INNER-CITY NEWS

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016

Financial Justice a KeyRECEIVES Focus at 2016 NAACP Convention LOCAL ARCHITECT ESTEEMED AWARD New Haven, Bridgeport

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

Historic Milford Church Installs New Pastor Milford, Connecticut – April 3, 2017 The First Baptist Church, 28 North Street, will host a celebration weekend for the occasion of the installation of their new Pastor, Rev. Horace A Hough. A luncheon will be held at Noon on Saturday April 22nd at the Trumbull Marriott. Rev. Ivan Pitts, Pastor, Santa Ana Baptist Church, Santa Ana California will be the guest speaker. On Sunday April 23rd the guest preacher for the 10:30 am service will be Rev. Walter Hough, Associate Minister of New Vester Missionary Baptist Church, Sims, North Carolina. The Installation Service will be held at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 70 River Street in Milford at 4:00 p.m. The guest preacher will be Rev. Tyrone P. Jones, IV, Pastor, First Baptist Church of Guilford, Columbia Maryland. Tickets for the luncheon or information about any of the events may be obtained from the church office (203) 8781178 or fbcjournal@gmail.com The public is invited to participate

Rev.

Horace A Hough in this historical commemoration in the life of the church.

Reverend Horace A. Hough is the son of Reverend Walter and Mrs. Bonnie Hough. He was born and

raised in Queens, New York, where he attended local elementary and high schools. He attended and graduated from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, with his

Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

He also obtained his Master of Arts degree in Religious Education with a concentration in Pastoral Studies from Fordham University Graduate School of Religion in Bronx, New York.

In 2003, after serving as youth minister at his home Church, the New Covenant Church of Christ (Baptist) in Queens, NY, Rev. Hough took on the position of Youth Pastor at the Messiah Baptist Church in Bridgeport, CT. Under the tutelage of Pastor Tyrone P. Jones IV and Pastor James B. Logan, Rev. Hough served diligently at Messiah Baptist Church for 12 years. During his tenure there, he diligently served the youth of the Church; worked with various youth leaders to create the community ministry, M.P.A.C. (Making Progress Amongst the Community); he was the choreographer for the male disciples of Messiah’s Praise Dance Ministry; he worked with the arts and music ministries; and was involved

with various other ministries in and outside the church. In July of 2016, he started another ministerial chapter, when he was elected the Pastor of First Baptist Church in Milford, Connecticut.

Rev. Hough also serves as Boys’ Mentoring Director for Pathways Danbury Youth Ministries in Danbury, CT. He previously served for 8 years as Vice Principal of Pathways Academy, a faith-based private boys’ middle school, also located in Danbury, Connecticut.

Furthermore, he is a proud member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. In all things, he is thoroughly blessed to have the invaluable support of his beautiful wife, Kellee Knighten-Hough, in all of his endeavors. He has always viewed his ministry with one mentality, “Where He leads me, I will follow.”

First Baptist Church is the oldest African-American church in the City of Milford, established in 1893.

LOCAL ARCHITECT RECEIVES ESTEEMED AWARD Arlene Davis-Rudd, Staff writer ICN His name is Ed Cherry, and he graduated from Hillhouse High School, back in the day, when Hillhouse was located on Tower Parkway. Several of his peers remember the brilliant architect, our friend, Ed Cherry,who was the first African American in Connecticut to become a licensed architect, Ed has owned and operated his architectural firm in Hamden for over half a century.

The esteemed AIA honor was awarded to the brilliant architect, Ed Cherry, in recognition of his several contributions to the profession of Architecture and to our community. In an earlier year, the gifted and talented Ed Cherry served as a tour guide in the

Dixwell neighborhood for the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, pointing out the Urban Renewal efforts and buildings that he was fully involved in through the many years of engagement in his practiced profession..

“Ed Cherry, the modernist architect, as he started out through his old neighborhood, gazing at the once new Urban Renewal era buildings, noted, “Dixwell could have been saved.” Ed further declared and reflected on the time that the Model City sacrificed history for a promise of prosperity that never materialized. - a promise he helped design.”

“During the tour and behind Ed, trailed a small crowd of mostly white folks They, too, had signed up for a walking tour of Dixwell’s modernistic architecture sponsored by the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.

Many of them were from New Haven but had the vibe of tourists in an unknown city.”

“Ed Cherry’s tour began on a

Wednesday evening from the Varick African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church located on Dixwell Avenue and Charles Street, a historic site that was once part of the Underground Railroad and of Ed’s youth.” Declared the esteemed Ed Cherry, “ I came to New Haven in 1942 at the height of the depression and the fabric of the city. was failing.

It was the beginning of World War II. My parents came up from North Carolina to work at the former Winchester Gun Factory, as most people did who came from the South.”

“When my family came to New Haven we found conditions deplorable relative to the residential fabric of the City.” The architect spoke with the unassuming authority of those who can recall their memory of history. Before him stood Dixwell Plaza , a lonely strip of parking spaces and rundown stores. The sight would’t have been out of place in an economically struggling suburb in

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America. Here it was in a populous city.” The honored architect remarked, “This was a neighborhood,” as he looked across at the strip mall. “But I don’t think you can call it that anymore,” Ed remarked.

“Mr. Cherry’s knowledge of the Dixwell neighborhood History is unique Not only did he grow up in the tight social factory of the old neighborhood, he also witnessed it’s decay and tried to fix it. Ed participated actively in Urban Renewal, consulting the City Planners as they rebuilt large sections of the town and designing many of the era’s flagship buildings.”

“In 1967, Ed was given a chance to give back to his beloved Community Center, when he was asked to design a new building for the Dixwell “Q” House. The building was to be part of the new Dan Y. Stewart Plaza, Urban Renewal’s attempt at giving Dixwell a public square. It would be flanked by 2 pillars of black

community culture: the church and the youth center.”Currently, the Dixwell Community and it’s neighbors are rejoicing, as the newest Dixwell ‘Q’ House is once again being built in the heart of of New Haven’s Dixwell community “ Ed has played a major role in its design and rebuilding. Next year we should look forward to the completion of the Dixwell ‘Q’ House. We give thanks to our current Governor, Dan Malloy and mayor of the City of New Haven, Toni Harp, for making this happen for the Dixwell Community House and the entire Dixwell community and our neighborhood.s across the Elm City.

Inner City News wishes the very best to our friend and colleague, architect Ed Cherry, as he continues to dedicate himself to his lifelong chosen ambition and profession.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

Ms. Millionaire Mindset Sisterhood April 14, 2017 Founding Sisters ROBERTA A. HOSKIE, CHIEFTAIN AND FOUNDER

NZINGHA ABDUL-WAHID, LANSDOWNE, PA NANCY ALLEN-HASKELL, Conley, GA DAMARA ALTMAN, NEW HAVEN, CT TANNIS M. BAILEY, NEW HAVEN, CT NICOLE BANKS, NEW HAVEN, CT LISA BELLAMY FLUKER, NORTH HAVEN, CT KAREN BELLAMY-TINNEY, HAMDEN, CT MELISSA E. BLOUNT, HAMDEN, CT SONDI M. BRANCH, NEW HAVEN, CT ALEXIS R. CARTER, NEW HAVEN, CT SABRINA CHRISTOPHER, WATERBURY, CT BRENDA CLAY-OZENNE, HAMDEN, CT TIFFANY EVANS-GREEN, CENTERBROOK, CT COURTNEY SARGENT-FERGUSON, NEW HAVEN, CT LASHONDA FLUITT, NEW HAVEN, CT HASTY P. FOREMAN, MERIDEN, CT MICHELLE K. FOSTER, HAMDEN, CT TRISTINE K. GARNES, NEW HAVEN, CT ARIETTA GIBSON, EAST HAVEN, CT LATOYA GLASPER, NEW HAVEN, CT MARKESHA S. GONZALEZ, NEW BRITAIN, CT AMY GRAHAM, NEW HAVEN, CT BRITTANY GRAHAM, Milford, CT JUNE E. GRAVES, NEW HAVEN CT CHERIE GREEN, WEST HAVEN, CT TERRI GREENE, WEST HAVEN, CT YULANDA D. HARRELL, NEW HAVEN, CT ANTOINETTE F. HAZARD, HAMDEN, CT TRACI HEARD, NEW HAVEN,CT MARILYN A. HEMINGWAY, NEW HAVEN, CT SHAMARR L. HEMINGWAY, TRENTON, NJ Lasharon HERNANDEZ, WEST HAVEN, CT PATRICIA A. HOLLBY, NEW HAVEN, CT ALLIA HOSKIE GRAHAM, HAMDEN, CT LATOYA HUBBARD, NEW HAVEN, CT THERESA TROTT-HUGHES, SANDYS, BERMUDA SHYLA HYDE, BROOKLYN, NY LATASHA S. JACOBS, NEW HAVEN, CT TELISHA S. JACKSON, HAMDEN, CT LUVENA L. JONES, NEW HAVEN, CT THERESA J. KEARNEY, HAMDEN, CT CHRISTIAN LEWIS, NEW HAVEN, CT LaCuanda LUCY, DEARBORN, MI VICKY M. MARICONDE, WEST HAVEN, CT LAURA L. MARTINI, HAMDEN, CT MICKEMA L. MILLER, NEW HAVEN, CT KYAN MINOR, HAMDEN, CT SHIRLEY MOORE, NEW HAVEN, CT LESLIE D. MOZELL, NEW HAVEN, CT TEISHA R. PERRY, MIDDLETOWN, CT TEDINA A. PLUMMER, WEST HAVEN, CT DEBORAH J. POWELL, NEW HAVEN, CT CHERYL L. ROZIE, EAST HARTFORD, CT CHANISE SESSIONS, NEW HAVEN, CT MARCIA SMITH, NEW HAVEN, CT RENEE C. SMITH, WEST HAVEN, CT SHEILENE SNIPES, NEW HAVEN, CT JEANETTE SYKE, NEW HAVEN, CT TASHAE A. TAYLOR, NEW HAVEN, CT VELMA TAYLOR, STAMFORD, CT JENNIFER TILLMAN, NEW HAVEN, CT TANYA L. TOLSON, NEW HAVEN, CT MELISSA SINGLETON, NEW HAVEN, CT ROBIN N. WALKER, NEW HAVEN, CT PASHION L. WATTS, NEW HAVEN, CT ERICA WILKINS, HAMDEN, CT

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

John P. Thomas Publisher / CEO

The Lack of Diversity in the Educator Workforce is a Civil Rights Issue!

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Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur Michelle Turner Smita Shrestha William Spivey Kam Williams Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee

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by Kevin E. Walton, Sr. As the Minority Teacher Recruiting Coordinator for the Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES) in North Haven, CT, my primary responsibility is planning, developing and implementing strategies to improve the recruitment, support and retention of a diverse educator workforce. In this role, I have also facilitated a quarterly work group involving several school districts in New Haven County.

I am also an active participant of the Regional Educational Service Center Minority Teacher Recruiting Alliance (RESC MTR Alliance) working collaboratively to develop and implement initiatives to assist Connecticut school districts to recruit, hire, develop, support and retain a racially, ethnically and culturally diverse teaching and administrative workforce statewide.

According to the Connecticut State Department of Education, in school-year 2013-14, 92% of educators in Connecticut were identified as white while the remaining 8% included Black, Hispanic / Latino & Asian educators. While there have been many efforts to increase the diversity of the educator workforce, there still remains a significant shortage as the average number of educators of color remains at 7% in 2014-15.

Research shows that it is important for students of color to have smart, intelligent and authoritative role models that look like them for various reasons. The presence of an educator of color can positively impact the way a student of color views areas of education such as attendance, enrollment in higherlevel courses, discipline, gradua-

tion and college enrollment.

Several studies have found that when paired with Black teachers, the test scores of Black students consistently increased. Additionally studies show the connection between same race teachers and students and the increase in reading and math scores. Further, research has shown that there is a correlation between educational attainment and the teacher’s attitudes and expectations and student achievement.

(Dee, 2004; Evans, 1992) As referenced in Dr. Maxine Ursery’s dissertation entitled Black Teachers’ Perceptions of the Obstacles and Catalysts to Becoming and Remaining Teachers in Connecticut, “American public schools need Black teachers because they advocate high expectations for Black students, have first-hand cultural knowledge and experiences similar to Black students, bring Afrocentric perspectives and pedagogical practices into the Eurocentric environment and serve as role models to Black students. This is unequivocally true for Latino, Asian and other educators of color.”

(King, 1993a, 1993b; Villegas & Davis, 2008) While we often lament the lack of educators of color and the impact on children and achievement rarely do we discuss the impetus for the conspicuous lack of diversity amongst our public school educators. To understand how this happened one must look no further than the 1954 ruling of Brown vs Board of Education in which the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional.

