Lamont, Borer announce $1.8M for neighborhood upgrades around VA

WEST HAVEN, May 6, 2025 — Mayor Dorinda Borer joined Gov. Ned Lamont at City Hall on Monday to announce $1.8 million in state bond funding for neighborhood upgrades around the West Haven VA Medical Center.

The morning announcement featured remarks by Lamont, Borer, Matthew J. Pugliese, a deputy commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development, and state Rep. Treneé McGee, D-West Haven, whose district includes the VA hospital.

It also included remarks by West Haven Emergency Management Director Rick Fontana and city grant writer Olivia Bissanti.

Lamont and Borer were also joined by Becky D. Rhoads, the executive director of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, and state Reps. Bill Heffernan, D-West Haven, and MJ Shannon, D-Milford, along with West Haven Councilman Gary Donovan, D-4, and city police traffic Sgt. Charles Young.

The funding was allocated by Lamont to the latest State Bond Commission agenda and will pay for VA neighborhood pedestrian safety improvements, including new paving, sidewalks, lighting and bus shelters, as well as other beautification and streetscape enhancements.

“Thanks to you,” said Lamont, turning to Borer, “West Haven is back on track!”

The governor continued: “West Haven has made such incredible progress. Look at what this (funding) is going to mean for this community — what it means in terms of safety, what it means in terms of pedestrian, walker-friendly. I love everything in and around veterans and veterans hospitals. Investments like this show that we believe in your community, you believe in your community, have pride in your community.

“For me, it’s just one more example of: ‘Here comes West Haven — on the march!’”

Borer thanked Lamont for coming to West Haven for the third time in six months and for supporting the city’s infrastructure needs.

The mayor also touted the VA hospital.

“We are very proud in West Haven to be the home host city to one of the largest veterans health system in the Northeast region, which provides care to our veterans,” Borer said. “Services are provided by 2,000 staff members, as the VA is also one of our largest employees. All in all, the VA system serves approximately 56,000 veterans per year and has 450,000 outpatient visits per year.”

However, the mayor pointed out that the bustling VA campus has taken a toll on the surrounding roads and sidewalks and has presented a public safety challenge for the neighborhood.

“This neighborhood is already a distressed area, and it’s important that we address this area for our residents, the employees and our veterans,” Borer said. “The goal of this project is to improve pedestrian and vehicle safety and to bolster economic development because these upgrades include Campbell Avenue, our main corridor, and provide overall better aesthetics, which all lead to a better quality-of-life enhancement.”

Bissanti said the city will receive the CIF grant funding through DECD.

She also said the VA neighborhood project ties into the city’s 2024 $250,000 CIF grant for a downtown development plan.

“Walkability is great because, whether you’re a resident on Ely Street or a patient at the VA or an employee at the VA, we really want you to be able to walk down Campbell Avenue and enjoy the community,” Bissanti said.

“These safety improvements are going to make a huge difference,” Fontana said. “It’s not only walkways and sidewalks but bus shelters and blue lights with moving cameras in them — kind of tapping into the camera system that we now are putting citywide, this will just be an extension of that.”

“These upgrades will save lives,” he emphasized.

McGee, a neighborhood resident who spoke on behalf of the city’s General Assembly delegation, said: “We must see neighborhood upgrades as a steppingstone to an even greater opportunity in our community. I’d like to thank the governor for this CIF allocation and really prioritizing us, and I would really love to thank Mayor Borer, who’s always prioritized public safety and veterans support.”

Donovan, whose district includes the VA hospital, said: “I am very excited that we are getting money to put into our district. Hopefully some of that money can be allocated to fixing up Stevens Avenue to eliminate the dumping issue we have there.

“I would also like to see some of that money be put to cosmetic areas around the VA hospital, including a fence on Boylston Street, which is a dead end. I am very happy with what Mayor Dorinda Borer has done so far and continues to do for our city going forward.”

‘Joe Carr Boardwalk Maintenance Garage’ dedicated to late city employee

WEST HAVEN, May 6, 2025 — Mayor Dorinda Borer joined Theresa “Terry” Carr to unveil a blue-and-white vinyl sign christening “The Joe Carr Boardwalk Maintenance Garage” after her late husband in Old Grove Park on Wednesday.

Accompanied by an array of more than 50 Department of Public Works employees and other city workers, Borer dedicated the maintenance garage and sign at the shoreline bathhouse in honor of Carr, who worked for the department as a laborer and driver from Jan. 17, 1977, until his death on Jan. 20 at age 71.

The sign features a symbolic string trimmer, Carr’s tool of choice.

Borer delivered words of praise about the hardworking Carr in front of loved ones and friends, along with former and current supervisors and colleagues.

“Joe was the love of my life,” Terry Carr said. “He would be so proud of this dedication.”

Joe Carr, a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Vietnam War, was known for taking tremendous pride in his meticulous care of the Savin Rock and Bradley Point beach areas, including the Veterans Walk of Honor.

The 100-yard Walk of Honor on Long Island Sound is bedecked with thousands of bricks inscribed to veterans, both living and deceased, as well as an arsenal of monuments to wars and veterans.

“Nobody worked harder than Joe, and no one took more pride in taking care of the area,” said former Public Works Commissioner Beth A. Sabo, who led the department from 2003 to 2013.

