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Abandoned hospital gives new homes, hope to many
Louis Dorsey grew up on the streets of Bridgeport and, after serving eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps and Marine Forces Reserve, was about to end up back where he started. "I didn't know where to go," said Dorsey, a 34-year-old security guard who left the military about five years ago. "I was borderline homeless. I just managed to live place-to-place. I didn't want to ask anybody for help." Rent was steep and times were hard for Dorsey, who served four years of active duty and toured in Iraq, and he prayed things would turn around. They did this month, when he became one of 12 veterans who gained affordable housing in the Bridgeport Housing Authority's newest property -- the old Park City Hospital building at the corner of Park and Black Rock avenues. For a spacious, comfortable one-bedroom apartment, his rent is now $285 per month with utilities included. Dorsey was so grateful for his new home and the hope it represents that he broke into tears between broad grins. "The doors were shutting on me -- until this place," he said last week. "I'm just so blessed that you got places like this. I just want to be a part of the community. I thank God that the community accepted me and now I've got a place to live. I can just say that there's a lot of big things in store for me -- positive things." Dorsey joined the military "because I needed some sense of direction" a few years after his cousin, and big-brother figure, was fatally shot due to a drug-related beef. He is studying criminal justice at Housatonic Community College and hopes to become a probation officer, so he can help local youths like him with rough lives and show them that: "You don't have to sell drugs and stuff like that. You can turn your life around and be a positive instrument to society. Just because you got bad luck ... you just can't give up." The old hospital building, abandoned for roughly two decades, was purchased by the BHA in 2002 and completely renovated with $31 million in federal, state, city and private funds into 110 one-bedroom units, 24 of them handicapped-accessible, said Nicholas Calace, executive director of the BHA. "This is about as choice as the one-bedroom units we have to offer," Calace said, adding that the site is special because it features all kinds of services -- including a commercial kitchen; medical, management and guard services, and entertainment for the seniors -- right there. The federally-subsidized units are rented at 30 to 40 percent of each tenant's income, said Andrell Yarborough, senior site manager. The last details of construction are being finished, and all apartments are spoken-for, housing officials said. With 110 units, the building is fairly unique because it has two separate sides -- The Eleanor, with 62 units, for the elderly residents and The Franklin, with 48 units, for those "at risk" or in need of supportive services, said Calace. Historically, those two groups have clashed in other publicly-subsidized housing, because their lifestyles and viewpoints tend to be very different. "From a relationship perspective, it's not always a good two groups to mix together," Calace said. "Neither has much patience for the other." Calace said the completion of the old hospital building means there are only 40 to 50 units still needed in the city to complete a mandatory replacement of all the units lost when Father Panik Village was leveled in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Not only that, but the project restored an abandoned building to good use, said Betsy Crum of the Women's Institute for Housing and Economic Development, the project developer. "It was kind of a scar on the neighborhood," she said. "That it could sort of heal the neighborhood and the people who live here was a nice concept." Crum said a $25,000 grant from the Fairfield County Community Foundation, matched equally by project contractor Viking Construction, made possible a scenic green picnic area, where the emergency room used to be and where, now, elderly residents can receive guests. Eleanor units opened up near the beginning of the month, and Franklin units a week later. More than 50 residents had signed leases as of last week, Yarborough said. Longtime Bridgeporter Lillie Joyce Carr was among the first to move in on the elderly side. Carr, 64, was living in Washington Heights Apartments, but when she got word that the old Park City Hospital was going to be available, she jumped at the chance. "I was overjoyed because I used to work here," she said. "I'm on the babies' floor. This place is beautiful -- it's so sunny. I can look out of my window and watch the people walk." Carr chuckled as she said she was careful not to end up certain floors -- like the one that was formerly the ICU -- and tries not to think about the morgue that used to be in the basement. The floor she is on, however, is special because it's where her youngest son was born 33 years ago. For a decade, Carr worked as a dietary assistant at the hospital and used to walk during her lunch break from her workplace to nearby Roosevelt School, where her three children attended, to check on their progress and behavior. Eventually, she was hired there and worked for more than two decades as a paraprofessional. Now that she lives in her old hospital workplace, she hopes to head back to that school as a volunteer. "I love it," she said. "I feel like I've been here a long time." http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Abandoned-hospital-gives-new-homes-hope-to-many-625755.php |
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