On the first night of the City Council’s debate on the 2008-2009 budget, Republican Councilor Rob Pero looked at the 100 people gathered in the gallery and gave a wry smile.
“This is like the Fort Trumbull days,” he said.
Pero was referring to the guaranteed packed house the council would play to every other Monday while the Fort Trumbull eminent domain saga dominated New London politics.
This time the main draw for citizens was Councilor Michael Buscetto’s plan to gut the Office of Development and Planning, as part of a plan to cut $2 million from the city budget.
Faced with the prospect of a two-mill increase in the tax rate, Buscetto’s scheme called for the elimination of ODP’s two high-profile directors: Bruce Hyde, the head of the department, and Ned Hammond, the head of economic development, both near-20-year city employees.
Those layoffs, along with the elimination of the nearly $100,000 in salary and benefits made by newly hired Downtown Development Coordinator Joseph Celli, would result in a diminished ODP made up of the city planner, grant writers, and secretaries.
The Buscetto Plan, as it has come to be known—despite Councilor John Maynard’s malaprop that “all of the council knew about it, or at least the Democrats”—would also add a detective sergeant and two other officers to the New London Police Department and call for a new hire in Public Works.
A competing plan compiled by Pero and fellow Republican Adam Sprecace would preserve ODP and Celli, as well as lower the mill rate below the Democrats’ plan.
“If [the Democrats] wanted to get rid of the department that’s one thing,” Pero said. “But the savings they proposed is a bogus savings.”
Although Buscetto employed the Nixon-era term “silent majority” to describe his citizen support for the plan, the true vocal support he received at the meeting came from Marshall Segar, the head of the police officers’ union.
“I don’t relish having to cross lines with the other collective bargaining units, but I support [Buscetto’s] plan,” he said. “There can be no economic development without public safety.”
Instead, Buscetto faced a day’s worth of criticism mostly from stakeholders in downtown New London.
Buscetto attended an emergency meeting of the City Center District where he answered criticisms of his plan.
“This plan will cut out the heart of downtown,” said Charlotte Hennigan, who owns several businesses and properties in New London. “Much of what has happened in downtown recently would not have happened if not for Bruce [Hyde].”
Hennigan also challenged Buscetto’s notion that ODP has not generated any large development, and has stalled on the so-called Parcel J in front of the Shaw’s Cove Office Complex.
“Little by little things are happening,” she said.
Others worried that without ODP to shepherd it, the Parade reconstruction project could vanish.
Buscetto is ambivalent about the redesign of the troublesome intersection at Bank, Water, and State streets, but others see it as a necessary element to make New London more enticing to pedestrians.
“It will give New London a sense of place,” said Sandra Kersten Chalk, executive director of New London Landmarks.
Pero said if the city scuttles the Parade redesign, then federal and state agencies might be leery of funneling more money into New London.