“Hell No” To Hyde

A new $41-million school attached to Hillhouse will bury the neighborhood in traffic and might lead to ​“gang rivalries,” Beaver Hills neighbors warned Thursday night.

They leveled the charges during a road-show hearing of the Board of Aldermen’s Finance Committee held at Roberto Clemente school in the Hill.

Neighbors registered stiff opposition and promised more of the same if the city moves ahead with plans to build a 20,000 square-foot addition to Hillhouse High to house the Hyde magnet school. The project would cost an estimated $41 million, with the city paying $17.1 million.

Hyde is currently located in a swing space in Hamden. The school recently won a magnet grant to focus on health science and sports medicine.

The city plans to move the school to a new addition at Hillhouse, where it would expand to an enrollment of 300 students. The school would remain autonomous from Hillhouse but could share some facilities. The city is looking to build on an open area on Goffe Street just south of Hillhouse.

“Hell no, not here,” said Gary Hogan (pictured), who lives in the area. He was one of several neighbors who said the neighborhood is already choked with traffic caused by school buses and events at Hillhouse’s field house.

“It can become like a Walmart parking lot,” said Kate Twyman, another neighbor. She said sometimes she can’t get out of her driveway.

“It’s wall to wall buses during many large events,” said Robert Voght, who lives on Goffe Terrace.

Nan Bartow, the head of Friends of Beaver Pond Park, said that police are already on hand every day when Hillhouse lets out its students. Another high school would just increase the risk of ​“gang rivalries” she warned.

Beaver Hills Alderwoman Claudette Robinson-Thorpe said she helped organize the turnout of neighbors at Thursday’s meeting. She also submitted testimony to the committee, registering her opposition to the plan. She suggested Hyde move into what is now Gateway Community College on Long Wharf.

“Before we allow Hyde School to be built on the Hillhouse site, there’s going to be a lot of uproar from us,” warned neighbor Robert Gibson.

An Open Vein?

Aldermen also heard testimony on the mayor’s proposed ​“Homeowner Fairness Initiative” a measure designed to cushion the impact of a massive increase in property values for some homeowners in the city from a new citywide revaluation. The big jump would mean a big jump in taxes. But not if the state legislature and aldermen approve the initiative, which would phase in the new taxes over five years.

Two people spoke in favor of the plan, one against. Aldermen have largely rallied behind the plan.

Orange Street’s Rob Narracci said his taxes are set to go up by 35 percent.

“It’s going to stop making financial sense for people to move into New Haven to buy houses,” he said. ​“I grew up in East Haven and always dreamed of living in New Haven.”

Narracci asked the aldermen to support the phase-in, and proposed putting a 25 percent cap on any tax increases. A cap like that would add predictability and encourage people to invest in property, he said. Click here to look at a detailed letter he sent to aldermen.

East Rocker Bill Kaplan also spoke in favor of the phase-in. He said that not doing it would be ​“like the city deciding it needs to collect blood and opening a vein in its own arm.”

Budget watchdog Ken Joyner objected to the phase-in. He said it amounts to two-thirds of the city subsidizing one-third. ​“Our poorest neighborhoods in the city should not be asked to supplement people who can better afford it.”

Renters will be the ones to suffer, when landlords pass on the costs to them, Joyner warned.

The so-called Fairness Initiative would be unfair to 70 percent of the city, he said.

Live Blog

The Independent reported live as the debate unfolded. Read on for a blow-by-blow account:

6:03 p.m.: Chairwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks is calling the meeting to order. She’s joined by Aldermen Delphine Clyburn, Migdalia Castro, Evette Hamilton, Doug Hausladen, Jorge Perez, Justin Elicker, and Al Paolillo. Alderwoman Claudette Robinson-Thorpe is seated in the audience.

6:05: Robert Voght of Goffe Terrace is the first to speak, and object to the construction of the Hyde school. He says he lives near Hillhouse High. He’s talking about overflow parking at the school: ​“It’s wall to wall buses during many large events. … Our perspective on this is that the school is at a saturation point.” There’s no more room for new construction.

