The Editor's Notepod, Thursday, October 30, 2008

Meriden: tragic death of Dan Hunter, of Meriden, who will be very much missed by his community as well as his family and many close friends.

State: explication of the constitutional convention issue on the ballot next week.

Cheshire: Questions on Ballot in Cheshire, all capital items. $3.6 million is very minor, but voters may reject some.

Meriden: Land Use plan presented. Some interesting aspects to discuss and to be decided.

Wallingford: discussions over the website and minutes’ availability thereon heating up. There’s really very little excuse for not getting the thing up and running.

Wallingford: The movie that was going to be shot at Tyler Mill was finished instead in Durham, now opens.

The Editor's Notepod, Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Wallingford: lien sales. That’s one big lien. The policy should be tightened up. Enough rope and all that, but this is a little far.

Southington: Gura building fate to be decided. New Town Hall. Third try. It seems like a good idea to me.

Meriden: cops and management have worked out a deal, which will come to the Council. Hope there’s nothing in it which proves a deal-crusher.

The Editor's notepod, Tuesday, October 28, 208

Wallingford: steps against bomb threats. If it’s working, don’t fix it.

State: local legislators running unopposed. Interesting issues surround such seats.

Massachusetts: Boy who killed self accidentally with Uzi. How horrible. And according to news I heard later, people are looking around to charge father with some sort of crime.

Meriden: Downtown foreclosures.

Meriden: curriculum cuts at the schools. Always a difficult sort of step. Seems to have been influenced by NCLB.

Wallingford: doesn’t sound as if the charter commission is going too fast. Which is good!

The Editor's Notepod, Monday, October 27, 2008

Southington: department heads to have evaluations on a regular basis, following management criticism earlier this year.

State: interesting discussion and confrontation at Quinnipiac Univ., which happens to be a private institution, not a public one. Cf., the brouhaha at Central not too far back.

The Editor's Notepod, Sunday, October 26, 2008

Southington: SAT scores. Can't we do any better than compare scores? I suppose Meriden's will be somewhat lower, but maybe not, Wallingford's about the same, but maybe not, and Cheshire's somewhat higher, but maybe not. Says nothing about individual learning, or the quality of anyone's education. And SATs are even now under general question.

Meriden: Update and clean-up for the Broad Street green, the historic center of the city.

The Editor's Notepod, Saturday, October 25, 2008

Southington: Two bids, both lower than purchase price, for MyBar. Yet Council thinks it will make lemonade. Hope they're right

Meriden: Parties will go through channels to get plywood painting approved on Colony Street. Good.

Meriden: electronics collection at Lincoln. I brought stuff there myself, and was impressed at the smoothness of the operation.

The Editor's Notepod, Friday, October 24, 2008

Meriden: the cooperation between Boys & Girls Club’s Camp Cuno and the city for land access to additional acreage up in that area. I’d like to see a map.

Southington: slow and steady is the answer for the artificial turf, as has been pointed out. I cannot see how anyone can justify calling such a decision an “emergency” situation.

Cheshire: taking up the issue of the late mail deliveries. Hope they have better luck than Meriden, which did manage to get one route restored.

Meriden: More on the inner district issue.

The Editor's Notepod, Thursday, October 23, 2008

Southington: more about the selection of the new police captain. Looks to me like they’re going to duke it out, which seems a pity.

Region: those Asian longhorned beetles, discovered in Worcester, Mass, seem pretty bad. They arrived in a shipping crate, probably from China. Is this one of the blessings of a one-world economy?

Southington: considerable elbowing to demonstrate which party can save the most cash in the budget. A curious process.

Southington: discovery of arsenic at the former water department site. Something else expensive to be cleaned and removed. Are there more of these places in Southington, or is it just that they make more of a stir in Southington because they become expense items?

Meriden: Health survey. Apparently 400 persons were surveyed. Nearly 40 percent say they’ve got high blood pressure. Reading the report, I’m interested to note that nearly 25.7 percent of the participants were over age 65, another 26.8 were from 55 and 64, while 21.7 percent were from 45 to 54. That nets that 74.2 percent of the survey were over 45. Is that reflective of the city’s demographics? Which could certainly account for the elevated blood pressure findings (pardon the pun).

The Editor's Notepod, Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Southington: Union grievance over promotion of a new captain. Issue, I suppose, is his "outsider" status, though I'd think that a guy who has spent years as a state trooper and gotten a law degree to specialize in defending police from lawsuits would be an insider. The charge of being a "drinking buddy" is hard to prove and hard to disprove, but there's a long history of a union, not particularly this union, objecting to anyone entering at high level from outside.

