State

Local Landlords, Unite! vs. Eviction Bill

by | Mar 14, 2024 4:03 pm | Comments (40)

File photos

Local landlords Shmuel Aizenberg (top left) and Mendy Edelkopf (bottom left), 2 of 20 signatories of form letter opposing state bill; tenant advocates Sinclair Williams (top right) and Sarah Giovanniello (bottom right, with Amy Eppler-Epstein), in support of bill.

I am a part of a group of landlords in the area who help each other out by discussing issues and providing support and guidance to each other,” wrote Ocean Management’s Shmuel Aizenberg. 

Mandy Management’s Adir Chen wrote that too. So did Julian Cardona and Menahem Edelkopf and Alejandro Soriano and Menahem Lebenhartz and more than a dozen fellow New Haven-area landlords and property managers. 

Each wrote” those same words in individually signed form letters seeking to persuade state legislators to protect their right to evict rent-paying tenants whose leases have expired.

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State Pressed On "Historic" Homelessness

by | Mar 8, 2024 11:15 am | Comments (11)

Nora Grace-Flood Photo

Rolling up a mattress before bulldozers come in to demolish a Lamberton Street homeless encampment.

As executive director of New Haven’s Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK) and drop-in center, Steve Werlin has seen firsthand the state’s historic” rise in homelessness. He told state legislators about that — to urge them to find extra money this year to help front-line agencies like his save lives and work toward solutions.

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Students, Governor cARTie Hearty

by | Mar 5, 2024 9:45 am | Comments (0)

Students Monday outside the parked cARTie bus.

cARTie museum educator Nicole Pappo reads to students outdoors.

When asked does art matter?” second graders Mercedes, Mason, and Elia agreed yes.” Then they showed some of the reasons: Mason drew a sign reading art = peace.” Elia drew a self-portrait. And Mercedes drew a rainbow, reading I love art.” 

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80,000 Records To Be Cleared As "Clean Slate" Takes Full Effect

by | Dec 18, 2023 6:54 pm | Comments (5)

Maya McFadden photo

Gov. Lamont (right) "clearing the records" of thousands of Connecticut residents with years-old criminal convictions.

Helen Caraballo is looking forward to attending nursing school while raising her five children and bouncing back from an otherwise rough year” — with the knowledge that she’ll no longer have to keep looking backward at a decade-old, low-level felony conviction, which will soon be erased.

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Super Parent Honored For Family Organizing

by | Oct 20, 2023 9:40 am | Comments (4)

Contributed photo

LaToya Howard (right) with Elm City Montessori's David Weinreb.

The following writeup was submitted by Elm City Montessori School to celebrate Thursday’s recognition of statewide parental involvement awardee LaToya Howard.

Elm City Montessori School parent and former NHPS T.A.P.S award winner LaToya Howard was honored at the Connecticut Family & Community Engagement Conference in Rocky Hill on Thursday as one of five recipients of this year’s State Education Resource Center (SERC) Parental Involvement Recognition Award.

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Ex-Yale Chief Tapped As Next State Public Safety Commissioner

by | Oct 4, 2023 2:41 pm | Comments (8)

Newly appointed state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner to-be Ronnell Higgins.

Gov. Ned Lamont has nominated former Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins to serve as the state’s next top public safety official — describing him as the right man to take on this job” and get to the bottom of a roiling state police ticketing scandal.

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"Grander" Grand Vision Lands $6M

by | Sep 29, 2023 3:15 pm | Comments (25)

Thomas Breen photo

Alder Claudia Herrera (right) inside Dayvett's Gifts with co-owner Ines Vidals.

The state has awarded $6 million towards overhauling Grand Avenue to make the bustling Fair Haven commercial corridor safer, cleaner, better-lit, and more pedestrian-friendly.

Those improvements can’t come soon enough for neighborhood stalwarts like Maria Ocotecatl of Grand Fish Market, and Javier Sanchez of Evolution Hair Studio, and Angeles Romero of Rodeo Groceries, and Ines Vidals of Dayvett’s Gifts, who have built up their small businesses because of their diverse and supportive community — and despite some of the conditions that persist outside their shops’ front doors.

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In Fair Haven, Healthcare Expanders Dare To Dream

by | Aug 23, 2023 1:01 pm | Comments (8)

Thomas Breen photo

Juliana Garcia (center) at Fair Haven Health talk: "To what extent can I dream?"

Juliana Garcia can still remember being nine years old, uninsured, and telling her mom that it really was ok for her to pass on a dental surgery that would cost more than $4,000.

That the healthcare operation could wait. That that money needed to be spent instead on rent and food and other essentials.

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State Sends $2M To Fair Haven Childcare Hub

by | Jul 12, 2023 1:59 pm | Comments (3)

Thomas Breen photo

LULAC Head Start ED Mikyle Byrd-Vaughn: "Our services are impacting children's full development."

As a dozen preschoolers laughed and bounced around a fenced-in outdoor playground on Haven Street, city and state officials gathered in a Fair Haven childcare center’s parking lot to celebrate a $2 million early-childhood-education boost from the state.

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Bus Rapid Transit Plan Lands $25M

by | Jun 29, 2023 12:43 pm | Comments (26)

Thomas Breen file photo

Riding the bus up Dixwell ...

Thomas Breen photo

... to be made faster, cleaner, more efficient, thanks to Bus Rapid Transit program, as described by state transit chief Garrett Eucalitto Thursday.

City, state and federal officials took a victory lap Thursday at a politician-packed press conference celebrating a new $25 million grant that will speed up and electrify bus travel on Dixwell, Grand, Whalley, Congress and Columbus Avenues.

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