THE SUZIO STORY 125 YEARS OF FAMILY ENTERPRISE PHILANTHROPY AND SERVICE
The Meriden Historical Society is hosting an exhibit entitled "The Suzio Story - 125 Years of Enterprise, Family, Philanthropy, and Service" at its Museum and History Center, at 41 West Main Street in Meriden every Sunday in October from 11:00 to 3:00
Featuring memorabilia and photographs from Suzio headquarters on Westfield Road as well as videos of interviews with past and present employees
Capturing the remarkable story of a 21 year old Italian immigrant, Leonardo Suzio, who grew Suzio York Hill into one of the most successful and enduring family-owned businesses in Connecticut history starting in 1898
Including the role of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation Suzio members and Henry Altobello in the evolution and growth of the business from building (1910's) to road construction (1930's) to building materials (1955 - today)
Highlighting Suzio loyalty to its origin city Meriden, its employees, its vendors, and its community.
CT to leave big transportation funds unspent
President Joe Biden and Congress have dangled $1.2 trillion
in matching funds before states for the past two years, challenging them to
invest in their aging highways, bridges and other infrastructure.
But Connecticut has resisted that lure somewhat, leaving
hundreds of millions of dollars unspent in its transportation fund since 2021 —
and projecting another huge surplus in the program this fiscal year.
And while the State Bond Commission continues to approve
financing for transportation work, that doesn’t always mean Connecticut will
actually borrow and spend the funds in a timely fashion.
According to the treasurer’s office, nearly
$5.4 billion in commission-approved bonding still hasn’t been issued,
a backlog more than six times the size of Connecticut’s projected
transportation borrowing this year.
Meanwhile, the state’s approach has left construction industries and workers frustrated, and Connecticut’s gasoline station owners are calling for an immediate reduction in state fuel taxes.
“Why shouldn’t the state deliver relief to its taxpayers?”
said Michael Fox, executive director of the Connecticut-based Gasoline &
Automotive Service Dealers of America, commonly known as GASDA. “They need
energy price relief, and they need inflation relief.”
Fox, whose organization represents about 500 stations, said
the state budget’s Special Transportation Fund certainly can spare the revenue.
More
than 40% of the $2.15 billion fund covers the debt service on the
bonds Connecticut issues to finance upgrades to its aging infrastructure, while
another 40% pays for Department of Transportation operations and public transit
programs. The rest covers the Department of Motor Vehicles and fringe benefits
costs.
The STF is on pace to close $204
million or almost 10% in the black when the fiscal year ends June 30,
according to Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget agency, the Office of Policy and
Management.
The fund closed the 2022-23 fiscal year with a 15% surplus,
equal to $277 million, according to final numbers from the state
comptroller’s office. And that was despite a 13-month gasoline
tax holiday that returned about $330 million to motorists. Most of
that loss, $240 million, occurred during the 2022-23 fiscal year.
The rest of the expense tied to that holiday, about $90
million came at the end of the 2021-22 fiscal year, when finances still
finished with a 4% surplus, leaving about $79 million unspent.
The Special Transportation Fund gets most of its revenues
from retail and wholesale taxes on fuel, plus a share of sales tax receipts.
Fox wants the legislature to eliminate the wholesale levy,
which adds 8.81% to the price of gasoline when its delivered to local stations.
That full cost is then built into the price charged to motorists.
Based on the $2.54 per gallon average wholesale price in the
middle of this past week at New Haven harbor — the single-largest fuel
importing site in the state — the tax currently adds about 22 cents per gallon
to the price.
The state also tacks on a flat, 25-cents-per-gallon retail
tax.
Lamont’s budget staff estimates the wholesale tax would
generate $387 million this fiscal year, or almost twice the $204 million
projected transportation fund surplus.
Given last year’s windfall as well, Fox says he believes the
state still could afford that tax cut. But if officials are wary, he added,
they always could phase the relief in over a few years.
Gas station owners aren’t the only ones interested in
relief.
Fuel distributors also say that if Connecticut isn’t going to
spend more fixing its highways, bridges and rail lines, then consumers should
benefit.
Chris Herb, president and CEO of the Connecticut Energy
Marketers Association, noted that the wholesale tax originally was created more
than four decades ago to help fund clean-up of underground fuel tank leaks — a
program legislators voted
to phase out back in 2012.
