Aaron Goode, gardening amidst the trucks.
Yikes. The sinkhole returneth.
Surrounded by trucks and construction workers and — nearby — a recently reopened sinkhole, Aaron Goode stood next to a ginkgo tree that comes from an original that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945.
“It would be a bad look if it survived the atomic bombing but not the sinkhole,” Goode mused.
Goode was one of a handful of gardeners out at Ella T. Grasso Boulevard between Legion Avenue and MLK Boulevard on Friday for the latest watering, planting, and sprucing-up session at the West River Peace Garden.
He and his fellow peace gardeners — Frank and Paula Panzarella and Urban Resources Initiative (URI) community forestry intern Hari Manchi — undertook their greenspace-maintenance work while surrounded by an active construction site related to the sinkhole that recently reopened on the Boulevard near MLK.
That sinkhole — roughly 16 feet long by 12 feet wide by 9 feet deep — first emerged at the start of July following the separation of a 12-inch drainage pipe.
At the time, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CT DOT) temporarily filled the sinkhole and planned to make a permanent repair to the pipe within a week.
On Tuesday, however, a heavy rainstorm “washed away temporary repairs” made to the sinkhole, according to CT DOT spokesperson Eva Zymaris.
“The Commissioner has authorized emergency contracting procedures to expedite the repair process and allow crews to move forward as quickly as possible,” Zymaris told the Independent on Wednesday. “CTDOT is actively coordinating these repairs and will continue working until the repairs are complete.”
Asked for an update on Friday, Zymaris added, “A drainage pipe over 40 years old had begun to fail, causing the sinkhole immediately adjacent to Ella T Grasso Boulevard. Crews have stabilized the area to prevent further erosion while utilities are rerouted around the damaged section of roadway. Emergency contracting is in place, and work is currently underway on site. Crews will monitor conditions daily, including weekends, as repairs progress. Motorists should expect lane closures over the next several weeks and are advised to stay alert and drive slowly through the work zone.”
All of which left Goode and Manchi and the Panzarellas on Friday — gallons of water and gardening tools in hand — winding their way in between trucks parked on the grass and staying away from the open sinkhole, as well as the other holes opened up in the pavement by utility workers turning off the gas.
Manchi had just planted a new yucca plant, which Frank Panzarella watered with some of the 25 gallons of water that he and Paula had brought from their own home.
“We’re trying to continue our normal activity,” Manchi said, even amid the sinkhole-repair work.
“We’re continuing to work here as if nothing were going on,” Goode said with a smile.
“We can be oblivious, like the rest of humanity!” joked Frank Panzarella.
Goode, Manchi, and the Panzarellas said they had been hoping to host a memorial ceremony in two weeks — on Aug. 6 — to mark the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. That ceremony won’t be happening, however, thanks to the disruptions caused by the sinkhole repairs. “Maybe next year,” he said.
Goode then walked over to the ginkgo tree that derives from cuttings from an original ginkgo tree that survived the August 1945 atomic bombing. This tree — known as a hibakujumoku in Japanese — was planted in the West River Peace Garden in 2016. “This is really the most important thing we have here,” Goode said.
He then looked at the circle of pickup trucks parked around the tree. “We’ve been talking for years about how to activate the peace garden …” He wasn’t expecting activation to look like this.
On the bright side, added Paula Panzarella, with all this construction taking place, now could be the “ideal time for the city to piggyback” off of the existing work “to provide us with a water source.” Panzarella and Goode said that the adjacent, recently constructed Curtis Cofield Estates apartment complex currently provides the garden with water — but setting up the hoses to reach the garden can be quite the ordeal. It’d be nice if the garden had its very own spigot, Panzarella and Goode said.
I think there’s a garden in there somewhere. Right?
Goode, with the Hiroshima-surviving ginkgo tree (at left).
Utility workers turn off the gas right next to the sinkhole and the garden.
That’s a lot of trucks.
URI’s Hari Manchi with Goode.
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