The Editor's Notepod, Wed., Oct. 7, 2009

Southington: Hearing on the moratorium regarding adult specialty stores. How come no one asks whether the Planning and Zoning Commission is prepared to close down existing adult stores?

Area: school systems prepare for flu and for swine flu. It seems that for the most part the disease, although it focuses on younger people, is not often serious unless there is an existing medical issue. Therefore the focus on not spreading the disease would seem to be sensible.
While it is possible to be critical of some of the decisions of the Wallingford Housing Authority over the last few years, it is questionable if it makes any sense at all to transform a decision to appoint someone to a new term into a competition.

Cheshire: Let’s see now: the letter expressing no confidence in the chief was signed by every officer and reflects long-standing grievances. There have been talks, but no one can talk about them because they are personnel issues and privacy prevents discussion. Isn’t there something vaguely inconsistent about going public with complaints which cannot be discussed?

State: The bridges – of many entertaining and fascinating styles – along the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut are now on the endangered architecture list. We’ve noticed over recent years that some of these notables have indeed been refurbished, but probably more do, and it’s also likely that with today’s traffic and patterns, some of them, however beautiful, are less useful than they might be and built in a style which would be prohibitively expensive today.

Meriden: The grievance filed over the hiring of crossing guards during the summer to fill other jobs for the city illustrates how difficult it is to maneuver within union contracts. It often ties the hands of city managers, and it also obligates unions to object to perfectly reasonable labor decisions because of the need to protect their contract positions.

Meriden: Of course it makes sense to bring a new accounting director on board before the present person retires. That’s called advance planning, and for jobs which involve specialized knowledge, not planning for transition almost guarantees confusion, annoyance and perhaps worse. Leaving a job like this empty for 90 days is being penny wise and pound foolish.