New Haven Independent

Posted by: jeffreykerekes | February 29, 2008 5:08 PM

Great idea to expand the blue phones throughout the city! I think that is a fantastic idea. I also think coordinating Yale PD and NHPD to respond to such calls is also a great idea. Nice work!

Posted by: Edward_H | February 29, 2008 5:44 PM

Was Yale contacted for a possible comment on this? What about the NHPD union? I wonder what they have to say about this idea?

Posted by: Lou Rinaldi | February 29, 2008 6:25 PM

As someone who works full-time at one New Haven school (Yale) and is enrolled as a full-time student at another (Albertus Magnus), I am very concerned about the recent upward trend in violent crime. Although I am not a resident, I do spend a considerable amount of my time in the city. I have recently become aware of an organization known as "Students for Concealed Carry on Campus."

http://www.concealedcampus.org/about.htm

I am not a believer in vigilante justice, but I am a strong advocate of self-defense preparedness. I am wondering about your opinions are on sensitive subject, and where the issue might be most effectively debated in public.

Thank you.

Posted by: bugupit | February 29, 2008 8:27 PM

Hmmm. I attended a campus with blue phones, never thought of them for general public spaces. Sounds intriguiing. What is the advantage over 911 on the ubiquitous cell phone. Let me answer my own question, the location of the caller is fixed immediatly.

Posted by: Chris Gray | March 1, 2008 3:59 AM

With my frequent rants about the Yale Corporation, it would be easy to forget that I both spent much of my life working with Yale students, faculty, employees and graduates and have great respect and affection for those many, many people in the Yale community who either shared my sentiments or had other concerns that intersected with my own.

Alder Calder, though unknown to me, seems quite the model of exactly such an individual. This small coalition of town and gown, public officials' and citizen activist forces is exactly the sort effort I have worked to foster and encourage since I met young Yale grad John Baringer, who convinced the city to hire him as the city's first ever Arts Coordinator and convinced me to join the Exit Experimental Theatre Co. where I met Greg Huth, an eventual Yale School of Public Health grad and founder of The Elder newspaper.

He realized, even then in the early '70s, that we kids needed to learn how to speak with older adults.

Great work, people, whether these ideas immediately pan out gold or not!

Posted by: Taylor | March 1, 2008 11:31 AM

great idea to have the blue phone in areas where Yale students live. In the past it has just been installed where Yale owns the buildings.

Now the City must do something with Lynwood Place. The street and sidewalks need to be redone.

Posted by: robn | March 1, 2008 11:33 AM

Lou Rinaldi,

Thats a realy great idea!

Students can carry handguns and then when they're approached from behind and whonked over the head by a mugger and relieved of their wallet/purse, they can then also be relieved of the weapon...leaving said student with both a sore noggin and the added bonus of a cap-in-the-ass.

Please....this past summer's arming of SOM students with Kendo sitcks was ridiculous enough. Lets keep the heavy hardware off the streets and just focus on active neighborhoods and better policing.

Nice logo though...a mortar board on a .38? !?! Hey Yalies, is there such thing as picto-oxymoronic?

Posted by: charlie | March 1, 2008 5:21 PM

Honestly we need traffic safety much more than we need street crime prevention. These Aldermen have their priorities all wrong. Unless you are a drug dealer or prostitute, cars are about 100 times more likely to injure or kill you in this town than criminals are.

How about redesigning the streets so that people drive slower, adding bike lanes and better sidewalks, and putting up traffic cameras that automatically send a $1000 ticket to anyone going through a red light?

Posted by: Fedupwithliberals | March 1, 2008 5:21 PM

ROBN

Remember that an armed society is a polite society. Probably would not see too many people surprising strangers from behind if they thought their intended prey may be packin'.

