“Place Of Despair”?

Fasano is just playing to his base, like Trump.

Is that $9.4 million dollar figure correct? The only city budget on-line of the on adopted in June, which have an imaginary number for state aid, not the actual number. From what was published at the time, the city budgeted a huge increase in aid, but not a proposed TRB charge. In fact, aid did increase, but not as much as budgeted, hence the shortfall. I guess we shall have to wait until the audit is published to compare actual grants from 16/17 to 17/18 to see how true the mayor's statement is.

What is Fasano, a State Senator, doing to "proactively treat drug addiction with proper social services and provide necessary shelter" in the State of Connecticut? This man was elected to solve the drug problem for the entire State. If he is complaining about the drug problem in New Haven he should look in the mirror, Fasano is to blame. This is why residents of Connecticut are leaving the State. The State government is run by complete idiots.

And for a few moments the national spotlight shines on another dying Connecticut city (we have many). And the usual clowns line up in their usual places and say their usual things, and do nothing while lives, and the health and reputation of a potentially vibrant city rot away. Despair indeed.

These guys are worse than useless. I used to fantasize busing homeless to Morris Cove and putting a tent city on Looney's huge front lawn. The other guy lives in a GATED community.

Cry Me A River Notes:

Fasano is 100% correct. I am a young professional and purchased a house in New Haven five years ago. One place I learned to avoid fairly quickly was the Green. I walked the Green a few times during that first year. It was difficult to get far without someone asking for a handout and nearly impossible to find a bench a homeless person and/or junky wasn't sleeping on. This is a major reason why many of my colleagues and peers do not frequent downtown New Haven as often as they could. Instead, they shop and dine in the area suburbs. One of the most significant contributing factors to the current state of the Green is the bus stops. The main connections for the bus routes exist at the Green. This leads to large numbers of poor people loitering and posting up around the Green, many of whom aren't contributing to the local economy on Chapel, Temple, College, etc. Instead, the deter more consumers and professionals from entering the city. Please move the main bus connections a few blocks south closer to State street, or somewhere else, but keep it away from
The Green, and also increase the police presence there. The Green should be a place people want to spend time, instead its just a place people spend time avoiding. People want to bring up politics in this issue, but that's irrelevant, let's just all take drive by the bus stop tomorrow and let me know if you'd like to take your partner or friend for a stroll on your way to dinner or after a show.

"Residents of New Haven and its environs find relief and respite at the Green." Really? I am one of the residents. Found none of that on the Green. When I pass by, I see poor desperate sick people congregating on the Green all day long. The are talking, laughing, taking drugs, drinking, fighting, pissing, shitting all day long. They are living on the Green. It is their territory. We, the residents, are just passing by. They don't notice us. "Respite"! You would not want to sit on any of the benches there or, god forbid, let your child play under the trees.
Let's start doing something. Instead of chastising a republican, tell us, what is your plan?

First of all the fire and police Chief didntnorganize any response. It's standard response protocal. Secondly while Fasano's statement might have ruffled some feathers the reality is the New Haven Green has became a haven for drug use right under the nose of Harp. Obviously 75+ people don't congregate at one location to do drugs unless they think it's a place they're allowed to do it. Harp's assertion that the city was shorted 9.4 million is laughable. Remember those same budget hopes that Harp refers to also came with the caveat of New Haven pay a portion of the teachers pensions.

Fasano's statement may have seemed a little to raw for Harps ears but it was more on point than Harps flat out lies.

No doubt that Harp and her public safety bosses will use this one incident to justify the bloated police and fire departments and their out of control overtime budgets.

Let's get a few things straight:

K2 is a cheap high for addicts who are dumped on the green from all over the region by transit buses who come here from other urban centers to get methadone from one of the dozens of clinics around New Haven. They sit and lay all over the green before or after they get their dose and score more dope, K2 or whatever the flavor of the month is that day.

Community policing and a kinder gentler police department is also to blame in addition to cops that turn a blind eye for fear of being scrutinized.

Harp chooses to blame the State for cuts when in reality it is her failure to manage any aspect of the city. It's not the States problem, sweep your own doorstep Toni!

