by | Apr 18, 2022 9:02 am | Comments (4)
Seven-year-old Tetty with winnings.
Easter came early to “The Shack” Community Center, as 100 neighbors from West Hills and beyond came together Saturday for a cookout.
Continue reading ‘The Shack Brings West Hills Together For Easter’
by | Feb 25, 2022 2:51 pm | Comments (13)
Maya McFadden Photo
Albert Hargrove in New Haven Inn hotel room.
Hargroves' unlockable doorway.
Albert Hargrove would like to lock his door to keep safe at night — but the door doesn’t lock. So he sleeps with a metal pole besides his bed and hopes for the best.
by | Jan 21, 2022 3:36 pm | Comments (1)
Thomas Breen photo
311 Blake St., now owned by an affiliate of Ocean Management.
A local megalandlord expanded its domain in Westville/Beaver Bills by buying up a 70-unit apartment complex on Blake Street for $9.2 million.
by | Jan 5, 2022 2:31 pm | Comments (6)
Mary McFadden Photo
DuBois-Walton (fourth from left) at 2019 groundbreaking for Rockview Phase II.
The Omicron variant kept a majority of maintenance workers off the job this week at New Haven’s housing authority.
That hadn’t happened before since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Even the boss had to work remotely.
That hadn’t happened before, either.
Continue reading ‘DuBois-Walton Navigates Omicron, Regional Housing Challenges’
by | Jan 4, 2022 10:31 am | Comments (5)
Maya McFadden Photos
Smith: “Centers like this is what makes people to become successful.”
The reborn West Hills community center, The Shack, received a $550,000 grant to continue restoring the safe haven.
by | Jan 2, 2022 10:53 am | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
Honda Smith, Nijaya Brown, Barbara Hawke-Lopez, Rhieanna Rubertone, Nashali Nieves, and Rebecca LeQuire by new mural at spruced-up Shack.
With the help of four high school students who found a fun way to spend part of their Christmas break, the late New Haven rapper known as Stēzo has been brought back to life on his home turf of West Rock/West Hills.
by | Dec 20, 2021 9:54 am | Comments (4)
Christmas presents flowed from West Hill’s community center, The Shack, Saturday for an early holiday celebration.
by | Dec 16, 2021 9:39 am | Comments (5)
Maya McFadden Photo
Eastcoastin's Gabe Canestri Jr. delivers Wednesday at the Shack.
The Shack, The West Hills community center, has become half-toy shop thanks to the generosity of holiday donors.
Continue reading ‘Eastcoastin', Firebirds Pull Into The Shack With Xmas Deliveries’
by | Nov 20, 2021 6:55 pm | Comments (7)
Maya McFadden Photos
Smith with neighbors Saturday outside New Haven Inn: City is working with us.
West Hills neighbors called off a protest Saturday after hearing the city has granted their requests for additions to a plan to begin sheltering homeless people at a winter “warming center” in their neighborhood.
Continue reading ‘City Promises To Work WIth West Hills Neighbors On Warming Shelter Concerns’
by | Nov 15, 2021 9:26 am | Comments (8)
Maya McFadden Photo
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn talks Valley Street improvements with neighbors at the Shack.
City of New Haven
Reconstruction plans to sharpen up Valley Street’s wide curves and slow down drivers have come into focus — and met with agreement from West Hills neighbors at a community meeting.
Continue reading ‘Details Emerge For “Calming” Valley Street’
by | Nov 11, 2021 3:15 pm | Comments (11)
Maya McFadden Photo
Brenda Fulcher: “All they want to do is put a band-aid on a gunshot .”
Plans to house homeless people overnight during the winter at a West Hills hotel sparked opposition from longtime neighbors who fear more crime and drug use in an already burdened area.
by | Nov 8, 2021 9:02 am | Comments (5)
Lillian Price Photos
Sixth-grader Samantha Braren getting her Covid-19 vaccine.
This story was submitted by Elm City Montessori seventh-graders Lillian Price & Winter Szarabajka.
Elm City Montessori School (ECMS) Friday hosted one of the first Covid-19 vaccine clinics for children between the ages of 5 and 11. Many families with young children showed up from around New Haven, particularly Westville, hoping to receive their first dose of the vaccine.
Continue reading ‘Montessori Clinic Vaccinates 150 5-11 Year-Olds’
by | Oct 27, 2021 12:07 pm | Comments (2)
Glendower Group image
Site of planned new construction at McConaughy Terrace.
Thomas Breen file photo
Elm City Communities Vice President of Development Edward LaChance.
The public housing authority’s ongoing transformation of the far west side of the city took another step forward, as City Plan commissioners unanimously approved plans to construct 26 new apartments at McConaughy Terrace.
by | Oct 4, 2021 8:25 am | Comments (1)
Courtney Luciana Photo
Ward 30 Harvest Festival vendors.
