Courtney Luciana file photo
The following op-ed was written by Patricia Wallace, who is a resident of the Dwight neighborhood and President of the Friends of Kensington Playground. The organization has an ongoing lawsuit against the city over the sale of a Dwight public greenspace to an affordable housing developer.
These holidays offer a moment of grace. John McCutcheon’s song, “Christmas in the Trenches,” a true story, about the Christmas Eve truce in the midst of World War I when German and European soldiers, for one night, traded chocolate, played soccer at midnight, and sang “Silent Night” in German and English, was such a moment.
Friends of Kensington Playground has asked City officials to consider anew the decision to use Kensington Playground as a site for housing. We hope that this can be seriously considered, in part because we believe that City officials did not know that the net increase in affordable housing from this deal would be only seven units.
This week we wrote to the Mayor, Board of Alders, the Parks Commission, and other City officials. We asked them to make a correction now that will save taxpayers money and help children of our City. This is a story of good people trying to do good things.
City officials wanted to meet a vital need for affordable housing and decided to give Kensington Playground to a non-profit developer.
The non-profit developer promised to build 15 units of affordable housing.
It turns out that the net number of affordable units to be built on the park is only seven –– not 15. That is because the developer will convert eight existing affordable units to office space. Only the new units were presented publicly. We first learned of this in the Kensington Square II Fully Executed Environmental Assessment, dated February 2021 – – well after the Park Commissioners, City Plan and the Board of Alders approved the lot transfer for development.
We make no assumptions of bad faith. One was part of a financing deal for rehab of existing units; the other was a plan for new construction. We do not believe most City officials or taxpayers understood this when the decision was made.
In our letter, we stated: “In this season of light and goodness across many traditions, the children and residents of Dwight need your help.
• Sacrificing Dwight’s only public playground for only seven units of affordable housing is, of course, a significantly different deal than what was presented and understood by most when the deal was approved.
• Dwight has the lowest park acreage per capita in the city – – even with Kensington Playground – – according to the recent New Haven ParkScore Index, September 2021.
• The twenty-five mature trees there help our serious air pollution and asthma problems.
There are other vacant parcels of City-owned land that could be used for 7 or 15 units of affordable housing. The developer owns properties in two other neighborhoods.”
We concluded by saying:
“As leaders, you can settle the lawsuit we brought to stop this deal. You can get affordable housing built without bulldozing Dwight’s only public playground. Resolve to lead us to a new solution, and save Kensington Playground. Thanks for your consideration.”
This is the week of Hannukah. It would be a Mitzvah, or a good deed, in the spirit of all the holidays for the City to spare this playground out of kindness to children. Please let the Mayor and your Alder know if you agree that a new site is a better idea.