As a result of Brown vs Board of Education, a plan was put in place to integrate black students, however, there was no plan to integrate the Black teachers. Thus causing

5

the unintended consequence of countless Black teachers losing their jobs. In an April 28, 2004 USA Today newspaper article entitled Thousands of black teachers lost jobs, Greg Toppo highlighted the backlash aimed at black teachers from white southerners who were not please about the Brown vs Board of Education decision.

“The twenty (20) years following Brown vs Board of Education saw thousands of Black educators across the south lose their jobs, decimating the black educator workforce and setting the stage for poor academic performance by black students.”

Toppo, G. (2004, April 28). Thousands of black teachers lost jobs. pp.1 Given the climate and treatment of Black Americans in the Jim Crow south in 1950’s & 60’s, it is not surprising that many highly qualified educators of color lost their jobs simply because of the color of their skin. This is significant because we have yet to recover from the mass exodus of Black educators. Consider that from 1975 to 1985, the number of Black students majoring in education dropped by 66%.

“Those of us who would have been teachers stopped majoring in education” says Mildred Hudson, chief executive officer of Recruiting New Teachers. Toppo, G. (2004, April 28). Thousands of black teachers lost jobs. pp.2 Over the past fifteen (15) years, ACES has been involved in efforts to increase the diversity of the educator workforce locally and statewide. Locally, we have developed and implemented programs such as the Careers in Education Job Fair, Peer Networking Workshops, The Future Educators Symposium and ARC Informational Workshops.

Additional programs include Alternate Route to Certification Informational workshops and Teacher Certification workshops.

Statewide, the RESC MTR Alliance, through funding provided

by the Legislature, has supported programs such as the Peer Networking Workshops, Pathways to Teaching Program and Praxis Prep classes. The RESC MTR Alliance has also provided scholarships to career changers seeking certification through the alternate route to certification program. Additionally, we continue to work with the various stakeholders who believe in the importance of providing a culturally responsible education for all students.

While our efforts have yielded some positive results, we still have a long way to go, especially since some school districts employ zero teachers or administrators of color.

According to a 2012-13 ConnCAN report, students of color made up more than 40% of the student population in Connecticut, yet 64.1% of school districts reported having no administrators of color and 21.4% reported having no teachers of color. (www.conncan.org)

In a world that is becoming increasingly diverse, seemingly, all students would benefit from having a culturally diverse educational experience including a diverse educator workforce. There are many cultural differences that children need to explore, experience and share and what better place to do so but in the classroom? If we are serious about increasing the diversity in the educator workforce, we must be diligent in our efforts to develop and implement innovative strategies, including the necessary funding, to recruit, support and retain educators of color.

By shedding light on this critical issue, perhaps we can come up with meaningful ways to increase the number of minority educators so that the educator workforce reflects the diverse student body in Connecticut and across the United States. Then and only then will children receive the true culturally relevant educational experience that they deserve.

Kevin E. Walton, Sr. is a Human Resources Specialist / MTR Coordinator for the Area Cooperative Educational Services in North Haven, CT. Mr. Walton is also the Co-Chair of the ACES Diversity Committee. Contact Mr. Walton at kwalton@aces.org.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

7 Promoted To Sergeant, 4 To Detective

by ALLAN APPEL

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

“Do you see body cameras as a problem?”

“No, I think we should be as transparent as possible.”

“What’s the hardest task?”

“Hard question ... Maybe disciplining other officers.”

That exchange between Police Commissioners Donald Walker and Stephen Garcia and Officer Ryan Przybylski took place Tuesday night as Przybylski and six other officers appeared before the Police Commission, tapped by Chief Campbell to become sergeants.

An additional four other officers slated to become detectives, each also individually took the hot seat to answer commissioners’ questions during a long regular session of the monthly meeting of the Police Commission.

The commission is the only body that can hire, or fire, a police officer.

After the prospective sergeants and the prospective detectives spoke, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve all their promotions.

The official promotion and pinning ceremonies will take place at the end of April, said Chief Anthony Campbell.

The recommended sergeants were the highest scoring first seven from the list of 61 successful candidates recently approved by the Civil Service Board.

The public interrogation of each officer by the commissioners was gentle; commissioners had already pored over the officers’ individual files and approval was considered likely. Still, commissioners explored how each officer, especially in the new supervisory rank of sergeant, would present himself or herself to the public.

Commissioner Garcia reminded Pryzbylski and other officers of the public’s concern to have a Civilian Review Board with more investigative teeth. “How

ALLAN APPEL PHOTO

New sergeants, detectives, in back row, ready to face commissioners.

do you see sergeants improving the public perception” of police? he asked.

Pryzbylski answered that the best contribution he can make as a sergeant would be to help each officer individually be better at his or her job.

Commissioner Evelise Ribeiro asked Officer Cherelle Carr what she learned in her current assignment that most prepared her to become a detective.

Carr answered that her work in the sexual crimes unit underscored the necessity of a team effort. “Without a team, you can’t get the job done,” she said.

Commissioner Greg Smith asked Officer Yessennia Agosto, who’s been on the force for 16 years and most recently also working in the sexual crimes and missing persons unit, why she has decided to become a sergeant.

“A lot of detectives come to me for guidance,” she replied.

There was another reason, she said: institutional memory: “I’ve seen a lot of veteran officers retire without passing along what

they know.”

Rebeiro asked Officer Dana Smith what he has learned from his experience on patrol in the Hill North that best prepares him to be a sergeant.

“I learned how to talk to people,” he said. “Communication.”

Smith said that he is comfortable moving into that leadership role in no small part because he has kids. “Being a father helps me to be a leader,” he said.

He also said he would have no problem potentially disciplining his former peers. “I’ll treat

people the same way. They’ll know that my responsibility is to supervise.”

Smith said that his experience has taught him that there still remains a serious perception problem by teens about the police.

He said he’d like to undertake an initiative to address this.

“Let’s do it,” said Commission Chair Anthony Dawson.

Then the vote was taken, and all 11 were formally confirmed in their new positions.

Campbell reported that all the detectives had already been through training to prepare them for their new positions. All the new sergeants—in fact the first 25 sergeants on the list—are all scheduled to receive a week’s worth of what he termed “front line” leadership training between April 17 and April 28. That way more can be promoted when positions open, as is expected to happen after new lieutenants are chosen later this month.

The other officers promoted to sergeant, who are not mentioned above include: Nicholas Katz, Brian McDermott, Shayna Kendall, and Derek Werner.

In addition to Carr, the new detectives are Ross Van Nostrand, Michael Haines, and Michael Criscuolo.

Cross Teacher Charged With Sexual Assault

by STAFF

Police arrested a Wilbur Cross High School teacher on charges of sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.

The school district had placed the teacher on paid administrative leave since Jan. 5, after administrators received a report about “inappropriate contact” between the teacher and a student, according to a Board of Education press release.

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Now Superintendent of Schools Reggie Mayo plans to recommend that the school board fire her.

“The care and safety of students is the top priority for New Haven Public Schools,” the release quoted Mayo as saying.

“A breach of that responsibility by any staff member is cause for concern. The arrest of a New Haven teacher on allegations of sexual assault and risk of injury

is deeply troubling. I am thankful for the work of school staff including school security and school counselors as well as the investigative efforts of the New Haven Investigative Services Unit, the Department of Children and Families and the State’s Attorney’s Office who have worked on this case. My heart goes out to the victim in this case and we will continue to offer any and all support that we can.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

Builder Seeks To Take Over Hill Coop

by LUCY GELLMAN NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Another developer is looking to buy a New Haven housing cooperative and then rebuild it, this time in the Hill.

The complex is the Hill Central Community Cooperative, a 72unit block of three- and four-bedroom homes on Button, Putnam, Portsea and Dewitt streets and Washington and Howard Avenues.

Founded in 1978, the cooperative currently houses around 60 families, one member said. Like other cooperatives in the New Haven area, Hill Central is technically owned by the people who live there.

Residents have been pursuing a deal to sell their complex to a Branford-based company called Westmount Management, which has been running the complex.

Two residents who attended a recent meeting on the deal say Westmount proposes to pay $3.7 million.

While it won’t confirm details of the deal, Westmount says it plans to keep residents in place and rents affordable at the complex, where the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has an agreement to pay Section 8 rental subsidies on all the apartments through January 2019. Westmount has managed the property since about 2008, said Westmount representative Rick Ross III. It’s the latest case of a New Haven housing cooperative born in the 1970s either falling apart or potentially ending up in the hands of a management company that came in to run it. A different company is looking to buy, raze, and rebuild Antillean Manor in the Dwight neighborhood, for instance. Other Dwight coops that now belong to private outside companies include Dwight Gardens (formerly the Dwight Coops), Ethan Gardens and Trade Union Plaza.

Such sales can become complicated when original residents/ coop members move on, the coop board dissolves, a management company steps in with varied financial motives (collecting managing dollars or taking ownership

LUCY GELLMAN PHOTO

Lindo: Banking on promises.

The units on Portsea and Dewitt streets.

Stanley McLellan on his porch.

of valuable government-subsidized real estate), and HUD needs to sign off. It can be difficult even to locate coop members to authorize a sale, as at Antillean; or figure out who’s truly representing the interests of coop members.

At Hill Central, the coop board had failed to file reports with the state for five years. Then in 2016 Westmount stepped in; the coop’s mailing address is now also Westmount’s mailing address. Westmount formed a subsidiary to buy

8

the property. Five years worth of annual reports were filed in January. The coop’s board is run by a woman who lives in West Haven, not at the coop. The agent listed in state records for the coop hasn’t been involved in it for decades.

Members interviewed expressed support for the proposed sale. But two outside agencies still need to give their assents.

One is the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA), which holds the remaining $433,945 mortgage on the property. The coop has asked CHFA to allow it to pay off the mortgage early as a condition of the proposed purchase in return for an agreement by Westmount to guarantee it would keep rents affordable for 30 more years. CHFA’s mortgage committee voted on Jan. 26 to OK the request. That process has not yet been completed, according to CHFA spokeswoman Lisa Kidder.

Even if it is, HUD still has to agree to continue providing Section 8 subsidies for the apartments. HUD spokesman Brian E. Sullivan said Friday that the agency knows about the pending sale. He said the complex’s Section 8 contract which covers rents on all 72 apartments expires in January 2019.

In general HUD likes to renew existing contracts, he said. “We support the concept of keeping affordable housing. Right now we’re in the middle of an affordable housing crisis in this country,” especially in the Northeast, he said. But HUD won’t decide about Hill Center until it receives a formal notice about the pending sale and then conducts a “very thorough review” of the prospective new owner and management company to ensure they have “the capacity to run a development like this.”

Three weeks after the CHFA meeting, Westmount presented the proposed $3.7 million purchase deal at a residents meeting.

According to two people who attended, Westmount proposed to pay $3.7 million to buy all 72 units, tear them down one at a time, and rebuild, allowing current members to stay and maintaining the complex’s Section 8

affordable housing status. Westmount told members that it intends to build one- and two-bedroom units to replace some of the original three- and four-bedroom apartments.

Because the complex is still a cooperative, current coop members will have to agree on the deal before Westmount can move ahead with it, said J. Michael Sulzbach, an attorney who helped the coop get off the ground in the late 1970s.

When asked for specifics on the sale, Westmount representative Rick Ross III declined comment.

He called the deal “so fragile” with “a lot of twists and turns to it.” He also said that Westmount does not yet have a building or demolition plan in place; a statement cooperative members who attended the meeting said they understood otherwise.

“I don’t want there to be any misinformation,” Ross said. “It’s been so far so good but I’m really not at liberty to talk about it.”

He did confirm that in the transaction currently being considered, the complex’s affordable housing status will be preserved, and “nobody has to move.”

Meghan Gallagher, the attorney representing the Hill Central Community Cooperative, was also tight-lipped on the deal.

“What we’d like to say is that the board came together and they’re considering a transaction for sale,” she said. “The critical piece is that they want to keep it affordable.”

Minnie Walton, who does not live in the cooperative but is listed as cooperative board president, referred all questions back to Gallagher. She was asked how she has retained her position as president while living in West Haven. “That is not a concern of yours,” she responded.

Members Weigh In In an interview at the complex, Stanley McLellan said he and his mom, Mary, have thought of the cooperative as a welcoming home for over three decades. Member meetings every few months keep them in the loop, the two said.

An assistant property manager Con’t on page 12

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

Bungled Body Cam Pilot Gets Do-Over

and maintenance over the next five years. Storage is a big part of the cost.

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT Carter and crew were before the alders committee Tuesday evening With the clocking ticking on chancto ask for the approval of an applicaes for full reimbursement, the police tion from the department to the state department’s quest to outfit all cops Office of Policy and Management with body cameras has stalled over a for $1.5 million for the program. If bureaucratic snafu. the alders don’t approve the request Harp administration officials with in time for the department to get its police officials notably absent deapplication in by June 30, reimbursescribed that snafu Tuesday night to ment from the state drops from 100 an unimpressed committee of the percent to 50 percent.

