It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea

At about 5 a.m. one day in 1998, the sound of my phone began to reverberate in my otherwise silent home.

The voice that came over the wires was the sound of a stranger who kept yelling, "Pfizer is coming and they’re taking my house and all my neighbor’s homes. You have to help me."

I thought she was nuts!

How wrong I was!  Her name was Susette Kelo and she lived in a little pink cottage in Fort Trumbull in New London, CT.

My life, the lives of the Fort Trumbull residents, indeed, the lives of people across America were to be changed forever by the events that transpired over the next ten years in Fort Trumbull.

The New London City Council delegated its powers of eminent domain to the New London Development Corporation, rather than its own Redevelopment Agency and a rift began in our community that has not yet healed.

NLDC's plan, known as the Municipal Development Plan, was to demolish the entire Fort Trumbull neighborhood and replace the homes, many of which were being lived in by families who were born and brought up in The Fort, with upscale condos, hotels, restaurants and office parks.

"Pfizer wants a nice place to operate," said Pfizer executive David Burnett, husband of Claire Gaudiani, then-president of NLDC. "We don't want to be surrounded by tenements."

During this time, not one, but many city councils allowed NLDC to treat the residents of Fort Trumbull, and even those who supported them, abysmally and with a total lack of respect, concern and dignity.

During this time,  the residents of Fort Trumbull tried to live normal lives, maintaining their homes, paying their taxes and celebrating family events and holidays while NLDC, with the permission of New London city councils, nailed eviction notices to their doors and continued to harass them.

During this time, it was especially hurtful to see elderly residents such as the Pasqualinis, the Benevenutis, the Derys and the Cristofaros suffer the fear and anxieties that came with the possibility of losing the only home that most of them had ever known. And it was during this same time, that many of the old folks died waiting to see what would happen to their homes and the family members who would be left behind.

There were other tragedies during this 10-year battle; Billy von Winkle’s son was shot and killed, Susette Kelo’s husband was involved in a near-fatal car accident which resulted in permanent disabilities and 8-year-old Leah, daughter of Rich Beyer, died suddenly.

But nothing stopped the assault on the families of Fort Trumbull and the properties they owned by the NLDC with the permission of New London’s city councils.

The city of New London owes the people of Fort Trumbull an apology for this. 

I don't think that’s asking too much for the way our friends, neighbors, family members and fellow residents were treated during that very long period of time.

This is not about going back and scratching old wounds. This is about allowing them to heal.