Because in the end, New London officials took every single one of our homes. This was for us the battle of a lifetime, an amazing journey, one that was filled with pain, heartache and suffering, and these words fail in comparison with what we went through in the battle to save our homes.

Some of my neighbors, already in their 90s, lost the only homes they ever knew, where they raised their families, celebrated their holidays, carried on their traditions; some were forced into nursing homes, and some died waiting to see whether they would be allowed to stay in their homes.

The 8-year-old daughter of one plaintiff died during this time and the son of another was killed, but still the battle to take our homes went on because the city saw a chance to make more money on the land where our homes sat than we were paying, and they took it.