Mrs. Dodd Goes to Middletown

Tuesday evening at Wesleyan, moviegoers undoubtedly enjoyed Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Frank Capra's tale of an outsider from a small city who goes to Washington and is nearly crushed by the entrenched political powers. Meanwhile, Tuesday evening at City Hall, about 45 members of the Democratic Town Committee (DTC) were mesmerized by a visit from Jackie Clegg Dodd, Senator Chris Dodd's wife. At the end of the meeting they approved a resolution offering the full support of the Middletown DTC for Senator Dodd, who is facing a challenging campaign to win support for his reelection next year.

Mrs. Dodd gave a speech that was charming, funny, and passionate. She began by wishing all the best to Kate Drew, wife of Mayoral candidate Dan Drew, saying that being the supportive spouse of a candidate was an even harder job than being a candidate.

She then addressed Tuesday's vote by the U.S. Senate to cancel funding for the F22 fighter, whose engines are made in Middletown at the Pratt and Whitney manufacturing plant. She said that unfortunately Defense Secretary Gates, "led a bit of an intifada to cut the F22." She said, "Chris is trying to turn around the vote." [Senator Dodd, in Washington, released a statement regarding the F22, "I believe it is our duty and responsibility to protect the thousands of workers in Connecticut and across the country from losing their jobs and to ensure that our country maintains the ability to continue building the finest and most sophisticated fighter jets in the world."]

Mrs. Dodd spoke of her husband's recent difficulties, "Chris knows he's facing some real trouble in Connecticut and how tough it is for him." But she said that he was not thinking about his troubles, "He's focused on how tough it is for people going home." He is fighting day in, day out for people to make things better for the people of Connecticut. She listed his recent efforts in the Senate, which include getting Credit Card Reform passed, working for Tobacco regulation, getting the first housing bill in 25 years passed, and working on Obama's Health Care legislation.

After Dodd's speech, former Mayor Domenique Thornton rose to sing the praises of Senator Dodd, pointing to his service in the Peace Corps, the Armed Forces, his advocacy for the mentally ill, and for the Family Medical Leave Act. She introduced a motion for the DTC to express its support for Christopher Dodd. DTC chair Russo added an amendment instructing Middletown's delegation to the State Party Convention to vote for a motion supporting Christopher Dodd. The motion of support was passed unanimously.

Later, in the lobby, Mrs. Dodd spied me writing in my notebook, sought me out, and cheerfully accused me of being a blogger (she said the dirty bicycling jacket gave me away). She told me that she had no idea the DTC was making a motion of support, "That was a complete surprise to me." She railed against the Hartford Courant's coverage, and blamed all of the criticism he has gotten on "some" Republicans, "They can't beat him on the issues, so they need to attack his character."

Nehemiah digs in

The performance hall at the Green Street Arts Center was packed with dignitaries for Monday's groundbreaking ceremony for the North End Home Ownership project. After remarks by no less than 15 politicians and stakeholders in the project, the crowd moved outside for a golden shovel ceremony. The developers, Nehemiah Housing and Broad Park Development Corp, note that actual construction is slated to begin in late summer, with the first of the 15 units available by October 2010.

Readers of the Eye have been treated to many, many articles about the long process of finding funding and getting approval from the Redevelopment Agency and Common Council for the home-ownership condos. Compromises between the developers and the preservation community led to the decision to rehabilitate three of the Ferry houses that were originally to be demolished. The January 2008 move of the former Methodist Church on Liberty Street to a new site on Rapallo Avenue added further complexity to the project, resulting in a plan to create 4 units in the renovated building. The difficulties of the current economy and real estate market required the developers to trim the original 7 sites to 6 -- the Habitat for Humanity duplex on Ferry Street will have to wait.

Although there are a number of funding sources (including some $700,000+ from the City), the project ultimately received its green light with the recent agreement by the state's Department of Economic and Community Development to provide $3 million in grants to fill the gap in the approx. $7 million budget. In exchange, the developers are required to sell the homes at below-market prices to households within targeted income categories -- most are for families with up to 80% of median income, and two units are reserved for families with up to 50% of median income.

In this architectural rendering you can see:
1 Top right corner: two new duplexes will replace two houses on the south side of Green Street which are currently vacant and condemned. These units are priced at $124,000 to $148,000.
2. Top left corner: the planned facade of the former Methodist Church. This elevation will face Rapallo Avenue, and the building will house four units which are priced at $93,970 to $124,000.
3. Bottom row: Three existing houses on the south side of Ferry will have condos priced from $138,000 to $168,000.

Many of the speakers at the groundbreaking praised the partnerships that brought this project to fruition, as well as the investments of Wesleyan University, the City and private developers in the North End. In her remarks, Jackie Clegg Dodd (wife of Senator Chris Dodd) noted the progress that Middletown has made in recent years. We now know, she said, that the North End was lucky to escape the wholesale redevelopment that other towns experienced, and the resulting construction of buildings in the "Early Ugly" style. Instead, the North End still has "good bones", and a strong base of dedicated people who care enough to work at creating a stable community.

As the final speaker, Izzi Greenberg, the executive director of NEAT and a contributor to this blog, noted that this is a very exciting step for residents of the North End -- the culmination of a neighborhood redevelopment effort that began in the late 1990's. Ever practical, she also noted that NEAT and Liberty Bank have been cooperatively offering financial literacy workshops to educate families that might be eligible to purchase the homes.

Obamapalooza (3)

Is there anyone in the country who isn't watching the bliss-fest in DC? Every conversation I've had today in our little city of Middletown has come back -- again and again -- to this jubilant feeling of hope.

Down in DC, my family went to the reception for CT residents at Senator Chris Dodd's office. That's where they ran into Calvin Price -- the VP of community development for Middetown's own Liberty Bank.



They spent most of the day going to museums and concerts and milling around with a few hundred thousand other people in anticipation of tomorrow's events. They took in a concert at the National Museum of the Native American.




They checked out the preparations at the Mall: the Jumbotrons are working.




At the end of the afternoon, they went to a Connecticut-themed party at the Russell Senate Office Building -- and in a case of the "media reporting on the media", my teenagers were interviewed by the Hartford Courant's Washington reporter, Jesse Hamilton.




They plan to rise well before dawn and head to the Mall, since their tickets for the inauguration itself are first-come, first-served in the standing area.