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Salvatore Punzo, at July’s Democratic Town Convention.
Alders unanimously endorsed renaming an East Shore Park-adjacent street corner after retired former New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) principal — and longtime Annex Little League president — Salvatore Punzo, whom admirer after admirer described as “one of the best human beings you’re ever gonna find.”
Local legislators took that vote last Thursday during the latest regular monthly meeting of the Board of Alders City Services and Environmental Policy (CSEP) committee. The virtual meeting took place online via Zoom.
The committee alders unanimously voted in support of renaming the corner of Woodward Avenue and Tuttle Street as “Salvatore Punzo, Sr. Corner” in honor of the lifelong city resident and celebrated local educator.
Punzo, 77, worked as a teacher and a principal for the city’s public school system for 49 years, including 17 years as the principal of East Rock School and another decade-plus as a consultant for Nathan Hale School. He also spent 11 years as the president of the Annex Little League.
Punzo is currently the endorsed Democratic candidate for alder in the Annex’s Ward 17. He will face off in November against Republican challenger AnneMarie Riveria-Berrios.
Current Annex Alder Jody Ortiz, who is not running for reelection this year, provided written testimony encouraging her legislative colleagues to vote in support of the corner renaming in recognition of Punzo’s “hard work and deep commitment for the East Shore area and the entire city over a lifetime as educator, civic leader, and volunteer.”
“Salvatore has been a cornerstone in the community for well over 50 years,” she continued, and — through his work as an educator and a baseball little league administrator and mentor — “has made the Annex a better place to live.”
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Last Thursday’s CSEP committee hearing.
Former fellow NHPS principal Gary Highsmith agreed. He was the one of several testifiers on Thursday to describe Punzo as “one of the best human beings” around.
Highsmith said Punzo was his third-grade teacher when he was a student in the city’s public school system. Punzo was later a principal and mentor when Highsmith rose to the ranks of assistant principal in that same system.
Highsmith said Punzo was renowned for getting to work at 4:30 a.m., and for being one of the hardest workers in the school system.
“He was so empathetic, so caring, so concerned about every single student.”
Upson Terrace resident Kat Laverty also described Punzo as “the most wonderful person I think I have ever met.”
She recalled sending her twin daughters to Nathan Hale School for their first day of pre-school. Her nerves were immediately calmed when she was Punzo greeting every student with “the best smile in the world.”
“He really is just a pillar in our community.”
Lisa Bassani said that the Annex Little League has become one of the most cherished after-school programs in the whole neighborhood under Punzo’s leadership. He was a coach, an administrator, a groundskeeper, a mentor, always the first to the fields and the last to leave.
“There’s a selflessness to him that we all should aspire to.”
The corner renaming also won the support Thursday of the East Shore’s two state legislators: State Sen. President Pro Tem Martin Looney and State Rep. Al Paolillo, Jr.
Looney described Punzo as “the kind of person, the kind of community volunteer without whom there are no cohesive neighborhoods and there are no cohesive cities.”
And Paolillo described Punzo as the epitome of a “caring, compassionate, competent, and committed” city resident.
Paolillo recalled how — before Punzo spent nearly five decades working for the city school system — he worked for the city’s public works department, riding the back of a refuse truck. His partner on the back of the truck was none other than Paolillo’s dad, Al Paolillo Sr.
Even then, Paolillo said Thursday, Punzo had a reputation for being one of the hardest working people on the route.
Paolillo said that Punzo does not like drawing attention to himself, and that he may not even have been watching Thursday’s CSEP meeting. But in case he was watching, Paolillo said, he wanted the former principal to know: “You’re a legend.”
The proposed corner renaming now advances to the full Board of Alders for further discussion and a final vote later this fall.