Middletown ceremony celebrates new Beman Middle School
Cassandra Day MIDDLETOWN — Local dignitaries gathered Tuesday afternoon for a joy-filled, informal christening of the new Beman Middle School at the track which overlooks the massive building now under construction.
With the $87.35 million construction project humming along in the background, Board of Education officials and city leaders spoke to several-dozen members of the community — several of them instrumental in ushering the naming project to fruition. When done, the state-of-the-art building will incorporate an innovation lab and the latest tools used in 21st-century learning.
The crowd clapped and whistled as construction workers at the top of the building unveiled the temporary banner at the conclusion of the ceremony.
“The Beman family — they’re smiling on us today,” said the Rev. Moses Harville of Cross Street AME Zion Church before leading a prayer of blessing. “In the midst of a struggle, you can rise above slavery, racism, classism, sexism. … Peace and love, nurturing, caring and sharing are all that the Beman family represents.”
Superintendent of Schools Michael Conner said the occasion was “monumental for me, as a Black man, the history of this beautiful city, and our American history.”
He recalled the presentation by Wesleyan University assistant professor of African-American studies and Middlesex County Historical Society Director Jesse Nasta on the family’s local and national significance early on in the naming process.
“There was one thing that resonated with me: the last name, Beman. When you unwrap it, that last name is Be A Man. When you think about African-American history, we’ve been striving to be a man to be recognized in this country as a whole, not a half,” Conner said.
“Looking at it from an African-American, that brings significant context to me,” he said.
The Common Council officially named the new middle school, located in front of Woodrow Wilson Middle School on Wilderman’s Way, on Aug. 3.
Woodrow Wilson Principal Cheryl Gonzales, calling herself an advocate of social justice, said she was very pleased to be a part of the event honoring the legacy of a family “who stood at the forefront of abolition and the voting rights for African Americans. “We will honor the memory of Caesar, Jehiel and Leverett Beman, and Amos Beman by providing an equitable and future-driven education,” she said.
Common Council Majority Leader Gene Nocera, co-chairman of the middle school building committee, a role he shares with Councilwoman Jeanette Blackwell, said he’s pleased the banner will greet students when the 2020-21 academic year begins Thursday.
Middletown Public Schools will be operating under a hybrid plan of learning, with rotating in-person and virtual classes, during the pandemic.
Mayor Ben Florsheim called the new facility a monument to learning. “Victory has many fathers and mothers, and certainly all our due credit today. This is so much more than a school building. We are on a campus that is transformative for the whole city of Middletown.”
Board of Education Chairwoman Deborah Cain said the project was a yearlong effort by countless, committed people.
The Bemans bought parcels of land near Wesleyan University, known as the Beman Triangle, so African Americans could own their own property, she said. It encompasses a wedge-shaped block of land bordered by Vine and Cross streets, and Knowles Avenue on the western boundary of the school.
Five original homes remain there today, Cain said.
Board of Education member Lisa Loomis-Davern shared a quote from the book, “The Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler, which, she said, exemplifies the Bemans: “Everything you touch, you change, and everything you change changes you.”
“Regardless of the rocky and unforgiving soil that was around them, they persisted in planting seeds in the hope of shaping a more free and just future,” Loomis said. “Their name is our seed for this next generation.”
New highway signs, exit numbers planned for routes 2 and 11
Taylor Hartz New highway signs and exit numbers will be seen soon along Route 2 through Colchester, Norwich, Bozrah and Lebanon and Route 11 through Colchester and Salem.
The project, set to be completed by May of next year will include the replacement of on-ramp and off-ramp signs; large overhead guide signs; mile markers; exit gore signs; speed limit signs; and merge signs, the department said.
Signs will only be replaced if they have “exceeded their useful service life,” meaning they’re damaged, have poor reflectivity or don’t comply with state and federal standards, the department said.
To comply with federal standards, exit sign numbers will be changed from the current sequential numbering to mileage-based numbering that represents the mile marker the exit is located at on the route. For at least two years, “old exit” numbers will be posted adjacent to the new mileage exit signs while drivers become familiar with the new numbers, the department said.
