Monthly Update: Sept. 2024

people carrying trash bags
Join us for a Six Lakes trash cleanup on Sunday, Oct. 20th

Even though we can't get on the Six Lakes property, we can show it some love--and show the Town of Hamden, CT DEEP, and Olin we care!

Please join the Six Lakes Park Coalition for a cleanup of trash along the Six Lakes perimeter on

Sunday, Oct. 20, from noon to 2 p.m.

Afterward, you'll have a chance to connect with other coalition members, learn more about Six Lakes, and sign our petition, which now has over 1,300 signatures! We'll also be providing hot drinks and snacks to warm you up before you head home.

Our cleanup is part of Save the Sound's Connecticut Cleanup program, which supports up to 75 cleanups every year at parks, beaches, and rivers, keeping trash out of our waterways. At Six Lakes, we'll be helping to protect not only the ponds there, but also Lake Whitney and the Mill River, which flows into Long Island Sound. Each year, more than 2,000 volunteers pick up several tons of trash through the Connecticut Cleanup, which Save the Sound hosts as part of the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup. We'll be tracking the trash we collect so it can become part of the larger data set on the types of trash that are most common and the hazards they pose to our water and our health.

Register to join us on October 20th! 

When you fill out Save the Sound's form, indicate that you will attend the Hamden-Six Lakes cleanup.

 

Photo: Volunteers collect trash at a recent cleanup event at West River Memorial Park in New Haven.

Vision Report in progress

Our heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone who participated in this summer's visioning process! A total of 92 people turned out for four in-person workshops held in July to learn more about Six Lakes and brainstorm a future vision for its end use as public space. And a whopping 462 people from greater New Haven filled out our survey. We've been busy analyzing and compiling what we've learned, and we'll be sharing a final Vision Report with key decisionmakers and all of you in November. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, if you haven't yet signed our Six Lakes petition, what are you waiting for? Click here now to join us in our work to clean up and repurpose Six Lakes as a public space welcoming to all!

Speaking of petitions...

Please help our friends at Eli's Garden of Healing move closer to their goal of transforming an abandoned Winchester machine gun test firing range into a healing garden by signing their petition, too. When completed, Eli's Garden will be located just across Leeder Hill Drive from Six Lakes.

Eli's Garden petition

Eli's Garden intends to become "a beacon of hope and resilience for the Hamden community, offering resources and support in the wake of traumatic experiences," as their website says. This project honors the life of Elijah Gomez of Hamden, who was murdered in 2022. You can learn more about Eli's Garden at elisgardenofhealing.com.