Sacred Heart's Martire Family Arena taking shape

Michael Fornabaio

FAIRFIELD — They are only little boxes of concrete, placed in two arcs around a sea of soil and fill at Sacred Heart University’s West Campus. the former General Electric headquarters.

For anyone who has ever spent enough time at a hockey rink, though, the inner arc especially paints a clear picture. The boxes are footings for the seating bowl at Martire Family Arena, planned to open in January 2023.

The arc they make traces what will be the western edge of the playing surface.

“It’s real,” said deputy director of athletics Charlie Dowd. He could’ve added a “finally”; it sometimes felt as if this project had been one or two years away for a decade or more.

But shovels and much heavier equipment are in the ground. Workers continue to set concrete around the floor of the $70 million project, which will produce a nearly 4,000-seat facility.

“The next (big milestone) is Aug. 9. Steel comes in right afterward,” said Marc Izzo, Sacred Heart’s associate vice resident for construction and facilities management. “We figure the roof by January or February.

The topography of the land was a challenge, Izzo said. It sloped down to the north, away from the existing buildings.

“We had to cut down over 25 feet from what was here, the existing grade,” Izzo said. “The whole south side of the building was all rock. You could see it’s all blasted. That (north) side is a fill.”

Rock blasted out of the site is crushed and processed there and used in the project.

“Don’t forget,” Izzo added, “this was all trees, too. We had to clear-cut.”

Further down the hill at GE’s old helicopter pads, the team produces mock-ups of pieces of the project’s future. On Thursday, there were trusses for the roof.

The varsity hockey teams’ dressing-room complexes will occupy the south side of the arena; workers were digging a pit for a therapy pool with a treadmill on Thursday.

The figure skating team’s dressing room and the visitors’ room (and bench) will be on the opposite side along with four other dressing rooms for other teams using the arena.

“The building is being built in such a way that with four varsity programs, nobody gets in anybody’s way,” Dowd said. “The detail and planning have been crazy.”

A bridge will connect the 122,500-square-foot arena’s southwest corner with the existing buildings and their parking garages.

The target is to have the teams practicing in the arena around Thanksgiving 2022. The men’s team gets the first game, Jan. 14, 2023, against Boston College, and the women’s team hosts Harvard the next day.

Security, infrastructure funding approved for Milford schools

Saul Flores

MILFORD — More than $665,000 was recently approved by the permanent school facilities building committee for funding security and infrastructure upgrades in schools throughout the Milford Public Schools.

“One of the highest and enduring priorities of Milford Public Schools is to ensure that our school buildings are safe, healthy, orderly and caring places that support and promote student learning and positive relationships,” said James Richetelli, Milford Public Schools chief operations officer.

Committee Chairman Matthew Woods said they don’t like to publicize the security updates but they are important for the schools.

Security was the biggest ticket item, including $61,561 for security projects at John F. Kennedy Elementary School, $109,096 for Mathewson Elementary School, $98,259 for Orange Avenue Elementary, $145,688 for East Shore Middle School, $110,712 for Joseph Foran High School and $3,600 for both Live Oaks and Calf Pen Meadow Elementary Schools.

“By constantly upgrading our security infrastructure with the latest and most sophisticated products and systems, students, parents, staff and the community can feel safe and secure,” said Richetelli. “This creates an environment that is conducive to effective teaching and learning.”

The committee also approved $96,915 for the addition, renovation and upgrades at Pumpkin Delight Elementary School.

“The main project right now is Pumpkin Delight,” said Woods.

In May, the Milford Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a $12.9 million appropriation for the Pumpkin Delight project. As the city’s oldest school, the finished project could give it some of the most modern facilities in the school district. The project is in the design phase, with construction scheduled to begin in 2022.

“We finished the West Shore project and before that, we did the East Shore Middle School project and we’ve done a whole series of other projects,” said Woods. “This is our first major project at Pumpkin Delight in about 50 years, although we did replace the windows, the roof and we put an elevator in.”

The elementary school was built in 1949 and has not had any major renovations since 1955. School officials said the renovation would keep Pumpkin Delight a modern learning environment for at least the next 20 years.

“We are very excited about it, and the principal, families and students are excited as well,” said Woods.

During the meeting, Jorgensen said the roof project at Jonathan Law High School is done. However, they are waiting for the interior fall protection screen to be completed.

“The screen was supposed to come with the skylight, unfortunately, it did not. So the company is sending it separately,” he said, adding that they expect to close out the project in July.

'Little towns are suffering': Windham Co. leaders press Sen. Blumenthal on infrastructure

John Penney

DANIELSON – U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Thursday heard from a group of more than 20 northeastern Connecticut business, municipal and community leaders during an open forum that touched on the infrastructure, COVID-19 and cyber-security issues.

President Joe Biden’s push for a bipartisan infrastructure bill, expected to hit the U.S. Senate floor later this month, framed much of the discussion at the Northeastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce headquarters building with Blumenthal calling the proposed action “long overdue.”

“We are at a critical juncture in the nation’s history,” Blumenthal said. “Frankly, I’m embarrassed there hasn’t been more national leadership on the issue.”

And while much of the state- and national-level conversations on the issue have revolved around the necessity for rail, road and bridge improvements, locally, it’s more basic transportation challenges that need addressing, Day Kimball Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Kyle Kramer said.

Kramer said a lack of flexible public transportation in Windham County means missed appointments.

“Without that community transportation, patients can’t keep their follow-ups, can’t make it to the hospital,” he said. “People routinely miss physical therapy appointments because they can’t get there.”

Chamber President Shawn Johnston added local companies also see complications crop up with workers unable to physically get to a job, while Putnam Mayor Barney Seney said infrastructure-related issues constitute the “biggest weaknesses” of small towns.

“Infrastructure is one of the ways to attract businesses,” he said. “Little towns are suffering.”

Blumenthal described the bill as a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to address infrastructure problems, though he hoped a larger package that addresses “human infrastructure needs,” like the lack of universal daycare, will be taken up by legislators in the future.

John Miller, president of the Putnam-based National Chromium company, said the region’s manufacturing industry hasn’t been immune from the national epidemic of ransomware attacks.

I’m afraid this will be the number one issue,” he said.

Blumenthal, a member of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, said the more he’s learned about ransomware attacks through classified briefings leads him to become “more horrified” about the vulnerabilities in the nation’s cyber systems. He said the frequency of ransomware incidents requires a re-assessment of what constitutes an act of war in today’s computer-connected climate.

“We don’t have a policy and we don’t have an adequate cyber-defense to repel and keep out (attackers),” he said.

Blumenthal said the country needs to look back to the Cold War, nuclear-era concept of mutually-assured destruction as a robust deterrent measure.

More: 'Minor League Baseball deserves to be in the game': Sen. Blumenthal pitches relief bill at Dodd

“Our financial systems, utilities and health care systems can all be taken down,” he said. “The best defense is a good offense.”

Blumenthal praised the state’s COVID-19 response noting the lack of face masks at Thursday’s meeting spoke volumes on the progress up to now. When asked about his biggest take-away from the “searing” experience of the pandemic, the senator highlighted the importance of heeding experts’ advice.

“Listen to the science, the medical experts, like most of us do in our everyday lives,” he said. “If we acted more strategically, we could have averted this tragedy. But the miracle is, we developed a vaccine. Invest in the research, listen to the scientists and respect the science.”