Cassano Receives Greenway Award

State Sen. Steve Cassano, a Democrat who represents Manchester and several surrounding communities, was recently named as one of seven recipients of the Governor’s Greenways Council awards, which commend individuals who have made contributions to the promotion, development and enhancement of the state's Greenways parks. 

The parks, part of the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000 mile corridor reaching from Maine to Florida, are linear open space areas that cover thousands of acres throughout Connecticut. 

“This year’s event took place last week on the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000 mile corridor reaching from Canada to Key West,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a statement announcing the awards.  “This scenic location provides a place for safe recreational activities including walking, running, biking and horseback riding and illustrates the importance of linking key linear space in Connecticut.” 

Cassano was recognized for his unsuccessful attempts this legislative session  to get special Greenways license plate money moved out of the General Fund and back into the Greenways fund to purchase land to extend Greenways throughout the state, according to Lawrence Cook, a Connecticut Senate Democrat legislative aid. 

“Connecticut’s thousands of miles of recreational trails and river corridors, including greenways, provide visitors and residents alike with unique ways to travel throughout the state," Susan Frechette, deputy commissioner of the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, said in a statement. "The dedicated volunteers, who for years have worked tirelessly to make greenways a reality, now can recognize 67 designated greenways in Connecticut – quite an accomplishment for a small state.” 

The 2011 Connecticut Greenways Council Award Recipients are as follows: 

Representative Pam Sawyer – Legislative Award - Currently serving in her 10th term as State Representative for the 55th District that includes the towns of Andover, Bolton, Hebron, and Marlborough, Representative Sawyer has been a strong advocate for CT Greenways and multi-user recreation. She was also the primary force behind securing funding for the Hop River State Park Trail covered bridge in Andover.

Senator Steve Cassano – Legislative Award - Representing the residents of the 4th State Senate District towns of Bolton, Glastonbury, Manchester and Marlborough.  The Senator has been working closely with the CT Greenways Council to remedy the CT Greenways License Plate funding. His Greenway support spans 20-30 years while wearing the Mayor of Manchester, Chairman Capitol Region Council of Governments, and other hats. 

Former Senator Michael Meotti – Special Achievement Award - was the first legislator to bring state funding to a multi use trail. He led the effort to provide $750,000 of state money for a trail in the Route I-384 corridor. This pre- dated the DOT’s Transportation Enhancement program. He then modified this allocation so it could be used as the non-federal portion of the federal enhancement program. This stretched the state dollars. He would conduct part of his campaigns via bicycle to shine some light on the need for off road bike/pedestrian trails.  He remains active as guest speaker at bike/pedestrian meetings. 

Mr. Tom Maziarz Bureau Chief, Bureau of Policy and Planning, Connecticut Department of Transportation –Transportation Award - The Council acknowledges Tom for his leadership on the Agency’s new bike-pedestrian friendly policies. 

Mr. Doug MacGillvary — Volunteer Award – Doug is a long time volunteer for the Manchester Land Trust.  He puts in many hours weekly performing trail work, survey, advocacy, and planning for the Hockanam River Linear Trail. 

Mr. Tom Adamski – Oxford – Unsung Hero Award.  Mr. Adamski is being honored for his greenway leadership and volunteerism to the Town of Oxford and surrounding towns.  He worked to purchase Oxford’s 520 acre Rockhouse Hill Preserve and later its 62 acre addition; brought parties together facilitating the state acquisition of a 40 acre addition to Southford Falls State Park; helped negotiate the purchases of eight and 13-acre properties along Oxford’s Eight Mile Brook. He introduced and helped implement the Oxford Annual Townwide Cleanup. He has served as the Commissioner for Oxford’s Conservation Commission and Inland Wetlands Agency for 9 years. He assists in directing the trail construction, maintenance efforts and funding of the Oxford High School Youth Conservation Corps. He is a volunteer trail maintainer, for the Nature Conservancy at Devils Den Preserve, Redding CT.  

Mr. Joseph Lenear – Oxford – Youth Leadership Award. Joseph has been working with students and engaging them in outdoor based activities since 1996.  Upon taking a biology position at Harding High school in Bridgeport, Mr. Lanier formed the Harding Horticulture Club in 2000 until 2007. This club focused upon students working on various green space service based projects around Bridgeport. He next became a board member of Groundwork Bridgeport (GWB) forming a collaborative relationship with GWB through Harding HS and developed a student mentor program called BAT (Butterfly Are Teachers) later known as the Green Team which is more of an intern program. After taking a position at Oxford High School as a biology teacher, Mr. Lanier formed the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) modeled after GWB’s Green Team program. The YCC focuses upon service projects in the adjacent Open Space Rockhouse Hill Sanctuary next to OHS.