In order to label a long-awaited new neuroscience center with a 20-foot-long sign 177 feet above ground, Yale New Haven Health needed the Board of Alders to amend zoning regulations impacting the development. Alders passed such an amendment enabling the sign on Monday evening with a favorable vo te from nearly everyone on the board — except for Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller. It wasn’t that Miller had any particular objections to the prospect of lit-up signs reading “Yale New Haven Health” and “Yale New Haven Health Adams Neurosciences Center” at the new building under construction at Sherman Avenue and George Street. She voted no, she said after Monday’s meeting, because she saw an opportunity to use the Board of Alders’ leverage to advocate for more city funding from Yale and Yale New Haven Health. “We often speak about Yale University paying their fair share to the city, and at the same time, we vote thru many items at the request of the university,” she said. “As long as the fair share is not being paid, we shouldn’t be voting through” requests like the signage zoning change. “We get a lot of requests to do things for Yale,” she added. “We have a request for Yale that should be met before we let anything else through.” In this case, Yale New Haven Health (which is a separate entity from Yale University, although the institutions frequently collaborate) had requested a change to the planned development district regulations impacting its neuroscience-center-in-progress, for which construction is slated to be completed by October. Specifically, the health system is seeking to enable two illuminated signs reading “Yale New Haven Health” and “Yale New Haven Health Adams Neurosciences Center.” (Read more about those proposed signs here.) This request came because the city is currently bracing for a drop in the annual “voluntary contribution” from Yale as agreed upon in a 2021 deal. The deal, which lasts through June 2027, has required Yale to pay the city between $23 million and $24.3 million each year until the agreement’s final year, during which the contribution will drop to $16.6 million. The contributions are sometimes referred to as “Payment in Lieu of Taxes,” as much of Yale’s property in the city is non-taxable under state law. The university reported earning $2.1 billion in income from its endowment investments in Fiscal Year 2025, which amounts to about three times the city’s entire general fund budget. The question of how alders will leverage their power in talks with the university also arises as two politically influential Yale unions, Locals 34 and 35, embark on contract negotiations with the university. Since 2011, Yale union organizers and their allies have had a substantial presence on the local legislative body. Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers is a chief steward of Local 35, and Beaver Hills Alder Brian Wingate is Local 35’s vice president. Meanwhile, Westville Alder and City Plan Commissioner Adam Marchand is a chief steward of Local 34. Asked about Miller’s stance on the neuroscience center sign, Marchand, who voted for the zoning allowance as both an alder and a member of the City Plan Commission, said he didn’t see the signage request as an effective opportunity to negotiate with Yale and Yale New Haven Health. “It’s a request to be able to put up a bigger sign than the underlying zoning would permit. It’s [a] pretty small and technical matter,” Marchand said. “We dealt with the matter on its merits and we agreed that that kind of signage was appropriate for the building. I didn’t see that particular request as tapping into bigger issues.” Marchand, who is a chief steward of the Local 34 Unite Here union at Yale, noted that he agrees that Yale should be contributing more to the city. “Are we gonna be pushing Yale to do more? Of course,” he said. He said he envisions the role of alders as community organizers in advocating for more funding from Yale. “We talk about it with our neighbors, we have office hours, we knock on doors, and we invite neighbors to come out with us to demonstrate their resolve on this point. That’s where I think the most important talking matters,” he said. “The real power comes from the people and we’re gonna hear a lot more about that in the weeks and months ahead.” The post Neuro Center Signs Approved; Yale Protest Vote Lodged appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less