Note: this petition is not soliciting financial donations. If you are prompted to donate, be aware that the funds are for the change.org website and not for this cause, so you can disregard that. Just need your name!

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To the Community:

I hope this finds you all doing as well as possible during this unprecedented time.

My name is Joe Buonannata and I am a resident of Rocky Hill, CT, but lived the first seven years of my life on Dover Street in Hartford’s South End along with my parents and two older sisters.

I am seeking your support in petitioning Hartford’s City Council to consider renaming Columbus Park on Franklin Avenue after one of the most influential people in the modern history of our state’s capital city – especially its South End: Alphonse “Al” Marotta.  

First, it’s important to note that I am a proud Italian American. My father and his twin brother emigrated from Floridia, Sicily to the United States in 1972 at 18. Dad moved-in with his eldest sister and her young family on Grandview Terrace in Hartford and soon after started dating my mom, and together they settled on Dover Street in a three-family house owned by my maternal grandfather. Nonno Garofalo came to the U.S.  from another Sicilian town, Priolo, 25 years prior. Alongside my grandmother they raised a family while he worked as a mason and later for the City of Hartford until his retirement in the mid-1990s. At 91, he’s still the hardest worker I know.

Dad and Nonno are just two of the countless Italians who came to Connecticut and helped Hartford and its surrounding communities flourish – through construction, restaurants, education, culture and more. A common thread through many people’s South End story is Uncle Al.

Uncle Al is my grandmother’s older brother and someone I have admired my entire life. He is the son of immigrants who helped build the original Front Street – the first piece of the lasting mark he continues to leave on the city over eight decades. As a kid, I remember joining my mom and her cousins to canvass around Hartford when he ran for elected office – serving as both a city councilman and state representative, among other positions he took on to serve the community he loves.

For decades, Uncle Al has championed Italian American causes across the city, always with Franklin Avenue as home base. He has led the South Hartford Business Alliance, served on the Board of St. Luke’s Church – working until the very end to keep the church that meant so much to him, his family and the Italian American community open, and continues to serve as an MDC Commissioner. Though age has slowed him down a bit recently, at 85 years old Uncle Al remains a fixture in the community.

Uncle Al may be best known to many as the leader of the Columbus weekend celebration that for decades brought the region together for delicious food, entertainment, scholarships to area students and more – all culminating with a grand parade rolling down the entirety of Franklin Avenue on Sunday. Though the parade coincided with the holiday, it was never focused on honoring any single figure from centuries ago; rather, it was about gathering together with family, friends and neighbors to celebrate an entire community of Italian Americans of all generations.

Reaction to the debate around honoring Columbus is often based in the opinion that Italian Americans’ contributions to the U.S. made over the last 100+ years would somehow be minimized or even erased with a statue being removed or a street being renamed. The reality is that Columbus is a deeply flawed figure whose place in history deserves conversation and debate in classrooms and museums. But, when it comes to honoring Italian American contributions to the US, I believe we should look at the figures who actually helped shape and serve the communities we live in -- we don't need to go back five centuries for that.

Al Marotta is a unifying and welcoming pillar of Hartford’s South End who has dedicated his life to building bridges across the community instead of walls. The Hartford Courant has shined a spotlight on his service many times over the years, so if you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him or working alongside him yet, I encourage you to read for yourself: here, here and especially here.

The park in Hartford’s South End that welcomes guests with the Italian and American flags should be renamed after a true son of the neighborhood. What a well-deserved honor that would be.