Norwalk Seniors Vent to State Sen. Duff

Safety of Residents

Marva Petrus, who has lived at Cedar Court for three years, expressed concerns about safety in the neighborhood.

"They (Norwalk Police) have to step it up and be out here," Petrus said.

"The police chief, Tom Kulhawik, is very responsive," Duff replied, offering to give Kulhawik the heads-up.  "It's important for you to share that with me but it's also important that he hear directly from you..., that you say, 'We have a bunch of residents here that would like to meet with you to discuss some of the concerns we have about our safety.' Does that make sense?" Duff asked, to a chorus of yesses.

Budget Cuts, "Food Stamps" & Social Security

When residents asked Duff if their social security checks were at risk, he replied, "That's federal, but I think that any elected official that somehow doesn't allow social security checks to go through is crazy."

I am very concerned about the cuts in food stamps because, in Connecticut anyway, I have worked very hard to help people through various programs, especially because we have food insecurity, which means that there is enough food out there, we are just not getting it to the people who need it."

Fate of Cedar Court Senior Housing

A heated discussion developed when Petrus brought up the rumored possibility that the housing authority seeks to take over Cedar Court Senior housing, which is privately owned and run by the Conte family. 

"We're in jeopardy," said Petrus. "This is a landmark that Norwalk needs to keep. I'm tired of Curtis Law (Norwalk Housing Authority Executive Director) getting over on us. He's keeping the people down," to which Duff replied this was the first he'd heard any possible change of hands at complex and that he would look into it. 

"A group of us went to the mayor's office, Mayor Moccia, last year. Moccia and housing and federal and the city they get their grants and work together. Paula (Conte) is private and they don't care. If they want something, they're going to go after it. We got to keep it private. That's it," Petrus said.

"I haven't heard of anybody trying to close this place down," Duff said, adding that he will speak directly to the owners. "But I will say, through our difficult budgets we have tried to maintain funding for seniors. Over the last three years, with our new Governor we have tried, we have put $500M into housing and helping senior housing."  

Ten-month resident of Cedar Court, Barry Eggleston, a disabled veteran chimed in. "If the housing authority tries to take this over it's gong to turn into a slum. Paula (Conte) has done an awesome job. They do all they can to keep us safe and keep us happy. If there's something you can do on your end, please...A lot of the folk who are here are up in age, and if you put them in an environment that is not safe, a lot of people are going to just give up."

Eggleston said he was tired of hearing form elected officials about how much they care, but not following up. 

Duff insisted that he had not heard about any desire on the part of the Norwalk Housing authority to take over the privately owned and operated Cedar Court Senior Housing and would look into the situation.

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