All four head coordinators said that their search for additional Yale funds has been unsuccessful. They said that conversations with Dwight Hall administrators and Associate Dean of Student Affairs Hannah Peck have yielded no additional sources of Yale funding, with administrators suggesting the organization begin applying to local grants or fundraising externally. 

The lack of options leaves the head coordinators at a crossroads: compete with New Haven nonprofits for grant money or create “slide decks” to appeal to future donors. For the head coordinators, who managed a tight budget last semester, neither option seems like a viable long-term strategy. 

“Our biggest fear, with all these obstacles and loopholes we’ve had to go through this past year, and the genuine stress of oh my god, are 250 people not going to be able to have dinner because we can’t find money? We don’t want that stress for the future to continue,” Enkhjin Gansukh ’25, one of the head coordinators, said.

Gansukh also said she feared that future head coordinators may “give up” due to the financial stress of the role, jeopardizing the longevity of YCK and the services it provides to the community.

Odessa Goldberg ’25, another head coordinator, said that costs have increased in recent years due to the added expense of take-out boxes and utensils, rising food prices and higher demand for meals. When Goldberg began volunteering at the YCK two winters ago, Yale students served around 50 New Haveners, she said. Now, she said, the number of people in one night has tripled. 

“I greatly admire the work of the students running YCK,” Peck wrote in an email to the News. “With the growth of their services and expenses, they are in a difficult position—to support their core mission, they are needing to develop a new funding model. I and my colleagues are available to help as they take on this new challenge.”

Steve Werlin, executive director of the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen in New Haven, said this speaks to rising food insecurity in the area, which has also resulted in a higher number and frequency of people seeking DESK services. He described YCK’s work as “critical” in the effort to provide free meals to New Haven residents, many of whom are unhoused. 

YCK, which has 27 coordinators running shifts and 963 students receiving volunteer sign-ups, falls under the umbrella organization of Yale Hunger and Homeless Action Project. According to the YCK head coordinators, YHHAP receives between less than $1,000 and $3,500 in funding once or twice a semester from the Yale College Council’s Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee. As a Dwight Hall Member Group, YHHAP also receives up to $1,500 per semester in funding from the Dwight Hall Campus and Community Fund. 

Gansukh said that while YCK uses the majority of YHHAP’s budget, the umbrella organization also funds 12 other student organizations. 

Goldberg noted that these two sources of funding fall short of YCK’s ideal budget of $5,200 a semester. She also said the funding is inconsistent across semesters, making it difficult to preserve quality offerings to residents. 

“What we’re frustrated by is that [the funding] is inconsistent,” Goldberg said. “We don’t want that inconsistency to be offloaded to our guests and the quality of the food they can receive. So whether it is that the Dwight Hall cap is higher, or there is an exception made for YCK, or it’s through the YCC, or there is a non-variable amount that YCK receives every semester, or it is through the administration, we argue that the YCK provides a real service to the University, not just our guests, in terms of preserving Yale’s relationship with the residents of New Haven and community partners.”

Goldberg additionally noted that YCK reduces Yale’s food waste, citing YCK’s use of leftovers from Yale’s dining halls.   

With $5,200 a semester — or $300 per weekend of operations — YCK would not only be able to continue to provide nutritious meals with fruit and sweet and savory snacks but also other goods that YCK guests have expressed a need for, such as space blankets, Goldberg said. 

Mark Fopeano, director of programming and evaluation at Dwight Hall, wrote to the News that it is unlikely that a single funding source at Yale will be able to fund and guarantee $5,200 a semester on a long-term basis. He also said that it is rare that a student organization or Dwight Hall Member Group would have that amount of expenses unless they have previously secured funding, such as an endowment, or “unique relationships” with several offices or departments. 

However, Fopeano said that Dwight Hall reconsiders their funding policies every year in an attempt to better serve Yale students and New Haven partners. Dwight Hall can also provide advice and strategic support to student organizations thinking about their organizational structure, long-term sustainability and financial model, Fopeano wrote. 

“We support any student organization that is building strong relationships in the community and providing pathways for other Yale students to do so,” Fopeano wrote. “Change usually doesn’t happen overnight, so I hope that YCK continues partnering with our office and others!”

Goldberg questioned the University’s lack of available funds to fund YCK, citing the $40.7 billion endowment, and expressed concerns that applying to grants would take away funds from New Haven nonprofits. Hugo Wang ’25 said he believes there are avenues to increase caps on Dwight Hall and YCC funding and that it is a “question of priority” whether Yale chooses to expand funding options for service organizations. 

Wang said that even if YCK takes administrators’ advice to continue cutting costs, the long-term sustainability of YCK is ultimately still dependent on additional funding. 

“More broadly, there is a question here that we want the administration to think about, and hopefully answer, which is how do they fund organizations that have a big impact on the local community but in order to achieve that would need funding that goes beyond the traditional limits on available funding for student clubs and organizations?” Wang said. 

The head coordinators said that last semester, YCK cut costs by shopping at Costco instead of Stop ’n Shop and started relying on snacks and water from DESK. In the past weeks, they also met with Yale Hospitality to pursue the option of ordering bread and containers through Hospitality.

Although Goldberg described YCK’s budget situation as “urgent” last semester, the group received two grants from local foundations this semester, temporarily easing the coordinators’ financial worries. Fopeano wrote to the News that Dwight Hall assisted YCK in grant applications by serving as a lead applicant. 

However, Goldberg said that grant applications and fundraising efforts are a time-consuming and stressful responsibility for head coordinators on top of the four-person job of coordinating logistics for YCK. 

She said that YCK head coordinators have held off on formally creating a grant and fundraising arm of the YCK in hopes that future head coordinators can rely on some form of steady funding. 

Taking on grants and fundraising would fundamentally change the role of head coordinators, which has historically been to “keep the kitchen running,” according to Goldberg. 

