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.
River Road repairs costly in Southbury
STEVE BIGHAM
SOUTHBURY – Early estimates to rebuild River Road, part of
which collapsed into the Housatonic River late last month due to flooding, are
between $10 million and $20 million, and possibly higher, town officials say.
First Selectman Jeffrey A. Manville was forced to close the
road indefinitely Oct. 5 after a 200-foot section of the southbound lane washed
away, sliding down a steep cliff and into the river due to record rainfall.
Road closure signs and Jersey barriers now block vehicles
from accessing what is typically a moderately traveled roadway that leads to an
isolated area with several homes, Mitchell Farm, satellite dishes and, further
down, the Shepaug Dam, one of two that form Lake Zoar, a section of the
Housatonic River.
Manville said there are no homes or driveways on the
affected part of the road. However, the River Road closure means all traffic in
and out of the area must now traverse Purchase Brook Road, the only alternate
route, up into the hilly Purchase section of town, a detour that requires 5 to
6 additional miles of travel.
Engineers are now determining what steps are needed to fix
the road and whether larger sections also need rebuilding.
“The problem is we had a historical event of an
unprecedented amount of rain and then two days of 5 inches of rain,” Manville
said. “Also, a lot of water had to be released through the dam, creating a
perfect storm where the edge of the embankment moved. We’ve gotten more rain in
the last month than we typically get in a year.”
The situation has not gone unnoticed by Manville’s
challenger in the Nov. 7 municipal election, Democrat Tim O’Neil, who
questioned why Manville did not properly address the River Road situation
sooner. O’Neil said town officials have long been aware of the potential
collapse of River Road, including former First Selectman Ed Edelson, who had
made the road a priority before Manville defeated him in 2015.
“Jeff Manville is costing Southbury money and jeopardizing
our safety. When Mr. Manville stepped into office, people within his own Republican
party urged him to do something about River Road. Why did he ignore them?
Because it was too expensive? Out of pride, because it was something his
predecessor had started?” O’Neil asked, suggesting Manville would rather keep
taxes low “at the peril of our citizens.”
George Bertram, a former selectman, was appalled to hear of
the collapse and said town leaders, especially Manville, failed to act despite
numerous warnings from engineers. Bertram, while a selectman, served as a
liaison to the town’s road study committee. He said Manville played “Russian
Roulette” with River Road.
“Imagine town officials were told by experts that a bridge
was going to collapse at some point in the future. Of course, the experts can’t
tell you exactly when it will happen, but they know for sure that it will. It
could be weeks or it could be years. Would a competent town administrator wait
until the bridge collapses before taking action? Of course not. A capable
manager would take action to rebuild the bridge as soon as possible, as they
don’t want to risk lives by waiting,” Bertram wrote in a letter to the
Republican-American this week.
Manville said the town’s public works department has been
addressing River Road for years, including drainage issues and paving.
“Other than a Herculean effort to do something, we have been
addressing it,” he said. “Work has been done and was continuing to be done and
monitored to come up with a solution before it became an extremely expensive
project. We’ve always been able to maintain it. Everybody wants to blame
someone, but they’ve been talking about this for decades. The weather we had
created the perfect storm.”
Adding to the emergency, a bridge under repair along
Purchase Brook Road is down to one lane and there is concern that increased
traffic due to the detour could jeopardize its integrity.
O’Neil said Manville often “touts how great the roads and
bridges are in Southbury. Why is the section of Purchase Brook Road still not
repaired? The road has been one lane for over a year. If that bridge fails, the
residents who live in that area are in jeopardy of being closed off to the town
in all directions now that River Road is closed. This is an every day
inconvenience, an emergency hazard and an economic disaster in the making.
These neighbors deserve our immediate attention.”
One of those neighbors is Mike Sperling, who said the detour
into town now takes him eight additional minutes.
He said the town is stuck in a rough spot.
“If you keep putting a Band-Aid on it, eventually it’s going
to cost twice as much,” he said, “and that’s what happened.”
Sperling said he hopes the town eventually will consider
reopening the undamaged northbound lane of the road, an unlikely scenario given
engineers determined last week the entire road should be closed because it
remains dangerous for vehicles, especially trucks and school buses.
State to fund Southington school project defeated at referendum
Peter Prohaska
Nearly a year after voters rejected a $17 million upgrade to
sports facilities at Southington High School, the state has committed
partial funding for athletic field reconstruction, allocating $500,000
that will be matched by $206,663 in town funds.
Cheshire, meanwhile, received $500,000 to
construct an outdoor “splash pad” on the west side of the Cheshire
Community Pool, as well as upgrading a similar feature within the facility. The
town is expected to contribute $364,303 for design and construction work.
The state money comes in the form of Small Town
Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grants, and is specifically designated
for “infrastructure improvements, such as road safety reconstruction projects,
sewer and drainage upgrades, sidewalk and pedestrian safety enhancements,
recreational facility upgrades, and other kinds of capital improvement
projects,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a Sept. 29 statement announcing the funding.
In total, the state will provide $24.5 million in STEAP
grant funding for 60 communities.
Southington officials had sought approval to allocate
nearly $17 million toward gradual improvements to the SHS sports fields
over the next three to four years, but 10,761 residents, 54% of the overall
vote, opposed the proposal.
Voters did approve a separate referendum question this
election, authorizing $7 million for roof work at Southington High School.
After the track and field project failed to pass,
officials said they planned to pursue other avenues to secure funding,
spacing out improvements over a longer period of time. Even without complete
funding for the plan, School Superintendent Steve Madancy and other officials
emphasized the necessity of the upgrades to the school’s sports facilities, as
several have not seen significant improvements in 40 years and pose potential
safety risks.
