Former boxer dedicates his time to the city in which he grew up

Former boxer Sammy Vega continues to dedicate much of his time to the city in which he grew up, because that’s what Kassandra would have wanted.

Kassandra, one of Vega’s three daughters, died of cancer three years ago at the age of 12. Though Vega’s volunteer work took some time away from the family, Kassandra was proud of her father’s volunteer work, which included helping organize the Puerto Rican Parade, Vega said.

“It’s something she remembered,” Vega said. “I read a report she wrote where she said she loved her dad, she called me the president of Puerto Rico. She used to tell her friends I was the president of Puerto Rico.”

Vega’s work also includes working with Big Brothers Big Sisters CT and helping to organize the Maria Sanchez Banquet. He also works on humanitarian projects to support people in Puerto Rico following hurricanes.

Vega, 40, and Gladys Rivera, 63, are the two city residents who will be honoured with a Frog Hollow Neighbourhood Heroes Mural, which is scheduled for completion sometime later this month.

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The Southside Institutions Neighbourhood Alliance, the sponsor, received 35 nominations for this year’s mural, with a committee whittling that number down to 11. More than 480 ballots were cast, with Vega and Rivera being the honorees.

The mural will be installed on the east side of 286 Park St. by artists Lindaluz Carrillo and the mononymous Mercury. Work is expected to be completed by the end of the month, Mercury said. Vega, a Prince Tech graduate who won six national titles as a boxer and is the chief operating officer of a city law firm, said he was humbled by the honour. “It’s emotional,” he said.

“What I do in the community is from what I learned from other honorees on that list. My mom and my mentors taught me to do good, to do good in your city. I’m still in shock. It’s something we’re all supposed to do. I love it. … That whole list, everyone on that list I look up to. They are my teachers. Just being on that list is emotional.”

 Nicole Johnson’s mural is one of many large-scale paintings that are popping up around the city as part of the Hartford Paint the City project. TNS

For Rivera, who is one of Vega’s mentors and recruited him to help organise the Puerto Rican Parade, the honour brings her full circle, as she lived for 15 years in the building where the mural will be installed. “It’s ironic, it’s beyond me,” she said, adding that she is thrilled to be honoured along with Vega. “It’s kind of a flow there and we’re hoping with this, people see you can pass on the torch. We need to keep our community at the forefront of everything that we do.”

Rivera, a graduate of Hartford Public High who has a grown daughter in the US Air Force, said she has dedicated so much of her time to so many different causes – including president of the CICD Puerto Rican Parade and the CT Puerto Rico Forum, as well as organizations outside the state – that people believed it was her full-time job.

“I’m very proud and have a very busy life,” she said, adding that she works for CT Innovation and the CT Clean Energy Fund. She, too, said it’s “surreal” to have a mural installed with her countenance on it.

“I am nervous,” she said. “I hope it looks good. The vanity side of me is taking over there. It is very cool, especially given the folks that were in the first session of the murals, it’s an amazing act to follow.” Last year nine people (Maria Sanchez, Edna Negron, Juan Fuentes, Leticia Cotto, Ana Alfaro, Rev. Julie Ramirez, Yessica Amparo, Jorge Rivera and Elba Cruz Schulman were honoured on three murals at 463 Park St., 493 Park St. and 988 Broad St.

This year, the artists are creating a mixed-media mural, with paint and other materials that will create a 3D effect, Mercury said. He said he has mixed emotions about the mural itself, toggling between excitement and trepidation.

“Any time I have an opportunity to push the conversation, whether it’s with the medium itself or the message, I’m pretty excited,” Mercury said. “Also the fact this mural is for people still alive, and still active in the community. All too often I see murals of dead people or people who are popular in the media. It’s easy to get attention for that.”

But he also is concerned that large neighbourhood murals can have the unintended effect of pushing out the very people to whom the honorees dedicate their lives.

“It becomes interesting to people who want to shop or rent, and it hikes up prices,” Mercury said. “I’ve seen that first-hand, that sort of abuse [in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Miami]. And it becomes really hard for [the current residents]. We welcome change and things becoming more vibrant and economically viable, but not at the cost of pushing out everyone.

“How do you balance bringing in money and change, in effect, but still considering the neighbourhood: the culture, the identity and the people themselves?” he said. “We want to be a part of change, we want to be involved in change, especially in affected neighborhoods. But we don’t want it to come at the cost of developers coming and just pushing out people who can’t afford to stay and afford rising prices of rent because a neighbourhood has become hip – not all the time, but sometimes.” With that said, Vega – who was interviewed just before taking a flight to Puerto Rico to celebrate Kassandra’s quinceañera on Aug.10 – said his daughter would have been thrilled with the mural. “She keeps me motivated,” he said.

Tribune News Service