Mayor, officials hit streets to address quality-of-life issues

NEW HAVEN — Officials walked the streets near Goffe Street Park Friday morning, traveling along the cracked sidewalks and amid flowering trees in search of potential code violations and quality-of-life issues.

Mayor Justin Elicker said such walks, held regularly in recent years, allow multiple departments to come together to address concerns and issues on the ground with speed.

For him, it’s also fun, he said — a chance to interact with people directly and talk with them about the challenges they face living in the city.

“It’s a very good way to directly address issues and quickly fix problems,” said Elicker. “(It allows us to) meaningfully impact a few blocks.”

On Friday, Elicker, joined by joined by Mark Stroud, a housing code inspector with the Livable City Initiative; Cynthia Rivera, a public space inspector with the Transportation, Traffic & Parking department; and a few reporters, walked down County Street, turning onto Whalley Avenue, along Hudson Street, then onto Sherman Avenue.

Along the way, the party took notice of lopsided decks, broken stairways, strewn trash and other such concerns.

On County Street, the party met Pepe Haba, a homeowner and substitute teacher in West Haven, speaking with him about the bars on his windows.

Haba said afterward that he enjoys living in the neighborhood — Whalley Avenue and Goffe Street could be noisy, he said, but the area settles down in the evening.

“During the night, it’s very quiet over here,” said Haba.

On Whalley, they ducked into BIM Service & Body Work. Amid the bustle of the auto repair shop, as Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” played, they spoke with staffers, getting them to move a few vehicles that were parked on the sidewalk.

On Hudson, Rivera spotted a concrete barrel, chained to the ground, tipped on its side. She made a note to contact the nearby property owner; as a public space inspector, she said, she patrols half the city, looking for issues that span the area from “sidewalk to street.”

Farther up the street, Stroud saw a vehicle parked in a yard, windshield filmed over with a layer of grime. It likely no longer runs, he said, noting the state of the vehicle and the way its tires were sunken into the earth.

Stroud said he had worked for LCI since 2006. As the party moved through the area, he chatted lightly with residents, greeting folks as they moved past. It takes some time to develop one’s ability for noticing code issues and the like, he said.

“You have to have the eye for it,” said Stroud. “Every day’s a learning experience.”