Author Archives: Aaron Bray

The New Haven Board of Aldermen is in the business of saving energy — and money. Six schools will be equipped with “refrigerator-sized” generators that will save the schools between $50,000 and $100,000 per year over the next decade, the New Haven Register reported on Thursday. Although the generators will meet only 5 percent of »

The Board of Aldermen’s Finance Committee on Tuesday unanimously voted to accept $150,000 in private grants to fund the second year of the Elm City Resident Card. The committee approved the grant resolution after hearing testimony from dozens of city residents who overwhelmingly praised the resident card and supported the acceptance of the grants. Almost »

Lawyers for 16 illegal immigrants arrested as part of last summer’s raids in Fair Haven hailed a court decision Monday that will allow the immigrants to testify about the alleged unconstitutionality of federal agents’ methods in obtaining evidence during the raids. The immigrants’ lawyers, locked in an ongoing battle over whether that evidence is admisseable »

Even before the latest stock market tumble on Wall Street, and Congressional votes on “bailouts,” New Haven was feeling the effects of the credit crunch. On Wednesday, Sept. 17 — the day after the Federal Reserve agreed to rescue AIG — City Hall announced that it would suspend its municipal bond sales, given that financial »

Connecticut’s legislature may not be in session, but that doesn’t stop the political bickering. As Democrats announced Wednesday afternoon at a press conference that they intend to seek an outside audit of the Department of Social Services, the governor’s office lambasted the proposal as a waste of resources in a time of financial turmoil, when »

Outside New Haven City Hall on Saturday morning, anti-illegal-immigrant speeches dueled with blaring Latino music for the attention of passersby. Inside, dozens of families, many of them with young children, celebrated a city-sponsored “Family Day.” The festivities — including art displays, food, raffles, music and community-organization tabling — were an outgrowth of the city’s efforts, »

The Community Watchdog Project lost its Freedom of Information Commission appeal before it began. But that doesn’t mean the group’s done. The FOIC filed a motion for dismissal Friday against the anti-illegal-immigrant organization’s appeal this month challenging the Commission’s conclusion in July that the identities of Elm City ID card holders should remain private. In »

The Freedom of Information Commission filed a motion for dismissal Friday against the Community Watchdog Project’s recent appeal challenging the Commission’s conclusion in July that the identities of Elm City ID card holders should remain private. The motion, written by FOI Commission Counsel Lisa Siegel, argues that the appeals court must dismiss the appeal because »

The national financial crisis has begun to hit home. The city announced last week that in balancing last year’s budget, its relatively high credit rating had withstood the difficult economy. But no matter — the city still has to put off selling its bonds because the municipal bond market has almost come to a complete »

Tuesday was not a day for looking back. Before a blue backdrop bearing the slogan “Improving New Haven. Again,” Mayor John DeStefano delivered a sobering overview of the state of the city’s economy and the fiscal measures — including nearly three dozen layoffs that have been the source of speculation for weeks — that New »

“Mayor DeStefano is serving his seventh term,” Benjamin Shaffer ’09 began, introducing the mayor to a freshman-heavy gathering of some three dozen Yale College Democrats. “Eighth term,” DeStefano corrected. “Eighth term,” Shaffer began again. “And unindicted,” cracked DeStefano. And so began an animated, whirlwind tour through New Haven geography, demographics and politics led and narrated »

On Monday, Gov. M. Jodi Rell warned legislators to “refrain from offering any additional spending proposals” and said she will not accept any tax increases in such serious economic times. Democrats seemed not to be as worried. But Rep. Mike Lawlor said he feared the climate would cause the death of criminal justice legislation, which »