Little Pink House Part 11

Paxton told Singer his concerns. "I don't understand why it foresees the total destruction of this neighborhood," he said. "I think there's a real possibility that a social injustice is going to be committed."

Singer agreed to accompany Paxton on a visit to the Fort Trumbull neighborhood a few days later. They parked a block from Susette's house and started walking. They found Matt Dery making repairs on his house. Paxton introduced himself and told Dery that Singer was affiliated with the NLDC.

"What's your perspective on this redevelopment idea?" Paxton asked.

Dery didn't mince words. "We're getting bulldozed," he said, explaining that his mother had been born in the family house and had hoped to die there. But the anxiety created by Claire and the NLDC was sending Dery's mother to an early grave, he said.

Paxton's blood began to boil. He asked what the residents were doing to oppose the NLDC. Dery pointed out that many of the residents were elderly and lacked the energy and resources to fight.

As soon as they left Dery's place, Paxton unloaded on Singer. The fact that Connecticut College had direct involvement in an effort to displace lifetime residents of a historic neighborhood was an outrage, he argued. Singer didn't disagree. His committee had a meeting coming up. He invited Paxton to make a presentation.

To prepare, Paxton read through press accounts of what had transpired during his sabbatical. He decided to pay one more visit to the neighborhood. This time he brought his wife, Sylvia Malizia, along. An Italian artist, she immediately recognized some of the architecture in the area. Italians from the Adriatic coast had settled some of the neighborhood, and Sylvia's ancestors had come from there as well.

"They are going to take all these properties by eminent domain," Paxton told her as he drove her up and down the streets.

"Oh, Fred, they can't do that," she said, dismissing his anger as an exaggeration. "This is not for public good. They can only do that for schools or roads or a hospital or something."

"I'm telling you the NLDC plans to demolish all of this."

"This is an intact piece of urban neighborhood," she said.

"I know it."

While at the stop sign in front of Susette's cottage, they spotted her on the front porch. Paxton recognized her from newspaper accounts. He parked the car and got out.

"Are you Susette Kelo?"

"Yes."

"Hi, I'm Fred Paxton. This is my wife, Sylvia. I teach at Connecticut College."

Unimpressed, Susette nodded.

"We've been away on sabbatical. We've been reading about what has happened while we've been away."

Unsure what "sabbatical" meant, Susette started talking about the NLDC's pressure tactics to drive out homeowners.

Paxton immediately sensed her combative demeanor. "We are going to help you, Susette," Paxton said. "We are going to do everything in our power to not let this happen."

Susette didn't know what to think. Paxton and his wife sounded smart. They looked fas.h.i.+onable. Why would people like that care about people like us? Why would people like that care about people like us? she wondered. Appreciative, she told them about Kathleen Mitch.e.l.l and provided her contact information. she wondered. Appreciative, she told them about Kathleen Mitch.e.l.l and provided her contact information.

As soon as the Paxtons drove off, Susette called Mitch.e.l.l and told her that a professor from Connecticut College had agreed to help.

Paxton figured that Claire had told the NLDC's Social Justice Committee all about the good side of the redevelopment plan. He went to the committee meeting ready to tell them the dark side. He appealed to their liberal way of thinking and got them to reconsider displacing modest-income residents for the sake of a big corporation.

"So we are going to throw people out of their homes and demolish their homes to create a brownfield?" he asked. "For what? People don't develop like that anymore."

The committee broke up with an uneasy feeling. Word of Paxton's presentation quickly reached Claire. Then she found out he had contacted one of the project managers at the NLDC and got him to concede that it wasn't too late to modify the plan to preserve the neighborhood. Claire immediately went to work to defuse Paxton.

Kathleen Mitch.e.l.l wasted no time in bringing Paxton on board. She arranged a strategy meeting for the two of them with Mayor Beachy. Together they determined the importance of getting Landmarks and the New London Historical Society involved. The mayor agreed. He belonged to both organizations. He explained the problem: the board of directors at Landmarks was split on the question of whether to get in the fight. Many of its members figured it was too late to stop the process.

