March 20, 2010

CDBG Hardware Hearing

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On Thursday, we had a CDBG hearing for the hardware portion of the program. You can find more information about the process and a brief definition of hardware below.

The hearing was for the non-city uses, and it was great to hear from all of the community groups. It’s always nice to see how much people really do care about this community, and that can easily be seen in the commitment that everyone has to these organizations.

I’m considering a couple of amendments, and if I decide to submit one, I’ll discuss it in this space.

Deliberations (the final Joint CD/HS committee meeting where we’ll decide on a final plan to submit to the full Board) will occur on Wednesday, March 31.

Hope to see some of you there!

 

March 17, 2010

Leg Meeting: Beer and Wine at Lighthouse Point Park

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In this month’s Leg meeting, we discussed a proposed ordinance amendment that would ban beer and wine at Lighthouse Point Park. It’s currently the only park in the city where any alcohol is allowed, and only beer and wine are legal. Proponents of the change cite quality of life concerns (mostly for “families” on the beach), and lewd incidents that have happened in the surrounding neighborhood (like people changing in front yards) that might have occurred after drinking at the park.

While I understand these concerns, I’m inclined to vote no for three reasons: it doesn’t seem to be a frequent problem, banning drinking could easily cause more serious adverse issues, and targeted complaint-based enforcement is likely to disproportionately target young people and minorities.

On the first point, according to statistics provided by the police department, there have only been 8 911 calls about drunk people in the park over the past two years. Obviously, every drunk person isn’t so belligerent as to warrant a 911 call, but the infrequency suggests that there isn’t a major issue with people getting too drunk. If there are issues with conduct, then we need to make sure that the police have the ability to regulate conduct that could be harmful to others. But to ban drinking when there isn’t really an overwhelming issue strictly caused by alcohol consumption seems a little odd.

Plus, if alcohol is banned, people will either drink too much before they come to the beach, or attempt to disguise it once they’re there. Both of those actions are more harmful than simply drinking in public at the park — both to the drinkers themselves and the public.

Finally, as Lieutenant Hoffman’s testimony indicated, this will be a complaint-driven process. Everyone at the hearing seemed to be comfortable with couples drinking wine at the beach, which suggested that alcohol consumption itself wasn’t the real issue that they were concerned about. Rather, people wanted to give officers additional tools (through complaints) to police “undesirable actions” under the guise of alcohol enforcement.  Under this system, tickets wouldn’t be given to the couple enjoying a glass of wine. But they would be given to the young people who might be playing their music a little too loudly, or whose presence might make others less comfortable. Or that’s how it appeared to me. If we’re really concerned about alcohol consumption — and if it’s so dangerous that we need an outright ban — than it should be so banned for everyone. There’s absolutely no indication from any of the testimony offered that this ordinance change would be enforced as such.

We’ll have another hearing next month to talk through these and other issues; I encourage everyone to attend.

You can read about the hearing here: Register and Independent

 

March 17, 2010

CDBG Update

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Over the past month, there have been several CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) meetings. A couple have been introductory meetings on the process and its goals — both from members of the community and the City — and the past couple have been hearings.

I’ve been pretty frustrated with the process so far. There are three categories of CDBG disbursements: hardware, software, and administrative. Hardware refers to infrastructural improvements, and most of that money in New Haven seems to go towards housing (and is mostly used by the City government). Software dollars are spent on public service activities (and mostly go to all of the organizations that we all love). Federal guidelines require that at least 65% of the total disbursement go to hardware activities, and no more than 15% go to software, with the remaining amount (not to exceed 20%) going to costs of administering the grant process. As such, it’s been pretty frustrating to have such a lack of flexibility with the grants. Especially since so many of these non-profits are facing a tough fundraising environment and cuts from the state.

Another issue that I’ve had is the lack of accountability in the process. Much like in the budget, there are very few performance metrics to help us dictate spending. All we’re given for each organization is the amount of money they were given last year, the amount for which they were recommended this year, and a project description. The only type of metric we have — especially for most of the software activities — is the number of people who an organization served with a given disbursement. With that lack of information, it’s difficult to have an intelligent conversation about amendments to the mayor’s recommendations without resorting to ward-based concerns. Other aldermen have echoed these concerns, and I hope that we’ll move to address them over the next few months.