Board of Alders, which in response They were hoping to get the comdelayed a a vote on pursuing a grant mittee alders to move the process for the cameras. forward while the pilot wraps up so The police department has been that the application would still be moving toward outfitting every one in position to pass before the deadof its more than 450 officers with a line. But alders, exacerbated by the body camera. The progress has been bungled procurement and the lack of methodical and deliberate and in the Carter (center) and crew in the hot seat … without a PD rep. police representation Tuesday acting eyes of some, slow as nearby police departments like Hamden, Branford mittee back in November that it had changed, but mostly because the de- RFP was issued in January, and a sec- Chief Anthony Campbell was out of and even Yale University have body completed its trial, selected a camera, partment failed to conduct a proper ond test got underway. This time two town and no other chief showed up cameras in place, which help pro- and was ready to shop, well in time procurement process. It had not bid companies—one of which was tested to represent the department in his vide documentation of what really to meet a June 30 deadline to receive the cameras through a request for in the previous pilot—made the cut, stead chose to hold the matter over happens in controversial encounters full state reimbursement for the costs proposal (RFP) to select the cam- and a second pilot has been ongoing to next month.

The Harp administration will have with the public. era that not only meets department since last week. of the cameras. to return in May with the police chief And now New Haven’s body camera needs but provides the best price.

Th e new pilot involves only three At a City Hall hearing Tuesday or some other representative from program could be further delayed.

Th e Harp administration found out police offi cers this time, one from night, Chief Administrator Officer Almost two years ago, the New Ha- Michael carter along with Emergency about a month after that November each shift. Results are expected to be the department in tow. That’s because the Public Safety Committee’s memven department conducted a 90-day Operations Center Deputy Director presentation to alders about how ready by April 28. bers said they want to hear the results study of two body cameras with some Mary Targrove and Controller Daryl those previously tested cameras were Targrove told alders that the body To benefit the Milford 50 police officers who volunteered to Jones told that same committee that acquired. Interested companies al- camera program is estimated to cost of the new pilot along with a more Public School Music participate. The department told the the department is redoing that pilot lowed the department to test them between $1.8 million and $2.2 mil- detailed defense of how the city went from being ready to purchase body Board of Alders Public Safety Com- in part because some technology has for free. Once that was discovered, an lion including equipment, storage Department cameras to now being not nearly as close as alders felt they were led to FRiDAy, MAy 5 believe.

To Benefit the Milford To Benefit the Milford To benefit the Milford Public Safety Committee Chairman Public School Music Gerald Antunes told the administraPublic SchoolnMusic Public School Music t e nigh Department 2017 for o 2017 tors that he was disturbed by the lack Department Department To Benefit the Milford of transparency in the process, parTo Benefit theMusic Milford Public School ticularly in light of what he characRick BRAUN Nick colioNNe Public School2017 Music o Department terized as a verbal “beating” that the r tw Department fo 2017 committee took just weeks ago over the establishment of a civilian review t h ig for one n r one night ight n board. He said body cameras are part e n o r fo fo of the transparency that is important $ t h ig n to those who have advocated for a e n Will DoNATo Jeff KAShiWA o for r one night fo CRB. two SATURDAy, MAy 6 r for two fo “It feels like we’ve been sold this bill o for tw $ of goods,” he said. “It appears that the for two right hand doesn’t know what the left for two is doing.”

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

Fitness Guru Launches Bean Pie Company

by LUCY GELLMAN NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Mubarakah Ibrahim didn’t expect a cancer scare to lead her to any sweet treats. But when a doctor found a growth on her uterus, she was hit with a thought that pierced her to her very core: What if I never get to eat bean pie again?

Ibrahim survived that scare. Now she is revisiting a culinary history she grew up with, and bringing it to New Haven.

Ibrahim is a well-known local fitness trainer and founder of the women’s health not-for-profit Fit Haven (as well as a radio host). She has now launched Mmm Pies and Gourmet Desserts, a New Haven bean pie bakery and distributor.

Watch out, New Haven. A new treat, with a backstory, has arrived.

On a recent Sunday, Ibrahim was in her kitchen, blending soaked navy beans, milk, eggs and sugar into a smooth, fragrant custard that would puff up in the oven.

She crimped the bright edges of pie crust, ran through buttons on a blender, checked the temperature of the oven. She paused to adjust the corners of a headscarf printed with bright flowers and leafy swags.

The ritual, she said, anchors her to a rich history of food, black culture, American diaspora and religious revolution.

Ibrahim is a practicing Sunni Muslim. The bean pie has its roots in the Nation of Islam (NOI), a black Muslim organization founded in the 1930s. In 1967, NOI leader Elijah Muhammad published his book How To Eat To Live, a set of gastronomic guidelines for followers that doubled as a tribute to whole foods unprocessed foods, as well as particular types of beans, grains, natural sweeteners like honey, and meats and fish that exclude bottom-feeders, scavengers, and pork.

Among the most heralded were the navy bean.

Not just heralded, but revered as a culinary staple. Muhammad said he could raise a man “from a baby to 100 years old on the navy bean alone.” He instructed his readers, “Do not eat any bean but the small navy bean the little brown pink ones, and the white ones.”

Of the bean recipes that emerged from the book, two stuck: a thick, savory navy bean soup, and sweet bean pie. The latter took on a life

LUCY GELLMAN PHOTO Ibrahim, beta testing.

of its own, baked and distributed in NOI strongholds including Detroit, Chicago, and New York City.

Carried onto street corners, small bodegas, and bake shops in these cities, Ibrahim recalls them as accompanied by four magical words, spoken by their vendors: “Bean pie, my brother?” Or in her case, “Bean pie, my sister?”

That’s where Ibrahim found them, and they found her. Spending her “formidable years as a child” in Brooklyn, she and her sisters developed a routine. Midday during the summers, they would head to a neighborhood playground nestled between Alabama and Georgia Avenues. The boys would head to the basketball court to shoot hoops. She and other 8 and 9 year olds would eye a wide expanse of cement, where teenage girls including her older sister were practicing double dutch, precise and mesmerizing as they jumped through the ropes. A few of “the really nice” older girls would offer, without fail, to teach Ibrahim.

When she and her friends took a break, they’d grab cash from their mothers and walk over to a cool basement corner store, where the owner was selling six-inch bean pies. They’d buy a few, and munch on them for the rest of the day, practicing new double dutch moves until the sun went down and it was time to head back inside and eat dinner.

One bite of the sweet, spicy pie meant “friends, family, community,

safety,” said Ibrahim.

Then she grew up, moved to a state where there was no plentitude of bean pies, and started the road to fitness trainer. A road that didn’t include a lot of sugar-studded signposts.

From Memory To Mmm When Ibrahim moved to Connecticut in 1992, she didn’t have bean pie on the brain. Not immediately.

Mutual friends introduced her to her now-husband, current Newhallville top cop Shafiq Abdussabur, at Masjid Al-Islam in its old Dixwell Avenue location. She got married and became a mom four times over and spent 10 years homeschooling the kids, developing a love for whole foods as she cooked them for her family each day for lunch and dinner. Then 15 years ago, she started to work as a a fitness trainer whose outlook on women’s health took her not only to outposts in the Hill and Newhallville, but also national and international workshops. She was careful about the amount of sugar and fat she consumed, steering clear of desserts herself.

That changed with a cancer scare a few years ago. At a routine appointment, a doctor found a growth in her uterus and ordered a biopsy. Results took around a week to turn around; Ibrahim remembers time slowing down and dragging during those seven days. Among those thoughts and fears that she experienced: Will I ever get to eat bean pie again?

11

“In the face of not knowing anything, you think of worst case scenario,” she said. “And so at that time, I was like: Do I want to die not having not had the slice of pie?

That was literally my thought process. Like—I’ve given up so much ... are you going to enjoy life along the way?”

One week later, she got good news: it wasn’t cancer.“It really was a wake-up call for more moderation, for more enjoyment of life,” she recalled. Enjoyment that included eating bean pies—while still working out five or six days a week and eating lots of greens.

She’d fantasized about them from time to time, almost tasting their sweet, decidedly un-beany texture on the tip of her tongue. Her husband, who had belonged to NOI before converting to Sunni Islam, recalled how he used to sell the pies, and missed them still.

But there wasn’t a distributor in Connecticut. After considering getting in her car and driving over an hour to Brooklyn, Ibrahim decided to try making them herself.

She thought she might find a recipe online. But a Google search returned a result as horrifying as it was side-splittingly funny: a bean pie in a soggy, tired-looking crust, with whole navy beans spilling out from the sides of a slice. That was a non-starter: cooked bean pies aren’t supposed to resemble the humble legume from which they come.

They’re golden brown, with a cus-

tard filling just a few shades lighter than pumpkin or sweet potato. She put a screenshot of the bean pie on Facebook; friends familiar with the culinary tradition chimed in, suggesting she try her own recipe. She still knew the texture and flavor profile from childhood, she reasoned.

In Abdussabur, she had a willing taste-tester. So she got to work, pulling out kitchen utensils and measuring tools, scrutinizing overnight soaking practices and best dry bean distributors, writing down every amount of every ingredient.

It was slow going, she said. Just when she thought she’d nailed an amount, Abdussabur would say it came close to the bean pies he’d sold and eaten years ago, but didn’t hit the exact mark. She recalled being deeply grateful for her training in science, and aversion to “naked numbers” measurements without units attached—that a teacher had instilled in her some 20 years prior.

She tried different recipe permutations blending the milk, then the eggs, then the vanilla, then the beans, then the sugar; the sugar, then the beans, then the eggs, then the milk, then some of her secret ingredients but the consistency and flavor weren’t quite right. Back to the oven, and several rolled-out pastry shells, she’d go with a piescented cotton apron never far from reach.

Then one night, Abdussabur took a piece into his mouth, chewed pensively, and proclaimed the recipe spot-on.

Ibrahim checked the amounts to make sure she’d committed everything to paper. The recipe was typed up and slipped into a pamphlet with “Mmm Pies/SECRET/Recipes” in large black and red typeface on the front.

Before she would allow her daughter to join her in the kitchen, she made her swear not to share the ingredients, amounts, or order with anyone. While she beta-tested batches for friends and family to get their feedback including one weekend where she made 25 pies in 48 hours she also moved forward with the business end of things.

She secured a commercial kitchen, at Katalina’s on Whitney Avenue, where she can bake two days per week, and got the right licenses to sell food. She learned that ingredients, each painstakingly weighed Con’t on page 19

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

Elm City Internationals Score Biggest Goal Ever

by ALLAN APPEL NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Nine years after she started an innovative soccer-cum-academic mentoring program for immigrant and refugee students, Lauren Mednick threw a party to celebrate that first group of wings and strikers’ biggest goal yet: their graduation from college.

Mu’ammar Camara, Abraham Bartoah, and Marco Olmedo were at the center of Elm City Internationals’ ninth annual fundraiser Thursday night, which attracted more than 100 friends, family members, and supporters, including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal to the home of one of ECI’s founding board members, Karin Render, on Edghehill Road in Hamden.

Having graduated from Sage College in Albany, Manhattan College, and Southern, respectively, the young men were on hand to share what they have learned of college life, and to pass on the tips about writing college essays and the secrets of being successful student athletes to the nearly 30 kids now in ECI’s program.

They were also there to help raise about $50,000, which Mednick said ECI needs by the end of the summer to support the ongoing tutoring and soccer programs, as well as the intensive college prep work that features two-dozen kidtailored trips annually that enable young student-athletes to explore their college choices.

Miguel Madrid, who is entering Wesleyan University in the fall to study engineering, said he and his immigrant Honduran family could not have managed visits to potential colleges, including a dream school in California, without the guidance and support of ECI. “It’s been a blessing to my life,” he said. Madrid referred to Mednick and the ECI team of tutors and coaches as a second family, the metaphor that characterizes the round-the-clock and throughoutthe-year relationship among the young players and their mentors that the various kids described.

Mednick’s initial insight immigrant kids struggling with English and other subjects hit the books for an hour and a half four times a week and that earns them the playing time afterwards and a slot on a

ALLAN APPEL PHOTO Mednick with members of her “family” of graduates.

Hillhouse freshman Oury Diane, a native of Guinea, and Madrid.

winning, competitive league team on the weekends — still is at the heart of the program.

What’s new this year is that ECI has added a young cohort, working for the first time with a group of fourth and fifth graders. That’s because “the achievement gap grows more each year,” said Mednick.

“Whether it’s soccer or cooking or sewing,” said IRIS‘s Chris George, whose Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services kids were Mednick’s first players, “providing something they did well in their home country and can do it here, it’s golden for their self esteem.”

I asked Camara what a crossover lesson might be between soccer and successful academics, and work life afterwards. He didn’t hesitate to answer: “If you put in the work, you receive results.”

Mednick said one of her great pleasures is to see how in her growing “family” of kids, the older ones continually cheer on and help the younger ones, as she does too.

