Residents in New Haven are getting the chance to use city funding to improve one neighborhood.
Through a competition organized by the Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team, the New Haven neighborhood will get a facelift.
For the people who live around Wooster Square, pedestrian safety is an ongoing concern.
"People just race through here," Linda Varone, who lived in the neighborhood for 15 years, said.
Thanks to about $10,000 in funding from New Haven’s Livable City Initiative, the community management team chair Caroline Smith said drives will see a speed radar on Olive Street within the next six months.
"This will be a mobile speed sign that they’ll be able to put all along Olive Street to show individuals how fast they’re driving," Smith said.
Smith’s team will decide how to spend the remaining $3,000 through a neighborhood pitch competition.
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"You fill it out, its things like what’s your idea, how much is it going to cost," Smith said. "What impact will it make on the community, really simple things."
There have been nine submissions so far, Smith said. Some ideas include placing a public piano in Wooster Square and translating more signs into Spanish.
Both Varone and Vicki Mackowka, who moved to the area about a year ago, have similar recommendations.
"I would suggest just kind of general beautification type things," said Mackowka, who added she may enter the competition.
"Maybe cleaning up some of the sidewalks and putting in some flowers," Varone said.
The deadline to enter the competition is October 1.
Four to six submissions will be selected by the community management team to give presentations at the monthly meeting on October 17 before voting on the winner.
Previous funding has supported park benches, public art and pedestrian crossing signs.