Posted by: 2faced | March 1, 2008 11:45 PM

Lets give credit where credit is due...Greg Morehead's idea of expanding the Stetson Library and adding a community center is the brainchild of Diane Petaway (Director of Stetson Library)...Mr. Camillion (Morehead) seems to attach himself to anything that sounds good in order to bolster himself as a innovative cornerstone in the community...Kudos to the real urban pioneers...Diane Petaway (Director of Stetson Library) and a host of others who really understand the plight of our youth in the Dixwell/Newhallville community! Hey, Morehead...many of us were wondering why you weren't rallying the troops to help Stetson Library when the news broke about the possible closure...we understand that it was more important for us to read about you juggling your musical act and city politics effortlessly with the Yale Daily News ...Gina you are a intelligent and well respected leader in the city of New Haven...your time would be better spent as a change magnet in the Dwight Community...Morehead has been carried on the shoulders of others long enough!

P.S. Charles Blango takes a great photo...could his purpose for slithering into the picture be...a glimsp at his forthcoming run for State Representative against Bill Dyson? If anyone is interested...drive through Blango's Ward and see what he has in store for all of us if elected!

Posted by: Chris Gray | March 2, 2008 1:04 AM

Not bad ideas, Charlie, but as I wrote on November 9th, "As a New Havener, I have been gang mugged, beaten" (by townies and Yalies alike) ", or robbed at gun-point several times," (9 times total, to be precise) "once by a guy whose partner lied to him and said that my wallet was empty, not to mention aggressively panhandled, and threatened. I once had my jaw broken by a two-by-four wielding thief on Whalley Ave."

In all that time, as a pedestrian, I have only been hit by one car that inadvertently overshot the light at Elm, Broadway and York and was uninjured, never while on a bike. I also had one minor collision, at low speed, which was my fault.

I admit traffic is a real problem but street violence is as real and probably much more dangerous, especially for youths.

Back in '95 or '96, Michael Bartlett and I would count multiple (up to double digit) bullet reports while sitting in our living room on Howe Street. At least it doesn't appear to be that bad lately.

Posted by: Edward_H | March 2, 2008 10:08 AM

CHARLIE

Unless you are a drug dealer or prostitute, cars are about 100 times more likely to injure or kill you in this town than criminals are.

If I recall New Haven had about 13 murders in 2007 and almost 900 Aggravated assualts. Were there even 100 fatal accidents in New Haven in 2007. For God's sake man, what are you basing this statement on? Is there some conspiracy between the govt and media to hide the high number of traffic deaths within New Haven? If you had some type of facts to back up this statement I for one would rally to your cause.

Posted by: Edward_H | March 2, 2008 12:25 PM

Lou Rinaldi

Personally I believe anyone who is liscened to carry a firearm should be allowed to carry it on campus. Just one armed student, teacher or even the janitor can save lives. The biggest valid and reasonable concern in these type of school shooting scenrios is the possiblity of the police mistaking the teacher/student who is trying to save lives as the perpetrator.

There have been several incidents, mainly ignored by the media in which armed students/faculty have more than likely prevented further deaths.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Woodham

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_School_of_Law_shooting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipland_Kinkel

In the last incident a firearm was not used to subdue the subject. The young man who first tackled the shooter and his family were avid hunters/outdoorsman. His knowledge of guns allowed him to know when the shooter was out of ammo and thusly the best time to fight back. In all the cases above guns were part of the problem but also part of the solution.

Since I am no longer in college myself nor do I have any college bound children I have not really looked into these typse of incidents recently. I am sure more recent examples can be found even with the media bias against armed citizens. It is unfortunate students are been killed so easily in these "Gun Free Zones". I wonder how many of the people who support such zones would be willing to place a sign on their own personal homes proclaiming this statement? Or better yet wear a t-shirt or pin advertising themselves as a unarmed individual?

ROBN

Students can carry handguns and then when they're approached from behind and whonked over the head by a mugger and relieved of their wallet/purse, they can then also be relieved of the weapon...leaving said student with both a sore noggin and the added bonus of a cap-in-the-ass.

