The Editor's Notepod, Wed., Sept. 30, 2009

Meriden: The Gift of Lester Dequaine to the Arts & Crafts Association and Gallery 53 is a significant donation which should go a long way to help secure the organization’s future.

Wallingford: A pressure reducing station on Tower Drive near the Parks and Rec. HQ. Since the drawdown by the recently-opened Lowe’s has evidently caused the pressure problems, the store will bear the cost, just as its competitor did in a similar situation.

Cheshire: incredibly, one of the defendants in the home invasion murder case has been permitted to write letters to an author, who has now assembled a book. While the statements, both inculpatory and exculpatory, might be of interest to a social historian or a legal study of the case, and while they may make little difference to the progress of the case, it is repugnant to decency for such a work to appear before the trial. It is, naturally, entirely self-serving by definition: how could it be anything else. It also appeals to a prurient interest in the violence of the horrible crime.

The Editor's Notepod, Tues., Sept. 29, 2009

Wallingford: Linear Trail’s Phase III seems to run up against a serious road block, as designed: a condominium development on Main Street, Yalesville. The trail would go through the complex – allowed to be constructed in 2003 as apartments, when surely the intended extension of the trail was no secret, and parking lot access is through the development’s driveway. It seems like an idea that may not have many takers, no matter how good a package the town is offering in return for permission.

Meriden: the challenge to the Ridgeline Protection Zone has been rejected by the courts. This is good news, as the Ridgeline zoning rules are an important link in the preservation of the natural assets of Central Connecticut.

Southington: evidently, the issues identified, or rather unidentified, in the town Parks and Recreation Department, are not yet thoroughly plumbed, as witness the seizure of the office computers last week.

The Editor's Notepod, Mon., Sept. 28, 2009

Wallingford: The North Farms Volunteer Fire Department, one of the town’s active centers of community involvement, is always interested in new members. It’s a matter of public safety and of good comradeship, and it’s a little hard to see why this sort of organization should be thought of as a negative in any neighborhood.

Meriden: Beisbol y Biblioteca, otherwise known as Baseball and Library (the phrase isn’t as catchy in English, but no matter). The idea of psychotherapist Charles Kaplan, its plan is to capitalize on the interest in sports and translate that into an interest in reading.

Wallingford: although the rules which seem to determine which football games show up on the television screen are complicated, we suppose someone has to figure out a protocol for making decisions. If mistakes leave fans dissatisfied too often, the people making the choices need to have another look at the system.

The Editor's Notepod, Sun., Sept. 27, 2009

State: Tobacco tax to go up and smokers feel somewhat discriminated against. It’s certainly a regressive tax, but as long as people continue to buy tobacco, they’re a sitting target.

State: meanwhile, as the state taxes smokers to support other programs, we’re getting $11.5 million for anti-alcohol programs aimed at the under-aged.

State: New London’s big anti-eminent domain case, which raised so many hackles, has wound up with no one having anything they wanted. The woman eventually sold her house for an outrageous price, the whole redevelopment plan fell apart with the economy, and some local preservationist bought the home and moved it and refurbished it.

Southington: The industrial sites along the Canal line where the linear trail will go are of considerable historic importance, and a study has now identified them. They will make this section of the longer trail be somewhat different from others, and very interesting, too.

Meriden: Two co-generating units to be placed at the Housing Authority’s Community Towers housing facility. Electricity, heat and cooling will all be provided by this project, funded by the stimulus money from the Federal government.

The Editor's Notepod, Sat., Sept. 26, 2009

State: no doubt there is good legal theory, both pro and con, about why defendants in the capital murder case should be tried together, and we all want to see justice done. But we are betting that it will not be cheaper two try the two men at the same time.

Wallingford: the encouragement and training for young journalists at Moran Middle School. The equipment is both awesome and exciting, and probably fun as well.

Southington: The investigation launched last may into high school football checking accounts is expected to be completed next week. The results should help clear up or define any clouds.

The Meriden Children Zone Project planned for a number of downtown residential streets in Meriden, for which stimulus money has provided grants. It’s a good plan and we hope it meets with success.

The Editor's Notepod, Fri., Sept. 25, 2009

Area: there are undoubtedly a few people, not all of them students, who are not comfortable with the use of Internet portals at schools for both parents and students where either can check grades and attendance as well as what’s for lunch. This is just another demonstration of the potential of managing the educational process in an electronic and harried world. The system in use at Lincoln Middle School in Meriden, for example, is extremely helpful.

Area: police report an increase in shop-lifting. We hadn’t known of a crime, until now, of “possession of a shoplifting device” though its existence as a parallel to “possession of burglary tools” is perfectly logical.

