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Susette stopped reading. These people aren’t going to give up, she thought.

She looked back at the cover letter from the agent. “I urge you to look over this material carefully, and stand ready to be of any assistance I can,” it said.

Angry, Susette tossed the letter in a stack of correspondence she had received since the Pfizer project had been announced. Days later, Susette got a letter from Claire that hyped the news of Pfizer’s building a four-hundred-thousand-square-foot clinical-research facility less than a block from Susette’s house. “I hope that you are as pleased and proud as I am about the news of these major commitments from all involved,” Claire had written. “The state is providing funding to the New London Development Corporation to buy property in the area. The properties that NLDC is interested in are … all of the properties in the Fort Trumbull area from the Amtrak rail line to the NUWC property line.”

Claire made a point of emphasizing that Pfizer was not the buyer of the properties. Susette laughed. “The NLDC doesn’t intend to cause any unnecessary hardships,” Claire said. “Every effort will be made to make your move as convenient as possible for you.”

At the close of the letter, Claire left a phone number for her and Steve Percy and invited Susette to call if she had questions that couldn’t be answered by the real-estate agents.

Worked up, Susette called Von Winkle. “She isn’t even asking me,” Susette said. “She is telling me: ‘Pack up and get the f—— out.’”

Von Winkle had gotten a letter, too. But he wasn’t angry. As long as the NLDC met his price, he’d go.

“Claire Gaudiani thinks we’re all indigents,” Susette said. “Who in the hell is this woman? She thinks I would give up my house and move into welfare housing?”

Von Winkle didn’t know Claire, either. “They can buy my property from me,” he said. “But they’re not going to take it from me.” He insisted he would not budge from his demand for $700,000.

“She doesn’t want to ‘cause any unnecessary hardships’ and ‘every effort will be made to make my move as convenient as possible’?” Susette said. “Give me a break.”

Von Winkle laughed.

“Who in the hell does she think she is telling me I have to leave?” Susette said.

13

DO I HAVE A REASON TO BE CONCERNED?

The price tag for altering the neighborhood around Pfizer’s new headquarters kept going up. But the NLDC had no worries—it was playing with other people’s money. Pfizer didn’t have to worry over money, either. On March 27, the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services approved the sale of Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction. Pfizer’s projections indicated it would do about two hundred million in sales the first year. The profits from Viagra alone could pay for Pfizer’s new research facility.

Pfizer had another reason not to worry: it had the state on the hook. At Milne’s insistence, the governor had pledged to go after the vacant thirty-two-acre naval base next door to the land given to Pfizer. As events developed, this was no easy promise to honor. The state didn’t control the federal property, and the navy had other plans for its base. Still, under federal regulations, the City of New London established the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Local Reuse Authority (LRA), a federally funded committee charged with producing a plan for discharging the property. The city appointed Tony Basilica to head it.

After extensive studies, analysis, and negotiations, Basilica’s committee agreed that a public auction held the best benefit for the navy and the city. Milne and Claire hoped to stop the public auction in order to ensure the land got redeveloped in a manner that complemented the Pfizer development. As a result, they asked the state to intervene. The state promised to do its part.

Under rare circumstances, navy guidelines allow a state environmental-protection agency to acquire navy land at no cost, provided the land is used for a public purpose. Claire secured a confidential letter