A major reason the victim in your example got whonked in the first place is because the assailant could reasonalbly assume the student was unarmed. Few criminals are going to whonk someone over the head if there is a possiblity the person is armed or if someone within visual range is armed. If the criminal in your story has the option of mugging a 20 year old male Yale student or a 20 yeal old male coming out of your local biker bar who do you think he is going to pick?

Posted by: robn | March 2, 2008 1:14 PM

FUWL,

"an armed society is a polite society"???

So is that why the US has the highest rate of gun violence amongst wealthy nations? ...because we're polite?

Posted by: charlie | March 2, 2008 1:54 PM

Fedup - should we be able to shoot aggressive drivers?

Posted by: charlie | March 2, 2008 4:37 PM

EdwardH- note that I said "unless you are a drug dealer or prostitute".

Just taking last year as an example, you can compare the 15 or so murders in metropolitan New Haven -- almost all of which involved victims and assailants with prior criminal records -- with approximately 50 deaths and 1,000+ very serious motor vehicle injuries.

Posted by: Edward_H | March 3, 2008 7:24 AM

Charlie

with approximately 50 deaths and 1,000+ very serious motor vehicle injuries

Could you post a link to support this "50 deaths" number? I assume you are talking about New Haven in 2007?

Posted by: on whalley | March 3, 2008 8:17 AM

When everybody has a cell phone in their pocket we need more blue call boxes? When seconds count the police are minutes away. Now unless you know for sure moments before your attack that you will be attacked and happen to be standing directly in front of a call box that happens to also have an attached "safe room" you can hide in after pressing the magic button for the minutes it takes the police to respond you are no better off than you would have been had that box not existed at all.

Funny story. I was at the campus of Housatonic Community less that 3 months ago. For reasons I care not to get into I pressed the button on one of their call boxes. It was about 11:30 PM. I was in a very well lit and open courtyard area. I pressed that button once, twice. Held it down and spoke into it. Pressed it frantically and angrily over and over and over. Nothing. Not a peep. Twenty minutes went by. It was cold. The reason I began pressing that button was making itself more of a problem. I decided to abandon the well lit and open courtyard with the great blue light call boxes and walked off campus into a parking garage where this shady-as-hell vagrant of a man directed me to a shady-as-hell man in a suit who made a few phone calls and told me to head back over to the courtyard.

I went back. Waited another good 20 minutes and this half asleep jackass of a man eventually showed up. Not a cop. Not even a rent-a-cop but a night janitor.

Boo on the blue boxes. At least the ones with the cameras on top let the "cops" get their jollies off watching you suffer through whatever for 4-8 minutes before anybody arrives.

And ROBN. You need somebody to take you to the range. Maybe take a few classes with the people over at Williams Associates. I haven't yet met a hopolophobe that couldn't be cured with a dose of reality and experience. I don't know. Maybe you just like ignorance and fear. Lord knows so many do.

Posted by: on whalley | March 3, 2008 9:17 AM

ROBN,

An armed society being a polite society is a truth of sorts. Much more true than claiming it is not true by referring to the U.S.'s gun violence rates. When was the last massacre in South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Tennessee, Maine or New Hampshire?

Those are some of the most heavily armed states in the nation with the most lax gun laws in the nation. I think it's worth noting that New Hampshire has legal "open-carry." Where are all those massacres at gun shows and firing ranges? Shot Show 2008 just got done in Las Vegas. Oh the blood shed.

Guns are not the problem and to be as blunt as possible anyone who thinks so is both amazingly stupid and wholly irrational. When a pedestrian is run down in the street only the most simple of the short bus passengers will point at the car and demand it burn for the crime.

Education is free.

Harvard Journal of Law: Would Banning Firearms reduce Murder and Suicide?

SCCC Flyer

Interview with John Lott

Reason Magazine: Gun Topic Articles

ROn Paul on how to stop future massacres

I'm not an advocate of mandating every citizen be armed. It should be a self-regulating matter. I would prefer it if people who don't bother to be active in shooting sports, drill regularly, or even just show a general interest in firearms stayed away from them. Ironically that would exclude many cops I know from owning firearms. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have someone as ignorant and hysterical as yourself armed. Crying every time you pulled the trigger. Screaming and waving the muzzle erratically with no composure, no calm, no ability, no sense. But then another poster, I assume equally as wise as you, denounced me for being some redneck "cowboy" posing in some homo-erotic fashion clad in only womens underpants and guns.