On Route 11 northbound and southbound, Exit 5 Meadow Road will change to Exit 13 and Exit 6 Hayward Road will change to Exit 17. On Route 2, more than 30 exits will change, including Exit 17 to Colchester eastbound changing to Exit 22 and Exit 22 to Lebanon eastbound and westbound changing to Exit 31.
Visit the state DOT website, portal.ct.gov/dot, for a complete list of exit changes.
Anyone interested in obtaining more information on the changes is asked to email supervising engineer Barry Schilling at barry.schilling@ct.gov, referencing project number 0172-0490.
Port authority critic hit with felony charge for vandalism in New London
Greg Smith Kevin Blacker’s one-man crusade against the Connecticut Port Authority and fight against the transformation of State Pier into an offshore wind hub has led to a felony criminal charge.
State police charged the Noank man Tuesday with first-degree criminal mischief for using pink paint to cover several roadside directional signs on State Pier Road in New London.
Blacker called the move an act of civil disobedience to draw attention to “something I believe is really not right and something that is going to have a real negative impact on the region ... and on the state.”
The state has partnered with joint venture partners Ørsted and Eversource on a $157 million redevelopment of the New London port. Construction is slated to begin soon.
The pink on the signs was a reference to the famous pink home of Susette Kelo, whose attempt to fight the taking of her home by eminent domain at Fort Trumbull led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Kelo v. City of New London.
It’s not the first time Blacker has gotten into legal trouble for his cause. During a port authority meeting in Hartford in February, on the eve of the approval of the redevelopment plan for State Pier, Blacker stood up, disrupted the meeting and refused to leave until he was arrested. At the time, Blacker argued the plans for State Pier had been negotiated in secret and the Port Authority had broken the law. He later was charged with second-degree breach of peace, a misdemeanor.
The newest charge is a Class D felony and is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine with a conviction. One of the criteria for the charge of first-degree criminal mischief is damage to property in excess of $1,500. Blacker said police told him the damage was calculated to be $1,600. A representative from the Connecticut Port Authority was not immediately available to comment for this report.
Blacker said police called him to inform him of the active warrant for his arrest and he turned himself in at Troop E in Montville on his lunch break. He was photographed and fingerprinted and expected the arrest following a conversation with state police detectives last month in which he readily admitted to painting the signs.
“I told them exactly what I did,” Blacker said. “I just cooperated with them fully.”
Of the felony charge, Blacker said he wasn’t overly surprised, since he had read the law and knew it was possible.
“I went into it knowing whatever happens, I’m not going to be scared. I also knew either way, whatever happened, I was going to have myself in a position I wanted to be in,” Blacker said.
He said he had no immediate plans to hire a lawyer and was prepared to face the consequences of his actions, whatever they might be.
New CT budget is $2.1 B in the red, but all may not be gloom and doom
Keith M. Phaneuf he coronavirus continues to hit Connecticut’s economy hard, and — at least on paper — state finances are feeling the pain as well.
But things might not be as dire as they seem.
Though Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration projects a whopping $2.1 billion deficit for the new fiscal year, which began July 1, that is based partly on pessimistic stock market projections from April that — at least so far — haven’t come to pass.
And while Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo certified the administration’s deficit forecast Tuesday, the state’s chief fiscal watchdog also cautioned against making any knee-jerk budget adjustments.
“It’s very early on in the process, so we’ll have to watch that closely and adjust as things move forward,” Lembo said during an afternoon press conference, urging Lamont to stay in close consultation with legislative leaders. The budget “should not be on auto-pilot. It needs maintenance.”
Some legislators want to crack open the state’s record-setting $3 billion rainy day fund, which Lamont has been loathe to do. Others fear the governor will pursue emergency spending cuts amidst the pandemic — which also hasn’t happened yet.
The governor spoke on May 1 about the need for summer or fall spending cuts. But stocks were struggling at that time and Connecticut — which gets close to one-third of its income tax receipts from investment-related earnings — was anticipating unprecedented shortfalls.
Lamont warned then that a $2.5 billion budget reserve was shrinking and that the new fiscal year would open on July 1 with an even larger built-in deficit or $2.7 billion or more.
That didn’t happen.
