New Haven Independent

Casanova met with 30 members of the Fair Haven Community Management Team at the Blatchley Avenue substation Thursday evening. Applause burst out in the room when the respected district manager mentioned that the police academy is graduating a class of 30 new cops Friday. However, no sooner had the applause died down, when these kinds of questions arose from 30 participants who filled a congenial room at the Blatchley Avenue substation:

How many will we be getting?

Where will they be deployed?

I hope not in cars, but on foot?

On bikes too? Right, Sgt. Casanova?

And the prostitution and drug problems haven’t gone away either. That, plus the severe speeding on River Street. Are we going to be able to address all that with so few cops?

Casanova reported a month of good and bad crime news for the area. Good: auto thefts are finally spiraling down. Bad: two homicides and a shooting occurred last month. Good: in all three cases investigations are going well, and the violence was not random; victims and perps were known to each other.

Then the sergeant tried to answer the anxious questioners. He said that with 30 new cops, and ten policing districts, Fair Haven would get three at most.

Could there be more if trouble warranted? Of course, he said reassuringly.

And would they be in cars or on foot patrol?

“I myself prefer cops on foot and on bike,” he said. “But I’m also a professional police officer. Sometimes cops need to be in cars too.”

“Excuse me,” interjected 14th Ward Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale (shown on the right, with Chatham Square neighbor Leslie Flowers), with quiet fervor: “The money for additional cops that was approved by the Board of Aldermen specifically said they were to beef up foot and bike patrols, the heart of community policing. The last thing we want to see in Fair Haven are more cops in cars.”

Sgt. Casanova had no dispute with the alderwoman. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw the neighborhood return to the way it was years ago, with a lot more cops wearing out the shoe leather.”

A civil yet concerned discussion ensued about quality of life crimes: the rash of graffiti-making, speeding, and the persistence of prostitution and drug dealing, including drugged folks squatting in the growing number (due to foreclosures) of abandoned houses. There were by turns expressions of thanks for police accomplishments, yet also concerns that so much more needs to be done. Would the resources be sufficient?

Reflecting the way the community is poised between looking at both the plus and minus sides of the ledger, this 18-year Fair Havener, James Mitchell, expressed gratitude for the foot patrols Casanova had assigned to Mitchell’s neighborhood around Ferry and Pine Streets towards the end of last week. “The prostitutes and the drug dealers have been gone since the cops you sent came by,” Mitchell said. “And the neighbors and I want to express our gratitude.”

“You’re going to get some more ongoing relief,” Casanova told Mitchell. “I’ve talked to the chief and the assistant chief and we’re going to get some stings in there, some serious relief soon.”

The woman behind Mitchell, Gwendolyn Heath, is making an effort to get her neighbors in the Lloyd-Poplar area to augment their complaining about crime with at least getting more involved. “Like coming out to this meeting. But what can you do? On Friday night, payday around there, everyone’s out looking for drugs. We’ve got to work together. I don’t know. I’ll keep trying.”

Another resident who is trying is Dominic Maldonado (pictured here with Fair Haven Middle School’s new principal, Kim Johnsky), a 40-year resident of Fair Haven. He said that as much as he appreciates Casanova, many locals have been speaking to him about the crime that seems to persist all around them

“I’ve called Migdalia Castro, the alderwoman, and Katrina Clark from the Fair Haven Community Health Clinic, and a lot of the people are coming. They want to have a fuller dialogue with you, Sgt. Casanova,” Maldonado said. A meeting’s scheduled for Sept. 19, at 6 p.m., location to be announced. (For further info, call Maldonado at: 468-9103).

Was Casanova miffed? Not at all. He suggested that maybe the substation would not hold a large crowd and suggested the branch library instead.

Joseph Rodriguez, who is running unopposed for the aldermanic seat in the 15th Ward, will be there. Although he hasn’t yet been officially voted or sworn in, he’s in effect, in his words, “on the job already. My phone is ringing off the hook. And what are people concerned about? They want to know how we can have more walking beats, how we can counter the drugs and the prostitution going on in the neighborhood.”

“Look,” he said, “one of the most critical aspects of community policing is community participation, particularly in block watches. So I’m working to increase and strengthen the number in the community. And I’m trying to get more and more people to come to management team meetings, like tonight’s.”

Crime or no crime, this young man, Edwin Martinez, who grew up in Fair Haven, has consciously chosen to live here. He and his wife just closed in July on their first house, on James Street, and they love the area. They want to bring up their 10-month old daughter, Adelys, in a neighborhood with just the diversity of Fair Haven. “We looked in East Haven and West Haven, and frankly, I love the mix of Latino and other people here.”

Martinez, who lived in the Bronx until he was 10, moved to Fair Haven in 1990 with his mother. He is an engineer with Space-Craft Manufacturing, Inc, whose offices are on East Street. So everything is convenient. Could he clarify a little more what he meant by “diversity”?

“For a lot of the young people Spanish language, for example, can be lost as they grow up. That’s a tragedy. I don’t want that to happen for my daughter. That’s a main reason I love it here; that’s not going to happen in Fair Haven. I’ve got nephews at Amistad, and I’m looking forward to getting involved there too.”

A Lot’s Cooking

A round-up of other positive news came from Kim Johnsky, the Fair Haven Middle School’s new principal, on the job with the kids for two days now: “Yale Children’s Theater is going to be doing plays with us all year, for the kids; and then in the evenings for the families and the communities.” She said high-school kids from Common Ground would be helping the middle-schoolers plant the roof garden, with perhaps flowers for mother’s day.

“And this I promise: we’re going to have pumpkins for the community next October grown right here. Moreover, 20 students from Quinnipiac University will be giving two hours a week in 14 different classrooms, and the New Haven Symphony is also becoming a partner.”

This Saturday, at Fair Haven Middle School, will be the first in many Hispanic Heritage events, with art workshops, drumming, salsa, and more will be held from 10:00 to 3:00. It’s being sponsored by Arte, Inc., the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Saint Raphael’s Hospital, and Subway.

Sturgis-Pascale reminded management teammates to let their friends know that on Sept. 15, at Chatham Square Park, there will be that area’s first-ever day long extravaganza — picnic, concert, games, films, dancing.

With so much rising community vitality, it almost makes you forget all about crime, for the moment.