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Native Plants from Seed: On-Site Workshops

Hamden Public Library

Growing native plants from seed makes it easy to provide important habitat for pollinators while adding color and variety to your garden and landscape.

In January, Hamden Public Library will be offering on-site workshops at all three library locations where we will demonstrate an easy and effective way to propagate many types of native plants, most of which come from seeds that need a period of cold “stratification” in order to germinate. During the workshop you will learn about the importance of native plants to our region, and can start a pollinator haven of your own by sowing seeds in a do-it-yourself mini-greenhouse.

Please register below for one of the workshops. Because attendance is limited, please sign up for only one session. Most materials are provided, including seeds, but please bring a clear gallon milk jug if you have one.

Hamden Public Library’s seed library offers a variety of native and other seeds on request during the winter months. Seeds suitable for winter sowing will be available for pick-up at the library branches in January and February. A list of available seeds (including several CT Ecotypes) and how to request them will be available in early January.

From February through June, we will put out a selection of garden seeds for you to browse and use. Do plan early, as we may well run out of seeds before June’s end. This year the bins were empty before mid-June. We ask that you limit your selections to five types of seed, and only take what you need (plus a little bit more).

We want to thank Diane Dynia, an intern through UConn’s Master Gardener program, who produced an informative brochure of pleasing design to give the seed library more reach in the community. Look at the Seed Library page here: hamdenlibrary.org/seed-library/

Info: [email protected], 203-287-2680.

Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s Anti-War Legacy

by Henry Lowendorf, Greater New Haven Peace Council

In January we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King with a national holiday focused on King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. Why that speech? In the five remaining years of his life, King began to understand more deeply the forces governing the direction of our country. Perhaps his later speeches are not celebrated because they counter what we are told daily by officials and the press. King grew to realize that not only did the Black and Brown communities deserve civil rights, but they had to be released from extreme poverty.

King’s lens expanded beyond civil rights and inequality. By 1967 he also recognized that the U.S. war on Vietnam was disastrous for the country. Young Black men were pushing against the nonviolent resistance to segregation and discrimination that King led. He told “the desperate, rejected, and angry young men… that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems… that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked, and rightly so, ‘What about Vietnam?’ [W]asn’t [the U.S.] using massive doses of violence to solve its problems…?”

Humbled, a wiser King responded on April 4, 1967 at New York’s Riverside Church. In his speech, “Beyond Vietnam,” he analyzed and eloquently specified the “three evils” of inequality, poverty and militarism. To bring about a humane society these three evils had to be jointly defeated.

“Beyond Vietnam” is even more trenchant today than 55 years ago. The President and Congress, including the full CT delegation, just promoted a record 2023 war budget of $858 billion, more than half of federal discretionary spending. This is greater than the military spending of the next 10 countries combined, most of whom are U.S. allies.

This budget produces violence not only overseas but in the schools, supermarkets, and streets of our country. It starves spending on human needs like transportation, housing, education, clean air and water among others. Meanwhile our government finds tens of billions to prolong the insufferable war in Ukraine. The only thing this budget defends is the massive profits of death merchants: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, etc.

In “Beyond Vietnam” Martin Luther King enunciated one of his most memorable sentences: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” For spiritual uplift, you are invited to join in reading Martin Luther King’s “Beyond Vietnam” at New Haven City Hall, 2nd Floor, 165 Church Street, Friday, Jan. 13, noon. Contact the Greater New Haven Peace Council: [email protected].

Journey in Place: An Expanding Oasis of Our Progressive Community

by Ben Ross, PAR subscriber

I got to watch the creation of this show in our home in Hamden among all the celestial, social and physical events leading up to the Solstice. Stories, colors and forms have kept me going, truly the fruit of the creative process. To share it with us you need to travel to The Buttonwood Tree, 605 Main St. in Middletown, CT.

Journey in Place: an exhibition of recent works by Shula Weinstein has its opening reception on Saturday, Jan. 7 from 4-6 p.m. The exhibit ends Saturday, Jan. 28 with a gala closing 4-6 p.m. with the artist, followed by music at 7 p.m. with Shula Weinstein, Ben Ross, Craig Edwards and Joe Flood. See buttonwood.networkforgood.com/events/50609-admission-to-shula-weinstein-joe-flood-ben-ross-craig-edwards.

Cooped up for who knows for how long… too long? This is an invitation to a down-home relaxed musical sharing. We gave this song circle format a run at Volume Two – Never Ending Books a few months back and had so much fun… join us. Saturday, Jan. 28, 7 p.m. A modest donation of $15 is suggested.

In addition to the receptions, Journey in Place can be viewed from Jan. 4-28. Check with The Buttonwood Tree for more info. Phone 860-347-4957, or web https://www.buttonwood.org.

Thanks!

Anti-Fascism Yesterday and Today

by Frank Panzarella, New Haven activist

On Nov. 28, 2022, about 90 people, mostly on Zoom, participated in a program at SCSU that addressed the part of World War II history largely ignored. The event was sponsored by Promoting Enduring Peace, The Women’s and Gender Studies Program at SCSU and Jewish Voice for Peace. Speaking from London, authors Merilyn Moos and Steve Cushion spoke of anti-Nazi Germans and other partisan resistance rarely given credit in mainstream accounts of the war. These experiences are documented in their book Anti-Nazi Germans, about the hidden history of working-class resistance to Nazism. Many were young people who courageously fought the rise of fascism and were communists, socialists, anarchists (survivors of the destruction of the Spanish Republic), social democrats and Jewish activists.

The two-hour program explored the complex relations of political parties and conditions that led to the rise of Nazism. This included divisions that pitted social democrats against communists at a time when unity against Nazism was critical.

The book contains many individual stories of people brutally murdered who dared spread literature, post flyers, organize factory resistance (even within concentration camps), sabotage war industries, and engage in street battles against Nazi thugs. Another part of the book details resist-ance to collaboration governments, including thousands of prisoners of war forced to work in German factories in France, Germans who left Germany and joined the Under-ground and veterans of the Spanish Civil War who fled into southern France, as well as Jewish partisans who fled Germany continuing to fight in France.

The discussion included how to recognize the dangerous signs of extreme nationalism today. Many countries grappling with economic chaos, climate change, mass migrations and multiple wars are collapsing back to extreme ideologies that blame immigrants and rival nations. Participants mentioned Orbán in Hungary, Le Pen in France, the AFD (Alternative for Germany), Meloni in Italy and Donald Trump. Democrats and Republicans continue supporting authoritarian regimes and their floundering global capitalist empire. Discussion included Russia’s new imperial dreams under the fascist Putin regime, his invasion of Ukraine and China’s global capitalist ambitions.

Copies of this book are available for $15. Please call 203-562-2798.

New Ordinance Updates Language in New Haven Laws Concerning People with Disabilities

by Maggie Grether, Yale Daily News, Dec. 9, 2022

When Gretchen Knauff moved to New Haven and became the city’s Director of Disability Services last year, she began to examine the city’s laws concerning people with disabilities. She quickly noticed that many of these laws featured outdated terminology. Now, thanks to an ordinance submitted to the Board of Alders by Knauff, that language will be updated. The ordinance calls on the city to use “person-first language,” which emphasizes an individual’s personhood before their disability, according to Knauff. For instance, under person-first language, “handicapped person” changes to “person with a disability.”

“Language is important. How we talk about people is important; the way we portray them is important,” Knauff said. “I see this as something that’s truly basic that needs to be done to show that individuals are valued members of the New Haven community.”

Knauff submitted the ordinance to the Board of Alders July 5, and the Board passed it on Sept.19. Mayor Justin Elicker signed the ordinance into law Nov. 3. The ordinance only updates terminology and does not affect the intent of any laws.

“Updating and modernizing the terminology used in our ordinances to be more respectful and honoring of people with disabilities was the right thing to do and, frankly, long overdue,” Elicker stated in a press release.

For Carmen Correa-Rios, executive director of the CT Center for Disability Rights, the change brings New Haven law up-to-date with the language many disability rights advocates have been using for decades.

Correa-Rios said that seeing a change in the legal terminology was personally meaningful to her, both as a disability rights advocate and as a person with a disability.

Read the article in its entirety at https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2022/12/09/new-ordinance-
updates-language-in-new-haven-laws-concerning-people-with-disabilities

New Haven Homeless People, Advocates Push for More Resources

by Mark Zaretsky, New Haven Register, Dec. 17, 2022

If there’s one thing Tyrell Jackson and his neighbors, who live in a “tent city” along the West River off Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, could use this winter, it’s some sort of power source such as a generator.

If they had one, they could run heaters, charge their phones or even get an electric stove or hot pot to cook with or a refrigerator to keep food from spoiling.

“There are not enough resources,” said Jackson, 28, who grew up in West Haven and is a member of U-ACT, which stands for the Unhoused Activists Community Team.

“The biggest thing that I’ve been pushing for is some source of power,” he said before the start of a press conference that the Greater New Haven Regional Alliance to End Homelessness held at the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen’s Drop-in & Resource Center at 266 State St. Jackson called that “the main thing I need.”

U-ACT member Arthur Taylor would like to see some proper toilets on the New Haven Green, for one thing, “not like these out-houses they have down here,” said Taylor, 70, a city native and James Hillhouse High School graduate who currently is on a waiting list for senior housing.

The purpose of the press conference, led by DESK Executive Director Steve Werlin and attended by Mayor Justin Elicker, State Reps. Robyn Porter and Patricia Dillon, both D-New Haven, and representatives of most of the organizations that provide homelessness services in the city, was to highlight the need for more resources — and a consistent source of funding.

Werlin asked for the $5 million the state set aside for emergency homeless services this winter to be made permanent, so providers don’t have to “cobble together” funds every year to keep people alive, warm and safe. “The solution to homelessness is housing — deeply affordable housing,” Werlin said.
But while all providers and their allies in city and state government and the private sector work toward that, “we cannot forget about the immediate” needs, he said. “Home-lessness is dangerous all during the year,” but its challenges become particularly acute in winter, he said.

Read more at www.nhregister.com/news/article/New-Haven-homeless-advocates-push-for-resources-17659171.php

First Official Tenants Union Recognized

by Noel Sims, New Haven Independent, Dec 7, 2022

A group of Blake Street renters delivered a 31-name petition to City Hall — and officially became New Haven’s first legally recognized tenants union. Tenants of the 311 Blake St. apartment complex took that legal-recognition step on Nov. 23.

City Fair Rent Commission Executive Director Wildaliz Bermudez confirmed that 31 tenants from the 311 Blake St. complex signed on to the petition that was delivered late last month to her office.

Because only 45 of that 70-unit complex’s apartments are currently occupied, Bermudez said, the petition clears the local legal threshold that a tenants union include signatures from — to quote directly from New Haven law — ​“a majority of the tenants listed as lessees within the housing accommodation.”

“As more tenants become involved in tenants’ unions, it can provide us with a better picture regarding the housing stock that is available,” Bermudez said in an email comment sent to the Independent on Tuesday, ​“and for discussions to occur regarding better ways to maintain properties and have a good well-maintained housing stock when items are needed to be addressed.”

The Blake St. Tenants Union is now the first officially, legally recognized tenants union in the city. ….
311 Blake St. renter Jessica Stamp is one of the lead organizers of the newly recognized Blake St. Tenants Union.

“I want to stay,” she told the Independent in a recent interview about her current apartment. Her rent is affordable, which allows her to save money, and she enjoys her ​“fabulous closet space.”

She said that she and her neighbors organized a tenants union partly because of a lack of response from her landlord, an affiliate of the mega landlord Ocean Management, when Stamp and other tenants have complained of rodents, disruptive construction, and other safety issues. ….

Stamp said she is excited that the union will help her neighbors that have been anxious about rent hikes, safety issues, and possible evictions. ​“This will give them relief,” she said. Having filed the petition, tenants are now protected from rent hikes and evictions for at least six months under
state law.

Now that their union is legally recognized, Stamp hopes this will ​“empower people to speak up.” Before, she felt that tenants withheld their complaints out of a fear of retaliation by 311 Blake’s landlord.

Read more at www.newhavenindependent.org/article/blake_st_tenant_union

NHCM Celebrates Hiring of City Climate Director, Steve Winter

by Chris Schweitzer, New Haven Climate Movement

In 2019, New Haven Climate Movement youth led the effort to pass the New Haven Climate Emergency Resolution. Soon after its passage, then Mayor-elect Elicker committed to create a climate office to work on cutting climate pollution and fossil fuel use. On Dec. 9, 2022, Alder Steve Winter was hired to become Climate and Sustainability Director.

Steve has supported climate organizing efforts, including helping pass NHCM’s Electrification Resolution in 2020, and supported the Board of Education Climate Emergency Resolution in 2022. The City has set aside $2 million in Federal funding for projects that cut greenhouse gas emissions and pollution in neighborhoods (for example, energy efficiency programs).

NHCM is now working hard to implement projects identified in the BoE Resolution in 2023, and will be advocating for much greater investment in cutting fossil fuel climate pollution.

For more information about NHCM’s work or to get involved go to newhavenclimatemovement.org.

2022 Amistad Awards: 103rd Anniversary Rally, Saturday, Dec. 10, 4 p.m.

CT People’s World Committee Rise Up!

Time to be the Leaders of Today! Seize the Moment and the Future is Ours!

This year’s People’s World Amistad Awards will be held Saturday, December 10, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. at the historic Dixwell Q House, 197 Dixwell Avenue in New Haven, with a keepsake greeting book. The 2022 Awards are dedicated to Art Perlo, whose legacy and vision live on and inspire us. We are excited to announce this year’s awardees. Together they represent the kind of unity, solidarity and vision needed to build the movement that can transform our country to put people, peace and planet before profits:

Mustafa Salahuddin, President, Amalgamated Transit Union 1336 in Bridgeport and board member of CT Roundtable on Climate and Jobs and the CT AFL CIO.

Salwa Mogaddedi, courageous leader of Starbucks Workers United, who has led in organizing her co-workers in Vernon into the union throughout her cancer treatment.

Leslie Blatteau, President New Haven Federation of Teachers 933 (AFT CT) focused on anti-racist curricula, social justice activist, and past president NARAL Pro-Choice CT.

Special recognition will be presented to Brian Steinberg for his lifetime of commitment and organizing for equality, real democracy and peace as an outstanding leader of the Communist Party in Hartford, in Connecticut and nationally. The recognition is presented on the occasion of the 103rd anniversary of the Communist Party USA.

Featured performer will be Jay Hoggard, world-renowned jazz vibraphonist and composer blending jazz and gospel with African marimba rhythms.

The event will stand “IN SOLIDARITY” with the organizing drive of Local 33 Unite Here at Yale, and other organizing drives underway in Connecticut.

Tickets: $10 and $25 Solidarity. For scholarship ticket information or to purchase tickets, e-mail [email protected] com or phone 203-624-8664.

In Solidarity, People’s Weekly World

#FreeAlaa, Free All Egypt’s Political Prisoners

 by Stanley Heller, Middle East Crisis Committee

The Middle East Crisis Committee held a rally in front of the Federal building at 450 Main St. in Hartford on Nov. 7 to call for President Biden to press Egypt’s ruler Abdul Fattah El-Sisi to free Egyptian political prisoners, in particular well-known activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah. Biden was going to Egypt to attend the COP27 climate conference.

Alaa Abd El-Fattah has been in prison for years for peaceful protests that demanded basic democratic rights. He has been on a partial hunger strike for months and has started a total hunger strike. Egypt has tens of thousands of people in El-Sisi’s prisons for the “crime” of standing up for human rights. The Human Rights Watch estimate is 60,000 political prisoners.

Photo: Stanley Heller Stanley Heller, Executive Director of MECC said, “Alaa ate his last bit of food Nov. 4 and stopped drinking water Nov. 6. We must do all we can to free this man. We’re directing our message to President Biden and Congress since Biden will be in Egypt for the COP27 climate conference and because the U.S. gives the Egyptian dictatorship about $1.5 billion in aid each year. Certainly the U.S. has means of leverage.”

To see the bright yellow banner we’ve created for this event go to: https://thestrugglevideo.org/the-struggle

The Middle East Crisis Committee was founded in 1982 in New Haven and has interest in working for human rights, especially in Middle Eastern and North African countries.  For more info: Visit TheStruggleVideo.org.

[Alaa ended his hunger strike and remains in prison. His family was allowed to see him on Nov. 17, and said his health has visibly deteriorated.]

50% Fossil Free in 2023

 

by Chris Schweitzer, New Haven Climate Movement

In recognition of the current climate emergency, the New Haven Climate Movement is calling on individuals, organizations, and governments in the greater New Haven area to substantially reduce their fossil fuel emissions in 2023. As national governments fail to act with urgency, cities around the world have begun to step up as crucial agents of change. It is time for New Haven to do its part.

If you are an individual, please join us by signing our 2023 Pledge at newhavenclimatemovement.org to work for a 50% reduction in individual and collective emissions in 2023. In signing our pledge, you are joining a community of local residents committed to both advocacy and individual change. Together, we can transform our city and become leaders in the movement for environmental justice.

For more information, email Chris at [email protected].

Community, Ownership, and the Road to Energy Justice  

by Lucy Marinelli, Neighborhood Housing Services

On Sept. 22, 2022, Kathy Fay, Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of New Haven’s Director of Community Sustainability, had the honor of presenting to the Yale School of Environment’s “Green Building: Issues and Perspectives” class.  

Kathy took students down the road to energy justice by beginning with the discussion of redlining. This racially discriminatory act denied Black people mortgage loans and various financial services required to purchase a home. Although redlining was banned 50+ years ago, the systemic impact of redlining is still very evident, even in New Haven. A historically redlined area today manifests as a community with people of color living in financial instability as renters, not homeowners.  

Kathy stated, “Being able to keep property in the family becomes difficult when you’re struggling with energy bills and leaky, old buildings.” This is a common plight in formerly redlined communities and creates a snowball effect: people are living in an area where past generations did not have the ability to finance mortgages. This means that when houses were not passed down to future generations, poverty is still rampant today, thus, generational wealth was never achieved. 

NHS works to make change a reality by transforming these old houses into safe, energy-efficient, affordable homes. The work is done by I Heart My Home CT, an NHS program. Clients get counseled in ways to have home-energy conversations with landlords, how to identify trusted services (for example, barrier remediation programs to remove mold or asbestos), and the advantages of getting home energy audits.  

Kathy hopes to see the intersection of energy efficiency and equity be more prevalent. One way to accomplish this is through a mandated landlord energy-efficiency requirement. She left the students with a call to action: “Reach out to your local representatives.”  

The CT General Assembly proposed Governor’s Bill No. 5041, An Act Concerning Home Energy Affordability for Home Renters. The bill essentially holds landlords accountable regarding transparency with “home energy labels.” Tenant right-to-know is important. If people use their voice to encourage their local representatives to vote in favor of this bill next session, they will have the power to change the trajectory of energy justice in Connecticut. 

 For more info: https://nhsofnewhaven.org/ 

On Instagram and Facebook: @NHSofNewHaven

203-562-0598 [email protected] 

People Rally to Demand Free Bus Service to Continue

by Melinda Tuhus, WPKN News, Nov. 17,2022

A group of transit advocates rallied outside the headquarters of the CT Dept of Transportation in Newington on Wednesday [Nov. 16] waving their signs as a few buses drove past them.