A preservationist, Paxton knew some of the board members. He asked Beachy which ones were inclined to oppose the NLDC. Beachy said the most outspoken board member in favor of opposing the plan was a fellow named John Steffian, an architect from the neighboring town of Waterford.

Paxton still had the sc.r.a.p of paper with Steffian's home phone number. He decided to call him.

John and Sarah Steffian were among the wealthiest residents in southeastern Connecticut. Sarah's great-grandfather had founded Aetna, the insurance company. Sarah's grandfather had served as chairman of the Hartford National Bank and Trust Company. But her father had achieved the most success and had the most far-reaching impact on the world: Dr. John Enders was a professor of bacteriology and immunology at Harvard Medical School and the chief of the division of research of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital medical center. His landmark research had led directly to the development of vaccines against polio, measles, rubella, and mumps. In 1954 he had received the n.o.bel Prize in Medicine, with two colleagues, after demonstrating how to grow the polio virus in tissue cultures instead of nerve tissues. Time Time magazine had named him and fourteen other scientists Men of the Year for 1960. magazine had named him and fourteen other scientists Men of the Year for 1960.

Dr. Enders had maintained a summer estate on Long Island Sound in Waterford, Connecticut, next door to New London. He had died there in 1985 while reading T. S. Eliot aloud to his wife. Sarah and her husband, John, had moved into one of the homes on the estate and had also owned various properties in New London. They were heavily involved in historic preservation in the city.

Paxton left a message on their answering machine. When John Steffian called him back, they hit it off immediately. Like Paxton, Steffian had spent his career in academia. He had served as Chairman of the Architecture and Planning Department at the University of Maryland's College of Engineering. He'd also been dean of the School of Architecture. Steffian gave Paxton a scathing critique of the NLDC's design plans for the Fort Trumbull peninsula. To him it was almost blasphemous to tear down every home and building to accomplish urban renewal. He and his wife, Sarah, he told Paxton, were determined to stop the NLDC from tearing down historic homes. Demolition, Steffian insisted, was completely unnecessary.

Steffian liked the fact that Paxton spoke his language and shared his philosophy about urban redevelopment. He also liked the fact that Paxton taught at Connecticut College, Claire's home base. The Steffians also had a close link to the top of the NLDC's power structure: Steve Percy, Claire's right-hand man in charge of real-estate acquisition, was Sarah Steffian's cousin, and he resided in the other home on the Enders estate. But despite being blood relatives and next-door neighbors, Sarah had no use for Steve. The Steffians despised what Percy had done with the NLDC.

Both Paxton and Steffian wanted to do their part to derail the plan. They agreed to work together and to do all they could to help Susette.

Susette opened her mailbox and pulled out a letter from her nursing school. In desperate need of some good news, she tore it open. It contained a letter informing her that she had successfully completed the nursing program.

She called Mitch.e.l.l to share the news. Mitch.e.l.l also had good news. Her meeting with the mayor and Professor Paxton had been very fruitful. "We're starting to build some real momentum," Mitch.e.l.l said.

21.

A HIP LITTLE CITY.

Fred Paxton needed to be marginalized. Claire called a meeting for faculty and students on campus to promote the great things she had been doing in the city.

Paxton attended and listened to Claire explain that redeveloping a depressed part of New London would provide economic opportunity for the poor. "Social justice and economic development are two sides of the same coin," she said. Many in the audience nodded in agreement.

Paxton had heard enough. He raised his hand. "This is all well and good," he said. "But I'm really concerned about what's happening to that neighborhood down there."

The faculty and students turned to face Paxton.

"It doesn't seem to me," he continued, "that this fits into the goals of the NLDC, the idea that social justice and economic development are two sides of the same coin."

Some faculty looked down at their feet. No one said a word. Claire's presentation ended awkwardly. When the meeting broke up, a few of Paxton's colleagues gave him the cold shoulder. Claire followed him outside.

Paxton remembers her saying, "Look, Fred, this train has left the station. It's too late to do anything about this."

"But this is a draft draft plan," he said. "There are still public hearings to be held. It can't be approved until you have all these public hearings." plan," he said. "There are still public hearings to be held. It can't be approved until you have all these public hearings."

"No, no," she said.