The ignorance is astounding. The certainty of the ignorant is frightening.

Posted by: charlie | March 3, 2008 9:59 AM

Edward_H, the motor vehicle death rate in Connecticut is about 16 per 100,000, and obviously much higher for younger age groups. That translates into an average of about 60 motor vehicle fatalities per year in metro New Haven (statewide, the figure is several hundred per year). The murder rate in metro New Haven, meanwhile, is less than 3 per 100,000. Obviously, some neighborhoods may have higher murder rates but if you also consider that the vast majority of murder victims involve those with prior arrest records, the average person (i.e., not engaged in illegal activity) is at least 100-200 times more likely to die or be injured in a car crash than in street violence.

Posted by: robn | March 3, 2008 11:25 AM

OW,

OK...I'm not sure how transvestitism got mixed up in all this, but my point is...to append an old NRA ditty..

Guns don't kill people; people kill people...but guns can be very useful in peoples' homicidal endeavors.

No argument from me about the abuse of and dangers of automobiles.

Posted by: charlie | March 3, 2008 12:02 PM

To use a more specific population as an example to compare with the figures I cited above, look at Yale student mortality over the past 30 years. 1 has been randomly murdered during that time (2 if you count Jovin, who probably knew her killer). Using very conservative estimates based on YDN reports, about 30 have been killed in motor vehicle "accidents," and many more seriously injured, including several put in lengthy comas. Anyways, that gives you an annual rate of 10+ deaths per 100,000 due to motor vehicles versus 0.3 per 100,000 due to street violence. You would find similar numbers for student populations at other universities such as UConn, UPenn or Harvard, all of which have seen several students mowed down and killed by speeding traffic in recent years.

In summary, you may see why I think aldermen, Yale administration and municipal officials throughout the region should be giving this problem much more attention than they currently are. Measures to implement traffic calming, red light enforcement, working pedestrian signals, bicycle lanes, curb bumpouts, wider sidewalks, etc., are much more important than blue phones, and are a must -- before many more people in New Haven are killed by these "accidents."

Posted by: Ned | March 3, 2008 12:47 PM

Robn,
Just in case you ever feel the need to explore:
Bridgeport Shooting Range has "ladies night", every friday night.

Posted by: Alderman Greg Morehead | March 3, 2008 12:50 PM

I just want to comment and respond to 2FACED and others that say I or anyone else is piggybacking from others ideas. For the record, I found out about the Stetson Library on last Monday when I received from a phone call from a person that is an advocate in my Ward. I did not know anything else beforehand, and if I did (even though the library is NOT in my Ward) I would have been there rallying with the others for the Library. I have a lot of constituents that frequent the library on a daily basis. After I found out on Monday, I contacted the Alderperson for the library and inquired about what was going on. The following day, I contacted Diane Pettaway and asked what was it that I can do and made it my business to be at the library on Thursday for the budget meeting. I do not piggy back on others ideas or anything like that, but look to help out whenever possible. There have been numerous things that i have done that DID not make it to the press, but I don't do things to be in the limelight. It's about my constituents, and not me. When I have functions in my Ward, everyone can tell you they feel apart of what's going on, because I make sure they are in the forefront and not me. I made a statement to the press regarding the reasons why we have violence amongst our youth, and that is;
#1 we don't have a community center,(The Q house has been on the table for far TOO long and our kids are suffering) and #2, the Stetson Library where all of our youth go to in the Dixwell/Newhallville area everyday is overcrowded and was not designed to be a library/community center. Like I also stated my goal this year will be to secure funding for a youth center for adults and our youth so that the load will be taken away from the library by way of a community center. If you have been following my campaign before i got into office, I have always talked about the community center for Adults and Youth to come not just for recreation, but also to function as a learning facility. How is that piggybacking?
But when your misinformed or don't know the whole story, I see where you want to bash someone else. Also, if there is something that you want to question me about, I'll say it again, CALL ME, come to my Ward. I will be happy to walk you through the Ward and show and tell you what i am working on. 203.507.7766.
I and Alderwoman Gina Calder have been working hard in our respective Wards to change the status quo. We have been talking about the public safety aspect in New Haven with the residents and the students for the past 6-8 months, long before Alderwoman Calder was in office, this was one of the things we said we wanted to advocate for. We need people that are going to support our ideas and get behind us with other ideas for OUR city. Anyone can talk all day about wanting to change something or make a fuss, but what are doing to try and change the way things have been going?
Don't hide behind a computer screen and enter a bogus name and make ridiculous comments about me or my colleagues. Secondly, with my music, I have been in the music industry as a musician, long before I was an Alderperson. That is one of my jobs. It is the same thing for someone to hold a job before they get sworn in and continue that job as a city official. Why is it different when it comes to me? But if I had a quarter for everyone since I have been in office that bashed me or opposed my ideas and my willingness to work TOGETHER, I would be rich by now....I guess that comes along with the territory, right?? I would love to hear from you, call me. Talk about me face to face, not when you think someone will know who you are. I am very THICK SKINNED!!

