Connecticut
As a CT building decays, a push emerges for a hospital to be better stewards of historic property
HARTFORD — The 1920s apartment building on the edge of Hartford Hospital‘s campus isn’t much to look at these days: forlorn, boarded up and apparently rotten from the inside out.
But the structure, owned by the hospital since 2010, is emerging as a rallying flashpoint in the surrounding Frog Hollow neighborhood. The neighborhood is urging the hospital to take better care of historic buildings on its campus, especially vacant, decaying ones — and find new uses for them.
Hartford Hospital, part of Hartford HealthCare, has pushed to demolish the 4-story apartment building at the corner of Washington and Jefferson streets, pointing to two engineering studies.
The studies concluded that the brick structure was unsafe, its walls crumbling and its interior floors collapsing. Restoring the structure would be tantamount to rebuilding it, according to the studies, a project that couldn’t be justified because it would cost too much.
The hospital also is under pressure from the city to do something with the building, after being cited for safety concerns, deterioration and blight.
Preservationists and neighborhood leaders oppose the demolition. They argue the hospital has no estimates for what saving the structure might cost and, even worse, no firm future plans for what would be done with property after a demolition, other than creating a grassy area.
“We had so many buildings in Hartford that were demolished because they had to come to down for ‘We’re going to make some future development’,” Mary A. Falvey, executive director of the Hartford Preservation Alliance, said. “Building comes down. And in the blink of an eye, the developer is gone, and we’re left with open parking lots.”
The push to demolish comes just days after the approval of a massive parking garage just two blocks away to accommodate a major expansion of the Connecticut Children’s hospital.
While compromises were made — including the relocation of three historic homes — some in the neighborhood are still smarting from a project that will push into one of Frog Hollow’s historic districts and a predominantly residential area.
Cannon Design
A rendering shows the planned Connecticut Children’s parking garage at the corner of Washington and Lincoln streets in Hartford. The parking garage is connected to the hospital with a pedestrian skywalk over Washington Street. (Cannon Design)
The apartment building at 224 Washington St. also is part of an historic district. The Jefferson-Seymour National Historic District dates back to the late 1970s and includes dozens of structures around Hartford Hospital.
Marcus Ordoñez, co-chair of the Frog Hollow Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, said the group, which is involved in planning to promote vibrancy, opposes demolition, considering Frog Hollow’s historic architecture to be among its greatest assets.
“Our first priority is to preserve,” Ordoñez said. “But in the hopefully unlikelihood that it does get taken down, we want to ensure that something does go there, and that it is something that would not only benefit the patients — if that’s what they choose to do — but the neighborhood.”
The tension between saving the past and redeveloping to move ahead is thrown into particularly sharp relief on urban hospital campuses — especially ones with long histories like Hartford Hospital, founded in 1854.
Late last week, the hospital backed off a bit on the Washington Street property after encountering stiff opposition at separate meetings with the NRZ and the historic preservation commission.
The hospital told the commission, which would have to sign off on any demolition, that it would seek out further options.
‘Definitely haven’t’
Hartford Hospital has come under sharp criticism that it created its own problems when it comes the deterioration of its historic structures by not keeping up with maintenance.
When asked about that criticism, Keith Grant, the hospital’s vice president of operations, acknowledged that upkeep has fallen short.
But Grant said that was because Hartford Hospital was making other investments in the local community — particularly during Covid — that came at the expense of the historic structures. Now, in the aftermath of the pandemic, the buildings should become a higher priority.
“And that’s probably what we’re going to need to do,” Grant said.
Grant said an overall campus plan that includes the historic buildings is in the works. But Grant points to changes that are soon to be underway: Tidier landscaping at vacant properties and the replacement of windows that are now boarded up.
One of the bigger investments will be $2 million to restore the exterior if Levi Lincoln Felt House, at 142 Jefferson. The shingled, Queen Anne-style house stands out from the brick and brownstone construction of adjoining properties. The house was singled out as one of the most notable when the Jefferson-Seymour district was formed in 1979.
