ANSONIA – About fifteen residents voiced their hopes for the future of Gatison Park at a public meeting organized by state Rep. Kara Rochelle (D‑Ansonia) and Ansonia First Ward Alderman Dan King.
At the meeting, held at the Abundant Life Fellowship Ministries at 195 — 199 N. Main St., residents lamented a lack of safety at the park and discussed possible improvements that would make it a safer – and more engaging – place for children to gather.
“I’d like to see the kids have a safe place,” said Sheila Butler, who said she was born and raised on Sixth Street. “I’d like to see a new playscape, and I’d like to see it clean.”
Gatison Park is located between Third and Fourth Streets, behind the Domino’s. In May, Rochelle announced that she had secured $100,000 in state funding for improvements to be made at the park.
It has also been the site of several shootings in recent years, including one which hit several nearby houses and a car in 2021, and a 2022 shootout in broad daylight.
The meeting first focused on the police presence near the park, with Ansonia Superintendent of Public Works Timothy Holman suggesting a new police substation be built nearby to increase that presence.
King countered that police had been present or nearby during past shooting incidents, and that presence hadn’t stopped the shootings from happening. An arrest warrant connected to the 2022 shootout corroborates this, stating that a nearby officer responded because he was within earshot of the shooting.
The meeting then turned to discussions of possible improvements to make it a more attractive place for kids. Harold George Beall, who works for the department of public works and cleans the park every morning, said that additions such as new basketball backboards, new swings, a bigger playground, and volleyball nets could bring in more kids.
Ron Zimmerman, who also lives nearby, added that the city could consider adding a CCTV system to improve safety.
Captain Cheryl McCollum, who leads the Salvation Army in Ansonia, agreed with others’ suggestions, and said it was important for residents to continue discussing the future of the park together.
“When you have a community that takes their eyes off a space, the bad comes in,” McCollum said. “So we focus on and make it family-friendly and (oriented). The activity, the good stuff that happens, weeds out the bad stuff.”
Ultimately, the specifics of how the money will be spent at Gatison Park are up to Mayor David Cassetti’s administration and the Board of Aldermen.
Cassetti, who is running against Rochelle for her seat in the state House, said in a phone call with The Valley Indy that Gatison Park had already been renovated with donations from Burns Construction. He said he doesn’t see $100,000 in needed improvements for the park in its current state.
“I don’t know what else they want to do at Gatison Park. Sure, there’s some benches that need to be replaced, but that’s minute,” Cassetti said.
Cassetti said he intends to figure out how to spend the money in conversations with the Aldermen.
Another resident who did see a need for improvements at the park was Tanaya Henry, who runs the Traveler On A Mission nonprofit and has ambitions for the park that she said would well exceed the state funding available. She drew on other cities for inspiration, saying that the city could add pavilions modeled after Osbornedale Park in Derby, and police call boxes like you might find on Yale’s campus in downtown New Haven.
“I told you, this is well past $100,000,” Henry said after saying that a retaining wall could be added to even out the slope of the basketball court. “That $100,000 was just the floor.”
Her other suggestions included adding water fountains to the park and building more substantial public restrooms than the porta-potties which currently exist.
Cassetti criticized the meeting’s timing, which overlapped with a meeting of the Ansonia Board of Aldermen. He referred to King as a “rogue Alderman” for attending.
“It’s funny that they’re doing it on the night of a Board of Aldermen meeting, and I guess one of the rogue Aldermen are going to be with her, so that means he’s not going to be doing his duty as an Alderman,” Cassetti said.
King said that the scheduling was based on the availability of Abundant Life Fellowship, and that he simply saw an opportunity to listen to his constituents.
“I don’t consider (myself) to be a ‘rogue’ Alderman by serving my constituents, which is what I’ve been voted to do,” King said. “If that’s rogue, then maybe more people should join my side.”
Toward the end of the meeting, Rochelle brought up the idea of reforming the Friends of Gatison Park, a group which formed in 2015 but has since stopped meeting. A tentative next meeting date to discuss the park’s future was set for July 10.