“Because YCK has been around for 20 years, we’re cited as a food resource [by New Haven organizations],” Gansukh said. “When people come to us on Fridays and Saturdays hoping for a full nutritional meal, we have to provide that service … We have a duty to a lot of our guests we’ve established a relationship with and … we hope that relationship won’t be compromised because of this funding issue.”

YCK hands out their meals outside 323 Temple St.

The post Yale Community Kitchen faces funding shortage, concerns over long-term viability  appeared first on Yale Daily News.

At the meeting, the committee held a public hearing to discuss lawn pesticides and artificial turf and heard an update from the New Haven Climate Movement about the city’s progress in implementing the New Haven Community Electrification Resolution, which was passed three years ago and requires the city to develop and adhere to a schedule for replacing several infrastructure systems with electric alternatives. Laura Cahn, the chair of the city’s Environmental Advisory Committee, presented on pesticides and urged the city to rethink its system of licensing officials that use pesticides. New Haven Climate Movement representative Krishna Davis ’25 and Steve Winter, New Haven’s Office of Climate and Sustainability director, testified about electrification.

“The planet is gasping for air, and we are holding a plastic bag around it,” Cahn said, describing the urgency of her environmental work.

Cahn suggests goats, leaf blower regulations to curb pesticide use

Although the Board of Alders previously passed a resolution implementing a “voluntary ban” on lawn chemicals, Cahn testified that many residents still use pesticides on their lawns. Because Connecticut state law prohibits municipalities from actually banning pesticides, the Board’s resolution was largely symbolic.

Cahn pointed to Tweed New Haven Airport as a large user of pesticides because the Federal Aviation Association requires the airport to keep its sidelines clear. Cahn suggested using goats as an alternative to chemicals to keep out invasive plants. The city has previously used goats to clear invasive plant growth in Edgewood Park in 2018 — which Cahn also claims was her idea.

“They did such a good job eating the invasive species, they sent them home early,” Cahn said. “They are a huge visitor draw because they’re lovely goats — you just have to be careful not to let them out where they can eat your flowers.”

Cahn cautioned about the potential for leaf blowers to spread pesticide toxins, especially when pesticides are used near schools or residential areas.

She said that pesticides are commonly used on utility infrastructure like railroads and electric lines, and on golf courses and athletic fields. 

“Golf was invented in Scotland,” Cahn said. “Obviously they didn’t use pesticides in Scotland on their golf courses and so the fact that we’ve adopted their sport and tried to make it work in our territory by using these artificial means is very, very concerning,” Cahn said.

She also claimed that several of the employees she has seen applying pesticides are not licensed by the state to do so. If a company is licensed, Cahn claimed, not every employee will be individually certified.

In that vein, Cahn advocated for the city to make a registry of every licensed lawn care and landscaping company, to keep track of their use of pesticides and make sure that they don’t magnify the risk of the chemicals by using leaf blowers.

“New Haven does not know who is doing these things in our city,” Cahn said. 

Cahn also warned the committee about the danger of artificial turf, which requires pesticides for its maintenance. Artificial turf is used for athletic fields throughout the city.

After Cahn concluded her presentation, Alder Kianna Flores ’25 asked about education campaigns to raise awareness of the danger of pesticides and their continued use. In response, Cahn said that she has not come up with an effective way to educate people, because she believes people do not want to fully comprehend something that is so bad for them.

“I don’t think it’s by accident that nobody knows about this,” Cahn said. “I’m pretty sure it is a dedicated advertising campaign, just like cigarettes, just like alcohol, to get you to do something toxic to yourself.” 

Cahn then provided an update on the EAC’s current work, which includes monitoring initiatives such as a private recycling facility on the water, bird-safe building legislation, Tweed’s expansion, greenspace in public housing developments, garbage from Long Wharf food trucks and the possibility of a statewide ban on nip bottles that contain small quantities of alcohol.

Update from New Haven Climate Movement, electrification goals

Following Cahn’s presentation, Krishna Davis ’25 spoke on behalf of the New Haven Climate Movement’s Electric Future Committee about the city’s progress towards meeting the electrification goals it laid out in its 2021 electrification resolution. 

“We cannot meet our 2030 climate goals without persistent efforts of the city aligned with the commitments made in the electrification resolution in 2021,” Davis said. 

Although he recognized the city’s efforts to electrify some buildings, Davis called for the city to incentivize developers of new buildings in New Haven to only use electric sources of energy and report their carbon emissions to both the city and the public throughout the entire development process. 

According to Davis, the Electric Future Committee has found that only three of nearly 50 new construction projects in New Haven in the last 10 years have been completely electric.

Davis also said that other cities with climate goals similar to New Haven like Ithaca, New York which he said have taken more serious action to increase electrification.

“New Haven should follow Ithaca’s lead and cities like Ithaca, and make electrification a serious policy priority,” he said.

In response to Davis’ requests, Alder Festa reminded the audience that a new electric refuse truck should be arriving in New Haven soon. This new garbage truck will be arriving thanks to a grant that Steve Winter, director of the Office of Climate and Sustainability, applied for. He has since applied for another grant in hopes of securing a second refuse vehicle for New Haven. 

Following Davis’ presentation, Winter discussed the progress the city has made since passing the electrification resolution nearly three years ago.

For one, the city has worked to electrify its light fleet, purchasing seven Chevrolet Volts for city officials to use. According to Winter, New Haven will receive a $7,500 check directly from the federal government for each Volt they purchased. He also said that for every heavy-duty vehicle the city purchases, such as refuse vehicles, the federal government would write New Haven a check for 30 percent of the cost, with a cap of $40,000 per vehicle. 

The Office of Climate and Sustainability has also been working with The City Plan Department to write zoning language that incentivizes developments to be constructed completely electrically. He discussed a point system that will grant developers density bonuses for their projects.