Mu’ammar said he is looking for a job, and Mednick is helping him with his applications. Still, Mu’ammar insisted recently on taking Mednick out to lunch because “he is a big college graduate,” she said, proudly, in her remarks.

After college Abraham Bartoah has become a semi-pro center back in the United Soccer League, and came up from Florida for the fundraiser.

Marco Olmedo is student teaching while he is also the chief soccer coach for ECI; he is also waiting to hear whether he’s been accepted in the training program of Achievement First.

12

Over Hill Coop

Con’t from page 8

said the board generally schedules four meetings per year.

Mary McLellan moved into the coop in 1979; she’s been in the same unit on Putnam Street for 38 years. Her son Stanley lives with her part of the time. On Wednesday afternoon, he sat on their front steps smoking a cigarette. Resting one hand on a white chef’s smock, he recalled growing up on Putnam Street and making friends with neighbors who stopped on the street to chat and saw each other at coop member meetings every few months. He and his mother said they have never had a problem with the way the place is managed, he said. When something breaks, maintenance helps them fix it promptly. They like their unit. His mother declined to comment on whether or not she plans to vote in favor of the sale.

Another member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, expressed enthusiasm for Westmount’s proposal. Having lived in the cooperative for three years, he said that that “management is good and the neighbors are great.” He recalled that Westmount representatives, who came bearing snacks for coop families and their kids at the meeting, seemed genuinely keen on member input. He said he hopes that fellow coop members will be on board with negotiations as they move forward.

“It’s going to be beneficial for the people who live here,” he said. He said Westmount promised to increase handicap accessibility (almost all of the homes have front steps outside and stairs inside) and to bring the complex “up to current standards.”

Member Annie Richardson, an Alabama transplant who moved into her Portsea Street unit in 1979 to be closer to family in New Haven, said she too favors the deal.

Down Washington Avenue, one family expressed concerns about being kicked out of the coop. José Santiago and his brother lost their mother to illness in February; the occupancy agreement, which she signed in 1979, is in her name only. Her sons have lived there for their entire lives; family portraits crowd the off-white walls of the

living room, humming fridge and upstairs bedrooms. The neat linoleum floors, not replaced for decades, still greet visitors who walk through the door. And one brother and his wife are still paying the $48 monthly fees for a three-bedroom unit.

Management has listed the unit as vacant, and informed Santiago’s brother, wife and kids that they’ll need to leave.

“They’re [Westmount] being biased toward us,” said Santiago’s brother, who asked the Independent not to use his name. He recalled growing up in the unit, and watching as the neighborhood changed sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse around them. There used to be a church across Washington Avenue, he said; now there’s just an old chainlink fence there, sagging a little over its lot. Behind the unit, the brothers watched as the original homes of their alma maters, Hill Central and Roberto Clemente schools, were torn down to make way for new buildings, bright new playground equipment, and new sports fields.

“We grew up in this house,” he said. “It was always home, and now we’re looking for a place to live. Do you know how hard this will be not to have this as my home?”

“You can’t just expect people to get up and go,” added his wife, noting that she loves the coop because of its safety for her kids, who play outside after school.

Despite Westmount’s assurance it will not ask members to leave, she said she remains concerned. She said the occupancy agreement, which she didn’t immediately have on hand, entitles her and her husband to continue living in the unit as next of kin.

When contacted for a response, Ross stressed that “no one will have to leave” and declined to comment further on the situation.

Mavern Lindo, an immigrant from Jamaica who has lived on Portsea Street with her mother and family members since 2009, said she is “feeling positive about” the proCon’t on page 16

Dear Patient THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

by PAUL BASS

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

New Haven’s health director wrote to hundreds of people with sexually transmitted diseases to convey unsettling news: Their personal data had been hacked. “[A] former employee may have accessed patient demographic information in a file at the Health Department,” city Health Director Byron Kennedy wrote. “The information included your name, address, date of birth, race/ethnicity, gender and sexually transmitted disease test reports but did not include other health information, social security number or billing data.”

Kennedy wrote the letter on Jan. 20 more than five months after he and other city officials learned that a recently fired employee had brushed past a security guard and, in the company of a union official, snuck back into her old office and eliminated from a government database the personal records of at least 587 people with sexually transmitted diseases or lead poisoning, according to a subsequent arrest warrant. The woman also transferred files from her old computer onto a thumb drive; it’s unclear whether or not those files included the patient records. Kennedy learned about the incident and contacted police the following day.

Police eventually arrested the former employee on computer crime charges.

The Harp administration Thursday released a copy of a letter it said Kennedy subsequently sent to 498 of the people whose records were tampered with. (It’s unclear why

LUCY GELLMAN PHOTO

Health chief Kennedy: Unanswered questions on data breach.

LUCY GELLMAN PHOTO

Health chief Kennedy: Unanswered questions on data breach.

that number differs from the 587 in the arrest warrant.)

“As soon as we learned that the former employee had obtained access to the Health Department offices, we notified the New Haven Police Department. To the best of our knowledge, they have not completed their investigation of the incident, but currently they do not have any indication that the information obtained had been used nefariously. We have also made internal changes to

better safeguard your private information, which includes updating and re-training staff on policies pertaining to patient confidentiality, medical records, and incident reporting, and the City’s computer hardware and software policy.”

“We take the role of protecting your personal information seriously and are taking steps to prevent this from happening again in the future,” Kennedy assured recipients.

Mayoral spokesman Laurence 13

Grotheer said Thursday that the administration heard from “a few” of the letter recipients in response to the letter.

Kennedy has not responded to requests and the Harp administration has not made him available for interviews to explain, for instance, how security failed to stop the ex-employee from entering the office, or specifically what “steps” have been taken since, or whether the files transferred to the exemployee’s thumb drive in-

cluded the private patient information since the news of the arrest broke last week. The administration claims that’s because the investigation is “ongoing.”

Police closed their investigation upon arresting the ex-employee on March 10. The state and the police do sometimes decline to answer questions about a pending case with the argument that it technically remains “ongoing” while it wends its way through the courts.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

Hill Central Poets Slam Into Action

by LUCY BELLMAN NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

Tyrese Dejesus ran onto the stage of Hill Central and lifted both hands in the air. He puffed out his chest and took a quick, deep breath. Then he looked out into a swelling audience, ready to make an announcement.

“I am not a poet!” he declared.

His peers raised their eyebrows and cocked their heads to listen closely. A few looked as though they were ready to call his bluff.

Others waited to hear more.

That momentary confusion — and then delight at a fake-out — came as part of the sixth annual “Voices of Hill Central” Poetry Slam, held Wednesday at the eponymous school‘s gymnasium in New Haven’s Hill neighborhood. Over almost two hours, 16 sixth-, seventhand eighth-graders took the stage in a poetic processional, spitting spoken word pieces that they’d been rehearsing for three weeks straight.

Organized by Scientific ResearchBased Interventions (SRBI) leader and former language arts teacher Donna DelBasso, the slam is an annual opportunity for students to practice a component of the poetry they are studying and discussing in their classes. That started six years ago, when DelBasso, watching how engaged her sixth-graders were in a new poetry unit, suggested it at a staff meeting. Students were already into the poems they were reading. Their interest in spoken word skyrocketed when they saw the documentary on highschool poets performing at the Louder Than A Bomb poetry slam in Chicago. It seemed like the right thing to try out, DelBasso said.

Since then, the slam has grown to a large event with an emcee, blaring music, brightly illustrated digital word clouds for each poet, and a panel of wordsmithy judges from around the state. It’s not a full-blown slam in the technical sense (three rounds, threeminute maximum, no props, and five judges) but a weighty training ground, introducing students to the medium firsthand and giving them a chance to flex their public speaking muscles.

LUCY GELLMAN PHOTO

Clockwise from top: Williams, Serena Anes, Dejesus, and emcee Elijah Vann.

Delbasso presents the winners.

Clockwise from top: Regina Lewis, Jackie Chiarelli singing, Diaz, and Gonzalez with Williams.

“These students that would probably not have any other voice this is the window into their soul,” DelBasso said. What she thought would be “a couple kids reading from paper” on the stage has

grown prodigiously, with a mix of students now volunteering themselves in February and March, and being encouraged by their language arts teachers to participate.

She added that for many of the

14

poets, spoken and written word is a direct and necessary path to getting heavy emotion, from early depression to dealing with the death of a close loved one, out into the open. She recalled watching students who had been silent in their math or language classes explode on the stage, and wind themselves around stories with equal parts creativity and compassion. And nowhere was it clearer than in the lineup of poets on Wednesday, she said poets who also included student Ariana Alvarez and sonnetconquerer Irving Ramirez, who brought the house down with his Shakespeare-inspired “Ode to a Tamale” before the slam began.

If Ramirez warmed the audience up, the 16 poets brought fire to the stage, leaving embers in their path as they performed. With a steady, unwavering voice that came straight from her diaphragm, Mariene Gonzalez spoke directly to an absent parent who had abandoned the family when she was just two years old. Jayleen Nieves went for a slow, thrilling twist, recalling that she was deeply afraid of losing friends, getting teased or bullied, of familial troubles but wasn’t going to allow that fear to hold her down anymore. Leiana Diaz brought the audience to tears remembering the day her mother burst through the school doors with the news her grandmother had died suddenly.

Regina Lewis had had her heart broken but wasn’t giving up on love. Jacob Williams, who ultimately snagged first place, recalled a spiraling depression that

began with the death of his grandmother, punctuated with ribbons of light as his life fell in and out of darkness again. John Cruz drew from mythology, leaving the stage littered with references to Hercules and Apollo. Shante Harris brought out whoops, cheers and wild applause before she had finished with her self-realization that “I am black, beautiful.” With tears streaking her face, Trinity Pearsell urged the audience to stop making youth like her feel smaller than they are.

Where there might have been silence or strained, competitive breath between poems, DelBasso said, the group worked very hard to make sure there was nothing of the sort. For the three weeks leading up to the slam, participants spent their lunch hours together on the gymnasium’s stage, workshopping their poems, performance styles, and memorizations while also learning how to listen to each other. Several times they had built “restorative circles,” delving into personal stories and talking to each other about respect.

As the slam wound down, The Word mentor and Literary Happy Hour Director Hanifa Washington, also a judge at the event, said she had noticed and applauded that kind of support from poets to other poets. Before launching into a a call-and-response meditation, she said she’d seen in the young writers a way to communicate uniquely with their peers.

“I hope you can find where the beauty is in the writing,” she said.

“The medicine in the words.”

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

Bike Share, Canal Trail Bumps Smoothed

by MICHELLE LIU

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

The Board of Alders City Services and Environmental Policy Committee voted to approve both plans Tuesday night, advancing them to the full board for a final vote.

The proposed bike share program would resemble New York City’s CitiBike system. The city has been weighing neighborhood input in the past few months. The plan to convert the former Farmington Canal rail line into a paved trail began in the 1990s, and is now in its fourth and final phase — stretching from Hillhouse to Canal Dock Road on Long Wharf.

The committee expressed excitement for both proposals and was eager to smooth out bumps along the way.

“With the canal coming up, and the bikes, we might need traffic lights on the canal!” East Rock Alder Anna Festa joked.

Both City Plan staffer Anne Hartjen and city attorney John Ward were present at Tuesday night’s meeting to lay out the details of a deal struck with private property owners that will enable the city to wrap up the last leg of the Farmington Canal trail’s construction. The city has been negotiating easements with nine property owners since 2013. Per the proposal, the city would enter a permanent easement agreement with Grove Parking, which would allow the city to construct part of the trail under a garage owned by the company at 55 Grove St. New Haven would pay up to $25,000, secured through bonding, to Grove Parking in legal and engineering fees.

Westville Alder Adam Marchand picked up on the $25,000. Ward stressed these are professional fees — to “make sure what we’re building is not going to knock the building down.”

Regarding a clause that allows the city to hold up to four cultural events at the site per year, Hartjen said that the city envisions programming similar to the current food truck festival on Long Wharf, or other arts events.

Aaron Goode of the New Haven Friends of Farmington Canal Greenway spoke in support of the

DEAN SAKAMOTO ARCHITECTS

Envisioned Canal trail view facing Whitney tunnel.

proposal. He estimated that some 75,000 trips will be taken on the current trail over the course of the year — a number he anticipates will be even higher with the completion of the latest phase.

“The Farmington Canal is not the High Line yet, but it is a regional asset,” Goode said. “It’s a regional destination.”

Yet on the easement agreement itself, Goode was critical. “With respect to the easement, ideally this would have been concluded three years ago,” he said. “Ideally we wouldn’t have to pay $25,000 to a company that has, as far as I can tell, done nothing but obstruct our property since 2013 and endanger the completion of this trail.”

Ward and Hartjen swept back in front of the committee later, stressing the $25,000 is not a payment to the property owner: “We are not getting charged for use of the easement,” Ward said.

After an initial hearing last month that generated questions regarding the placement of bike stations, city transit chief Doug Hausladen returned to committee with a revised contract for a short-term rental bike share program that would make at least 300 bicycles available at 30 stations citywide.