A hundred West Hills residents gathered Saturday to participate in a Ward 30 Harvest Festival on at West Rock Stream Academy.
The event was launched by West Hills officials and the board of “333 Valley Street: an Intergenerational Organization, Inc.” to raise money towards reviving an after-school program held in the building widely known in the area as “The Shack,” a community service center up the street that that was last open decades ago.
Continue reading ‘West Hills Harvest Fest Builds Support For Reopening “The Shack”’
by | Oct 2, 2021 7:33 pm | Comments (16)
Lisa Reisman Photo
Latasha Brown at Saturday’s event at the Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence.
Latasha Brown’s wails tore through a quiet, sun-dappled Saturday morning as she cradled a red brick bearing the name and age of her son, Tashawn Eddie Brown.
by | Oct 1, 2021 1:06 pm | Comments (2)
Thomas Breen photo
The brick path that curves through the Valley St. gun violence memorial.
Park co-founders Celeste Fulcher and Pamela Jaynez: Preparing to put down 10 more bricks.
A day before a group of moms plans to lay 10 more bricks in honor of recent homicide victims, city officials and community partners gathered at a Valley Street memorial to detail plans for a new city office dedicated to violence prevention.
Continue reading ‘City, Statewide Gun-Control Group Team Up On Violence Prevention Strategy’
by | Sep 9, 2021 2:28 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
A pothole on Seneca Road.
Old potholes are plaguing Seneca Road. New bike lanes are popping up on Yale Avenue. Persistent wood smoke is clouding over Cleveland Road. And gunfire is rattling South Genesee Street.
That street-level snapshot of life in Westville and West Hills came into focus during the latest monthly meeting of the neighborhoods’ community management team.
by | Aug 2, 2021 2:57 pm | Comments (6)
Thomas Breen photo
The current Valley Street Townhomes.
City planners advanced a proposed 39-year tax break to help with the housing authority’s redevelopment of the mold-wracked, 40-unit Valley Street Townhomes.
by | Jul 26, 2021 9:07 am | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
Elder Felicia McLaurin prays with community member at Saturday event.
West Hills residents were embraced and prayed over for a day of healing from the city’s violence, lack of accessibility to resources, and the mental effects of the Covid pandemic.
by | Jun 21, 2021 3:35 pm | Comments (43)
Ex-Principal Roblee: Reading “White Fragility.”
Releasing a previously withheld investigatory report, school officials revealed that the principal of a majority-minority school had used the “n‑word” at least four times on two occasions with staffers, in addition to incidents involving “hysterical shouting” and “slamming on the desk.”
Continue reading ‘“N-Word” Report Released; Principal Apologizes For “Disgusting” Remarks’
by | Jun 17, 2021 10:09 pm | Comments (25)
Emily Hays Photos
Board member Darnell Goldson: Mayor should return to donors any funds raised on this incident.
Paul Bass Photo
Elicker: My opponent started it.
Two Board of Education members blasted Mayor Justin Elicker for sending a campaign fundraising email claiming a slur-uttering principal’s demotion as a victory for “accountability” and “transparency” — while withholding information about what really happened in the incident behind it.
Elicker responded that he is pushing behind the scenes for public release of the full investigatory report leading to the demotion.
Continue reading ‘Mayor Blasted For “N-Word” Flap $-Raising’
by | Jun 12, 2021 11:22 pm | Comments (6)
Maya McFadden Photo
Moms cut ribbon Saturday for New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence.
More than 100 community members who have lost loved ones to gun homicides celebrated the opening Saturday of a new healing space that brings awareness to 45 years worth of city firearms victims.
Continue reading ‘Homicide Memorial Opens; City “Will Heal”’
by | Jun 9, 2021 4:44 pm | Comments (6)
Maya McFadden Photo
Marlene Miller-Pratt, Pamela Jaynez, and Celeste Fulcher prepare to welcome public to the New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence.
Three moms who lost children to New Haven’s gun violence have put the finishing touches on a four-year quest to shine light on the painfully difficult journey of healing with a stunning new memorial park.
by | Jun 4, 2021 11:50 am | Comments (0)
NBC30
Shooting scene on Lilac Street Thursday night.
During a night when two more New Haveners got shot, two mayoral candidates invoked different years to criticize each other’s handling of violent crime.
Continue reading ‘2020 vs. 2006: Mayoral Candidates Year-Check Each Other On Crime’
by | May 24, 2021 1:08 pm | Comments (2)
Maya McFadden Photo
Karen DuBois-Walton, Justin Elicker, Macye Torres at Sunday’s Ward 30 gathering.
West Rock and West Hills Democrats voted Sunday to endorse mayoral candidate Karen DuBois-Walton, Alder Honda Smith, and Town Clerk Michael Smart for the approaching municipal primary elections after a spirited conversation with the candidates about the future of the ward’s parks and the city budget.
