New London's mayoral candidates all talk about the three C's; community, contribution and compromise, and I believe the three C's can be used to discuss the Riverside Park vote, too.

The Coast Guard Academy has been a valuable member and active participant in the New London community for more than 100 years. Academy graduates produce 75 percent of the officer corps that guides the entire Coast Guard. The current commandant, Adm. Robert Papp, is from Norwich and a recent superintendent, Adm. Rube Olsen, from New London. The current superintendent, Rear Adm. Sandra Stosz, has maintained her New London residency since she graduated from the academy in 1982. Many support staff live in New London and many have retired and remain in the city.

The Leadership Development Center is co-located at the academy and a local New London High School graduate, Capt. Andrea Marcille, is the commanding officer. More than 1,700 Coast Guard members have returned to that center to undergo leadership training and spend much of their limited leisure time in the city.

While Coast Guard cadets have an extremely busy academic schedule, they still make time to contribute to our community. In the 2010-11 school year they provided more than 18,000 hours of community service and one of their major programs focuses on New London schools. In the spring semester, cadets volunteered more than 3,500 hours to mentor and tutor students at the elementary, middle and high schools.

They also volunteer with the city's recreation programs, Salvation Army, homeless center, Hospice, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and Special Olympics, to name a few. And many of the academy's support and teaching staff reside in New London and belong to its churches, synagogues and civic organizations.

Because of tragic events like 9/11, the role of the Coast Guard has expanded dramatically, and today, the Coast Guard plays a major role in the Department of Homeland Security, resulting in its current real and pressing need.

The academy has more than 1,000 cadets, a leadership center, but only 103 acres of land. By comparison, Connecticut College has more than 2,000 students and 700 acres. The academy had wanted its museum on its campus but could not find space so will build it elsewhere in the city.

But the academy does need to build a ship simulator to train cadets and the entire Coast Guard. This state-of-the-art simulator will allow for training at one-tenth the cost of at-sea training.

That need is what prompted the Coast Guard's request to purchase the only viable piece of property available, Riverside Park. The academy did not exercise its right to take the property; it is offering to purchase a portion of it for $2.9 million. The Coast Guard has been transparent. It has met the public and answered questions about its interest in the park. And it has amended its original request to satisfy some of the objections made.

Some people ask why the Coast Guard doesn't use property it owns north of the academy. But one parcel is a designated wetlands, another will be used for an indoor rifle range, and the third is the location of the child development center. Others have suggested the simulator be built on an existing parking lot. But even if the largest lot was used, I estimate the simulator building would be six-stories high and still be too small.

And the idea of locating the simulator at Fort Trumbull would create a hardship for cadets who would have difficulty moving between the two locations.

Selling a portion of Riverside Park to the Coast Guard would leave New London with a smaller, more manageable park. Some of the sale proceeds could be used to erect a playground near the entrance, perhaps a basketball court, and maybe a new picnic area overlooking the waterfront. There are many creative people in the city who could redesign the remaining park to be more functional and usable.

Selling half of Riverside is a compromise. Nobody gets all they want, but isn't that what a compromise is?

Ed DeMuzzio is a Coast Guard Academy graduate who later served as head of its computer science department, retiring in 1986. He has remained in the New London area and is the owner of two businesses and an active member of the Fiddleheads Food Cooperative.

Editor's note

More than 13 months after the City Council voted 4-3 to sell half of the 18-acre Riverside Park to the Coast Guard Academy for expansion, New London voters will decide on Election Day whether to support the sale or nix it.

Even councilors who voted to sell the park land helped to circulate petitions to secure the necessary signatures to send the issue to referendum. Now New London voters will decide whether to sell 9.14 acres of the park for $2.9 million. Since the council vote in September 2010, residents have split on the issue of selling some of the

park in East New London.