The proposed contract is between the city and outside vendor Smart Mobility.

Changes includes cutting the initial term of contract from 10 years to five. Bike stations would be guaranteed at or near LincolnBassett School, Roberto Clemente

School, Columbus School and Hillhouse High.

The proposal would mandate the roll-out of the program within 15 months of the alders’ approval and signing of contract.

Marchand called the contract “much improved,” but sought finer details on terms of advertising.

Smart Mobility will be allowed to advertise on “big-belly” trash cans and city bus shelters or selling that ad space, Hausladen said. (A 10 percent cut of ad revenue could then go back to expanding the program or otherwise furthering city economic development initiatives, per the proposal.) The city would also be entitled to some of that ad space. Other advertising would require board approval.

“Take the mobility survey!”

Marchand suggested, as to what ads New Haven could put out.

Fair Haven Heights Alder Rose Santana was more concerned with the board’s role in overseeing the program.

“It’s saying in the contract … that ‘the Director of Transportation Traffic and Parking shall certify to the Board of Alders by way of a written memorandum that the contractor is in material compliance.’ I don’t agree with that,” Santana said to Hausladen. “I think it should be a five-year contract and the five-year contract should be brought to us. Not you signing off on it.”

Hausladen stressed that the revisions were supposed to include

16

this change, pointing to language further down in the proposal that would require explicit board approval for contract renewal.

As Smart Mobility managing partner Carlos Pujols sat silently next to Hausladen, alders and Hausladen played out a hypothetical situation in which the vendor breaks the contract and abandons the project. What would happen to the bike stations, bikes, the infrastructure?

“The city would be in a windfall of a couple thousand dollars of personal property,” Hausladen said.

“That would be a detriment to the vendor but a gain for us. … And we’d have a fleet of bikes. It’d be fun. I think I would ride them!”

Only one member of the public spoke on the proposal: Michael Lemuel, a 2012 National Bike Challenge champion now living in New Haven.

Lemuel praised the plan, but picked on an issue Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn raised at the last hearing: that the initial stations will be centralized in a twoto-four-mile radius, leaving out other parts of the city.

“If nobody has the opportunity in an area to show they can use [the bike share program], metrics will always show they aren’t interested in using it,” he said.

After the hearing, the committee voted unanimously to move the item with some streamlining of the proposal’s language to Santana’s suggested standards.

Con’t from page 16

Over Hill

posal that was presented at last month’s meeting and hopes “that their promises come through.”

As she took a break from preparing packages of dry goods to send back to Jamaica, she said that she is fairly certain her unit “isn’t up to code.” The problem is the toilet, she said: every time she uses it, she feels as though she might “fall through” the ceiling to the floor below. She declined to show the Independent the toilet, but said that she thinks the unstable feeling is due to repeated toilet flooding incidents and untreated water damage.

Attorney Sulzbach, who served as the agent for Hill Central Community Cooperative Inc. from the late 1970s through the early to mid 1980s (and is still listed in state records as the agent), questioned how this proposed sale would fit into the vision that launched coops like this one.

The goal was to promote equity ownership for individual units that members could own and sell, not to have the complex cease being owned and run by its residents.

“The way it was managed early on, there was no effort to let members understand what that meant,” he said. He said that members have all but forgotten what makes it a coop that they get a vote, and occupy a unit pursuant to an occupancy agreement, which is not the same thing as a lease.

“They lost track of everything except paying rent,” he added.

“They live there for darn close to free. There weren’t a lot of incentives to do anything other than just enjoy it.”

He pointed to New Haven’s Liberty Square, also in the Hill, and Florence Virtue homes in Dixwell as successful coops in the city, noting that the latter “sort of brought itself back from the dead at the end of the millennium.” In Hill Central, a different scenario is in the cards.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

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It’s Neighbors Vs. Experts On Speeders

by ALLAN APPEL

NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

A simple-sounding question before New Haven’s Traffic Commission is a matter of life and death for neighbors looking to slow down speeders: Should there be an all-way stop at Hobart and Elm Streets?

The neighbors brought that request to Tuesday night’s Traffic Commission meeting at 1 Union Ave. First, city Traffic Operations Engineer Bruce Fischer presented his recommendation: Do not approve the request.

The intersection has too little traffic and too few accidents — one police-reported accident in two and half years to meet the criterion to turn a two-way intersection into an all-way stop there, Fischer reported.

Sixty-seven petition signers disagreed. One of them, Cora Upshaw, who lives on Hubinger near Elm, stood up before the commissioners and spoke passionately about many unreported near misses, and how her daughter’s car was totaled nearby.

The commissioners (they also double as the Police Commission) had to keep in mind what also never got into official reports: the little kids playing ball and biking and the elderly Jews walking to their synagogues on Saturday, all in danger of speeding cars on Elm Street. That’s because, neighbors explained, Elm has only one stop sign, at Brownell, for the full run between Ella Grasso Boulevard and West Park, the result being that cars speed through often at 40 or more miles an hour.

Commissioner Stephen Garcia asked Fischer if he didn’t have a warm place in his traffic-calming heart for the residents along Elm Street.

“I feel strongly it’s the wrong thing to do,” said Fischer.

“We’re bound” by the rules and the scientific findings, added Michael Pinto, the Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking’s deputy director.

“Yes, but we can overrule,” Garcia replied.

In the ensuing back and forth it became clear that Upshaw, Anderson, and the other neighbors who beginning in June last year had formed themselves into the Edge-

18

Neighbors like Cora Upshaw, front, and Lauren Anderson and Ward 24 Alder Evette Hamilton jamming the commission meeting.

wood Neighborhood Community Group to advocate for more traffic safety were not necessarily asking for stop signs.

Stop signs are not in themselves a traffic calming measure, Fischer reminded the commissioners and the neighbors.

“Have you asked for speed bumps?” Fischer said.

Other speakers called attention to the need for an overall plan to address speed and the inconsistency of the stop sign configurations in the area all along Elm Street.

“Let’s find a compromise so we don’t have this meeting when someone has lost their life,” said Upshaw.

“It’s just unsafe without an intervention. It doesn’t show in the data,” said Anderson.

“We get it,” said Commissioner Chair Anthony Dawson.

In the end, the request for the allway stop at the Hobart and Elm intersection was tabled until the next meeting.

Dawson asked Fischer to be able to present by then accident, volume, and other studies on the other intersection in question, at Pendleton and Hubinger, so that the issue can be addressed more comprehensively, not piecemeal.

Assistant Police Chief Tony Reyes said that during the next month he’ll try to give that area “an increased presence.” He asked where the speeding situation was most acute.

“Mornings and evenings,” said Upshaw.

Also at Tuesday night’s meeting, the commissioners unanimously approved a mid-block crosswalk on

Prospect Street between Trumbull Street and Sachem Street.

That’s where Yale University’s new colleges are moving steadily toward completion. The resulting pedestrian traffic there is expected to swell.

The crosswalk which will be paid for by Yale and Dimeo Construction, which are building the new colleges will be located mid-block, 600 feet from the corners. It will traverse Prospect from two sides of a bump-out, which will have narrowed the width of Prospect at that point from 40 to 20 feet, explained Fischer.

It will also be outfitted with a rectangular rapid flash beacon (RRFB), which a pedestrian can activate before he or she crosses, similar to the one recently installed on Olive Street at Greene in Wooster Square after a traffic fatality there.

Also on the table for a vote was a measure to relieve neighbors concerned in Morris Cove that Nathan Hale School teachers are regularly taking up too many spots on Pope Street.

The commissioners voted, at the request of Ward 18 Alder Sal DeCola, to establish a two-hour parking regulation 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday on the north side of Pope Street, which is adjacent to the school, from Townsend Avenue to No. 78 Pope.

While teachers and other school staff have ample room to park in the school’s lot on the south side, and the administration has asked staff not to park on Pope, the situation has not resolved. Thus the vote, which was unanimous.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

Con’t from page 11

Bean Pie

out, needed to be listed in order of metric weight on each box. Then she took a deep breath, and reached out to local distributors.

Stores Sign On Willoughby’s Coffee & Tea was the first to say yes at least for a test run. When its two small coffee shops on York Street and Grove Street were sold out of individual, 3-inch pies within a week, the shop doubled its order. Then she asked herself, “Who [else] would be interested in this unique” type of pie?

Thyme & Season, a Hamden market run by State Rep. John Elliott and his mom, offered to test them out. People started messaging Ibrahim to say they’d tried to get pie and found them out of stock. Edge of The Woods and Shelton’s Common Bond market jumped on next.

Of the two, Edge was of particular significance to Ibrahim she’s been shopping there for the better part of 25 years. When she dropped pies off there last week, an employee asked how quickly he could buy one from her. It turned out that as a kid in New York, his grandmother used to take him down the street to buy bean pies from NOI practitioners. For her, that was bean pie juju coming full circle.

“I love the fact that every time [I sell bean pie], someone tells me about the memories,” she said. “Those kind of things really touch you.

You’re able to bring back that memory of just love and care to people and that’s what food does.”

“No matter what ethnicity or culture that you’re from, there’s some type of food from your childhood that is attached to a memory,” she added. “That is the commonality between us all—that we have these memories that are attached to very tangible things that we taste, things that we smell, things that we touch.

We have these memories that are attached to them. So food is kind of the common denominator.”

She also sees it as a way to bridge cultural gaps, and talk about the cultural and culinary history of foodways and mores in the AfricanAmerican community. “Particularly in this climate, I find ... I enjoy really having that discussion with people about the history of food in the African-American community and where bean pies lie in that history.

And she has a new maxim for her trainees. Life is short. Eat a piece of

Larenz Tate Celebrates 10 Years Of Marriage:

His Real-Life ‘Love Jones

by T. R. Causay, BlackDoctor.org

While actor Larenz Tate is probably best known for his role as the smooth talking, poet-reciting Darius Lovehall from the cult classic film about love, “Love Jones” on screen, off screen, he found his ‘love jones’ 10 years ago in his wife Tomasina Parrott.

The pair have been married for 10 years as of December 2016 and have three children together.

Ten years in Hollywood is at least 20 years in the real world. While Larenz keeps busy with roles on breakout drama series, movies and his new star-studded podcast, “Bronzeville,” he makes sure to keep the love of his life at the forefront of his mind.

So how do they still stay married all of this time?

“We don’t try to keep go by other people’s standards. What works in our household, may not work in the next household. We don’t

try to get involved in everybody else’s business. It’s what we create and what we do that works for us.”

19

Not too many people online can find information or history or any kind of scandal or ANYTHING when it comes to Larenz and his

wife. That, he says, is on purpose.

“We have three boys. And for us, our children are truly our pride and joy. I’m out there. But when it comes to our children, our three boys, it’s okay to have some level of privacy.”

And Larenz doesn’t go hard for for actor Larenz Tate’s wife…

Valentine’s Day seems like every day! The actor recently opened up about his inner romantic side and left ladies swooning after revealing that he is quite the bed chef.

Last week, during the NAACP Image Awards, we caught up with the 39-year-old husband and father and asked him about his romantic side (Is he like the real life Darius Lovehall?) and he answered by saying he cooks for his wife, even when she’s not expecting it.

I’m the guy that, I don’t know if it’s romantic but, I make my wife breakfast in bed when she’s not sick, when she’s not necessarily hungry, and when she’s not expecting it. And that’s beyond Valentine’s Day. That’s every day.

Make Way For Planters THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

by MARKESHIA RICKS NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT

An OK to put planters closer than usually allowed to a curb means shovels could soon be in the ground for the long awaited remake of 11.6 acres of unused land in the Hill.

Developer Randy Salvatore’s RMS-Downtown South-Hill North team made that request for a variance to permit 10 feet of unobstructed space between a curb line and structure, where 15 feet are required to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) as the company prepares to break ground on a three-phase project that aims to transform those 11.6 acres from mostly empty lots into 140 apartments, 7,000 square feet of stores, 120,000 square feet of research space and 50,000 square feet of offices between Congress Avenue and Church Street South. The zoning board approved the request this past week.

It took New Haven officials close to three decades to figure out a workable plan with owners to develop all that property, and then two years working with Salvatore to strike a deal.

A June 1 groundbreaking is slated for the first phase of the project, which has been designed by New Haven-based Kenneth Boroson Architects, and includes the remodel of the old Welch Annex School at 49 Prince St. into as many as 40 apartments and the demolition of the Prince School Annex at 22 Gold St. Salvatore said Friday that he has obtained his equity and bank financing, and hopes in a few weeks to learn the fate of the last piece, proposed state support for making 30 percent of the project’s housing affordable.

City Plan staff opined that RMS had demonstrated a hardship in complying with the code and recommended approval of the requested variance.

PAUL BASS PHOTO

Reyes look on.

RMS COMPANIES

Mayor Toni Harp, Salvatore ink the project deal last October, as LCI chief Serena Neal-Sanjurjo, Hill Alder David

Salvatore’s envisioned project, with planters out front.