I've always liked and respected Fasano his comments show just how daft suburban legislators are when it comes to urban areas. It is a documented fact that they send their poor to the cities for treatment and services. If a homeless or drug addicted person shows up on the Durham, East Haven, North Haven or Wallingford police radar, guess where they ship them off to.

We in New Have become responsible for their social service problems. I bet if you polled the homeless on the Green, at least half would have residency outside of New Haven.

Sure, we could arrest all the homeless begging for scraps, but is that what we want to become?

We should find a way to bill all of those suburbs for their displaced residents, I'll bet you the legislature would find more money for New Haven and other urban areas.

Noteworthy, clearly you hate everything about New Haven, my guess is you probably hate the fact that the sun does sometimes shine in our great city. Why don't you either step up and run for office, or step off and leave the city?

The city of New Haven is in a sad state if you have leaders that can't see how and why the New Haven Green became the scene of a major health crisis that drew national attention. Mayor Harp blamed the state budget cuts for a problem that existed before the state budget crisis. Rev. Steven Cousins failed to see where the city failed in not resourcing The Green with undercover cops to investigate and arrest those who responsible for the open market drug trade that has existed on The Green for many years and had only gotten worst since K2.

So how about a solution to the K2 problem that is legal to sell in the state. The State of Connecticut did not have a problem regulating guns sales in the state after Sandy Hook. The State of Connecticut regulates the sale of alcohol and cigarettes through permits. It seems to me that if Sen. Martin Looney, Sen. Len Fasano, and Mayor Harp really cared about the over doses, they would band together and propose a state law that no establishment is allowed to sell any form of intoxicant without a permit. I would also recommend that the state stop relying on the federal government regulation to determine what is legal and illegal to be sold in the state. The idea that just because a manufacture may change the chemicals in something make it hard to make it illegal, is hogwash. Just on the evidence that we have on K2 or anything similar that is being sold as an intoxicant allows the state to make it illegal to sale, distribute and posses. Just my thought on the issue.

@alex - As if New Haven has a "Trump" base. It's a democratic party stronghold. It is run by liberal democrats. If it was a Trump stronghold, its Green would be clean as a whistle, beautifully landscaped and tended, the criminals and junkies would be cleared out of there, and police and security would make it a safe place to enjoy for all.

To Peyotejam

Let's clarify – public transportation is a service that is used in cities and suburbs across the county by diverse populations – Public transportation is a critical part of supporting individual ability to work, attend classes, support medical needs, to name a few - you reference "poor people" with a very apparent elitist tone. I too am a professional, a CEO to be specific – I live downtown, I walk downtown – I walk past the bus stops regularly on my way to various activities – I walk across the green consistently – when you choose to become part of a community, you don't get to pick and choose who gets to be where and when. Your disdain for people who do not have the same financial means as yourself or who are struggling with serious life challenging issues is evident, and sad. New Haven is a community and we should strive for all to thrive – and if you would like to hide away people so you and your friends do need to see them along your way, I would simply say – Move or work towards a healthier understanding of the issues and how to help as a community member.

Fasano's words are harsh, but he is correct. The New Haven Green is a place of despair. It wasn't always like this. I remember hanging out on the green many summer days and nights. It was an enjoyable place to be. Now, it is just sad to walk through the Green on any given day.
Harp is the mayor of this City. She is responsible for allowing the current situation to continue under her watch. A true leader would be ringing the alarm bells, and fighting to take back the focal point of downtown New Haven. She should be meeting with Yale, NHPD, APT, YNHH to solve this ! Instead, she predictably just sees an opportunity to blame someone else. She is a horrible leader, and she needs to go.
Edgewood Park-taken over by dirtbikes-no action by Harp
New Haven Green-taken over by dealers and addicts-no action by Harp.
We need a strong leader to right the ship. New Haven deserves much better than Harp.

Get those people selling and using drugs on the Green out of here. If there are no laws covering these type of drugs. Senators, pass the laws now! Obviously, the Green is a magnet for drug dealers and users, including North Haven users. Arrest dealers and disburse users. I paid a lot more property taxes this year and expect more services. We do a good job cleaning up the mess. We should do a better job preventing the mess. If you can't do the job, get out. We will elect someone who can!

