Stamford Wrecking
Newly christened “Barack Obama Environmental Bridge.”
Aneurin Canham-Clyne Photo
Officials and students at Thursday’s unveiling of plaque for the bridge.
Barack Obama’s environmental legacy will be preserved for history — above Ella Grasso Boulevard next to Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet School.
New Haven built a pedestrian bridge there in 2006 connecting the school to West River Memorial Park. And late Thursday afternoon, the first day of Black History Month, a crowd gathered to formally dedicate the structure as the “Barack Obama Environmental Bridge.”
“We don’t want to go through history without our children knowing who this man is,” longtime West River activist Frankie White said, gesturing to a picture of the former president.
White said the historical process has a way of erasing the contributions of black Americans, like the black female mathematicians who worked on the Apollo Missions. She said preserving Obama’s legacy, architecturally and politically, is key to salvaging meaning from Obama’s time as president given the determination of the Republican Party to undo and destroy his accomplishments, including environmental regulations and treaties.
The plaque.
Park Ranger Harry Coyle called the park an outdoor classroom; the bridge ensures students can safely cross the busy Boulevard to study the ecosystems around them. The bridge crosses Ella Grasso Boulevard just south of its high-traffic intersection with Derby Avenue. The park helps students learn about wildlife, including a number of osprey and bald eagles who’ve made West River Park their home, Coyle said.
This visceral connection to the environment is vital to the school’s mission, according to Barnard sixth-grader Alexander Alder-Baker, who spoke about Obama’s environmental legacy and the desire many students feel to honor the former president. Alder-Baker cited the Paris Climate Accords, the Obama Administration’s response to a decline in honey bee populations, and Obama’s decision to limit pipeline expansion as examples of his commitment to sustainability.
Frankie White: Black history will not be erased.
Mayor Toni Harp spoke about the difficult ecological challenges Barnard students will face one day — and the traffic and pedestrian problems people face every day at the the Derby-Grasso intersection. She said she hopes the pedestrian bridge’s connection with Obama will serve as an inspiration to students, serving as a reminder that problems can be solved through concerted effort.
“It’s fitting for a bridge to solve obstinate, daunting problems to be named after Obama,” Harp said, alluding to racial animus in the United States and the eight-year strategy of obstruction pursued by the Republican Party.
Schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo said Obama’s choice to serve in public office as a highly educated man was admirable.
“Obama could’ve had a lifelong career at any law firm, but he chose community service and politics to make life better for millions of people,” Mayo said.
Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker said that renaming the bridge showed West River’s leadership among city neighborhoods when it comes to community involvement and celebrating the achievements of the black community.
“West River always tried to lead the charge for the rest of the city,” Walker said, adding that Obama’s legacy would live on in the neighborhood and the school.
Jerry Poole with a copy of a letter of the thanks the ward committee sent to Obama in November 2016.
The idea to name the bridge after Obama originated with the Ward 23 Democratic Party committee. Co-Chair Jerry Poole suggested the idea to Mayo in a Sept. 7 letter. “We saw the park as a natural extension of the classroom,” said Poole, who has been a stalwart West River activist for decades.
Poole added that the president’s name will appear on both sides of the bridge, so everyone passing underneath it will be reminded of Obama and his time in the White House.
Neighbor Frank Cochran said he appreciates the dedication of the bridge, but that the intersection of Derby and Ella Grasso remains hazardous for pedestrians, as the bridge isn’t open to public use. School officials concluded that they needed to close it off to non-students for the students’ safety, since the bridge connects right to Barnard.
Twelve years after the bridge’s construction, Obama’s presidential legacy is under threat and the Derby-Grasso intersection remains a difficult one to cross.