Chatham Square

Public Art Makes Grand A Bit More Grand

by | Nov 8, 2022 9:25 am | Comments (1)

Brian Slattery photo

We rise by lifting others,” reads a phrase from 19th-century writer and orator Robert Ingersoll, which now adorns a colorful mural on a wall on Fair Haven’s Grand Avenue.

As if in literal demonstration of the quotation, on Friday morning, a woman hefted a small child into the air to paint a butterfly on the mural that otherwise would have been just out of reach.

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Gastronomy Tour Puts The Grand In Grand Avenue

by | Jun 13, 2022 9:28 am | Comments (6)

Karen Ponzio Photos

Mussels from La Molienda Restaurant and Bar

Enchiladas, ceviche, plantains, and pastries were served up with a side of history, as the Grand Avenue Gastronomy Tour returned as part of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas Saturday. Twenty participants, led by Lee Cruz of the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association, ate their way down and around Fair Haven while also learning about the neighborhood itself: past, present, and future.

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Neighbors Brainstorm Strong School Future

by | Aug 12, 2021 8:39 am | Comments (9)

Interboro Partners

A former Strong School hallway in disrepair.

A long-vacant Grand Avenue school building could become a cafe where Fair Haven kids learn about agriculture, cooking, and entrepreneurship. Or a housing complex specifically for teachers, with a child-oriented gathering space in the former elementary school gym — or a makerspace” collective, buzzing with artists at work.

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Community Helps Mary Wade Weather The Storm

by | May 8, 2020 11:38 am | Comments (1)

Sam Gurwitt Photo

Chatham Square neighbors showing support this past weekend for Mary Wade Home.

The Mary Wade Home survived the 1918 influenza epidemic. It’s now toughing out the health and financial challenges of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic — thanks in part to neighbors’ emotional support and $4,953.19 gift.

That money went to pay for protective gowns, recently donated by members of the Fair Haven Community Management Team.

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“Strong School District” Plan Evolves

by | Oct 1, 2018 3:07 pm | Comments (11)

Fair Haveners Sierra-Marie Gerfao and Helene Sapadin at brainstorming session.

Convert a funky parking lot into a local market that remains open at night.

How about another coffee shop?

Pick up the trash in the park more regularly.

Turn a long-vacant but historic school building into a model for inclusionary housing. 

And don’t forget to launch that oyster boat business — a a local tourism-oriented vessel that echoes the oystering history of the area that would offer sunset cruises of the river and local historic locales.

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Neighbors Lacerate Strong School Proposal

by | Jul 27, 2017 1:11 pm | Comments (23)

Newman Architects

Rendering of Lazarus’s plan.

Allan Appel Photo

Bekhrad: “Ridiculous.”

Micro-apartments? Wrong for a family neighborhood.

Monthly rents up to $1,700? Non-starters for middle-to-low-income Fair Haven.

This developer? Troubling track record.

Fair Haveners bombarded a selection committee with that take on a developer’s proposal to buy the shuttered Strong School from the city for $500,000 and spend $16.7 million converting it into apartments.

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Fair Haven Meets Its New Top Cop

by | Jul 20, 2017 4:02 pm | Comments (0)

Allan Appel Photo

Incoming and outgoing Fair Haven top cops with Mary Wade resident Marian Lemley and neighborhood organizer Lee Cruz.

In the coming days Lt. David Zannelli plans to pull into Anastasio’s Boat House Cafe on Front Street by the Quinnipiac River. He’s going to order a sandwich, or more likely a salad.

And after that he’ll be lunching or meeting with colleagues at as many local eateries as possible.

That’s because Fair Haven’s new top cop is a believer not only in getting to know local businesses but in supporting them, especially those whose owners are community-minded.

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Mural Makes Over Vacant Former Strong School

by | Jul 10, 2017 12:13 pm | Comments (6)

Lucy Gellman Photo

Lior Trestman and Sawyer Christmann help each other get the hard-to-reach spots.

Sarah Miller Photo

Sunday’s murals on the back of the school.

Just off Grand Avenue, an African woman carries a bundled baby on her back, a purple cloth pressing up into her hair. A half-pigeon, half-dove with pink and blue-green wings flies above. Just a few feet to the left, an activist steps forward, bangled, purple fist slicing the air triumphantly. The Quinnipiac River bridge beckons behind her.

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