NATIONAL COAST GUARD MUSEUM: RIGHT CITY, WRONG LOCATION

For the first time in a long time, the City of New London, Connecticut has something to be excited about.  The National Coast Guard Museum is a perfect opportunity for the city to take advantage of some of its “potential”, a word that has been used to describe the city for decades upon decades. It’s projected to attract over half a million tourist and visitors annually. To have a museum dedicated to the history of one of the United States Armed Forces right here in our backyard is a great way to boost our economy, change our image in a positive way, and really showcase our maritime history. It may even place New London on the national map. I think its safe to say that being most known across the country for the infamous eminent domain case, Kelo vs. the City of New London, which 10 years later left New London looking foolish as the city helplessly watched Pfizer leave right before their 10 year tax-free time was up, isn’t something to be proud of. It’s a great opportunity to revitalize certain parts of the city, invite visitors from across the country, and to grow our local economy as we attract developers and businesses excited for the museum and what it will create across this historic Whaling City.

My purpose for writing though is not to celebrate the approval of this museum, although I already have, but more to discuss my confusion and concern about the location of it. Downtown New London could be easily considered the city center of southern New London County.  It is the transportation and cultural hub for the region, it has a variety of restaurants and bars and a nightlife that would leave most outsiders surprised with the different kinds of music you could hear just strolling along Bank St. But like any other city center, no matter how big or small, parking is always an issue.  The museum is said to be built right behind the train station and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in the city that had a confused reaction when asking; where? Oh, that tiny piece of land cut off by train tracks and a flow of traffic on Water Street that seems to never end. The parking for this museum would go where? That’s right, in the already existing parking garage between Atlantic and Waters Streets. The distance from the parking garage to the proposed location of the museum is about a stones throw away (well, maybe if Michael Vick threw the stone). Point being, it’s not very far at all. But with the constant traffic on Water Street and Amtrak, Shoreline East, and freight trains passing through on an everyday and consistent basis, it seems like a nightmare for parking and pedestrians. I hear there are also discussions of changing traffic patterns from Water St., South Water St. and Bank St. to make traffic flow smoother and to bring drivers towards downtown as opposed to away from it.  Unfortunately, I was not a part of the discussion for this approved location. Therefore, I may be misinformed with some of the details about this museum and what they plan on doing with traffic flows and pedestrian concerns. But my point is, everyone knows downtown New London is a very tight and congested place, so why make it even more tight and congested?

Before the approval of the location, I was made aware of another proposal for the museum that I felt was much more beneficial to the city of New London. Right now, behind the beautiful and picturesque Fort Trumbull sits a bunch of vacant land. Now we all know how that neighborhood, a neighborhood I spent numerous weekends as a child over a friend’s house, became nothing more than a few chain linked fences and uncut grass. What exist there now is a Coast Guard Station and apparently some new apartment developments that are soon to come. The proposal I’m talking about would place the museum on the northern part of this vacant land on the water next to the Coast Guard Station. I thought this idea was brilliant. This would revitalize the Fort Trumbull neighborhood and make up for years of useless “planning and development ideas” for that part of the city. As I said before, a museum dedicated to the history of one of the United States Armed Forces attracting over half a million people annually is a positive thing and businesses would most definitely be attracted to build on that land and in the city. The vacant lots that exist are plenty of room to build for parking, plenty of room to build the apartment complex and there still would be room for more. There were even talks about building another train stop on that site, similar to how New Haven has its State Street Station and Union Station stops, to accommodate those visiting the museum by rail. Let’s not forget Fort Trumbull with its great history and great views of downtown and Long Island Sound. Wow, what a great way to revitalize an area that was once a hard working neighborhood. So much tax revenue, so many tourist dollars, so many visitors that would make New London a place to be during a time where so many people across the country are moving to cities. And with these developments in place, think of how many other types of businesses New London could attract. Possibly a minor league baseball or basketball team??

Ok, maybe I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself (says a sports fan) but the fact remains that with proper planning and intelligent leadership, the Fort Trumbull neighborhood could be revitalized and sustained with the help of this National Coast Guard Museum. 

Now I know everyone’s main argument against this is going to be, “Well what about downtown? How are you going to keep this national attraction away from downtown?” The truth is that downtown New London will only benefit from the museum being next to Fort Trumbull. People visiting the museum coming off of Interstate 95 must travel through downtown. So on their way to the museum and on their way out, they are admiring the shops, restaurants, and art as they pass “The District” that is downtown New London. Limit the amount of restaurants that can be built near the museum, or don’t build any, so that they’ll have to stop downtown to eat. Provide menus of local restaurants and brochures from New London Main Street that provides all the information museum visitors need to know about downtown New London. Downtown businesses should not be concerned. New London is not a big city by any means and the close proximity of where the museum would be and the street routes that lead cars to the interstate will only benefit their businesses.

Another concern many people would have with this possible museum site on Fort Trumbull would be the higher volume of traffic on Bank and Howard Streets. The Show’s Cove office buildings and the General Dynamics move into the old Pfizer buildings are already causing some traffic headaches on these streets during rush hour. This museum would only add to the volume of cars that travel these roads every day. To me, this seems like an issue that can be easily dealt with and is worth the investment. The city can invest and focus on widening the streets and changing traffic patterns to make the flow of traffic in and out of these areas less hectic. It’s a small price to pay for a long-term investment that will only grow the city in a positive way.

There have also been talks for years of connecting the downtown waterfront walkway to Fort Trumbull. Of course the problem is the train bridge at Shaw’s Cove. If the city were to build a pedestrian bridge over that, there would be no way for the boats sitting in Shaw’s Cove to get out. Now I’m no engineer yet, but this seems like an easy fix to me. One of two things could make this connection work. First, connecting a pedestrian walkway that is attached to the train bridge so when a boat has to get out of Shaw’s Cove, the bridge can still rotate and the boats can get out without a problem. Now that seems easy enough, but of course there are risks and liabilities when building a pedestrian walkway attached to a train bridge. Understandable. The second option, the better option, would be to invest in a small ferryboat to transport people from one of the small piers on the waterfront downtown to the Fort Trumbull land where the museum would be. This would provide visitors with a nice 5-10 minute (I’m assuming) ferry ride on the Thames River and a nice view of downtown, the Fort, and the beautiful new museum. Charge a small fee and generate another form of revenue for the city.  Visitors who parked their car at the museum could take the ferry to downtown to grab dinner and check out some art, and those downtown could take the ferry over to go to the museum or take a walk on the Fort. Seems pretty feasible to me.

If this Coast Guard Museum is built on the downtown location, I do not doubt its success and benefits for the city. My concern is that New London is making the same mistake that other cities have made and are making across the country, which is focusing solely on its downtown and neglecting the rest of the city. This is a perfect opportunity for New London to revitalize one part of the city that has been vacant and ignored for over 10 years and rejuvenate the downtown area. Building the museum on Fort Trumbull will give downtown the little push it needs for it to really thrive. Businesses will be attracted to build and invest in New London and with the new citywide magnet school initiative, more and more people will be attracted to move to New London. To me, and I’m sure to many others reading this, it all sounds like a no-brainer. It just makes sense. I urge developers, politicians and the citizens of this city to rethink the location of this museum. It seems like common sense, but as my father always tells me, “Common sense isn’t that common anymore.”

Just one man’s opinion…