Markeshia Ricks Photo
Signs like these are up in New Haven, West Haven and Woodbridge.
The West River Greenway is getting a little more advertising in the towns that it meanders through thanks to some new signage \going up in the watershed.
Brand new white, green and blue signs are calling attention to the river and its greenway in New Haven, West Haven, and Woodbridge.
The signs are the brainchild of the West River Watershed Coalition, which for the last five years has been working to restore the river and make it accessible to its nearby communities. At the coalition’s most recent monthly meeting in New Haven, held Wednesday, coalition members reported that there are about 20 signs up, or going up, among the three towns.
Lehtonen with Westville Village Renaissance Alliance’s Lizzy Donius and coalition member Frank Cochran.
Tom Lehtonen said that New Haven will bear 10 of those signs. It has to work some details out with the state Department of Transportation to get signs up on Route 34 and Orange Avenue. But the signs had been well received by the city’s Transportation, Traffic and Parking Department. That department is helping the coalition work through the permitting red tape with the state.
Lehtonen said coalition members came up with the idea during one of their meetings.
“We thought it would be nice to identify the West River Watershed and where it is in relation to crossing places,” he said.
One such crossing place is the Chapel Street Bridge next to Edgewood Park. “Many wouldn’t know what this body of water is running through here is without this,” he added.
Kathie Hebert of West Haven holds sponsored signs for that town.
Frank DeLeo reported that Woodbridge has all nine of its signs up. Woodbridge is serving as the purchasing agent for the signs, which cost less than $30 a piece. Though the signs don’t cost a lot and New Haven and Woodbridge have been able to simply pay for them, Kathie Hebert couldn’t bring herself to ask her town, West Haven, for the 300 bucks.
West Haven’s finances are currently under the oversight of the state. So Hebert did the next best thing: she asked local businesses to buy a sign. They jumped at the chance. West Haven will have 10 signs, the majority of which will bear the name of the business that bought it.
“It was a great response,” she said.
The coalition is looking for more ways to raise the profile of the West River so that the resource will be available and safe for years to come.
The West River Watershed consists of the towns of Prospect, Bethany, Woodbridge, Hamden, Orange, New Haven, and West Haven. Some 75,000 people live within the watershed, according to literature from the coalition.
At its meeting Wednesday, held at Neighborhood Housing Services on Sherman Avenue, members discussed ways to attract more town participation in the watershed and how to encourage people to keep it clean.
In addition to bike tours when the weather changes, the coalition is looking to improve its website and hoping to convince Mayor Toni Harp’s administration that rebuilding a pedestrian bridge across the West River near Ramsdell Street would be a good way to encourage people to make their way to a coming Valley Street memorial garden for gun violence victims.
Bravo to all the many folks making this happen- the region has this virtually untapped resource, it is great to see it being cared for. One issue we should all take notice of is the invasive plants all around the river. It is bad and in particular with the japanese knotweed which is taking over vast swaths of land from native plants.