Alderwoman Tyisha Walker has arrived.

6:08: Len Aronow of Winthrop Avenue is next. He says: ​“I’ve lived in this neighborhood in a family home for over 50 years. I’ve seen this property carved up.” Building a high school next to another impinges on the uniqueness of each school. … Hyde is a wonderful program. We believe other properties could be utilized. … $41 million is this proposal? We could build another building.

6:11: Robinson-Thorpe reads a letter into the record: I am opposing the construction of Hyde or the expansion of Hillhouse High. This is based on calls from my constituents, who believe there are enough schools. … Expanding Hillhouse another 20,000 square feet or building a new school would eliminate parks and mean more buses and cars, increasing traffic congestion. … It’s already a ​“hardship” to navigate the area due to traffic. … The $41 million could be put to better uses. ​“We don’t need more schools.” We need better education in the schools we have. … Hyde could move into what is now Gateway Community College on Long Wharf. ​“It’s not that we’re opposed to Hyde School. We’re opposed to Hyde School being put next to Hillhouse.”

6:16: Rob Narracci of Orange Street speaks about the proposed tax revaluation phase-in: My understanding is that the board is going to support it. I’ve been speaking to a lot of people about this. … I think you should support the phase-in. These are significant tax increases. Mine is going to be 35 percent. ​“It’s going to stop making financial sense for people to move into New Haven to buy houses. … I grew up in East Haven and always dreamed of living in New Haven.” ​“We got kind of slammed in the last reval … This jump is going to be so much more.” … I think the board should consider lobbying the state for a cap on taxes for everybody. ​“I propose a 25 percent tax increase [cap].” That’s a very high bar. It gives the city a lot of ​“wiggle room” for budgeting. It could be a device to ​“smooth out” the way budgeting affects the city. ​“It would give a predictability and take out volatility” in the system. … I could submit something in writing to the board. … If people know their properties aren’t going to increase more than 25 percent, they will feel comfortable investing in and fixing up properties.

6:25: Cynthia Teixeira of Crescent Street brings the conversation back to Hyde School. She hands out photos of a green space, near the school. She says: At the school, we look at Dumpsters and hear noisy heaters and coolers near the school cafeteria. ​“I can handle this; we can handle the overflow from the field house.” It’s not always great. But we manage. But I don’t want to look at more Dumpsters. And ​“when you have rival schools, you have rivalries.” Nobody asked us first. ​“We want open space. We want to look out and say, ah, we can breathe.” … ​“Let’s have a park. What’s wrong with that?”

Perez: You said they never asked the neighborhood. Was there a neighborhood meeting?

Teixeira: As far as I know, no. … Don’t you think though, the field house, HIllhouse and now ​“the Hyde House” … don’t you think that’s a little too much?

6:29: Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison has arrived.

Several neighbors say they agree with Teixeira.

Budget watchdog Ken Joyner (pictured) is next. He says: First of all, we’re here to discuss the 2012 – 2013 budget. This budget this year is a total of $785 million, an increase of $171 million over the last year. ​“What that says to me is we have a problem with spending.” … Your back-up data and close-out data come far too late. That’s why there’s always spending increases. You don’t have the budget analyses you need. This budget is more than 500 pages, double-sided. The Board of Ed budget is the same size. Compared to the relatively small size of the audit report and the monthly reports, something is wrong. The budget is far too large [in pages]. It should be reduced by at least 30 percent. Laypeople can’t follow it; they can’t read it. … New recruits in the fire department. Budget doesn’t reflect that. … New position in youth services; it will now have six employees and two supervisors. Unnecessary. … A new communications manager for the police department? I don’t think so. … Three parts to the budget — debt service, general fund, special funds. Three categories. … 37 departments … The budget is broken into ordinance amendments, but all the rest are approved if the first one is. Because it’s the spending amendment. …

