The Editor's Notepod, Sun., Jan. 31, 2010

Meriden/Southington/Cheshire: This federal “Race to the Top” is being perceived as a takeover of local education program, which is not quite as clear as it seems to some. One needs convincing that any national standard of student measurement would lead to improvement of any student in Connecticut (see No Child Left Behind). On the other hand, not all local decisions have been the best in any community, and if that’s where the money is, there’s a point in going there to get it.

Meriden: Construction projects are always expensive, always burdensome. The technique is to stagger them and to finance them so they are done right the first time, and, of course, not to wait so long that repair becomes an emergency. Meriden has a tendency to postpone necessity until it becomes a burden.

Area: Does it make sense for young girls to wear heels? Does it make sense for adult women to wear high heels? Maybe, maybe not. There are so many things to worry about, though.

State: Governor Rell to ask for stricter laws prohibiting cell phone use while driving. No harm in trying. Certainly it is a law much breached.

Wallingford: School board members indicating inclinations on their realignment. It seems precipitate to try to accomplish this change as a “spending” measure in a single year. Perhaps if correctly presented, it might be sold as a welcome change according to some plan with a clearer rationale.

Southington: Okay, is it clear now? Spills of raw sewage, however small, must be reported.

Meriden: tenants at 32 Cook advised to continue keeping up on rent, which is generally good advice. But this process can be tricky for tenants. Courts have been known to terminate tenants’ rights of occupation after a foreclosure action’s “law day,” and it is well to get good legal advice when facing such a situation.

The Editor's Notepod, Sat., Jan. 31,, 2010

Meriden/Wallingford: Non-expanding grand list fills everyone with gloom, since it means no increase in revenue without an increase in tax rate. Perhaps, though, this is an assumption with which we should deal, since it requires a reallocation of assets and a chance to consider options.

Meriden: The forensic lab, the state’s testing ground for evidence, has an unacceptable delay in processing requests. Justice delayed is justice denied. Remedies are in the pipeline, if grants are properly applied.

Middlefield: A state grant to the town will help the process of marketing and re-opening Powder Ridge move along, surely a benefit all 'round.

Wallingford: the suspension/grievance process between two town employees is kind of competitive, an escalation of arguments. One can only wonder if there isn’t a less confrontative way of settling such matters.

The Editor's Notepod, Fri., Jan. 29, 2010

Southington: Well, no one can say that the VIP store was not given a thorough examination before being certified to open on Monday. We hope people will now be able to move on.

Meriden: who but veteran public watchdog Arline Dunlop would have shown up for the public hearing on the search for a new school superintendent. Good weather or ill, there’s a suggestion here that although everyone knows who the superintendent is and that every system has one, very few know what the superintendent actually does or have much of an opinion on how it should be done.

State: the $40 million to be received for the New Haven Springfield line should help solve the single rail situation which is a major issue caused by Amtrak itself and has put commuter service on a siding.

Southington: If breakfast is needed in the schools, it is good that the school system will soon be providing it. Good learning needs good nutrition.

The Editor's Notepod, Thur., Jan. 28, 2010

Meriden: foreclosure actions against delinquent taxpayers are proceeding, which is natural. Especially in the case of commercial buildings, which reach a point of arrears after which it can be assumed no one cares, it’s needful to keep the screws reasonably tightened.

Wallingford: it remains rather difficult to comprehend how a system reconfiguration which theoretically costs 59 teachers and 117 non-certified positions, including 39 paraprofessionals, winds up saving only about $400,000 compared to the non-reconfigured budget which costs 51 teachers and 59 non-certified staff (including only 3 paraprofessionals). Certainly it can’t be money which is driving the reconfiguration.

Meriden: while we’ve never particularly cared for the need to have “resource officers” – police officers – assigned to public schools, it will be difficult for Lincoln and Washington to make do without them following the February break.

Southington: residents, who have consistently resisted efforts to build a new town hall, now have the opportunity to see if the vacated North Center School could serve as an office building. An assessment is underway to detect costs of remodeling the building to office use and for any “hidden horribleness” as town manager John Weichsel put it.

Meriden: where else do you cut when 80 percent of the school budget is personnel and positions have been trimmed pretty steadily for the last 8 years? Extra-curricular activities, from sports to drama, are hardly a drop in the $100 million bucket, but are always the first on the list.

The Editor's Notepod, Wed., Jan. 27, 2010

Wallingford: teachers’ union doesn’t renegotiate. Now there’s an interesting facet to the business, exposed for the first time in or memory. Teachers are treated differently from other unions under state law, because of the arbitration and no strike rule. Suddenly, their attitude makes sense.

Southington: Redistricting is in the works for the elementary schools. In the past, this has been a highly fraught circumstance, but perhaps groundwork has been laid this time around.

Meriden: everything “on the table” in the school budget. As in Wallingford and elsewhere. What may need to happen is some adjustment in whatever the mechanism is which necessitates a 6 or 7 percent annual increase to remain on a level ground.

Southington: VIP store. Federal court decision delays Berlin store, but that is a different case, since Southington granted the permit perfectly legally under existing regulations. It’s fine to make new rules going forward, but it cannot change the rules which applied in the past.

The Editor's Notepod, Tues., Jan. 26, 2010

Wallingford: the variety of the fines received by the town from the state Occupational Safety and Health Division demonstrates the difficulty, sometimes, of keeping up with all the rules. “It wasn’t anything we haven’t seen before” is not exactly the highest compliment.

Wallingford: the idea of re-zoning the Interchange Area in town so that retailers can go in there seems guaranteed, now or later, to result in the sort of helter-skelter outlets which surround so many other interchanges. Is this something the town wants or needs? Once altered, it will never be undone.

Southington: worries about buying water to supply local needs seem a little premature, since the DEP stream flow regulations (which would impact the aquifer and the Quinnipiac River) haven’t been adopted yet. But it is surely a good idea for town water departments to have the capacity to interconnect at need.

Southington: a solution to the sewer line problem has been agreed to, which will cost more and avoid the property owner who so strongly objected. The manhole cover issue remains, evidently, and it’s hard to be enthusiastic about the new route or the need to spend extra money because of a route change.

The Editor's Notepod, Mon., Jan 25., 2010

Cheshire: for someone to consider how he or she would manage if selected as a juror in any case is a good exercise; the Petit murder cases offer several specific issues to contemplate: How impartial could one be? Is it good to have only unaware persons on a jury? Should one have an opinion on the death penalty? It's a very tough job.

Meriden: the break-in and theft at the Meriden Humane Society is deplorable. This sort of incident may be the downside of having a spot, like the hospital's medical center, so near the highway, but what sort of a person would steal from the charity box at a shelter? The same sort, probably, who would rob the poor box in a church.