A year unrivaled in recent memory
COVID-19, Dulos, Barrier dominated local headlines
STAMFORD — A landmark presidential election and yet another reckoning with the country’s racial history notwithstanding, 2020 will first and foremost be known as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Connecticut, that was as true for Stamford as anywhere.
For part of the spring, Stamford was the epicenter of the disease in the state, seeing more new cases per day than any other municipality. In April, the Connecticut National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve arrived in the city to help with the caseload at Stamford Hospital and repurpose a building on its grounds to help meet extra demand.
Restaurants in the city were shuttered, as were many “non-essential” businesses. In an effort to help local eateries, an outdoor dining campaign called Streateries was launched by the Downtown Special Services District over the summer.
The city budget was also slashed by $32 million due to the economic effects of the virus. That included about $12 million from the schools budget.
Stamford schools shifted to a full remote-learning model in March, and
returned to partial inschool teaching in September. As cases of COVID-19 started to rise again after Thanksgiving, the district decided to go back to full distance learning until Jan. 19.
As 2021 begins, vaccine distribution promises to be the story of the year. In Connecticut, the rate of vaccination so far has outpaced New York, but the disease’s positivity rate remains high.
Dulos saga
The year began with new developments in what had been one of the biggest local and state stories of 2019.
In January, Farmington resident Fotis Dulos was charged with the murder of his wife Jennifer — who was reported missing to New Canaan police — where she lived with the couple’s five children — on May 24, 2019.
A few weeks after the arrest, the 52-year-old Dulos was found unresponsive in a vehicle in the garage of his home. He was flown to New York in critical condition, and put on life support while suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Fotis Dulos died on Thursday, Jan. 30.
Jennifer Dulos’ body has yet to be recovered.
Michelle Troconis, ex-girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, and Kent Mawhinney, his former attorney, have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit murder. Their cases remain ongoing.
Racial justice protests
This summer was marked by protests against police brutality in cities across the nation. Again, Stamford was among them.
Nationwide, protests erupted after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis in May. In Stamford, a number of demonstrations, under the banner of Black Lives Matter and others, took place.
In July, a contingent of demonstrators calling themselves Justice for Steven Barrier set up an encampment in Latham Park to protest the death of the Stamford resident, who died in police custody in October of 2019. Some of the people involved in that effort also took part in a campaign to remove a statue of Christopher Columbus from Stamford’s downtown Columbus Park.
Police eventually ordered protesters to leave Latham Park or be arrested. The Columbus debate, which resulted in dueling rallies, has since quieted down, as city officials stated they would wait until 2021 to address it.
But tension between the Latham Park activists and police reached a boiling point in August, when a long protest led to altercations on Broad Street.
An internal affairs investigation was completed and the results are to be presented to the Stamford Police Commission at its next meeting scheduled for Jan. 4.
Shootings on the rise
Stamford has garnered a reputation for being one of the safest cities in America in recent years, but 2020 saw many shootings reported across the city.
The increase in gun violence led to a rally in December, with community leaders speaking out against the spate of shootings, many of which are believed to be the result of hostilities between “neighborhood factions” in the city.
Several people have been shot. And on Sept. 20, Shernetta Dunmore, a Stamford mother, was shot and killed when a gunman or gunmen fired on people gathered in a parking lot on Ursula Place. Two others were wounded in the shooting. Police days later arrested Ian Evans in relation to one of the men wounded at the party. He was charged with first-degree assault, criminal use of a firearm and other offenses.
To date no arrest has been made in Dunmore’s death.
In early December, a Stamford Hospital worker was shot while driving home from work after he was struck by a stray bullet from a shootout on West Broad Street. The 56-yearold hospital employee was admitted to the hospital but his wound was not life threatening. Police have made an arrest in relation to that incident.
Gunfire has occurred in various parts of the city, from Connecticut Avenue on the West Side to Pequot Drive in Waterside and Lockwood Avenue on the East Side to Hope Street in Glenbrook.
In November, two shootings in neighborhoods near Westover Magnet Elementary School terrified parents, staff and students, causing lockdowns at the school and leading to a virtual meeting hosted by the school principal and police department staff.
Police officers implored residents to quickly report any acts of violence to help get guns off the streets.
The Gun and Crime Stoppers program allows people to report crimes anonymously, and offers rewards for tips that lead to arrests.
The hotline can be reached at 203-977-TIPS. People can also text the keyword Tips2SPD and a tip to CRIMES (274-637), or go to www.StamfordPD.org/ Tips.
School closes
Enrollment and deficit problems led to the closure of the 60-year-old Trinity Catholic High School this year.
By February, school officials received word that only 19 freshman students had committed to the school for the 2020-21 school year, well below expectations. Projected enrollment for next year was up to 110 students, while enrollment for the 2018-19 school year was 295 students.
“Closing Trinity broke my heart,” said Bishop Frank J. Caggiano.
In the past, the diocese had to pick up the cost of operation, mostly payroll and healthcare expenses. This year’s budget deficit was expected to be $1.3 million, and would have catapulted to $2.3 million next year based on the reduced enrollment of roughly 100 students.
The building, however, won’t be vacant for long.
In November, Mater Salvatoris, operated by the Spain-based Sisters of the Company of the Savior, purchased the property, and will begin teaching there in September.
Currently, Mater Salvatoris operates an all-girls college preparatory school of about 49 students from pre-K to fourth grade in a building on Scofieldtown Road. It opened in 2018 and is one of only seven schools in the world founded by the Sisters of the Company of the Savior, and the only one in the continental United States.