Sacred Heart's Martire Family Arena taking shape
FAIRFIELD — They are only little boxes of concrete, placed
in two arcs around a sea of soil and fill at Sacred Heart University’s West
Campus. the former General Electric headquarters.
For anyone who has ever spent enough time at a hockey rink,
though, the inner arc especially paints a clear picture. The boxes are footings
for the seating bowl at Martire
Family Arena, planned to open in January 2023.
The arc they make traces what will be the western edge of
the playing surface.
“It’s real,” said deputy director of athletics Charlie Dowd.
He could’ve added a “finally”; it sometimes felt as if this project had been
one or two years away for a decade or more.
But shovels and much heavier equipment are in the ground.
Workers continue to set concrete around the floor of the $70 million project,
which will produce a nearly 4,000-seat facility.
“The next (big milestone) is Aug. 9. Steel comes in right afterward,”
said Marc Izzo, Sacred Heart’s associate vice resident for construction and
facilities management. “We figure the roof by January or February.
The topography of the land was a challenge, Izzo said. It
sloped down to the north, away from the existing
buildings.
“We had to cut down over 25 feet from what was here, the
existing grade,” Izzo said. “The whole south side of the building was all rock.
You could see it’s all blasted. That (north) side is a fill.”
Rock blasted out of the site is crushed and processed there
and used in the project.
“Don’t forget,” Izzo added, “this was all trees, too. We had
to clear-cut.”
Further down the hill at GE’s old helicopter pads, the team
produces mock-ups of pieces of the project’s future. On Thursday, there were
trusses for the roof.
The varsity hockey teams’ dressing-room complexes will
occupy the south side of the arena; workers were digging a pit for a therapy
pool with a treadmill on Thursday.
The figure skating team’s dressing room and the visitors’
room (and bench) will be on the opposite side along with four other dressing
rooms for other teams using the arena.
“The building is being built in such a way that with four
varsity programs, nobody gets in anybody’s way,” Dowd said. “The detail and
planning have been crazy.”
A bridge will connect the 122,500-square-foot arena’s
southwest corner with the existing buildings and their parking garages.
The target is to have the teams practicing in the arena
around Thanksgiving 2022. The men’s team gets the first game, Jan. 14, 2023,
against Boston College, and the women’s team hosts Harvard the next day.
Security, infrastructure funding approved for Milford schools
Saul Flores
MILFORD — More than $665,000 was recently approved by the
permanent school facilities building committee for funding security and
infrastructure upgrades in schools throughout the Milford Public Schools.
“One of the highest and enduring priorities of Milford
Public Schools is to ensure that our school buildings are safe, healthy,
orderly and caring places that support and promote student learning and
positive relationships,” said James Richetelli, Milford Public Schools chief
operations officer.
Committee Chairman Matthew Woods said they don’t like to
publicize the security updates but they are important for the schools.
Security was the biggest ticket item, including $61,561 for
security projects at John F. Kennedy Elementary School, $109,096 for Mathewson
Elementary School, $98,259 for Orange Avenue Elementary, $145,688 for East
Shore Middle School, $110,712 for Joseph Foran High School and $3,600 for both
Live Oaks and Calf Pen Meadow Elementary Schools.
“By constantly upgrading our security infrastructure with
the latest and most sophisticated products and systems, students, parents,
staff and the community can feel safe and secure,” said Richetelli. “This
creates an environment that is conducive to effective teaching and learning.”
The committee also approved $96,915 for the addition,
renovation and upgrades at Pumpkin Delight Elementary School.
“The main project right now is Pumpkin Delight,” said Woods.
In May, the Milford Board of Aldermen unanimously approved
a $12.9
million appropriation for the Pumpkin Delight project. As the city’s
oldest school, the finished project could give it some of the most modern
facilities in the school district. The project is in the design phase, with
construction scheduled to begin in 2022.
“We finished the West Shore project and before that, we did
the East Shore Middle School project and we’ve done a whole series of other
projects,” said Woods. “This is our first major project at Pumpkin Delight in
about 50 years, although we did replace the windows, the roof and we put an
elevator in.”
The elementary school was built in 1949 and has not had any
major renovations since 1955. School officials said the renovation would keep
Pumpkin Delight a modern learning environment for at least the next 20 years.
“We are very excited about it, and the principal, families
and students are excited as well,” said Woods.
During the meeting, Jorgensen said the roof project at
Jonathan Law High School is done. However, they are waiting for the interior
fall protection screen to be completed.
“The screen was supposed to come with the skylight,
unfortunately, it did not. So the company is sending it separately,” he said,
adding that they expect to close out the project in July.
'Little towns are suffering': Windham Co. leaders press Sen. Blumenthal on infrastructure
DANIELSON – U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Thursday heard
from a group of more than 20 northeastern Connecticut business, municipal and
community leaders during an open forum that touched on the infrastructure,
COVID-19 and cyber-security issues.
President Joe Biden’s push for a bipartisan infrastructure
bill, expected to hit the U.S. Senate floor later this month, framed much of
the discussion at the Northeastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce headquarters
building with Blumenthal calling the proposed action “long overdue.”
“We are at a critical juncture in the nation’s history,”
Blumenthal said. “Frankly, I’m embarrassed there hasn’t been more national
leadership on the issue.”
And while much of the state- and national-level
conversations on the issue have revolved around the necessity for rail, road
and bridge improvements, locally, it’s more basic transportation challenges
that need addressing, Day Kimball Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Kyle
Kramer said.
Kramer said a lack of flexible public transportation in
Windham County means missed appointments.
“Without that community transportation, patients can’t keep
their follow-ups, can’t make it to the hospital,” he said. “People routinely
miss physical therapy appointments because they can’t get there.”
Chamber President Shawn Johnston added local companies also
see complications crop up with workers unable to physically get to a job, while
Putnam Mayor Barney Seney said infrastructure-related issues constitute the
“biggest weaknesses” of small towns.
“Infrastructure is one of the ways to attract businesses,”
he said. “Little towns are suffering.”
Blumenthal described the bill as a “once-in-a-generation”
opportunity to address infrastructure problems, though he hoped a larger
package that addresses “human infrastructure needs,” like the lack of universal
daycare, will be taken up by legislators in the future.
John Miller, president of the Putnam-based National Chromium
company, said the region’s manufacturing industry hasn’t been immune from the
national epidemic of ransomware attacks.
I’m afraid this will be the number one issue,” he said.
Blumenthal, a member of the Senate’s Armed Services
Committee, said the more he’s learned about ransomware attacks through
classified briefings leads him to become “more horrified” about the
vulnerabilities in the nation’s cyber systems. He said the frequency of
ransomware incidents requires a re-assessment of what constitutes an act of war
in today’s computer-connected climate.
“We don’t have a policy and we don’t have an adequate
cyber-defense to repel and keep out (attackers),” he said.
Blumenthal said the country needs to look back to the Cold
War, nuclear-era concept of mutually-assured destruction as a robust deterrent measure.
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Blumenthal pitches relief bill at Dodd
“Our financial systems, utilities and health care systems
can all be taken down,” he said. “The best defense is a good offense.”
Blumenthal praised the state’s COVID-19 response noting the
lack of face masks at Thursday’s meeting spoke volumes on the progress up to
now. When asked about his biggest take-away from the “searing” experience of
the pandemic, the senator highlighted the importance of heeding experts’
advice.
“Listen to the science, the medical experts, like most of us
do in our everyday lives,” he said. “If we acted more strategically, we could
have averted this tragedy. But the miracle is, we developed a vaccine. Invest
in the research, listen to the scientists and respect the science.”