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NORWALK, Conn. — The Rowayton Avenue road project, which recently received a stamp of approval from Norwalk's Common Council, is fascinating for two reasons: It seems to be a boondoggle - that is, unnecessary - and it's a waste of money to the tune of $2.8 million from the state. Compounding this problem, it may involve eminent domain.
The project came before the council's public works committee a few weeks ago. We were informed there were important safety issues that needed to be addressed, especially the vertical line of sight when driving down the recently repaired bridge. According to the head of the department, vehicle headlights did not extend far enough down the road. Therefore, the section of road under the railroad bridge needed to be lowered and widened.
What disturbed committee members was that the construction could lead to eminent domain proceedings if residents adjacent to the road did not come to agreements with state officials. I do not support eminent domain to further economic development projects, but this time the issue seemed to be public safety, so I voted to move the project to the full council.
After the meeting, I started to wonder about the safety issues. I could not recall the engineers mentioning any other safety concerns apart from the vertical line of sight problem. I also began to wonder if the sight problem was actually caused by the repair of the bridge. And in the back of my mind, I began to wonder if signs or lights could solve the problem.
Before the road project reached the council floor, I spoke to and listened to all three of the Sixth Taxing District's commissioners. I was surprised to learn they all strongly opposed the project, and they all told me the only safety issue was indeed the vertical line of sight. They also said the bridge work, now completed, solved most of the safety issues that had been cited by commissioners 10 years ago. They all felt no further work was necessary.
I thus decided to vote against the project when it came before the council. The safety issue in question was not severe enough to justify lowering the road. And it was not nearly important enough to justify eminent domain. It seemed to be a boondoggle, pure and simple.
At the full meeting of the council, I questioned the director of public works, and he did not mention any safety issues except for vertical line of sight. I also asked if this problem was caused by the bridge improvement, and he did not respond with a categorical no, which leads me to believe it was. Nor did anyone question my statements that this safety issue might be addressed with signs and better lighting. I voted against the project.
(I should note that one council member tried to address safety issues, at least I think he did. He said that portion of Rowayton Avenue was dark at night and thus it was hard to see. If some of the houses are extremely close to the road, as we were told by city engineers, then it is probably not very dark most of the night. And since when has darkness been a justification for lowering a road and possibly seizing property?)
So, how did it pass? The approval of this wasteful road project seems to have been a result of old-fashioned political horse trading. Early in the council meeting, five Republicans voted for the candidate for assistant city clerk that had the support of only three out of eight Democrats on the Council. This Republican vote came after public statements indicating the Republicans would follow council tradition and support the recommendation of the majority party, which happens to be the Democrats.
Then, later on, these three Democrats – despite being opponents of eminent domain – gave the Republicans the votes they needed to pass the project. What a shame, what a waste of taxpayer money.
- Common Councilman Bruce Kimmel, District D
The mayor and his cohorts are never opposed to anything where somebody else, the state, in this case, is willing to pay for a large part of the expense, without regard for the merits of the project, or the effect on the neighborhood. From a strictly engineering point of view, this project may have some merit, but most of the folks who live in Rowayton and pay Norwalk taxes based on high assessments because it is a waterfront community, live there because of the small village charm of the area and elected people they believed would protect the character of their neighborhood. They have now seen that an unelected retired army colonel(Alvord), living in Danbury, has more power in this administration than he should, and pretty much always gets his way, even when some of us question his credibility.
Rowayton voters need to keep this in mind the next time they vote for local candidates, including a mayor. Just because some projects may look like good ideas on some engineer's drawing board up in Hartford does not always make them good ideas in Norwalk. Boondogle is way too polite a name for this project that we are being forced to pay for. State money does come out of our pockets.