Regards,

Alderman Greg Morehead

Posted by: robn | March 3, 2008 12:54 PM

OW,

Just in time...a poignant story about how guns make our society more polite.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/03/gun-incident-near-president-bushs-ranch/

Posted by: on whalley | March 3, 2008 2:09 PM

ROBN

Good for her. That guy had no business being on her property and she wanted him gone. He's lucky she didn't shoot.

Nothing wrong with that at all.

I've done similar here. Wierdos like to stop and sit on my front porch. Only once when asking somebody to leave did they turn around and give me the whole "who the @#$% do you think you are? you don't tell me what the @#$% to do!" thing. Just a little raise of the shirt and a repeating of "Would you please not sit on my porch as though it were your own" and he became instantly more polite, apologized and left.

That Dane is lucky she didn't shoot and an awful lot of people would do well to learn from this incident and in the future not wander around blindly in unfamiliar neighborhoods.

Posted by: WEBblog 1 | March 3, 2008 4:27 PM

Exceptionally long comment Morehead, challenging posters to meet and greet with you concerning whether you high jacked the issue of call boxes.

Frankly, I think the issue of who first devised the idea is irrelevant because both the city and Yale police have stated the idea of placing phones throughout the neighborhoods is without merit since New Haven police, not Yale, has over-riding responsibility for policing the entire city. new Haven Has say they do not need phones.

Yale took the action to install the phone boxes within their campus area only.

It seems to me the you, Calder and Blango, should have taken the time to better research the issue with the main parties, before announcing to the public this grandiose idea which was completely dismissed by Yale and New Haven Police.

Get it together Alderman Greg Morehead.

Posted by: GINA | March 3, 2008 6:29 PM

To ON WHALLEY: one of the benefits of the call box system is that police/security are able to immediately determine your location and pull up a closed circuit picture of the area. They would be able to quickly assess the situation and determine whether they need to respond with an EMT for someone with a medical emergency or multiple patrol cars to pursue a fleeing suspect. When you call from a cell phone, you have to identify yourself, tell the police where you are and what happened, which depending on the state you are in, may be difficult and time consuming. The callboxes also maintain anonymity, which would be helpful in many of our communities.

To WEBBLOG1: it's important for all of us to start thinking outside of the box. What's stopping us from getting callboxes installed in our communities in high need areas via grant funding and having NHPD man the community callboxes? With Yale having already installed over 400 bluephones, we may be able to get a great deal on price and will have learned from their trials and errors with the system. I look forward to working with progressive people like those in my community, Greg and my other colleagues to realize all the opportunities.

