Excerpts of student essays on what was learned about our city--Based on a visit with the head of the New Britain Department of Municipal Development, Mr. Kenneth Malinowski---
On March 31, our class had the opportunity to do a brief walking tour of downtown New Britain with Kenneth Malinowski, the Director of the Department of Municipal Development. During this walk, Mr. Malinowski highlighted efforts to revitalize the downtown through increased historic preservation, bringing in new downtown residents, as well as a commitment to creating more attractive gateways into the city.
(John Boren)
Just like in many cities across the United States, New Britain has been influenced by suburbanization and sprawl. This has taken [much] of the downtown life away.
(Philip Hinks)
Urban renewal [also played a role in] destroying downtown according to Mr. Malinowski. He noted that New Britain’s government didn’t help matters by destroying most of downtown housing as people moved outwards . . . It is similar to the chicken vs. egg dilemma. How do you get businesses to move to a place where there are no people on the streets and how do you get people on the streets in a place where there is nothing to do, and nowhere to live? (Jackie Rubin)
This POCD has explicitly outlined new urbanism ideals which will hopefully preserve historic buildings downtown yet also incorporate them in future design of the urban fabric. (Melissa Pierce)
New Britain's Planning Department directly caters to developers with the hope that it will help facilitate and encourage development. [Ken Malinowski] informed us that if a builder comes in with inquiries on a particular parcel or land or with questions regarding the renovation of an existing building downtown, [his office] will do everything in their power to devote their time to that project. (Michael D’Amato)
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