Ambassador-In-Chief Says Good-Bye

Best wishes Rena. New Haven thanks you and your staff.

Rena did a great job but the Board should really think outside the box going forward.

Perhaps they are aware that, in New Haven, the unemployment rate for black men is 25%, while the unemployment rate for white women is 4%.

Rather than hiring another director with an advanced degree, the Board should instead consider using this $100-200 thousand dollars to hire multiple part-time/contractor staff from Dixwell and Newhallville.

In this area, our unemployment rate is over 50% and there are no jobs. Reducing unemployment and crime in the area, particularly among New Haven teenagers of color who literally have no job options, is the key to promoting investment in our downtown.

These part time staff could also help clean up Dixwell and Goffe a few hours per week, which are so covered with broken glass and litter that there is no pleasant way to walk from the city's northern neighborhoods to Downtown New Haven.

Growing the customer base of downtown should be a priority and this is the way to do it.

Anon, though I respect your sentiment having had the opportunity to do similar work at a smaller scale I can tell you with great certainty that you need someone at the helm who is able to balance the needs of the businesses with local regulations and help to bring initiatives that will add to the economic vibrancy.... It takes a very special personality to pull it all off as well as Rena has. That is not to say that one needs a master's degree to do this work, or that the Board couldn't try to fill the job differently, but hiring multiple ppl to do more without strong leadership is only going to create chaos. I hope that the TGSSD Board can find someone that works well with all of the people in New Haven....btw my former district used the same cleaning crew for a very long time.... To my knowledge they had all been men of color and from New Haven, just sayin'
Rena all the best to you in your new adventures! You'll be missed.

Good luck Rena! You are one amazing lady! And will be missed! A ray of sunshine every time you called my office.

anon, I here ya. but remember this is a special tax district. Downtown folks pay for this (although I do believe they get a small amount in a grant) most is paid for by extra taxes this community pays. And they do hirer from New Haven, as well as the Chapel West one and Fair Haven one, which are built on the the concept of this program. I think Whalley area is or already has set up the same program. And when I was looking into for our area (which we decided not to do it we are to small) I think the town green one gives grants to fair haven for their program...I could be wrong. With all this said, Rena will be one hard lady to replace.

Cedarhill - I'm aware of the BIDs. The question is out of how much of this funding (which comes from many sources including the City), how much is being used to support areas of this city that have a 50% unemployment rate, vs. used for administration? How many of the services provided by Town Green are benefiting Yale University Properties, versus neighborhood like Dixwell Avenue where you don't want to walk because of the trash and broken glass in the way?

If the Board honestly cares about making this city better, can't we do better? The Aldermen should review these contracts, and reduce the City's funding if it isn't at least partly being used to support areas of our City that are in dire need.

Areas like Newhallville are currently in an economic emergency on the scale of Hurricane Katrina. Has anyone been to New Orleans? If this City doesn't wake up and realize that, we are going nowhere.

anon

I think I am misunderstanding you. Ex. Cedar Hill alot like like the two communitys you discussed. We investigated getting this for our area. We were going to try to get the grant. But the issues was that we would have to pay the special tax (like each of these areas do) and we decided that the community could not afford to pay any more taxes. So we decided not to do it.

So your suggestion is to get Dixwell and Newhallville to pay this special tax for the services? or are you asking for the town green district to raise taxes on there people so they can pay for the other two communitys? I am lost?

oh wait brain freeze, you are suggesting to hire people with rena's pay to clean those two communitys...can we add cedar hill to that?

CedarHill: The sections of Dixwell and Goffe adjacent to some of Yale's properties, between downtown and Frances Hunter or so, are particularly bad. You could argue that these are part of downtown, too.

Perhaps the explanation is that Yale and the City (which largely fund Town Green) want to make the Yale Properties streets look good, but don't want people to walk into town from the north.

anon and Cedar Hill Res.
Having organized the Grand Ave Special Services District in Fair Haven, I think I can clarify a few things for you.

Gabriela, you are correct that this is the way that things have been done in the past, but not all cities approach the problem in the ways that you suggest. The boundaries of Downtown are not set in stone, except perhaps on some planner's map.

BID staff, especially where BIDs receive significant public funding other than the voluntary property tax surchage (as in the case of Town Green), sometimes do venture outside their area in order to clean key gateways or provide services.

This is one reason why we said that the Board needs to think "outside the box." The others have to do with the other points we raised above.

Anon,
I think the point of the article was say good bye to Rena who has done a really great job with Town Green.
I also think that you are taking this opportunity to make political points that are not based fully on the reality of CT's legislation for SSD which is very different from other BIDs across the country.
SSDs are independent entities, they are not subject to the City demanding how funds should be spent. They are two very separate issues.
Perhaps you have the ability to join the TGSSD in some fashion and lobby the board to add properties to the current district....in which case this would call for a very time consuming campaign....they ALONE get to make that determination.... Otherwise you may want to lobby the property owners in the areas you discuss to create a district, which perhaps in the future might join TGSSD...either way it's not something the Board of Aldermen, or the City Administration can legislate....it's not the way state statute is written.
I'm sorry to say, but I really don't think that this is the time or place of your comments.... Again I respect the sentiments behind them, but I do not believe that they are fully based on the reality of the governing statutes...at least not what I remember form them.
Again, all the best to you Rena, I am so thankful for the time that we did get to work together, you have been a great asset to the business community in New Haven, you will be missed.

ANON, As a point of fact TGSSD saw it fit to clean and beautify the walking area between the train station and downtown, as per NHI article. But it's the BOARD's prrevueot the City's.
I didn't work for TGGSD so I don't know if they receive subsidies etc.... It's not really the point.
The point is that the SSDs in CT MUST abide by state statutes. Maybe your point is to gather all CT SSDs and have them lobby to change state law....in my experience they are generally focused on issues that are important to their area. I don't know what added benefit would be brought to those existing districts by changing the law.... It might help other areas become SSDs/BIDs but that's debatable.... I think as it is for most biz choices it depends on the perceived ROI.

Gabriela: Business leaders can talk all the want, but until they see themselves as responsible for changing the conditions that exist in our city, we will get nowhere.

To do that, we need to think outside the box of state statues and look at spending organizational budgets in a different way.

Unfortunately most if not all of the decision makers behind all this live in places like Guilford, and therefore the simple truth is that they could care less about Dixwell Avenue.

Anon,
Since you are posting anonymously I don't know who you are, to know what you are insinuating. When I worked for GAVA and organized the GASSD I lived in Fair Haven....my work was documented by the NHI, my Board wanted to do as much outside the box as possible.... As I mentioned before you are barking up the wrong tree. Making anonymous demands on a public board, is akin to someone standing on Pitkin plaza and making speeches. You have to directly and personally discuss your concerns with the people who have the ability to make the changes you think are needed.
The facts:
1.During Rena's tenure actions such as beautifying the area between the train station and downtown....something the TGSSD has NO obligation to do, but it made good business sense. This was considered "outside the box" bc it's outside of the boundaries of TGSSD
2.Rena made available to all SSDs web-training's that were available to TGGSD through their national affiliation that we little Districts could not afford. She was always available to us to lend her nationwide expertise
3.The CT SSD's are bound by state statute....it's not bc it's business as usual, it's the LAW. Feel free to lobby CTs SSDs to see if they want to work to change the state statutes that govern them.