Out and About in Middletown

During a leisurely afternoon out and about, Madam Nirvana (another Eye writer) and I had lunch at Tandoor Indian on Main Street, always a quick and delicious go-to lunch for me, as well as reasonably priced. We couldn't check out the new Frozen Yogurt place after our meal, because several blocks of Main Street were closed due to a gas leak. The Patch website is reporting that the gas leak occurred in Ramani's Clothiers. When we walked by, the police officer stationed at the intersection of College Street was diligently manning his post and prevented us from walking inside the cordoned off area. (Yes, being dedicated volunteer reporters, we are people who will sometimes gladly walk under some caution tape and go find out what's happening).  The officer said that the incident would likely be cleared in 30 minutes or so. Incidentally, Ramani's is going out of business and was having an excellent sale the last time I walked past. 

On our way back to our neighborhood, we walked through McCarthy Park, where the basketball courts have had nonstop action the entire summer. The large groups seem to be dwindling since all the kids went back to school, but today there was a small group of diehards still playing. The field was in use with a football game going on, and four kids were playing on the swings.  On our way out of the park and back up to High Street, we noticed what looked like a mini-Occupy protest (Occupy Middletown?). But as you might have guessed, this backyard was not the site of the latest uprising, it was just a group of friends airing out their camping tents.

What have you seen when out and about in Middletown? 
Send us your photos or stories - middletowneye@gmail.com

Annual McCarthy Park Cleanup a Huge Success

McCarthy Park, Middletown's downtown park, enjoyed another annual scrubbing today. The path from High Street to the park was raked and re-mulched; the sidewalk along Hotchkiss Street was edged and swept; the earth around the new London plane trees was raked and de-stoned; the McCarthy Park sign was cleaned off; and the tennis/basketball court was swept and raked and cleared of broken glass and plastic etc. And to make it all worthwhile, the Friends of McCarthy Park brought donut holes, super chewy gluten-free cookies, cider donuts, coffee, apples, watermelon, and apple cider. A great time was had by all.

A special thanks to the Wesleyan Frisbee Team, who came out in force to help McCarthy Park neighbors. If you ever want to watch some awesome frisbee action, come down to the park and watch these kids get horizontal! They practice several times a week.



Don't forget: Tomorrow is Halloween! (As if!) Kick off your fright-filled day with an afternoon of trick-or-treating at McCarthy Park. Join community members and enjoy spooky activities, gooey treats, refreshments, music, and much more! Show off your scariest costume and meet neighbors at Middletown’s largest downtown park. All ages welcome, and stay as long as you’d like! The Public Cultures Sociology class at Wesleyan University is hosting this event to celebrate Halloween, bring awareness to McCarthy Park, and promote a sense of community among Wesleyan students and the greater Middletown area.

McCarthy Park Gets Trees

Things are happening at McCarthy Park, which is known to many as City School Field. A group of neighbors have been working for many years securing funds from the Middlesex County Community Foundation and Community Development Block Grants to improve the quality and accessibility of the park. In a previous round, the handicapped-accessible ramp was rebuilt; and extensive improvements were made to the landscaping and drainage between the two levels of the park. This round has seen the resurfacing of the tennis and basketball courts, and the installation of a swing set. The swings have already attracted young parents and youngsters to the park. Most recently, this past Wednesday, four "London plane" trees (similar to sycamores) were planted along the edge of the park, by Hotchkiss Street. A special thanks to Ken Ahnell of Middlesex Alternatives to Incarceration for providing equipment and volunteers.

Here is a slide show of the planting.



Stay tuned for bike racks, benches, and some nicer fencing along the edges. But no need to wait for these—come on over and bring a ball! Many thanks on all these fronts to Middletown’s Park and Rec Department and to Michiel Wackers of the Planning Department.

[Information and photos for this story provided by John Elmore and Jennifer Saines. Full disclosure: I am Jennifer's spouse.]

Park Progress

After years of neglect, McCarthy Park, known to many as the old City Field, is finally becoming more usable and park like. This last week I noticed a very obvious upgrade - the majority of the ugly, rusted, chain link fence along Hotchkiss street has been removed. What a difference! The park now seems smaller and more accessible, and at the same time more expansive (not sure how that is possible, but come take a look, I think you will agree with me). With the fence gone, McCarthy Park seems like part of the neighborhood instead of a hidden refuge for vandals.