NH Lifer:

You make a lot of allegations about the suburbs, who the homeless are, who comes to New Haven for social services and you even divine that those towns just export their problems to us via a police car. If you have evidence of any of that - provide it.

What I know is that people in need of deep social services congregate where they can get those services. And the state, private and public nono-profits put those services where most of those people are. Do you really think the homeless are in Branford, hanging out on the Branford Green where bus service is spotty, where there are no soup kitchens, free food, homeless shelters?

As for hating New Haven - I don't. I've lived her for 15 years but I can't stand by while incompetence rules, while the mayor and leadership blame others without taking responsibility - or who are concerned with their own creature comforts while the town Green across the street becomes a drug market. And that's before you get to rising taxes, the declining fiscal stability and the really stupid repeated decisions to use debt to pay expenses.

I guess you like all those things. And by the way - I love whether it rains or shines - it means I'm vertical and still able to fight for a better city, better leadership and urge those in power to develop skills, wisdom and common sense.

Fasano is right and in fact, Looney agreed with him just a few months ago when he argued to Mayor Harp that the legislature sufficiently funds NHV.

I'm a middle-class White woman who has lived in New Haven for almost a decade. I live near a housing project, and I LOVE my neighbors. My home has never been broken into, my car has never been broken into, and neighbors have notified me when they see things happen that concern them. This is compared to friends living in wealthy East Rock whose cars were broken into multiple times. I also visit the Green regularly for events--concerts, festivals, and farmer's markets. Those who are too afraid to go because they may be asked for money might want to ask themselves what really they are afraid of and whether there is really any danger. More realistically, they are uncomfortable with the reality of poverty and the reminder that some people lack privilege and have more pain and trouble than most know how to deal with. What has happened over the past two days is sad, and it deserves community support to help people who are struggling get on their feet. However, things like this happen in cities all over the country because we are a country that creates systems that push poverty into cities so that delicate people living in the suburbs "don't have to deal with it." Connecticut is one of the worst states in doing this. There is quite literally no way to fix drug overdose problems without suburban dwellers helping because our systems of zoning and property tax extremely underresource our cities while forcing people who need the most to live in and travel to those cities. So instead of pointing fingers, right now we all need to be looking in mirrors and asking hard questions of how we contribute to the kind of public health epidemics like the one we've witnessed over the past 3 days.

Noteworthy: Actually, Branford does have a soup kitchen near its Green, euphemistically called the "Community Dining Room". It started in the basement of the Baptist Church in the 1980's, when the homeless problem started, and is now housed in a town building, a former school and former police station, just behind the present police station near the center. The same building, also, has a Food Pantry, which disburses free food. Near exit 56 are several welfare motels, and a pot dispensary. There is no homeless shelter per se, and bus service is spotty. The majority of soup kitchen patrons are children, usually with one or two parents. If anyone tried using drugs near the site, I expect the police would be quickly called and the user would find himself in a police station cell until brought to court.

As far as out-of-towners, heard the story today of one man from Guilford, an addict, who takes the train to APT on Long Wharf every morning for his methadone, then goes to the New Haven Green for heroin. He returns to Guilford in the afternoon by train.

@peyotejam

Your comment and elitist view is gross and unhelpful. How you shouldn't have to look at poor people and all. Poverty isn't a crime. If you could bring yourself to bear witness to the struggles of our community, you might notice that the majority of people waiting for the bus are headed to or from work or school or are partaking in some other valid use of public transportation. You might figure out how lucky you are to be a young professional with a comfy house from which to look down your nose at others. You also might be more inclined to support the city economy, if you cared to make a difference regarding poverty instead of just banishing the poor from your sight.

I personally didn't see anything untrue in Fasano's statement. The only point he didn't make was that many of the "problems" on the green are non residents. They bring to this city what their city/town absolutely will not tolerate. The reverend obviously has blinders on or is so quick to fall on the sword for Toni that he will say anything. As Fasano stated this city was allowed to deteriorate. This administration is focused on providing expensive lofts to those who can afford them and pipe dreams to the needy. Knee jerk reactions are never effective solutions.