Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy will travel to New Haven on Tuesday to announce the state’s intention to spend $1 million to help revitalize the Dixwell Q House.
The community center, shuttered since 2003, has long been the subject of local legislative attention, which has only recently translated into a shovel-ready plan following a feasibility study last year. The new City Hall administration is pitching the project, now partially underwritten by the state, as evidence that Mayor Toni Harp is following through on campaign promises.
“Mayor Harp said this would be an early priority of her administration,” according to the release announcing Malloy’s visit. Further details will be given at Tuesday’s press conference on the site of the Q House at 197 Dixwell Avenue.
“I’m grateful to Governor Malloy and members of the State Bond Commission for their support,” Harp said in a subsequent statement. “With ready access to a safe and supportive Q House environment our hope is young people will harness their creative and productive energy, grow as individuals, and help shape New Haven for the future.”
The redevelopment project has an estimated price tag of $13.4 million. It would involve tearing down the current Q House structure and rebuilding a new community center in tandem with the Stetson Branch Library, currently located across the street.
Malloy announced his intentions to help fund the project the same day a number of New Haven lawmakers traveled to Hartford to make their case that the state should increase its aid to New Haven in the form of Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT).
One of those lawmakers, Ward 19 Alder Michael Stratton, said Q House funding should not be a substitute for PILOT. He characterized the governor’s initiative as an attempt to “curry favor” with New Haven voters without increasing PILOT funding.
Revitalization of the Q House is the explicit second-term goal of Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison.