As of March 17, 2019, the Lucky Ewe Irish Goods shop on Whitney Avenue will be closed. The store is in the process of selling any merchandise left in a closing sale and shutting down operations.
But the Lucky Ewe Irish Shop is going out with a grand celebration. On St. Patrick’s Day, the shop owner will be hosting its annual party. There will be Irish music, step dancers and a bagpiper to celebrate the holiday and the store’s closing.
Kathleen O’Neill, 56, opened the shop three and a half years ago and is parting with the store on good terms. According to O’Neill, the shop is not closing because it was not doing well- it was actually growing, but O’Neill has come to a crossroads and decided it was time for her to make a transition in her life.
“I’m planning on spending more quality family time. My family has grown, I have three grandchildren and also my kids have moved away. I just want to have more availability,” said O’Neill.
Although O’Neill is closing the location on Whitney Avenue, that leaves the possibility of pop-up stores for her to dabble in. She hopes to have some pop-up locations across Hamden at the Playwright Irish Pub Restaurant and Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum. She plans to donate the store’s heraldic pins to the museum.
“We would like to do whatever we can to support the Hunger Museum. I think it would be a great fit if they [Ireland Great Hunger Museum] do a little gift shop. I’ve been planting those seeds and watering them, so we’ll see what happens with that one,” said O’Neill.
In her time running the shop, O’Neill finds the best part to have been the people she met as a result.
“It’s been amazing that people have come in and shared their stories. It’s been wonderful just getting to know people and when people come into an Irish store they tend to talk, so they’ve been sharing their stories, sharing their families. On a personal level, it has been wonderful because it has helped me to reconnect with my Irish heritage. As much as you think a store is about selling goods, no. It’s been more about the relationship with people that has been the best blessing of all,” said O’Neill.
Quinnipiac lacrosse and soccer teams haven’t always enjoyed a home-field advantage over the last year — in fact, they haven’t always had a home field to play on at all.
When the university built the$28 million lacrosse and soccer stadium two years ago, it chose to use a crumbly cork material to cushion the field and help the field’s artificial grass to stand up.
According to the Vice President of Facilities and Capital Planning, Sal Filardi, the university chose cork because it thought the material would have less impact on the wetlands bordering the field than the crumb rubber alternative. What it didn’t count on was that the cork would freeze in the wet winter weather, rise above the grass and create a slippery, unplayable surface.
“When the field freezes, the teams are not able to practice,” Filardi said. “Last year they missed roughly two dozen days of practice. Several games have also had to be rescheduled or moved to a different site.”
Quinnipiac Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium turf
The setbacks didn’t affect the soccer teams during their season (which took place in the fall). In October, the men’s soccer team hosted the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) finals on their home field. The issues with the turf are affecting the teams in the spring.
Now, the university wants to replace the cork material with synthetic rubber at a cost of $135,000, Filardi said.
“The cork infill gets wet and freezes,” he said. “The rubber doesn’t absorb water and the black color absorbs the heat of the sun even on below freezing days.”
The work must be approved by Hamden’s Inland Wetlands Commission, which is concerned about the impact of the potentially toxic runoff from the rubber on the wetlands to the south of the facility.
Filardi acknowledged the negative impact the field has had on Quinnipiac’s teams.
“Coaches have clearly expressed their dissatisfaction with the frozen field,” he said.
Sophomore soccer defenseman Simon Hillinger agreed.
He said when the team came to school in January, they practiced for two weeks inside because they couldn’t practice on the turf — it was too icy and slippery.
“I still think it affects us a lot,” Hillinger said. “Now in spring season, you can work on the details but when you practice inside, it is smaller and all we can do is play five on five, we can’t do any tactics.”
The wetlands commission has voted that it will approve the change, but only underthree conditions.
First, Quinnipiac must pre-wash the rubber in a way that meets the approval of the commission.
Second, the university must provide an annual inspection report about the level of synthetic rubber particles in the wetlands and to ensure proper drainage from the stadium.
Finally, the university must change its snow plowing procedure so that snow is pushed to the northern side of the field, opposite the wetlands to the south.
Filardi said the biggest condition is that the infill needs to washed before it gets installed.
“The thinking is that washing removes some of the chemicals that may leach out over time,” he said.
In any case, Filardi said he did not think the work could be done until spring at the earliest.
“We are still identifying the process to wash the infill and determining next steps,” he said. “I don’t believe we will address the field until after the current athletic seasons are over in April.”
Hamden residents have won a hard fought battle against plastic bags. The town council met on Tuesday to whether a ban for plastic bags should be approved or not.
Connecticut towns and cities continue to push towards a ban on single use plastic bags. The latest it’s Hamden where the town leaders voted in approval for the ban on Tuesday night.
“A lot more people are becoming more environmentally conscious, a lot more people are trying to save the Earth, and I myself already don’t really use plastic bags unless I absolutely have to, so it’s a good thing that now Hamden is forcing me to not use plastic bags,” Quinnipiac student Nhung An said.
Some council members say the ban will save the town money from cleaning up plastic bags and help the environment at the same time.
“Everyone starts to do it, especially is forcing people instead of making them make the choice so if everyone starts to get rid of the plastic bags it makes for better environment,” Quinnipiac student Kyle Gaughan said.
“Just in general plastics are very bad for the environment, plastics in any kind of way, and we also use a lot of plastics bags…” An said.
The ban applies to plastic checkout bags of any thickness or size. Some stores in Hamden started this initiative like Tyme & Season Natural Market which stopped using plastic bags six months ago. They offer paper, but encourage customers to use reusable bags.
Most stores have 6-9 months to ditch plastic bags and Quinnipiac students see this as a step forward in the community.
“I think it’s a good idea, I think that it’s a step in the right direction towards going for more green and environmental process and I think that it’s a good start because if Hamden does it then who knows maybe some towns around Hamden would start to adopt the same idea,” Gaughan said.
The Marketplace at Hamden will be adding two new stores this coming fall.
Ulta Beauty is moving its location from North Haven, replacing the current Modell’s, and Orangetheory Fitness is moving into a vacant space between T.J Maxx and Plato’s Closet, according to Dale Kroop, Hamden’s director of economic and neighborhood development.
Mayor Curt Leng said that new stores moving into Hamden plazas are a great sign for the Hamden economy in a recent article published by the New Haven Independent.
Quinnipiac University graduate student Kimmie Ellsworth is looking forward to buy makeup in town.
“It’ll be great to have Ulta because there is no place to buy quality makeup around here,” she said.
Along with the arrival of Orangetheory Fitness, there are two other private gyms in the immediate area, Edge Fitness and LA Fitness.
Professor David Cadden teaches in the entrepreneurship and strategy at QU. He says that Hamden’s economic and community development organization has been proactive and successful in attracting businesses to Hamden.
“Today’s retail market is highly competitive and new businesses are always looking for areas of growth,” Cadden said. “One of the things they look out for as where are all the businesses going. Bringing several businesses into a community in a short period of time as a multiplier effect.
Cadden says that when businesses open up multiple locations in a community it extends the tax base and offers more job opportunities to the residents of that community.
“Hamden seems to have been very successful on both counts,” he said. “I am sure that (they) are happy to welcome businesses that would be used by Quinnipiac students.”
QU student Peter Labbe thinks that Ulta Beauty will do better than Orangetheory in the area.
“There are already a lot of gyms and Ulta doesn’t really have much competition,” he said. “Retro Fitness and one of the Planet Fitnesses closed last year because they couldn’t compete with Edge fitness and and LA Fitness, I don’t know how Orangetheory is going to be able to do it.”
Cadden does not think that the arrival of Ulta Beauty and Orangetheory Fitness will hurt the business of other stores in the area.
“It’s difficult to ascertain the extent to which these two enterprises would ‘damage’ any other existing stores or exercise facilities,” Cadden said. “It seems to me that orange theory and offers a unique service that may not be competitive with the other large gyms in Hamden.”
QU students expressed interest in the new additions to the town of Hamden.
Senior Meghan Thorogood could hardly contain her excitement when she found out Ulta Beauty would be moving closer to campus.
“Ulta and Orangetheory will be awesome additions to Hamden!” she said. “Quinnipiac students will frequent these locations because of their close proximity to campus and student owned housing. I honestly think having more than one option for a gym is nice for us, we get a choice in which gym we want to pay for.”
Over 300,000 football related concussions occur annually, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Quinnipiac University professor, Richard Hanley, has studied football throughout his life after playing in college. He says if the sport was created today, it would be banned in the United States.
“Football is a game with a penalty called unnecessary roughness,” Hanley said. “That implies that the nature of the game has necessary roughness.”
Former football player, Andrew Grinde, felt the roughness of the game by suffering multiple concussions while playing for Yale University. He decided to retire from the game when he heard about the possible effects on the brain, after talking to his older brother who studies neuroscience.
“[Football] takes away excellence from the brain. It’s a simple as that,” Grinde said.
Professor Todd Botto teaches athletic training and sports medicine at Quinnipiac after working as an athletic trainer for the football team at Southern Mississippi University. He says that concussions will never go away from football, because while helmets are ideal for protecting against skull fractures, they cannot stop the brain from hitting the inside of a player’s skull which can happen in a collision that has plenty of force.
However, doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are working on developing helmets that dissipate the forces that players put on one another’s heads. The experts are using crash test dummies to simulate collisions, so that each specific position on the football field has a helmet best suited to the hits they face.
Despite the possibilities of concussions in football, there are still players and coaches that point to the positives of football. Connecticut native and Boston College defensive end, Zach Allen, is projected to be signed in the first round of next year’s National Football League draft, according to a CBS mock draft who placed him at eleventh overall. He says money is not the only benefit of playing the game he loves.
“Football teaches people what it means to be part of a team,” Allen said. “The lessons you learn in football – the camaraderie, I think it’s definitely worth it.”
“I get to play the game I love and also put my family in a good position.” -Zach Allen
While people may have differing viewpoints on whether or not people should play football, Americans are still watching the sport. Through 12 weeks, NFL games are averaging 15.8 million television viewers, a 5% increase from 2017, according to ESPN.
Since 2017, Hamden has been trying to become more sustainable. First, by joining Sustainable CT with 400 other municipalities. With the financial and networking help of Sustainable CT, Hamden will have a set list of action plans in the spring of 2019.
Kathleen Schomaker, Hamden town’s energy efficiency coordinator, said that Hamden is pushing to limit food waste and recycling. There will be a separate bin for soft recyclable like clothing and bedding.
But for now, Hamden is still putting together the list of action to get going next year.
data-animation-override> “We gotta get our ducks in a row first.”
— Kathleen Schomaker
Hamden is looking to be certified in 2019.
For members of Quinnipiac University, the road to sustainability is a long journey. In 2010, the College Sustainability Report Card gave Quinnipiac University a D. The school was graded based on administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement. Among these criteria, Quinnipiac failed at three, and got the highest grade of B in food and recycling.
Even in 2018, members of the Quinnipiac University can see that the school is not sustainable.
The solutions must start from recognizing the three R’s of recycling: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Once these issues are addressed, awareness is the next first step.
Some of the major issues include recycling, food and plastic waste.
Quinnipiac students are among the most proactive members on this journey to help QU recycle waste.
QU ISA during a food drop trip
Quinnipiac International Student Association (ISA) helps donate food from Quinnipiac main cafeteria to local communities in Hamden.
Quinnipiac Student for Environmental Actions (QU SEA) raises awareness with “Weigh the Waste,” asking students to scrape the left over on their plate as they leave the cafeteria.
Driving down streets in Hamden, Wallingford and other surrounding towns, you may spot a handful of big, metal bins settled in corners of parking lots at gas stations, laundromats or car washes.
On the side of each bin printed in big letters may read “Clothes & Shoes.” There is probably a big “THANK YOU!” stamped somewhere on it too.
There may be a pile of stretched out pajamas shoved in the back of your bottom dresser drawer or a bag of too-small t-shirts in the trunk of your car. The first place you may think to drop your unwanted clothes may be in one of these bins.
But have you ever put any thought into where the clothing you may drop in ends up?
HAMDEN, Conn. — South of Quinnipiac University, Whitney Avenue is lined with restaurants and shops and is considered Hamden’s central hub.
Green areas are connected to the sewer. On the map on the right, the area north of “Mill River” is all on septic.
Drive north, past Quinnipiac and Sleeping Giant State Park, and sidewalks disappear a few miles out. Businesses become scarce, and the spaces between buildings start to resemble football fields.
Charles Hague, a business owner on that stretch of road, thinks sewers, of all things may play a role in creating those stark differences. Specifically, the fact that there aren’t any.
His restaurant and bar, Aunt Chilada’s, has been there 25 years. It’s a popular spot among Quinnipiac students and like almost every other business and home in northern Hamden, it has a septic tank.
data-animation-override> “It’s an extra burden and an extra cost”
— Charles Hague
“It’s an extra burden and an extra cost,” Hague said.
Cement lids of Aunt Chilada’s septic tank.
Buried underneath Aunt Chilada’s front lawn, the septic tank doesn’t look like much above ground, just nine cement disks in a row. Hague calls it ugly. For a restaurant owner, he knows an awful lot about how septic tanks work. He needs to.
Septic tanks are domestic wastewater treatment systems, built underground and usually made of concrete, fiberglass or plastic. The tank collects both liquid and solid waste and filters the water to the surface.
The water moves through a pipe and into to a leaching field where it disperses. The solid waste is pumped out periodically and transported to a treatment facility. The diagram below shows the basic functionality of a septic tank.
Septic systems differ from the more common sanitary sewer, which is an interconnected system of underground pipes that carry sewage directly to a wastewater treatment facility.
Sewers are generally publicly owned, while individual septic tanks belong entirely to the property owner, and — as a result — he or she is forced to face the entire cost of maintenance and repairs.
“It’s costly, and you basically put people that are not in the sewer business in the sewer business,” said Tom Sgroi, the director of engineering at Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority (GNHWPCA), the wastewater treatment facility that has served Hamden since 2005.
It’s a predicament that could be unattractive to potential new business owners, especially those who want to open restaurants, which produce a lot of waste.
A standard septic tank for a three-bedroom home holds about 1,000 gallons and the solid waste needs to be pumped every three to five years, according to EPA recommendations. Hague’s tank holds 5,000 gallons and it gets pumped four times a year by different private companies.
Hague said it costs him thousands of dollars annually, but he would not be specific.
By comparison, pumping a standard 1,000-gallon tank generally costs between $150 and $300. In the case of complete system failure, the cost to replace the tank also falls entirely on the owner, which could be anywhere between $3,000 and $7,000 or sometimes even more, depending on a wide variety of factors.
While the cost of the septic tank didn’t deter him from opening Aunt Chilada’s on Whitney Avenue, Hague said most businesses would rather not have to take the risk.
Brad Macdowall, a district representative in Hamden, is concerned about the town’s ability to recruit new businesses, especially considering its current economic situation.
A 2018 report by the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, a conservative think tank, found Hamden to be in the worst financial condition of all Connecticut towns.
Macdowall acknowledged Hamden’s struggles, but made sure to point out the partisan nature of the organization. He also stressed the importance of turning Hamden into a place that could sustain business growth.
“We’re not going to see the kind of new business expansion that we need to see if we’re not offering the kind of infrastructure that those kinds of businesses need,” Macdowall said. “Why would a business expand there if they can go elsewhere with the sort of infrastructure that they’re looking for?”
Apart from the lack of sewers, the location — just minutes away from Quinnipiac — which has grown tremendously in the past couple of decades, couldn’t be better for business.
Despite that, the area remains largely underdeveloped — much to Hague’s surprise.
That section of Whitney Avenue hasn’t changed much since Hague has been there. He has begun to believe it will not change.
Aunt Chilada’s exterior and interior.
Hamden resident Paul Ferraro feels similarly and thinks new businesses could liven up the town.
“Businesses have been in and out, which is strange considering the amount of traffic from the school,” Ferraro said. “I’d like to see more come to stay.”
Macdowall wants more business in this area. To do so, he believes the Town of Hamden must expand the sewer system to cover at least Whitney Avenue all the way north to Cheshire.
The expansion is part of Macdowall’s vision to reduce the long-term financial burden on business owners and residents and allow them to forget about their sewage.
However, it’s a lot more complicated than Hamden just signing off on new infrastructure development since the GNHWPCA owns the sewers and would have final say on any new additions to the existing system.
Right now, Hamden is having early discussions about putting together a plan, according to Mark Austin, the town engineer.
“I heard some chatter going on about it recently,” Austin said, but chose not to elaborate.
Macdowall confirmed that the Town of Hamden administrators are taking some of the first steps.
“We’re doing the research and we’re doing our due diligence so that we can show the water authority why this would be beneficial,” Macdowall said.
According to Section 4 of the GNHWPCA’s Sewer Ordinance, the governing body of the municipality has to approve the project before proposing the expansion.
Sgroi calls it a “chicken and egg” situation, because the GNHWPCA generally doesn’t care if a town wants to connect or add to its sewer system as long as it has the capacity at the plant, everything works properly and it doesn’t impact any of the existing system or its existing customers.
This puts the pressure back on Hamden, which, though it does not own the sewers, would have to ensure any new infrastructure meets the requirements of the treatment facility.
The uneven terrain makes matters more difficult. Running into rock, for example, presents a real risk and, Austin said, “that gets really expensive really quick.”
Hamden is already deep in debt, and while Austin said the Town of Hamden would have to pay the initial cost for installation, Macdowall is confident Hamden wouldn’t end up paying for anything. In reality, he said, the cost would show up in residents’ water bills.
Austin added, “As people connect to the new sewers, they pay their portion of the cost to put it in. So ultimately, the cost goes to the user.”
In the long run, connecting to the sewage system could still be cheaper.
Hague, for one, would welcome the change.
For him, it would mean no longer having to worry about the upkeep of a septic tank, and he would appreciate not shouldering that burden as, he said, business owners do prefer sanitary sewers.
Macdowall doesn’t think projects with the potential to stimulate the economy can wait, either.
“Quite frankly, I think we can’t afford not to do it,” Macdowall said. “If we keep using initial cost as a reason to not continue to develop, then we’re going to stay behind. We’re going to continue to fall behind and stay behind.”
Out of the Darkness Community Walk held in Hamden, Conn. on Oct. 7, 2018
For the last decade, Hamden residents have gathered to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention at the Out of Darkness Community Walk. On Oct. 7 participants met at Hamden Town Center Park and walked along the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in Hamden.
“[The event] also is a public memorial for people’s grief and a place they can share with others their grief, which is hard to come by in the society,” event director Sean Heather McGraw said.
Over 600 people registered for the event and McGraw estimates about 450 people showed up.
The $53,394 raised will help programming in schools, churches and the community.
The money is also used to help support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and support survivors.
Vice President of the Student Veterans Organization (SVO) at Quinnipiac, Michael Strahl, walked with members of SVO. As a veteran, he said he walked to help fellow soldiers who struggle with mental illness.
“I think it’s incredible,” Strahl said. “It brings attention to one of the most important tragedies we face. Most importantly, it shows people that they are not alone in their fight against suicide or in their grief of a loved one or friend they have lost to suicide.”
Suicide is a sensitive topic, but should still be talked about, said Stahl. Events like the Out of the Darkness walk let people know they have support in their community.
Signs at the Out of the Darkness walk in Hamden, Conn.
“[The walk] makes me think about the people that made it through multiple tours and survived just to come home and take their own lives because of their struggles that we aren’t aware of,” Strahl said. “If we can prevent just one suicide a month or year, we were successful in our efforts.”
Other than this event, Strahl believes it’s important that everyone knows the signs of and feels comfortable discussing mental health with peers.
“Just talk about it more,” Strahl said. “Don’t be afraid to bring it up and learn the signs so you can be there for someone contemplating suicide. I think Quinnipiac University did an amazing job with Fresh Check Day. More of that. Students as well as the community need to know it is alright to speak about suicide.”
For resources, people can refer to 2-1-1, an online and phone service available for those in need, concerning issues of housing and shelter, utilities, employment, healthcare, mental health and addictions.
“We are a free, confidential, information referral service that services people across Connecticut– 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Annie Scully, a research analyst and community outreach coordinator at United Way in Connecticut.
The service has 54 contact specialists, who have six weeks of rigorous training to be able to handle crisis situations from callers. 2-1-1 is funded by the state.
When looking at the statistics of calls in Hamden, callers reached out 1,126 times for mental health and addiction problems between Oct. 1, 2017 and Oct. 1, 2018. This is the second highest amount of calls behind those for housing and shelter.
Statistics of callers seeking help for crisis intervention and suicide from ct.211counts.org
Of mental health and addiction calls, 680 were about requests for mental health services and 382 were for crisis intervention and suicide.
While the ‘under 18’ demographic is the smallest in the mental health services category, it is the largest in the crisis intervention and suicide, with 237 of the 382 calls coming from those in high school or younger.
“While under 18 callers might represent one of the smallest percentage of callers across the state it doesn’t necessarily mean that they have the least amount of need,” Scully said.
Scully hopes that people in the younger age demographic will turn to their website for help, which has programs such as Mobile Crisis, which is a service that dispatches clinicians that are trained to deal with people under 18, who are dealing with emotional crisis at school, home or in the community.
“We hope that in 2018 there’s people under 18 that are much more likely to jump on a computer than they are to make a phone call, so we also monitor our web traffic,” Scully said. “So in [fiscal year] ‘18 we had almost two million visits to our website, www.211ct.org, which we’ve made some pretty big enhancements recently to make that as user friendly as possible and to replicate a phone call as much as possible so people can really find the help they need on our website.”
So, why is the number of calls for mental health services so low for this demographic? Scully says that if school-age people knew about their resources they might be able to receive better help when dealing with mental health. In the past they have tried different strategies, such as creating a page on their website geared towards youth and young adults in collaboration with a local youth group.
“I think that the more people who know that 2-1-1 is a resource and that more people that know the kind of help and referrals 2-1-1 can provide by either calling or visiting our website the more people that will use it,” Scully said. “So if there is a class or opportunity for us to talk about 2-1-1 or market 2-1-1 in school systems across Connecticut I think that would be a great way to get the word out.”
Incorporating mental health awareness in the public schools is something Scully thinks could benefit students. In New York, mental health classes have already been implemented, requiring public schools to educate students on the signs and symptoms of mental health issues. The new law mandates these courses in hopes to educate students about resources and better understand mental health as a whole.
Connecticut has not made public any plans of incorporating these mandatory courses into the public school system. HQ Press reached out to Jody Goeler, superintendent of Hamden public schools, but did not receive a response.
As quickly as the rain came down last week, it left– at least for most areas in Hamden. But some Quinnipiac University students and residents are still dealing with the aftermath of damage from Tuesday’s storm.
Hamden was struck with the highest amount of rainfall in Connecticut on Tuesday Sept. 25 at 8.5 inches, according to Hamden Town Engineer Mark Austin.
“That [rain was] highly, highly unusual, that much that quickly,” Austin said. “All the water came up very, very quickly but it also went away very quickly which, unlike say the Carolinas right now where they had so much water that stayed. Because it came down so fast, the systems had a very hard time trying to handle it when it initially came down.”
The town received quite a few calls on Tuesday, said Austin, and had over 60 road closures due to flooding. Hamden Police Department and Fire Department took care of the closures while the engineering department has been doing basic clean-ups around the area since.
“Our engineering department is in the process and will be over the next week or two of inspecting some of our local bridges to make sure that there weren’t any damage to those areas and receiving calls about sinkholes and other things that may have come up from the storm itself,” Austin said.
Quinnipiac students also experienced damage from the rain storm on Tuesday afternoon.
Chris Sour, a senior finance major at Quinnipiac, had to deal with two leaks in his off-campus house.
“I was on the top floor of my house and [leak] went from my room to my roommates room below me to even flooding the basement,” Sour said.
Sour had a leak through his ceiling and his window because his gutters were clogged. Sour’s landlord said he would come the next day to clean the gutters but he did not and the leak happened again the next day.
Taylor Pitts, a senior physical therapy major had to stay at a friends house because there was nowhere for her to park due to her driveway being flooded.
“I had to stay at a friends because there was nowhere for me to park my car once I got home,” Pitts said.
Pitts’ landlord spent the whole next day cleaning her basement and fixing her washer and dryer as well as her water heater and furnace.
As well as responding to drainage issues and about six phone calls for sinkholes, the department expects to see minor erosion around bridges.
“So far, so good on [the bridges], most of them seemed to fair pretty well – the ones we’ve looked at,” Austin said.
He believes there will be some minor erosion around the bridges, drainage issues and alot of sweeping and debris pick up.
“Nothing we normally don’t deal with, this is just all at once,” Austin said.
If you need to report damage you can contact Hamden Public Works at 203-287-2600, Hamden Engineering 203-287-7040, or go online to hamden.com and use their online reporting program SEECLICKFIX (seeclickfix.com) where your complaint will immediately be dispatched to the department with your concern.
