Year Of The River
12/11/2008

THE TURNING POINT 

Story and Photographs

By John Murray

   All it took was sweat, a sharp machete, and a 6.2 mile kayak race to fire up greater Waterbury about the magnificent and neglected Naugatuck River.

   Malcolm Gladwell wrote a bestselling book called “The Tipping Point”, where he explored the concept of how little things can make a big difference. Kevin Zak is a huge fan of the book, and not surprisingly, Zak is the man with the machete who inspired community leaders to reignite dormant plans to construct a 7.1 mile Greenway along the Naugatuck River.

   Zak lives in the Platts Mill neighborhood just over the line in Naugatuck. He was born and raised there and spent much of his boyhood exploring the debris that washed ashore on the east bank of the river. Zak is a passionate man - some might call him obsessive - but when he grabs hold of a project he’s like a Gila Monster with a death grip. He’s been into fly fishing and baseball, but his latest obsession zeroed in on plucking litter out of a one-mile stretch of the river in front of his house. He studied where the garbage came from and devised a defensible space strategy to keep the stretch clear and clean of debris.

   One day on a whim Zak pulled out his machete and started hacking a small path along the river to see how far he could go. He wondered if he might be able to connect the area in front of his house to a river walk area being constructed in downtown Naugatuck.

   “I wasn’t sure how far I could get,” Zak said, “but amazingly I made a path all the way down.”

   He was also in violation of environmental laws that hamstring any change to watershed areas without properly obtaining permits. Naugatuck eventually told him to cease and desist his Daniel Boone ways, but Waterbury gave him permission, so he sharpened his machete and hacked out a trail to the north. He ultimately cleared out so much poison ivy and saplings that area residents were now able to see the river, and they began to read books along it’s banks, or simply take a short stroll along one of Zak’s many trails.

   Zak was so energized by his progress he wanted to create an event that allowed more people to interact with the river - and within months a kayak/canoe race was planned in May 2008. If Zak had just posted flyers there might have been a few hardy types that would eagerly plunge into the race, but Zak had a different idea, and it became the second tipping point in the reawakening. Zak wanted to get Waterbury Mayor Mike Jarjura to participate in the race and he went down to the Chase Building to find the mayor. He entered the mayor’s office unannounced and with no appointment. He was told the mayor was busy. No problem, Zak replied, he would just sit in the outer office and wait for the mayor to have a spare moment. After a few meetings Jarjura was told that Zak was still waiting, so he ushered him in.

   Zak’s enthusiasm overwhelmed Jarjura and the mayor agreed to participate in the race. Zak then used Jarjura’s acceptance to pry open political doors from Torrington to Seymour, and on race day more than a dozen elected officials showed up to splash down the river from Waterbury to Beacon Falls. The politicians involvement helped generate enormous publicity and more than 200 boats entered the race. Afterwards, the awareness of the river was in a heightened state, and local politicians seized on the moment to wrest $4.5 million away from an industrial park improvement, money that had languished unused for several years, and redirected it towards the creation of a Greenway along the river through Waterbury.

   The United Way kicked in a million dollars they had received from the McDermid Company to help fund studies needed to launch the project, and suddenly Waterbury was leaping into the Naugatuck River feet first. In September Mayor Jarjura formed a Greenway Advisory Committee to begin the arduous task of wrestling a concept into reality.

   The advisory committee is large and includes many prominent Waterbury leaders. Ron Napoli is the chairman of the committee, Kathy McNamara is the vice-chairmen, and other members include State Senator Joan Hartley, her sister, Cathy Smith, Larry De Pillo, Kristen Bulkovitch from the United Way, Corporation Counsel Terry Calderone, alderman Paul Pernerewski, Mike Ptak, Sam Gold, Kevin Zak, Mimi Niederman, Joyce DeCesare and this correspondent, John Murray. Others may be appointed in the future.

   The process began in mid-November with nearly two dozen consulting firms traveling up and down the river to get a feel for what they were up against, The firms have until December 17th to submit a bid for what they think a full blown study would cost, and then they’ll be interviewed and the number will be whittled down and only a handful will be asked to come and speak to the advisory committee.

   After a consultant is chosen to begin the study the committee will reach out into the community to seek input from Waterbury citizens and businesspeople to solicit as much input as possible. What does the public want? - Bike trails, hiking trails, parks along the river with picnic tables, paved areas to push strollers, community gathering points, public art, boat launching facilities, places to ride skate boards and roller blade...

    The advisory committee is open to gathering any and all ideas, and then the consultants and the committee will sort through and see what is possible with the money now in hand, and what avenues the group can explore to obtain state and federal dollars to continue to fuel the project.

   Last Spring when Kevin Zak was written up in several newspaper articles, one interested reader, Mimi Niederman, tracked him down via telephone and wanted to chat. Niederman and her sister had just inherited seven acres along the Naugatuck River down in the south end near Zak’s home. She was fascinated by this one man clean-up crew and offered to donate the land to Zak if he promised to turn it into a park. Niederman is a direct descendent of Nathan Platt who purchased 30 acres of land along the Naugatuck River in 1797. The property had a farm and a gristmill on it, and over the years, and generations, Nathan’s descendents formed The Platt Brothers & Company which still operates in Waterbury today.

   Zak was overwhelmed by Niederman’s offer, but he had no land trust or non-profit to accept the gift. Now eight months later the property is being offered to the city to help form the Greenway. Niederman has been in contact with the city and she is meeting with Mayor Jarjura in January to begin the process of donating the seven aces to Waterbury.

   There had been efforts in the past to create a Greenway through the city and environmental studies had been completed. Kathy McNamara and Joan Hartley were staunch supporters of a Greenway. But until Kevin Zak pulled his sharpened machete from its sheath, the plans lay dormant.

   In a time when many of us are overwhelmed by the spiraling economy, Kevin Zak reminds us all that individuals can make a difference. You just have to get up and try. 

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