Updated: Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 1:37pm
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 last week. The...
Fed up with corruption, both local and state lawmakers are tackling ethics reform that would punish those who abuse government positions for financial gain. But while the state Senate last week unanimously approved a bipartisan compromise, efforts at the local level are likely to be incremental. Aldermen would like to revoke pensions from those who commit felonies on the...
City leaders breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday after a state legislative panel passed a new economic aid package that would provide $102.7 million for Connecticut in the form of PILOT, or Payment in Lieu of Taxes, funds. If approved, the additional money in the package — which still has to be approved by the full legislature and the governor — would take some of...
Perhaps even the most seasoned politicians — such as eight-term City Hall veteran Mayor John DeStefano Jr. — could learn a lesson from events this past week out of Hartford: don’t assume anything. A decision by the state legislature’s Democrat-led Appropriation Committee last week — to not include in the state budget $10 million in PILOT, or Payment in Lieu of...
After Mayor John DeStefano Jr. met with the state corrections chief last Tuesday, reform of the state’s criminal justice system seemed to have shifted from a personal to a policy focus. Following a heated exchange of words and letters between the mayor and Gov. M. Jodi Rell over the past month, the meeting offered a chance for both sides to work together to solve what...
Although the buildings have been demolished and the flames long extinguished, in some respects the downtown rebuilding effort following last month’s three-alarm fire southeast of the Green is raging as hotly and contentiously as the conflagration itself. Livable City Initiative Director Andrew Rizzo, who is overseeing the demolition and reconstruction of the area...
Mayor John DeStefano Jr., Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield and several other city officials unveiled their legislative agenda for the year at City Hall on Monday morning, with emphasis on what they called the “four E’s” — environment, education, economy and equity. But he said the success of the proposed projects depends largely on cooperation from the...
David Salinas was turning the corner onto Church Street when he saw the smoke billowing from his bar, the Brass Monkey Saloon. Salinas received a call from his alarm company at 7:15 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 12, saying the bar’s emergency alarm had been activated. His roommate, who works at a business that has its offices across the street from the Brass Monkey, knocked on...
The city of New Haven has tabled a proposal to join Koffee Too, Atticus Bookstore Cafe and Au Bon Pain as local providers of wireless Internet access. For several years, the city has explored a municipal wi-fi project, which would provide public wireless Internet access to New Haven residents. But Jessica Mayorga, public information officer for the city of New Haven...
The final debate before the Nov. 6 mayoral election elicited a greater outpouring of passion and personality from the candidates than past debates, but the issues themselves remained the same. The debate — held at Wexler-Grant Community School and sponsored by the Democracy Fund and the local chapter of the League of Women Voters — relied on questions submitted by...
New Haven aldermen on Monday debated the merits of a proposed Code of Ethics drafted to prevent corruption among city officials and employees. The New Haven Joint Aldermanic Affairs and Legislation Committee met to discuss amendments to the city Code of Ethics for public officials, executive management employees and city contractors. As part of an ongoing discussion of...
Two weeks before New Haven Solidarity Week, when several campus groups will encourage Yalies to sign up for the city’s new municipal identity card, members of the Yale Political Union debated Tuesday night whether cities should provide services to illegal immigrants at all. Kica Matos, the creator of the “Elm City ID” program, keynoted the debate — “Resolved...
