Blight — » » From page 1
to abandoned factories to rural ditches that serve as pop-up dumps. The report provides “a snapshot” of how researchers, experts and practitioners describe and understand the conditions that create blight and the policy responses that communities, including Norwalk, are taking to fight it. Cecile Carson, senior director of Keep America Beautiful, said, “We often refer to the ‘Charting the Multiple Meanings of Blight’ study as ‘The Cost of Doing Nothing Study.’ We want to be able to tell our government officials, businesses and partners about the costs associated with not cleaning up the dump in the vacant lot down the street, not planting the community garden and not providing a safe place for our children to play. “What is the trade-off?” she asked. “What is it costing our community in lost business investment, public health, tourism? By collecting research on blight and the meaning of blight, we will be able to better explain our role as the affiliate and how the actions we take make a difference.” The national report factored more than 300 academic articles and special policy and practitioner reports devoted to blight. It was
Eco-tech — » » From page 1
of the development company. The group will build more than 300 apartments, a charter school, green space, a grocery store and parking. Flocco said part of the construction should be complete in 30 months. Finch said the sight will be a positive endorsement of the city for the thousands of train and highway commuters. Tri-State Flexi-Pave, a New York-based alternative pavement company, recently opened its New England distribution and installation headquarters in the Eco-Park.
prepared by the Vacant Property Research Network at Virginia Tech in collaboration with Econsult Solutions Inc., a Philadelphiabased consulting firm. The study found the term “blight” is most often thought of as an urban problem, but it is universal. In rural areas illegal dumping causes blight and abandoned buildings cause blight in urban, suburban and rural communities irrespective of surrounding populations. Norwalk resident Jim DelGreco works for Global Employment Solutions, a staffing company based in New York City. He heads Norwalk’s Golden Hill Neighborhood Association and is co-chairman of the Keep Norwalk Beautiful affiliate of Keep America Beautiful. “I’m really excited they’re talking up the issue of blight,” he said. “The word has all sorts of connotations, many of them negative. “Blight has been on our radar screen for years,” he said. “I did research on the Fairfield area towns and found that Stamford had the best program, though all are of benefit. “For years, we pushed for passage of a blight ordinance,” he said. “We got resistance including excuses like ‘violating property rights,’ ‘we have enough laws on the books to deal with these issues’ and ‘individuals
will take out vendettas on others.’ Two years ago the Ordinance Committee of Norwalk’s Common Council held meetings on blight and eventually passed a blight ordinance thanks in large part to (Norwalk insurance businessman) Mike Geake. William Ireland, Norwalk’s chief building official, was tasked with enforcing the new law.” DelGreco said that since the ordinance’s passage, more than 80 buildings have been cited for blight noncompliance. “This shows that blight is a very real issue for Norwalk,” he said. Calling the Norwalk effort “grassroots,” DelGreco said, “It is attacking one neighborhood, one property, one open space, one graffitied wall, picking up one piece of litter at a time. The longer you leave a blighted property to deteriorate the worse the neighborhood becomes because people react to deteriorating conditions by letting their property go. The reverse is true. When I maintain my property, my neighbor takes care to do the same.” Jennifer Jehn, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, said, “This research will contribute significantly to the understanding of blight, a critical environmental, economic and social issue Keep America Beautiful and our affiliates are strongly positioned to help address in urban, suburban and rural com-
The pavement is built from discarded tires and is permeable, allowing water to flow through, solving the challenge of tire waste and storm-water runoff, Henri Hillmann, the operations/sales director, said. Sarah Beatty, founder and president of New York City-based Green Depot, a supplier of vetted, environmentally friendly building and lifestyle products, said her company will occupy part of an 85,000-square-foot space in the technology park. Park City Green, a recycling facility, is now breaking down notoriously difficultto-recycle mattresses. A law passed in 2013 required manufacturers to pay for recycling of mattresses sold in the state and implemen-
tation started last month. Adrienne Houel, president and CEO of Greater Bridgeport Enterprises, said the facility employs hardto-hire workers from correctional facilities. Every part of the mattress, from steel springs to the foam, is sent out to be reused. The facility has also been selling and recycling books; none end up in a landfill, she said. The Bridgeport Biodiesel plant converts used yellow and brown grease from restaurants, universities, hospitals and food stores into biodiesel, which reduces carbon use by 78 percent, Brent Banker, CEO of Tri-State Biodiesel, said. He said the company chose to come to Bridgeport when he saw what was happening in the city. He said the company is exploring growing algae and converting it into biofuel. “It’s the holy grail of industrial ecology,” he said. Scott Guilmartin, of NuPower LLC, said the company plans to create a heating and cooling piping system that captures waste heat from city facilities and deploys it to the Eco-Technology Park and downtown. “Every customer’s carbon footprint will be reduced,” he said. Other projects in the works are two anaerobic digesters — one for food waste, which is currently burned, and one in the sewage treatment facility that will convert sludge to methane gas and electricity — expanded natural gas fueling operations and a hospital waste-processing facility.
Mattresses being recycled at Park City Green. Photos by Danielle Brody
6 Week of June 8, 2015 • FAIRFIELD COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL
munities nationwide. “The report will have an even broader impact because it will help us shape the development of measurement tools that will let us better assess and then prepare strategies to combat blight in all its forms at the community level,” she said. Keep America Beautiful prefaced the study by saying, “While considerable research has examined the history of blight in the U.S., its role in national policy and the experience of communities living in blighted neighborhoods, little research has systematically examined the multiple meanings of blight across contexts. This project reviews and synthesizes knowledge about blight, broadly conceived, and draws together academic literature and practitioner reports to systematically assess the nature of blight, the effects of blight, the factors that have shaped its development and how understandings of blight have changed over time.” Keep America Beautiful and its network of community-based affiliates plan to build on the report to develop a blight cost calculator for community groups and local governments. The executive summary and full report is available on the Keep America Beautiful website.
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch and Sarah Beatty of Green Depot, a Brooklyn-based company that has taken space in Eco-Technology Park.
A flashy gateway backlit by LED lights powered by solar panels will one day welcome people to the park, Leichtman said. “This is a dramatic look of what Bridgeport could be from the highway,” he said.