"It's a draft," he interrupted. "Why not amend the plan?"

Paxton quickly realized Claire had heard enough. "Fred, the state is a blunt instrument," he recalled her saying. "The plan has to be approved the way it is."

It was clear the discussion was over.

For days, Paxton stewed over his exchange with Claire. Feeling Claire expected him to quash his true feelings on the project, he couldn't resist sending her an e-mail.

"Claire, let me be completely honest," he began. "As to the heart of our conversation, I have given the matter a good deal of thought. You are asking me to dissemble. But that is not my style. Nor is it yours, it seems to me. Did you dissemble with George Milne? With the City Council?"

It angered Paxton that Claire had gone to great lengths to help and stick up for Pfizer. But no one seemed to be standing up for the little guy-the homeowners. "Why didn't you go to them from the start and insist that no more homes and neighborhoods be sacrificed to development in New London?" Paxton wrote. "The state may be a blunt instrument, but one could have said the same about the City Council and Pfizer Corporation. Why should the governor or state agencies be spared the call to do things differently this time around?"

Paxton objected to Claire's apparently dismissing the neighborhood as a blighted community. "It's not a slum," he said. "But a viable piece of old New London with people who have lived there all their lives, who have invested in that part of the city when no one else wanted to, who fear they are being forced out just when their investment could pay off. It is not right.

"Right now, a lot of good people are questioning your integrity and the integrity of the NLDC. What I'd like you to do is amend the plan."

Claire didn't have to study Paxton's e-mail to realize he wasn't going away quietly. Without some quick intervention, Paxton's outspoken opposition could cause some real problems down the road. The NLDC set up a series of public presentations at different locations throughout the city. The presentations had a simple objective: lock up public support for the NLDC's plans and snuff out any opposition before any negative momentum picked up.

What's it like to have a newspaper reporter come to the house? Susette wondered. She was about to find out. Kathleen Mitch.e.l.l had called Lee Howard, the editor of the Susette wondered. She was about to find out. Kathleen Mitch.e.l.l had called Lee Howard, the editor of the Day Day's real-estate section, and suggested he interview Susette. Howard had been following the eminent-domain dispute and agreed.

When Howard arrived he immediately put Susette at ease with his quiet, una.s.suming manner. Early on, he asked her about the NLDC's plan to revive the city through eminent domain.

"They can have my house when they can take the keys out of my cold, dead hands," Susette said.

Howard knew instantly that the NLDC was going to have its hands full with this woman.

When asked about the NLDC's argument that she could make a $16,000 profit by selling to it, Susette balked. "Look at this view," she said, pointing toward the Thames River. "How many people with a $70,000 house have a view like this? If I leave here, where can I go and get the same thing?"

Her point was simple, yet compelling.

Susette insisted she wasn't the only one in the neighborhood determined to stay. "The people that wanted to sell have sold," she said. "The people still here don't want to go."

The more she talked, the more sense she made. Susette had nothing to hide. And the resentment in her voice and on her face was raw, especially when Howard asked her about the negative perceptions about her neighborhood, such as its reputation for crime.

"The biggest crime here is what Claire has planned," she said, insisting that Claire was using code words to hide her true intentions. "You know that 'HIP little city?' To me, that means Higher Income People."

Howard left impressed by Susette's intensity and her candor. He called the NLDC for a response to her statements.

Pat O'Neil had been in charge of public relations at the NLDC for a year. Previously a reporter at the state capitol, he had heard about the opening at the NLDC from Jay Levin, and had agreed to come on board to help defuse the Freedom of Information dispute with the Day Day. Right away, O'Neil ended up handling one crisis after another and working closely with Claire. But he never bought into Claire's agenda. And he had a personal distaste for her approach. The steady s.e.xual innuendo and the urgent Friday-night meetings got old fast, in his view. But like a good soldier, he kept his gripes to himself. It was hard to believe he had been on the job only a year; it felt more like a decade.

It fell to O'Neil to handle Howard's questions about Susette and her insistence that the NLDC was being unfair. O'Neil told Howard that he understood where Susette was coming from. "For people who have lived in houses for a long time, it is difficult," O'Neil said.

