Protesters slam new housing at Testo's site

     BRIDGEPORT REPORT

     By Reginald Johnson

       BRIDGEPORT --- About 30 people picketed in front of the former Testo’s restaurant on Madison Avenue Sunday demanding that Mayor Joseph Ganim get involved to stop a housing development at the site which residents claim is out of place for the area.

   Under a hot sun the group walked in front of the closed-up restaurant with signs reading  “No to 177 units!” and “Mayor Ganim, Where are You?"

  People driving by honked their horns in approval.

 “We are out here to try and get the mayor to stop this development. It’s going to affect all of us,"  said Bianca, who owns a house on Westfield just across from the former restaurant.  “It’s going to lower the property values for everybody around here and we need our values to stay the way it is,” she added.

 Bianca moved to Bridgeport from New York city three years ago to buy her house and said it was a “rude awakening” when she found out that the restaurant was going to make way for a 177-unit apartment complex.

  “We need our neighborhood to stay a neighborhood,” she said, “and not turn into a commercial area like a city like New York that is overcrowded and overpopulated. We need to have a safe space."

                               

Bianca, who lives on Westfield Avenue, protests the plan for new housing at the former Testo's restaurant. (Reginald Johnson photo)

  Other protesters echoed Bianca’s view, saying that the complex was too big and not fit for the area which is dominated by single-family homes. They complained bitterly that local residents have not been given any say-so in how the development was planned.

  “There’s been no input from the neighborhood,” said one.

                      

North End residents demonstrate against housing at Testo's.

 (Reginald Johnson photo)

  The four-story complex to be constructed by builder John Guedes appears to be a done deal, with zoning approval for the general plan given previously. There don’t seem to be any legal avenues for opponents to block the project.

  However, protesters are hoping that possibly Mayor Ganim, who has remained quiet on the controversial project, will step forward and ask for some modifications to reduce the size of the building.

  “It’s past the Council people.” said Bianca. “The Council already voted on it, so the mayor has to get involved at this point,” she said.

                                          

                                   

Protesters at Testo's. (Reginald Johnson photo)

  The former Testo’s Ristorante at 1775 Madison was a fixture in the North End for decades and also served as a political base for the Democratic Party, with the eatery hosting many fundraisers and election night parties. The restaurant was owned by Mario Testa who was the longtime head of the Democratic Town Committee and a close friend of Ganim. Testa and his relatives closed the restaurant at the end of last year and the apartment plan was announced soon afterwards.