$617M LATER, NO CLEAR PICTURE OF SOUND'S HEALTH
Originally published July 15, 2007
Twenty
years ago, Long Island Sound was practically dead.
An
abundance of nitrogen - largely from sewage treatment plants - had
fueled the growth of oxygen-depriving algae suffocating shellfish
and fin fish across broad swaths of the Sound.
By
1994, New York, Connecticut and the federal government came up with
a plan to restore the Sound's health. At the top of its list was solving
the nitrogen problem. A few years later, officials set a timeline:
By 2014, the amount of nitrogen flowing into the Sound would drop
by 58.5 percent.
Nearly
15 years and $617 million in sewage treatment plant upgrades later,
it's difficult to gauge how effective that nitrogen reduction plan
has been - and there are still disagreements among experts on how
best to restore the Sound.
A
recent report by the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Long
Island Sound Study says that nitrogen flowing into the Sound has been
reduced by 20 percent - or by an average of 40,645 pounds a day -
since 1994.
But
another report released last month by the Connecticut Council on Environmental
Quality shows that the number of square kilometers in the Sound with
enough dissolved oxygen to support aquatic life has risen and fallen
sharply in the last 15 years. In 2006, the area affected by hypoxia
- a condition caused by excessive nitrogen - was slightly larger than
in 1991.
Despite
the large area still suffering from hypoxia, many officials and advocates
say nitrogen reduction is critical to improving the health of the
Sound. Most say it is necessary that in the coming weeks the state
approves funding to replenish the Clean Water Fund, which provides
grants and loans to municipalities to upgrade their sewage treatment
plants.
In
recent years, the fund was emptied for projects not related to sewage
treatment.
But
the emphasis on nitrogen reduction and sewage plant upgrades may not
be the prescription to save the Sound, say some advocates.
FISH
TRAPS CLUTTERING HARBOR AROUSE CONCERNS
Originally published December 25, 2007
NORWALK
- A potentially large number of abandoned fish traps that can act
as "killing machines" are littered across Norwalk Harbor
and other parts of Long Island Sound, some fishermen and advocates
say.
The
"ghost traps," as fishermen call them, were used to catch
finfish such as blackfish. But now they're turning parts of the harbor
into a junk yard, they say.
"They
become self-baiting, self-perpetuating fish-killing machines,"
said Terry Backer, head of Soundkeeper, an advocacy organization.
"They're just not appropriate."
Some
fishermen put the number of traps in Norwalk Harbor at 100, or possibly
1,000. Others say it's impossible to know how many traps there are,
though it's a problem that could stretch from Greenwich to Stratford,
Backer said.
The
traps - which are built with plastic-coated metal wiring and are larger
than lobster pots - are concentrated on the south side of Norwalk
Harbor around the islands, said Rick Mola, owner of Fisherman's World.
"They're
positioned in areas where there's rocky reefs and rock piles. The
guys call it 'hangs,' where blackfish look for little caves,"
he said. "They're a perfect habitat with seaweed and barnacles
. . . that fish use to hide or look for food. Either way, they're
trapped."
The
proliferation of traps was driven by two events, Backer said: the
demise of lobsters in 1999 and the rise in the value of blackfish
in New York City's live fish markets. Both changed blackfishing in
the last two decades, Backer said.
"A
lot of old-timers used to set up traps, catch a couple dozen blackfish
and fillet them for the winter," Backer said. "But the confluence
of events that drove up the value of blackfish made people more willing
to exploit them."
CYCLING
STEERS COMMUTER TO ALTERNATIVE ROUTE
Originally
published November 4, 2007
Crossing
the Washington Bridge by bicycle can be nerve-wracking.
Heading
south, the bridge - which crosses the Housatonic River into Stratford
- empties into what looks like a highway. Streams of cars race south
on three lanes past a strip mall. The road splits beneath an interstate
overpass. One lane veers right, heading north toward Shelton. The
other lanes - which continue south toward Bridgeport - turn into a
four-lane thoroughfare on Barnum Avenue.
It's
not just challenging to cut left and head south on two wheels. It's
suicidal.