Felt began his business career at the age of 15 as an office boy for a Hartford start-up with a bright future — Travelers Insurance — and he retired 48 years later as its comptroller.
But his house, acquired by Hartford Hospital in 2010, has not fared as well. Now boarded up, ornamented chimneys — features that contribute to its architectural value — have been removed. Wooden decorative elements are rotting and planks on the front porch are warping.
Grant, walking along Jefferson St. on Friday, said the Felt House could be used for offices. But converting other brownstone and brick structures nearby to clinical space is more challenging because they are not large enough, Grant said.
That is certainly the case with the Washington Street apartment building, Grant said. But a potential solution might rest with the building next to the Felt House, Grant said.
Two Italianate-style homes were demolished but replaced with replicas using some of the original building materials. The new building now houses a community health center that logged 17,000 primary care adult patient visits in fiscal 2022, demonstrating a clear need for the services, according to the hospital.
The idea might make preservationists bristle, but Grant said it could make a stretch of Jefferson Street a central location for an expansion of much-needed community health services.
Nevertheless, the hospital is committed to keeping a historic feel along Jefferson, the heart of the historic district, Grant said.
“So even if demolition is done, I don’t think it’s demolition with the entirety of the building,” Grant said, of 224 Washington St. “It might be a complete strip down or even take it down and use the brick to put the facade back.”
A comprehensive plan for the historic structures is vital to preserving them because vacant buildings are vulnerable, the preservation alliance’s Falvey said.
Falvey is tracking a dozen on the hospital’s campus, but there was a recent casualty.
A short walk away from the Jefferson Street clinic, a fire in an historic apartment building at 134 Seymour St. so compromised the structure, the city ordered that it be razed. A pile of rubble was still seen Friday rising above a sheathed construction fence.
Falvey also noted that visible building deterioration has a broader, harmful effect on perception of the city.
“People don’t realize that Hartford Hospital owns all these buildings,” Falvey said. “And it’s just dragging down Hartford as a whole because people coming in from the suburbs to Hartford Hospital say, ‘Oh well, yeah, this is Hartford.’ ”
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
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HARTFORD, Conn — With many jobs expected to eventually rely on generative artificial intelligence, states are trying to help workers beef up their tech skills before they become outdated and get outfoxed by machines that are becoming increasingly smarter.
Connecticut is working to create what proponents believe will be the country’s first Citizens AI Academy, a free online repository of curated classes that users can take to learn basic skills or obtain a certificate needed for employment.
“This is a rapidly evolving area,” said state Democratic Sen. James Maroney. “So we need to all learn what are the best sources for staying current. How can we update our skills? Who can be trusted sources?”
Determining what skills are necessary in an AI world can be a challenge for state legislators given the fast-moving nature of the technology and differing opinions about what approach is best.
Gregory LaBlanc, professor of Finance, Strategy and Law at the Haas School of Business at Berkeley Law School in California, says workers should be taught how to use and manage generative AI rather than how the technology works, partly because computers will soon be better able to perform certain tasks previously performed by humans.
“What we need is to lean into things that complement AI as opposed to learning to be really bad imitators of AI,” he said. “We need to figure out what is AI not good at and then teach those things. And those things are generally things like creativity, empathy, high level problem solving.”
He said historically people have not needed to understand technological advancements in order for them to succeed.
“When when electricity came along, we didn’t tell everybody that they needed to become electrical engineers,” LeBlanc said.
This year, at least four states – Connecticut, California, Mississippi and Maryland – proposed legislation that attempted to deal with AI in the classroom somehow. They ranged from Connecticut’s planned AI Academy, which was originally included in a wide-ranging AI regulation bill that failed but the concept is still being developed by state education officials, to proposed working groups that examine how AI can be incorporated safely in public schools. Such a bill died in the Mississippi legislature while the others remain in flux.
One bill in California would require a state working group to consider incorporating AI literacy skills into math, science, history and social science curriculums.
