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New Haven’s Go-To Guy
Newt Schenck talks about life, love and Dutch elm disease
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Business New Haven
2/7/2000
By: Michael C. Bingham
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A native of Brooklyn, N.Y. and graduate of Yale College, attorney and civic pillar Charles Newton Schenck III, universally known as “Newt,” has captained a broad array of community initiatives, from Long Wharf Theatre and the Audubon arts district to his proprietorship of the New Haven Green and membership on the board of Mayor John DeStefano Jr.'s Town Green Development Corp.
You're chairman of the Proprietors of the Green. Is that a completely self-perpetuating group?
Yes. We operate under a special act of the General Assembly passed at the beginning of the 19th century, which confirms title to the Green in this committee that was set up by the original property-owners around the Green, who were called 'proprietors.' It's a lot of work.
What do you spend time on?
The chairman is the one who has to field all inquiries [regarding activities on the Green], and you have to go around town, talk to groups, supervise all contracting for the Green. For instance, the care of the elms is something I spend a lot of time on. They're still subject to Dutch elm disease: We tend to lose a few each year, and you have to get them out of there before the disease spreads to the others. We need a new bandstand; the one that's there is inadequate. It would be nice to repave some of the paths with better paving than asphalt. The areas around the church need attention. It's like, if you had a 20-acre farm out in the country, you'd spend some time on it, too.
You are involved in the regional cultural plan to maximize the economic-development potential of the arts. Where does that stand?
It's a three-year program, but it will take longer than that to accomplish. It was the result of a report by consultants who took a broad survey of the community and drafted a report which set up nine goals, including [enhancing] facilities for the arts, marketing the arts, artists' housing, arts education, neighborhood arts and so forth. It was funded by the [Community Foundation for Greater New Haven] to the tune of $300,000, and was to be administered in several ways. A full-time person, [former Woodbridge First Selectwoman] Nan Birdwhistell, was hired; she also staffs several of the committees, including marketing. She's been working with National Arts Stabilization, [with which New Haven] may qualify [for funding]. The purpose of it is to force arts organizations into modern management, accounting and financial methods by holding out the carrot of some funding, to be matched by local funding. There's been a strong effort to get funding from the state for this purpose. Whether we will or not in the amount that's needed, I don't know.
What local arts organizations are applying for this funding?
There are 12 that would be in this program, including Long Wharf, the Shubert, the Creative Arts Workshop, Neighborhood Music School, the [New Haven] Symphony - it's a broad-based and very important program.
Who is in charge of all this locally?
The implementation of the cultural plan is overseen by a coordinating committee that's headed by [International Festival of Arts & Ideas Director] Paul Collard. Nan Birdwhistell acts as the staffer for that, presents what she's doing, then we [on the committee] review it and guide her. We've got city people - Susan Whetstone and Karyn Gilvarg - on it, [former first selectwoman] Judy Gott from Branford - this is a regional effort.
How did you become involved?
[Banker] Rick Nelson and I represent the Regional Leadership Council [formed by the chamber to represent the major institutions of the community]. We're now in the second year, and got second-year funding from the [Community] Foundation, some private funding to boot, and we hope and expect to get third-year funding. In addition to the marketing committee, there's also a facilities committee chaired by [former United Illuminating chairman] Dick Grossi. There two consultants have been hired and are studying arts facilities in New Haven generally, but with most emphasis on six, [including] Long Wharf, the Shubert, the symphony, [New Haven Veterans Memorial] Coliseum, the Connecticut Tennis Center. Their report is about ready to come out. It's bound to be controversial: They'll be recommending things that elements of the boards of these outfits and their constituencies will disagree with.
Such as?
Where Long Wharf should be located is one of the issues. And how does the Shubert deal with its present house being too small? Does the symphony stay in [Yale's] Woolsey Hall, or should it try to take over the Palace?
Does Long Wharf necessarily have to move if the mall is built?
It doesn't matter whether they build the mall or not. They're going to have to move - not move physically, necessarily, but they're going to have to have a new theater. The present facility is wearing out. And if you go, you know they've got about the most uncomfortable seats in the city…
I thought Woolsey Hall held that honor.
