“Minimiz[ing] impacts on the local roads [is] pretty much the lowest of the DoD priorities, but it’s the highest of our priorities.” – Howard Weissberg, Deputy Director Middletown Public Works
“I think when they make these plans, they make plans with communities that they think have voice. They’ll reach out to the business community. They’ll reach out to the university. They’ll reach out to big employers, but they don’t reach out to the people on Miller/Bridge street. ‘Hey! How would this affect your day to day? How does this affect your commute to work? … I wish that were the kind of outreach that was happening.” – Diana Martinez, Middletown Resident
“A lot of the residents who live on Ferry, Rapallo and Green in particular … a good amount of those folks don’t speak English. Making communications that are accessible in languages other than English is really important. Those folks all commute to work, even if they don’t speak English… What does this look like for daily life? For the kids who have to wait at the bus stops on those streets? What will waiting for the bus look like on Rapallo when this is done? Those are the day-to-day considerations, which I don’t know if folks have considered.” – Diana Martinez, Middletown Resident
“People talk, talk, talk, nothing ever gets done.” Miller/Bridge Neighborhood Resident
“The more fundamental question is of the residents wanting to move out, [and] getting compensation for moving out. That is completely not going to happen because the city doesn’t have money to pay them.” — Dennis Law, Middletown Resident
“It sort of feels like they’ve been saying they’re going to do a bunch of things for too long. … My thing is that all the work that they’re doing for the amount of money that they’re finally spending on a school project overall, not my neighborhood specifically, everything they’re doing for the Route 17 connector all the way back to here fixing the curves, fixing the other bridges over the curves, the downtown etc. is so long overdue. And it’s probably going to make a huge improvement in the long run, but living through it has been hyper obnoxious.” – Middletown North End Neighborhood Resident
“One is the question of this neighborhood specifically, right. Like the city didn’t think that the neighborhood really should continue, and they did this federally funded demolition of F**ed up houses, right. So now, it changed the population density of the neighborhood. Now, it’s actually pleasant. There’s not the same amount of people, but also, it’s quiet. And it’s very natural. There’s a gigantic swamp behind us, right. It’s very nice. You’re right on the edge of the city. The next thing is swamp. And the rivers are walkable, its right over there. … Now it’s being looked at for urban farming. … It is technically a park behind me, right? … That is a march of progress.” – Middletown North End Resident
“I think that the road infrastructure, especially around these major intersections, has been really neglected for such a long time that this is all overdue. It will definitely improve the external facing aesthetic. As you drive around town and look around and having this be new and freshly rebuilt… it looks just a million times better than it was. … I think overall it is going to make Middletown feel better in a way that’d difficult to quantify. … It’s more than just having the intersections painted with yellow edges, for example, or how they redid the intersection at John’s Church, it’s so much better than it used to be. It’s not perfect, [but] it’s so much better. – Bridge St. Neighborhood Resident
“When I moved in here in like, 2001, we were told by 2004, we were going to get $5,000 to move out. Because they’re going to redevelop the whole neighborhood. I don’t know if you know what year it is now, but it is not 2004. And I never got that money. … Never, never materialized. – Middletown North End Resident
“So Miller Street is a project that was just advertised by DOT, they’re closing the ramp, and they’re improving the rail crossing. So that’s happening in the spring. … So ideally, they’ll have no impact [from the highway redesign], because they’ll already be separated from the highway.” – Howard Weissberg, Deputy Director Middletown Public Works