Joyner continues: The phase-in — 6,183 owner-occupied homes are involved. Assessors office says there are over 20,700 units in the city. So we’re asking two-thirds to subsidize one-third. According to the budget department, if we did not do that, everyone’s mill rate would go down to 38.94 from 43.90. ​“That’s a significant amount of money.” $224 million in revenue per year. I don’t support this amendment. ​“Our poorest neighborhoods in the city should not be asked to supplement people who can better afford it.” Landlords don’t show up to fight assessments. ​“They just pass on the rent.” It’s unfair to use a ​“fairness initiative” to be unfair to 70 percent of the city. …

Joyner on Hyde school: $42 million to build a school people don’t want. We don’t have the money.

Joyner’s time is up. He may return at the end of the hearing.

6:46: Nan Bartow of Ellsworth Avenue, head of Friends of Beaver Pond Park, is next. She says: I don’t remember a neighborhood meeting about Hyde school. Three other members of FofBPP are here. We do all kinds of things that make the park more beautiful. … We were horrified to find that the city was thinking of putting the Hyde School in that area … adjacent to Hillhouse. … Hyde School is a fine school … But they should not move in and no other building should move in to that green space area. Little by little the city has been giving away that green space. It can’t go on. With all the city events at the field house, ​“there’s traffic everywhere.” This will just create more traffic. ​“I think it’s not a good idea. I think it should not happen. … We’re very upset at the thought that the city is even thinking of doing it.” … Another school in there ​“with other gang rivalries” it’s just a terrible idea. Police are already deployed to Hillhouse when school’s let out.

6:52: Robert Gibson (pictured), Hillhouse alum and former teacher for 35 years, says: There was no meeting called for neighborhood residents. Neither teachers nor students at Hillhouse were consulted. [He reads a response to the proposal, submitted to the Independent in March.] New Haven, for a city its size has too many schools. We have more high schools per capita than probably any city per capita of any similar size in the United States. Each new school leaves the taxpayers with the burden of paying for staffing and other costs. … If HIllhouse were to be expanded the neighborhood would lose the beautiful park land. 300 new students would be bused in, adding to traffic problems. Hyde would use Hillhouse facilities and put a strain on that high school and its staff. We were promised, when the field house was built, that it would have minimal impact on the neighborhood. During events our streets are packed. … ​“The mayor will have to find another area for Hyde.” … New schools may sound like a nice idea, but New Haven is not really growing. … We build all these schools, and how many of them have been vacated, how many have been torn down and are not being used at all? ​“Before we allow Hyde School to be built on the Hillhouse site, there’s going to be a lot of uproar from us.”

6:59: Pat Cofrancesco: I’m a commissioner on the aging in New Haven. The population of New Haven is not growing, but we have an increasing aging population. … I come before you on two issues. One: in the parks department, Lighthouse Park, there’s going to be a new fee to enter the park. A $20 fee. What I’m asking is that seniors be exempt from this. ​“It’s a small issue sometimes but a big issue for seniors if they’re on fixed incomes.” I ask you when the budget comes in for the parks department to consider exemption for New Haven seniors. The second issue: We are a very active group, but we’re one of the best-kept secrets in New Haven. We’re looking for members to sit on our commission. ​“We’re lacking a diversification of nationalities. … We have no oriental people on the board. We have no Spanish people on the board.” We meet at 10 a.m. at the Atwater Center on the third Tuesday of the month. … ​“I never knew how important the seniors were to New Haven until I became one.” …

7:07: Morrison asks about ID cards for joining senior centers.

Cofrancesco: It’s a $5 fee. They’re given a card. … Some seniors come by bicycle.

Morrison: What would be reasonable fee for a senior parks pass?

Cofrancesco: I’ll have to answer with a question: Why is military exempt fully and not seniors? That’s my answer.

Aldermen Adam Marchand, Sergio Rodriguez, Brenda Jones-Barnes, Michael Smart and Frank Douglass have arrived.