This
interchange is a little less than halfway on my 36.7-mile, 21Ú2-hour
bike commute from New Haven to Norwalk. The first time I made the
crossing, I nearly ended up in Putney.
After
more than a month of commuting two or three days a week, this part
of the trip no longer raises my blood pressure the way it once did.
But it's by far the most dangerous section of a long, labyrinthine
route I devised to avoid the Post Road - the quickest, most obvious
north-south connector that feels like a deathtrap every time I ride
it.
Four
pages of directions guide me past the modest, suburban homes of Milford;
past the power plant and abandoned businesses of East Bridgeport;
past the walled-off mansions, pristine beaches and wetlands of Southport
and Greens Farms.
This
commute is anything but practical. It's like taking the train cross-country
instead of flying. But in an area that isn't known for its bike-friendliness
- and where roads are as jammed up as the New York City subway during
rush hour - taking the long way seemed like the only option if I didn't
want to end up in a body cast.
COUNCIL
MEMBER TO KEEP QUIET ON DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Originally published September 3, 2007
Common Council member Nicholas Kydes has never been shy about sticking
up for property owners in a redevelopment plan that includes the Globe
Theater - a building partly owned by his brother, developer Andrew
Kydes, under the name Wall 71 LLC.
During
upcoming meetings and hearings on that redevelopment plan, Nicholas
Kydes, who is also a member of the Common Council's Planning Committee,
which oversees redevelopment plans, will do something he hasn't done
since his brother and a business partner bought the property last
fall: recuse himself.
Kydes,
a Republican, said last week that during those meetings, he will not
vote on or discuss the Poko Partners portion of the Wall Street redevelopment
plan.
That
section of the plan stretches from Wall Street and Belden Avenue to
Isaac and Leonard streets. It proposes hundreds of new housing units
and thousands of square feet in commercial space.
It
also aims to preserve the Globe Theater, a nearly century-old Spanish-revival
style building that was once a vaudeville theater.
Though
Kydes said he would not participate in future discussions, previous
instances when he has discussed the redevelopment plan or the theater
- and not disclosed that it is owned by his brother - did not pose
a conflict of interest, he said.
Oyster
Shell Park: The city hopes for a pearl as it tries to complete a long-unfinished
riverfront park
Originally published August 12, 2007
NORWALK —It was a rainy Saturday in June 2001 when the city
held a lavish grand opening for Heritage Park.
The
sprawling project - which connects South Norwalk and Mathews Park
through a series of trails and open space - had been in the works
since 1988, when then-Mayor Frank Esposito announced Norwalk was one
of a few cities to receive funding under a state heritage park program.
For
that June day six years ago, the city had planned symphonies, choirs
and art exhibits. Esposito cut a ribbon to mark the occasion.
One
of the centerpieces of the Heritage Park plan was Oyster Shell Park
- a former municipal dump that was nearly finished being converted
into a park. Five-foot bands of oyster shells and wildflowers were
laid atop the former landfill. Benches carved out of its towering
hillside would be used for future productions of Shakespeare on the
Sound. Murals by local artists were hung nearby beneath the Interstate
95 bridge.
In
the years after the ceremony, the grass grew wild. The park became
littered with trash, and those murals were marred by graffiti. Conflicting
accounts of what triggered Oyster Shell's decline - and of whether
the park was ever officially open - added a layer of confusion to
a complicated tale about a grand project that's had its share of setbacks.
The
story of Oyster Shell is riddled with financial problems and disagreements
among city officials; with contractor snags, illegal dumping and other
twists that have led to the park's abandoned, overgrown state.
But
a pearl might still be found as the city cultures another ambitious
plan. If all goes accordingly, Oyster Shell's waterfront marsh habitats
will be restored. The park will power itself with renewable
energy
sources, and it could be the first truly "green" park in
the country.
PLANT
PATHOLOGIST PROBES DEMISE OF COASTAL WETLANDS
Originally published July 29, 2007
MADISON
- On the banks of a shallow, winding creek in Hammonasset State Park,
something is wrong.
