Biz Owners Seek To End Pedestrian-Only Plaza

By Mona Mahadevan, New Haven Independent

NEW HAVEN, CT — Should Ninth Square’s “Rainbow Road” continue to be closed to cars during the warmer months?

A group of Orange Street business owners are calling for an end to the five-year tradition of turning their block into a pedestrian-friendly promenade every spring and summer.

Two occupants and Mayor Justin Elicker are pushing back, arguing that the Orange Promenade strengthens Ninth Square’s businesses and residential communities.

Andres Cordido, a co-owner of Somos Arepas at 63 Orange St., started the petition for ending the pedestrian-only plaza, which stretches along one block of Orange Street from Center Street to Crown Street.

“In theory, it was a very good idea,” said Cordido on Monday. But, in addition to taking away parking spaces, the plaza had become a “hangout for crackheads, drug dealers, and the homeless.”

Cordido said every business on the promenade signed the petition except Elm City Games. The New Haven Pride Center, though not directly consulted by Cordido, also opposed the petition.

When the Orange Promenade opened in August 2020, it was built to give restaurants and retailers a way to serve customers during the pandemic. A number of development boosters, including the Town Green Special Services District and Boston-based landlord Beacon Communities, filled the plaza with rainbow street markings, sidewalk planters, and outdoor tables.

Over the last five years, Town Green has used the space to organize salsa dance nights, art markets, and other events.

The promenade’s storefronts are owned by Beacon Communities. Since 2020, Beacon has made the pedestrian-only promenade possible by filing annually for a special events permit with the city.

Beacon’s senior vice president, Kristie Tafel, said the company has received mixed feedback on the promenade.

“Closing Orange Street to create the promenade has produced many opportunities to bring together our Ninth Square community and the broader neighborhood,” wrote Tafel. “While we’ve received positive feedback over the years, maintaining this closure has created challenges for some of our commercial tenants.”

Over the next several months, she said, the company plans to “work collaboratively” with their tenants, the city, and neighborhood associations, to “identify a solution that best serves the entire community.”

In addition to concerns about crime, public urination, and drug use, Cordido said his customers are frustrated by the limited number of parking spots near his store. Third-party delivery apps like Uber Eats have also been penalizing his restaurant for not having spaces available to couriers.

Ben Berkowitz, the owner of skate shop Plush at 96 Orange St., shared those parking-related concerns.

“For us, there was a very direct correlation with our sales going down when the street was closed,” said Berkowitz. His theory is that Plush relies on customers from across the region, not just residents of New Haven. “And so, that means automobiles, unfortunately,” he said.

“One of the reasons why Upper State Street in East Rock has no vacancies, and the businesses last a really long time there,” is the availability of parking, argued Berkowitz.

Even though Berkowitz signed the petition, he said he supports the development of thoughtfully designed pedestrian plazas, like Newark Avenue in Jersey City and Corso Vannucci in Italy.

“I hope there will be a future where we can reimagine” the Orange Promenade, said Berkowitz. “Maybe it can stretch even further, and the city can provide parking locations” designated for visitors.

Berkowitz didn’t share Cordido’s persective about crime and safety, though. “The opioid epidemic is alive and well in the Ninth Square. The housing crisis is alive and well in the Ninth Square,” he said. “It’s always been there” and “has nothing to do with the street closure.”

One of the main sources of support for the plaza comes from Matt and Trish Loter, the owners of Elm City Games at 71 Orange St. Trish described the promenade as a “destination” for out-of-town visitors, who then patronize the nearby businesses.

“When you walk by something, you notice it,” said Matt. “When you drive by it, you don’t.” He said that Elm City Games’s sales rise during the warmer months, which is when the block turns pedestrian only.

Aside from the business-based benefits, Matt criticized the petition for failing to consult neighborhood residents.

In an email sent to a group of Ninth Square business owners, Matt wrote, “[N]o one seems to have asked the people who live here that were out there using the space every day how they feel about it. Instead, we prioritize lazy, disengaged business owners who couldn’t care less about the neighborhood as a whole and the people in it.”

He also argued that signers failed to make full use of the outside space. “Most places would kill for a free outdoor patio to add 16+ seats to their spot,” wrote Matt.

Laura Boccadoro, operations manager of the New Haven Pride Center at 50 Orange St., felt disappointed about the petition, but acknowledged the “real frustrations” on both sides.

“I do understand,” said Boccadoro. “Things were getting a little crazy down here,” especially with the number of people on the plaza using drugs. At the same time, people weren’t using the promenade “just because the street is closed,” they said. “It’s because it’s a safe place to be,” especially given the plaza’s proximity to nonprofits like the Pride Center and Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK).

Boccadoro said she and her coworkers often ate lunch on the patio tables, and kids from the neighborhood used the space to play. “I thought it created a really great sense of community” and attracted people downtown, they said.

Rather than closing down the plaza, she hopes the Orange Street business owners will have strategic conversations about how to make the promenade more pleasant. “Maybe it could be closed off for a shorter period of time,” they mused, “or there’s a different set-up that makes sense.”

In a statement emailed to the Independent, Mayor Elicker said he’s committed to organizing those conversations so that a pedestrian-only “Rainbow Road” can reopen in 2026.

“[W]e continue [to] see a lot of value in the Rainbow Road portion of the street being as open and vibrant as possible for our residents to enjoy, stroll, shop and dine — which, in turns, helps drive people to support and patronize local businesses there,” wrote the mayor.

Of closing the street to cars during the warmer months, Elicker said, “We intend on doing that again in 2026, and we look forward to being in conversation with the Town Green Special Services District, Beacon Communities, local businesses and residents on how we can continue to work together to help Orange Street flourish and thrive.”

The New Haven Independent is a not-for-profit public-interest daily news site founded in 2005.