OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
RICHARD A. MOCCIA

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 12, 2006

MAYOR RICHARD MOCCIA today announced a new preservation initiative to produce a visual guide of historic Wall Street. The initiative, dubbed “Wall Street Scrapbooks,” invites long-time Norwalk residents, history buffs, and members of the general public to mine their attics and photo albums for old photographs, maps, newsprint, and other images of the Wall Street area and bring them to “Scan Day,” where city staff and volunteers will scan the images and use them to produce a visual reference guide to Wall Street’s architectural history on the eve of major new construction initiatives under the Wall Street Redevelopment Plan.

“People say Wall Street was this, Wall Street was that. This will help people see how it really was. I think this guide will be fun to see, once all the photos are collected,” said Mayor Moccia.

The initiative is also serving a planning purpose. The Norwalk Redevelopment Agency is spearheading the project with members of the Historic Commission and Norwalk Preservation Trust. Tim Sheehan, the agency’s director, said the idea occurred to him when he started noticing how important the area’s history was to people, but how the history was thought of differently by different groups. “Everyone agrees that the area’s history is important, that preservation is important, and that compatible development is important. But ask people to tell you what that is, and then the disagreement begins. Hopefully, this guidebook will get everyone back on the same page, at least on the question of what the area actually used to look like,” said Tim Sheehan. Marilyn Robinson, Chair of the Norwalk Historic Commission, said she was glad to be partnering with redevelopment on the project. “Like SoNo, we hope this project will help to remind the community that the best redevelopment is the kind that takes advantage of the area’s own history,” said Marilyn Robinson.

“Scan Day” is scheduled for Saturday, May 20, 2006 in Room A300 at City Hall from 10:00am to 3:00pm. For more information, please contact Munro Johnson at the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency, (203) 854-7810.

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