Wade
Elmer, a plant pathologist with the state Agricultural Experiment
Station, crouches beside a few golden-green clumps of marsh grass,
his duck boots pressing into deep mud that covers a large part of
the surrounding creek bank. He snaps a few photos and inspects the
grass.
A
few feet away - where there's no sign of the grass clumps - the creekbank
resembles a reef: It's pockmarked with softball-size holes. A stream
of tiny fiddler crabs scurries through the mud. Running the length
of this section of barren, reef-like embankment is a jagged fissure
- the kind you expect to see in a dry desert, not in a coastal wetland.
"It
looks like it's cracking off," Elmer said. "This whole shelf
could go right into the water."
It's
likely this creekbank once looked like the rest of Hammonasset's wetlands.
It was probably lush with marsh grass that would die off in the winter
and grow back in the spring. But in the past several years, that grass,
called spartina alterniflora, has disappeared - victim to a condition
scientists call "sudden wetland dieback."
There
are a few telltale signs of the dieback, said Ron Rozsa, a coastal
ecologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection.
First,
it affects low marsh grass in coastal wetlands, or marshes that flood
twice a day. And unlike wetlands around the state that Rozsa said
have shrunk because of a decades-long rise in sea levels, the grass
dies quickly, sometimes in months. In Connecticut, it has failed to
grow back.
Scientists
are wrestling with several theories to explain these dead wetlands
- theories that might sound like a science-fiction movie plot: one
hypothesis involves a disease-causing fungus that may have migrated
to New England from Africa.
Another
says herds of crabs devour the marsh grass in the night. But what
exactly is behind the transformation of Hammonasset's creekbanks is
still a mystery.
FIELD STUDY: OPINIONS DIVIDED ON EFFECT OF FORMER DUMP ON PARKS PROJECT
Originally published May 6, 2007
NORWALK - City old-timers probably know something about Veterans
Memorial Park that more recent transplants don't: It sits on a former
city dump.
But
exactly what was dumped there is more of a mystery, as is the potential
effect on the baseball fields that were laid on top of it.
This
is because Veterans Park was never environmentally tested.
Now,
the city's parks department is pushing for a project that would add
a miniature golf course and an amphitheater to the park.
Parks
Director Michael Mocciae said he assumed the state's environmental
agency tested the park when its baseball fields were revamped more
than 20 years ago. But Mocciae said neither he nor anyone else in
the parks department has seen results of those tests.
The
state Department of Environmental Protection does not have any record
of park testing, nor do the federal Environmental Protection Agency's
regional offices in Boston and Stamford.
And
it is unclear if Jerry Petrini, the Norwalk business owner who is
planning the golf course, will have his 1.5 acres tested if the city
approves his proposal. Petrini did not return a phone call seeking
comment.
Michael
Greene, director of Norwalk Planning Department, said there is no
standard environmental test administered before such a project, although
the city's Planning Commission would review its impacts on coastal
waters.
Some
residents are uncomfortable that the old dump has not been investigated
before the city began moving forward with the golf course and amphitheater
plan.
NORWALK PLANS 'SMART GROWTH' IN THE BUILDING 21ST CENTURY DOWNTOWN
Originally Published March 4, 2007
NORWALK
- More than half a century ago, Norwalk had a center.
The
city's downtown was, like downtowns across the country, a bustling
neighborhood filled not with parking lots - as much of the Wall Street
area is today - but with small businesses of every stripe: There were
hotels; there was a theater; there was a candy and soda shop.
There
was even a trolley.
This
scene predates the shopping mall, the age of Wal-Mart and the flood
of 1955 that demolished Wall Street and triggered the long, slow decline
of the downtown.
In
the decades after the flood, the city tried to rebuild through an
urban renewal project and a business district management plan. But
neither restored the area's glory. Now the city is considering plans
that would once again try to re-establish the Norwalk of yore - as
well as bring the area into the 21st century with designs that would
make "smart growth" advocates proud.
One
of the Wall Street redevelopment plans, for instance, would restore
two old buildings and incorporate green design into the architecture.
Stanley Seligson's West Avenue plan, after dozens of heated public
meetings, has been transformed from what many residents called "out-of-scale"
to what has been called a "walkable" neighborhood proposal
that evokes nostalgia for the Main Street of another era.