“You can get five points if it’s all-electric, five points if it’s mass timber, and if you’ve got something that has solar, timber and all-electric, as well, you can get 12 points,” he said, regarding the point system. “And the 12 points are important thresholds where you get a density bonus.”

Winter also discussed his progress in outfitting buildings with heat pumps to replace gas heating systems. So far, the Office of Climate and Sustainability has worked on retrofitting community centers, youth recreation centers and senior centers with heat pumps. 

Alder Festa is the chair of the CSEP committee.

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If approved, the proposal will split the Livable City Initiative. The newly created Office of Housing and Community Development will take responsibility for the creation of new housing in the city, while LCI will solely focus on housing inspections. The mayor also hopes to add eight new housing-related positions. 

City activists have critiqued LCI due to delayed inspection and unresolved complaints, often leaving tenants waiting months without receiving support from the city.

“It’s clear every day that housing is one of the biggest challenges that we’re facing as a city,” Elicker told the News. “While we’ve made a lot of progress, we have a lot more work to do, in particular, in two areas. One is increasing the number of affordable units in the city, and two is … improving our ability to inspect existing housing stock to ensure that it is safe.”

In total, these two housing programs will get more than $1.4 million in additional funding compared to the last fiscal year. Elicker’s proposed budget also allocates an additional $300,000 to support unhoused people. 

The proposed Office of Housing and Community Development

Included in the city budget is Elicker’s proposal to create a new Office of Housing and Community Development, which will partner with local organizations to build new housing and administer grants for future housing projects. If approved, the office will be a part of the city’s Economic Development Administration Division.

Currently, the Livable City Initiative is responsible for this work. 

Staff at the LCI who worked on housing development will be transferred to the new office, and an additional position — deputy director of Economic Development Administration — will be created to oversee it, according to Elicker. 

“It’s more appropriate for this work to be done within the Economic Development Administration,” Elicker said. “Economic development is the place [to which] developers first go when they’re wanting to start projects.”

Michael Piscitelli, the head of the city’s Economic Development Administration Department, explained that the new office will distribute funding for ongoing housing projects. According to Piscitelli, there are currently 3,500 new housing units in the city’s development pipeline — about 40 percent of which are affordable. 

Some of these projects are led by the city, such as a new series of townhouses on Grand Avenue, while other units are being built by external housing developers. The new office will support the projects by monitoring construction and providing technical assistance on grant applications.

In addition to supporting housing construction, the office will be in charge of administering grants for construction projects approved by the Board of Alders. Some of these grants include funding from the federal Office of Housing and Urban Development, which annually administers between $3 and $4 million in funds to the city of New Haven. Additionally, the office will draw on funds from the 2021 American Rescue Plan.

Piscitelli noted the need for affordable housing across the state of Connecticut. He said that the city has built 1,900 new affordable housing units in recent years but that the overall gap in affordable housing in Connecticut is upwards of 90,000 units. The new office will help improve housing policy, looking to increase the number of affordable units in the city, Piscitelli said.

Changes and improvements to LCI

The budget proposal will also add seven new staff positions with the Livable City Initiative, the agency that, under the proposed plan, will focus only on enforcing housing code and public space requirements throughout the city.

“I think [it’s] very important for LCI to focus on the core mission, what it was originally created for, which is ensuring our existing housing stock is of high standards,” Elicker said. 

Five of the proposed staff are housing inspectors, who, if approved by alders, will join the current team of 13 inspectors. 

According to Elicker, the attorney employed at LCI will join the Office of Housing and Community Development. The mayor thus proposed adding an attorney who will continue to work with LCI on housing compliance and inspections. LCI will also receive a new administrative assistant.

According to Piscitelli, these new positions will expand LCI’s capacity to engage in on-site inspections of rental units and section eight units on behalf of the city’s housing authority. 

LCI’s work entails a multi-step process of inspecting units, issuing orders based on code enforcement inspection and ensuring that landlords comply with these orders. Piscitelli said that staff expansion would increase efficiency within the agency, allowing LCI to make better use of government resources and increase the timeliness of their work. 

“We’ll be expecting a high level of process improvements such that we’re good on the timelines and we address the issues and make sure that our outcomes are good for the tenant who may live in the unit,” Piscitelli said.

Karen DuBois-Walton, the executive director of New Haven’s Housing Authority, noted the significance of improving LCI’s efficiency. 

“The city must increase its capacity to meet the requirements of the landlord licensing program,” DuBois-Walton wrote in an email to the News. “City resources can be most effective [by diving responsibilities].”

Alder Adam Marchand, a chair of the Board of Alders finance committee, which plays a major role in the budget adoption process, commended Elicker for paying attention to housing in his budget proposal. 

The finance committee will have its first budget public hearing on March 14.

The post Proposed budget rethinks city housing programs appeared first on Yale Daily News.

On Feb. 29, the joint Housing Committee approved legislation that would strengthen protections for renters facing eviction, prohibiting landlords from evicting their tenants without “just cause.” The bill, SB 143, would expand existing just cause protections, currently reserved for elderly and disabled tenants in buildings with five or more units, to almost all renters in the state. The fight for the bill has been spearheaded by Growing Together Connecticut, the Connecticut Tenants Union and Make the Road Connecticut, among other tenants’ rights and community organizations. 

“Many people within our urban communities [including] New Haven cannot even afford to rent, so they’re moving out of our city,” Rep. Juan Candelaria, the Deputy Speaker of the House who represents portions of Fair Haven and the Hill, told the News. “We need to control this.” 

Candelaria voiced his support for the bill, calling it “overdue.” He said that he sees SB 143 as a critical tool to address the affordable housing crisis and discriminatory housing practices in New Haven and around the state. In particular, Candelaria said he is concerned with protecting tenants from large “mega landlords” who often buy up rental properties from out-of-state. He told the News that he thinks evictions at the end of a lease without cause are far too frequent in Connecticut.