The project is being built in a central business/mixed use, or BD-3 District. The variance request would give the developer relief from a yard requirement in that district for “a minimum of 15 feet of unobstructed land from the ground upon which no structures shall be located between the outer face of a building foundation wall at grade of a principal building that fronts on a street and the curb of such street in order to provide for sidewalks, streetlights and landscaped areas between the sidewalk at the curb.”

The variance request would allow the developer to install three, six-foot deep planters as part of the first phase of the project — which will be a four-story, mixed use development of 110 apartments and retail space located on property bound by Washington Avenue, Prince Street, Gold Street and Amistad Street.

Salvatore said in an interview that the planters will enable him to build a four-story building on the property. Right now the property slopes, which complicates the calculations needed to allow for constructing four full

20

stories. The planters will support dirt fill that will level the property, he said. Meanwhile, because the street is narrow, the planters (which zoning law considers structures) would come too close to the curb without the variance.

Attorney Carolyn Kone, who represents RMS, told members of the BZA at their regular monthly meeting this past week in the city’s Hall of Records at 200 Orange St. that the variance would help the developer achieve the minimum depth needed to establish the average grade plane to build a true four-

story building by making use of the planters.

“In order to make this an affordable project, this needs to be a true four-story building,” Kone told board members. “The construction costs go up if you have it above four stories. And this property as you can see slopes down from north to south. So we can’t just make it flat and have a true four-story building.”

The sloping property is part of the rationale for RMS’s request for a variance it creates a hardship, the developer argues.

“The site does not have a constant uniform elevation. The elevation steps down from north to south. In order to accommodate the parking at the lower level and the entrance across from Prince Street, the first flood elevation steps up from north to south…

For the developer to construct a true four story building…planters meeting the minimum depth reqired [sic] to establish the average grade plane will be constructed a long a portion of the southeastern elevation and the southern elevation,” according to an excerpt of RMS’s application provided by the City Plan Department.

City Plan staff noted that the planters would be technically in the “unobstructed area” identified in the zoning ordinance, but because the planters will be “a projection from a structure” the area will no longer qualify as unobstructed.

RMS identified an additional hardship: The narrowness of the site and its being bordered by three streets limit opportunities for improvements and landscaping features including trees, sidewalks and lighting. RMS does plan to provide all of those features to enhance “the streetscapes along Amistad Street and Gold Street, making these streets more walkable and hospitable,” according to its application.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

Film Review: Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary

By Dwight Brown, NNPA Newswire Film Critic “My music is the spiritual expression of what I am…I want to be the force that is truly for good.”

It was a while before the legendary jazz musician and saxophonist John Coltrane got to a place where he could articulate his mantra that clearly.

The legacy Coltrane left behind is a bit more cryptic than that of Miles Davis or Charlie Parker.

More of his devotees are hard-core jazz aficionados than casual music listeners. Chiefly because his last bodies of work and musical style, “Free Jazz,” were so cacophonous, fast paced and not that easy on a regular set of ears that might interpret his art form as screeching noises. Though, hard-core jazz fans knew his genius and appreciated the sounds he made in his later years. To understand how Coltrane got to that musically intense space, you have to see Coltrane and his music evolve, and that’s where this enlightening nonfiction film is very helpful.

Writer/director John Scheinfeld is most known for his investigative documentary “The U.S. vs. John Lennon.” He has experience digging out the facts and creating a body of work that exhibits his findings. Scheinfeld assembles a very impressive roster of family, friends

and fellow musicians whose recollections pull together the chapters of Coltrane’s bio.

Coltrane’s stepdaughter Antonia Andrews recalls a night when her dad walked all the way home from a gig so he wouldn’t spend money on carfare. He wanted to buy her a pair of shoes and every penny counted. This was a sign of his love and caring that she never forgot.

She also recalls the night he left her mom and her. Both moments bring tears to her eyes.

Jimmy Heath, a good friend and fellow saxophonist, remembers the night Dizzie Gillespie caught John and him in a basement doing heroin. Both got kicked out of the band, but John begged for his job back, and got it.

Yasuhiro “Fuji” Fujioka is the #1 collector of Coltrane memorabilia in the world. His love and obsession for the musician started in high school when he heard Coltrane on the radio. It was a revelation. He went on a lifelong quest to collect every record he could find and other mementos. His love for the man grew more when Coltrane toured in Japan and showed a deep compassion for the country, its people and the suffering they endured during and after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Fuji spent a lifetime, as he says, “Chasing Trane.”

With all the interviews—from Coltrane’s children, intellectuals like Cornel West, musicians like

22

Sonny Rollins and Carlos Santana and dignitaries like former President Bill Clinton—you almost don’t notice that there are no live interviews with Coltrane himself; just photos and glimpses of him playing with his band. That’s because he only did print interviews, and those precious words are voiced on screen by Denzel Washington. In a strong, illuminating manner, Washington’s voice and deliberate cadence take you within Coltrane’s soul and thought process.

Scheinfeld uses cutouts, collages and montages to liven up the screen. The reminiscing by the interviewees is provocative and vivid. Photographs from the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s make you feel like you are leafing through someone’s family album. What’s on view looks like a fine PBS documentary or educational film. It misses the mark as a major theatrical jazz documentary like “I Called Him Morgan.” But, within its own specific genre, this film is illuminating.

Born in North Carolina in 1926, John Coltrane was lucky to be part of a tight loving family with strong father figures. He was unlucky at age 12, when he lost his father, uncle and two grandfathers in the space of just two years. Needing an income, his mother moved him to Philadelphia, where she could find work. She made enough money to afford music lessons for her son

who had learned to master the saxophone. Coltrane’s talent blossomed and seemed to reach another level when he met and was influenced by the double-timing, rapid-fire playing of Charlie Parker (1945). It was a style that he would incorporate into his own.

Subsequent gigs with Dizzie Gillespie’s band (1949-51) and Miles Davis’ band (1955-57) brought Coltrane further along his own road. That progress was hindered by an addiction to heroin, which he managed to kick on his own.

As Carlos Santana said, “Thank god. He allowed him to get past the gates of hell.” Freeing himself from that vice set him on a spiritual journey that meshed with his music. Meeting pianist Alice McCloud at the club Birdland in the early ‘60s was another milestone.

They married and started a new family.

Under the influence of this stability, in 1964, upstairs at his splitlevel home in Dix Hills, Long Island, Coltrane would create his opus jazz record, a four-part suite called “A Love Supreme,” which was released in 1965. It was a blend of forceful hymn-like melodies that were a triumph of music and spirituality and displayed a tenor saxophone dexterity. This is a Zen moment in jazz. This is the album that raised Coltrane to a status on the level of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. He bent music to his will, shaped it like a sculpture, relayed it like a scripture and shared it with the world.

As the documentary winds down and a deadly disease takes Coltrane away from his fans and the world at age 40, what remains is his music and his desire to only spread good throughout the world. The loving thoughts, by all the interviewees, sustain his spirit. As does listening to his catalog of music during the film’s 99-minute length.

Indeed, Coltrane’s music was the spiritual expression of who he was.

This film confirms it.

Dwight Brown is a film critic and travel writer. As a film critic, he regularly attends international film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto and the American Black Film Festival. Read more movie reviews by Dwight Brown here and at DwightBrownInk.com.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

save

the date

yale university african american studies department

the henry louis gates, jr. annual lecture

photo credit: chris crisman c’03

dorothy e. roberts

george a. weiss university professor of law and sociology and the raymond pace and sadie tanner mossell alexander professor of civil rights at the university of pennsylvania law school

“killing the black body: a twenty year retrospective” thursday, april 27, 2017, 5pm auditorium, whitney humanities center 53 wall street, new haven, connecticut free and open to the public • contact: lisa.monroe@yale.edu

afamstudies.yale.edu

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

Footsteps of Peace Returns to The Klein on Friday, April 28

The Klein announces the return of Footsteps of Peace, a highly acclaimed concert featuring musician Joel A. Martin along with other renowned artists in an evening of jazz, rap, classical and gospel music. This extraordinary event will take place on Friday, April 28th at 8 p.m. Among the artists scheduled to perform are: Eugene Friesen, cellist; Jolie Rocke Brown, gospel jazz singer; Sharon Clark, jazz singer.

Also, just announced, is the addition of singer songwriter Rick Reyes of Bridgeport, a local favorite, will perform his diverse musical narrative from around the globe. Mixing a cinematic vibe with a superlative flair for blending various musical traditions, from classic American rock to salsa, merengue, latin jazz and reggae, he breaks the confines of any single tradition.

Other special guest artists are Roshay and AJ, an 18-year-old Puerto Rican rap duo from Holyoke, MA, who will present a positive “Stop The Violence” message.

Corporate sponsors are People’s United Bank and PSEG, while media sponsors are Hearst Media, WEBE/WICC and WSHU. Footsteps of Peace is a national initiative for peace in our communities and promotes the eradication of racism celebrated in performances of original music, signing, art, and the spoken word. The twohour concert will both enlighten, entertain and inspire the voices of change, peace, mutual concern, respect and trust.

Each year Footsteps of Peace pays tribute to a world humanitarian and this April we will honor Thurgood Marshall, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Civil Rights Activist. Justice Marshall was the first African-American Justice of the Supreme Court and was instrumental in ending legal segregation.

In honor of Justice Marshall, Jose Nadeau, a live visual artist, will paint a portrait of Thurgood Marshall on stage during the concert. In addition, This show’s purpose is to bring the community together. In addition to the concert, The Klein is conduct-

ing an essay contest throughout the Bridgeport Public Schools.

Students are encouraged to submit a one-page essay stating what freedom means to them and how we can achieve this as a country and society. Each participating student will receive two free tickets to the concert and judges will award two winners from each category (Middle School and High School) with a $100 scholarship.

Also, City Lights Gallery, through Suzanne Kachmar, is contributing four reconciliation trees that will be placed in The Klein’s main and mezzanine lobbies. Patrons will be invited to write their thoughts about peace and reconciliation on specially designed “leaves’ and place them on the trees. Bridgeport artist Iyaba Ibo Mandingo created the trees.

Footsteps of Peace has become an annual concert event that The Klein is proud to co-present with the multi-talented musician Joel Martin,” said Laurence A. Caso, Executive Director of The Klein.

“The roster of talent he assembles is outstanding and the potential to bring the community together for such an inspiring experience is truly rewarding.”

Joel A. Martin brings his versatility in orchestrating, directing, and performing to Footsteps of Peace.

His focus is to bring the message of peace and love through music to people everywhere.

Martin, a pianist, composer and producer, is the creator & trade-

mark owner of Jazzical®, a marriage of classical and jazz. He has performed his innovative Jazzical compositions around the world, in Paris, London, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Russia

& Kyrgyzstan. He has toured with and written music for Grammy Award Winners Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Jaimoe (co-founder, Allman Bros.

Band), and the Cab Calloway Orchestra. As a classical pianist, Martin has performed with the NY Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, El Paso Symphony, Hartford Symphony, and Springfield Symphony Orchestra.

He recently released his 7th Jazzical® CD honoring multiple Oscar/ Grammy/Tony Awardwinning Disney and Broadway composer, Alan Mencken, (Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors, etc.) with a live concert at Birdland in NYC. Tickets to the event cost $15 $50 and can be purchased at The Klein box office at 910 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport from 10 am to 4 pm weekdays as well as online (www.theklein.org) and by phone (800) 424-0160 extension 2. Group discounts are available through the Connecticut AARP website.

How To Help Students In Need LEAP Into Prom Season

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

LEAPers JC Leana and Leandrea Mitchell at 2016 prom.

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New Haven has come through again for LEAP’s annual Prom Drive. Over the last month we have collected dozens of donated dresses and suits for young people who need something to wear for prom.

We know that prom is a wonderful rite of passage for teenagers.

We also know that not every teen can afford to pay for a prom dress or suit (or shoes or accessories— we have those too).

Now we need to ask one more favor. If you know a young person who would benefit from a free suit or prom dress, please have them contact us to schedule a confidential “fitting” where they can look at the clothes and pick something that fits and that they like.

Teens can call LEAP and ask to speak with Yakeita or Shyrelle at (203) 773-0770 to set an appointment. Or they can email sspears@leapforkids.org.

Students can contact LEAP now during regular business hours and schedule a time from April 17th to 21st. Thanks New Haven!

Spring Skincare Revamp: THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

by Team BlackDoctor.org

With the transition to Spring and warmer weather, now is the best time to take a look at your beauty routine with fresh eyes and revamp for the new season.

Beauty expert, dermatologist and Vaseline ambassador Dr. Brooke Jackson shares her key tips to help you minimize clutter, better utilize the products you love, and even try something new.

1. Turn down the heat & Turn up the humidity: In the winter, we tend to shower with excessively hot water, so now that spring upon us, dial down that steamy heat to a comfortable warm (not hot) temperature and keep it to 10 minutes or less.

