New Haven Independent

“Our goal, with respect to the park system, is to expand Long Wharf Park for regular, not only occasional, use by the community, create more public access to it for bikes and people, and also to respect Bayview Park, where in both places the mitigation of noise and the effects of highway construction are of high importance to us,” said Piscitelli, explaining the evolving city position on the next phase of I-95 construction at a meeting of the Board of Parks Commissioners on Wednesday night.

Long Wharf plans are part of the City’s effort to influence the state Department of Transportation (DOT)’s upcoming recommendations for the hugely disruptive next phase of I-95 reconstruction down by Long Wharf. A few public hearings have already been held; recommendations are due to be made public in April.

Piscitelli solicited the Parks commissioners to sign on to a Parks Department resolution backing both general principals - opting for the DOT alternative (detailed here and here) that features a ring road to relieve traffic on Sargent and Long Wharf drives and which, by circling around Ikea, the Register, and other businesses, creates frontage for new economic development as well, and, in addition, mitigates specific impacts on the park system.

The aim of the resolution will be to influence the State Department of Transportation decision on the next phase of I-95 reconstruction, from, approximately, Route 34 to the Howard Avenue Bridge. Several impassioned public hearings have been held previously in which the City listened to the public concerns, said Piscitelli. Now, incorporated into such resolutions as he was requesting from Parks, the consolidated City position will then be sent at the end of March in order to avoid a fait accompli, that is, in the hope of influencing DOT’s decision before, not after, it is issued in April. Just this phase of the reconstruction will cost, estimated Piscitelli, $300 million to $400 million.

Parks commissioner Michael Tucker (pictured with his head in the thinking position) pored over the map Piscitelli had provided. He expressed concern about the appearance and extent of sound barriers around the Bayview Park section of the proposed rebuilt I-95.

“They are not necessarily going to be the unsightly kind,” Piscitelli tried to assure him. “There was a lot of public discussion on this, and on other aesthetic concerns. We listened. We know the view of the harbor from this area is one of the most unobstructed and beautiful in the city. We’re deliberately keeping the language of our suggestions murky, so that a variety of positive alternatives might be possible to solve the noise issue, among others. For example, there are European approaches that combine barriers with stands of appropriate trees.”

Trees was a topic the Parks commissioners all liked to hear about, and Tucker appeared satisfied. He and Parks Department director Robert Levine both asked if the resolution might also include recommendations to use the opportunity of reconstruction to make sure that the Harborside Trail will connect between Long Wharf Park, Bayview Park and all the way towards West Haven. “We can add that trail language to the resolution,” said Piscitelli.

“Frankly,” said Piscitelli, “from the City’s point of view, none of DOT’s plans is really going to alleviate traffic fully, but the one tagged 2B, with the ring road, and an enhanced Long Wharf Park, reflects, we think, the preferred, the best of imperfect alternatives. It’s going to be an uphill battle with DOT to get the details of their preferred alternative to reflect all these concerns of ours,” he further confided to the commissioners.

“That’s why your signing on to this resolution will be helpful. DOT needs to know that all parts of the city are on board.”

Levine and Parks Board Commissioner President David Belowsky (pictured above with Piscitelli) agreed to vote on the resolution, with the slightly amended trail language added, in the coming week.

Parks for Life

Unfortunately, they were not able to vote on the resolution formally at this session. Why? With a total of eight commissioners on the board and only three present, there were not the five required for a quorum. In attendance were the president, David Belowsky; vice president Clifton Bush, Jr., and commission member Michael Tucker.

The Board of Park Commisioners is unusual among the City’s 45 boards and commissions in that it has several lifetime members - Belowsky, Bush (who was appointed by former Mayor Biagio DiLieto), and 96-year-old Margaret Pastore, who because of her health, could not be at this regular monthly meeting. (Levine had offered to conduct the meeting at her house, but she apparently declined).

Tucker is one of three three-year appointees designated by the mayor, the others being Hector Torres and Kevin Walton, who were absent. Two aldermanic members, Arlene DePino and Migdalia Castro were also not present, due to a full Board of Aldermen meeting, which was pushed back due to the President’s Day holiday. Castro, for whom the meeting would have been her first, is replacing Drew King.

Like all commissioner on the city’s commissions and boards, all the non-aldermanic members are volunteers and do what they do out of the spirit of service, or, in the case of Clifton Bush, love.

“As a kid, I used to play Little League,” he said, “out on one of those smaller ball fields near Bowen Field house, behind Hillhouse High. Now it’s part of my responsibility to help take care of it and all the … what is it … 2,200 acres of city park? One of those ball fields is named after me now, so I’d better take care of them! But the point is that we leave these grounds that we’re in charge of a little bit better than we found them.”

(For a full listing of the city’s boards and commissioners and the tenure periods of members - as well as to find out how you can nominate yourself or someone else to serve - click here.)