The group was calling for an indefinite extension of fare-free buses as well as support for the mostly Black and brown bus drivers who have experienced more stress ever since the pandemic, and then had to deal with more riders on the free buses who sometimes needed mental health support themselves.

Tenaya Taylor, head of the Nonprofit Accountability Group and lead organizer of the event, explained why they came out. “So, you know, for us supporting fare-free transit will mean lifting some economic burdens on frontline communities because they’re saving money on the bus, and also cleaner air because it’s reducing emissions since more people are hopping on the bus and less people are driving their individual cars to get to work and school.”

Gov. Ned Lamont has indicated he will likely extend both the gas tax holiday and free transit for another few months, but these rallyers want “free fares forever,” as some of their signs indicated.

Friends of Kensington Playground

by Jane Comins, FKP

Photo: Jane Comins

Pumpkin Festival: Saturday, October 29 was a great day in Kensington Playground, as we hosted our Pumpkin Festival. Kensington Playground was filled with kids and families enjoying the warm weather and colorful trees. Kids laughed and smiled as they decorated free pumpkins and played Pumpkin Balloon Pop for treats. Everyone enjoyed free ci-der and donuts, took festive pictures in front of the deco-rated splash pad, and shopped for free clothing at Renee’s Closet.

Holiday Festival: We are planning our Holiday Festival and Tree Lighting event in Kensington Playground on Saturday, December 10, 3-5 p.m. (Rain date: Sunday, December 11). We hope to have a holiday tree with festive lights, ornament making for the kids, singing, and hot chocolate and cookies. We welcome donations and need volunteers for this event.

Park Proposal: Thanks to everyone who came out to support us at the Parks Commission meeting in October. Our Park Proposal, which asks the City to commit to the idea that every neighborhood should have at least one public play-ground that has a playscape, splash pad and trees, was on the agenda. After a brief discussion the proposal was tabled, until we can provide more information. We expect to do so at the January 18th meeting, and will keep you updated, so that you can join us at the meeting in a show of support and solidarity.

Lawsuit: Our lawsuit continues. Currently, we are in the discovery phase of the trial. No trial date has been set. We recently received an invoice for $1,995. We paid $1,000 of that, but still owe our lawyer $995.

We hope that you will make a donation to legal costs now to keep our work moving forward, as we expect another legal bill soon. All donations will be used towards legal expenses, unless you specify that your donation is to be used for an event. We are now a 501(c)(3), so all donations are tax deductible.

Our website is kensingtonplayground.org.

Did You See the Notice in Your Electric Bill from UI?

United Illuminating is requesting permission from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to increase their electric rates 8%. If approved, the bill for the average residential customer will be raised $16.63 a month. Many people can’t afford their electrical bills as is! Let PURA know what you think of this increase request! In December, there will be two Zoom hearings in which you can participate.  1- Tuesday, Dec. 13 at noon. Register at ctdeep.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtcuGvqzMuGtQLJ0g8YoslFHhuja6jXuXM

2- Thursday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. Register at ctdeep.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0sd-uvpzMsE92fo03vV7n1obVu8TQoud4l

Update: UI sent the notice in the October bills that the monthly increase to expect in January is $16. Seems the notice is already outdated – the New Haven Register reported that we can expect an $83 per month increase to start in January (for the “average” 700 kWh/month).

An Evening with Nonviolent Strategist, Activist and Storyteller, George Lakey 

From training students for Mississippi Freedom Summer to victories over the banks funding climate destruction a half-century later, George has spent his life fighting for peace, civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights, labor justice and the environment. He shares serious stories with great humor and love, and clearly imparts the lessons learned. 

George will be speaking (in person and virtually) on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. about his new memoir, Dancing with History, at the Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. 