Instead the rainy day fund exploded past $3 billion — exceeding its legal limit of 15% of annual operating expenses. And the deficit for the new fiscal year, though still huge, was downgraded from $2.7 billion to $2.1 billion.
Three months ago, administration officials warned state government would finish the 2020-21 fiscal year with an empty reserve and $500 million in operating debt — unless it cut spending and increased revenues.
Now it expects to wrap the year with more than $900 million still in the bank — and that’s assuming Congress doesn’t grant any additional pandemic relief to states.
And there is another reason to question whether even the $2.1 billion deficit forecast is too bleak.
The administration assumes income tax receipts tied to quarterly filings — which are dominated by capital gains, dividends and other investment earnings — will drop 32% this fiscal year. That’s a hit of nearly $800 million.
More importantly, that was part of projections developed in late April, when Connecticut had very little state income tax data. State and federal officials both deferred income tax filing deadlines from April 15 to July 15.
But since then, some key numbers have been very rosy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell from a Feb. 12 peak of 29,551 points to a March 23 trough of 18,592, had recovered 65% of its lost value by July 1. And it closed Tuesday at 28,645 points, just 3% off its February peak.
A recent survey by the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found only three states that fared better than Connecticut in terms of hitting their tax revenue projections for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
That doesn’t mean state government doesn’t face any threats to its tax revenues going forward.
Approximately 250,000 Connecticut residents still are collecting unemployment benefits and many businesses, particularly in the leisure and hospitality sector, are operating at reduced capacity or are closed entirely.
“An unprecedented COVID pandemic and the impact on CT’s economy and budget will require continuous monitoring, adaptation and agility,” Melissa McCaw, Lamont’s budget director, told the CT Mirror last week. “We will have to be spry on our fiscal feet.”
And while state income tax receipts surged this summer, most involved earnings in 2019 before the pandemic struck, McCaw said.
The Lamont administration also is projecting multi-billion-dollar deficits for the next two fiscal years, so even if the outlook is less grim than anticipated in 2020-21, the state still could be grappling with deficits for years to come.
“I can see a scenario where things are better than the forecast would lead us to believe,” Lembo said Tuesday, adding the administration’s deficit projections are based on limited data and a pandemic-induced recession that defies prognostication. “Are they cautious? Yes. Are they overly cautions? I don’t know if anyone has enough information to know is that is true yet.”
Lembo, one of those who spearheaded efforts to force state government to save more tax receipts during the past three years, added that regardless of how the numbers work out, Connecticut almost certainly is better prepared than most other states to maintain key services and programs during the recession.
Lamont moving forward with agency overhauls as wave of retirements approaches
Keith M. Phaneuf Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration will take a key step next month to prepare state agencies for the potential retirement of thousands of employees within the next two years.
The administration will hire a consultant to help departments better utilize technology, create other efficiencies and otherwise improve delivery of services — all with smaller staff.
“There’s an enormous opportunity here,” said Josh Geballe, Lamont’s chief operating officer. “Our agencies largely operate in silos, and as a result of that we sometimes provide very fragmented services to people.”
That opportunity stems, in part, from a 2017 concessions deal struck between state employee unions and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
That agreement tightens retirement benefits in several areas — including caps on pension adjustments and increased medical costs — for workers who leave service after June 30, 2022.
Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo, whose office first warned of a mass exodus had estimated last year that nearly 14,800 workers would be eligible for retirement by mid-2022. About 2,220 of those employees have since retired, but Lembo says 12,540 — roughly 25% of the workforce — still would be able to eligible two years from now.
That doesn’t mean state officials expect all of those potential retirees to step down in mid-2022. But most agree it does mean state operations are in for a substantial change.
“We’re talking about a loss of talent, a loss of experience,” the comptroller said. “Some of that can be healthy, if it’s handled correctly.”When veteran workers retire, “we lose the opportunity to groom the next group of people,” Lembo added. “Each one of these jobs has to be looked at very closely.”
Lamont has insisted since before he took office in 2019, that this “silver tsunami” presents an opportunity not only to save money, but also to improve delivery of services.
The governor inherited a network of agencies that often relies on fragmented and outdated information technology systems.