The wholesale tax at least should be reduced to reflect the
fact that it no longer funds that assistance, Herb said.
And Patrick Sasser of Stamford, founder of the No Tolls CT
grassroots organization that battled Lamont’s efforts to establish tolls in 2019
and 2020, said governors and many legislators have been insisting for nearly
two decades that the STF will need more revenue since capital road work will
begin to increase very soon.
“It becomes a bit of fear mongering, because they tell us
they need the money to make these repairs,” he said. “They scare us and tell us
the bridges are going to collapse, yet they don’t use the money.”
There are numbers to back Sasser’s argument.
CT spending on infrastructure upgrades has grown modestly
under Lamont
Connecticut was borrowing about $600 million to $700 million
per year for transportation projects in the mid-2010s and pairing it with about
$700 million in federal construction grants. But DOT officials said then that
capital budget of about $1.4 billion needed to be closer to $2 billion to cover
both safety upgrades and projects to reduce congestion.
Connecticut issued an annual average of $725 million in
transportation bonds between 2015 and 2018 under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy,
according to debt
reports from the state treasurer’s office. During Lamont’s first term, the
annual average ticked upward just 2.6%, reaching $744 million — even though STF
revenues grew 22% over those four years.
Borrowing covered by the Special Transportation Fund did
rise 11.5% last fiscal year, reaching $830 million. And the Lamont
administration had construction industry and trade officials excited last November
when it projected the
investment would grow to $1 billion in 2023-24. Federal grants
under the new
Biden initiative are covering 80%
to 90% of the cost of many transportation projects, meaning the more
states commit, the more overall funding they can leverage.
But in the latest monthly debt report issued by state
Treasurer Erick Russell’s office, it indicated Connecticut plans to issue $875
million this fiscal year, just a 5.4% increase.
The treasurer’s projections usually are based on whatever
the administration — and specifically the Department of Transportation — is
prepared to spend.
Both construction management and labor reacted this week
with disappointment.
“We should be bonding at $1.25 billion to $1.5 billion a
year right now,” said Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction
Industry Association, who added the extra borrowing would amount to a massive
infusion in the state’s economy given the huge potential aid from Washington.
“It yields one of the highest returns on investments for government spending.”
“We are sitting on a lot of money,” said Nate Brown,
political director and business agent for the International Union of Operating
Engineers, Local 478. “We don’t want to miss this opportunity. At some point
that [federal] money … will dry up.”
Lamont administration: ‘We expect to use all the revenue’
The state Department of Transportation wrote in a statement
that Connecticut has leveraged more than $280 million in federal discretionary
grants to date. The department “is also accelerating existing projects so they
can be completed sooner, freeing up resources for other much-needed work,” it
continued. “CTDOT is leveraging billions of state and federal dollars which are
going towards improving the state’s infrastructure, helping grow the economy,
generating jobs, connecting communities, and creating safe and accessible
passageways for more people”
The Lamont administration is expected Friday to release a
new bond commission agenda that endorses about $400 million in transportation
borrowing that would leverage another $2 billion in federal funds.
But despite bond commission approval, the state traditionally
doesn’t borrow funds until the DOT is ready to spend the dollars.
The backlog of approved transportation bonding that hasn’t
been issued or spent more than doubled under Malloy and has swelled by almost
40%, from $3.9 billion to $5.4 billion, since Lamont took office in January
2019, according
to the treasurer’s records.
State employee labor unions argue the department has been
plagued for more than a decade by a shortage of engineers, planners and
architects that make it difficult to launch projects quickly.
Shubert and Brown both said they oppose cutting fuel taxes
or taking any resources away from the Special Transportation Fund. And both
also said they believe DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto, who inherited many
challenges when Lamont
tapped him nine months ago to run the department, will find a way to
get more projects moving.
Lamont’s budget office had been projecting as
late as February that the Special Transportation Fund would remain in
surplus through mid-2026. His budget spokesman, Chris Collibee, said the office
now projects an operating deficit two-and-a-half years from now, though he
didn’t release specific numbers.
But even if the fund slips into the red by 2026, the
administration also projected the transportation fund reserve — which holds its
cumulative surpluses — will hold almost $1.2 billion by then. That’s more than
half of this year’s entire Special Transportation Fund.
Collibee added that “we expect to use all the revenue going
into the fund for the purposes to which they are dedicated. The nature of
transportation investments are such that the drawdown of funds can sometimes
take a number of years.”