Meriden: Crown Street as highway. From a personal standpoint, I would be terrified to exceed the limit. There are almost always people on the sidewalks and people in front of the homes, and there is very little extra space. Cars are often poorly parked, and as the story notes, there are too many of them. I don't know what can be done about it, really.

Wallingford: I continue to think those paraprofessionals in Wallingford have an issue. It's a bargaining issue, not a civil rights issue (though it's strange that in this country it somehow seems not to be a civil rights issue), and we supported them earlier.

Meriden: Downtown board painting. This is not about the Italian flag, really! It does seem to be about who gets to tell other people what to do. Have there been earlier problems? I haven't heard of any; but to dismantle about the Design Review Board before there's any complaint seems a little silly. It's not an archaism, but it does need to have its ducks lined up if it's going to tell other folks what to do.

Meriden: Council's Economic Development (etc) Committee votes not to sell 31-acre parcel just down range from the airport runway to be developed as houses. That's a no-brainer. Why would anyone -- other than a devel-oper, who wouldn't have to live there -- want to build at the end of a runway? IT would only exacerbate the Airport/Meriden vs Wallingford issues which already exist.

The Editor's notepod, Tuesday, October 21, 208

Meriden: The Italian flag, in plywood, on Colony street. I suppose that painting the plywood frontage violates some regulation or other. I wouldn't want it as a permanent thing. Uniformity is a worthwhile goal, given the ha-phazard history and the general nature of things. But this is not a permanent installation. It's only for a few months. Well, give it a year. Would a red-whit-and-blue paint job be better? Plain plywood? I say it should stay.

5th Congressional District: here's a clear issue. Privatizing social security. Another: Health care and its universality. A third: public financing of campaigns. A fourth: drilling and energy.

Meriden: NRG receives an invitation to dance with something called Exelon. And of course, the guys running that corporate game don't condescend to stoop so low as to speak to us locals.

Wallingford: For the fire department, and for the volunteers, the chance to use a controlled fire as a training facility is very excellent.

Meriden: Glad to see that the city has a new finance director on board. Good luck to Michael Lupkas.

Meriden: Council committee considers the possible elimination of the central tax district. There are some inequities there. It will be interesting to see if they can make the situation any better. My own preference is to continue paying for garbage pickup as a city function -- even though the city's been privatizing it for a number of years now. It's one less thing to fuss about when the city just does it!

The Editor's Notepod, Monday, October 20, 2008

Meriden: Congratulations to latest Hall of Fame inductees.

Cheshire: The “Thresholds” program for inmates seems to be one of the steps advocated by those concerned with prisoners for many years. These are life skills and many inmates lack them in some respects.

The Editor's Notepod, Sunday, October 19, 2008

Wallingford: American Legion building. I can’t see that anyone has any coherent idea for the place; yet people are vaguely angry over the fact that it was purchased anyway. It’s time to move on, but this will probably work its way out in court. I can’t see Dick Blumenthal coming up with a better plan.

Meriden: Center Congregational Church has hired a gay pastor. It’s a bold step for a congregation to take, considering how volatile an issue this can be. A few people will get up and go, but most will take the differ-ence in stride. A bigger problem for this and other so-called “main line” churches/denominations is where they will find future congregants. Presumably, they will come from the pool of tolerant citizens who feel themselves free to choose their religious affiliations.

Meriden: questions now face city/owners about future of #30 and #19 Colony Street.

State: Constitutional Convention on the ballot. It would be grim chance if this previously largely un-noticed item is propelled to the front by reaction to the recent Supreme Court decision. I think, myself, that any wholesale opening of any constitution or charter invites amendment by surprise.

The Editor's Notepod, Saturday, October 18, 2008

Wallingford: Mosque. Mr. Farid says he’s staying in town to find a place for a house of worship. I hope he can find one.

Meriden: Energy assistance forum. Good stuff to know.

5th District Race: lots of noise here about influence and Rowland and wives. I don’t think it amounts to very much in the long run.

Southington: searching for Native American campsites along proposed widening of Mount Vernon Road. My question regards how long this process will take. I also wonder how this project might relate to the pending bonding request for moving that road to accommodate Compounce expansion. The company no doubt has a time limit.

The Editor's Notepod, Friday, October 17, 2008

Wallingford: The decision on the Mosque on Leigus Road. I really can’t see what the objection is to a house of worship in the neighborhood. I hope someone invites the Muslims to another community which will wel-come them.

Cheshire: The postal service strikes again. Why don’t they just leave it alone?

State: You know times are bad when the gambling receipts go down. On the other hand, seems to me that the old j’ai alai courts and the dog races began to decline before, not after, the casinos opened. There are fashions in gambling which have no relationship to the economy, perhaps.

