Author Archives: Aaron Bray

Once the estate of 19th-century “gentleman farmer and writer” Donald Grant Mitchell ’41, Westville — the commercial center and neighborhood a bike ride down Whalley Avenue — is going through another transformation. Its new “Connecticut Main Street Community” designation, given by Connecicut Main Street Center, will assist the Westville Renaissance Alliance to further develop the »

Next week, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. will outline specific layoffs in city government to help make up for a remaining $6 million deficit in the 2008-’09 fiscal year. But yesterday, the city had reason to smile. At the end of the 2007-’08 fiscal year, DeStefano announced yesterday, that the city had managed to »

An appeal filed last week against the Freedom of Information Commission — challenging its conclusion that the identities of Elm City ID cardholders should remain private — presents the Connecticut State Superior Court with a highly unusual and heated months-long case that could end up making its way to the state Supreme Court. The limited »

Aldermen Carl Goldfield and Mordechai Sandman asked Tuesday that Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts ’01 look into whether the NHFD can cut costs by redefining the its role. In the short-run, Sandman said, the city may bill insurance companies for services provided, and long-term, the NHFD may be able to use its “man-power and know-how” »

As anticipated, the anti-illegal-immigrant Community Watchdog Project announced last Friday that it filed an appeal with the Connecticut Superior Court regarding its request for documents relating to the Elm City ID program. The appeal, which names the state Freedom of Information Commission and the attorney general as defendants, claims the FOIC acted “illegally, arbitrarily and »

This July, the Elm City Resident Card celebrated both its one-year anniversary and a long-awaited court victory — although opponents are looking to cut the celebrations short. At the conclusion of months of testimony and hearings before the state Freedom of Information Commission, New Haven’s decision to keep private the identities of city residents who »

After a marathon of hearings and testimony before the state Freedom of Information Commission that began in March, the city’s decision not to disclose the identities of Elm City Resident Card holders was validated in a tentative decision released by a member of the panel on Wednesday. Journalist Chris Powell and Dustin Gold, who launched »

Aldermen and New Haven residents gathered at a marathon hearing Wednesday night to hear and discuss the mayor’s newly revised — and $10-million-smaller — city budget. City Hall grudgingly offered new cuts to the now-$456-million budget after a state aid package that Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and many aldermen had lobbied vigorously for fell through »

Two New Haven residents competing for the same legislative seat — that currently held by 32-year incumbent Rep. Bill Dyson — will draw on significantly different bases of support as August’s Democratic primary approaches. While Ward 20 Alderman Charles Blango has the backing several other aldermen — which provides, among other things, the access to »

Community Services Administrator Kica Matos presented a death threat she received as evidence of the danger of a forced disclosure, by the city of New Haven to the public, of the identities of residents who have obtained Elm City Resident Cards at last Friday’s Freedom of Information Commission hearing on the matter. Matos, who helped »

By early next week, New Haven aldermen should have a better idea of how the city’s hope to receive new Payment In Lieu Of Taxes funds fits in with the state’s larger fiscal situation. Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield and a handful of colleagues have spent the last two Wednesdays — and plan to »

Tasers should play a more prominent role in community policing, aldermen said at their meeting Tuesday night. Aldermen recounted what they called the successes of Tasers in reducing fatalities as they accepted the final report of the Task Force on Improving Police Practices. Under the policies set forth by the report, the New Haven Police »