Southington/Cheshire: judges coming to terms with the consolidation plans in the works for probate court system. On the whole the changes will make sense, and it is somewhat ironic that, especially with the establishment of the children’s courts in the probate system, this court arrangement produces a dedicated court for children’s custody and welfare issue matters, demonstrating that the consolidation, a number of years ago, of the Juvenile Court into Superior Court in the state may have been too hasty.

The Editor's Notepod, Thur., Sept. 24, 2009

Wallingford: how will the land for the firehouse be restricted to that use? Well, the answer is, “ask the lawyer.”

Southington: The person who withdrew the appeal about VIP was the prospective neighbor of the shop, who evidently came to terms with the situation. It remains to be seen whether the community can pull together enough resources to mount a challenge.

Area: the over six million dollars to area school systems for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act from the federal government seems wonderful, and it is good that such students are going to get funding; but for the system as a whole, obliged to spend on “new” programs, when good existing programs face cuts, has to be a serious frustration.

Police in Meriden have been stopping cars exceeding the speed limit on residential streets. With any luck, people will no longer need to mutter, as some speeder’s wake stirs up the dust and threatens the pets and children “where’s a cop when you need one?” Everyone should watch the speedometer.

The Editor's Notepod, Wed., Sept. 23, 2009

Wallingford: The American Legion Building. It’s a little hard to see what sort of negotiation can lead anywhere. It’s a matter of the town wanting to demolish the building it bought for the purpose of doing so in 1994 and of the state (and preservationists) wanting to salvage it. How can it be compromised? There’s probably a good reason lawyers don’t want to try such a case: there’s no money and no purpose, only principles and emotions.

Meriden: Falcon Field. The music and loud cheering issues are kind of a challenge: that’s what happens at athletic contests. Curfews are questionable. As for balls heaved over the fences, it’s pretty impossible to retrieve them without trespassing. What other solution is there? The ultimate possibility is a sound barrier (and also a physical block) between the neighbors and the field, but we’d guess that would be ugly enough to discourage the idea. It’s hard to see how this can be fixed.

Southington: the school board adopted, 5-4, a policy which would subject out-of-school behavior to in-school policies and punishments. Now they’re going to study the question. It’s a policy which has some civil liberties issues and some concerns over the role of the schools in enforcing socially unacceptable behavior.

The Editor's Notepod, Tues., Sept. 22, 2009

Cheshire: Pratt to close plant in town, which is kind of a nightmare situation. In spite of earnest dealing by union and state, company made up its mind. Now there are lawsuits threatened: barring union contracts, what basis is there for either a state or a union to challenge a business-based corporate decision?

Wallingford: potential purchase of farm on North Farms Road is not popular, not surprisingly, with the neighbors. Apparently, it isn’t the fire house so much as the possibility of a future police HQ that worries them. Given the way that towns develop, when one buys a home in the semi-rural countryside, how much can one expect the surrounding countryside to remain the same?

Meriden: if the city gets into the billboard business, will it have to pay taxes, like any private corporation or any charity, on non-related business interest? There’s probably a simple answer, but it’s one which should be answered.

The Editor's Notepod, Mon., Sept. 21, 2009

Area: Economic climate demonstrates the need for libraries, even if it isn’t necessarily books for which people are searching. When you’re out of work and the computer breaks or you can’t make the payments to maintain the access, where else but the public library?

Wallingford: So it turns not to have been an invasion of the Body Snatchers at North Farms Reservoirs after all, but merely native species which are turning the shallow pond into an impenetrable aquatic jungle.

The Editor's Notepod, Sun., Sept. 20, 2009

Southington: is the Water Department a town department or not? While the issue of
sharing rental revenue from leased cell phone/radio equipment on water department structures
isn’t really a big deal, it does raise the interesting issue.

The continued health of the 13 community neighborhood associations is good for the city of Meriden. Active residents, involved in what goes on in the streets surrounding their homes is a way to build strength and fight crime, all by itself. It would also appear that the presence of police officers gives a certain panache or blessing, perhaps, to help energize the groups.

Meriden: Democratic Town Chairman Mildred Torres-Ferguson has it right when she says that any “deal” which might have been made to avoid the Rohde/Zerio primary would have been worse than the primary. Primaries, given two determined candidates, are the only way to resolve a choice, and it’s a lot better than pistols at dawn . . . or roving gangs of political goons beating each other up. This is democracy, and the cost, $35,000 or so, is only a thousandth of the cost, roughly, of running the city for a year.

