UConn has class on city history
College course lets students talk to policy makers
By Steve Gambini

WATERBURY — At the new University of Connecticut campus on East Main Street, the city is a textbook case.
Waterbury, its past, present and future, is the topic of a class offered in the Urban Studies Program at UConn for the first time this year.
Over the past five weeks, students have been listening to key policy makers and business leaders discuss how Waterbury got where it is and where it is headed.
Thursday the students heard from the arts community, including Semina DeLaurentis, director of Seven Angels Theatre, and Alan Kramer, principal of Waterbury Arts Magnet School.
Student Justin Pirro of Wolcott said he found the idea of studying Waterbury interesting because he sees its fortunes as good for suburban residents as well.
"Living in Wolcott, there's nowhere else to go unless you go to Bristol," Pirro said. He recalled that as a child in the early 1980s, he saw downtown as impressive. He is interested in watching its planned rebirth. "I think it has a lot of potential," he said. During the forums, students plan questions for the presenters in advance as part of their assignments.
Pirro wanted to know from Palace theater director Frank Tavera how the renovated facility downtown hoped to lure Waterbury's diverse ethnic and economic sectors. Tivera said many other theaters of similar size and age in the state have become too focused on primarily white suburban patrons.
"We don't have a pre-existing condition," Tavera said. "We're not a 72-year-old theater that only appeals to white, middle-class people with a taste for classical music." The Palace is beginning to work with various groups around the city to make sure they appeal to urban residents as well, he said.
That kind of exchange is what professors Jeremy Brecher and Peter Marcuse were trying to create.
Brecher, who has done extensive historical work on Waterbury's ethnic music, said the seed for the class was planted 25 years ago when he was invited to a party at Marcuse's home.
Marcuse, an urban planning professor at Columbia University, chose Waterbury as his home in the early 1960s and has been involved at many levels of political and civic life.
Marcuse said there is a lot to study in Waterbury, and during his first semester working on the course, he was surprised at the level of commitment that remained despite the economic stagnation and scandal that has plagued the city.
"It seems there's a tremendous amount of talent and energy committed to the city," Marcuse said. "More than I expected."

© 2004 Republican-American