Good morning. New Haven alders have approved the creation of an agency to help purchase blighted houses, rehabilitate, and sell them below-market prices to owner-occupants.
Although the city’s Livable City Initiative already works to redevelop dilapidated houses, the land bank can help ensure a more efficient buying and selling process. The agency will start off with $5 million, an executive director, and two project managers.
Here’s a bite-sized look at what we’re hearing:
A bus full of students from Farmingdale High School crashed in Orange County, New York, on their way to their annual band camp in Pennsylvania on Thursday. An unidentified person was killed, but school officials say all students are safe and accounted for. They were traveling on an upstate highway when the bus veered off the road and traveled down a steep slope. Students who were on five additional buses were also safe. They were meet with grief counselors before returning to school.
Nassau County was selected to host the 2024 Cricket World Cup, the first international cricket tournament held in the U.S. The event is planned for Eisenhower Park in June. It will require the construction of a temporary stadium that can hold 34,000 people. Officials assure Nassau residents that the construction won’t force any of the park facilities to shut down.
Most towns allow some type of accessory apartments to help ease Connecticut’s housing shortage. According to Desegregate Connecticut, that’s despite two-thirds of towns opting out of the 2021 state law that aimed to improve process regulations around these units. Towns that opt-in are eligible for state funding for planning and design, and housing construction. Desegregate Connecticut said it will continue to advocate for more zoning and density in more places.
A pregnant Southampton Village Justice Court clerk sued. Leith McLoughlin filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2020 for alleged discrimination during her pregnancy from a retired village justice, Barabar Wilson. The federal request to mediate the charge has been denied. The lawsuit does not hold a dollar amount but seeks multiple damages.
Mystic residents call for change due to the “climate catastrophe.” A few dozen residents testified at a public hearing that they want the state to expand bus and rail service. A Department of Transportation study into the proposed expansion of Shore Line East commuter rail found that there would need to be several improvements to meet short and long-term transportation needs.
A cornerstone of Peconic, N.Y. is now a registered landmark. A family-owned Dutch colonial, known as High House — built in 1812 with a custom art studio, a remnant of the Peconic Art Colony — was voted by the Southold Town Board to be registered as a historical landmark. Owner Wendy Prellwitz told the Suffolk Times that she hopes to have her family home become a gathering place for artists to uphold another cornerstone of her family’s legacy.