There’s one more hearing on Thursday, and then we’ll deliberate on Wednesday, March 31.

 

March 17, 2010

BOA Recaps

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So as spring break winds down, I’ll be catching back up on some posts. There have been about three Joint Human Services/Community Development hearings, a Legislation hearing, and two BOA meetings that I haven’t discussed here. For what it’s worth, there haven’t been any votes in the committee hearings, and the highlights of the BOA meetings have already been discussed in earlier posts. But I apologize for not keeping up over the past couple of weeks.

_ _

In the March 1st BOA meeting, the two most notable items were passage of the PDD for the Yale SOM and the zoning change in Fair Haven described in an earlier post. Both of those items came through the Legislation committee, received its full support, and passed the full Board (almost) unanimously — there was one “no” vote for SOM. The budget was also presented in that meeting, and I’ll discuss that over the next month or two as I have more time to review the entire document.

In the BOA meeting this week, there wasn’t anything of particular interest to Ward 1 residents. There will be some more interesting meetings — particularly in committees — over the next few weeks, and I’ll be sure to update everyone.

 

March 8, 2010

Meetings at City Hall this Week

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MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK OF

MONDAY, MARCH 15, 2010 – MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2010

All listings with an (*) indicate a public meeting

Monday, March 15, 2010

Department of Labor Relations, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 1, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

*Board of Aldermen, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Democratic Caucus, Meeting Room 3, 5:45 p.m, Public Information, Meeting Room 1, 6:30 p.m, Full Meeting, Aldermanic Chamber, 7:00 p.m.  (203-946-6483)

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

New Haven Sister Cities, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting

Room 3, 5:30 p.m.

Census 2010, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Rooms 1 & 2,

6:00 p.m.  (203-946-6383)

Downtown Wooster Square Management Team, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Mayor’s Conference Room, 6:00 p.m.

*Board of Aldermen Aldermanic Affairs Committee, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street,

2nd Floor Atrium, Aldermanic Chamber, 6:00 p.m. (203-946-7288)

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

New Haven Food Policy Council, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 3, 8:00 a.m.

Immigration Reform, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting

Rooms 1 & 2, 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.  (203-946-7907)

City Plan Commission, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting

Rooms 1& 2, 6:00 p.m.

Cultural Affairs Briefing, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting

Room 2, 6:00 p.m.

Peace Commission, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 3, 7:30 p.m.  (203-387-0370)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Fight the Hike, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 3,

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

*Board of Aldermen Joint Community Development-Human Services Committees, Hardware (Bricks and Mortar Activities) Aldermanic Chamber, 6:30 p.m.  (203-946-4876)

New Haven Solid Waste & Recycling Authority, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 1, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, March 19, 2010

No Meetings Scheduled

Monday, March 22, 2010

*Board of Aldermen Finance Committee, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Aldermanic Chamber, 7:00 p.m.  (203-946-6045)

 

February 23, 2010

Volunteer for the Census!

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In April, every Yalie will be required to fill out a Census form. Each Census form a Yalie fills out brings $9,000 to New Haven over the next ten years in the form of grants to AIDS treatment, homeless shelters, food stamps, school lunches, vocational training, special education, hospitals, and other essential services.

We need your help getting Yalies counted and bringing money to New Haven.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/yalecounts to sign up to volunteer! A few hours of your time will have a huge impact for our City.
 

February 22, 2010

Joint CD/Human Services Recap

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Last week, we were presented with an overview of the CDBG process. There was talk of increasing the accountability measures for the various organizations, but no timetable was offered for that. I’ll be reviewing the data over the next couple of weeks — this is midterm season around here — and posting any thoughts that I have. I’d like to get some information on how our allocations compare to our peer cities, but that doesn’t seem readily available. I’ll also post information on other CDBG meetings as they come up.

This week is going to be pretty light — the only meetings scheduled are briefings — so I hope to catch up on some work for classes!