According to the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, landlords filed 2,224 no-cause eviction notices in 2023, around 11 percent of evictions statewide. In 2023, over 20,000 evictions were filed in the state, an approximately four percent increase from 2018. In New Haven alone, 1,769 evictions were filed in 2023, 240 without cause. 

Candelaria said that his office has received several messages from New Haven residents in support of the bill, which he committed to do, calling it “the right measure.”

Sen. Rob Sampson, ranking member of the Housing Committee and himself a landlord, raised several objections. He accused the Democratic caucus of discriminating against landlords, at one point equating the bill to racial and gender discrimination. 

“That’s all racism,” Sampson was quoted saying in the CT Mirror. “It’s been bad since the very first day that anyone judged anyone based on the color of their skin.” 

A related bill that would have capped annual rent increases at four percent plus inflation failed to pass the General Assembly last session after opposition from members of the Housing Committee. This session, the Senate Democratic caucus has added SB 143 to their list of legislative priorities

In conversation with the News, Candelaria pushed back on Sampson’s claims.

“If you’re going to increase rents, we’re not saying, ‘don’t increase them,’” he said. “Make sure those rents are fair and equitable so that we can manage the housing crisis in our cities. That’s all that we’re saying with this bill.” 

Tenant advocates support bill for low-income renters

Luke Melonakos-Harrison DIV ’23, Vice-President of CTU, also disagreed with Sampson’s claims, condemning the argument that landlords should face no regulation as ignoring the necessity of housing. He cited similar just cause legislation in several states and municipalities as evidence of its effectiveness and “positive impact” on housing stability and housing security.

“It’s a little bit hard to take seriously when you’re actually seeing what’s going on between tenants and landlords in real life and not in an abstract, theoretical debate,” he told the News.

Melonakos-Harrison did express concerns about the addition of a carve-out to the bill which exempts buildings with four units or less from the new regulations. The carve-out, he said, would reduce the bill’s effectiveness, confuse tenants about their eligibility, and play into the misconception that landlords of smaller buildings are less predatory. Instead, Melonakos-Harrison suggested, his organization might accept requirements based on the number of properties a landlord owns.

At the moment, CTU will continue advocating for the bill in Hartford.

“We’re focused on working with our members and our coalition partners across the state to reach out to their legislators and let them know how they feel about this bill and the importance of Just Cause,” Melonakos-Harrison said.

Teresa Quintana is the housing equity organizer for Make the Road Connecticut, an organization dedicated to providing legal assistance and support services for immigrant communities. 

Quintana said that immigrants, particularly those who are undocumented, are especially vulnerable to no-cause evictions.

“Many people in the undocumented community live that way because they trust,” she said. “They say, ‘Oh, they’re good landlords. We take care of the place,’ so they think [evictions are]  never going to happen… to them. And then it happens.”

According to Quintana, Make the Road Connecticut has collaborated with CTU and other organizations to encourage community members to testify in support of the bill.

She noted that immigrants are often reluctant to share their personal experiences with no-cause evictions, necessitating visits to their communities.

“When you’re going to tell [your] story, you’re going to feel that your soul is opening, because there’s a big, big scar,” she said, recalling her frequent words of encouragement to immigrants. “We’re going to expose how these people [are] taking advantage of you, your families.”

Melonakos-Harrison testified in support of the bill and helped organize members to do the same. He sees SB 143 as critical to preventing “gentrification” fueled by landlords evicting tenants to raise rents and preventing retaliatory eviction of “outspoken” tenants, especially tenant union supporters.

He said he is confident that the bill will help address the state’s affordable housing crisis by forcing landlords to negotiate with tenants, and limiting rent increases. SB 143 would provide tenants with “leverage” to negotiate a reasonable rent increase at the end of their lease, Melonakos-Harrison told the News.

“Lapse of time evictions are an easy tool for landlords who want to quell dissent, to kind of punish advocates and organizers and people who are even just requesting basic repairs,” Melonakos-Harrison said.

Landlords push back against proposed eviction protections

Rick Bush, a property manager and the treasurer of the Connecticut Coalition of Property Owners, testified in opposition to the bill at a public hearing on Feb. 20. 

Bush described lapse of time evictions as a “tool” for landlords, for example, if they need to remove a tenant to renovate their property.

“The idea that a tenant, once they take possession of a property, can stay in perpetuity is just completely ridiculous,” he told the News.

With the bill now moving on to the state assembly, Bush said he plans to keep lobbying against it and recruiting other members of the CCOPO to submit testimony in opposition.

CCOPO President John Souza is another landlord who testified against the bill.

Souza attributed tenants’ housing instability to the state affordable housing shortage, rather than lapse of time evictions. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that there is a shortage of over 89,000 affordable rental homes for extremely low-income renters in Connecticut.

“Until they build a lot more housing, it’s really just musical chairs for everybody,” he said.

Currently, lapse of time evictions require landlords to provide tenants with a minimum of three days between receiving their eviction notice and vacating the property. 

However, Souza pointed out that tenants can contest such evictions, prompting a court process that lasts a few months. Tenants can also petition the court for additional stay for up to six months, providing them with extra time to find new housing.   

“I’m disappointed in the small-mindedness and short-sightedness of the legislators in Connecticut,” Bush said. “[Disappointed] that they… would fail to provide adequate housing for their constituents and that their vote is going to have the unintended consequence of making [renting property] more difficult, more expensive and less attractive to tenants. It’s going to be a disaster.”

The bill passed the Housing Committee along partisan lines. Candelaria said that he is optimistic that the bill will pass the legislature this session, most likely without any Republican support, but declined to speculate on whether Governor Ned Lamont would sign the bill into law.

Five states currently have some form of just cause eviction legislation.

The post State Housing Committee advances just cause eviction legislation appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The extension plans to connect the intersection of East Street and Water Street to the East Haven town line on South End Road. The project is also set to link East Shore neighborhoods to parks, amenities and the broader New Haven transportation infrastructure. 

