Only 19 minutes behind schedule, the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum crashed down in a billowing cloud of dust Saturday, leaving gas and electric lines intact and no casualties except two cracked windows and a fallen lamppost.
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Wearing hockey jerseys and waving signs commemorating seventies rock shows, thousands of people filled the Temple Street Garage to cheer on the demolition, which was set for 7:30 a.m. Tailgaters filled the lower levels of the garage. Police estimated 20,000 viewers flocking to downtown rooftops, streets and to the garage. This guy from Hamden, Will Bartlett (pictured), arrived at 5:45 a.m. and got back into bed, on the garage rooftop.
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New Havener Toni Cietanno (pictured at right, with Eddie Seward) arrived at 4:30 a.m. ready “to see all the memories fade away.”¬ù Those memories included: a Boyz 2 Men show, indoor football games and countless hockey contests. Once, during a Whitney Houston concert, a piece of the ceiling fell and she waited for the cleanup crew before singing resumed. Her favorite show: Kiss in the late 70s.
p(clear). Cietanno stood in the front row as the two Guilford kids, Tori and Ben Staniewicz, waited to press the plunger.
p(clear). “Five more minutes!”¬ù declared Mayor John DeStefano: A couple people needed to be removed from nearby rooftops.
p(clear). “Two more minutes!”¬ù State police were tending to a crowd that had gathered near Route 34. The sun rose through the decks of the upper garage, a four-acre, 48,000-ton mass of steel and concrete standing on columns packed with dynamite.
p(clear). At 7:44 a.m., a wave of sirens indicated the crash was imminent. City Engineer Dick Miller waved a red flag, knocking his hard hat over the edge amid the excitement. At 7:49 a.m., the moment came.
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Dynamite flashed and popped. The garage fell down in a wave, east to west, sending a giant cloud of white dust billowing in the air. Small white chunks of debris flew up. Seventeen seconds after the plungers were pressed, the demo deed was done: Dust swirled around the pale disc of the sun, then settled on a heap of bent steel, where a big light post remained jutting into the air.
p(clear). Click here to see Channel 8’s video coverage.
p(clear). “Oh my god! Awesome!”¬ù came the cries. Loudspeakers played a victory song: Guns ‘n’ Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle.”¬ù
p(clear). Safety officials reported no injuries and only one EMS call “” a spectator in the Temple Street Garage suffered an anxiety attack. A gas line check revealed no leakages, and the electrical lines below the arena “” the reason for which the demo was delayed for 18 months “” remained undisturbed, reported Mayor DeStefano.
p(clear). The immediate area remained unscathed, except for two cracked windows “” at 51 Crown St. and 44 South Orange St., reported Fire Chief Michael Grant. Two nearby structures were toppled in the high winds “” a parking kiosk and a lamppost. No power was lost due to the implosion.
p(clear). “I started crying there,”¬ù said Cietanno, edging to the front of the garage to take a snapshot of the wreckage. “All those memories. We won’t get those days back again.”¬ù
p(clear). Were you there? Send us your photos “” of the crash, of your party, of the aftermath. Click here to e‑mail us your digital pics, or a link to your YouTube videos.
After 18 months this thing finally gets demolished right after the Mayor returns to New Haven after getting thrashed by Govenor Rell in the election. At least he was able to get it done before his term is up this November.