(Note: This is one example of the way in which eminent domain is used to keep people's lives in limbo. Notice, please, that his neighbor is "...going to fight it. I never go against the law." Never mind that the law is being -- at the very least -- stretched to the breaking point with all the delays.)

May 11, 2003

By Thuy-Doan Le

Courant Staff Writer

Hartford Courant

Hartford, Connecticut

To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@courant.com

Newington, Connecticut - David Schwartzer can't stand the sight of his kitchen floor. Every day from his dining table, he looks at the peeling linoleum and frustration roils in his stomach.

But he doesn't want to spend the cash to make repairs because the state wants to take his home at 228 Old Farm Drive for road expansion.

"It kills me every day to look at the floor," he said. "It's like I'm doing penance by looking at the bald floor every day."

For the past three years, Schwartzer and his wife, Judy Mandel, have been waiting, growing ever more impatient, as the state continues to talk about taking their home. They have pored over Department of Transportation maps showing a road snaking right through their dining room, but remain unsure about when all the waiting will end.

Citing public safety issues, DOT proposes tearing down their 1960s home, along with a neighbor's, to extend Arrowhead Drive through the horseshoe-shaped Old Farm Drive to Alumni Road. DOT officials recently said the project would take at least another three years to be competed. They will not get permission to acquire the properties until the end of this year and it would take an additional 12 to 18 months to relocate the owners. Advertising for the project could be in May 2005 and construction could take place at the end of 2005 or 2006.

In the meantime, on one hand, Mandel and Schwartzer bemoan the impending loss of the home they've put a lot of care into and hate the idea of leaving. And on the other hand, they are fed up with waiting years for the state to take final action. They say they can't sell their home, they don't want to sink any more money into it and they can't live the lifestyle they want.

It's been frustrating, Mandel said.

"The longer this drags on, the more we're a prisoner in this house," she said. "Even if they extend our stay in here, we're still a prisoner. That's not going to help us. It's nerve-racking."

At first, Mandel said, town and state officials assured her that she could make improvements to the house she bought almost eight years ago. The state's plan, they said, would take awhile and was uncertain. They went ahead and invested at least $100,000 in remodeling -- gutting the house, redoing all the rooms, and installing new windows and siding. They bought a new garage door, expanded a bathroom, added new carpeting and relined the pool with a 10-year liner, Mandel said.

The property was assessed at $122,960, as of October 2000.

They also had other plans -- to insulate the porch so Mandel's 15-year-old son could do his band practice, redo the deck and repave the driveway. But now they can't do any of that work.

"I'm angry right now and in a fight mode, but I will feel sadness when we leave," she said. "Just the fact that they can do this has made us lose control of our destiny."

Schwartzer said his family can't enjoy the house the way they want.

"This has to just go either way," he said. "We don't want to take the aggravation for another couple of years. For the past few years of indecision, we've not been able to enjoy our home."

According to the DOT, the project was initiated after the town submitted a recommendation for the improvement through the Capitol Region Council of Governments. The DOT said the project would "improve traffic flow and driver safety" at the intersections by realigning Maple Hill Avenue and Alumni Road to create a four-way intersection with signals.

"The intent is to stop Old Farm [Drive] from connecting with Cedar Street, but give the development a second access route out on Arrowhead [Drive]," said Steven Degen, DOT project coordinator.

Although she was told the project is for safety, Mandel now doesn't believe that's the entire reason.

DOT representatives and town officials told her that there were also plans for extensive commercial development along Alumni Road, the street behind her home, she said.

She said the town and the DOT seem to be pointing at each other and she felt it was "unjust and deceptive" the way everyone was promoting it to be solely for safety reasons.

It's less for public use than economic use, she said.

But Mayor Thomas McBride said that is "not true." He said the project is about safely getting in and out of Alumni Road.

"There's a lot of cars flying out of [Alumni Road] and there's been a lot of tough accidents," McBride said. "It's a safety issue and it's a concern I've had to come up with safer intersections."

Town Manager Paul Fetherston said it's a "difficult situation" and there is no perfect solution, but the DOT's proposal is the best for the area.

Schwartzer said he understands the town has to grow, but right now, officials are trying to force two families to leave their homes when they don't want to.

His neighbor, Alberto M. de Loureiro, who has lived at 236 Old Farm Drive since 1978 and will be forced out by the road expansion, has accepted his fate.

"I'm not going to fight it," he said. "I never go against the law."

Copyright 2003, Hartford Courant

http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hr/hc-newhome0511.artmay11,0,63387.story