If anyone is interested in working on this with us, please feel free to contact me:

Gina Calder
203-782-0832
ginaforward2@gmail.com

Posted by: robn | March 3, 2008 7:52 PM

OW and Ned,

Problem is boys...theres always gonna be somebody who is faster than you or who has better aim than you. You'd just better hope that that person isn't the person you're about to rumpus with.

Posted by: Edward_H | March 4, 2008 2:55 AM

ROBN

Guns don't kill people; people kill people...but guns can be very useful in peoples' homicidal endeavors.

As can bare hands, knives, forks, glass bottles, pots, pans, extension cords, hammers, screwdrivers, razor blades,box cutters, belts, duct tape, rope, lead pipe, power drills, reciprocating saws, chain saws, neck ties, belts, baseball bats, sticks, stones, planes, trains and automobiles

Posted by: Edward_H | March 4, 2008 3:19 AM

Alderman Greg Morehead, & Gina Calder

I for one would like to hear your comments on the unenthusiastic response from both Yale and Jessica Mayorga to this idea.

GINA

What's stopping us from getting callboxes installed in our communities in high need areas via grant funding and having NHPD man the community callboxes?

Can you elaborate on this grant funding? And what does the city/ NHPD union think of you idea?

With Yale having already installed over 400 bluephones, we may be able to get a great deal on price ...

Has any actual research been done into getting a "great deal on price"?

Posted by: Edward_H | March 4, 2008 4:00 AM

ROBN

Problem is boys...theres always gonna be somebody who is faster than you or who has better aim than you. You'd just better hope that that person isn't the person you're about to rumpus with.

For some of us the real problem would be facing said person with absolutely no defense. For those who choose to be a defenseless victim, so be it, I salute your sacrifice. Personally I would put my trust in my own training and double tap of 357 hydrashock or a load of 00 buck.

Perhaps this story has given you hope that a good glass of Bordeaux and a bit of cheese will placate the savages roaming the streets of New Haven?

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/13/america/NA-ODD-US-Robber-Group-Hug.php

Posted by: on whalley | March 4, 2008 8:26 AM

I don't know if too many addicts, drop-outs and petty thugs roaming New Haven have made fed quals or qualified as 3-gun Combat Masters but if the reason the cops moved away from tilt holsters is any indication of the average criminal speed/accuracy I'd be willing to bet that my grandma and her 30-30 lever are far more accurate and substantially faster.

See, the cops went with tilt holsters so they could draw from a crouched position. Turns out more cops were getting shot in the head after that. You know why? Because addicts, thugs and drop-outs just point and shoot at mass. If they hit the mass at all it's in the abdomen. All those ducking cops were putting their heads in the line of fire for the criminals with terrible aim.

No doubt there are people faster and more accurate than me. I meet with a bunch them at least once a month. I don't expect any of these guys are going to be sticking me up anytime soon.

The idiot sticking any of us up is likely to have a 9mm cartridge jammed into a .380 that wouldn't function properly if completely rebuilt by a world class armorer.

I guess in your world the criminals are magical ninjas with Navy Seal training and heat seeking bullets.

Posted by: robn | March 4, 2008 10:04 AM

EH,

LOL on the list of homicidal tools!... but rather than a "liberal" use of wine and cheese to just placate an assailant, perhaps those tools could be used to be ruthlessly fell the assailant with gout.

BTW...conservatives consume more Brie...FACT!

Posted by: jackie | March 5, 2008 4:15 PM

I'm with Charlie. SOMETHING's got to be done about the way people drive in this city (part of the state, actually...), in residential, commercial, all areas.

That's a BIG broken window. How many people have you seen turning right on red or running a red light straight through? I almost got killed this weekend by the latter. Why can't there be more enforcement?

Posted by: Edward_H | March 5, 2008 8:57 PM

Jackie

Why can't there be more enforcement?

That is because whenever the NHPD does enforce traffic laws someone either cries brutality or pulls the race card:

http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=3021831

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/06/public_safety_c.php

Why would any cop want to enforce traffic laws and get their name dragged through the mud?