The Editor's Notepod, Wed., Jan 14, 2009

Meriden: the city prepares to sell space to improve the travel experience of every driver who goes up route 91. I suppose one shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and I don’t drive 91 that much. But it’s repellant to have any billboards along the highways. Lady Bird Johnson would not be pleased. Are we this desperate? Billboards are distracting. And inappropriate.

Cheshire: Closing of Protocol Integrating Direct Marketing’s center in March, with a cost of 161 workers. That’s not news anyone wants to get.

Wallingford: The financial report doesn’t really seem that complicated. There’s a semantic argument going on, not for the first time I think, over the way some items are listed. It’s a good thing to do. And the town, of course, has posted the report?

Wallingford: debate over selection of clerk shows there’s more than one way to do these things. Brodinsky’s suggestion has the virtue of consistency . . . so long as the mayor of Wallingford remains more of a town manager than a politician. Also the discussion of districts and term lengths is interesting.

Southington: a developing squabble over a $200.000 grant which may or may not be used to turn a part of the former Southington Drive-In into a Southington Valley Midget Football League field — or something else, somewhere else. This is an unseemly argument over authority, and suggests another subject for the charter revision panel to address.

Cheshire: Bozzuto’s is planning a helipad, which basically is a healthy development for the town and the business.

Wallingford/Durham: So the latest twist in the Blue Trail Range saga is that Durham will conduct an independent study of the safety situation. It’s fine to say the study is limited to safety and won’t attempt to find out where the bullets really come from, but, for $21,000, isn’t that what the residents really need to know? If that can be established, some changes will be required at the range. If it can’t be, what reason is there to force the range to do anything?

Southington: Parking Authority still down a chair or so. Again, time to wonder if the independent authority of this body is necessary to continue.