7:11: Laura Pringleton of Crescent Street speaks on Hyde: ​“I’d like to put an exclamation point to what they [previous speakers] said. … I’ve watched the green shrink before my house.” Other buildings would be cheaper for the school to rent, like St. Brendan’s or the community college. ​“I’m a retired teacher so students are very dear to my heart … But stuffing so many into such a small space just doesn’t seem realistic.”

7:14: Kate Twyman: I’ve only been a resident in the neighborhood for only eight years, but I concur with everything everyone said. … ​“It can become like a Walmart parking lot. … You may or may not be able to get out of your driveway. … The whole idea to me personally just doesn’t make a lot of sense” There’s extra space at Hillhouse. … There was no meeting to inform the community, as far as we know.

7:18: Gary Hogan of Bellevue Road: I learned how to ride a bicycle in the space being considered for Hyde. I taught my son how to ride a bike there. … Have you all ever had a circus in your neighborhood? Have you ever had the cars that choke your neighborhood? Adding another building concerns us. Where will the Steelers practice football? ​“Unfortunately, our neighborhood is saying, ​‘Hell no, not here.’”

7:21: Bill Kaplan of Autumn Street in East Rock: We’re trying to figure out how to survive an ​“almost unimaginably large” tax increase. Taxes will increase between 30 and 80 percent in my neighborhood. A neighbor told me she will be paying $45,000 a year. She lives in a big house. Her husband has died. ​“She has this great big house, but it’s not correlated with her income.” Not everyone will be paying that much, but people will pay $20,000 to $40,000. It will be $200,000 in five years [!?]. … I’m the president of the Ronan Edgehill neighborhood association, no one thinks our taxes should be low. I moved from Clinton. We like the feel of New Haven. We like diversity. We like the sound of the city. We knew our taxes were going to go up. No one expects low taxes. We expect them to go up. My house sits on a substandard lot. I do not have a garage or a driveway, behind me is a commercial parking lot. That’s what I chose. … ​“It’s going to destabilize our neighborhood. We can’t afford it.” If I wanted to sell my house and someone knew the taxes would go up $80,000 every five years, no one would buy it. But I don’t want to sell it. … ​“It’s like the city deciding it needs to collect blood and opening a vein in its own arm.” … There were 34 murders in the city last year, it’s an unimaginable tragedy. When I go jogging I run through dangerous neighborhoods, and I don’t run fast. This intersects with taxes in the budget you’re considering. ​“I’ve been a teacher all my life.” I think the city is putting millions into schools, but they aren’t the most important places right now. This year the city is borrowing $58 million in capital funds.. Debt is increasing. Postpone the new school re-builds. … Use the money we save to lower the property taxes and put money into youth programs. Maybe doing those two things would help save my neighborhood and maybe it would help other neighborhoods ​“from being torn apart by murder and mayhem.”

7:31: Joyner is back. He says: The real problem here is spending. Refer to page 3 – 39 in the budget. This summarizes the general fund spending for the next fiscal year. Look at column three: 2013 department requests. This year is $502 million. Last year it was $486 million. A difference of $15.7 million. In column four, the mayor reduced those requests by $4.3 million, which still leaves us with a $12 million increase. … Our problem is spending. … Finally, the New Haven Public Schools budget. This year it will be $174.2 million. But the Board of Ed budget says it gets only $26 million from the city. The differences is state aid etc., but even then it’s only up to $120.6 million. This is not the first year the numbers have been out of sync. ​“If I don’t understand it, I can’t vote for it.” … We have nine relief programs currently for owner-occupied homes. 70 percent of our city is rentals. Exemptions exist for disabled, blind, veterans, elderly, firefighters and emergency personnel … I can’t see how the city can continue to give away money. … Our problem is spending. The Board of Aldermen needs to get a handle on this. It’s been ignored. Now it’s on our front doorstep.

7:39: No further testimony. Meeting adjourned.