Markeshia Ricks Photo
Mothers of gun violence victims Monday evening.
A proposed memorial in honor of New Haveners lost to gun violence could be headed to the outskirts of Edgewood Park. But organizers need to win over some neighbors first.
Mothers of those slain by gun violence gathered with some of those neighbors neighbors and city parks Director Becky Bombero on a grassy knoll Monday night near the intersection of Edgewood Avenue, West Park Avenue and Pendleton Street to talk about their idea for the memorial and ask those neighbors to support their efforts.
After looking at spots all across the city, they settled on the location across from Edgewood Park and the Edgewood mall as their top pick for a potential home for a memorial garden where they can remember the life of their fallen loved ones and remind all who see it about the high cost of gun violence.
Pratt, whose son was killed nearly 20 years ago.
The campaign for a garden was spearheaded by Marlene Pratt, a Career High biology teacher who lost her son to gun violence almost two decades ago. (Read this article to learn more about Pratt.) She told neighbors that she’s already enlisted support from mothers and schools to help maintain the memorial.
Bombero: This is just the beginning.
Bombero said that Pratt had approached her with the idea four months ago. Bombero asked her to organize people to work on the project and do the leg work of finding a place on city property that made sense.
The mothers chose the location near Edgewood Avenue because it is near the park but not in it. She said they felt it is a quiet and serene area without being a cemetery that is accessible to other communities, and without being in some of the neighborhoods where their children had been killed.
Officer Jill Knox, who heads the NHPD’s Victim Services Unit, has worked with the mothers.
Monday’s meeting was the first time that many of the neighbors gathered outside had heard about the proposed memorial. Neighbors who live directly across the street from where the memorial could be located weren’t necessarily against the project, but they expressed concern that the mothers had already grown so attached to the location without input from them.
Several asked more detail about design. Pratt has some ideas in mind, but Bombero cautioned that should the memorial be approved, it would have to go through a city design and approval process.
The neighbors also suggested that some of the serenity the mothers were seeking could be marred by the incessant dirt bike and ATV traffic that has become commonplace in the area. At least one neighbor expressed concern that such a memorial would act as a bookend of sorts to an area that already has a monument to tragedy, the New Haven Holocaust Memorial, at the intersection of Whalley and West Park avenues. Another raised concern that the memorial, depending on its size, could hinder the openness of the green space as it already exists.
Neighbor Janis Underwood said she can envision the memorial being designed as a meditative space that would encourage those who’ve lost a loved one to remember, but also those who haven’t to think about the impact on the community.
Newhallville top cop Sgt. Shafiq Abdussabur, who has worked with mothers of gun-violence victims.
Tempers flared briefly when some mothers took the neighbors’ questions as a sign that they oppose the project. One mother even pointedly asked whether the neighbors could veto the location for the project if they were against it. Bombero said Monday’s meeting was just the first in what would be many meetings before the project might be considered shovel ready.
Friends of Edgewood Park member Mike Slattery urged people to see the questions not as dissent on the part of neighbors, but as requests for information. Neighbor Lauren Anderson, who pointed out that the police department often parks cruisers on the spot, also suggested similar caution and offered to work with the group and neighbors to help facilitate meetings and get more people out to learn about the proposed memorial.
Pratt, who has worked to get support from families of Sandy Hook and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, said she plans to continue work with neigbhors to secure the location for the memorial.