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Markowicz told her to find out who the man worked for. She came back a minute later with the answer: Jay Levin.

Markowicz knew what was coming. Levin planned to call board members and push them to pressure Markowicz to get behind the Rowland administration’s wishes.

The receptionist turned over the list of names, and the man left.

June 1, 1998

The phone in Tony Basilica’s law office was hot. His allies from City Hall informed him that a movement was afoot to force him off the committee overseeing the navy-base property.

Later that night, Basilica got a call at home from a reporter.

“Mr. Basilica?”

“Yes.”

“Did you know you were removed from the committee?”

“No.”

“Well, you were.”

Without commenting, Basilica hung up.

Earlier that evening, the city council had voted 4–3 to dump Basilica and Markowicz from the committee. Peg Curtin, Basilica’s political adversary on the council, was named as his replacement as the new chair of the navy base reuse committee. Mayor Beachy was one of the three who voted against Basilica’s removal. “It’s politically driven and politically motivated,” Beachy told the newspaper. “It’s a bad mistake.”

The bottom line was that the fate of the navy property had been taken out of the hands of Basilica and Markowicz and placed in those of a committee of six people that included Claire, Milne, Curtin, and members of the NLDC and city council. Within days, Milne declared it was time to level the navy buildings that Basilica had planned to sell or lease. “You’d be better off tearing it all down and starting off fresh,” Milne said. “They look sort of like basic factory buildings.”

16

I’M SOMEBODY

Susette desperately needed followers. Door-to-door outreach in her neighborhood had yielded little result. Kathleen Mitchell suggested organizing a neighborhood cleanup day. Susette had spent her whole life getting her hands dirty and scraping her way through tough times. She posted signs on telephone poles and street corners, advertising free hot dogs and soda, and about two dozen people showed up at her house on the appointed day. She handed them garbage bags, rakes, and brooms. After the cleanup, everyone went back to Susette’s place for a barbecue.

It wasn’t a big turnout, but Susette and Mitchell were pleased. A number of people in attendance pledged to help fight the NLDC. Every little bit helped, they figured.

Days after Kelo held her neighborhood cleanup, the NLDC held its own event to build support. It reserved the Radisson Hotel and invited influential people capable of donating money. By the end of the evening, the NLDC had raised tens of thousands of dollars and added sixty new members.

Susette soon realized she was up against more than the NLDC. Ten days after she held the neighborhood cleanup, Governor Rowland appeared across the street from her pink house and held a press conference. He pledged $15 million in state money for relocating residents of the neighborhood.

That son of a bitch, Susette said to herself.

The letter from Claire still sat on her kitchen table. For weeks she had ignored its invitation to telephone Steve Percy.

I’m going to have a meeting with these people, she thought. I’m going to tell them that I’m somebody and they aren’t going to do this to me.

She called Percy’s office and scheduled a time to see him.

I have to look important, she told herself.

She pulled her best outfit from the closet, a greenish-brown, full-length sweater dress with long sleeves. She had picked it up for a few dollars at a secondhand store. The dress’s earthy tones flattered her red hair. She slipped the dress on and looked in the mirror. Ribbed, it hugged her long, slender figure, accentuating the curves. She liked what she saw. She put on a pair of brown zip-up boots and headed to Percy’s office.

It was an attractive red brick building with big windows and stylish green window trim. He greeted her in the lobby and led her into an office with easels holding maps and design plans. Percy introduced a couple of NLDC employees.

Feeling out of her element, Susette promptly