Proposed Thompsonville train station would restore rail service to Enfield for first time since 1986
ENFIELD — When the
long-awaited train station is up and running in the Thompsonville
section of town, state transportation officials say it will reconnect Enfield
to other parts of Connecticut and beyond. The town hasn't had access to rail in
more than 37 years.
The old Enfield train station — once a
destination for President Harry S. Truman — operated for over a century
before being closed in 1986.
The proposed project would provide a convenient alternative
to car travel, and connect the town via Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor to New York
and Boston, according to the state Department of Transportation. The proposed
project would be serviced by CTrail's Hartford Line, providing an additional
option to the existing bus service.
Another
train station is currently under construction in Windsor Locks and is
scheduled to open in 2025.
Construction of the Enfield station is anticipated to begin
in spring 2025, depending on the acquisition of rights of way and approval of
permits. According to the DOT, the estimated construction cost for the project
is about $45.5 million, and with an anticipated 40 percent coming from federal
funds and 60 percent from state funds.
Details of the project include a 500-foot level-boarding
platform, a utility building accompanied by a waiting area, and a station
parking lot. Design for the station is at the 30 percent mark and DOT staff are
looking for feedback on its initial drawings and plans.
To that end, department officials will hold an informational
meeting on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Town Hall and streamed live on DOT's YouTube
page. A question-and-answer period will follow the presentation.
The meeting will also kick off and explain the National
Environmental Policy Act process, which is required because the DOT has
received grants from federal agencies to assist in funding construction of the
proposed station. The process “will evaluate and report on impacts of the
proposed project to the natural and human environment and affords additional
opportunities to comment on the project in the future,” the agency said in a
statement.
The project is also consistent with state and local planning
initiatives for responsible growth and long-term sustainability, according to
the statement.
Enfield officials have said the station will be the
centerpiece of infrastructure investment and revitalizing Thompsonville is the
borough in town with the highest level of unemployment, the densest housing,
and the largest population of residents who don't own vehicles, leading to limited
employment options.
Town Manager Ellen Zoppo Sassu said the "huge
population" of daily commuters would benefit, as would the surrounding
area, as local leaders are committed to expanding the bus system to add stops
at the station.
"It's going to be a new chapter in Thompsonville, which
will benefit all of Enfield," she said.
Other
Thompsonville projects include improvements for Higgins Park and
additional parking spaces at the Town Hall complex, and a transit-oriented,
mixed-income, multifamily housing project on town-owned properties that once
housed the Strand Theater and the Angelo Lamagna Activity Center.
Bradley International Airport gets over $94 million for new building, improvements
The Connecticut
Airport Authority is getting nearly $100 million of federal funding
for three of its airports.
The bulk of the $99.27 million will go to Bradley International Airport, which is
in Windsor Locks. Bradley got $76.14 million for an inline baggage screening
building, $17.96 million for a vertical circulation project and $278,643 for a
taxiway extension project.
Groton-New
London Airport will get nearly $2.91 million in federal money for
airfield lighting and new signs for the facility. Hartford-Brainard
Airport will get nearly $1.98 million in federal grant to be used for easement
acquisition and obstruction removal.
Kevin Dillon, the Authority's executive director, thanked
Gov. Ned Lamont and the state's legislative delegation in Washington for
"fighting to bring this important funding home for CAA facilities ... as
we continue to develop and maintain safe, efficient, and customer-focused
facilities."
Lamont said improvement of Authority's airports "make
our state an increasingly attractive destination for companies to grow their
operations."
The grants will allow officials at Bradley International,
which is New England's second busiest airport, to "create an easier and
more streamlined airport experience for travelers, according to U.S. Senator
Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
"Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Bradley
will upgrade its TSA baggage screening systems and expand ticketing counters –
helping cut down lines and save travelers time," Blumenthal said.
Bradley’s new inline baggage screening building has a
projected cost of nearly $151 million. It includes, the construction of a new
TSA secure baggage inspections and baggage handling system, involving over a
mile of conveyer belt systems.
Currently, passengers checking bags must present them to the
ticket counter for tagging and then wheel their bags to the airport's
Computer Tomography X-ray machines, which are operated by TSA in the
ticketing lobby, said Alisa Sisic, an Airport Authority
spokeswoman. Once the project is completed, passengers will hand their checked
bags to the ticketing agent for tagging, who will place them on a conveyer belt
for routing to the new screening facility, Sisic said.