Long hot showers feel great for the moment, however they will dry out your skin and will ultimately make it itchy, which can exacerbate other skin conditions like eczema. If you shower at night, sleeping with a small humidifier in your bedroom can also help replenish moisture in the air, ultimately benefitting your skin.

2. Tune up your shower tools: Moist, wet Loofahs and bath sponges can harbor bacteria on the surface and in all those small holes. Over repeated use will introduce this to your skin potentially causing infection (folliculitis) to your skin so make sure to clean and dry them or replace them every month.

3. Treat that bumpy winter skin: People with naturally curly hair tend to have bumpier skin because of the shape of the hair follicle. This is particularly noticeable on the backs of arms and legs. Gentle weekly exfoliation with a salt or sugar scrub can help to smooth skin.

4. Lighten up your moisturizer: Spring and summer bring increased humidity in the environment (nature’s moisturizer) and heavier beauty products

Expert Tips For Radiant Skin Turn down the heat & Turn up the humidity: may be too occlusive. Change from a moisturizer that you scoop from a jar to a lighter version such as Vaseline Intensive Care Cocoa Radiant lotion, specially formulated with 100% pure cocoa butter and microdroplets of Vaseline Jelly to help heal dry skin while revealing its natural glow.

5. Spring Clean: toss & declutter: Just as you spring clean your closets, kitchen and pantries, it is important to do the same for your beauty cabinet.

Once the seal is broken on the product and it is opened, the product becomes exposed to bacteria, air and light which can cause break down over time making the product less effective. Even those that remain sealed can break down due to storage conditions (heat, humidity, light) some of which occurred prior to your purchase.

Many beauty products are not regulated by the FDA and are therefore not required to have an expiration date.

Dr. Brooke Jackson is a board

certified dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon. After completing two fellowships, Laser Surgery at Harvard and a second in Mohs, she founded the Mohs Surgery Unit at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She then moved to Chicago, where she founded the Skin Wellness Center of Chicago and held a clinical faculty position in the Department of Dermatology at Northwestern University. In 2013, Dr. Jackson relocated to the Triangle area. She was an Associate Professor of Dermatology at UNC, Chapel Hill, until opening her private practice Skin Wellness Dermatology Associates, PA. Dr. Jackson’s practice philosophy focuses on patient education and skin wellness. She is a frequent and sought after guest and resource for national and local media on dermatology concerns. An avid runner and budding triathlete, Dr. Jackson has completed 10 marathons (26.2 miles). She is married with three very active children.

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Get Healthy Walk ‘N Talk Take a walk with local doctors.

Each Saturday in April, May and June 9 am - 10:30 am

Join us on Saturday mornings on the Farmington Canal Greenway Trail:

Farmington Canal Greenway Trail, corner of Shelton Ave. and Starr St., New Haven

- Discuss different health topics each week

Walk will begin at entrance on Starr St. and walk north towards Hamden, returning back along the same route (approx. 2 miles). Parking is available at New Freedom Missionary Baptist Church, 280 Starr St., New Haven.

- Walk for 1 hour with local healthcare professionals - Improve your health

Interested in walking?

All ages and fitness levels are welcome!

Register at ynhh.org/events or by calling 888-700-6543.

Please arrive by 8:45 am on each walk day.

Attend as many walks as you can!

To find out more about Get Healthy CT, visit gethealthyct.org.

For more information, contact Andy Orefice at 203-688-5671 or andrew.orefice@ynhh.org.

11481 (02/17)

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport

Laborers/Pipe Layers

Currently seeking laborers/pipe layers; 5 years min. exp., OSHA 10 preferred. Please forward resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 10 Northwood Dr., Bloomfield, CT 06002; Fax 860.218.2433; visit RED for an application or Email resumes to info@redtechllc.com.

RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Benefits Risk Manager: The Town of East Haven is seeking qualified applicants

to fill the position of Benefits Risk Manager. Candidates must possess a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration, Business Administration, Management, Accounting or closely related field along with 5 years of progressively responsible, professional experience in municipal administration and/or benefits, risk management and loss control or any combination of education and qualifying experience substituting on a year for year basis. Starting salary effective 7-1-2017 is $ 68,696/year and the Town offers an excellent benefits package. Interested candidates should forward a resume with references to Frank Gentilesco, Assistant Director of Administration and Management, 250 Main Street, East Haven, CT 06512 by May 1, 2017. The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.

Police Officer Town of Greenwich

Do You Want A Job That Makes A Difference? Become A Town of Greenwich Police

Officer. To view detailed information and apply online visit www.greenwichct.org/jobs

Candidates must fulfill several basic requirements including:

Be a U.S. Citizen

Be at least 20 years of age Possess 45 college credits, or 2 years of active military service or equivalent

Current Salary: $64,552

The Town of Greenwich is dedicated to Diversity & Equal Opportunity Employment; Town of Greenwich, HR Dept., 101 Field Point Rd, Greenwich, CT 06830 Close Date 4:00 PM 5/19/17.

The GUILFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY

is currently accepting applications for COUPLES ONLY for its one bedroom apartments At Guilford Court and Boston Terrace in Guilford CT. Applicants must be age 62 and over or on 100% social security or Federal Disability and over the age of 18. Applications may be obtained by calling the application line at 203-453-6262, ext. 107. An information packet will also be provided with the application. Applications will be accepted until June 30th , 2017. Credit, Police and Landlord checks are procured by the authority. Smoke Free Housing.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY HOUSING

Mechanical Insulator

Insulation Company offering good pay and benefits.

Please forward resume to P.O. Box 475, North Haven, CT 06473 This company is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

The Housing Authority of the City of Norwalk, CT

is seeking bids for Janitorial Services. Bidding documents can be viewed and printed at www.norwalkha.org under the business tab, RFPs/RFQs. Norwalk Housing Authority is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Curtis O. Law, Executive Director

ELECTRICIANS

Semac Electric is seeking Electricians (CT Licensed Journeymen & Foremen, E1 and E2) to join our team for medium & large commercial construction projects thru out the State of CT: Hartford, Fairfield & New Haven Counties. We have excellent wages and benefits. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applications available at our main office at 45 Peter Court, New Britain, CT or send resume to

Invitation for Bid (IFB) Trumbull Gardens – Building 10 & 11 Roof Replacement Solicitation Number: 075-PD-17-S The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is requesting sealed bids for the replacement of roofs at Trumbull Gardens building 10 & 11. A complete set of the plans and technical specifications will be available on February 15, 2017. To obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line.

A pre-bid conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on March 1, 2017 @ 2:00 p.m.

Although attendance is not mandatory, submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than March 10, 2017 @ 2:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www. parkcitycommunities.org. All bids must be received by mailed or hand delivered by March 21, 2017 @ 2:00 PM, to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Contract Specialist, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604, at which time and place all bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. No bids will be accepted after the designated time.

CONTRACTOR OPPORTUNITY - BRIDGEPORT

Construction Resources, Inc., an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, seeks certified MBE/WBE/SBE Subcontractors and/or suppliers and local business enterprises to bid applicable sections of work/equipment/supplies for the following construction project: Project known as South End Commons - Demolition of existing properties and new construction of eight (8) residential two-family dwellings and site improvements located on Columbia Street and Johnson Street in Bridgeport, CT. Bid Date and Time: Tuesday, February 21, 2017 by 12:00 noon. Electronic Plans and specifications can be obtained at no charge by contacting Mark Rubins at Construction Resources Farmington office at (860) 678-0663 or by email to mark@corebuilds.com.

Electrical Apprentice Maintenance Electrician - The Town of Wallingford Public Utilities, Electric Division is seeking an individual to perform maintenance and installation of electrical equipment such as but not limited to maintaining and repairing high and low voltage equipment. Position requires completion of high school, technical high school or trade school plus two (2) years’ experience in electrical maintenance or construction OR an equivalent combination of education and qualifying experience substituting on a year-for-year basis.

Must possess and maintain a valid State of Connecticut motor vehicle operator’s license. Wages: $24.63– $32.77 hourly and an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply to: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Fax #: (203) 294-2084. The closing date will be the date the 75th application or resume is received or January 30, 2017 whichever occurs first. EOE.

Common Ground High School Seeks Curriculum Development Consultant Common Ground High School is seeking an experienced, creative professional who can work with teachers, school leaders, students, families, and community partners to strengthen our curriculum and classroom teaching — ensuring it is driven by standards, rooted in our local community and unique site, culturally relevant and inclusive, contributing to social justice, and pushing students towards both environmental leadership and college success. For a complete job description and compensation information, please visit http:// commongroundct.org/2017/01/common-ground-seeks-curriculum-development-consultant

Facilities Manager – Portland, CT:

Responsible for leadership, management & maintenance of plant infrastructure and all related/associated equipment.

5 plus years supervisory experience. Email: Info@redtechllc.com, Fax: 860-218-2433, RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Class A Driver Class A CDL Driver with 3 years min. exp. HAZMAT Endorsed. (Tractor/Triaxle/Roll-off) Some overnights may be required. FAX resumes to RED Technologies, at 860.342-1042; Email: HR@redtechllc.com Mail or in person: 173 Pickering Street, Portland, CT 06480.

RED Technologies, LLC is An EOE.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

Help Wanted:

Immediate opening for construction laborer for Heavy and Highway Construction. Please call PJF Construction Corp.@ 860-888-9998. We are an equal opportunity employer M/F Help Wanted: Immediate opening for Dump Truck Driver for Heavy and Highway Construction. CDL A license and clean driving record required.

Please call PJF Construction Corp. @ 860-888-9998. We are an equal opportunity employer M/F.

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport Request for Proposal (RFP) for Security Guard Services

Building Official Assistant Building Official: Seeking an experienced professional to perform administrative and technical work involving the inspection of building construction and plans for conformance with state building code. The minimum qualifications are the State of Connecticut license for the position of Assistant Building Official and a valid State of Connecticut driver’s license. $65,200-$83,423 plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply to: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Closing date will be April 24, 2017 or the date the 50th application is received, whichever occurs first. EOE.

Solicitation Number: 077-SEC-17-S

ELECTRIC UTILITY ELECTRICIAN

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is currently requesting proposals from qualified security firms to provide security guard services at various public housing complexes throughout the city of Bridgeport.

Solicitation package will be available on April 3, 2017. To obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line. A pre-proposal conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on April 12, 2017, @ 10:00 a.m. Although attendance is not mandatory, submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than April 21, 2017 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities. org. Proposals shall be mailed or hand delivered by May 2, 2016 @ 3:00 PM, to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Contract Specialist, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604. Late proposals will not be accepted.

Electric utility is seeking a highly skilled maintenance electrician with extensive substation experience to maintain and repair transmission and distribution class switchgear, buswork, lightning arrestors, protective relays, insulators, switches power transformers, data circuits, controls and other related components. Must be a high school/trade school graduate and have 4 years’ experience in the maintenance and operation of electric utility substations and/or utility grade protection and control systems. Completion of a recognized four (4) year maintenance electrician apprenticeship program may substitute for the experience requirement. Two (2) years of college-level education or advanced training in related field may substitute for two (2) years of the experience requirement. Must possess a valid motor vehicle operator’s license issued by the State of Connecticut and be able to obtain with 6 months of hire a valid Protective Switching and Tagging Procedure certification from CONVEX or other approved agency. Wage rate: $35.43 to $39.08 hourly plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Closing date will be April 28, 2017. Apply: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. (203) 294-2080 / Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE

VNA Community Healthcare is searching for Certified Home Health Aides (HHA). Must have 6 months – one year of experience as a HHA. Several opportunities for full and part-time flexible schedules. Submit resume and cover letter to jobs@vna-commh.org. Visit our website www.connecticuthomecare.org for other opportunities. EOE/M/F

Town of Bloomfield

Assistant Tax Collector

$29.81 hourly Pre-employment drug testing. AA/EOE For details and how to apply go to www.bloomfieldct.org

American Industries is hiring CDL drivers for our fleet of 2017 Mack Granite Tri- Axle Dump trucks for the up coming paving season.Applicants must have a clean driving record and be able to pass a pre-employment drug and alcohol screening.

Experienced in tri-axle dump truck is helpful, but willing to train the right candidates. .

Applications are available at

The City of Norwalk Housing Authority

is seeking qualifications from photographers, videographers, journalists and graphic production professionals to create documentary materials related to a major urban redevelopment project. The Washington Village / South Norwalk Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) is a $150 million-dollar housing and neighborhood revitalization strategy being implemented with federal, state, municipal and private investments. The transformative nature of this collaboration provides a unique and extraordinary opportunity to tell a story and share the lessons learned over a 4 to 5-year period. It is also an opportunity to engage local residents including children in documenting this transformation. This Request for Qualifications is directed to firms, collaborations, partnerships or individuals with the pre-requisite skills to produce professional quality video productions, photo journals, graphic illustrations and journalistic copy to document this historical transformation. A complete copy of the Request for Qualifications can be viewed and printed at www.norwalkha.org under the Business tab, RFPs/RFQs or the project website: www.norwalkcni.org Norwalk Housing Authority is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Curtis O. Law, Executive Director

Stockperson

American Industries Inc.

