nothin Upper State Merchants Band Together | New Haven Independent

Upper State Merchants Band Together

IMG_1422.jpgThey moved here from New York following the buzz about New Haven. A break-in and several flower thefts later, they decided they needed to light a spark.

Francesco d’Amuri and Alison DeRenzi, who run the L’Orcio restaurant at 806 State St., are among 20 members of a newly revived Upper State Street Association, a grassroots merchants’ association looking to turn their neighborhood around.

Living in New York City, DeRenzi said she heard a lot of buzz” about New Haven being a great commuter city. So she and her husband picked up their bags five years ago and purchased a nice brick storefront on State Street. She had heard it was a transitional neighborhood. We thought it would come around.”

They opened an elegant two-story restaurant, complete with a trellised garden in back. They put flowers in planters in front of the store, and set up a family in an apartment upstairs.

DeRenzi thought the location — on State Street, just past the Trumbull Street exit of I‑91, not far from the new train station — would be knit into the fabric of New Haven’s burgeoning downtown, where high-end condos and restaurants have been popping up over the past few years. She ended up concluding her neighborhood needed an extra push.

The city doesn’t do much for us down here,” DeRenzi said. Three of her seven employees have had their cars broken into. Patrons get panhandled in the street. About a month ago, the couple had to scare away a burglar who had tried to break into the restaurant. And those nice flowers they put outside kept getting clipped and stolen in the night.

We just want a cleaner and safer place to live,” said DeRenzi. She realized the change would have to start with the grassroots, from the bottom.”

A Grassroots Group

So DeRenzi was eager to sign up as one of the first merchants in a new association that got rolling about three months ago. Headed by graphic designer and State Street resident Ben Berkowitz, the group is open to area merchants, property owners and residents.

The purpose of the group is to make the commercial corridor a cleaner, safer and more beautiful place, Berkowitz said. They’re starting off with a focus on the clean” aspect: Members are holding a neighborhood cleanup on April 19, at 9 a.m. at the corner of Humphrey and State Streets.

After the cleanup, the beautifying will be done on a regular basis by a new member of the downtown district’s Clean Team to be hired just for State Street. The worker, who’ll be decked out in a red jacket with a State Street logo, will clean for 12 hours per week, Berkowitz said. The job will be paid for in part by membership dues: Each of 20 members pays $400 per year to be part of the association.

The association has already gotten the city on board with its plans: The city has awarded the group a $3,000 grant plus up to $12,500 in matching funds for the group’s first year.

east%20rock%20mag%20010.JPGFormer Alderman Bob Frew (pictured), who owns six properties along State Street, welcomed the group’s revival. He was active in its predecessor, a merchants’ association that formed around 1979 – 1980 to clean up the corridor. The group helped 50 percent of merchants there renovate their storefronts, in keeping with the historic Goatville look. They also made improvements, like benches, trees, garbage cans and telephone booths — but sadly many of the improvements were vandalized and removed from the area, Frew said.

Frew said he hopes the new group can see about installing some pedestrian-level street lights to make the area nicer to walk through. He has also suggested that the association could lobby for neighborhood needs when developers come into town, for example on the Star Supply site. Frew, who’s been the caretaker of State Street’s aging wooden planters for 20 years, hoped the barrels might be in for an upgrade, too.

DeRenzi said she hopes the association will help the neighborhood achieve a more cohesive feel and connect it to downtown.

This is a beautiful neighborhood,” she said. We want to give people a reason to walk up and down the street.”

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