New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Memorial brick project back on track after pandemic delay
EAST HAVEN — Supply chain issues and a change in vendors delayed part of the Town Green Beautification project, but engraved bricks for the walkway portion are back on track, aoccrding to the mayor.
Mayor Joseph Carfora provided an update on the status of the project after receiving calls from residents looking for information about engraved bricks they had purchased.
Residents in spring 2021 had been invited to purchase a paving brick engraved with a family name or in honor of a loved one as part of the beautification project, with plans for the bricks to be installed this spring.
But the pandemic and related issues affected the project’s timeline, Carfora said in a Facebook post.
Carfora wrote that the original plan was to have the bricks engraved locally, but that changed.
“The original vendor had a major supply issue that was out of ours and their control which then caused us to move our orders to another vendor,” Carfora wrote. Pallets of bricks were relocated to New Jersey after the town found a new vendor that was able to take on the project with little notice, the post read.
The town is working with PaverArt, a manufacturer in Lindenwold, N.J., for the mass production of the bricks.
“This new company has been amazing to work with and has kept us up to date,” Carfora wrote. “All of the bricks will be completed
by the end of May and we are hoping to announce a date in early June to celebrate the ‘Walk East Haven’ beautification project and place the engraved bricks for all to see.”
A celebration will include placement of the
bricks, as well as of the remaining plaques for benches that arrived, according to the post.
“Supply and demand in every aspect has been affected due to Covid,” the mayor wrote. “We see this every day in our own
lives.”
Bricks can still be ordered through the Mayor’s Office; for more information, call 203-468-3204.