Performs a variety of stockroom/warehouse duties in the storage of material and equipment for an electric utility. Requires a H.S. diploma or equivalent and 1 year of employment in a stockroom, warehouse, office, maintenance or construction environment. Must have a valid State of CT driver’s license. Pay rate: $21.65 to $26.42 hourly plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. The closing date will be that date the 75th application form/resume is received, or April 19, 2017, whichever occurs first. EOE

KMK Insulation Inc.

Engineering Intern (temp.) – Town of Manchester

630 Plainfield Rd Jewett City, CT 06351 Job Type: Full-time Preferred experience: • Tri-axle Dump truck w/ paving: 1 year Required license or certification: • Current CDL License and Medical Card Class A Driver

1907 Hartford Turnpike North Haven, CT 06473

Mechanical Insulator

Insulation Company offering good pay and benefits.

Please forward resume via REGULAR MAIL only.

This company is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

Class A CDL Driver

with 3 years min. exp. HAZMAT Endorsed. (Tractor/Triaxle/Roll-off) Some overnights may be required. FAX resumes to RED Technologies, at 860.342-1042; Email: HR@redtechllc.com Mail or in person: 173 Pickering Street, Portland, CT 06480.

RED Technologies, LLC is An EOE.

$15/hr - 30 hrs/wk CLOSING DATE: April 24, 2017 Call HR Recruitment Line at (860) 647-3170 for info or view website: www.townofmanchester.org.

Engineering Intern (temp.) – Town of Manchester

$15/hr - 30 hrs/wk CLOSING DATE: April 24, 2017 Call HR Recruitment Line at (860) 647-3170 for info or view website: www.townofmanchester.org.

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Construction oriented company seeking full-time Accounting/Administrative Assistant to answer phones, schedule sales appts, filing, typing & other general office duties. Will also have accounting responsibilities-data entry, sales order billing, and processing A/P transactions, supporting our overthe-counter sales person, the controller & CFO. Min 5 yrs. Related experience, excellent written & verbal skills, ability to multitask, knowledge of basic accounting principles, excellent computer skills (5+ yrs. Experience) with Excel & Word, accounting software knowledge a plus. $31,200 annual salary-negotiable based on experience & qualifications. AA/EOE Email resume to mmunzner@atlasoutdoor.com

VNA Community Healthcare is searching for Certified Home Health Aides (HHA). Must have 6 months – one year of experience as a HHA. Several opportunities for full and part-time flexible schedules. Submit resume and cover letter to jobs@ vna-commh.org. Visit our website www.connecticuthomecare.org for other opportunities. EOE/M/F

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE TRUMBULL HOUSING AUTHORITY – STERN VILLAGE

The Glendower Group, Inc

Accepting Applications for NON-SMOKERS ONLY

Starting April 3, 2017 at 9 AM & Ending on April 30, 2017 at 4 PM Applications postmarked before April 3 or after April 30 will not be accepted.

Invitation for Bids Code Compliance Consultant

Eligible applicant households must have a head, co-head, or spouse age 62 or older, or eligible disabled, at least 18 years old to qualify. Applicants who meet the criteria which are: national credit & criminal background checks, landlord verification and interviews will be selected randomly for a place on the waiting list by a lottery system.

The Glendower Group, Inc an affiliate of Housing Authority City of New Haven d/b/a Elm city Communities is currently seeking BIDS for Code Compliance Consultant.

A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 3:00 PM, EST.

OPENINGS ARE FOR NON-SMOKERS ONLY!

Income Cannot Exceed:

$46,000/YEAR FOR 1 PERSON $52,600/YEAR FOR 2 PEOPLE

For one person the base rent is $400.

For two people the base rent is $450.

The Glendower Group, Inc

Tenant cannot pay lower than the base rent.

Tenant pays for utilities (except water) and cable TV. Rent calculation is based on 30% of adjusted monthly income.

Invitation for Bids Landscaping Services

Applications can be downloaded at www.sternvillage.com, or can be obtained at The THA Office, located in the Stern Village Community Room, at 200 Hedgehog Circle, Trumbull, CT between 9 am and 4 pm weekdays.

The Glendower Group, Inc an affiliate of Housing Authority City of New Haven d/b/a Elm city Communities is currently seeking BIDS for Landscaping Services .

A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 3:00 PM, EST.

-Apply by mail or drop off your completed application to the THA. -For an application to be mailed back, address an envelope to the THA and include a prestamped, self-addressed envelope.

Phone, fax, email or voice-mail applications will NOT be accepted.

Only one application per family; one family submitting more than one application will be disqualified.

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport

The Trumbull Housing Authority does not discriminate in admission or access to its housing programs on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, age, mental retardation, mental or learning or physical disability, handicapped condition, and hearing impairment, lawful source of income, familial status, and sexual orientation.

Both State & Federal Law contain specific exceptions for certain protected classes.

For additional information, please call the Main Office: 203-261-5740 x1 for Heather LeMoult, Office Assistant TRUMBULL HOUSING AUTHORITY 200 HEDGEHOG CIRCLE

The City of Norwalk Housing Authority of Norwalk, CT

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is currently seeking bids from qualified elevator companies to provide elevator preventive maintenance and repair authority-wide. There is a mix of elevator types and locations. Solicitation package will be available on April 17, 2017. To obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line. A pre-bid conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on May 2, 2017, @ 10:00 a.m. Although attendance is not mandatory, submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than May 5, 2017 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities.org. Seal bids will be received until May 18, 2016 @ 2:00 PM, at which time the bids will be publicly opened and read aloud.

is seeking bids for (1) F250 pickup truck and (1)Transit Connect Van. Bidding documents can be viewed and printed atwww.norwalkha.org under the Business tab, RFPs/RFQs. Norwalk Housing Authority is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Curtis O. Law, Executive Director

Town of Bloomfield

Assistant Director of Public Works Salary $74,337 - $114,743 For details and how to apply, go to www.bloomfieldct.org Pre-employment drug testing required AA/EOE

THE COVENTRY HOUSING AUTHORITY

Pre-applications for waiting list at Orchard Hill Estates I & II Housing Complex will be accepted until June 30, 2017. To qualify, you must be at least 62 years old or disabled by Social Security. Current income limits are determined by the Office of Housing and Urban Development. Interested parties may pick up an application online at coventryct.org, or at 1630 Main St., Coventry, CT 06238 or have one mailed by calling 860-742-5518.

Invitation for Bid (IFB) Elevator Preventive Maintenance and Repairs Solicitation Number: 079-AM-17-S

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport Invitation for Bid (IFB) C.F. Greene Apartments Unit Renovation Solicitation Number: 078-PD-17-S

The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is requesting sealed bids for the unit renovations at C.F. Greene Apartments. A complete set of the plans and technical specifications will be available on April 17, 2017. To obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line. A pre-bid conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on April 27 2017 @ 10:00 a.m. Although attendance is not mandatory, submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only tobids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than May 4, 2017 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities.org. All bids must be received by mailed or hand delivered by May 16, 2017 @ 2:00 PM, to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Contract Specialist, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604, at which time and place all bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. No bids will be accepted after the designated time.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

Jacob Latimore The “Sleight” Interview With Kam Williams Jacob’s Banter!

Jacob Latimore has been hailed

by Variety, Indiewire and The Wrap as a young breakout star. Having emerged as one of the most promising talents of his generation, his upcoming films are from Academy Award-winning directors and writers where he stars alongside actors of that same caliber.

Jacob was most recently seen among the ensemble of celebrated thespians in the holiday season film Collateral Beauty, directed by Oscar-winner David Frankel. The picture follows the story of a oncesuccessful businessman played by Will Smith, who has slipped into severe depression following a personal tragedy. His friends, played

by Edward Norton, Kate Winslet and Michael Pena, show concern when he begins writing letters to various objects on themes like time, love, and death which then show up as people played by Latimore, Keira Knightley and Helen Mirren.

Jacob just completed production on a yet-to be named crime drama with another Oscar-winning director, Kathryn Bigelow, and her Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal. That movie chronicles a police raid in Detroit in 1967 which resulted in one of the largest citizen uprisings in United States’ history. Also upcoming is the film Krystal, where Jacob joins William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Kathy Bates and Rosario Dawson in a romantic dramedy directed by Macy.

Earlier in his career, Jacob was featured in a couple of 2014’s biggest box office hits, playing Ramon in Ride Along opposite Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and John Leguizamo, and in the sci-fi thriller The Maze Runner. The year before, he starred as Langston in Black Nativity, working with alongside Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Tyrese Gibson, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige and Nas. And prior to that, he made his feature film debut in a lead role in the post-apocalyptic thriller, Vanishing on 7th Street.

Besides acting, triple threat Jacob is a dancer and established

R&B singer. After a number of hit singles, his debut album, Connection, was released last December.

A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jacob currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Here, he talks about his latest movie, Sleight, where he stars as a street magician who starts dealing drugs to support himself and his sister after the death of their single-mom.

consistent, just like doing homework everyday. It’s practicing your craft to make yourself better.

An important part of that is family support, which I’ve always had.

KW: Harriet Pakula-Teweles asks: With so many classic films being redone, is there a remake you’d like to star in?

JL: Miles Morales’ Spider-Man movie. I’d love to do that.

Kam Williams: Hi Jacob, thanks for the interview.

Jacob Latimore: Thanks for having me!

KW: The music maven Heather Covington question: What was the last song you listened to?

JL: Migos’ “T-Shirt.”

KW: What interested you in Sleight?

JL: Sleight is the kind of film you dream about. Sleight balanced the genres of science fiction, romance, family and reality in one story. I was completely drawn into the character and the complex issues he faces. It’s not often you get a script that allows you to stretch your own ability as an actor and I saw the ability to do that with this film.

KW: How would you describe the film in 25 words or less?

JL: It’s a genre-bending superhero origin story. Although it focuses on a street magician, Sleight ultimately is a story about the lengths a person will go to protect his family.

KW: How would you describe your character, Bo? JL: Bo is a guy who is passionate about magic and in his own way strives to do something with his magic that has never been done before. He’s determined. Due to his parents deaths, he needed to grow up faster than he anticipated because he has to raise his younger sister. And what he learns as a grown-up affects everything he does.

KW: This was your first lead role.

Did you feel a little extra pressure on the set knowing you were playing the protagonist.

JL: Not at all. Because I had to perform at a young age onstage and in the film Black Nativity among others, I have never been nervous about the roles I’ve taken,

KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?

JL: I know how to cook several things. I’m great with breakfast, like some really good eggs with a little garlic seasoning and salt and pepper on lightly-toasted bread.

on or off the set. I’ve always been confident in my ability and I hope I bring that confidence to the set and to the characters I portray.

KW: What message do you think people will take away from the movie?

JL: That’s a hard question. I’m not sure. I can tell you that I hope they will take away the importance of family and your individual role in the family unit. And I hope it inspires people to pursue their dreams in spite of adversity.

KW: You’re a triple threat: actor, singer, dancer. Which is your favorite?

JL: Had you asked me that question a year and a half ago, I would have said music. However, after working with Will Smith and Kathryn Bigelow and absorbing all that great experience from peo-

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ple who have done this for years, it’s more of a balance. I love performing and, whether it’s music, acting or dancing, I’m happy. I feel at home.

KW: You recently released your first album, “Connection.” How would you describe yourself, musically?

JL: Musically, R&B music has sort of always been the foundation of who I am as an artist, due to the influence of my dad and my uncles.

At the core, that’s who I am, and I definitely wanted my first album to reflect it.

KW: You’re just 20 years-old.

What’s been the secret to your success at such an early age?

JL: At the end of the day, it really comes down to your passion and what you are willing to do to pursue your dreams. You have to be

KW: The Morris Chestnut question: Was there any particular moment in your childhood that inspired you to become the person you are today?

JL: When I was younger, music was an inspiration from Michael Jackson to my family. Although I did love to watch great television like the Cosby Show and actors like Denzel and Will Smith, I always loved great films, and I think that overall inspiration prepped me for what I do today.

KW: Sherry Gillam would like to know what is the most important life lesson you’ve learned so far?

JL: Be kind to EVERYONE! KW: If you could have one wish instantly granted, what would that be for?

JL: Very easy. World peace.

KW: Larry Greenberg asks: Do you have a favorite movie monster?

JL: Michael Myers [Halloween franchise] KW: Thanks again for the time, Jacob, and best of luck with the film.

JL: Thank you so much, Kam. I really appreciate your taking the time to talk with me.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 26, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS April 19, 2017 - April 25, 2017

The Stylistics • Heatwave • The Emotions Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes • Peaches & Herb and Carl Carlton MAY 12 • 8PM • GRAND THEATER

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