The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Green getting lots of TLC
Sprinklers, fountain repairs, better lighting are planned
NEW HAVEN — This summer, the heart of the Elm City will truly live up to its name, and then some.
The Green, 161⁄2 acres of history, culture, faith and nature, will be spruced up and put back in shape, as will the fountain, where water will flow once again.
Beginning later this month, a new irrigation system — sprinklers — will be installed to keep the grass green. A new pump, replacing the one that broke last year, will bring water back to the fountain. Fences and lightposts will be painted. Trees will be lit. And six welcoming signs will be erected.
“We didn’t have the fountain last summer and that felt very much like a loss,” said U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton, one of the five proprietors of the “common and undivided
lands” who have overseen the Green, the center of the city’s original nine squares, since 1641.
“It’s 161⁄2 acres that would not remain open space for open-air enjoyment of all the citizens if it were not under the auspices of the proprietors from the beginning,” said Arterton. “It’s for everyone. It’s not restricted in any way.”
There are no restrictions on who can walk across the Green, lie in the sun or shout their message to passersby. But the signs will say what are not allowed: drugs, alcohol, smoking, littering, weapons. And don’t go into the fountain.
Other restrictions have loosened up. Last year’s Holiday Village allowed vendors on the Green for the first time. City Seed’s farmers market will return.
In addition to their responsibility to conserve the trees and grounds, the proprietors are introducing ways to attract more people to the Green, along with partners such as the Friends of the Green and the Town Green Special Services District.
While the International Festival of Arts & Ideas takes over the lower Green every June, Arterton said, “One of the things that has been very much a priority for us is what we call activating the Green with pop-up performances by community groups.” The Arts Council of Greater New Haven helps coordinate the concerts.
On May 2, Wake Up the Green! will feature more family-friendly festivities, along with a cleanup by Friends of the Green and Powder House Day, re-enacting Capt. Benedict Arnold’s demand for the keys to get the ammunition needed so that Connecticut soldiers could march to Lexington, Mass., and join the Revolution.
By then, thousands of daffodils, planted by the Friends and others, will be blooming. Town Green is supplying roping to help keep people from stepping on the flowerbeds.
“Having Powder House Day and Wake Up the Green! together is a wonderful tribute to the history of New Haven as well as a great reason to come down and enjoy the Green,” said Win Davis, Town Green’s executive director.
Since it attracts so many people, the land and trees need attention. Starting later this month, they’ll get it. “We’re building a brand new irrigation system throughout the lower Green,” said city Engineer Giovanni Zinn. “We’ll have larger heads that do the grassy areas and ... smaller zones for all the trees.”
“Irrigation may not be a dramatic gesture on the Green, but it is really essential,” Arterton said.
“You can’t rely on the weather,” said Bill Carone, acting director of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Trees, which maintains and cleans the
Green.
“It’s an interesting contrast between our desire to have the Green be a welcoming place … all of that compacts the soil and needs to have a counterbalance,” Arterton said. “We have such high aspirations for this irrigation project.”
The project will close sections of the Green for a time. The turf will be overturned to provide aeration. A transmission loop will be laid around the perimeter, then a channel for the pipes leading to the sprinkler heads will be cut using a vibratory plow.
Near the tree roots, an air spader, which uses air pressure to blow away the soil, is used. “You really don’t want to get a mini-excavator or shovel” near historic trees, Carone said. “You’re just using air to move soil around.”
“We have our horticulturalist making sure, so we don’t have any accidents and cut any roots,” Arterton added.
“I think we have a great relationship” between the city staff and the proprietors, Carone said. “I’m a parks guy and a plant and tree guy, too, and I’m very passionate.”
Besides having the water restored in the fountain, which was installed in 2002, Arterton said the proprietors have commissioned a study to see if the plaques on the 1928 flagpole, commemorating the dead from World War I, can be brightened up and whether the marble can be cleaned.
The Bennett Fountain at Church and Chapel streets, erected in 1907 with water for horses to drink as well as people, also will get a look.
“I have always loved the historic New Haven Green for its natural beauty, culture, history and diversity. For me, it’s the heart of New Haven,” said Geri Mauhs of Hamden, chairwoman of Friends of the Green. Myriad efforts keep the space tidy. “We have a great group of volunteers who get together about eight times a year to clean the green on Saturday mornings,” she said. “Volunteers have included students and staff from SCSU, Albertus Magnus, Yale, New Haven Promise, the three churches, Greater New Haven St. Patrick’s Day committee, and the community.”
Other projects involve making the
Green as bright as possible at night. A project to light up the trees from below started with four along Temple Street and will add eight more. The three early 19th-century churches could become brighter beacons, as well.
“We’re going to have a local lighting designer look at the churches” to see whether they can be lit at night, Zinn said.
The trees require special attention, given the threat of Dutch elm disease.
“The conservation part is critically important and … one of the real essences of the proprietors is to maintain and conserve these trees, some of which are pretty old, many of which are subject to disease,” Arterton said.
Six or seven trees are replaced each year, and removing a diseased tree has to be done quickly. “Once we identify an elm tree that has the disease, we remove it right away,” Carone said, because the fungus can spread through the roots.
Carone’s staff also inoculates the trees to kill the larvae of the beetles that spread the fungus as they feed.
Davis said a 2012 Green improvement plan by the Project for Public Spaces is being revived. “It’s a beautiful plan and a lot of the ideas in that plan … are still relevant today,” he said.
One proposal that was implemented was creating the “patio” around the fountain, where Town Green has placed tables, chairs and, soon, umbrellas. “The thing that we are next going to involve ourselves with is what’s called the civic gateway,” the midblock Church Street crossing that leads to the flagpole.
“I think that there are low-cost, highly visible interventions that we can do to show that the Green is being cared for” and that visitors “utilize it for positive activities and respect it,” he said.
Town Green’s yellow-and-bluejerseyed ambassadors do everything from sweeping streets to giving directions to visitors. Christian Cobb, one of the ambassadors, said he sees his role as “creating a safe, secure atmosphere for the locals, students and businesses of the area. It’s also being hands-on with the general public.”
The Green is a “peaceful island in a stormy sea,” said James Brunetti of Guilford, who frequently visits the Green when attending classes at Gateway Community College. “It’s lush, it’s open. … We need nature. Nature has a big part to play in our lives.”
“This is my beautiful sit-down spot,” said Tony Edwards of New Haven. “I sit in the sun when I’m around the flagpole.”
“It’s a wonderful area. They have little concerts for the kids,” said Adonis Negrón of New Haven. “It’s wonderful. It’s peaceful, it’s not too loud. You come out here, study, sit on the grass, relax, and the people on the Green are very nice.”