Downtown Waterbury Llive,Ive, Workwork & Play!Play! 2 Main Street Waterbury Thursday, October 15, 2020 DOWNTOWN WATERBURY *At Rose Hill
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Vol. 11 - Oct. 2020 Special Section of the RepublicanAmerican Celebrating DDOWNTOWNOWNTOWN Downtown Waterbury LLive,ive, WorkWork & Play!Play! 2 Main Street Waterbury Thursday, October 15, 2020 DOWNTOWN WATERBURY *at Rose Hill 1. Borus Bar & Grill 13. Pizza Express 2. Courtyard Marriott 14. Thirsty Goat 3. Diorio’s Restraunt & Bar 15. Seven Villages Restaurant 4. Domenick & Pia’s Pizza 16. Signatures 5. Dunkin Donuts 17. Subway 6. Golden Wok II 18. The Art of Yum 7. Jazzman Cafe at 19. The Bagel Exchange St. Mary’s Hospital 20. Cafe 475 8. La Cazuela 21. City Pizza and Esspresso 9. Louie’s Pizza 22. Turf Bar & Grill 10. Dresher’s Rest & Bar 23. Via Al Paraiso 11. China One 24. Zia’s Cucina 12. Palace Theater Poli Club 25. Spirit Cafe 26. Grand News Deli Thursday, October 15, 2020 Celebrating Downtown! 3 CelebratingDOWNTOWN On the Cover: Aerial view of Downtown Waterbury courtesy of Jason Vanasse Inside Photo: Waterbury Clock Tower by Derek L. Ward www.mainstreetwaterbury.com Officers: Vision Statement President: Shawn Whisenhant – Post University "Downtown Waterbury, an easily accessible regional center and Vice-President: Fund Development: Kathleen Rush Natale neighborhood in which to live, learn, work, and play." Trinity Health of New England/St.Mary’s Hosp. Vice-President: Advocacy & Board Development: Bob Burns – Mattatuck Museum Table of Contents Recording Secretary: Zachary Keith – Waterbury Development Corporation A Letter From Main Street ..................................4 Treasurer: Jim O’Rourke -- Greater Waterbury YMCA Immediate Past President: Susan Sprano – Republican-American When Downtowns Stood Still ...................................5 Celebrating the Future of The Mattatuck Museum ..........6 Board Members: Sgt. Jose Diaz– Waterbury Police Department Chamber Pivots to Provide Critical Services Virtually ...8 Joe McGrath – City of Waterbury Mike Conard – Post University A Message from the Chief of Police .........................10 Dave Krechevsky – Waterbury Regional Chamber of Commerce A reflection on what lies beneath the look ................. 11 Lynnette Piombo – American Heating Service Robert Gardner – Nutmeg Fine Wines and Spirits Post University Recognized ...................................... 12 Mike Digiovancarlo – City of Waterbury Cheryl Wallace-Smith – Webster Bank OLLI at UConn ....................................................13 Michael Batista Greater Waterbury YMCA ........................................ 14 Tony Omega- Uconn Waterbur y Downtown Waterbury Update ..................................15 Chief Executive Officer: Carl W. Rosa Time Restored On Bank Street .................................1 6 Committee Chair: THE PALACE AND #BROADWAYWILLBEBACK ...........18 Organization: Jeff Rouleau A High School Student’s Perspective ......................19 Design: Anabela Maia Promotion: Paula Massey 150 Years of the Silas Bronson Library ..............2 0 Economic Vitality: Zachary Keith Brass City Brew and Que Tour Book.....................2 2 Main Street Waterbury Thursday, October 15, 2020 4 Thursday, October 15, 2020 On behalf of Main Street Waterbury, we are pleased to present the eleventh issue of Celebrating Downtown. Now in our 17th year, we continue to focus on projects and programs to make downtown Waterbury clean, safe, and friendly. We are a 501c3 not for profit organization and to date, our very loyal and dedicated volunteers have logged in close to 30,000 hours lending their talents for the betterment of our beautiful downtown district. We are proud to have achieved for our 16th consecutive year, a National Accreditation designation from Main Street America. This honor is bestowed upon Main Street programs from across the country who consistently demonstrate high standards in administration of the four-point approach of design, promotion, organization, and economic vitality to downtown revitalization. This designation means even more as we navigate in a COVID pandemic world. Carl Rosa Norms and the traditional way have been turned upside down. Yet, we adapt and CEO, Main Street Waterbury transition, as we look to help downtown businesses survive, thrive, and prosper. In fact, the services, partnerships, and support that Main Street Waterbury provide and encourage are needed now more than ever before in our lifetime. Of course, we can only operate with the consistent and strong support of our Board of Directors, volunteers, partners, generous donors, and downtown stakeholders. In particular, we’d like to thank the City of Waterbury, The Waterbury Development Corporation, the Waterbury Regional Chamber of Commerce, Post University, the University of Connecticut Waterbury