6 years ago today I stood at the border of the City of New Haven and the Town of Hamden in South Central CT and watched history unfold. After years of rancorous process, we had reached the moment and the unsightly wall that had existed between these two communities for over 50 years would come down.
To understand the significance is to understand a long history of segregated housing, disinvestment in urban communities broadly and public housing specifically, suburban development, rising poverty, increased crime statistics, nascent and growing prejudices and biases associated with the placement of federally funded public housing communities in a remote area of New Haven on the town line with its mostly working class, suburban neighbors in Hamden.
The wall was built with support from government officials on both sides of the border at the time to literally keep the poor families on the New Haven side separated from the homeowners on the Hamden side. New Haven took the lead reversing the errors of the past that lead to such disconnection and in building a sense of community and knitting together a community that spanned municipal lines. Over the period from 2005 to 2014, Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of the City of New Haven undertook a massive effort to rebuild the affordable communities in the West Rock neighborhood of New Haven. During that time Brookside and Rockview, Ribicoff Cottages (now Twin Brook Estates) and the Wilmont Crossing were completely redeveloped offering quality affordable and market rate rental and homeownership housing opportunities.
Throughout the redevelopment, rebuilding the housing and providing needed services to this isolated neighborhood was only one part of the community revitalization plan. Another significant part of the plan included the re-connection of the street grid. Ending the isolation of West Rock required creating a road connection between New Haven and Hamden through Wilmot Road and newly created streets providing needed access to transportation, shopping, jobs and amenities. And for this, we sought to engage the leadership and residents of the Town of Hamden.
Willing Hamden Mayoral leadership in former Mayor Scott Jackson did not translate into widespread community support. Those who were most vocal – although they represented a small proportion of the overall town population – were adamantly opposed to the removal of the fence and connection of the road. Citing traffic concerns alongside veiled and blatant discriminatory statements, community meetings exploded into heated, aggressive outbursts that sought to derail our plans.
But we persisted. Supported initially by the foresight of former New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. and carried forward by former Mayor Toni N. Harp, we engaged state and federal legislators and US Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as our top-notch legal team lead by Attorney Rolan Joni Young, to apply the right mix of leverage and legal interpretation that allowed us to move forward. On on this day in May, 6 years ago, we gathered to celebrate the tearing down of the wall.
And what a celebration it was! But what is more monumental now looking back is the ability to reflect upon the fact that what we knew to be true was. Communities are not built with walls and fences. When we see a problem, we must resist the temptation to put up a wall to block people out or corral them in. Communities are built when we create the conditions where people’s needs are met, where people can co-create a way forward together and where we respect each other’s needs and perspectives. Standing today at the border between West Rock and Hamden, I note a quiet, suburban feeling community with little traffic and people enjoying their homes.
In a local and federal context that too often sees fences, jersey barriers and walls as the solution to controlling people’s behavior, I take the lessons of our West Rock community to heart. Let’s not build walls, let’s build communities.
For more information on the story of our West Rock community visit this story from the NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/12/nyregion/in-connecticut-breaking-barrier-between-a-suburb-and-public-housing.html.
Karen DuBois-Walton, Ph.D. is the President of Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of the City of New Haven, CT. Trained as a clinical psychologist, Dr. DuBois-Walton has led the agency since 2008 integrating progressive housing policy, community development and social service provision in ways that create communities of opportunity for low-income residents. ECC/HANH’s vision is a New Haven where every resident has a safe and decent home that they can afford and opportunities to fulfill their goals.
drduboiswalton 