“You’ve got the Farmington Canal Line to the Shoreline Greenway connecting all the East Shore parks together, creating a really safe and enjoyable path for commuting for recreation, for health, for being a way to connect to your neighbors, to run into people from the neighborhood, and really enhance the sense of connection and community that a lot of paths and things like that really bring,” Giovanni Zinn, an engineer for the City of New Haven, said regarding the local and regional significance of the project. “I think that’s something I certainly noticed, especially during the pandemic, that I got out of my house where I met all my neighbors, and it was a really simple way to build community in our neighborhoods.”

The city has received $9.3 million in funding for the Shoreline Greenway project. Approximately $7 million comes from the federal government, and over $2 million comes from Connecticut’s bond funds. 

Mayor Justin Elicker gave special thanks to the delegation that helped secure the federal funds, acknowledging Rep. Rosa DeLauro — who represents Connecticu’s third congressional district — and Connecticut senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy. 

“Particular thanks to not just Rosa and Senator Blumenthal, but Chris Murphy was really key to us getting this $7 million of funding,” Elicker said in the presentation. 

Elicker also mentioned that not only will the extension of the trail facilitate more bike and pedestrian travel, but also, in his most recent budget proposal, he requested funding for red light and speed cameras as another way to bolster bicycle and pedestrian transportation infrastructure. 

In their presentation, city officials presented their plans for design to continue through 2024 and for construction to start in 2025. 

“We’re really excited to bring these two awesome regional assets of the Farmington Canal Line and Shoreline Greenway with this connection in green, which we’re calling the New Haven Shoreline Green line,” Zinn said. 

In creating this new trail, engineers are focusing on creating a path that is away from the street or protected by a curb or concrete barrier, provides enough adequate space for both pedestrians and bikers, minimizes disruption of neighborhoods, is a low-stress environment, is suitable for all ages and connects neighborhoods with nature. 

So far, the city has yet to accept and execute its grant agreements with its funding partners, complete traffic analysis design plans, apply for necessary permits, execute encroachment and land agreements with the state and complete its purchase of the necessary extra land for the path. Although officials said they hope to begin construction in 2025, Zinn warned that the necessary preparations that must precede construction are on an “aggressive schedule.”

Following his presentation of the city’s plans, Zinn asked for input from New Haven constituents.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to go up Lighthouse [Road] and then go over to the right on Cove [Street] because Cove already has one side street parking?” Gloria Bellacicco, a New Haven resident, asked the city engineers.

Bellacicco recommended the City consider avoiding placing the path on streets with two-way parking so that it does not interfere with residents who have to park their cars on the streets because their homes do not have driveways.

Aaron Goode of the New Haven Friends of the Farmington Canal Greenway suggested that the trail do more to showcase the shoreline near East Shore Park and Forbes Bluff. Goode predicted that a lot of walkers will not want to follow the currently proposed route because they may want to go up Forbes Bluff and along the seawall for more scenic views. 

“I really think this is one of the signature sections of shoreline in New Haven. I think it’s the most signature shoreline in Connecticut to be quite frank,” he said. “I would be remiss not to say we want to showcase that part of the park in that part of our shoreline because it’s so spectacular.”

Another New Haven resident — Chris Ozyck — voiced concern about making sure the trail is designed to feel like a “special place.” 

“Part of that is trees. Part of that is architecture. Landscape architecture, resting spaces, things to say ‘here’s where you can find these amenities, where to get water’. You know, any of these things that make the experience feel like you’re cared for as you go from A to B,” Ozyck said. 

Ozyck also expressed his appreciation for the money and planning that is going into the creation of the trail.

The New Haven Shoreline Greenway will be approximately 4.4 miles long. 

The post New Haven to create new trail connecting Farmington Canal Line and East Coast Greenway appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The event was co-sponsored by the New Haven Museum and the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven. Speakers included family members Marian Fox Wexler and Daniel Vlock, Laurel Vlock’s sister and son, respectively. Stephen Naron, director of the Fortunoff Archive, and Paul Falcone, director of studio operations and media production at the University of New Haven, appeared virtually to share memories about Vlock and her legacy. 

Daniel recounted a memory of a road trip the family took through Spain and Portugal when he was 18. He said that Laurel had brought a guidebook to read out loud but kept getting distracted by the sights around her. “For someone whose profession depended on the use of the spoken word, when she got too excited, words would fail her and all she could do was wave her arms, point and say ‘Look look, see see!’” Daniel said. That enthusiasm for life, he added, defined Vlock’s work.

The exhibit on Vlock, who died in a car crash in 2000, includes a display case with photos from her life and the Emmy Award she won in 1981.  

The program, entitled “Laurel Vlock: Pioneering Holocaust Filmmaker,” is the second annual Judith Ann Schiff Women’s History Program presentation. The event is named in honor of Schiff, the founder of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven. 

“When we hit Laurel’s name, immediately everybody reached an agreement that that’s who we would like to honor, there’s so much there that we need to share with the community,” Michael Dimenstein, president of the Jewish Historical Society, told the News.

Members of the New Haven Museum, Jewish Historical Society and Vlock’s family held monthly meetings to plan the event.  

In 1964, when Yale started its WYBC radio station, Vlock was tapped to create an educational program, “Your Community Speaks,” where she brought speakers into New Haven public school classrooms and recorded their talks. Her success with the initial radio program led to her award-winning “Dialogue with Laurel Vlock” public affairs show on WTNH Channel 8. 

The event Sunday showed clips of Vlock interviewing local New Haven activists as well as high-profile figures such as Hillary Clinton and Elie Wiesel on the “Jewish Spectrum” series on the National Jewish Television Network. 

