13 Projects Ranked In Fair Haven Vote

Mark Oliver faced an array of choices when he joined neighbors in a ​“ranked-choice” voting process of deciding how to spend $20,000 to improve Fair Haven.

Oliver was one of 31 members at the Fair Haven Community Management Team (FHCMT) assembled at the Fair Haven library branch Thursday night.

Seventeen of the members, including Oliver, are eligible to vote on how to spend $20,000 that city government’s Livable City Initiative (LCI) grants each neighborhood community management team to spend through the Neighborhood Public Improvement Program (NPIP). (Members were eligible to vote if they attended a minimum five monthly meetings over the last year.)

Thursday night was the group’s regular meeting and the last chance to hear from candidates for the money and pose questions to them. Now, over the next week, the 17 will pick their top choices and rank them in order in an online poll.

The voters had 30 minutes to review 13 submitted proposals.

The FHCMT is one of the management teams around the city racing to settle on projects and then spend the allocated funds. If the money is not spent by the end of the fiscal year, June 30, the money is forfeited.

The 13 submitted projects ranged from beautification to fitness classes to supporting Arte’s Saturday arts academy.

They’d been posted online. But Oliver, like most of the participants, had not spent a lot of time reviewing them. So the proposals’ proponents arrayed themselves around the library’s basement community room politely hawking their ideas as Oliver and other voters roamed from station to station to talk to the proposers on the way to ranking their choices.

The Independent followed along as Oliver made his way through the possibilities.

“Man, so many ideas. I don’t know!” Oliver declared as he set out.

“When I invite people into the area,” said Oliver, who with his wife Laverne is a longtime James Street homeowner, ​“the streets aren’t kept up.” That makes a bad false impression of Fair Haven, he added.

As he took a ranked-choice voting sheet in his hand, Oliver said he was inclined to vote for projects that beautify the neighborhood.

That included Project #1, proposed by Susan Regan, to have local artists paint and decorate the overpass at Middletown Avenue and Front Street, one of the gateways to Fair Haven. Pricetag for this project; $10,000, not including lighting.

Oliver looked down the sheet and read about local developer Fereshteh Bekhrad’s proposal for ​“physical enhancement/improvement at the intersection of Ferry Street and Grand Avenue.” He liked that one. ​“Make Grand Avenue grand,” he said. Proposed pricetag: $10-$14,000.

Moving to the corner of the room, Oliver heard the pitch of Dan Kinsman, a music teacher at the Fair Haven School. The New Haven Chamber Orchestra, an adult group, has been practicing Tuesday night at the school for years. There’s interaction with the kids. The request was to support a free concert open to the public, from conductor costs to flyers and insurance. The ask: $2,168.

Oliver was intrigued, ​“I used to play [the trumpet] in church,” he said. He asked Kinsman what kind of music the concert would feature. The answear: classical.

The encounter reminded Oliver that his trumpet was in need of some TLC. ​“My horn is home stuck,” is how he put it.

Kinsman has a friend who does that kind of work. ​“You want a phone number?” he asked.

Kinsmen gave him the number of a friend who runs Backyard Brass, a brass instrument repair company. ​“It’s called Backyard Brass,” Kinsman told Oliver, because you get into the place by going through the repair guy’s back yard.

“To tell the truth,” Oliver said, ​“I want to get back to it.”

Time was ticking away when Lee Cruz called out to Oliver, who was passing his station, ​“Support Riverfest.” The pitch: Support local history, get people to come down and they will come back to Fair Haven.

Oliver didn’t know much about the annual event at the Fair Haven Marina. Cruz, speaking fast, said, ​“local bands, Bregamos [theater company] drummers. And if you’re old enough, beer tasting.” Cruz sought to convince Oliver to rank Riverfest high on his list of choices. The pricetag, mainly for bands, performers, sound system, and activities for little kids: $4,255.

An agreeable guy, Oliver thanked Cruz and said, ​“I’m going to visit a few more.”

“Come back. Come back,” Cruz good-humoredly called out. ​“Make us number one.”

Next stop was Jacqueline Maisonpierre, who heads New Haven Farms. Her request: $4,125 that would pay three Fair Haven kids to work as interns this summer at $11 per hour.

“Vote for New Haven Farms,” she called out, as Oliver stood right in front of her.

“I’ve actually purchased from you,” he said. He told Maisonpierre that he’s a gardener himself, behind the house. ​“And it’s an excellent idea. I think eventually America is going to go back to individual farming. Who knows what a good strawberry tastes like anymore!”

Nearby New Haven Farms’ modest display, Ivette Altieri, who has been running zumba classes in the area for several years, was asking for support to bring back free fitness sessions for adults, kids, families and seniors.

Oliver asked her how local people will learn about the classes if the funding is provided. Because the room was so noisy with pitches and chatter, your reporter did not hear the answer.

She had not totaled up the full costs for the project, but among the items on the online budget description was a portable Bluetooth speaker with wheels, because Altieri’s has given out. Cost: $190.

“Library is closing in ten minutes,” a voice over the loudspeaker called out.

Oliver found Laverne, who had been making the project rounds on her own. He said he was still inclined to rank first projects that beautified the neighborhood. But he and Laverne planned to discuss the options and do more research on their own during the coming week.

The ranked choice voting is to take place online and to conclude in a week. ​“You start with the people who get the most votes, and you go down [the list] until you run out of money,” Lee Cruz informed people.

Other projects not mentioned include support groups to improve quality of life for Fair Haven women; a project to bring tango performance to Fair Haven; more of JoAnn Moran’s storm drain and cross walk art done with local school kids and science teachers; and a $2,500 request for a fund to provide snow removal for seniors unable to do it themselves.