Middletown Community Coversations, Compiling the Results

A group of organizers for the Middletown Community Conversations which took place on Inauguration day in locations around town, met Saturday to begin compiling results of the conversations.

Judged a success because of the enthusiastic community response, which engaged hudreds of residents, the conversations collected hundreds of comments and suggestions about progress that could be made in Middletown.

A good portion of the conversation Tuesday, appeared to center around governance, particularly as it applies to the budget process. Residents are hoping for more transparency in government, better communications, more engagement by municipal leaders, and a process which allows public input.

Other topics of interest included education, transportation, town/gown relationships, crime and safety, development, regionalization, senior issues and accountability.

The committee hopes to have the results compiled and available for distribution to city, state and federal leaders in a matter of weeks.

In addition, the group is already planning the next of what it hopes will be an ongoing set of conversations which bring residents together to talk about topics of interest.

The end of a historical day

Inauguration night for many ended in a well-attended party at Main Street nightspot Public, where celebratory patrons toasted the inauguration of Barack Obama.

I found my way to Public after a stop at one of the final Community Conversations at First Church.

There was jazz, and dancing, and an amazing aura of community on a Tuesday night in Middletown.

Obamapalooza (4) "No Cherry Blossoms Expected"

I woke to an inbox of full of early-morning photos from my family in DC.

They've been staying at a friend's apartment (thanks Liz!) just five miles -- a short metro ride -- from the White House. This morning, they were out the door by 5 am.

There was already a very long line of "Purple" ticket-holders waiting to get to their security checkpoint. My husband and 11-year-old got in line. My teen-agers have Blue tickets, so they headed to a different section. Here's the map that shows the color areas for the inauguration audience.



They waited for moonlight and sunlight to cross.



Eventually, the sunlight broke through. As my husband notes, no cherry blossoms are expected today.

Having a Ball at Home

Trevor Davis, who organized the jazz inaugural party at The Public specifically advises that it is not a "ball," and that people do not have to dress formally, though they may, and that casual dress is welcome.

Obamapalooza (2) "Like, a million Happy people."

The Middletown Eye's Official Count of Middletown Residents at Obamapalooza is now up to five. As my family rode the train from New York City to the Capitol, they ran into Holy Trinity's Maggie Minnick, also on her way to the events in DC.

It looks like our local folks were on the train right behind Obama's Whistle-stop. Just outside of Baltimore, they finally got to pass his vintage railcar, snapping photos wildly (which I've yet to see.)






That put them at Union Station before PE Obama's train arrived. So they got a quick photo with a surrogate instead.








Today (Sunday), they toured the city and took in the preparations. Lots of media and plenty of barricades.






Here's a shot of Blair House, where the Obama family is staying until Tuesday.








Mark and the kids were at the concert on the mall, which from their descriptions sounds more like a New Year's Eve party than a political event. I thought you'd like to hear what my teenagers had to say by cell-phone:


from my 14-year-old:
It's really exciting, even though nobody could see anything - we were all smushed together. Maybe the angry people just haven't arrived yet, but there are just all these happy people. Nobody is yelling or doing protests except for peace. At the convention in Denver there were all these people broadcasting about things they hate. It's not like that at all here -- it's so weird. It's like a million happy people.


from my 16-year-old:
Crazy! The crowd was a couple miles long -- ok, that might be an exaggeration. We couldn't see at all when Obama was speaking...but when the front of the crowd did something - like chanting -- or started dancing - it would spread really fast - the entire crowd was like an entity.


And that's today's postcard from the Inauguration. See you tomorrow.

Inaugural fundraiser at Wadsworth Mansion

From the Middlesex County Community Foundation:

The Middlesex County Community Foundation is sponsoring its third “Party with a Purpose” on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, Inauguration Day, at 5:00 p.m. at the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, CT at 421 Wadsworth Street, Middletown, Connecticut. Wesleyan Professor Elvin Lim, author of the Anti-Intellectual Presidency, will be the guest speaker. He will review President Obama’s inaugural address and reveal what the new President REALLY said about the new direction and changes we can expect in the Obama administration. Light fare and lively conversation will follow. The fee is twenty dollars per person.

Elvin T. Lim is an Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University and the author of The Anti-intellectual Presidency (Oxford University Press, 2008). He is a winner of the Sara Norton thesis prize at the University of Oxford, where he took a BA (First Class) in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Phd) in Politics. He researches and teaches courses in American politics in general, and on campaigns, the media, political communication, political development, public opinion, and the presidency in particular. His research has been cited in The Guardian, The London Times, The New Republic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times. [Biography provided by Wesleyan University]

The Middlesex County Community Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in Middlesex County. Their mission is to work with charitably-minded individuals and organizations, to build permanent endowments and other charitable funds to support local non-profit organizations through effective grant making to address community needs. Since its founding in 1997, Middlesex County Community Foundation has provided over 1.1 million dollars in grants to more than 150 organizations to improve the arts; cultural and heritage programs; educational activities; environmental conditions; and health and human services.

Obamapalooza (1)

If you believe the news, there are 2 million people heading to DC for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.

I know of at least four.

Here they are at the New Haven train station, getting ready to board Amtrak -- with homework in tow. After all: Taking mass transit is the new patriotism.*

*that's what Mayor Hickenlooper of Denver says here.

Community Coversations Planning Continues

On Saturday morning a group of 25 planners, hosts and facilitators met on Saturday morning to continue planning for a series of conversations around the city on the day Barack Obama is sworn in as president.

These conversations are designed to get community members to engage in conversations about ways in which Middletown can become a better place to live.

The Community Coversations will be hosted by a number of Middletown organizations, and locations throughout the city. Currently there are at least 14 locations. Some, like the discussions at the Russell Library will be open to the public, while others will consist of members of specific groups like Rotary.

A complete schedule of events will be published in the Eye the weekend before the inauguration, and a dedicated website is being created to provide information about the Community Conversations.

Planning continues for Community Conversations

Planners met Saturday morning at Russell Library to firm up plans for a community-wide conversation about change using the inauguration of Barack Obama as catalyst for these discussion.

The Eye printed the original announcement here.

More than twenty groups are planning conversations at noon, following a viewing of the inaugual address by Obama, and again at 6 pm. A listing of locations for public and group conversations will be available after a meeting of meeting hosts next Saturday morning at Russell Library.

The goal of these events is to stimulate community conversation on topic of importance, to stimulate public involvement in change, and to create plans and strategy for achieving change.