The PAR Mission: To inform the greater New Haven community about the activities of many progressive groups, so that people may learn about them and become involved in discussions and actions on issues for the common good, such as peace, health, racial equity, justice, clean energy and the environment. Refreshments and book signing after the talk. Bring cash or check to pay for books. To register, please email [email protected]. 

Día De Muertos Parade Lights Up Fair Haven

Lindsay Skedgell, New Haven Independent, Nov 7, 2022

 

Photo: Lindsay Skedgell

 

Mill Street danced to life with jewel-painted faces, neon-colored skulls, and at least one hairless dog and its golden-spike-crowned owner, as over 100 people gathered for Fair Haven’s annual Día de Muertos parade.  

That was the scene Saturday at a warehouse at 26 Mill River St. for a ​“Day of the Dead” event organized by Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA). That was just one of at least two such events to take place in Fair Haven on Saturday, with the Semilla Collective also hosting a Día de Muertos celebration at Bregamos Theater off of Peck Street and Blatchley Avenue. 

The back parking lot of 26 Mill St. Saturday evening was full of people in traditional dresses, faces painted with jewels framing their eyes and cheeks, getting ready for the parade. Behind them, a float was being set up, the flatbed of the truck that carried it lined with painted skulls in neon pink, green, orange, and blue. Around the float, a hairless dog whose leash was colorfully woven walked enthusiastically with its owner, whose head was adorned with a golden spiked headband. 

Inside the white warehouse space, an altar was laid out and collectively built at the entrance, a deer skull in the middle of the floor surrounded by lit candles, bread, tables bordered by apples, marigold flowers, and photographs of loved ones who had passed. Faces were being painted in bright paint and puppets lined the walls of the room. 

Saturday’s parade and festival in Fair Haven marked the 12th annual event organized by ULA, held to celebrate Mexican and indigenous cultures in New Haven and to honor the deceased. The Day of the Dead is a holiday to remember those who have passed, often involving puppets, altars, offerings and gifts, and vibrant storytelling to pay respect to the deceased. 

 “This is my husband who passed,” said Joelle Fishman, gesturing toward a tall puppet built in honor of her deceased husband, Art Perlo. He wore a black ​“People & Planet Before Profits” shirt, his hat, glasses, and mustache placed beautifully to mirror him. ​“I’m carrying on for the both of us,” Fishman stated. Perlo, who was a lifelong activist, passed away last year. 

[The article can be read in its entirety at newhavenindependent.org/article/dia_de_muertos_2022] 

Yale and Local 33 Agree on Union Election Date and Voter Eligibility

 

by Megan Vaz, Yale Daily News, Nov. 16, 2022 

After weeks of negotiation between Yale and Local 33, the National Labor Relations Board has set official dates, terms and eligibility rules for the graduate and professional worker union election. 

The election — the product of decades of Local 33 organizing on campus, including the collection of thousands of union authorization signatures over the past year — will occur on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Eligible voters, as deter-mined by the NLRB, will decide through a simple majority vote whether or not to form a collective bargaining unit with University recognition. 

“I’m glad that the Yale administration is listening to the will of graduate workers and allowing us to proceed with our election with no delays,” Javier Porras Madero GRD ’26 wrote in a Local 33 press release. “I can’t wait to cast my vote to win a union for myself and my coworkers!”

University spokesperson Karen Peart affirmed to the News that the University is satisfied with the settled election terms. Peart also wrote that University Provost Scott Strobel “has encouraged graduate and professional school students to take an active role in weighing the issues involved in unionization,” including in a previous statement shared with the community. 

Just three weeks ago, the union filed an official petition with the signed authorization of three-quarters of eligible voters. Four days later, the University announced it would hold a recognized election for the first time, as federal labor law requires employers to respond to petitions within two weeks.

After a few short weeks of election term negotiations, which included hearings over voter eligibility and an agreement to accept both manual and mail-in ballots, the University and Local 33 will now prepare for their first-ever union election. 

Although Local 33 has spent the past three decades organizing for a union, the finalization of election terms this week marks the closest the group has ever come to official unionization.

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