After 65 years in operation, the East Side Civic Association has disbanded. It originated in 1948 as a bipartisan group dedicated to protecting the environmental interests of Hamden residents living on the east side of town. The association was started by my parents, Dom and Josephine Carusone, both Democrats, and John and Kate Tilson, both Republicans and prominent attorneys. The first major issue the association dealt with was the town’s plan to develop a trash incinerator in the Quinnipiac marshes that would have destroyed the marshes, one of Hamden’s environmental treasures. The association was successful, which prompted the ire of then-First Selectman Leon Booth, who wanted to deed to New Haven the portion of the area where the incinerator would have been built. That proposal was also defeated.
A recent association victory led to the infamous State Street tire pond and illegal landfill being shut down and the landfill owner being sent to prison. At one time, the association represented more than 400 families and during its existence raised quite a sum of money to fight polluters. Recently, the association’s last president, Dr. Diana Fischer, passed away after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. Members of the association’s executive board voted unanimously to use the remaining funds to award scholarships in honor of Dr. Fischer to two deserving students at Hamden High School. The recipients of the Dr. Diana Fishcer Environmental Scholarships are Matthew Hoff and Yaffa Fain.
Ms. Fain will attend Clark University in the fall, while Matthew Hoff will attend West Virginia University and major in fisheries and wildlife. It was the unanimous feeling of the executive board that during the summer a ceremony would be held in honor of Dr. Fischer in the marshes where so many environmental victories took place.
John L. Carusone
Hamden
Former mayor of Hamden and a former East Side Civic Association president