West Haven Cracks Down on Blight

West Haven's mayor took his message to clean up blight in the city directly to business owners on Monday.

“We're asking everybody for their help in bringing West Haven back, as far as cleaning in front of their stores, the blight, the graffiti on their building, taking care of their building, just sprucing up the downtown,” Mayor Ed O’Brien said.

O'Brien and his team went door-to-door on Monday, talking to each business owner along a stretch of Campbell Avenue.

He got a good response from new businesses and ones that have been here for decades.

“Been here for a very long time. It's nice to hear from the Town Hall,” said Ray Ross, owner of Ross Copy.

Carolyn Sires owns a physical therapy gym on Campbell Ave and says the goal is to clean up the area, so that it becomes a destination where people want to go and spend an afternoon.

“All the businesses seem excited and they think if we can help clean it, if we can help promote it, the City needs to promote it, then we have a chance,” said Sires.

“It's the center of our City, and West Haveners go to Milford, they go to Orange, they go to other places to shop. We want them to feel welcome to come down to our West Haven downtown, but it has to be clean, inviting and safe,” said Mayor O’Brien.

West Haven will be enforcing its anti-blight laws. Businesses that are issued a warning have 30 days to fix the issue. After that, businesses will face fines of $100 per day.

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