Wallingford: Town budgeting habits nettle both those who think taxes are too high and don’t want to spend, and those who think the town shouldn’t hold on to so much cash in reserves and should budget more accurately. But Wallingford is one of 8 towns with the Aa1 rating, and it saves money on borrowing. It works for us: we’d much rather operate our own budget from a position of fiscal strength than from a position of hanging on by our nails.

Wallingford is to receive a grant for an additional loop of the linear trail, which will be in addition to the phase, expected to get underway, of expansion on the west side of the Wilbur Cross.

The Editor's Notepod, Sat., Sept. 19, 2009

Southington: it just cannot be said too often. The most necessary ingredient for a hike is a cell phone, thanks to technology. Hikers around these parts aren’t crossing frozen wastes, trackless forests, or arid plains: these are New England woods, where the greatest danger is losing oneself among the turning paths and sharp declivities. Just bring the phone.

Cheshire: gifts to town government are a significant part of life, despite the belief that towns fund their operations through taxes.

The Editor's Notepod, Fri., Sept. 18, 2009

State: From the reaction of voters, it doesn’t look as if the budget fight did anyone much good with public opinion. It’s a tough year, and critics might remember that neither legislators nor governor received much in the way of instruction besides “control the expenses” and “don’t cut my program.” It’s not a pleasant dilemma: those angry about results should try doing the job.

Wallingford: Progress is painfully slow on remedying the flooding problem on South Curtis Street. Having found a source of funding, so the town won’t set a bad precedent, the money sounds as if it isn’t quite enough. But then, if the flooding is caused by the housing built on the hill above the properties in question, don’t either the owners or the town, which permitted the building, have some duty to repair?

Southington: with the shift of personnel oversight to the assistant town manager and town attorney, the town takes a step in the direction of tightening accountability among town departments.

The Editor's Notepod, Thur., Sept. 17, 2009

Congratulations are in order for the Blue Ribbon awarded Meriden’s Thomas Hooker School for its national award for academic excellence and high achievement. It’s a demonstration, if you will, that progress at a school with a substantial population of disadvantaged kids can work and that kids attending can excel.

Meriden: with the primary behind them, Rohde &Co. can focus on the November election. Republicans are slowly cross-endorsing We The People candidates, suggesting there is some identity of interest there.

Wallingford: a “less optimal” but still useful site has been identified for a new home for the Wallingford North Farms Volunteer Fire Department. The cash returned to Wallingford from the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority earlier this year, a $7.2 million surplus, seems to be an appropriate source of funds for what is a needed facility.

Meriden: The plan to construct billboards on the city’s east side, strategically near the Interstate on Nessing Road and Barr Road may not be official, but approval of a move to publish Requests For Proposals definitely suggests the way the city is going. We await the council’s determining action.

Cheshire: “It’s a big number,” and that’s no joke, that has been turned in by firms offering to build a solution to the Community Pool’s problems with the Bubble. Bids ran from $4.1 to $.6 million, but they are good for a year – needed since both Council and voters must approve.

The Editor's Notepod, Wed., Sept. 16, 2009

Meriden: Congratulations to the mayoral primary winner. Our hope is that the struggle at the top will turn out not to have been so divisive that interest in the November general election flags.

Meriden: Board of Education is happy that scores on CAPT and Mastery test are trending up, but it remains a bad idea that school systems rise and fall on a system of standardized testing which does nothing for students individually and for which more and more available instructional time must be siphoned.

The Editor's Notepod, Tues., Sept. 15, 2009

A Wallingford zoning amendment has the hope of bringing some new life to the Tracy area, which needs a shot in the arm. The ability to construct multi-family dwellings matches fairly well with what exists in Meriden, just to the north, and the change is logical.

Southington: the conversation about the structures and equipment at the former Drive-In Theater suggest that all the stakeholders are not on the same page regarding what stays and what goes. It will be too late if the matter becomes involved in a turf war: who’s in charge?

Wallingford: the mayor’s advice to the council, to reject these two negotiated and essentially reasonable labor contracts, in the absence of any advance notification that he was adopting a No Raise stand, was bad, and the Council should have adopted what was unanimously adopted by the Board of Education and approved by the employee groups. If there’s some unstated reason why the two contracts, which both seem not to add costs despite the very minimal raises, the reason should be aired.

Meriden: more on the high school replacement plan. Brian Daniels presentation seems reasonable, as, indeed, it has all along. What is needed seems to be a plan of getting from three alternatives to a final plan. How is the decision to be made? Unless that is made clear, the project will leave a segment behind which hasn’t reached a consensus.