I guess I think Woolsey's even worse [laughs], and if it weren't a part of Yale, I'm sure that's a facility they'd be studying, too. But they're not.
Do you see a large enough corporate base these days to financially support all these arts groups we love so much?
It's a terrible problem - not only for the arts, but for [charitable] groups as well. Other cities have been so lucky to have either very large corporation headquarters or some very rich families. We have no locally owned bank any more but New Haven Savings Bank. UI is the last of the utility companies that has not merged. It's a real struggle, and it only underscores the importance of Yale as the institution which above all others can provide leadership and provide some financial support. The same is true of the two hospitals, but as Congress cuts back on hospital funding, they have their own problems. It's remarkable what these arts organizations do in generating support from outside of New Haven itself: The Shubert, Long Wharf, the symphony have to get corporate support from a Pratt & Whitney, a Merrill Lynch or whatever - not the businesses that used to be headquartered around the Green.
How does the reality of Audubon Street today compare to your vision of 30 years ago?
In 1970, we drew a master plan for the street to include these arts institutions [as] the non-profit [component], but also to include office, retail and residential space that would be tax-paying, so that the street would not be dead wood on the city. Thirty years later, the original plan stands up very well, and everything that was planned was done. The great failure is the retail. We had hoped that destination retail would light up the street in a way that would draw people to it. The street has met its promise in drawing people back to New Haven for the schools [Creative Arts Workshop, Neighborhood Music School]. But we have not been able to recover the retail that was once on Whitney Avenue there; nor do we have the new retail on Audubon Street that we'd hoped for. The owners [now the Knights of Columbus] have had a hard time finding suitable retail. It isn't that they haven't tried, but all that space requires fit-out before it can be rented, and they've not been able as yet to interest retailers who might have the kind of window displays that would light up the street.
How about this Town Green Development Corp. that the mayor asked you, [New Haven Savings President] Charlie Terrell and [Yale veep] Bruce Alexander to head? The Register made it sound like the mayor was trying to keep important downtown properties from being sold to 'unapproved' private developers.
It's really a nothing, still. The idea of it was that there are old buildings in downtown that ought to be bought - before speculators get them, before prosperity pushes prices too high - bought for resale for purposes that meet with downtown goals, such as more affordable apartments, retail and all - not for a warehouse [for example], or something that doesn't add to downtown. So we were going to 'land-bank' or 'building-bank' old buildings that we might be able to finance the acquisition of. We've had a few ideas about buildings; the trouble is, we haven't got any money.
Why not?
It's kind of a vicious circle. The problem is that we can't see the take-out: If we buy a building, how long is it going to sit on our hands before there's a take-out by a responsible developer, and how much are we going to have to pay in interest, taxes, repairs, insurance, etc. until then?
What are examples of the kinds of buildings you'd like to 'building-bank'?
I'll give you an example of two buildings we do have under control: the two old factory buildings on Crown Street [between Orange and State] that we've talked about for artists' housing. One is owned by the city, and the other is owned by [Ninth Square developers] McCormack & Baron, and the city is working with them.
Don't you think we need more, not less, private development in New Haven - even if it is 'speculative'?
That would be just fine, and it should be a major goal of the city and Yale to get developers coming in and taking a look at downtown.
There are those who say the present city administration doesn't really trust the marketplace.
I don't agree with that. Sure, [Mayor DeStefano] wants to have it developed in a certain way; he doesn't want to take a certain block and turn it into a prison, or something like that. But he very much wants a more residential downtown to build on the base we already have - 13,000 people living downtown, apart from Yale, and we have tremendous demand for apartments. If you could get, for instance, another 500 apartments in Ninth Square to go with the 350 McCormack & Baron put in, you may have enough mass to rent the retail that hasn't rented there. There ought to be a way to get more reasonably affordable apartments downtown. The problem is that these old buildings are expensive to renovate, and some sort of subsidy is indicated for most of them. If the developer is to make any money, he needs some help in taking over a downtown block. It's not like taking a vacant ten acres and putting up condos.
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