Part 8 (1/2)

Mitch.e.l.l a.s.sured her the neighbors would come around.

May 16, 1998 Tony Basilica and his wife, Gwen, were in bed asleep when the phone started ringing at 5:45 on a Sat.u.r.day morning.

Tony didn't budge. Gwen answered it. Then she tapped Tony's shoulder.

He opened his eyes, glanced at the clock, and gave Gwen an irritated look.

She put her hand over the receiver. ”It's George Milne,” she whispered.

”Get the h.e.l.l outta here,” he said, in no mood for humor.

She repeated herself, motioning for Tony to lower his voice.

”George Milne,” he mouthed. ”Are you serious?”

She nodded and handed him the phone.

Tony cleared his throat. ”h.e.l.lo,” he said, trying to sound awake.

”Tony?”

”Yeah.”

”George Milne.”

”Good morning.”

”I'm not getting you at a bad time, am I?”

Basilica looked at the clock again. ”Oh, no, of course not.”

”Can you make a meeting?”

”When?”

”Whenever you can get over to Pfizer.”

Basilica paused. ”You mean this morning?”

”Yes,” he said, explaining that Claire was already in his office. ”We're here. How about six-thirty or seven?”

Basilica sat up. He couldn't help thinking they were both nuts. ”Would you mind if I bring John Markowicz if he's available?”

”No, not at all.”

”We'll see you at seven-thirty or as soon as we can get there.”

Basilica hung up and handed the phone back to Gwen, shaking his head. He could not believe the president of Pfizer and the president of Connecticut College were so intent on acquiring land in Fort Trumbull that they were having a meeting before six on a Sat.u.r.day morning. He dressed and called Markowicz.

”Hey, how'd you like to go to a meeting?”

”When?”

”Now.”

Markowicz waited for the punch line. Basilica explained. Markowicz didn't want to go in unprotected. Neither did Basilica.

Markowicz agreed to bring a one-page memorandum of understanding to the meeting. In it, Basilica would agree to ask the Defense Department to suspend the public auction of the navy base in exchange for Claire's promise to prepare, at the NLDC's expense, an application to acquire the property under an economic-development conveyance by August 31, 1998. If Claire refused to sign the agreement, Basilica and Markowicz would know that the NLDC and the state had no intention of paying for the navy property. If Claire signed it, then Basilica and Markowicz would be protected legally from any recourse that might come from delaying the auction. And the NLDC would have to pay for the navy property. Either way, both men figured the doc.u.ment would tease out Milne and Claire's true intentions.

Just after eight o'clock, Markowicz and Basilica arrived at the Pfizer complex in Groton. A security guard escorted them to Milne, who led them to a private office. Inside, they found Claire at the head of the conference table.

Markowicz and Basilica immediately spotted a series of oversized drawings positioned on easels around the room. They depicted a conference center, a five-star hotel, high-end town houses, a health club, and business offices.

What am I looking at? thought Markowicz. thought Markowicz.

Basilica recognized the area-a ninety-acre swath of land stretching from the railroad tracks to the waterfront, which encompa.s.sed the Fort Trumbull neighborhood and the navy base. He noted that the design plans carried the signature of a firm under contract to Pfizer. Yet none of the land in the drawings actually belonged to Pfizer. Basilica wondered why Pfizer had designed plans to redevelop real estate it didn't own. Markowicz had the same question.

They took seats at the conference table, facing Claire and Milne. A couple of Pfizer employees and an NLDC official filled in the other seats.

While Milne and Claire took turns speaking, Markowicz began connecting the dots. At the committee meeting a few weeks earlier, state officials had asked a lot of questions about how the state could acquire the base property from the federal government without any cost under the public-use provision, suggesting the state might want the land for a marine-education facility. But Markowicz didn't see a marine-education facility on the schematic drawings; instead, he saw private commercial and residential uses, ones that would directly or indirectly benefit Pfizer.

”The issue that came up at the meeting,” Milne explained, ”was whether a public auction would be the best use of what was a key waterfront piece of property. If there was no infrastructure or other things that were going to support that site, would it attract a strong presence in the area? In other words, would it lock you into a more incremental move?”

But Milne didn't get anywhere with Basilica or Markowicz. ”They were strongly recommending that the process proceed down the path they had already ordained,” Milne said later.

Ultimately, Basilica looked to Markowicz, who pushed copies of his memo across the table to Milne and Claire. The heading read: ”Memorandum of Agreement between Naval [Undersea] Warfare Center Local Reuse Authority and New London Development Corporation.”

”This doc.u.ment is a compromise,” Markowicz said.

All the elements of the agreement, including the dates, Basilica explained, were negotiable.

Without saying a word, Claire read the memo and then tucked it in her bag. The memo made it clear that Basilica and Marko-wicz weren't getting on board with her plan.

Markowicz attempted to explain the doc.u.ment, but Claire cut him off. She announced she had to catch a ferry into the harbor, where she was scheduled to meet George H. W. Bush, the former president, and escort him into New London. She said good-bye and walked out.

The meeting quickly lost steam and adjourned.

Claire never signed Basilica's proposal. Instead, she distributed it to members of the city council, along with a cover letter. ”The attached is a Memorandum of Agreement that LRA Chair Tony Basilica gave to me recently,” she told the council. ”I am forwarding it to you for advice.” Claire also took a shot at Basilica. ”The Chair of LRA has known since November that a new plan for this land was preferable to Pfizer,” she wrote. ”I understand that neither the Executive Committee nor the full LRA has met since before the Pfizer decision was made. Consequently, the city has lost six valuable months for rethinking the land use and proper conveyance from the Navy.”

She also gave the city council reason to get concerned about Basilica's demands on the NLDC: ”If NLDC accepts Mr. Basilica's requests to undertake this work, citizens may see this as an NLDC 'land grab' and not as a request from Basilica.”

Claire was tired of jousting with Basilica. The seeds for removing him from the committee had now been planted.

Days after the meeting at Milne's office, Markowicz received a letter from two of the governor's commissioners. ”The Munic.i.p.al Development Planning Process now underway for the Thames Peninsula area is a major community development effort that is needed in order to induce the Pfizer development project,” they wrote. The plan to auction off the property came together before Pfizer announced its intention to develop in New London. ”It is now prudent to re-evaluate this plan,” they continued. ”If we fail ... we may jeopardize the maximum development potential of this site and possibly Pfizer's commitment to the region.” Markowicz got the message: Pfizer didn't want the base sold at an auction; if the auction went forward, Pfizer might not come to New London.

The end of the letter went further, pointing out that the governor had just committed hundreds of millions of dollars to three other cities for ma.s.sive redevelopment projects. ”Clearly, this indicates that New London will no longer have the sole attention it enjoyed to date in these types of ventures,” they wrote. ”We will appreciate your cooperation.” Markowicz noted the letter had been copied to Peter Ellef, Claire Gaudiani, and the city council.