The fence removal is just the first step made possible with this year's funding from a City of Middletown, Community Development Block Grant of $54,000. In the next few months we can look forward to a new cleaner looking fence replacement that will define the park but will still keep it visually open. In addition, CDBG funded park progress will include installation of the swings (purchased with the last round of funding), new basketball hoops and some new benches. These still to come improvements and the recent changes to McCarthy park have been thanks to the hard work of Jennifer Saines and John Elmore of the Friends of McCarthy Park and the Village District and John Milardo of Middletown's Park and Recreation Department. Going back to 2003, The Middlesex County Community Foundation funded the first upgrades to the park. Wesleyan University contributed to the park by facilitating the new entrance to the park off High Street. Prior CDBG monies funded the last major upgrades to the landscaping and tennis court. Last summer, Stonehedge Landscaping donated their services to finish the beautiful hillside linking the upper tennis court area to the soccer field. These park improvements would also not have happened without the help of the neighbors to the park, including Jeff Bianco who donated architechtural landscape services and the many who volunteered for park clean ups.

When the first grant application for park improvements was submitted in 2002, Jennifer Saines wrote " progress would be evaluated with the following criteria: Has the park become more accessible?, Has increased accessibility and visibility led to greater interest in and use of the park? Is the park more a more visually aesthetic and natural environment? Have the options for both passive and active recreation been enhanced? Have the dangerous and unsightly features of the park been corrected? " Progress on all of these fronts have been made....stay tuned.

Melissa Schilke

Spring Clean-up All Over Town

On both ends of the downtown district, community clean ups are in progress today (I wasn't able to get to the North End Clean-up, so I hope someone took some photos).

At the municipal parking lot, it was complimentary shredding day. Residents rolled up with boxes of paper which Pro-shred reduced to confetti in their industrial shredder. Public works employees and volunteers also demonstrated the city's recycling capabilities and offered backyard composters ($54) and rain barrels ($70) for sale. The rain barrels are an ingenious recycling effort. Formerly olive shipping barrels, they're retrofit to collect rooftop rainwater from downspouts. Both the composters and rain barrels are available from the Public Works Dept.

At McCarthy Park neighbors and community volunteers gathered to cut brush, spread mulch, sand graffiti off of park benches, and protect newly-seeded hillsides.

McCarthy Park Clean-Up

A clean up day is planned for Middletown's McCarthy Park this Saturday, April
25th from 9 AM to 1 PM.  Middletown's Park and Recreation Department will help
out by providing bags and hauling away garbage and brush.  Aside from the
general clipping and cleaning we hope to spread wood chips on the path, spread
topsoil  and seed some bare areas, and sweep the courts.  Please come and
help out if you can!  Bring gloves, clippers, rakes and large brooms if
you have them.

McCarthy Park is located on Hotchkiss St.  The park can also be accessed from an
entrance on High St., between Loveland St. and Church St.  It used to be know as
"City School Field".

McCarthy Park Clean-Up: Saturday

A clean up day is planned for Middletown's McCarthy Park this Saturday, April 25th from 9 AM to 1 PM. Middletown's Park and Recreation Department will help out by providing bags and hauling away garbage and brush. Aside from the general clipping and cleaning we hope to spread wood chips on the path, spread topsoil and seed some bare areas, and sweep the courts. Please come and help out if you can! Bring gloves, clippers, rakes and large brooms if you have them.

McCarthy Park is located on Hotchkiss St. The park can also be accessed from an entrance on High St., between Loveland St. and Church St. It used to be know as "City School Field".

More Graffiti and a Mugging: New Gang Activity in Middletown?

The following "Public Safety alert" came in on the email today, from Wesleyan's Public Safety office:

Middletown Police have advised Public Safety that on Sunday 3/29/09 at approximately 12:30pm a non-university person was robbed in the area of High St and Huber Ave. According to Middletown Police the victim was approached by an individual who displayed a weapon and demanded money. After being given the victim's wallet the subject fled from the area.

