Main Street Waterbury

OCTOBER 2006
Main Street Waterbury
By Carl Rosa, the executive director of Main Street Waterbury

Welcome to Main Street Waterbury and the Fall Season. As the leaves start to change color, our thoughts start to turn to the Election Season. There will be one referendum question on this year’s ballot, and in my opinion, it is an important one:

“Shall the City appropriate and issue bonds in an amount not to exceed $48,760,000.00 for the renovation of City Hall including the construction of a new firehouse for the relocation of the firehouse currently in City Hall?”

I thought I would take the opportunity in this column to tell you how I am going to vote on November 7th. I’m voting YES for our City Hall Building! I believe that the preservation of this building is a vital step in preserving the fabric of our immediate downtown. The following paragraphs contain the letter that I submitted to the Board of Alderman in July of this year outlining the importance of this project.

Dear Board Members,

Main Street Waterbury, now in its third year, has been actively involved in projects and programs to revitalize our downtown district. Started by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the “Main Street” program now exists in over 1600 cities and towns in 44 states across the Country.

For the second year in a row, Main Street Waterbury has been accredited as a National Main Street Community by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is an honor bestowed upon our organization recognizing the outstanding accomplishments toward our goals and is a testament to the hard work of our many volunteers and dedicated Board of Directors.

Since the mission of any Main Street program is a downtown management and revitalization strategy in the context of historic preservation, Main Street Waterbury offers the following comments regarding the City Hall Building at 235 Grand Street.

We strongly endorse the efforts to fully restore and renovate this Cass Gilbert designed building, in all its architectural grandeur, to a fully functioning and efficient public structure.

As noted in the Connecticut Main Street Center Report entitled Action Plan for the Revitalization of Downtown Waterbury,

“There is a tradition of hiring world class architects to design buildings in Waterbury and crafting buildings that reflect some of the world’s best design….. In the area of just a few hundred feet, an architecture enthusiast can find five buildings designed by Cass Gilbert, designer of the U.S. Supreme Court Building and many other notable civic structures.” There are few downtowns that can offer this much historic and first-rate architecture in such a concentrated area.

We believe that the City’s cultural and historic heritage is at stake. Your actions in this regard will preserve a legacy of stewardship and vision and set a positive example for future generations of Waterburians. Thank you for your time.

This initiative is enjoying bi-partisan support as well as endorsements from many sectors of our community. It appeared as if the Board of Alderman would approve said initiative but, unfortunately, it was forced to a referendum, thus placing the decision in the hands of the very people that they were chosen to represent and increasing the cost of the overall project.

This project is long overdue and we are now faced with a costly challenge brought about by the many years of neglect and deferred maintenance of the building. The Fire Marshall has threatened to close the building for safety reasons. Several City departments have already relocated and are leasing space in other downtown buildings. It is incumbent upon us to act on this now before further deterioration and costs are incurred.

The opponents of the YES vote seem to be suggesting the “tax-hike” fear and insinuating a distrust for the cost estimate numbers even though these numbers have been professionally derived by the Waterbury Development Corporation and its subcontractors. The truth is, taxes will not be raised as a direct result of this project and nobody has come up with a set of cost numbers as an alternative to those that have already been proposed.

What if the “no” vote wins? More delays? More costs incurred by the City? Who do we now turn to for more “likeable” numbers even though we’re not really sure what those numbers should be?

Yet every day we delay gets us one step closer to a vacant building with boarded up windows situated in the heart of our downtown district. I for one am not willing to let that be the legacy we leave to our children.

I have every confidence that the Waterbury Development Corporation and the designated architects and contractors will exercise and open, economic and prudent process as they deliver to us an efficient, fully functional, state-of-the-art building with all of its architectural and historic grandeur. We deserve no less.

So on Tuesday November 7th, when I walk into the voting booth, look up, and read the only question:

“Shall the City appropriate and issue bonds in an amount not to exceed $48,760,000.00 for the renovation of City Hall including the construction of a new firehouse for the relocation of the firehouse currently in City Hall?”

I will be voting YES! I urge you to do the same.

If you are interested in volunteering for our revitalization efforts please call me at 203-757-0701 ext. 302 or email me at crosa@mainstreetwaterbury.com and as always keep thinking Main Street Waterbury, Culture, Education, Business!

Back