Campus, the Connecticut Main Street Center, the Connecticut Community Foundation, The Republican-American Newspaper, and so many more organizations and businesses who continue to believe in us and our efforts for downtown Waterbury. We are still in a period of investment and progress for downtown as planned projects come to fruition and continue to excite. Hard work by so many does not go unnoticed and as you’ll see in this issue, the articles will inform you, update you, and hopefully continue to inspire you to help us with our mission and vision as we strive to make downtown Waterbury “an easily accessible regional center and neighborhood in which to live, learn, work, and play.” Carl Rosa CEO, Main Street Waterbury Thursday, October 15, 2020 Celebrating Downtown! 5 When Downtowns Stood Still, Main Street Organizations Stepped Up state and nation rush to help each solutions to meet the community’s Forums for the 21st Century other. From the federal, state and needs and drum up business. educational series will focus this Christine Schilke local government to our Main CMSC member CityCenter year on the theme of Recovery & Connecticut Main Street Center Street member communities, to Danbury shared how a Main Street Resiliency. Under this umbrella, we Marketing & Development Director families and individuals, everyone dress shop quickly pivoted from created a Small Business Resource Let’s face it, 2020 has been a year wanted to help small businesses in selling prom and wedding dresses to Library which includes a series of like no other. No one could have any way they could. making masks for neighboring videos for small business owners to predicted the way it would unfold, businesses, while Simsbury Main navigate Covid safely and the shuttering of businesses and At CMSC, this meant supporting Street Partnership said they were profitably, from setting up schools as a pandemic, invisible and our Main Street members by having particularly good success in e-ecommerce to utilizing social insidious, raced across the globe. making sure they had the advising local restaurants to sell media. We’ve also lined up a series Balancing the need to be prudent information and resources they family meal kits and worked with of webinars featuring national and with the need to be productive was needed to help their town centers local grocers and markets to sell local experts to advise municipal a tightrope we all walked as we survive. Initially, this meant individually portioned meals from and downtowns leaders on how they collectively shifted to working, virtually convening our members to local restaurants. In Manchester, can creatively reactivate their learning and socializing from home. share with each other their the Special Services District guided downtowns, and even take All of us were impacted both concerns, questions and best shopkeepers on what they’d need to advantage of opportunities for personally and professionally, and practices for assisting local do to make patrons feel safe once positive and lasting change created from our statewide perspective as businesses. Many local merchants they reopened, from hand-sanitizer by Covid. the state’s leading downtown relied on their Main Street to PPE to reduced capacity. Many resource, the impact on our Main organization to help them navigate CMSC members also actively Even though Covid-19 has Streets was devasting, albeit Covid-specific financial aid collaborated with municipal presented challenges unlike any necessary to protect our citizens and applications, find Personal governments on temporary zoning other we’ve faced, it’s also shown businesses in the long-term. Protective Equipment (PPE), know changes to accommodate the new how vital our downtown ecosystems and understand social distancing business models necessitated by are, and how much they’re Still, the lingering effects of social requirements, and move their Covid. Things like changing strengthened by active, engaged distancing can’t be understated. businesses online. ordinances to allow for outdoor downtown organizations like Main Our downtowns, the heartbeat of dining or reallocating funding to Street Waterbury. While we’ve our communities, stood still and Several members also spearheaded purchase PPE were advocated for hated to see our Main Streets silent as non-essential businesses “eat local” campaigns to bolster and facilitated by our Main Street hurting, we’ve been inspired and were forced to close. Those that local establishments. For instance, members. energized to see the passion and remained opened fared little better Main Street Waterbury’s dedication of our members and the as customers stayed home to keep Downtown Happy Hour virtual While CMSC provided constant resiliency of our downtowns. It’s themselves and others safe by campaign encouraged people to updates during the height of the why we continue