Habitat Flees Newhallville Block

After threats prompted its owner to flee the area, Habitat for Humanity has decided to remove its newly built home from its foundation and roll it to a different part of the Newhallville neighborhood, away from the crime-ridden Taurus Caf√©, a city official reported. Neighbors made their own relocation suggestions: ​“Has anyone thought about moving [the Taurus] into Science Park?” asked Fred Thompson (pictured).

The remarks came at an unusually crowded management team meeting Tuesday night at the Winchester Avenue substation. The meeting came two weeks after a heated hearing in Hartford where city officials said threats had intimidated witnesses from testifying against the renewal of a liquor license for the Taurus.

Neighbors — some rallied by youth violence, others by the Taurus battle — heard a pitch Tuesday night from Julie Savin, the city official in charge of Newhallville revitalization plans.

Following up on a petition filed by 50 neighbors who see the Taurus as a hotspot for crime and noise, Savin and a battery of city officials have been lobbying the state not to renew the liquor license of the bar, which sits in an otherwise residential area at 530 Winchester Ave. (Click here for more background.)

Three of the parties fighting the Taurus have been subsequently threatened, according to Savin: Habitat got a call threatening to burn its offices down; the Habitat homeowner was burglarized, threatened, and then fled to a different part of town; and the attorney working pro bono on behalf of the neighbors and city received a ​“very serious threat.”

As a result, Habitat has removed the copper pipes from its Winchester Avenue home, which was just built last April, according to Savin, who works in conjunction with Habitat on revitalization plans. The home will be cut from the foundation, the foundation filled, and ​“that house is going to be moved from that location, at a very high cost.”

Meanwhile, Habitat still hopes to build new homes on several Newhallville lots, she said. Passing out plans she still hopes will become a reality, Savin (pictured) detailed a sweeping home-ownership initiative. Ten of the 30 owner-occupied homes fall under the city’s wing. Those homes — Greek revival townhouses with bamboo floors, solar panels, and central A/C — will sell for $140,000 to $160,000 to people under a certain income level. The plans, especially a preliminary effort to give Newhallville residents an advantage in the application process, met a welcome response Tuesday.

“We’ve been neglected for a good 25 years,” responded one woman in thanks.

New Homes and Bright Lights

The question remained: How to keep new homeowners from fleeing rough Newhallville streets, suffering the same fate as the woman who lived in the Habitat home next to the Taurus Caf√©?

To Savin, the answer was clear. The Taurus stands in the way of progress. Crime she says is brought by the bar, as well as the Habitat exodus, threaten the city’s chances at getting $4 million in revitalization grants. Unless people get the Taurus shut down, ​“this project is going to be yanked.”

Taurus owner Larry Livingston has denied any connection to the threats and said he keeps the premises under control inside by employing off-duty cops.

Savin argued, and some residents confirmed, that the anonymous threats have intimidated would-be witnesses from taking a stand. She urged the 20-odd residents at the substation Tuesday to find strength in numbers and provide essential testimony for the city’s case. ​“I can march every city official up to Hartford… but I need residents. They want to hear from people who live there.”

Savin’s pitch met a mixed response.

Some railed against the bar:

“Go, get out!” said Shirley Banks of the Taurus. A family member of hers lives near the bar and had to ​“hit the ground” when bullets flew outside the bar on New Year’s Eve. Banks’ daughters were killed by guns, and she wants the violence to end.

“People are getting shot out there, they’re fighting out there, it’s crazy,” said another management team member who opposed the bar. She declined to give her name for fear of retribution. ​“I really do feel afraid [to testify] — people are crazy, the gang-bangers out there, they really don’t care.”

“I think we really need to get behind this [liquor commission battle],” urged another woman. ​“If you sit by and just let this go, [the city] may just go into another neighborhood and skip over us, again.”

Newhallville Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards, who has already taken the stand in Hartford, stuck to her guns: ​“The bar has outgrown the community.” The district’s other two alderpeople, Charles Blango and Katrina Jones, left before voicing their stances on the matter.

Others at the meeting, skeptical of the anti-Taurus campaign, sought different solutions.

“To a certain extent it is a neighborhood eyesore. On the other side, it’s a person’s livelihood,” remarked Fred Thompson (pictured at top). ​“I’m against taking any black man’s business away from him.”

As co-chair of the management team, Thompson had a hand in the area revitalization plans. He wants to see more home ownership. But that doesn’t mean shutting the Taurus down.

“Has anyone thought about moving them into Science Park?” he posed. The bar, which has been grandfathered into a residential zone, should ​“move to another location, a more controlled environment,” with more parking and better lighting, he said.

A man named Darren who owns a property across from the Taurus jumped to his feet. Though the area near the bar is not the most desirable place to live, ​“The bar is not, not the problem. The problem is the people outside the bar loitering on the street selling drugs. … I can’t even get people to rent over here because it’s the Avenue.”

The problem could be solved in other ways than shutting down the bar, he argued: ​“Let’s put some lights and some cameras up in there and it will all go away.”

The group agreed to get serious about the Light the Night program, which is already in the works.

After the meeting let out, Rev. Oscar Clark, Jr. (pictured), pastor of the Gospel Temple Life Changing Ministries, stood outside his church, which is adjacent to the substation. Inside, a rousing service was underway. He once marched his congregation down the Taurus at midnight, standing there for two hours of service on the street, condemning alcohol consumption as a sin. He was summoned to Tuesday’s meeting to bring the religious community on board with crime-fighting efforts. Hearing about the liquor-license-stripping effort for the first time, he said he didn’t know if he would get on board.

“I like the idea of the new houses and the bright lights — I’m down with that. But I don’t think it’s going to be easy getting [Taurus owner Larry Livingston] out of there.” Clark said he would take the matter up with his board and contemplate further action. ​“Threats don’t bother me, but my feeling is to defeat the enemy, you have to get more than one. You can’t intimidate a group — when you got 50 people standing tall, they’re hard to intimidate.”