Falcone commended Vlock’s continued legacy at the University of New Haven through the Laurel Vlock Video Archive in the Marvin K. Peterson Library. Vlock’s partnership with the University produced more than 230 programs over 30 years, including her work with Jewish Spectrum. 

Vlock and Dori Laub, a psychiatrist and child Holocaust survivor, founded the Holocaust Survivors’ FIim Project in 1979. The volunteer-led project began with four interviewers recorded in Laub’s New Haven office. One of their first interviewees was Renee Hartman, whose husband Geoffrey Hartman — a literature professor at Yale — brought the archive to the attention of then-Yale President A. Bartlett Giamatti. Sterling Memorial Library acquired the collection in 1982 with the help of Giamatti, transforming the collection into the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University. 

The archive now contains more than 4,400 video interviews of Holocaust survivors. 

“I was sure of the impact of the visual. I was sure of the ability to do this kind of interviewing. I was sure that the technology was there to make it possible. And I was also sure, very frankly, that this was the time. That it was important to do it now. That it was 40 years after the [Holocaust] and that time was indeed running out,” Vlock said in a video from 1982 that was at the exhibit. “What I was very uncertain about was opening old wounds, disturbing personal equilibrium.” 

But Laub, she continued, “felt that the survivors — and he is a survivor — were sensing their own mortality and would be ready to come forward.” 

Naron credited Vlock for her work in founding the Fortunoff Archive and discussed a fellowship dedicated in her honor that provides funding for a filmmaker-in-residence. Since its launch in 2020, fellows have produced four films and two are currently in production. 

“The Fortunoff Video Archive, after all, would simply not exist if it wasn’t for Laurel,” Naron said. 

The New Haven Museum will be displaying items gathered by Vlock’s family throughout March, including her Emmy Award for “Forever Yesterday,” a documentary created for WNEW in New York based on the four initial Holocaust survivor interviews. To preserve Vlock’s memory and life’s work, the talks given by Wexler and Daniel Vlock on Sunday were given to the New Haven Museum. 

The New Haven Museum is located at 114 Whitney Ave. 

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The reintroduced legislation, Work Live Ride, aims to reduce urban sprawl by “building up local [and] state capacity for transit-oriented communities” with the long-term aims of increasing housing affordability, boosting economic growth and combating the climate crisis, according to Desegregate Connecticut. The bill died before a vote on the state House floor during the 2023 legislative session. However, SB998, one component of the larger Work Life Ride bill that codified the Office of Responsible Growth, passed. 

“Sprawl is unsustainable, it’s inequitable and it’s bad for all of us, and we’ve been doing it for 50 years in Connecticut and can’t do it anymore,” Desegregate Connecticut Director Pete Harrison told the News. “A post-sprawl future … means communities are safer, they’re greener, they’re more walkable, they’re more diverse, they’re more affordable.”

Desegregate Connecticut is a coalition of over 80 organizations that advocate for improved local and state land use policies in Connecticut. 

The coalition hopes to address Connecticut’s affordable housing and climate crises, which Harrison said are “converging.” The Connecticut Department of Housing reported in 2020 that 50 percent of renters and 30 percent of homeowners allocate over a third of their household income to housing costs. Harrison added that households spend a significant percentage of their income on transportation, which creates environmental costs. According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, 40 percent of the state’s emissions come from transportation.

“There really isn’t a way to fundamentally make housing cheaper for people if it relies on the old sprawl mentality of drive ‘til you qualify [for a mortgage],” he said. “That is not a way to build sustainable, equitable homes and communities.”

Work Live Ride was initially inspired by a 2021 Massachusetts law that requires over one hundred municipalities to create at least one zoning district dedicated to multi-family housing located near public transit. In 2022, Desegregate Connecticut proposed a similar law for Connecticut, which Harrison said went nowhere.

Afterward, the coalition’s members visited local communities that already had zoning that encouraged high density around public transportation. Harrison said that despite these communities’ eagerness to zone around transit stations, obtaining state funding was a “cumbersome” process.

These perspectives prompted the coalition to come up with Work Live Ride in 2023, which not only creates guidelines for local zoning reform — similar to the 2022 bill — but also streamlines state funding of those reforms. 

“What stands out [about Work Live Ride] is the amount of time that has been spent listening to communities and understanding that even if it’s all transit-oriented development, it’s not going to look the same in every community that wants it,” State Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw told the News.

Work Live Ride is currently in front of the Planning and Development Committee, which Kavros DeGraw co-chairs.

Although Work Live Ride did not pass in 2022, Harrison said the passage of SB998 was a “very big, sneaky win.” The law formally established and funded the Office of Responsible Growth, which was initially created in 2006 to oversee local development and affordable housing plans, but lacked formal authority since it did not exist in the state statutes. 

Harrison said he thinks that the success of SB998 will be instrumental in Desegregate Connecticut’s efforts to pass Work Live Ride during the current legislative session since they will no longer need to advocate for state funding for the bill.

Other key differences between last year’s and the current bill include streamlined affordable housing developments — mainly through outreach to nonprofits and religious organizations — and additional environmental protections prompted by criticism from environmental groups, per Harrison.

Win Evarts is the executive director of The Arc of Connecticut, an organization that advocates for the rights of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or IDDs. The Arc of Connecticut testified in support of last year’s Work Live Ride bill, and Evarts said they plan to support the bill again this year.

Evarts pointed out that many people with IDDs live in state-funded group homes because they cannot cover their housing costs. These group homes, he said, are rarely located near public transportation, limiting individuals with IDDs’ interaction with others. 

“Having affordable housing allows [people with IDDs] to live in a less restrictive way than the traditional home model,” he said. “Living in an integrated community is better than living in a group home that… doesn’t facilitate the making of friends.”

Work Live Ride has received substantial criticism. Much of its opposition last year came from CT 169 Strong, an organization that opposes “top-down” zoning legislation with the mission of achieving “true affordability, not just density,” according to its website. 

