Little Pink House_ A True Story of Defiance and Courage - Jeff Benedict [167]
Finally, the city said okay.
June 30, 2006
Susette signed a settlement contract entitling her to $442,000 for her building lot. She could use her own money to pay for her house to be disassembled, relocated, and rebuilt on a private lot elsewhere in the city. Avner Gregory, who had done original restoration work on the house decades earlier, donated a lot for the reconstruction and offered to act as the home’s caretaker.
Michael Cristofaro received $475,000, and the city also met the other three terms he had set.
Shortly after signing the papers, Angelo and Susette and Bullock ran into each other on the street in New London. The state had forked out $4.1 million to settle with six holdouts. “It was expensive,” Angelo admitted. “It wasn’t pretty. But it worked.”
There was no way Susette would consider living in New London again. In the hunt for a place to live, she drove across the Thames River into Groton and started driving up and down waterfront streets in search of “For Sale” signs. Coming down a small side street, she saw a sign that read, “FOR SALE BY OWNER” in front of a small bungalow. The property abutted historic Fort Griswold, which, like Fort Trumbull, had been attacked by Benedict Arnold for the British in the Revolutionary War. It was almost directly across the river from Fort Trumbull.
Susette parked the car and approached the house. From the doorstep, she could see her old neighborhood across the water. She rang the doorbell.
An Asian man answered.
“Is your house still for sale?” she asked.
“Yes,” said the man, eager to describe his modest three-bedroom house. It needed renovation, and his asking price was $224,000.
Even without inspecting she could see the place needed a lot of work. But she knew it was what she wanted: a little house on a little hill overlooking the water. She knew right away she was going to buy this house.
Suddenly a smile swept across the man’s face. “Hey, I know who you are,” he said. “You’re the lady from right over there.” He pointed across the river to the Fort Trumbull area.
Susette grinned and nodded.
“I read about you all the time in the newspaper,” he said. “Come in. Come in.”
EPILOGUE
In the summer of 2007, Susette’s pink house was successfully disassembled—board by board—and moved elsewhere in the city, on Avner Gregory’s land. A year later the Institute for Justice held a ceremony, officially dedicating the house as a historic landmark. A plaque in the front yard denotes the importance of the little pink house that changed the country. It remains an emblem of the fight waged in Fort Trumbull and other places throughout the country.
Susette bought and renovated the small house next to Fort Griswold. She lives there with Tim LeBlanc, who has completed a miraculous recovery from his accident. Susette still works two jobs as a nurse, one for the hospital and one for the City of New London. She set aside the remainder of her settlement money for her five sons.
Every plaintiff from the eminent-domain lawsuit has left New London, vowing not to return.
Governor John Rowland pled guilty to felony conspiracy and was sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison.
Peter Ellef was sentenced to thirty months in prison for his part in the corruption scandal.
Claire Gaudiani resides in New York City and teaches at New York University’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fund-raising.
In 2002 George Milne retired from Pfizer after thirty-two years. He is now an active venture capitalist and an adjunct lecturer at Harvard and MIT.
Jay Levin continues to practice law.
Scott Sawyer and John and Sarah Steffian are still battling the city and the NLDC in court. Their two environmental lawsuits are currently on appeal.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo decision has become a catalyst for change. Scott Bullock and Dana Berliner continue to litigate eminent-domain