Nov. 5--BRIDGEPORT -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell is "respectfully" declining an invitation from state Rep. Christopher Caruso, D-Bridgeport, and Marc Delmonico, chairman of the local Republican Town Committee, to tour the proposed Virginia Avenue site for a state-run, $15 million detention and treatment center for girls.

A vote on the proposal was delayed last week because of pressure from Bridgeport residents and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

In a letter sent to Rell early Thursday, Caruso said, "I believe this will give you the opportunity to see first hand that this is not an appropriate location for such a facility. It will also provide you with an opportunity to meet neighborhood residents in an effort to solicit their views."

Caruso said he purposely did not ask for a specific date or time to give the governor a tour of the upper East Side property. "We left it open to accommodate her schedule," he said. "It's so important that she talk to the residents of this community."

The Virginia Avenue site is adjacent to both the Nob Hill Condominiums and the Huntington Condos.

Delmonico said he and Caruso banded together because opposition to building the center on Virginia Avenue "is a bipartisan effort. It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican, it's a quality-of-life issue."

In an e-mail Thursday afternoon in response to a request for comment by the Connecticut Post, Rell spokesman Adam Liegeot wrote: "Governor Rell

is very familiar with the site -- she has seen it first hand a few times -- including when it had blighted buildings and garbage on site."

Asked if the governor was declining Caruso's invitation, Liegeot wrote back: "Respectfully, yes."

Caruso said he was disappointed the governor did not accept the chance to meet with the neighborhood residents. "Turning down the invitation is turning down the people of that community that want to be heard," he said.

In a letter sent Thursday evening to Caruso, Rell reiterated her claim that state officials already met with neighborhood groups and would continue to solicit community input. She also added that the site selection was made public last year.

"If you had relevant concerns, you should have raised them earlier," Rell wrote Caruso. "I am sure you share my concern regarding the long overdue need for a secured facility for troubled girls. I know you will not stand in the way of providing these services for our young women."

Delmonico said he did not expect the governor to decline the invitation. "We don't get a whole lot of help in getting development here, but we get plenty of government services here," he said. "The largest city in Connecticut doesn't get the largest amount of respect."

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