A self-described “true animal lover,” Carr was born in 1953 and raised at “the Rock,” the nickname of the Savin Rock section of West Haven during its amusement park heyday.

$8K gift continues funding for breast cancer scholarship for next 25 years

WEST HAVEN, May 6, 2025 — (Pictured): West Haven High School Principal Robert Bohan, second from left, receives an $8,000 donation from, from left, Mayor Dorinda Borer, Douglas J. Ruickoldt, Doug “the Rake” Ruickoldt and Chairwoman Beth A. Sabo on behalf of the West Haven Breast Cancer Awareness Program on Wednesday to benefit the Susan A. Ruickoldt Scholarship Fund.

The donation was made possible by the annual Dubel’s Golf Tournament, Westies Nutrition and the West Haven Youth Soccer League and will support the scholarship fund for the next 25 years, Sabo said.

Borer, the Ruickoldts and Bohan thanked and commended Sabo for her continuing dedication to the Breast Cancer Awareness Program, including collecting more than $750,000 for breast cancer research and education since the program’s inception in 2000.

The scholarship fund was founded in March 2003 to raise breast cancer awareness in honor of Susan Ruickoldt, who taught third grade at Savin Rock Community School before dying of breast cancer in 1997.

Each spring since 2003, scholarship organizers have awarded $2,000 in Ruickoldt’s memory to a female high school senior from West Haven who plans to continue her education.

(City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)

State honoring living WWII vets at May 19 ceremony

WEST HAVEN, May 6, 2025 — In a heartfelt tribute to honor and recognize the courage and sacrifice of Connecticut’s living World War II veterans, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, in collaboration with state Veterans Affairs Commissioner Ron Welch and National Guard Maj. Gen. Francis Evon, has announced a commemorative ceremony.

The event is set for 11 a.m. May 19 at the Governor William A. O’Neill State Armory at 360 Broad St. in Hartford.

The ceremony will mark the 80th anniversary of the conclusion of World War II, a pivotal moment in history that ended in September 1945.

Bysiewicz said the event will recognize and thank members of the Greatest Generation, whose dedication and bravery shaped the freedom and democracy enjoyed today.

“The state invites everyone to join in this historic tribute and express gratitude to those who served during one of the most defining periods in modern history,” Bysiewicz said.

Connecticut cities and towns are invited to participate in the tribute.

To ensure that all veterans are properly honored, West Haven Mayor Dorinda Borer has been asked by the lieutenant governor’s office to compile a list of the city’s living World War II veterans, including each veteran’s name, branch of service and age, by May 5.

To help Borer compile the list, families, friends and community members can email Amani Jaramoga, the mayor’s executive assistant, at ajaramoga@westhaven-ct.gov. They can also call Jaramoga at 203-937-3510.

For inquiries or details about the event, contact the lieutenant governor’s office at ltgovernor.bysiewicz@ct.gov or 860-299-5965.

‘Iconic’ hot dog restaurant, Frankies, celebrates 51st anniversary with grand reopening on Boston Post Rd.

WEST HAVEN, April 25, 2025 — (Pictured): Mayor Dorinda Borer, center, helps Frankies of West Haven owner Balwinder “Bill” Singh cut the ribbon to celebrate the hot dog restaurant’s 51st anniversary and grand reopening at 1151 Boston Post Road on April 24.

Joining the ribbon-cutting are, from left, longtime Frankies employee Elvia Avesicha; Singh’s daughter, Nancy Kailey, and his wife, Parveen Kaur; 4th District Councilman Gary Donovan; Zoning Board of Appeals Commissioner Rich De Leo; Simon McDonald, the director of membership and marketing at the Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce; and Planning and Zoning Commission member Sammy Rivera.

The chamber-organized ceremony featured remarks by Borer and McDonald, who both congratulated Singh on the restaurant’s milestone.

Singh has owned the West Haven Frankies for 17 of its 51 years in business.

The 2,800-square-foot restaurant boasts a large outdoor patio with picnic tables and umbrellas.

Billed as “The Gourmet of Fast Food,” Frankies has been a Route 1 institution near West Haven’s Meloy Road since 1974. It serves breakfast daily and specializes in footlong hot dogs, burgers, french fries, submarine sandwiches, barbecue ribs, Buffalo wings, seafood, soft serve ice cream and milkshakes.

The iconic fast-food franchise, founded in Waterbury in 1937 by Frank Caiazzo, has five other locations in Connecticut.

Caiazzo was notable for his motto during the Great Depression: “Come in and eat or we’ll both starve!”

(City Photos/Michael P. Walsh)

Program supports kids with siblings with disabilities

WEST HAVEN, April 25, 2025 — West Haven Youth and Family Services is excited to launch a new program at WHINC in collaboration with Southern Connecticut SIBshop at Southern Connecticut State University.

The program, SIBshop, is designed to support children in West Haven who have siblings with disabilities.

SIBshops provide a unique space where children can connect with peers, enjoy recreational activities and build emotional resilience. While many children express positive experiences growing up alongside a sibling with a disability, they often face unique challenges, such as emotional stress, a heightened sense of responsibility or a drive to “compensate” through high achievement.

While the primary focus is on Spanish-speaking families, all are welcome. The program is limited to eight spots.

For more information, contact youth services coordinator Coraly Colon at 203-943-8802 or ccolon@westhaven-ct.gov.