Southington: Concerned Citizen candidate for 81st District lives in Meriden!? Apparently, that’s okay. He only has to move to the district after election. Who knew? But that does open some interesting possibilities for someone with the capability of moving where the votes are. Seems to me that’s a loophole which, if residency is to mean anything, should be closed.

The Editor's Notepod, Thursday, October 16, 2008

Wallingford, etc.: CRRA/Covanta compared in general. I suppose I’m a control freak at heart, but I cannot see allowing a critical local service, garbage disposal, to be handed over to someone else and to be operated under someone else’s profit motive. CRRA’s proposal seems not to insure that after amortizing the purchase the plant would belong to the towns. That has to be cleared up. The Covanta proposal gives the whole thing to the company following exercise of the $1 option which incredibly exists. I can’t see it.

Southington: Briarwood College sold. Transferred is the business, not the land. It’s odd to think of an institution of higher learning being operated as a business. The sites of the other schools in Connecticut, all with a Lin-coln name, focus on career education.

Meriden: Businesses angered and traffic snarls which dissuade potential customers. Apparently, there were some communication problems with the East Main repaving job.

Cheshire/Southington: The life-style center is again concerning the neighbors, this time over traffic flow and that overpass at Rts 10 and 322. Again, the need is underlined for there to be collaboration in the zon-ing/development process between adjoining towns.

The Editor's Notepod, Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Wallingford: the building that nobody wants and that cannot die. After interested persons incited the Historical Commission to intervene to save the American Legion building for historic value, efforts are now being made to sell the property — and two presumably legitimate offers have now been rejected. Makes no sense to me.

Meriden/Wallingford: town’s suit vs. ZBA based on traffic, logically enough. The whole controversy is an excellent argument for contiguous municipalities to work together on zoning issues. It’ll never happen.

Meriden: I-91 construction. There’s no real excuse for operating these road repair jobs in a way which simply snarls traffic for hours. I spent an hour in August on 91 southbound just sitting because of similar work; someone else I know sat in the northbound lane this week. While news of the work has been in the paper, on neither occasion did I see any sort of warning to motorists. Through traffic has no choice, but I was coming home from Cromwell at 9 p.m. and would not have entered I91 had the work stoppage been posted. And while we’re at it, drivers should be aware that there’s a project on East Main Street Meriden as well.

The Editor's notepod, Tuesday, October 14, 208

Region: Falling gas prices . . . and other commodities. The numbers seem excellent (even if temporary) for American consumers. But there’s a price here: in a number of nations which depend on the export sales of agricultural products or raw materials to support economies, falling futures can mean literally that!

Meriden: Tom Grimshaw’s hobby should be appreciated. Reading and understanding both the Bible and the Quran (or either one of them) are activities to be urged, not necessarily for reasons of faith but for reasons of civil and foreign policy. For the faithful, reading the word is a way to reinforce belief; for those merely curious and concerned, it’s the best way to understand other people’s system of life.

Wallingford: St. John the Evangelist Church has patchy, bumpy, asphalt sidewalks, but won’t see new ones for another three years. This is for laying asphalt? Town Engineer John Thompson says “call the mayor.” Well, okay!

Southington: the use of the old Drive-in for storage of the contaminated soil is logical, I guess, since no one has suggested it should have been placed elsewhere. There’s been a gas line buried across the land as well, with excavation remains. No surprises: it’ll be 4 years next spring since the town bought the land. It’s one of the facts of public works. Without a big emergency, things move very slowly.

Saturday-Sunday-Monday, October 11-12-13, 2008

Monday, October 13, 2008

Towns, locally: bonding/lending could become difficult in the economic environment.

Wallingford: Television reception. This digital changeover is such a huge rip-off as far as I’m concerned, but in a nation where TV has become a sine-qua-non, I suppose it is a serious problem not to have reception.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Meriden: Housing market. Rentals. How is it that a landlord can be foreclosed without notice? I presume that means that the landlord gave tenants no notice. But surely, the tenant must still be evicted via the usual process, does it not? At least any tenant whose rent is paid on time.
State: Voter registration. It’s one thing to register young people, and so another to get them to vote when it comes time.

Wallingford: Town Councilor comes and talks in a civics class at Lyman Hall. This ought to be required of every councilor (probably easy to do, since most politicians are pretty gregarious) and of every civics class (harder to accomplish, since time must be found in the schedule, and it’s tough to account for time spent with a politician on No Child Left Alone).

Saturday, October 11, 2008

State: supreme court’s decision on same-sex marriages. As far as I’m concerned, this is only the other shoe. The civil union step, though laudable, doesn’t provide equality where it matters — which has nothing to do with the bedroom. I’m delighted the court ruled this way. A lot of people are upset, but it is not the court’s job to place an essentially sacred concept of “marriage” within the confines of state law.

