Free outdoor sculptures and solar panels were knocking at the door, but the city’s parks gatekeepers weren’t there to let them in.
An art collector and longtime New Haven resident wanted to give a colorful statue to a Fair Haven park. And the State of Connecticut wanted to put up some free solar panels at Lighthouse Point. These two offers of free stuff were on the agenda, awaiting action, at Wednesday night’s Board of Parks Commissioners meeting.
Unfortunately, with only four out of eight commissioners present, there weren’t enough members to form a quorum. So the board was unable to accept the gifts of art and electricity. The meeting ended with a discussion of how to encourage greater attendance among the commissioners.
No Decision
Morgan Smith (pictured at left in photo) came to the meeting with photographs of the eight-foot tall sculpture that her employer, Mary Arnstein, an art collector and community activist, would like to donate to the Lewis Street park in Fair Haven. Assisted by Fair Haven Alder Erin Sturgis-Pascale and her two-year-old daughter (pictured at right in photo), Smith made the case for the public art piece.
“It’s a joyful, playful, childlike piece,” said Smith. She described the sculpture (pictured at the top of the story) as a triptych made up of three blob-like, vaguely figurative metal shapes painted bright blue, red, and green. The piece, entitled “Moai,” was made by a Vermont artist named Christopher Solbert, who was inspired by a visit to the mammoth head-sculptures on Easter Island.
“He fell madly in love with the blob-shaped, big headed creatures,” Smith said, before the meeting.
Sturgis-Pascale said that the installation of the art piece would be the first step towards the creation of an outdoor “sculpture walk” by the river in Fair Haven. “This is in the bigger context of creating a happening down by the river,” she told the board.
Smith and Sturgis-Pascale allayed commissioner concerns about sharp edges, vandalism, and maintenance costs. (The sculpture comes with an endowment for its upkeep.) But due to a shortage of members, the board was unable to accept the piece.
“We can’t make a decision,” said commission Chair David Belowsky. “All the commissioners aren’t here.”
No-Brainer
Next up was Giovanni Zinn, an environmental consultant from the City Plan office. He came to the meeting with an offer to install free solar panels on the roof of the Lighthouse Point Park bathhouse. The city has qualified for a number of solar arrays through the CT Clean Energy Fund. This program has already installed panels at the Common Ground School and the city is now looking to install a four-kilowatt array at Lighthouse Point.
Zinn explained that the setup would generate about 4800 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, or approximately five percent of the electrical usage of the Lighthouse Point Bathhouse. “It’s not a huge amount of electricity, but it certainly does help,” Zinn said.
After Zinn addressed the commissioners’ concerns about damage to the roof, Belowsky asked “So what are you looking for from us?”
Zinn said he just wanted approval.
“And you’re not looking for any money from us?” Belowsky said.
“No,” Zinn said. “No charge!”
“We’ll bring it to the full board and get back to you.” Belowsky said.
After the meeting, Zinn said that he was confident that the solar array would be approved. “Free stuff for the city is usually a no-brainer.”
No Commissioners
“Is there are solution to getting our members to come to the meeting?” asked new member Georgia Miller (at right in picture), near the end of the evening. She suggested writing a letter to all the commissioners saying that they should either come to the meetings or resign.
“That’s a good point,” Belowsky said. “I think we should pursue that, really pursue it.”
“There’s only one person, [Alderwoman Migdalia] Castro, who constantly misses meetings,” commissioner Michael Tucker said.
After the meeting, Belowsky said that he would be calling Castro about her attendance. He said that she hasn’t been coming to the meetings, and that while the other commissioners are very reliable, it’s still inconvenient to have Castro consistently absent.
“It’s been very difficult for me,” Castro said, when contacted by phone after the meeting. She said that she has been missing a lot of meetings since she now has two jobs and her car was stolen.
“I didn’t know there was a meeting today,” Castro said, explaining that she just got the agenda in the mail today.
Castro said that in addition to her two jobs, she is on a number of aldermanic committees. “I try to attend as many as I can,” she said.
She plans to be at more meetings now that she has finished the training period for her second job. “One of the places I really need to give more time is parks.”