Tuesday, December 29, 2009

2010 Inaguration

2010 Inauguration: Friday, Jan 1st at noon:

Everyone is invited to attend the inauguration ceremony, where the Board of Aldermen, City Clerk and the Mayor will be sworn in. The ceremony will begin at noon on Friday, January 1st at the Cooperative Arts High School in Downtown New Haven. Free parking will be available in the Crown Street Garage and in the ProPark lot across from the school.

Happy Holidays & Happy New Year (and tree collection)

Hope everyone is enjoying the Holidays!
And, Happy New Year to all!!

Christmas Tree pick-up begins Monday, Jan. 4th:

The Department of Public Works will begin holiday tree collection on Monday, January 4th and will continue this effort through the end of January. Residents are asked to please place their trees outside with their trash on their regularly scheduled collection day.
All decorations must be removed from the tree. If a tree becomes frozen to the ground, it will become the responsibility of the homeowner to remove the tree. For more information, please call the Department of Public Works Citizen Response Unit at 203-946-7700.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

NHPS Reform

I had promised to provide the link to the hand-out I received back in October at the School Change meeting at Edgewood....
At that meeting, several Reform Objectives were illustrated: an outline of "Why New Haven?" (they state they have "A Strong Foundation to Build On"), and a chart, "Focus and Coherence in the Management of Schools," showing what Asst. Superintendent Garth Harries described as some of the how the main goal of "Raising Student Performance" will be accomplished. It also shows four "planks," each with a "vision," having several "potential components." Here's the just posted Overview of School Reform Initiative (PDF). And here's the NHPS Foundations's official reform website.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Office Hours: Tuesdays 9:30 @ Deja Brew

Yep, I'm still available at "office hours," Tuesday mornings, 9:30-10:30 at Deja Brew (corner of Edgewood & W. Rock). Please stop by to chat if you can. I plan to expand these hours to other locations and times as needed.

for the new Alders...

Thought I'd let everyone know that the City is introducing us new Alders to City Department heads, and Alderwoman Ina Silverman is hosting "boot camp" to get us up to speed on BOA procedures.

Dec. 1st, I attended a meeting to meet folks and hear from several City Departments. NHPD Chief Lewis was there with Asst. Chief Brown. Chief Lewis presented the recently released crime data report (NHI story here) showing improvement from 2008. Mike Piscitelli, Director of Transportation, Traffic & Parking and John Prokop, Director of Public Works, both summarized their roles. Pat Wallace, the new Director for Elderly Services gave an update on what she's hearing from the 55+ community. Che Dawson introduced us to the City's Youth Department. Rafael Ramos, Dep. Dir. Housing Code Enforcement, explained his duties and the services that the Livable City Initiative Bureau (LCI) provides, including the second phase of the relatively new Rental Property Licensing & Inspection Program. NHFD Chief Grant gave an overview of the FD's organization and expressed his excitement on moving forward with much needed Lieutenant & Captain promotions.

Last night, Alderwoman Ina Silverman, BOA President Carl Goldfield, and Al Lucas, Dir. of Legislative Services, taught part-one of "New Alderman 'Boot camp'." We were all provided with lots of helpful information, as we all get set to help our neighborhoods and our City as soon as we're all sworn in to office at noon, January 1st at a ceremony at Coop High School.