New Haven Independent

Carol Nista and Tina Jendrzewski (pictured, left to right) live in the Bishop Woods area of the city, off Middletown Avenue by the Ross/Woodward School. Local cops, state police and aldermen held an informal pizza-and-soda session there Thursday, giving residents some one-on-one time to air their concerns.

One topic buzzed around the cafeteria tables in the school gymnasium: a recent flurry of roaring visitors to an otherwise tranquil street.

Jendrzewski was about to turn onto Weybosset Street one April evening when she saw headlights at the end — two pairs, staring back at her. They weren’t going to let her by. “I saw a guy standing between them.” He had a flag raised in the air. He threw his hand down, and the cars were off.

It was the fourth night in one week that young drag racers had roared down the otherwise quiet, three-block side street not far from the Ross/Woodward School. That was about two weeks ago. Since then, not a squeal or tire-peel has been heard.

Nista, who lives on Cranston Street, the drag-racers’ starting line, sidled up to the table of pizza Thursday where Officer David Murgo was chatting to another officer.

“I just wanted to thank you,” she told him, for the officers who came out to the area four out of six nights in a row.

“We know it’s a problem there,” replied Murgo. “We’ve got some teens out there.”

Nista said a group of 23 young people once gathered outside her house, hanging out. “They’re looking to fight.”

“It looks that way,” replied Murgo. “They’re just bored. They need some activities.”

How do cops stop teens from zooming side by side down two-lane residential streets? “Presence,” said Murgo. “Presence.”

Weybosset Street happens to be the home of the ward’s alderman, Gerald Antunes. He had just gotten home from a meeting on that night in late April, when the roars of engines were last heard. It was about 8:30 p.m.

“I started to sit down for a late dinner and the cars started coming,” recalled Antunes, a former city cop. He grabbed his digital camera and dashed outside, shooting the flash in the dark. “I was trying to get a license plate. I walked behind them, taking pictures.” Then the man between the cars put his hand down, signaling the start: Off they went.

Through the dark street, Antunes only got a partial plate on the car. “It was more of a scare tactic,” he said. “They haven’t been back in two weeks.”

The engine-flexing face-offs were unusual for Antunes’ side street, but the problem is nothing new for the neighborhood, cops and neighbors agreed.

Almost every Friday and Saturday night, groups gather in the parking lots behind McDonald’s and Lowe’s on the busy commercial thoroughfare of Rt. 80.

It all starts casually over a burger, reckoned Sgt. Sydney Collier, who now works for the narcotics unit but dealt with such problems on the Boulevard before. Someone taunts someone else over whose car is faster. “All of a sudden, it sparks — they be like, let’s race!”

Souped-up Hondas start zooming down Rt. 80. Cops get called in, but often the racers are gone.

“Next time, we’re going to get the garden hose,” said Antunes. “They can’t race where it’s wet.”

Crayon Attack

While the drag racers may have left this cluster of residents in peace, another mark remains: Someone has been saturating the neighborhood with white and blue spray paint spelling the word “Crayon.”

The tagging on electric boxes, sidewalks, has recently spread to peoples’ homes, like these two on Weybosset Street (pictured, above and below).

Nista, who’s lived in the area for 63 years, and Jendrzewski, who’s lived there for over 30, worried it was a new gang symbol. Police said it was just a graffiti artist trying to make his name.

“We want our neighborhood back,” said Jendrzewski. “I’m not being chased out of my neighborhood.”

“We believe it is an individual,” said Assistant Police Chief Herman Badger, who just learned of the problem at a recent district manager meeting. “We’ll be trying to identify him and get him a better canvas to work on.”