voted to submit a list of all three nominees to the Mayor's Office for consideration. Thank you to all the nominees! Individuals may submit letters to the Mayor's Office to individually support any nominee. See New Haven Independent coverage

here

and New Haven Register coverage

here

New Haven Police Department

No major incidents in district, a few auto break-ins

2 extra officers assigned to downtown on Tues. and Wed. afternoon, 4-8pm, focusing on NH Green

Livable Cities Initiative

Ping pong tables (from old NPIP $) are coming this summer!

Contact Carmen with concerns

Town Green Special Services District

Night Market - next one is May 17

Artspace Benefit Gala Apr 27

"Wake Up the Green" May 4

Check www.downtownnewhaven.com

Yale

Car Seat and Bicycle Safety Event Sat. May 11, 10am- 2pm - free car seat checks, bike repairs and bicycle safety course (part of Yale Day of Service)

Alders

Alder Finance Committee Budget Schedule @ City Hall: Public Hearings (public comment): 5/8 @ 6pm; Workshops: 4/25, 4/29, 4/30 @ 6pm; Budget Delib: 5/13 @ 6pm; Board of Alders vote: 5/28 @ 7pm

Alder Roth and three other alders asked for a hearing on how to improve enforcement when folks do not shovel. This will enable us to officially raise issues like Cordalie's offer to volunteer as a hearing officer if the lack of hearing officers is the problem.

DESK (Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen):

30 years of service to community

Located at Center Church parish house on Temple Street

Upcoming events where you can support DESK: Rock to Rock April 27, Great Give

Looking for new board members thru May 31

To make donations or get involved, check out website for more info (https://www.downtowneveningsoupkitchen.com/)

Economic Development Presentation: 808 Chapel Street

New development proposed by major downtown landlord Northside (Paul Denz)

Apartment building with commercial space on ground floor (up to 3 commercial spaces)

6 storeys, mix of studio, 1 and 2 BD units

Studios are 465 sq feet ("micro" units)

LDA needed with City to acquire property at Chapel/Orange

Approximately 1 year construction schedule

See you next meeting!

DWSCMT

April Meeting Agenda

Hello Downtown and Wooster Square Community,

This is reminder of the upcoming April DWSCMT meeting on Tuesday, April 16th at 6pm at City Hall (Meeting Room #2). Below is the agenda for the meeting. Please bring neighbors and friends!

---

Update on Civilian Review Board Nominations:

The City of New Haven is now prepared to re-establish its Civilian Review Board (CRB). The CRB is a City commission, comprised of residents, which reviews complaints about police misconduct. See full ordinance

here

Each Community Management Team (CMT) in the city is charged with accepting applications from individuals interested in serving on the CRB. CMTs will then make nominations to the Mayor’s Office by submitting a ranked choice list. The Mayor’s Office will review these, and submit recommendations to the Board of Alders for final consideration.

At Tuesday evening's meeting, each candidate will have an opportunity to speak to the DWSCMTmembership, who will then vote, and submit a ranked-choice list to the Mayor’s office. See below for the nominations to the CRB and a link to their one-page letter describing their interest and what background, experiences, and knowledge they would bring to the work of the CRB:

•

Steve Hamm

•

Elizabeth Larkin

•

Alexander Taubes

Every month, we have regular monthly reports from various Downtown-Wooster Square representatives.

New Haven Police Department

Livable Cities Initiative, Carmen Mendez

Town Green Special Services District

New Haven Free Public Library

Yale

Alders (Ward 1, 7, 8)

Every month, we have special presentations from community members, city officials, and more.

Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen: Come hear an update from the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen.

Civilian Review Board: Every candidate who has submitted a letter/form (see above) will have an opportunity to speak to the DWSCMT membership, who will then vote, and submit a ranked-choice list to the Mayor’s office.

City of New Haven Economic Development: We will be hearing a presentation about a development happening in DWS: 808-810 Chapel Street: Development at the corner of Chapel and Orange with ground up construction on the vacant lot. The owner/developer is Northside Development; principals are Paul Denz and Chris Vigilante. See plan here.The 88 Olive Street Demolition (United Illuminating) presentation will happen next month during our May meeting.

See you there!

DWSCMT

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