Rendering of new DeLauro monument; it won’t actually end up on dog path. And it will not be orange.
Today it’s a hole in the ground. Tomorrow — or Oct. 25, to be precise — it will be a sculptural vision of family life and values. One family in particular: DeLauro.
That was the description offered by Mayor John DeStefano of a sculpture coming to Wooster Square Park. It portrays a granite table with benches about to be erected at the north end of the square near Greene Street.
The project, which is privately funded at a cost of $30,000, has raised some concerns with neighbors who complained they weren’t consulted.
Allan Appel Photo
Bob Pisani (left) and Paul Lestage of Ultimate Concrete finish the footing Tuesday afternoon
Tuesday morning the concrete footing was being poured by the guys from Ultimate Concrete of Waterbury.
The idea for the sculpture, designed by local architect Barry Svigals, grew out of conversations Mayor DeStefano had over the last year with neighbors, community activists, and politicos on how to honor Luisa DeLauro, the longest-serving alderman in the city’s history.
The city recently named the corner of Chapel and Academy after DeLauro (mother of U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro). The mayor said that in recent months suggestions shifted to find a way to honor not just Luisa but her husband Ted, an early activist in the preservation of Wooster Square during the era of urban renewal.
Then the idea “evolved into [honoring] DeLauro as a family and the meaning of family, and in that neighborhood,” DeStefano said Tuesday.
Hence, the table and benches — because so many of the interactions with the DeLauros, and in particular Luisa, occurred over the kitchen table.
Over the last several days some Wooster Square-ites unaware of the intended purposed got in touch with the Independent expressing alarm and even consternation over the project.
After she contacted the Independent and the Independent contacted the mayor, Jane Lederer of Greene Street received a surprise visit from Christy Hass of the Parks Department.
Hass showed her images of the project, which Lederer described as “in itself interesting and not unattractive, but gigantic in scale.”
“Its size and mass are inappropriate for the ambiance of the park,” Lederer said. “My second objection is that it may become a magnet for the already chronic loitering and drinking that go on in the park.”
Lederer also said that honoring one family, no matter who they are, is inappropriate in such a small park.
The parks commission approved the project last month. DeStefano asserted all permissions are in order; the project’s funding is private, to the tune of $30,000. The city will reveal the donors’ identities when it reveals the sculpture itself, DeStefano said. He also said officials consulted with many neighbors such as Beverley Carbonella.
Lederer called the outreach insufficient.
“They have a lot of nerve putting up a family memorial in a public park without asking anybody,” remarked neighbor Wendy Hamilton.
“This is New Haven,” and not everyone is going to agree, but many people called the project appropriate for the neighborhood, DeStefano responded.
Andy Ross, the new chairman of the Downtown/Wooster Square Management Team and a member of the board of directors of Historic Wooster Square Association, bemoaned the confusion over the project.
“I can only speak for myself,” Ross said. “It appears to me to be a case of him just trying to do something nice for Rosa’s mother while at the same time giving the community a gift for the park. I thought the mayor had his heart in the right place.”