CT 169 Strong released a statement in February denouncing the 2024 Work Live Ride bill. The group said that the bill aims to provide developers with “hand-outs” and strip away local zoning control.

“This bill removes local control, limit[ing] funding resources to communities unless they relent to onerous state mandated guidelines, thus disincentivizing towns from affordable development,” the statement said. 

CT 169 Strong did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Harrison said that Work Live Ride has a “carrot incentive approach,” since towns can opt-in to the bill but are not required to adopt it. Yet the Desegregate Connecticut website notes that the communities that opt-in would be “prioritized for state funding and [would] come first in line.”

Kavros DeGraw said that some critics base their arguments on aspects of previous versions of the bill, rather than looking at the latest version. However, she also acknowledged that housing bills like Work Live Ride often struggle to be “all carrot and no stick.”

“If there is no stick to encourage people to build [affordable housing], the carrots are often not enough,” Kavros DeGraw said. “Expecting all of the carrot money to come from the state is probably unrealistic when you look at how many people are asking for state funds for really good reasons.”

Harrison pointed to the shorter, three-month legislative session this year, compared to the five-month session last year, as a potential obstacle for Work Live Ride.

However, he said he feels optimistic about the bill’s fate, stating that it is in a “very strong position.” 

“It’s a long project that’s going to take a while,” he said. “But getting the hard stuff passed is really where we get in five and 10 years and 20 years into a much, much better, more positive future.”

Desegregate Connecticut was formed in 2020. 

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The East Rock Record, a paper made by second through eighth-grade students at East Rock Community and Cultural Studies Magnet School, published its annual issue on Feb. 11. The organization meets once a week to craft a publication with article subjects ranging from the Beatles to the mayor. According to Laura Pappano, the head of the program, teachers and mentors empower students to both wax on what they think in opinion columns and cover pertinent issues in reported articles. 

Garrett Griffin, who started teaching at East Rock six years ago, was frequently interviewed by the East Rock Record. This year, he became a faculty advisor for the paper, where he helps students find their voices through the paper. 

“It’s a way for students to express their voices through their writing,” Griffin said. “They are focused. They enjoy taking the story from an idea to print.” 

Students ranging from ages 8 to 13, work together with faculty advisors and mentors to write a paper that covers News, Arts, Tech and Opinion. 

Students flex their unbridled imaginations to stick it to the man, as evidenced by their “Lunch at 10:40 AM?” piece in their most recent issue, which began, “Are you actually hungry for a burrito at 10:40 am?  If the answer is ‘No!’ then you have a lot in common with many students at the East Rock Community & Cultural Studies Magnet School.”

Pappano credits the fun and expressiveness to the principal, Sabrina Breland, who trusts the students and faculty to produce an exhaustively truthful publication. 

Breland, who attended East Rock in the first class of second graders in 1974, credited the newspaper’s success to its tight-knit community and committed mentorship. Mentors — Yale student volunteers who often have backgrounds in journalism and advise the paper — show up and know students’ names. Teachers run a well-oiled machine powered by visible, long-standing trust. 

“I think [the East Rock Record] shows students what they’re capable of,” Breland said. “It allows them to go outside of their wheelhouse because I think some students don’t realize how great they can be. And I think this is one of the clubs where students realize that their capacity to learn is limitless.” 

In their 10 years of operation, the paper has interviewed Elicker and police captain Anthony Duff. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the program online, but leaders maintained the entire operation, publishing online and inviting speakers who otherwise would be too far to reach. 

Pappano, who plans and leads meetings over Zoom, has been a journalist for more than 30 years. As a kid, she and her siblings produced a family magazine that propelled her from delivering newspapers at dawn to The Boston Globe, The New York Times and Vanity Fair. Now, she writes and volunteers for East Rock, copy-editing and fact-checking each issue before distribution. 

“The point of [the East Rock Record] is really to broaden their horizons, and really reveal to them all kinds of possibilities that are out there,” Pappano said.

To follow up with their published newspaper, students are currently working on video journalism projects, where they expand work in the print newspaper through a visual narrative. 

Han Pimentel-Hayes ’27 led one of the groups preparing for a video journalism project on The Beatles. She works with the East Rock Record every week to ensure that young students feel valued and empowered within the East Rock community.

“I love being part of the East Rock Record because I love to see how creative students get with their ideas,” Pimental-Hayes said. “I love to see their personalities shine, and all of their interesting experiences and opinions.” 

The newspaper’s annual edition is available at the mayor’s office, New Haven Reads, IRIS, The Study, City Hall, The Children’s Room in the Ives branch of the New Haven Public Library and the North Haven office of the Diaper Bank of Connecticut.

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The protest comes as The Hartford, MDF’s insurer, prepares to challenge the workers’ compensation case of Edgar Becerra, according to Tyrese Ford, Becerra’s housing court attorney. Becerra, a Guatemalan migrant and former employee of MDF, says that he suffered lower spine injuries after falling from a 32-foot ladder and a two-story window. Becerra claims that MDF did not provide workers with safety training or equipment. 

MDF founder Mark DeFrancesco also moved to evict Becerra and Josue Maurcio Arana, another tenant-employee awaiting a workers’ compensation case, on Feb. 11, according to Ford. The eviction is DeFrancesco’s second attempt, his first blocked by the Connecticut Superior Court on Feb. 5. This time around, DeFrancesco used the grounds of “right or privilege terminated,” or the fact that Becerra and Arana have not paid rent, an approach suggested by Judge Walter Spader in his Feb. 5 decision.

Becerra said he will continue to fight for compensation for his injuries and lost time, not only for himself and his family but for other migrant workers who have encountered an “American nightmare.” 

“One of the things that has motivated me is not only to win compensation for the harm and physical damages that I’ve been living with but also in my heart, I have a wish to leave a precedent before the American people and before the conscience of many companies that are laborally, cannibals,” Becerra said in Spanish.