“AI has the potential to positively impact the way we live, but only if we know how to use it, and use it responsibly,” said the bill’s author, Assemblymember Marc Berman, in a statement. “No matter their future profession, we must ensure that all students understand basic AI principles and applications, that they have the skills to recognize when AI is employed, and are aware of AI’s implications, limitations, and ethical considerations.”
The bill is backed by the California Chamber of Commerce. CalChamber Policy Advocate Ronak Daylami said in a statement that incorporating information into existing school curricula will “dispel the stigma and mystique of the technology, not only helping students become more discerning and intentional users and consumers of AI, but also better positioning future generations of workers to succeed in an AI-driven workforce and hopefully inspiring the next generation of computer scientists.”
While Connecticut’s planned AI Academy is expected to offer certificates to people who complete certain skills programs that might be needed for careers, Maroney said the academy will also include the basics, from digital literacy to how to pose questions to a chatbot.
He said it’s important for people to have the skills to understand, evaluate and effectively interact with AI technologies, whether it’s a chatbot or machines that learn to identify problems and make decisions that mimic human decision-making.
“Most jobs are going to require some form of literacy,” Maroney said. “I think that if you aren’t learning how to use it, you’ll be at a disadvantage.”
A September 2023 study released by the job-search company Indeed found all U.S. jobs listed on the platform had skills that could be performed or augmented by generative AI. Nearly 20% of the jobs were considered “highly exposed,” which means the technology is considered good or excellent at 80% or more of the skills that were mentioned in the Indeed job listings.
Nearly 46% of the jobs on the platform were “moderately exposed,” which means the GenAI can perform 50% to 80% of the skills.
Maroney said he is concerned how that skills gap – coupled with a lack of access to high-speed internet, computers and smart phones in some underserved communities – will exacerbate the inequity problem.
A report released in February from McKinsey and Company, a global management consulting firm, projected that generative AI could increase household wealth in the U.S. by nearly $500 billion by 2045, but it would also increase the wealth gap between Black and white households by $43 billion annually.
Advocates have been working for years to narrow the nation’s digital skills gap, often focusing on the basics of computer literacy and improving access to reliable internet and devices, especially for people living in urban and rural areas. The advent of AI brings additional challenges to that task, said Marvin Venay, chief external affairs and advocacy officer for the Massachusetts-based organization Bring Tech Home.
“Education must be included in order for this to really take off publicly … in a manner which is going to give people the ability to eliminate their barriers,” he said of AI. “And it has to be able to explain to the most common individual why it is not only a useful tool, but why this tool will be something that can be trusted.”
Tesha Tramontano-Kelly, executive director of the Connecticut-based group CfAL for Digital Inclusion, said she worries lawmakers are “putting the cart before the horse” when it comes to talking about AI training. Ninety percent of the youths and adults who use her organization’s free digital literacy classes don’t have a computer in the home.
While Connecticut is considered technologically advanced compared to many other states and nearly every household can get internet service, a recent state digital equity study found only about three-quarters subscribe to broadband. A survey conducted as part of the study found 47% of respondents find it somewhat or very difficult to afford internet service.
Of residents who reported household income at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, 32% don’t own a computer and 13% don’t own any internet enabled device.
Tramontano-Kelly said ensuring the internet is accessible and technology equipment is affordable are important first steps.
“So teaching people about AI is super important. I 100% agree with this,” she said. “But the conversation also needs to be about everything else that goes along with AI.”
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On the weekend, we present some of the top stories and headlines from all across Connecticut.
Officials confirmed the bank will close two branches in Connecticut later this year, and they have released the precise date.>>>Read More.
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More than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside the hospital each year. One local teen has a plan to trim that number down a bit…>>>Read More.
The former local resident, an “American Ninja Warrior” winner, was sentenced for the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old victim, officials said.>>>Read More.
Police provided water safety tips after a 3-year-old was recently found floating face down in a pool before being rescued by an adult.>>>Read More.
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The Patch community platform serves communities all across Connecticut in Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, New London, Hartford, Tolland, and Litchfield counties. Thank you for reading.
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