The subject is described as an African-American or Hispanic male, between the ages of 18-21, 5' 7'' tall, weighing approximately 175 lbs. with light facial hair and a lip ring. The subject was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and grey sweat pants with a red oval logo on the side.

Anyone with any information on this incident is asked to call the Middletown Police at 860-344-3200.

Public Safety reminds all community members to report suspicious people or activity to our office at 860-685-2345 or Middletown Police at 860-344-3200.

Yes, you read that correctly: 12:30 p.m. In other words, in the middle of the day. I called Public Safety this afternoon to confirm this, and a friend emailed Public Safety right around the same time. Both inquiries revealed that the information was, in fact, correct. The robbery took place a half hour after noon yesterday, Sunday.

This disquieting event occurs on the heels of a spate of new graffiti in the neighborhood south of campus along High Street, Beach Street, Home Avenue, and McCarthy Park, much of which is being created by individuals referring to themselves as "3D". Several younger acquaintances tell me that "3D" stands for "three desperadoes". A google search for "3D" and "three desperadoes" [and "desperados"] turns up nothing in the way of gangs, so perhaps it is just a local group of miscreants looking for creative new ways to deplete the Public Works and Police Department budgets. One of the targets of the spray paint was the sign for McCarthy Park along High Street (almost directly across from Huber Ave.). Happily Public Works has already cleaned it off, as well as the "tags" at several of the other locations.

When I spoke with the officer at Public Safety, I asked whether they were aware of the new graffiti. He said they were.

This isn't the first time the question of graffiti and possible gang activity has been reported in the Eye. And sadly it probably won't be the last. In addition, we may be hearing more about all this soon from another source: a "Channel 3 Eyewitness News" truck was seen wrapping up a shoot this evening at the Huber-High intersection. I'm waiting on a call back from the Police Department detective bureau for any additional information. If anyone calls, I'll post an update.

Meanwhile, Helen Ubiñas had a story in yesterday's Courant about graffiti. [Correction: Actually the story was dated 11 January 2009]. She found that while graffiti is up, complaints are down. Apparently people are getting used to it. She reports that a favorite target in Hartford is the new "cable boxes". Actually, I think she's referring to the AT&T "U-Verse" boxes, which have been invading Connecticut towns in the past year.

McCarthy Park: A Hidden Gem

Story by Fred Elmore


Members of the Friends of McCarthy Park, the City of Middletown and the Parks Department, along with many generous vendors and volunteers, pushed hard this summer to complete additional improvements at the park with funding from a Community Development Block Grant. In the past few years, small grants were used for significant changes: a pathway from High Street between Church Street and Loveland Street was created, trees and crocuses planted, five engraved park benches were purchased, and park signs were installed to inform people of the park’s history and that this hidden green space existed.

(Overgrown courts before)










(New courts)





Soon after the signs had been put in place several years ago, the neighborhood saw a significant increase in park use, with families coming for soccer and volleyball games and neighbors taking walks and relaxing there. But as a group of children from Church Street complained, “The sign says that there is a park here, but when you get here, there is nothing to do.”

Well, now that is beginning to change. I went there this weekend with four children to try out the new basketball net and tennis court. When we arrived, the park was already lively with Wesleyan students who were flocking through an additional new park access behind Wes Wings for an ultimate Frisbee game. The slope from the courts to the lower field had been terraced and seeded, and though folks probably should stay off it till the grass is tougher, it was a delight to see the foot and bicycle traffic. The children looked at the new slope and exclaimed that it would be great for sledding this winter.

We walked from Hotchkiss Street up a new path/ramp to the courts with a couple of balls and racquets. We were so excited to see the courts ready for use, cleaned of the usual debris, weeds, and overgrowth (much poison ivy), and the cracks repaired and resurfaced. The girls actually kicked off their shoes to play tennis barefoot, while my son and I tried out the basketball net. First shot-- swish! What a thrill. Within minutes, neighborhood children began appearing and within an hour my kids met five new children, two more adult friends showed up, and we all had a blast -- it was amazing.

I have been living in the neighborhood for over ten years, and this was the first time I really felt like the park was succeeding in a way that I remember the parks of my youth. Though more improvements are needed, I feel the park is really turning a corner.

McCarthy Park is located between Hotchkiss Street and High Street, south of Church Street.

See you at the park!