Glen Formica, Becerra’s workers’ compensation attorney, described Hartford Insurance’s decision to contest Becerra’s claim as “unusual.” Formica said that about 90 percent of the cases he has worked on go uncontested. Formica added that he didn’t understand the motivation behind contesting. 

“You get a golden ticket, you have authorized workers who are going to work their hardest for you and show up for work, happy to be there every day,” Formica said. “Why would they be putting all this in jeopardy over one guy that gets hurt on the job?”

After multiple requests for comment, MDF directed the News to John Walsh of Licari, Walsh & Sklaver, their legal representation. Walsh did not immediately respond to the request for comment. 

Approximately 20 members of Unidad Latina en Acción, including Becerra on crutches, protested in front of MDF offices in North Branford on Thursday. ULA had previously held a protest on Feb. 23. Chanting “Shame on MDF!” ULA members charged MDF with exploiting and intimidating their workers. 

About ten minutes into the protest, an MDF employee called the police. Four Branford Police Department officers arrived and eventually left once they confirmed that the protestors were not blocking the road, according to BFD Sergeant Christopher Romanello. 

ULA members also condemned what they called an “act of intimidation” against Becerra outside of 200 Peck St., where he lives, on Saturday. Becerra said that an unknown man followed him, told him he had a message from “the boss,” and said that if he did not drop his workers’ compensation complaint, he would “return to [Guatemala] in a wooden box.” 

The News was unable to independently verify these claims.

“I protested to support [Becerra] because he doesn’t have a job or money for food,” Alexandra Rodriguez, a ULA member at the protests, said in Spanish. “[Becerra’s situation] could happen to any of us. We need to support others and make sure people who don’t have family in the area feel supported so that this group is their family.” 

Roselia Aquino, another ULA member who attended the protests, said that, like Becerra, her brother-in-law suffered a workplace fall when fixing the roof of a house without safety equipment. Aquino condemned the boss’s practice of making workers buy their own safety equipment, saying that it should be the boss’s responsibility. Two years later, Aquino said that her brother-in-law still needs surgery. 

Becerra’s “labor torment” 

Becerra said that MDF eroded his dignity as a worker on his first day of working for the company in July. When he first arrived in New Haven on a working visa sponsored by MDF, Becerra said he was shown his accommodation for the next several months: an approximately 8-by-8-foot room to be shared by three people, with mattress pads on the ground as the only furniture. 

Between July and September 2023, Becerra, along with other migrant workers, painted and remodeled houses for MDF. Becerra told the News that throughout these months, MDF transported workers “like animals and tools” to work sites. On top and among construction tools, workers would wait in the back of a van among construction tools with no seats for up to two hours, according to Becerra. 

This was before Becerra suffered two serious workplace accidents: a fall from a 32-foot ladder in August and another fall from a two-story window in September. Becerra said that when he originally reported his ladder fall to MDF in August, the company disregarded his injury and left him with the choice of continuing to work or returning to Guatemala. Using house remedies and pills, Becerra self-medicated his leg pains. 

But after seriously injuring his lower spine during his fall out of the second-story window on Sept. 12, the pain became overwhelming. Although Becerra continued working on MDF projects on paper, under the guidance of his supervisor, he paused any substantial labor to rest. 

He completely stopped working on Sept. 22. After he ended up in the hospital on Sept. 26, Becerra reported the accidents to MDF, expecting workers’ compensation. He was instead fired and given a plane ticket back to Guatemala. 

“MDF itself, generally speaking, is not interested in the moral status, spiritual status, or how workers are physically or morally treated,” Becerra said in Spanish. “What they are interested in is that workers produce for them.”

Becerra also noted his priority in fighting for compensation is not about creating a precedent for migrant workers but instead about his family and three kids in Guatemala. Becerra said that while his family is currently being supported by friends and other family members, his lack of salary since September has put a strain on his household. 

Becerra said he was grateful for the support of nonprofit groups and Iglesia Cristiana Betania Asambleas de Dios, a local evangelical church, who have assisted him with food and medical expenses. But with no income, Becerra said he felt restricted in his transportation and everyday expenses. 

“We have to touch the conscience of the law, of justice so that they can order the company to quickly pay for all of the harm and injury,” Becerra said in Spanish. “Because there is a family in Guatemala. There are mouths in Guatemala that wait for bread and here, without a salary, I can’t help.”

Usually limping or using crutches, Becerra said that his lower spine injuries will need several months of rest to see progress, according to his doctor. Becerra currently attends physical therapy and has medical appointments lined up until July. 

Although Becerra is considering options to earn legal immigration status as his temporary H2-B visa expired in November, he said he was discouraged by the fact he will never physically be the same. 

“There are moments, believe me, where I’ve had to kneel and throw myself on the floor and talk only with God and ask him ‘What will happen?’” Becerra said in Spanish. “I have had to summon strength in weakness, and I say to God ‘What is happening? The law is sleeping.’ Anyone can say ‘Tolerate, bear, you’re enduring, keep on enduring.’ But they don’t know my personal family situation. And that is what most costs me morally.” 

Becerra’s next informal hearing for his workers’ compensation case is scheduled for March 15. 

In their protests, ULA called on MDF to pay injury compensation and Becerra’s medical treatment, pledging to continue their weekly protests if their demands are not met. 

Ford, Becerra’s attorney in housing court, said that MDF’s second attempt to evict Becerra and Arana has not formally entered the court system yet, as they must still serve summons and complaints to the former employees. 

“Serving a new eviction notice, despite all of the allegations, despite the proof we provided in court — they’re still moving forward with the new eviction because they do not believe the court is going to hold them accountable,” Ford said. “It is just going to enable them to continue their bad behavior, their oppressive behavior, their predatory behavior.”

MDF offices are located at 100 N. Branford Rd. in North Branford. 

Maggie Grether contributed reporting. 

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