The Editor's Notepod, Mon., Sept. 14, 2009

State: A big law suit (what else?) brewing among lawyers over the ethics of an Internet referral system. Note: when the law making certain referrals a felony was passed in Connecticut, attorneys still lived and died by the "Minimum Fee Schedule." The case should be instructive: lawyers' rules may be steeped in tradition, but the marketplace doesn't care much for tradition.

Southington: and elsewhere . . .The US postal service has removed certain little used collection boxes. While one can easily see the sense in removing low-volume boxes, isn't it rather like removing one's limbs, joint by joint, until there's nothing left? What's the future for the USPS?

State: Police seem to have found Annie Le's body in the utility area of her building. This seems to be a pretty nasty case.

Wallingford: it's necessary, one can only admit, but how much time and effort will the Wallingford School system, and every other school system have to spend teaching what's on the Mastery Test in order to satisfy the federal government's arbitrary goals?

The Editor's Notepod, Sun., Sept. 13, 2009

Southington: More details on the arrest on a 6th degree larceny of the Parks Director. Ordinarily, a Larceny 6th charge, less than $250 by definition and in this case a total of $18, the case is of course more important because the defendant is a high ranking public official. There seems to be no more than that to it, but one never knows.

Southington: School board, in an apparently partisan vote, approves out-of-school behavior policies for students. There are distinctly some limits about the rules during the non-school sessions.

Family Day at Doolittle Park in Wallingford: More details on the arrest on a 6th degree larceny of the Parks Director. Ordinarily, a Larceny 6th charge, less than $250 by definition and in this case a total of $18, the case is of course more important because the defendant is a high ranking public official. There seems to be no more than that to it, but one never knows.

The Editor's Notepod, Sat., Sept. 12, 2009

Wallingford: There's a mosque up and running and legal, without fanfare. It's hard to see a whole lot of difference between the site of this house of worship and the proposal which met such opposition a year ago, but it's possible they will be developed.

Meriden: primary race down to the last couple of days. Lots of signs around town. Issues may include the Murdock Avenue Auto site as well as school building plans.

Meriden: a local teen and a Middletown friend who shot BBs at a local woman need, sadly, more than a referral to courts. Their behavior, if proved, indicates a certain lack of understanding of living with other people.

State: That case of the missing Yale student is very upsetting. One suspects the foulest of foul play.

The Editor's Notepod, Thur., Sept. 10, 2009

Wallingford: School and town talking again. That’s a good thing. The way it was left Tuesday evening was unfortunate.

Meriden: Speaker Donovan and Health Care for America gather at Community Health Center for a roundtable on reform, including support for the “Public Option.” We’ve endorsed some form of universal health care in the past and it would be a bad mistake if the opposition to reform manages to short circuit the president’s efforts in the area with a meaningless lot of noise about socialism. It’s baloney.

State: one of the best aspects of the budget not signed by Gov. Rell is restoration of the money for Libraries. Because it doesn’t involve public safety or schools, it winds up, again and again, being considered optional. The only way it’s optional is that it’s optional the way thinking is “optional” so long as you can eat, breathe and put out fires.

Meriden: it makes sense, given the uncertainty about ownership of the East Cemetery, to give the neighbors and their existing and assumed usages the benefit of the doubt.

Wallingford: it’s politically popular to turn down a public employee contract which includes wage increases. But the two contracts, which involve small numbers of board of education employees, had included changes which would have resulted in net savings to the board. The council may have the power to overrule the board of education, but this certainly seems an ill-advised decision.

The Editor's Notepod, Wed., Sept. 9, 2009

Area: As anyone could have predicted, the Obama speech was non-controversial, and here's yet another manufactured issue arising from phony socialist hysteria. That's only a century out of date.

Wallingford: No one would even second the motion to accept the Choate Rosemary proposal so it could be discussed, so the matter was closed without a vote. Nor would the council let the headmaster speak, since the issue was "not on the agenda." The council is under no obligation whatever to accept the proposal, but behaving like this is just plain ill-mannered. Not to say pointless and ungracious.

Meriden: the $3,500 grant from the city to the Land Trust makes everyone even, and leaves the trust owning that strip along Hanover. On the other hand, the trust owns it, not the city, but, ultimately, that doesn't matter much, whether the $3,500 was for the land or not.

Meriden: Board of Ed approves letting Len Suzio make his case on insurance waiver to the City Council. There's no harm in considering his idea, and much, possibly, to be gained.

The Editor's Notepod, Tues., Sept. 8, 2009

Meriden: it will be interesting to see whether the mayoral candidates’ positions on the used car business site off Murdock Ave. plays a role in the campaign.

The cross country ride to support drug awareness, “Coast 2 Coast Awareness Run” should turn a few heads along the way to Wallingford. There’s been a lot of suffering from these controlled substances and others along the way, and the family wants to help protect those in the future.