Community Pool
In Cheshire, the Town Council voted on Tuesday to accept the
STEAP grant with plans to use federal funding under the American Rescue Plan
Act to make up the town’s share of the Community Pool improvements. The
use of those funds for the project will be the subject of a public hearing
scheduled for Nov. 14.
Andrew Martelli, Cheshire’s Economic Development Coordinator
and grant writer, traced the origins of the request to the Town’s “visioning
process" for Bartlem Park South. There, Town leaders received input from
the community on the possible amenities. Martelli said only new turf fields
were more-requested than the splash pad. The Town has been exploring how to
fund the request for a pad for some time, he added.
The interior splash pad — a concrete mushroom-shaped
sprinkler — has been in disuse for some time, officials noted.
“It’s going to be a really nice addition,” Martelli
commented.
“Including a splash pad area was one of the most frequent
requests we received during the Bartlem Park South community engagement
process,” Town Manager Sean Kimball said, in an official release. “We are
thrilled to be adding this feature and replacing the indoor kiddie pool, at a
significantly reduced cost to Town taxpayers. This project will be a great
addition to the already exciting work underway in the park.”
The project of revitalizing and re-inventing Bartlem Park
South was also helped along by a separate $500,000 grant from the State Bond
Commission back in June. That money, as Kimball relayed to the Council, was
primarily designated for the construction of the bandshell.
A separate STEAP grant, received last year, is also being
used to re-design the West Main Street area.
STEAP grants are meant for communities of 45,000 people or
fewer, which meant Southington, with a population of approximately 44,000, just
made the cut.
“This is a way of getting the work done while saving the
local taxpayers about half a million dollars,” explained Southington Economic
Development Coordinator Lou Perillo. “(STEAP) really is a wonderful grant
program that has helped us out quite a bit."
In Norwalk, Hartford HealthCare's $50 million hub advances as second phase of work begins
NORWALK — The work continues on the new $50 million
Fairfield County hub for Hartford HealthCare as
leaders celebrated by breaking ground on the second phase of the project.
“We are thrilled to support Hartford HealthCare’s continued
expansion in southern Connecticut through the innovative adaptive reuse project
at 32
Knight St. in Norwalk,” said Stanley M. Seligson, founder, chairman and
chief executive officer of Seligson Properties. “Medical office space has
always been a key component of our firm’s growing portfolio, and we’re excited
to continue to invest in the health and vibrancy of our community.”
Formerly a
Lillian August furniture store, the health-care hub will be built on the
4.16-acre property near Route 1. Plans for the redevelopment were
approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission in the fall of 2022.
“In Norwalk, our residents are fortunate to have a wide
variety of top-notch health care options,” Mayor Harry Rilling said. “I
want to thank Norwalk-based Seligson Properties ... for their contributions to
our community over the years.”
The new flagship location is part of Hartford HealthCare’s
expansion into Fairfield County. Since 2021, it has opened more than 50 new
locations and hired 250 staff members.
Hartford HealthCare’s renovated a 21,500-square-foot medical
office within a portion of the building in advance of construction in the
current phase. The newly renovated office is now home to the Cardiology
Associates of Fairfield County.
“Given recent market conditions, we saw a clear opportunity
to strategically redevelop the underutilized site at 32 Knight St. into a new
medical facility for one of the state’s leading health-care providers,” said
Michael Serrao, chief operating officer of Seligson Properties. “This
groundbreaking is a testament to the partnership we’ve established with
Hartford HealthCare, the great work done by our project design team, and the
support the project has received from the community and city of Norwalk.”
The location will have 121 parking spots along with a
drop-off section and pedestrian amenities.
“Hartford HealthCare is committed to improving the health of
our communities, and a significant driver of that strategy is expanding access
to our renowned providers and services in Fairfield County,” said Karen
Goyette, executive vice president and chief strategy and transformation officer
for Hartford HealthCare.
The new Norwalk location “will ensure patients receive the
quality, affordable health care they deserve, with greater convenience and
reliability,” she said.
The project is expected to be complete in the spring of
2024.
MANCHESTER — The town will host two talks next week for
residents to give their input on the design of the library's new main branch.
Manchester officials will be joined by Friar Architects
and HMB Architects, firms selected to design
the new building by a town committee in August. At the time, the
project was expected to be completed in late 2025.
Voters have already approved up
to $39 million in bonding to construct a 75,000-square-foot library at
the site of the Webster Bank branch at 1041 Main St., and to make repairs to
the existing Mary Cheney Library at 586 Main St. to facilitate reuse of the
building.
The talks will be held at the Mary Cheney Library on
Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and Thursday at 10 a.m. Both sessions will cover the
same material, and both will offer an opportunity for attendees to share their
thoughts.
The town's 21st
Century Library Report, published in June 2022, recommended building a new
library in order to provide more space for more opportunity, flexibility, and
programming for patrons, as well as to expand parking beyond what Mary
Cheney Library can offer and put the library in a more central location.
In August 2022, the Board of Directors unanimously approved
sending to a referendum vote the bonding of $39 million for the plan. Voters
overwhelmingly approved the measure, 11,511 to 6,670, in a November 2022
referendum.
The town must complete a design for the library and acquire
the property at 1041 Main St. before construction can begin, of course. The
architectural firms expect the design period to take 10 months and to cost
roughly $3.3 million, and the town expects to finalize a purchase and sale agreement
for the site of the new library by the end of the year.
Town officials have not commented on what Manchester expects
to pay for 1041 Main St., but town assessor documents list an appraisal of
roughly $1.4 million as of the 2021 revaluation.