For example, when the coronavirus pandemic struck in March, the Department of Labor’s computer network — which relied largely on a COBOL programming language that dates back to the 1980s — was swamped by hundreds of thousands of applications for benefits. The agency had to redirect staff to prepare emergency programming modifications to correct the backlog.
Investments in technology can do more than allow agencies to operate more efficiently with fewer staffers, Geballe said. This venture also should enhance government’s ability to collect data and anticipate challenges before they arrive.
“Our agencies largely operate in silos,” Geballe said. “As a result of that we provide very fragmented services to people.”
For example, recipients of state-sponsored social and health care services routinely communicate with multiple state agencies. With better information sharing, agencies not only could avoid duplicative efforts, but also coordinate and improve services, Geballe said.
Lamont’s budget director, Office of Policy and Management Secretary Melissa McCaw, recently urged all department heads to be efficient with staffing as they prepare their requests for the next two-year state budget. The governor must propose that biennial plan to the General Assembly in February.“Agencies are therefore strongly encouraged to be creative in considering alternative service delivery models, updates to your practices and procedures, cross-agency collaborations, and other new ways to do business,” McCaw wrote.
But the leader of the largest state employee union said Thursday that the administration’s venture is inherently flawed.
“It is disappointing and rather perplexing that in an effort to save money the state would needlessly spend money,” said Jody Barr, executive director of Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “Once again, the state ends up hiring outside consultants rather than partnering with workers to find savings and plan for the future.”
Barr said the coronavirus pandemic has reminded Connecticut that “government is not a business and thus cannot be run as one.”
Many state agencies were able to maintain critical services specifically because they employed sufficient staff who adapted quickly to find solutions to new challenges, Barr added. “Connecticut was able to rely on its strong and resilient workforce that’s connected to the communities they serve.”
But Geballe added that while the wave of retirements should arrive in two years, the evolution of state agencies will take longer than that, giving officials ample time to make adjustments if problems develop.
“The plan is to embrace technology and really change how we operate state government,” he added. “That’s going to take a significant amount of time.”
PCBs discovered during a Fairfield wastewater plant project, town working on remediation
Josh LaBella FAIRFIELD — Construction on a project to make the wastewater treatment plant more resilient to coastal storms was halted for two weeks last month after PCBs were found in soil around the facility.
But Senior Civil Engineer Laura Pulie said construction on the project has resumed while the town is completing work on a remediation plan.
Acting Director of Public Works Brian Carey said the town is currently cleaning up the soil in the area of the project. The contaminated soil is unrelated to the fill pile scandal and cleanup will not impact any essential services, he said.
He said the contaminated soil was discovered in mid-April, when the hardening project began. Work was halted about half-way through August so officials could work out a plan to remove and replace the contaminated soil.
“The town, back in 2017, had done some preliminary sampling for geotechnical purposes, and they did take some environmental samples for pollutants, at which time they really didn’t find anything along the areas where they did test,” Carey said.
Fast forward to breaking ground on the project, Carey said, and some materials that were “oily in nature” started to crop up. Carey said the plant is built on landfill from the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, and was the location of a Nike site.
Nike sites were suface-to-air missiles bases built around population centers during the Cold War. There were 12 such sites in Connecticut, some of which were equipped with nuclear-tipped Nike Hercules missiles intended to shoot down entire bomber formations at once.
“These materials are from a historical source based on the nature of the fill being placed there,” Carey said of the site. “That site predates, really, any environmental laws. Any time you look at filled marshes in the state of Connecticut, or really in the Northeast, there’s a strong likelihood that it has some environmental impacts.”
Once the town found PCBs in area around the property, Carey said, it developed a remediation plan. He said the town also has been cooperating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
“Our (Licensed Environmental Professional), Tighe and Bond, basically has been working to actually go out there and sample the entire site where the project is going on in order to provide that data back to (DEEP) and EPA,” Carey said.
Carey said the town is currently on two paths to get things back on track. The first is remediation of a corridor of soil where a sheet pile wall is to be installed. Then Tighe and Bond will check areas for contaminants, green-lighting for construction if they are clean, or marking them for remediation if they are not.
“It’s kind of a hodgepodge of areas, because the material that was placed there was fill,” Carey said. “So, it’s not homogeneous across the site. There’s some areas that have (contaminants) and some that don’t.”