His honesty made an impression on Howard.

O'Neil also admitted that there were financial motives for the NLDC to act quickly in its attempt to obtain the homes in the fort area. "If you wait two years and Pfizer opens and people are desperate to move in, things like that do have an effect on the market," he said.

After interviewing Susette and O'Neil, Howard produced a cover story t.i.tled "In The Way of a Revival" for the newspaper's weekly real-estate section. It included color pictures of Susette's house-freshly repainted after the fire-and of its impressive views.

The article's slant and Susette's tough quotes were just the kind of press the NLDC was trying to avoid. A couple of weeks after the article appeared, Dave Goebel told O'Neil he wanted to see him in his office. O'Neil figured the agency had another crisis.

"This isn't working out," Goebel told him. "I'm going to have to give you notice."

Stunned, O'Neil said nothing.

"It's unfortunate," Goebel continued. "I feel bad about this. But we've got budget issues. We need project managers and engineers. It's a problem that I have to deal with."

O'Neil liked Goebel and had always found him to be professional. But he wasn't buying Goebel's explanation. He was convinced it was something else.

"I'm not sure how or why I ran afoul of Claire," O'Neil said.

"I don't know either," said Goebel.

Steve and Amy Hallquist saw the feature story on Susette. It confirmed their growing reservations about Claire and the NLDC.

They decided to attend one of the public presentations Claire had scheduled.

Claire was partway through her speech when Susette suddenly stood up in the back of the room.

"This is bulls.h.i.+t!" she said.

All eyes s.h.i.+fted to Susette. Steve and Amy spotted a redhead in blue jeans and a flannel s.h.i.+rt. They recognized her as the woman in the newspaper.

"It's total bulls.h.i.+t," Susette repeated. "They're down here stealing our properties. They're trying to take our homes."

Civility instantly left the room. People mumbled under their breath. A woman toward the back of the hall insisted people in the neighborhood hadn't been included in the process. A man complained that Claire was messing with real lives.

Claire insisted that there were various alternatives and that no final decisions had been made.

Susette remained standing. "We're not against all development," Susette said. "But that doesn't mean you can push us around. We have a right to stay here. These are our homes."

Amy turned to Steve. "Wow," she whispered in his ear, "she just went off."

The audience didn't appreciate Susette's outburst. Most people wanted what Claire had promised.

The contrast struck Steve. Claire described teamwork, democracy in action, and everyone working together for a better city, but Susette's actions displayed anger over powerlessness.

When the meeting broke up, the Hallquists heard a community opposition group was planning a meeting.

"We have to do this," Amy said.

Steve didn't have to be persuaded.

November 18, 1999 When Susette walked into the Landmarks building she hardly believed her eyes. In the center of a large room with a wood floor, some tables had been pushed together to form a makes.h.i.+ft conference table. Mayor Beachy and Kathleen Mitch.e.l.l sat around it, along with Fred Paxton and his wife, Sylvia; John and Sarah Steffian; Steve and Amy Hallquist; and many others. Most of the attendees had never met Susette. But her plight had a lot to do with everyone's presence. She quietly took a seat near the window, away from the table.

Mitch.e.l.l hoped the meeting would be the beginning of a true neighborhood opposition group. Board members of the New London Historical Society and of the Landmarks group had shown up. A few people from Connecticut College were also on hand. The mayor looked ready to roll. This, Mitch.e.l.l thought, is a group capable of having an impact.

After the mayor said a few words, Paxton made a presentation outlining the NLDC's plans to wipe out the Fort Trumbull neighborhood.

John Steffian pounded his fist on the table. "This is not going to happen," he thundered. He had looked at the NLDC's designs for the Fort Trumbull area and concluded they had failed to take into account a variety of ways to preserve and incorporate the historic residential neighborhood into the new development.

Steffian pushed for a joint resolution by the historical society and Landmarks that would oppose the forceful eviction of residents from their homes in Fort Trumbull. Both boards had previously resisted taking that stance, but the opposition had largely been based on the sense that it was too late in the game to stop the NLDC. The people in the room felt otherwise. Both boards now voted in favor of the resolution.