 

February 22, 2010

Meetings in City Hall this Week

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MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK OF

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2010 – MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010

All meetings with an (*) indicate a public meeting

Monday, February 22, 2010

*Board of Alderman Aldermanic Affairs Committee, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street,

2nd Floor Atrium, Aldermanic Chamber, 6:00 p.m.  (203-946-7288)

Greater New Haven Property Owner’s Association, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street,

2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 3, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.  (203-469-2816)

*Board of Aldermen Briefing on the City’s Legislative Agenda for the upcoming State Legislative Session, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Aldermanic Chamber, 7:30 p.m.  (203-946-7671)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Community Services Administration, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Rooms 1 & 2, 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.  (203-946-7907)

Chief Administrator’s Office, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 3, 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

New Haven Redevelopment Agency, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 3, 5:30 p.m.

*Board of Aldermen Youth Services Committee, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street,

2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Rooms 1 & 2, 5:30 p.m.  (203-946-4876)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Board of Aldermen Briefing – Economic Development Administrator’s Annual Update, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 2, 5:30 p.m.  (203-946-2867)

Livable City Initiative Board Meeting, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 1, 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

*Board of Aldermen Finance Committee, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Aldermanic Chamber, 6:30 p.m.  (203-946-6045)

Greater New Haven Toastmasters, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 3, 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.  (203-641-0110)

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Chief Administrator’s Office, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 3, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00

Department of Human Resources, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Rooms 1 & 2, 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Elm City Parks Conservancy, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 3, 6:00 p.m.

Livable City Initiative Board of Directors, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 2, 6:00 p.m.

Greater New Haven Property Owners, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 1, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Woman in Crisis, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 2,

7:30 p.m.

Friday, February 25, 2010

No Meetings Scheduled

Monday, March 1, 2010

Senator Toni Harp Round Table Discussion regarding Issues Facing Our Community and State, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Meeting Room 2, 4:30 p.m.

*Board of Aldermen, City Hall, New Haven, 165 Church Street, 2nd Floor Atrium, Democratic Caucus, Meeting Room 2, 5:45 p.m, Public Information, Meeting Room 1, 6:30 p.m., Full Meeting, Aldermanic Chamber, 7:00 p.m.

 

February 17, 2010

Board Meeting Recap, CD/Human Services Tonight

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We may have ended this past Board meeting in record time. I believe we adjourned at 7:07, and we probably started late. The relatively short meeting is probably just due to the lag time between the work left over from the end of last year and the work that we’ve just begun this year (since committees only began meeting a couple weeks ago).

There’s also a workshop tonight for the Joint Human Services/Community Development Committee tonight on the CDBG process. I’ll be a little late, but I’m looking forward to learning more about the process.

 

February 16, 2010

Leg Recap and Tuesday’s Board Meeting

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Last Thursday, the Legislation Committee unanimously passed Yale’s application for a PDD for the new SOM campus. The approval followed about 11 hours of public testimony, and it was very helpful to hear from all of the stakeholders who were involved. I think that there were some real concerns with the project — namely its impact on some of the Bradley Street abutters — but I thought that it should move forward nonetheless. I remain concerned about those neighbors and the project’s scale (or maybe how its design will make it seem even more out of scale than it is), but the PDD regulations were so broad that I didn’t feel like the development should have been delayed or denied because of my concerns. If there’s anything to take away from this, it’s that the PDD guidelines should be changed — and soon. Projects should meet a very clear (and high) standard if they’re going to be exempted from the zoning requirements. I don’t think that the current PDD guidelines require either. The most contentious requirement its third, which says that a planned development must be:

So designed in its space allocation, orientation, texture, materials, landscaping and other features as to produce an environment of stable and desirable character, complementing the design and values of the surrounding neighborhood, and showing such unusual merit as to reflect credit upon the developer and upon the city.

In my opinion, this essentially turns members of the Board of Aldermen into design critics — a role which seems pretty inappropriate. I’m not sure if this is a typical requirement in other cities’ PDDs, but I felt pretty uncomfortable rendering a decision based upon this criteria. For the comfort of neighbors and legislators alike, I hope this is changed in the future.

The proposal will now move to the full Board.

_ _ _

There’s also a board meeting on Tuesday night at 7. There won’t be much decided — the most interesting item (a local jobs program) will be referred to a committee, and I’m sure it’ll receive more than its fair share of attention then.

 

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