Pearl Harbor Day ceremony moved to Veterans Museum

WEST HAVEN, Dec. 6, 2022 — Wednesday’s Pearl Harbor ceremony at 10:30 a.m. has been moved indoors because of anticipated rain.

The city and the West Haven Veterans Council will now observe Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day at the West Haven Veterans Museum & Learning Center, 30 Hood Terrace.

All veterans are invited to participate in the solemn service, which will commemorate the 81st anniversary of Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The public is also invited.

The annual ceremony will commence with a presentation of the colors by the West Haven Police Honor Guard and a flag-raising by the West Haven Fire Department Honor Guard.

It will feature remarks by Mayor Nancy R. Rossi and Louis P. Esposito Jr., Rossi’s executive assistant and the master of ceremonies.

Florence Stoeber, representing the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, and West Haven Fire Department Chief James P. O’Brien will read the names of the 18 Connecticut servicemen who died in the Japanese bombing of the U.S. Navy base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. A firefighter will toll the department’s chrome bell each instant a name is called.

Connecticut’s last known Pearl Harbor survivor died in 2020 at age 99.

The Pearl Harbor tribute will include the Pledge of Allegiance led by Cub Scouts, the national anthem sung by Ana Garcia, and opening and closing prayers given by Vertical Church Pastor Randal Alquist.

It will also include a wreath-laying by Veterans Council members and taps played by retired West Shore Fire Department Lt. Kevin McKeon.

West Haven holding Hanukkah menorah lighting Dec. 19 on Green

WEST HAVEN, Dec. 5, 2022 — The city is holding a Hanukkah menorah lighting on the Green later this month.

Although this year’s Jewish holiday begins at sundown Dec. 18, West Haven’s annual lighting of the menorah will celebrate the second day of Hanukkah at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 19.

The lighting will mark the Jewish Festival of Lights, an eight-day commemoration of rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees after their victory over the Syrians.

The ceremony, led by Mayor Nancy R. Rossi, will include a Jewish blessing by Rabbi Schneur Wilhelm of Chabad of Milford-Hebrew Congregation of Woodmont.

The public is invited.

New UNH police officer sworn in

WEST HAVEN, Dec. 1, 2022 — (Pictured): New University of New Haven police Officer Arthur Shannonhouse is sworn in by Mayor Nancy R. Rossi at City Hall on Nov. 29.

Shannonhouse recently retired from the Western Connecticut State University Police Department after a 22-year career.

UNH Police Chief Adam Brown attended the ceremony.

(City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)

Community Development Block Grant applications available

WEST HAVEN, Dec. 1, 2022 — The West Haven Community Development Administration is accepting applications for federal Community Development Block Grant funding for program year 49.

The program year begins July 1, 2023, and ends June 30, 2024.

Interested agencies can obtain an application by contacting the Community Development Administration, 355 Main St., West Haven, CT 06516, or by calling 203-937-3550 or emailing [email protected].

The application deadline is noon Dec. 22.

West Haven Mayor Nancy R. Rossi, right, leads Santa and Mrs. Claus in a countdown to light the Christmas tree on the Green as Rossi’s special guests prepare to flip an electric switch at the city’s annual holiday kickoff Nov. 26. The guests are, from left, Kaitlyn Burras, the University of New Haven’s assistant director of residential life; UNH senior Saniyah Brinney, the president of the Undergraduate Student Government Association; and West Haven resident Kathy Wielk, Notre Dame High School’s executive vice president. (City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)

Special guests help Rossi light West Haven Christmas tree

WEST HAVEN, Nov. 28, 2022 — Santa and Mrs. Claus accompanied Mayor Nancy R. Rossi and a trio of special guests to light the Christmas tree on the Green at the city’s annual holiday kickoff Nov. 26.

After arriving in the West Haven Fire Department’s 1935 Mack pump firetruck, Santa and Mrs. Claus were escorted to a portable stage on the Main Street side of the Green by the West Haven Seahawks cheerleading team to the sound of applause and shouts of glee from several hundred merrymakers.

Before the lighting, radio personality Brian Smith, the master of ceremonies, thanked and praised the guest trio — a Notre Dame High School executive, a University of New Haven staff member and a UNH senior political science major — as the all-ages crowd clapped and cheered.

Rossi then wished people a merry Christmas and helped Smith lead them in a countdown to set the tree — and the Green — aglow.

Read the full story and see the photo spread at Christmas Tree Lighting 2022.

West Haven heralds launch of state’s largest food-to-clean-energy program

WEST HAVEN, Nov. 14, 2022 — West Haven is the first city in the state to offer a citywide curbside food scrap diversion option to all single-family residents, Mayor Nancy R. Rossi announced.

Rossi said the program allows all single-family homes — one, two and three families — to easily separate food scraps and have them collected at the curb in the same container now used for residents’ trash collection.

The city has received a $1.3 million Sustainable Materials Management grant from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to develop and launch a food-to-clean-energy program.

Grant Coordinator Doug Colter, who secured the funding for the city, said the state is facing a solid waste disposal crisis, as traditional options for disposing of municipal solid waste are diminishing or becoming more expensive. With fewer and rapidly aging disposal options in Connecticut, residents and municipal leaders can expect disposal costs to increase at the remaining waste incineration facilities “as well as out-of-state landfilling,” Colter said.

On Nov. 7, the West Haven Food to Clean Energy program launched a nine-month pilot project for curbside food scrap diversion. Participation in the program comes at no cost to the 16,000 eligible households.

Colter said the funding covers the purchase of special color-coded bags for trash and for food scrap separation for the nine-month pilot. It also covers the cost of educational materials — mailers, a website and a Connect mobile app — along with personnel to sort the bags and the shipment of food scraps to Quantum Biopower in Southington, where the food will be converted into clean electricity, he said.

More details at Food Scrap Recycling.

Informational Materials

The Downsizing Donation Guide: A Resource for Residents of New Haven County (PDF)

What’s In? What’s Out? A Guide to Recycling (PDF)