Once the baggage X-ray machines are removed from the airport
ticketing lobby, there will be space for additional ticket counter positions
and allowing for additional airline service growth, she said.
The new baggage facility is under construction adjacent to
the terminal building. It will also allow for the future construction of new
gate and concession space, resulting in an increase of two new gates at the
airport, Sisic said.
Bradley's vertical circulation project has a total project
cost of nearly $59 million. It will expand the facility by an additional 22,000
square feet to accommodate new elevators and escalators on both ends of the terminal
provide passenger exit points at the end of each concourse, rather than routing
passengers through one, centrally located exit lane, she said.
In addition, the passenger circulation projects will
allow for the closure of the existing exit lane and a significant expansion of
the current TSA security checkpoint area.
Sisic said the federal grant money will allow the
Airport Authority to continue studying the extension of Taxiway T at
Bradley. This project, if undertaken, would significantly improve the
development prospects for one of the airport’s largest undeveloped parcels.
Sisic said the Groton-New London Airport airfield will
get new edge lighting installed as well as LED signs at the airport,
improving the visibility of airfield resources She said the
Hartford-Brainard easement acquisition and obstruction removal project will
mitigate various airspace encroachments surrounding the airport, providing
pilots with safe approach surfaces at the facility.
The $99.27 million includes such sources as the Federal
Aviation Administration's Airport Improvement Program funds, Transportation
Security Administration funds, and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds.
Nearly $26 million of that funding was from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
grants, which are competitive grants, according to Airport Authority officials.
New Haven board approves plan to transform Strong School into affordable housing, community space
NEW HAVEN — A plan to transform the former Strong School
into affordable apartments and community space has won zoning approval.
The decision to renovate the Strong School, which has sat vacant at 69 Grand Ave. for
more than a decade, passed in a 5-0 vote at the New Haven City Plan Commission
meeting on Sept. 20. During the public hearing portion of the meeting, several
community members spoke in support of the project. The commission received 10
letters of support as well. Construction is anticipated to begin in late 2024.
The original building on the site was built in 1808 and
served as New Haven’s first public school, according to Ward 14 Alder Sarah
Miller. That building was torn down and the site was turned into the Strong
Grammar School, named for Major Henry H. Strong, a representative in the
Connecticut General Assembly and a member of the New Haven Board of Education,
according to the New Haven Museum. The museum says that it was known as the
best public grammar school in the state.
The current building was built in 1915 after a fire
destroyed the previous Strong School; the school has been empty but on the city
tax roll since 2010, according to the museum. Since then, there have been multiple attempts to redevelop it.
Miller said in an email that the school is a major city
landmark and defining structure of the Grand Avenue corridor. But it has been
subject to water damage, vandalism and other disrepair, according to Meaghan
Miles, an attorney who represents the developer, Pennrose, and presented the plan at the City Plan
Commission meeting.
In the approved plan, the classrooms will become dwelling
units and the auditorium will become a space for community programs such as
health clinics and art shows, Miles said. The application says the project will
provide 58 mixed-income housing units, all of which will be tax credit eligible
up to 80 percent of the area median income. It will be a mix of studios,
one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units.
A multistory lounge, called “the connector,” which would
feature artwork displays on the interior and exterior for residents and the
community, is being considered for the building. The proposal also
includes 19 parking spaces, four on-site and 15 in a nearby public lot.
Miller said in an email Thursday that redevelopment of the
site is an essential step in the revitalization of the Grand Avenue corridor
and neighborhood as a whole.
“This proposal fulfills community-defined values and
priorities of artistic and cultural enrichment, accessibility and inclusion,
and historic preservation, which were expressed through a multi-year engagement
process that involved hundreds of neighborhood residents,” she said. “It adds
affordable housing and gathering space, supports local artists and arts
culture, adds to our local tax base, and restores a historic building for a new
generation.”
The developer, Pennrose, has experience turning schools into
housing, such as the Mary D. Stone Apartments and Julia Bancroft Apartments in
Auburn, MA, according to Pennrose Senior Developer Karmen Cheung. Cheung said
Pennrose has developed LGBTQ-affirming projects with nonprofits across the
nation, like The Pryde in Boston, John Arthur Flats in Cincinnati
and John C. Anderson in Philadelphia.
