New Haven Independent

In those incidents, a man was shot in the calf, and a teenager shot in the foot. Since the unit was added, he said, no gunfire has been reported in the area.

Streeto made his report at a joint meeting Wednesday night of the Hill North and South Management teams. “There’s an ongoing feud between Hill North and Hill South,” he said. “These guys are at war with each other.”

He described two recent search and seizure warrant executions, turning up marijuana and crack cocaine, and leading to one arrest and warrants for two more.

Ten more arrests were made last Wednesday when a resident on Truman Street called about a group of teens congregating outside an apartment complex marked with “No Trespassing” signs. A 16-year-old who ran when the police arrived was found to be carrying a loaded .38 revolver as well as crack cocaine. He was three months out of prison on parole.

Lt. Holly Wasilweski, district manager of Hill North, reported gunshots fired Wednesdsay morning on Stevens Street. She said an additional officer on a bicycle has been added to patrol the Stevens Street area.

Following the police reports, the management teams of Hill North and South took a joint vote in support of the Safe Streets campaign, which passed unanimously twenty-three to zero.

Safe Streets is a citywide effort to reduce traffic injuries by enforcing speed limits and traffic regulations related to stop signs, traffic lights, bicycle lanes, pedestrian walkways, and cell phone use. Signers of the petition , which circulated at the meeting, also resolve to establish 15-20 mph zones in areas with high concentrations of pedestrians and bicyclists, with the goal of reducing city traffic-related injuries by 50 percent by 2009.

Angela Hatley, who lives on Greenwich Street, said she supports the petition, but that it is important to address problematic pedestrian habits as well. “You come to a street sometimes and there are kids in the street looking at your car like, ‘You better not hit me,’ she said. “I just think both sides have to be addressed. We need to keep in mind the respect that the street deserves as well.”

To read about more about the city-wide safe streets campaign, click here, here, and here.

Architect Mark Pozzi (pictured), from Kagan Architecture and Planning, gave a report on the plans for the new Roberto Clemente School. The old building, at Columbus and Howard, will be demolished this summer, and construction on the new building will begin with plans to finish by 2010.

Because of congestion on Columbus avenue where buses currently dock, bus pickup will be moved to an internal roadway that will run on the south side of the school, off of Howard Avenue before Portsea Street.

A sound barrier, concrete with brick patterning. will separate the school from neighboring property. And the new building will include a central utility plant to provide heating, electric, and water to the new Roberto Clemente School and Hill Central Music Academy. It will be walled off from the school to minimize its impact.

And Rachel Holmes (pictured), from the Urban Resources Initiative made a pitch for Hill residents to get involved in greenspace projects. She held up a before and after display of what is now the Arch Street Greenspace — once an abandoned lot, now a thriving garden, cared for by nearby residents.

“We provide you with free plants, free trees, free shrubs, mulch, topsoil, some technical expertise where you need it,” she explained. “All we need you to do is care for the space and put the plants in the ground.” And besides working to renovate abandoned lots, URI also provides greenery for front lawns and streets and offers lead abatement services on tainted soil.

Urban Resources Initiatives has 50 greenspace sites around the city, including Arch Street in the Hill, and is looking to establish more. “We’re looking to find motivated people who would like to come together to work with neighbors to beautify and restore the neighborhoods,” Holmes said. “You’re doing something to give back to the community.”