The hardening project is slated to cost $7.4 million, with $3.33 million being funded through a grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Developments Community Development Block Grant/Disaster Recovery.
“The goal of the project is basically to build a sheet pile wall around the entire plant with storm water improvements in order to protect the plant from sea level rise and any potential coastal storms,” he said.
Carey said he is hoping that remediation costs will not exceed funding provided in the budget for the plan. He said the town is currently determining if there will be any overages based on what has been approved, adding the town recently received an additional $300,000 for the project from the Connecticut Department of Housing.
Carey said First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick is putting together an update on the project that is scheduled to go out later in this week’s newsletter.
Himes, DeLauro announce $1.1 million in federal funding coming to the Valley
Michael P. Mayko SHELTON — More money — $1.1 million — is coming to the Valley courtesy of Washington, D.C.
U.S. Reps. Jim Himes and Rosa DeLauro, both D-Conn., announced Tuesday that two grants totaling $700,000 are coming to Shelton for brownfield assessment on Canal Street and cleanup of the former Star Pin Factory demolished following a June arson.
Another $400,000 from the CARES Recovery Act will be going to the 20-town Naugatuck Valley Corridor Economic Development District to help deal with businesses impacted by COVID19.
“This is a shot in the arm for all of us here,” said DeLauro, whose district includes the downtown area of Shelton, Ansonia, Derby and Seymour while Himes’ district includes Huntington and Oxford. “The Valley was the heart and soul of economic lifeblood in our state ... You deserve the support from the federal government.”
Himes said the grants are “critical” in turning “the industrial plants of yesteryear into the opportunities of today.”
“The moment is now,” he told a crowd of politicians and business leaders who were .. for the announcement. “Right now in New York City, people are figuring out that 10,000 people in a building ... may not be the best thing in the world of pandemics.”
As a result, Himes said, investors and developers are eyeing places like the Valley.
“The world is coming our way,” Himes said. “We need to use these funds and accelerate our work to make sure that we are here to be the home of the prosperity and economic growth that will come from that trend.”
Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti said grants like the ones just announced are necessary to “drive the Valley up and over the hurdles created by the COVID-19 crisis.”
Paul Grimmer, president of the Shelton Economic Development Corporation, said the $200,000 brownfields grant will be used to assess the hazardous materials in the last remaining brownfield on Canal Street — a former paper mill. It will pay for a Master Plan to determine the best approach for reusing the area around Canal as well as restoring it and its system of locks, he said.
He also said a walking trail could be built running from Wooster Street to Indian Wells State Park.
“What would be great would be to create a mixed use site there with passive recreation, a park and maybe a cafe near the locks,” said Jimmy Tickey, a member of Shelton’s Planning and Zoning commission, who currently works for Himes and previously served as DiLauro’s campaign manager. “That area is one of Shelton’s hidden gems.”
Grimmer said the $500,000 grant will be used for soil remediation at the Star Pin site. He said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has hired a contractor who will begin removing the debris in early October.
“Once they’re done ... we will then begin the remediation of the soil,” he said.
Grimmer said since 1996, some 15 of the 18 brownfields totaling 25.6 acres downtown have been remediated at a cost of $25 million. The area extends from the north end of Canal Street to the Route 8 bridge.
He said that money from the city, state and local governments has resulted in private developers investing $127 million — mostly in apartment complexes holding a total of more than 400 units with more under construction — and a 13,000 square foot commercial building. There is also 8.5 acres of open space which includes the Shelton-Derby Rotary Pavilion, the War Monuments and the Housatonic Riverwalk.
The $400,000 CARES Recovery Act grant given to the Naugatuck Valley Corridor Economic Development District will be used to develop an economic recovery and resiliency plan to address COVID19 issues in the business and municipal communities, said Sheila O’Malley, Ansonia’s economic development director and chair of the NVCEDD.
“The pandemic has resulted in an economic loss to all of our communities,” said John Marini, Ansonia’s corporation counsel who attended the event with O’Malley and Cassetti.
The grants “create a mechanism for regional economic development and recovery ... that will help communities get back on their feet faster.”