Pennrose is partnering with the New Haven Pride Center on
the project. Executive director of the center, Juancarlos Soto, said Pennrose
reached out to the center about the partnership, which is the first time the it
has partnered with a developer.
Soto said the partnership “goes beyond putting a rainbow on
a wall.” It could include putting a satellite office in the building, extending
Pride Center programs such as the food pantry and gender-affirming clothing
closet, and developing programming that is inviting to the whole community,
regardless of where people stand on the spectrum of gender and sexuality.
“Fair Haven holds a really near and dear place in my
heart,” Soto said, “so to see a developer come in and treat it with such
respect — I'm in.”
CT outdoor mall to get 165 more apartments. Here’s how many will be affordable housing.
South Windsor on Tuesday approved a
developer’s plan to build another 165 apartments near Evergreen Walk, but set several
conditions to ensure that people renting the 21 “affordable housing” units will
be treated the same as tenants paying market rate rents.
Howard Rappaport’s Longleaf Developers LLC told the planning
and zoning commission Tuesday night that its plans changed since they were
initially presented a year ago, but emphasized that the affordable housing and
accessible housing components remained the same.
“A critical design element that has carried through is to
create adaptable, accessible units in a manner in which potential tenants —
particularly tenants with disabilities — will be able to make use of these
properties,” said Peter Alter, a Glastonbury attorney representing the
developer.
Two four-story buildings will hold a total of 75 apartments;
both buildings will have elevators so they’re available to the disabled, Alter
said. He called the design “an opportunity for people who otherwise might not
be able to make use of apartment living.”
The remaining 90 apartments will be spread among a series of
five- and 10-unit buildings and will be a bit different than traditional
apartment complex living, Alter said.
The project will be an extension of Rappaport’s Tempo
Evergreen Walk, a 200-unit complex behind the shopping plaza. But James
Cassidy, project engineer, said the 165 new apartments won’t replicate Tempo,
an all market-rate series of three-story buildings with 24 apartments each.
“What we’re proposing to do is to provide a different type
of product. We’re trying to introduce a cottage-style unit that’s more like
individual living,” Cassidy told the commission.
Those apartments will be clustered in five- and 10-unit
buildings, but each will have a dedicated garage with direct access inside.
The new project, to be called The Residences at Evergreen
Walk, will include a clubhouse with a pool. Near that will be the two
four-story buildings, one with 38 apartments and the other with 37.
When the plans were initially shown last year, some nearby
homeowners objected to the visual impact of having such tall buildings along
the western perimeter of the 31-acre property. The western end is closest to
their homes.
In response to neighbors’ concerns, Rappaport moved the two
four-story buildings away from the western edge of the project and into the
center, Cassidy said. The two buildings along the western edge were redesigned
as part of the series of two-story buildings with “cottage” units.
Alter acknowledged that the commission had previously
expressed concern that the 21 affordable units would be among the last ones
built, and thus potentially at risk if the construction abruptly ended while
most of the rest of the market-rate units were ready to lease. The affordable
units are planned to be built in the two four-story buildings.
After discussions with Rappaport, Alter suggested the
commission could stipulate that the town would issue certificates of occupancy
for only half of the cottage units, and would hold back the rest until the
four-story buildings were completed and ready to lease.
That would give commissioners “the reassurance that the
developer would stay the course and finish the project,” Alter said.
Alter also assured the commission that Rappaport would
disperse the affordable apartments throughout both buildings and on various
floors so they’re not clustered in any way.
The Residences apartments will be a mix of one- and
two-bedroom units. The developer hasn’t announced the projected rents, but it
published a chart showing what the monthly cost for the 21 affordable units
would be if they were available now.
Rent on a one-bedroom apartment for tenants making 80% of
the region’s median income would be capped at $1,324; a two-bedroom could go
for no more than $1,649.
Commissioners unanimously approved the developer’s site
plan, with Town Planner Michele Lipe noting numerous conditions. They include
the developer submitting an affordability plan stating that appliances in
affordable units will be the same as in market-rate units, and showing how
affordable apartments will be dispersed around the two four-story buildings.
The commission specified that the town won’t grant
certificates of occupancy for that last 45 cottage apartments until the
four-story buildings are done, and also said the developer must install EV
chargers at three locations on the property.