Waterbury Faces Future in Urban Studies Course
By Steve Gambini

WATERBURY — Five key players working to develop new plans for the city's future went back to school Thursday.
Students in "Waterbury: Past, Present, and Future" got to hear from policy makers and community leaders about where they hope the city will go and what role college students might play in shaping that direction.
The course is part of a new urban studies program at the University of Connecticut campus on East Main Street in which offers students the opportunity to obtain a four-year degree in Waterbury.
Hearing opinions from a cross section of the city, particularly college students who might leave the area after getting their degrees, will be essential to rewriting the city's Comprehensive Plan of Conservation and Development.
That's according to Kathy McNamara, a neighborhood leader from Bunker Hill and a member of the committee guiding the plan to its anticipated completion in 2005.
"What kind of city would make you want to stay?" McNamara asked. "What do you need in Waterbury to make you happy?"
In addition to McNamara, City Planner James Sequin; Stephen R. Sasala II, president of the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce; and Gal Vinal of Webster Bank addressed the class.
The first of several community forums, which are open to the public, also presented Ken Bowers, a principal in Phillips, Preiss & Shapiro, a firm tapped to direct the creation of the $250,000 state-funded planning effort. It was Bowers' first appearance in Waterbury since his firm got the contract. What the panel heard from the students is that among Waterbury's biggest problems is the perception it's not such a great place.
Andrew Martelli, from Cheshire, said cleanliness and routine maintenance have become a big source of frustration for him.
"It's great to do a street and make it look nice, but then the next year there are no flowers in the buckets and they're full of cigarette butts," Martelli said, referring to a makeover for Bank Street that didn't work out quite as planned.
Sequin said no amount of planning can prevent littering, but having a plan might be a step toward improving the city's perception of itself, leading to a better environment.
The forums continue March 18 with a discussion on economic development that will include Michael O'Connor, director of the Naugatuck Valley Development Corp., and Mary White, former president of the Waterbury Board of Education.

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