It’s a feather in Meriden's cap to have a local attorney sitting as a representative of the American Bar Association at the UN’s Economic and Social Council. It’s partly a matter of having the right person in the right place to secure positive measures to advance the cause of justice.

The Editor's Notepod, Mon., Sept. 7, 2009

State: union membership has declined in Connecticut, though not, seemingly in public sector jobs. Doesn’t this represent a decline in manufacturing jobs, where union membership had become more acceptable? A lot of jobs more recently eliminated were white collar, where union membership has never been widespread.

Meriden: there are occasional uses of counterfeit bills in the city. Surely, this is a big time federal crime. Didn’t know anyone bothered with this anymore, since it was so possible to make illegal millions on the market.

State: it is not good news that the number of gun registrations are up in the state. More guns, registered or unregistered, mean, inevitably, more shootings.

Southington: The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain and the Ameri­can Savings Foundation are co-spon­soring a series of workshops on how non-profits can survive in this economic climate with diminishing grants. Good idea.

The Editor's Notepod, Sun., Sept. 6, 2009

Wallingford: Choate_Rosemary's offer and the Council, which now has an agenda item for Tuesday evening. It is difficult to see the Choate proposal as a negative. Nothing is removed from the tax rolls that is not already off them, and the new environmental center would be a community asset, while a significant parcel of land is preserved undeveloped. There's no real reason the school couldn't build either a tunnel or an over pass for Old Durham Road, without all this unpleasantness. The absence of communication from councilors suggest they are waiting for the offer to be sweetened . . . all without saying what they want.

Southington: the proposal to ban churches in business districts is kind of absurd, and may also be closing the barn door after the horse has left the stable. It's also rather ironic, given the general uproar over the possibility of an adult store in town. No churches, no porn stores, no silly string . . .

Meriden: Both in front page interviews and in columns of their own in the Perspective section, Mssrs. Rohde and Zerio offer their take on Meriden, the mayoralty and the future. No reason for Democrats not to vote a week from Tuesday.

The Editor's Notepod, Sat., Sept. 5, 2009

Southington: the arrest of a key government official on larceny charges is a disappointment. Let us hope that the charges can be explained.

Area: Assorted reactions to Obama's speech. It's kind of absurd, regardless of its subject matter, that schools will hesitate to show the speech of the President of the United States to children in school. It's no answer to delay it. What's he going to do, expose them to pornography? teach them socialism?

Good news in Southington is the preparations of the Hartford to hire 58 people.

State: the conduct of the company owning The Courant brings a black eye to journalism everywhere.

The Editor's Notepod, Thur., Sept. 3, 2009

Meriden: One good result of the state budget that isn't a budget, finally adopted this week, is that the Meriden court house will remain open. Closing it was such a bad idea in the first place that it was even hard to discuss it rationally.

State: CRRA has abandoned plans for an ash dump in Franklin. Everyone seems to have opposed it from the beginning. But no matter where the ash goes, it has to go somewhere. The trash belongs to all of us.

M/W/S/C: Even Cheshire has a school making insufficient progress under No Child Left Behind? Given that this is the richest state in the nation, that Cheshire is by no means a backward town, and that our education spending has been pretty good all along, though financed by the property tax, it is a complete absurdity and demonstrates the punitive and anti-educational effect of the NCLB.

The Editor's Notepod, Wed., Sept. 2, 2009

State: a budget, which the governor won't sign but which she will use line-item veto upon. This decision will create a good deal of comment, as it is somewhat unusual.

Southington: a moratorium is certainly in order, given the controversy and the situation in Berlin. But the idea, which cannot be executed until October and comments are received, cannot apply to a business which already has a permit, can it?

Meriden: while it's just fine that the city's schools have managed to keep standardized test scores enough ahead of the "rising horizons" to avoid some sort of takeover by some level of government which presumably has the money and talent to do better (an open question, of course), this whole "No Child Left Behind" process continues to treat the wrong problems and focus on numbers rather than on individuals.

The Editor's Notepod, Tues., Sept. 1, 2009

Southington: the Public Library is preparing a plan which includes community input, attainable goals and demographics as well as strengths and weaknesses. Libraries continue to be,even in a changing world, a much-used and essential community resource.

Wallingford: decision to bond for flexibility in the purchase of the Dibble Edge Road properties which have been negotiated by the town. It's good to have the capacity and to be able to deploy it if necessary.

Southington: the guy who apparently objected to kids throwing rocks at a building and who called cops. that's fine, but pretending to be a cop cannot happen. It's a very dangerous thing to do, as well as very foolish, not to mention illegal.