East Rock | Fair Haven | Public art | Arts & Culture | Mill River District | Arts & Anti-racism
Lucy Gellman Photos.
An urban oasis with a public playground. A night market strung with twinkling white lights. A clean public bathroom that is monitored and maintained.
A stage for public performances that can double as a skate park. A native plant nursery to attract pollinators, who are struggling to survive in the diesel-choked city.
Those were just some of the ideas for the Mill River Underpass Project, the latest initiative tackling the untended overgrowth, stretches of damp earth, and loose soil beneath I-91 between State Street and Ralph Walker Hockey Rink. For years, Mill River Trail boosters have sought to build a park and trail extension in the area, in hopes of connecting East Rock and Fair Haven.
Last week, close to two dozen high school students added their voices to the mix, in a meeting of a new Youth Design Team from East Rock/Fair Haven Alder Caroline Smith and several neighborhood advocates. In just two hours, the group dreamed of projects that could transform the space, from an outdoor music venue to a native plant nursery and pollinator garden.
To give the students a sense of the area, the meeting took place at the rink, both inside a conference room and behind the building, on what one day will be the trail.
Team members include students from New Haven, Hamden, East Haven and Madison, as well as Plush Skate Shop Owner Ben Berkowitz, architect and Olympic skateboarder Alexis Sablone, Grand Avenue Special Services District Director Erick Gonzalez, Mill River Trail booster and MakeHaven Founder J.R. Logan, Elm City COMPASS Advisory Board member Ana Paola Juarez, and photographer Charlie Nixon. Metropolitan Business Academy teacher Izzy Geller also attended.
“I want as many ideas as possible!“ Smith said close to the beginning of the night. “Let’s put a spaceship there.”
The underpass project joins years of work that have gone into the Mill River Trail. Over a decade ago, a group of public space advocates began mapping out a plan to connect East Rock and Criscuolo Parks, in a move to knit together two neighborhoods disrupted by urban renewal. In the years since, it has taken many forms: an "urban oasis" just off Grand Avenue; a glowing "brilliant underpass" close to District; a series of public art projects and community meetings meant to add vibrancy to the area.
Walking from the rink to the area beneath I-91 last Thursday, students buzzed with ideas, wide-eyed as they took in the expanse of green, wide Mill River and surprisingly highway above. As they made their way through the grass, pebbles crunched underfoot. To their left, three people fished quietly on a bridge that is barely visible from State Street.
Top: Madison Mcgregor and Karriema Peters with Caroline Smith.
As they side-stepped puddles and soft ground, Achievement First Amistad High School juniors Karriema Peters and Madison McGregor envisioned an urban farm, with produce specifically reserved for those struggling with food insecurity. McGregor added that she would love to see more trees—she's a fan of Willows and Cherry Blossoms especially—to combat the effects of climate change and pollution as the city continues to get hotter.
"You could plant them here and watch them grow over the years," McGregor said. "That would be a nice thing for the community to have."
Nearby, high school junior Jack Grindley could already see the beginnings of a skate park. As a student at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School, he spends a lot of time skating in "The Lab," the name skaters have given to the basement level of a Temple Street parking garage. Downtown is fine, he said—but he'd love to see the addition of a new space meant for skaters, without the threat of cars or traffic. While Westville, Downtown and the edge of Dixwell all have designated spaces, East Rock and Fair Haven do not.
Julia Bolanos, Rania Das and Angel Seguinot.
Back inside a too-small conference room, Smith and Sablone divided attendees into breakout groups, handing out pads of post-it notes to continue the conversation. In one, five students from across the district began to toss ideas back and forth, moving outdoors when the room proved too noisy. Rania Das, a sophomore at the Hopkins School, suggested a large-scale work of public art much like Felice Varini's 2010 Square with four circles in downtown New Haven.
"I feel like every park has something different going on," she said. She explained that this could be the park's signature feature, setting it apart.
A beat, and ideas began to flow freely. Salvatore Nuzzo, a junior at Wilbur Cross High School, noted that any project would require significant trail clean-up before it could take place. Julia Bolanos, a sophomore at New Haven Academy, said she’d be interested in a pollinator garden, like the one she and students have been working on at their school. Angel Seguinot, also a junior at Cross, asked whether a children's park with a rock climbing wall might be a fun idea.
Top: Jessie Ramirez stuck around to skate after the meeting. Bottom: Jack Grindley.
"Or like, a dog park," said Jessie Ramirez, a junior at New Haven Academy who also skates regularly in Edgewood Park, and would love to see something closer to his school.
"Maybe a pop-up shop, if people want to have snacks," Nuzzo chimed in. "We have to clear it out first."
Seguinot paused, thinking. "More greenery," he said after a moment. "Is it illegal to have, like, fruit trees?" (It is not; 48 now stand in Edgewood Park, thanks to a similar dream from the late Semi Semi-Dikoko).
Back inside, those ideas multiplied as students read from their post-it notes. On top of trees and an urban farm, Peters suggested a campground with safe-to-use communal fire pits. Raychel Juarez, a junior at the Sound School, echoed the call for public art and folded in a picnic area, where young people and families could gather when the weather permitted.
McGregor added that with the right lighting and vibe, it could be a night market with local vendors. Other students thought up chess boards, ping-pong tables, and a little free library.
Top: Alexis Sablone and Naima Abbott, a senior at Cross who said she wants to get back into skatboarding. Bottom: Melissa Bernal-Garcia.
Sablone, whose architectural work rethinks public space, nodded as they listened. When just 20 minutes were left, they stood to take in the room.
"Did you guys like the space?" they asked. "Were you surprised there? You're like, under a highway, but it's very quiet."
"Is it a space you could imagine yourselves hanging out if it wasn't so—" they trailed off for a second. " ... Muddy and full of puddles?" A smattering of laughter erupted from the corners of the room.
"To me it felt magical because all of the light [sunlight] floated off the grass," Peters said.
"I feel like it provided a sense of comfort," added Melissa Bernal-Garcia, a student at Daniel Hand High School in Madison. As students spoke, Smith made sure that each idea made it onto an initial list that will become part of the team's next meeting.
Charlie Nixon: "Once you put something into place, it's gonna blossom."
"This is just getting a sense of the themes," she said. Both she and Berkowitz later stressed the importance of talking to youth, who may be more likely to use public space but less likely to show up to or comment at public meetings.
"Typically, the voices in the room are not kids," Berkowitz said. "Our public spaces end up reflecting who shows up in the room."
Before the night was over, Nixon, who remembers playing on I-91 as the highway went up, also addressed the group. Growing up in New Haven, I-91 "was literally my playground," Nixon said.
In the winter, he and his siblings would sled on the construction zone. Decades later, he became a neighborhood steward for the 2014 Under 91 Project, which sought to bridge East Rock and Jocelyn Square with a sprawling underpass mural.
"This area has a special place in my life," he said. "To see that you guys are interested in revitalizing it is amazing."
"Once you put something into place," he added, "It's gonna blossom."