With the ongoing pandemic, what do municipalities need to do to stay afloat? This hour, we look at neighborhoods and towns in Connecticut working to keep their residents connected and businesses thriving during this pandemic. We hear from residents in Westville, a small thriving community in New Haven.
Monday | January 11, 2021
January 6, 2021, by Kathy Leonard Czepiel- Tucked into little bird's nest pastries and featured in authentic Damascan-style ice cream, pistachios are a key ingredient at the new Pistachio Café in Westville. This "nut of choice" for Syrians, owner Mohamad Hafez says, symbolizes Syria's legendary hospitality.
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Wednesday | December 9, 2020
December 6, 2020, by David Sepulveda- "A slow-moving parade of cars made its way down West Rock Avenue as gleeful shouts of “We Love you Margi!” were punctuated with handmade placards, balloons and sounds of celebration. This was no ordinary procession. And “Margi” was no ordinary person. The parade unfolded four weeks ago on a picturesque fall Sunday morning before the front-porch reviewing stand of Dr.
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Wednesday | October 28, 2020
October 23, 2020, by Rabhya Mehrotra- Four years ago in Westville, there were 11 empty storefronts. This year, there’s only one. Westville Village Renaissance Alliance Executive Director Lizzy Donius proudly recited that statistic about-well, Westville Village’s current renaissance, during a Thursday afternoon press conference celebrating the opening of two new restaurants and the re-opening of a third. Local politicians, chefs, and neighbors all joined in for the Westville foodie bash in support of Camacho Garage, Delaney’s Restaurant & Tap Room, and Pistachio.
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Tuesday | October 20, 2020
August 21, 2020, by Lucy gellman- "It is also a tribute to his love for sweets and coffee, the latter of which he has been making and drinking since he was 12 or 13. As a kid, Hafez was delighted by the very sight of baklava, eyes fixed on trays and cases of the nut-packed sweet as soon as he was tall enough to reach the counter. He also started drinking coffee young, as part of the rituals his family practiced around Ramadan. His mother was a big believer that strong coffee, with dates, apricots, and nuts, should be served after fasting.
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October 16, 2020, By Lucy Gellman- "A group of six dancers practiced their best bachata sidestep in Edgewood Park. Just up the street, diners sat down with matching mojitos, scanning a menu that included tacos, fragrant ceviche, and butter-smooth guacamole studded with red onion. Half a block away, Mohamanad Hafez poured his dozenth cup of coffee for the day and set a vegan baklava gingerly beside it. That’s the scene in Westville, which has become an unexpected story of economic resiliency in the midst of COVID-19.
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September 24, 2020, by Thomas Breen- "Nearly everyone at the tables around me was well-coiffed, wore stylish, wrinkle-free clothing, and stood up periodically to take pictures of the crowd and close ups of their food. “Are all these people influencers?” someone at a nearby table asked her dining partner. I think by virtue of the fact that I spilled a fair amount of chipotle ketchup on my notepad, I am not an influencer. But I was hungry.
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Thursday | March 19, 2020
March 18, 2020 by Thomas Breen- "Ocean Management plans to build 129 new apartments and over 7,000 square feet of new commercial space at the site of the long-shuttered 500 Blake Street Cafe in Westville. Local attorney Jim Segaloff revealed those plans in a site plan, inland wetlands plan, and special permit application that he recently submitted to the City Plan Commission on behalf of his clients 500 Blake Development LLC and 881 Whalley LLC. Both holding companies are owned by Shmuel Aizenberg, the founder of the large-scale local landlord and property management company Ocean
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Thursday | February 13, 2020
The lines are so close together and so meticulously drawn that they buzz by proximity to one another. The effect is disorienting, like an optical illusion, a trick, a puzzle. It gets that much more intense when you see that New Haven-based artist Daniel Eugene’s drawings can be interpreted as a maze — a series of patterns that invite you to take a closer look, and slowly but surely, have your vision rearranged just a little. “Seduced By The Minotaur” — Eugene’s latest art show, running at Da Silva Gallery until Feb. 29, with an opening reception on Feb. 15 at 5 p.m.
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Friday | October 4, 2019
October 3, 2019 by Thomas Breen- "A local developer plans to knock down a blighted Westville commercial building and build in its stead 200-plus luxury apartments, now that he and his partner have purchased the property for $3.1 million. That was one of two multi-million-dollar transactions among the latest property transfers recorded with the city. The other was on Norton Street. According to city land records, on Sept. 26, 50 Fitch LLC, a holding company owned by local developers Mendel Paris and Sim Levenharz, purchased the two commercial buildings at 50 Fitch St.
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