East Rock Targets The Small Stuff

by Melissa Bailey | June 27, 2006 9:06 AM | | Comments (5)

What does East Rock need? Fewer bus stops, new recycling bins and a high-rise methadone clinic. Those were a few solutions, serious and not, suggested at a public meeting Monday evening by East Rockers like Alex Marathas (pictured at right in a file photo).

Few life-threatening complaints leapt to mind at the East Rock Management Team Meeting Monday. So the smaller stuff — cans rolling on the street after recycling pick-up day — got attention, and some solutions.

Marathas, a real estate developer, has been thinking about what makes the most trash on the streets: “Recycling day.” Recyclables roll out of the bins, or get lost on the way into the old, “anachronistic” trucks, he said. City garbage cans got updated two summers ago, with sparkling results. Recycling bins should be next, he proposed.

Marathas also spoke against a proposed Internet café/ wine bar at the corner of Bishop and State streets (where Marathas lives). Too few parking spaces on State Street already, he said. The crowd of a dozen residents nodded. Marathas said little-used bus stops take up key parking spaces. He’s launching an investigation into how many bus stops can be safely eliminated.

On the Hooker School: People in the room all want it on Whitney Avenue. They prayed for the project to overcome a legal battle prompted by neighbors on Everit Street. Following a discussion of new zoning laws, they offered “solutions”:

“Those people on Everit Street should be careful what they wish for,” they joked, offering alternatives for what could be built on that lot if the school project is blocked.

“Forty units of public housing!” suggested one voice. “A high-rise methadone clinic!” called out another.







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Comments

Posted by: nfjanette [TypeKey Profile Page] | June 27, 2006 12:44 PM

City garbage cans got updated two summers ago, with sparkling results.

Not everywhere in the city - some of us still dream of receiving our new garbage cans, while noting that our neighbors one block away have enjoyed them for some time...

Posted by: Adam Gordon | June 27, 2006 3:16 PM

A new cafe/wine bar on State and Bishop? Great idea! Shooting down new businesses because of parking requirements is not appropriate in an urban neighborhood, particularly on a commercial street like State Street.

Posted by: b | June 28, 2006 12:08 PM

I'm with Adam, though I'm not sure we need another bar on State ST. A wine bar/coffee shop will most likely wiegh heavily on wine bar. Someone should open an Internet cafe sans liquor.
The neighborhood could use one as Kofee on Audobon is the closest venue.

Posted by: rlemar | June 28, 2006 2:11 PM

While I too would regard a new cafe/wine bar on State Street as a positive addition, parking concerns must be addressed. Adam- The East Rock neighborhood is hardly a classic urban neighborhood that is typically benefitted when parking restrictions are relaxed. Instead, this section of East Rock is more aptly described as a working-class, middle density residential neighborhood with a defined commercial corridor (State St.) The area (and all of New Haven) is not well served by public transportation, and as a result the parking concerns of the commercial corridor have overwhelmed the surrounding single/two-family residential neighborhood that abuts it. Neighborhoods like East Rock are wonderful places to live as they enjoy a terrific mix of uses that support and enhance the quality of life in the city, but maintaining an appropriate balance is a difficult task that is beginning to skew against the "livability" of this predominately residential neighborhood.

Posted by: Judith | July 11, 2006 12:48 PM

I would LOVE to see a coffeeshop open into the night up in the East Rock neighborhood--having someplace to go might also increase foot-traffic around the neighborhood at night, reducing the emptiness that seems to accompany the recent spate of crime.

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