New Haven Independent

The news came Monday night at a meeting of the city’s Traffic Authority. It marked a conclusion to a remarkable battle over who belongs in the center of town, and how people should get around.

The bus-riders’ coalition formed in 1995 when the mayor signed an agreement with developer David Cordish, who rebuilt what’s now the Omni Hotel. Amid complaints by some business people about black kids hanging out near the then-Chapel Square Mall, the city agreed to remove five bus stops in and around the Green “to create a desirable ambiance.” The coalition formed in response, saying the move created hardships for bus riders, especially the elderly and disabled.

Thanks to their lobbying, two of the bus stops around the Green have since been put back in to service. Another two fell on lines that have since been discontinued. On Monday night, the Traffic Authority board (which is also the city’s Police Commission) unanimously approved a request to put the last stop back in service outside 129 Church St. Pictured at left are the parking meters that are going to be removed, and replaced with a bus stop.

Two of the women involved in the coalition from the start, Anna Aschenbach and Mary Johnson, were on hand at the meeting, ready to speak out again if necessary. They’re pictured at the top of the story with fellow coalition members as well as Alderwoman Dolores Colón, who congratulated them in the hallway.

Aschenbach and Johnson, it turned out, didn’t need to speak this time. The city was now on their side.

In a statement submitted to the Traffic Authority, Mike Piscitelli wrote that to “establish a bus stop (200 feet) at this location is appropriate given the spacing of current stops along Church Street and will enhance the ability to transfer from bus route to bus route due to its proximity to the Chapel Street bus stop.” Pictured is the site of the new bus stop.

As recently as a month and a half ago, Mary Johnson celebrated her 85th birthday with her friends by holding a sit-in at the mayor’s office.

As advocates packed inside the small conference room before the meeting Monday night, Commissioner Chris DePino, a former state GOP chairman, teased them by offering a cup of “Republican coffee.” Nearly all of them refused on principle.

When the meeting began, however, DePino spoke on their behalf.

“Before you came,” DePino said to the other commissioners, “one of these folks told me they had been fighting this for 12 years. I think their time has come.”

In a prepared statement she ended up not needing to read aloud, Aschenbach said removing bus stops is an act of discrimination “against bus riders, those who can’t afford a car or parking fees, workers, disproportionately people of color, and disabled people.” In conversation, she added, “women with strollers, too.”

Pat Florio is a member of Coalition for People, one of the groups in the coalition. She commutes to work at 129 Church St. from Madison on the Shore Line East. Although she prefers to walk from the State Street station rather than take the bus, Florio said she is excited to see people waiting for buses rather than parked cars, in front of her work.

Dorothy Smith Alves has been with the coalition since the beginning. She called the original moves an “injustice against the citizens of New Haven.”

Meanwhile, about 300 feet away at Church and Center streets (pictured at the top of this story), a fence blocks off a gaping whole in the sidewalk. This picture is hung on the fence, with the following notice:
The New Haven Bus Shelter Improvement Project will provide new enlarged, semi-enclosed, and heated bus shelters for the improved comfort of bus patrons at four downtown sites throughout the city. Improved lighting and signage systems, vandal and weather resistant materials, and new benches will be provided in each. Funding has been provided by the Federal Transportation Administration.