Wallingford: the Ethics controversy. Apart from the economic advisability of going to self-insurance — which may or may not be wonderfully cheaper — the issue seems to divide between those who feel that non-execution of a local ordinance is an ethical issue and those who do not.

Meriden: It remains a useful thing for the race relations panel to be meeting.

Southington: new structure to police department. The new guy, Daigle, has some strong qualifications. It seems a bit unusual to me that an officer who has spent the time to get a law degree and who has been employed at a firm, will choose the full-time work in a department, but I can see the attractions of the calling.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Meriden: Postal routes. There may be other (mainly labor/management) antagonisms involved in the route-cutting foray made in August, but it does seem somewhat out of line to cut routes by 15% and then to expect every-thing to arrive as it did before. I think the carriers have a beef. It’s typical of this privatized operation that there is no one real to respond from the management. The “spokesperson” is a mouthpiece without authority.

Southington: the Goat Island oven sounds like a very warm artifact and one worth preserving, if at all possible

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Meriden: More bad news for AT&T workers on Deerfield Lane. 60 jobs, following 200 earlier in the year. Makes one long for SNET, which did not have the option of moving jobs to . . . wherever. It was May of 2004 that the union picketed in Meriden site against then-SBC and police protection was required. They reached a five year contract in July 2004, and then SBC bought AT&T which was Cingular but not singular, and they all became AT&T and around we all go.

Wallingford: Another old house finally ready to be deconstructed or demolished. Too much waiting around dos properties no good.

Meriden: Walk to school brings officials out to check out safe sidewalks. If there’s cash, why not get it? But it will take a plan.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Meriden: Kendzior gets extension of contract and high marks. I don’t recall that happening within the span of the manager system.

Wallingford: more on the trash plant. There’s a lot to look at here. Are the other towns in the current pact looking as well?

Wallingford/Meriden: VNA still operating, despite July lightning strike and fire. People seem not to know this.

Southington: a second hotel to be built directly across the street from the first; neither built, both approved. Seems kind of guaranteed to make both unprofitable. But that’s competition. First comer gets the good spot. Next in line sensibly goes to the second-best, which, by definition, would be NOT across the street. But that’s only if there’s any individuality in a hotel.

Wallingford: the litter ordinance seems to be somewhat different than was hoped? Or tough to enforce? Or tough to comply with?

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Meriden: Council creates a committee to help form plan for high schools’ future. Seems a logical and cooperative step. Certainly beats shooting dueling proposals back and forth. They also approved the deal with Meriden gas Turbine, at least in rough form.

Wallingford: I continue to be envious for Meriden of Wallingford’s municipal generating capacity, as demonstrated by the renovated Pierce Plant. This durable facility went from oil to coal (I think) a couple of decades ago and has now been refitted with natural gas and diesel fuel, and can now emit up to 85 megawatts, which is substantially more than its old 22 mw.

Meriden: Mayor says annual clean-up will continue. This is a good thing to be doing.

Wallingford: have to take a look at the proposals on the trash plant. The deadline is coming right along.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Southington: The town hall referendum, # 3 in the current series, reflects 19th century experience. I think the town needs a new facility. All accounts I’ve heard of the existing facilities suggests they are woefully inadequate and in bad physical shape.

Wallingford: The Blue Trail Range fundraiser. Seems to me that for a great many years the range has been a fairly passive sort of land use (despite the apparent aggression of bullets and all). The range is now being asked to jump through all kinds of conditions which were not extant when the range began. While there’s a natural concern for safety, the expenses of accomplishing all the sought safety steps, not to mention the legal fees, will clearly bankrupt the range — which may be the end in mind.

State: Jury duty. Threats (especially unenforceable threats) are hardly a way to create willing jurors. But justice requires committed and attentive juries. Seems to me the solution is to make it more worthwhile, to compensate — adequately — workers who must miss regular employment to serve, perhaps figure out a reward system for those who show up. Also, if the one-day attendance rule hasn’t yet been applied throughout the state, it should be so expanded.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Meriden/State: teen pregnancy program much needed in city; after several years on a downward curve, seems teens becoming pregnant more often. Follows the economy? Suggestions in story on relative lack of affluence of many teen moms. This should be so simple to cope with, but being straitened into “abstinence” programs doesn’t seem to be a workable choice.

Southington/Wallingford: both town celebrations seem to have done well, despite some questionable weather during at least a part of the event.

Meriden: a second motor vehicle accident involving a West Main Street business. And I know of a similar accident in Hamden. Did people use to drive their cars or trucks into buildings?

Southington: Good. State is taking action against a development company which is allowing erosion at site. That is what DEP should indeed be doing.

Cheshire: A teachers’ contract without arbitration. That is something of a rarity these days.