New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Rotary crew comes full circle
City Point neighbors find common ground beautifying traffic circle
NEW HAVEN — Traffic circles, or rotaries, are intended to ease traffic flow and make intersections safer.
They also can be an opportunity to bring people together. At least, that’s how residents of City Point, both those who live in the 175-year-old oyster captains’ houses and those who live in the three condo complexes, see the rotary at Sea Street and Harbour Close.
The neighbors have been cleaning up the area and recently did some landscaping on the rotary, where some shrubs were so high they were blocking the juniper bushes behind them.
They’ve formed the Friends of the Sea Street Circle - New Haven (a shorter name may be on a future agenda) and are meeting on Zoom to plan as well as getting together in person to keep the neighborhood neat and tidy.
The circle was built in 2018 along with a new Exit 45 off Interstate 95 and a safer intersection of Sea Street and Ella T. Grasso Boulevard. The state turned it over to the city in 2020.
“When they put the rotary in, they put in some standard highway-type plantings,” said Denise Dukette of
Breakwater Bay. “The city would come in and weedwhack it periodically,” she said.
“We’d like to make it more attractive because it’s the entrance to our neighborhood and it’s really an ideal spot for having more plantings,” said Louis Pozzuoli of Howard Avenue.
It’s also a chance for people who live in different parts of City Point to come together, Pozzuoli said. While those in the condos and those in the rest of the neighborhood don’t all know each other, “We’re all part of the same neighborhood,” he said.
“This way we’ll get to know one another … making a cohesive whole and not having people in the condos separated from people in the neighborhood. It is important; it really is.” The three condo complexes off Harbour Close — Harbour Landing, Breakwater Bay and City Point Landing — total 147 units, according to Stephane Girard, coordinator of the Friends group.
“It seems like a little deal, but if you take what’s happening in the world, it’s a big deal,” said Patty Nicolari of Harbour Landing. She hopes the efforts will bring “a little color and a little happy feeling and a little pride in the neighborhood.”
One non-condo dweller is Alder Carmen Rodriguez, D-6, who said that after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic it’s an opportunity for neighbors “to get to know each other or reknow each other.” She and her husband, Jose Romero, who is also involved, live on Sea Street.
Nicolari said Rodriguez “jumps in and pulls out the weeds and plants the flowers. She’s a hands-on alder.”
Rodriguez said she brought some plants from the Pardee Rose Garden, including sedum and butterfly bushes. This past weekend, the group “did a trimming, weeded whatever we needed to weed and then we looked at the circle to see what we wanted to see there,” she said.
“To be honest with you, there has been more people in the community servicing the whole area already,” Rodriguez said. “Everybody comes together.” Other efforts have focused on Triangle Park and South Water Street, where people fishing have left trash and more has washed up from the water.
Girard, who lives in Breakwater Bay, said, “Probably the last three years we’ve been cleaning up the west end of Sea Street from Howard to the West River, trying to get garbage out of there. … We did another one about a month ago and then in the middle of it we’re eyeing this circle that needs a little TLC.”
Girard said the goal is to set up a plan to keep the circle looking good in perpetuity. The challenge is, “How do we mesh together all of these disparate elements to see the circle live and breathe and keep itself beautiful through the years?” he said.
He said the group is fundraising and seeking contributions. The Urban Resources Initiative, a collaboration of the Yale
School of the Environment and an independent nonprofit group is helping.
“Just last week they confirmed they’d like to work with our group,” Girard said.
Rodriguez said the city Department of Public Works will continue to help and Shell and Bones has offered financial assistance. “It’s important to be a team, so that’s how to me it’s a win-win,” she said. “We’ve connected.”