Letter re: Historic Preservation and Economic Development

Thursday’s story in the Post (“Historic black-owned homes get grant” by John Burgeson), reminds us just how far we have still to go, to get right with our history and our priorities, here in Stratford. If you’ve ever seen those two houses comprising Bridgeport’s “Little Liberia” you know how close to collapsing they are. And yet they are not going to collapse, because their historical and cultural value been recognized and acted upon, in time. The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation has awarded a grant of $20,000 to assist in the architectural assessment and restoration of these one-of-a-kind structures. This is a “gateway grant,” opening doors to further sources of funds; much more of that will be needed, to be sure! In Stratford, by contrast, the Town left a similar grant award on the table, for the White House, on Elm Street, at the entrance to the Festival Theatre grounds. This noble mansion, however shabby and neglected it appears from the road today, is one of the jewels of Stratford, awaiting a restoration that never seems to arrive. Exactly 200 years ago, the Nicoll-Benjamin (aka "White") House hosted events and people, whose lives spanned the period from the American Revolution through the War of 1812. We should be celebrating this heritage in 2014, the year of Stratford Sister Cities, hosted here in our town. A friend asks me if perhaps we’ve been “Christied,” coining a new word for intentional and vindictive neglect and obstruction of public resources. Time will tell: now it’s time to ask the Mayor’s Community Advisory Task Force, along with his Stratford Center for the Arts group, to acknowledge the conclusions offered in the Arts Consulting Group’s final report on the Shakespeare Theatre (available at http://www.townofstratford.com/filestorage/39879/56965/Stratford_Phase_V_Feasibility_Study_Report_FI.... In a nutshell, this document says that re-starting Stratford’s pre-eminent asset, its Theatre (is there a close second?) is possible, provided we all pull together, and that includes securing initial funding of the historic preservation variety that Bridgeport’s “Little Liberia” has won, but that Stratford’s “Little White House” watched float down the river. Let 2014 be the year that everything changes!

Thomas Yemm, Stratford