The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Bridge rally canceled due to safety concerns
PORTLAND — A proposed show of solidarity on the Arrigoni Bridge to honor of the memory of George Floyd was canceled Tuesday out of “an abundance of caution” given the construction taking place on the bridge.
However, apparently not everyone got the message and a handful or so of people did turn out, Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim said. He said he did not think there was a serious traffic disruption, as the people walked down the sidewalk and into the roadway briefly, and authorities were there to keep an eye on things.
Florsheim said he thinks the people showing up anyway demonstrates the “deeply felt” desire for change.
“I think that it is so clear we are at a tipping point in this issue and that action needs to be taken,” he said.
On the Portland side of the bridge, in the minutes
leading up to 4 p.m., about two dozen individuals arrived at the Dunkin’ Donuts store.
Police halted traffic, allowing them to cross from the north side of the bridge to the south side, according to information conveyed to Portland First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield.
The group went to the center of the bridge, and two reportedly laid down in the road, so traffic was stopped in both directions. The group then returned to Portland where two individuals lay down in Main Street, again causing a brief traffic delay, Bransfield said.
Police reported there were no injuries – and no arrests – and shortly after 6 p.m., the group dispersed
and people left the area.
Portland resident Mary Flood had proposed having people stand on the south sidewalk of the bridge – while practicing social distancing – to honor Floyd who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25.
In a posting on social media over the weekend, Flood called upon likeminded people to join her on the bridge at 4 p.m. Tuesday .
But officials of both Middletown and Portland expressed their concern about the safety of people, given that the four-lane bridge that spans the Connecticut River has been reduced to two lanes as part of renovation and rehabilitation project.
Both Florsheim and Bransfield said they supported idea of honoring Floyd’s memory.
Florsheim took part in a march in Middletown Saturday night to protest Floyd’s death.
Bransfield described his death as “a terrible injustice,” one that would not be acceptable in Portland.
But they also said they both had “serious concerns” about the safety of people standing on the bridge as well as those who drive over the bridge.
“Our concern is that bridge is a critical piece of infrastructure,” Florsheim said and if, for whatever reason it became blocked, there is no easy alternative route to the Middletown Health hospital.
A conference call Tuesday afternoon was held with both leaders, Flood, and police and fire officials from the two towns.
Flood said she has agreed to cancel Tuesday’s event and instead hold a similar event on June 19 — or Juneteenth — at the Riverfront park in Portland.
“Juneteenth” (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks “the effective end of slavery in the United States,” according to an explanation on the History.com website.
On June 19, 1865, two months after Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House “Union General Gordon Granger and approximately 1,800 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state and enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.
Flood, the former director of Portland Senior Center, said she saw the bridge “as a metaphor” for the need of Americans to help one another through the trauma of Floyd killing, adding that it has been used for similar events – such as the annual Hunger Walk — in the past.
She was surprised — and heartened — that her post had attracted so much attention and so many messages of support.
For her part, Bransfield said she intends to ask the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday to approve holding a memorial gathering for Floyd on one or the other days this weekend.
She also said if Americans don’t stand together to oppose events like Floyd’s killing, “It’s going to happen again and again and again.”
jmill@middletownpress.com