It
is not clear whether all will go as planned. Though Seligson has said
he has negotiated with every property owner in the West Avenue area,
there are still many deals to be made - and several increasingly frustrated
property owners in the path of redevelopment.
Yet
city officials, developers and many residents say the future of Norwalk's
downtown hangs on these developments. They will, as Susan Sweitzer,
a senior project manager with the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency put
it, give Norwalk what it has been missing for the last half-century:
"A visible center."
COUNCIL
MEMBER TO KEEP QUIET ON DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Originally published September 3, 2007
Common Council member Nicholas Kydes has never been shy about sticking
up for property owners in a redevelopment plan that includes the Globe
Theater - a building partly owned by his brother, developer Andrew
Kydes, under the name Wall 71 LLC.
During
upcoming meetings and hearings on that redevelopment plan, Nicholas
Kydes, who is also a member of the Common Council's Planning Committee,
which oversees redevelopment plans, will do something he hasn't done
since his brother and a business partner bought the property last
fall: recuse himself.
Kydes,
a Republican, said last week that during those meetings, he will not
vote on or discuss the Poko Partners portion of the Wall Street redevelopment
plan.
That
section of the plan stretches from Wall Street and Belden Avenue to
Isaac and Leonard streets. It proposes hundreds of new housing units
and thousands of square feet in commercial space.
It
also aims to preserve the Globe Theater, a nearly century-old Spanish-revival
style building that was once a vaudeville theater.
Though
Kydes said he would not participate in future discussions, previous
instances when he has discussed the redevelopment plan or the theater
- and not disclosed that it is owned by his brother - did not pose
a conflict of interest, he said.
TOP OF THE LIST: TENANTS UNHAPPY AS HEALTH CODES VIOLATIONS ADD
UP
Origninally Published February 18, 2007
NORWALK - From a distance, the small cluster of townhouses at the
end of Nottingham Place look like typical, well-kept homes.
Their frames are covered by white vinyl siding. A small playground,
empty on a recent day, is at the far corner of the complex, tucked
beneath a hill dotted with leafless trees.
The city Department of Health, however, is a frequent visitor and
has issued more violations to its landlord - the Norwalk Housing Authority
- than to any other building owner in Norwalk, according to health
department records
obtained by The Advocate.
The 356 Main Ave. townhouses were cited 83 times last year by the
health department. Overall, the housing authority, which owns 1,100
subsidized homes in the city, received 222 violations at 24 sites
last year - far more than any other landlord in Norwalk - and a five-year
high for the agency.
From 2001 to 2005, the health department issued the agency 291 violations,
which ranged from cockroach infestation to hazardous wiring, water
damage and broken windows. Residents of the townhouses say they call
the health department as a last resort and only after they have called
their landlord. If the housing authority fails to act, they call the
health department. "We are the largest landlord in town,"
said Thomas Hickey, finance director for the housing authority. "It
stands to reason that we would have the most
violations."
TO
PRESERVE AND PROTECT
Originally published May 19, 2007
NORWALK—If
you traced the roots of South Norwalk's bygone preservation movement,
you'd probably find yourself in an unlikely place - 50 Washington
St., the plain, windowless monolith that is the bane of many local
preservationists.
It
was the 1970s, and trendy SoNo was not yet so trendy. Crime was rampant,
and countless buildings had been deserted.
Mimi
Findlay, then a graduate student at Columbia University, was giving
a lecture at 50 Washington St. on a handful of those run-down buildings
around the corner on South Main Street - buildings that were slated
for demolition but would eventually be saved.
"It
was a brown-bag lunch. There were planners, the redevelopment agency
and townspeople were there," said Findlay, now 72. "I showed
slides of the buildings, and it was spectacular. But the question
was, 'Who's going to carry the ball from here?' "
The
way Findlay tells it, a rustle in the front row of the auditorium
followed. Grace Lichtenstein, then a member of the Common Council,
was needling her friend, Valle Fay, to take the challenge.
Fay
accepted, and the Norwalk Preservation Trust was born.
