Jaime Garcia Awaits His Gate

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by Melissa Bailey | Dec 20, 2011 1:06 pm

(1) Comment | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: The Heights

Melissa Bailey Photo Jaime Garcia opened his back door to find a strange man parking his car in the driveway.

“What’re you doing on my property?” Garcia asked.

The man, who had already gotten out of his car to visit the nearby housing projects, mistook the driveway for a public parking lot, Garcia reckoned.

Unexpected visitors have been showing up in Garcia’s driveway for the past five months, Garcia said—since the city tore out his driveway gate and never came back to replace it.

Garcia, a 44-year-old driver for Yale University, lives with his wife and daughter at 310 Quinnipiac Ave. along a stretch of road that the city repaved this year with the help of federal stimulus money.

He has kept a close watch on construction trucks over the spring and summer, as they tore up Quinnipiac Avenue—then disappeared in July, leavings trees torn up and the sidewalks unfinished, barring some people from accessing their homes. The project called for raising the street and sidewalk by one foot, which meant contractors also had to provide new steps and re-slope driveways for nearby homeowners.

Since the Independent visited the street in August, conditions have vastly improved. Homeowners can now drive on a paved street, walk down a rebuilt sidewalk and safely enter their front doors.

Garcia said the city did follow through with repaving his driveway. But one piece of work remains unfinished: A fence and a gate that protect his family’s home.

Work trucks have disappeared again without finishing the work, he said.

“It will be replaced as new,” pledged City Engineer Dick Miller in an email Friday. “It is on the punch list for the contractor,” Laydon Industries. Miller said he was unable to get a time estimate from the contractor Monday, but expected the work to be done soon. The timing “depends on the weather, but I would say within the month.”

“It’s not a critical safety issue, but it will get done,” Miller said.

The gate in question was removed from Garcia’s driveway in June in preparation for the newly raised sidewalks. It remains sitting on the side of the driveway, now unusable because of the new sidewalk height.

Garcia said he’s now going to find a way to jerry-rig that gate back over the driveway, after another unexpected visit Sunday.

He said he and his wife left the house at about 10 a.m. to go shopping. When they returned at 12:30 p.m., Garcia did a double-take.

“For a couple seconds when I [was] entering my driveway,” he said, “I thought that I was in the wrong house.”

He found four teenagers in the driveway playing basketball. The teens had even moved his basketball rim to a more convenient spot. Garcia said he felt “really mad.”

“This is not a public place. This is private property,” he told the teens.

“They freaked out and they left. It was amazing.”

Garcia said he depended on that gate to secure his property and ensure the safety of his kids and grandkids, who often visit the home.

Since the city removed his gate, cars have been wandering down his long, spacious driveway before turning around. Some appear to be lost. It looks like their GPS might be leading them to the nearby housing projects that abut his backyard, he said.

Garcia said he feels safer with his premises sealed off.

“I’m really concerned about the safety of my children if they’re out,” Garcia said. “I cannot let them play because I’m afraid.”

The city pledged to replace his fence as well as the gate, Garcia said. Two weeks ago, work crews returned to the street and installed nice new fences at two neighbors’ homes.

They poured new steps for his neighbor to bridge the gap between the home and the street level. Then they left and never came back, he said.

Engineer Miller promised Garcia will get a nice, new fence, too.

“It’ll be a black chain-link fence, so it will look a lot better” than the gray chain-link fence he has now, Miller said in a phone conversation.

Garcia took his concerns to the top this month, taking Mayor John DeStefano aside at two separate meetings about property revaluations.

He said DeStefano pledged to fix the problem.

Garcia said he’ll believe it when he sees it. “I’m still hanging in the air.”

“I’m a 23-year resident and taxpayer,” Garcia said. “I believe we deserve some respect.”

He said he’s getting nervous, because winter is coming soon and it may be too late to replace the fence.

“If anything happens to one member of my family, or any damage to my property, I’m going to make someone responsible for that,” Garcia warned.

Garcia said he’s not looking for money or a lawsuit. “I just want my fence fixed.”

Miller gave assurances that the city won’t leave him hanging.

“Fences are easy to put in in the cold,” he said. “It’ll get done. It is a requirement to do it, so we will get done.”

Comment

posted by: Morris Cove Mom on December 20, 2011 1:22pm

What a nice, patient man Mr. Garcia is. I don’t think I would have handled it that well. I would have hired the fence guy I used last time, and sent the bill to City Hall, and then gone to Small Claims Court.

It is “not a critical issue”? He keeps finding strangers on his property because the city took his gate. His children cannot go out and play. I know there are a lot of things under construction in New Haven, but this man and his family’s gate IS a critical issue. The lack of it is changing their quality of life, their safety, and their mentality about their house, property, and neighborhood.

I wish I could give the Garcia family a fence today. They certainly deserve better than this. And they deserved it yesterday.

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