City Engineer Zinn: Changes are modest. Barbara Lamb points to outdoor seating area in latest plans for Green. Joe Fekieta had a request for City Engineer Giovanni Zinn as he looked at the latest rendering of changes to come to the city’s central greenspace: Don’t make so many of them. “We want to bring vibrancy” to the New Haven Green, Zinn said. The goal is to have people visiting the Green as a destination, rather than treating it as a place to walk through. Maybe the Green could even be a place where people might take their lunch. “They already do that,” Fekieta retorted. Fekieta was one of around 30 people in attendance at a Monday night event at the Ives Main Library billed as a “passport to the New Haven Green,” organized by local urban theorist and Urban Design League President Anstress Farwell. Farwell invited city officials and various stakeholders — including church leaders, preservationists, and homeless activists — to set up tables so that attendees could talk with each of them about the Green and its future changes. Attendees carried “passports” with them and received a sticker for each table they visited. The Elicker administration first announced potential changes to the Green in December 2024. Those changes include the implementation of raised intersections around the Green, the conversion of Temple Street into a woonerf (a pedestrian-friendly, low-speed street) and relocation of buses to Elm and Church streets, and the addition of a café with public bathrooms and increased seating. Early renderings included a children’s playground, an ice skating rink, and an interactive fountain. Due to community input, those ideas have since been scrapped. Many of the stakeholders present on Monday had different ideas of what an improved Green might look like. Fekieta stood alongside Barbara Lamb, the city’s former director of cultural affairs, as they discussed the city’s latest vision for the Green with Zinn. The rendering, first launched in July, is the most recent to date. According to Zinn, the city plans to complete the design process by the end of the year before beginning construction. The current design includes little changes to the upper Green, besides a potential repaved path, according to Zinn. In the lower Green, the potential design includes an expanded circle around the fountain, a small café with public bathrooms as well as tables and chairs outside, and new benches. There will also be a few more trees being planted. “These changes don’t look modest to me,” Fekieta said, disagreeing with Zinn’s characterization of the more pared-down design. “I’m not diametrically opposed to this,” Lamb said. It’s just a “major diversion from what we’ve had.” “We used to graze animals on the Green,” Zinn pointed out. The greenspace has changed a lot over time. “Who’s gonna maintain that?” Fekieta asked about the new seating and tables. “How much is it gonna cost?” He likened the changes to the Green to the Elicker administration’s plan to transform English Station into a park and outdoor pool — something he considers to be “ridiculous.” “What’s part of the problem is the visual,” Lamb said. “It looks so permanent.” She suggested that chairs be portable and the city bring them out as needed. Lamb said that during her time in the city’s cultural affairs department, she realized that people would be more incentivized to visit the Green for events after work if they didn’t have to bring tables or chairs with them. “Why is it important to bring people to the Green after work?” Fekieta asked. City Chief Administrative Officer Justin McCarthy noted the benefit of increased positive use for the public space. “We want to give people an opportunity not to take it for granted,” Zinn said. Bo Lone Eagle: Public bathrooms and water fountains are essential, and so is good programming. CAO McCarthy stamps Joy Ford’s passport with a sticker. Channing Harris, a retired landscape architect, was at Monday night’s event on behalf of the New Haven Preservation Trust. Harris, who came prepared with print-outs of early depictions of the Green, said that the organization is “more accommodating of non-permanent changes.” They advocate for the value of the Green’s “character-defining features.” “We recommended doing less,” Harris said of the changes to the Green. Bo Lone Eagle spends a lot of his time on the Green. As an unhoused person, Lone Eagle was there on Monday with the Unhoused Activists Community Team, known as U-ACT. “Public bathrooms, public water fountains,” he said when asked what he wants to see on the Green. Lone Eagle said that while some businesses nearby will let the homeless use their bathrooms, “the majority want you to buy something.” He had some questions about the café proposed for the Green. “Who’s gonna own the café? Who’s gonna manage it?” Would it be taking business away from other spots downtown? Lone Eagle said he would also like to see a Green with more programming — like plays, or a carnival for kids. “So much can be done,” he said. New Ward 1 Alder Elias Theodore, whose Yale/downtown ward includes the upper half of the Green, was also in attendance. “I’m so proud and I feel lucky to have the Green in my ward,” he said. Theodore said he appreciated the diversity of perspectives in the room and said that he himself dreams of a safe Green where people picnic, there is comfortable seating, and there are events every week. He also said that he supports the city’s plan to put public bathrooms on the Green. Ashley Cleere, senior minister of Center Church on the Green, described the church as the “longest standing resident of the Green as we know it today.” Cleere said that she didn’t want to comment on evolving plans, but that she advocates for a “light touch.” “There’s opportunity for plenty more conversation,” she said about the Green’s future. “I didn’t expect to like them,” said local artist Rebekah Fraser about the city’s design plans, “but I think I do.” Although Fraser doesn’t ride the bus, she did have concerns about the transformation of Temple Street into a woonerf and relocation of the bus hub to Elm and Church streets creating hardship for bus riders. Zinn, also noting the city’s and the state’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plan, said that the relocation and BRT would make the buses faster, more reliable, and make it so that riders don’t have to go from one side of the Green to another in order to catch their bus. It would also increase parking on Chapel and allow for improved parking for Temple Street’s churchgoers, even as it would decrease parking on Elm. Fraser loved the idea of raised intersections, which she believed would make surrounding streets safer for people with mobility difficulties, like wheelchair users. As for the plan for the Green itself, Fraser was a fan of the plan for outdoor seating and eating, and said that she was glad a playground was no longer in the plan. As for the public bathrooms, she said, “Everyone needs bathrooms.” Trash-to-fashion maker Rebekah Fraser, with keyboard earrings: Surprised that she likes the city’s plans, but also thinking about bus ridership. McCarthy and Anstress Farwell. The post Green Teams Stamp “Passports,” Talk Makeover appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less