Circus Tech Nite Opportunity

Want to help make something like this?

Tech Nite for the Children's Circus of Middletown is an opportunity for children, adults, and families to create collaborative art projects to be used in the final performance of the circus program. Tech Nite is a loosely structured art workshop with a focus on papier mache, painting, cardboard construction, carpentry, and sometimes sewing. It's a ton of fun, a low-pressure creative outlet, and features music, candy, and watermelon.

When: Every Mon and Wed 7-9pm, beginning Wed 7/10 and ending Mon 7/29.

Where: Remington Rand Building, North entrance (parking and entryway marked).

Who: All are welcome! Children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Contact Ro Seidelman, Technical Director, with any questions: (914) 310-5231

Donations of the following are welcome and appreciated:

-cardboard larger than 3 ft x 3 ft.
-foam rubber/mattress foam
-non-oil-based paints
-spray paint
-fabric larger than 1 yd.
-coffee cans, tupperware
-paper towel and toilet paper rolls
-Tyvek
-dowels
-1x3s and 2x4s 4 ft. or longer
-newsprint
-drywall and wood screws
-misc. hardware
-painting and carpentry tools

The Keating Wheel Legacy

Photo Courtesy of Bill Flood

The following commentary was originally posted by R. Keating as a comment on an Eye article about a recent tour of the City's business incubator building on Johnson Street. The building is commonly known as the Remington Rand building, because the Remington Rand Typewriter Company was the last occupant of the building before it became vacant. R Keating writes that calling it the Remington Rand building diminishes the great historic significance of the building and that the name of the building should more correctly reflect the legacy and history of the Keating Wheel Company which operated out of the building. 


Middletown's history and the history of that remarkable historical asset on Johnson street is not about typewriters. It's about 19th century industrial innovation in America. Specifically, it's all about the pioneering efforts that forever changed the nation's transportation history. No exaggeration. Middletown owns that distinction and should celebrate it. With some creative thinking and planning (what Keating would have called "Yankee Ingenuity"), that distinction might also be branded to attract interests (and dollars) towards historic preservation, tourism and economic development.


Keating's 1901 motorcycle puttered down Main Street in Middletown the same time that Oscar Hedstrom was working out the kinks of his own machine -- the prototype that would become the Indian [motorcycle]. At the time, Middletown was the undisputed Motor City when it came to the American motorcycle. Keating's machine went to market months before Hedstrom's prototype and became popular enough to force Hedstrom and George Hendee of Indian fame to "borrow" key features to make their product competitive. As Gary noted, Harley and Davidson would later borrow the same components. 

Keating was also one of the nation's earliest commercial automobile manufacturers -- both electric and gasoline powered. The historic parade that celebrated Middletown's 250th birthday, held in October of 1900, included four Keating Company vehicles -- including a motorized runabout. It would be another year before Henry Ford started building his historic machines. (R.M.Keating family lore has it that Keating spent some time with Ford, helping him with factory design and assembly line production such as that already occurring in Middletown.) The factory then went on to host the Eisenhuth Compound automobile, one of the most innovative machines of the "brass era." Indeed, Middletown was one of the few American cities in the nation that was actively engaged in building automobiles. In CT, Middletown was second only to Hartford's Pope Company which was arguably the biggest in the nation at the time.


Editor's notes: 
Readers, what do you think? Do you agree that the name Keating should be reflected in the building name? Please submit a comment!

Beth Emery wrote about the name of this building nearly four years ago in this Eye commentary:

Editorial: Clearing up a name while cleaning up at the Keating Wheel factory; AKA: Remington Rand!

The Keating Wheel Company - where is it now?

http://www.keatingwheelcompany.com/aboutus.php

Citizen's Advisory Committee To Tour Remington Rand Incubator Tonight

If you are curious to see the Remington Rand building, tonight is your chance. Join the Citizen's Advisory Committee as they are given a tour by the Planning Office.

[Bring a camera and send us some pictures to post for other Eye readers!]

EDC Approves "Complete Streets" Report

Making Middletown streets safe for everyone, no matter their mode of travel, was the focus at the Economic Development Committee's meeting Monday night.

The committee received a report from the city's Complete Streets Committee.  (The report was featured in this recent Hartford Courant article.)

Complete Streets Committee member Beth Emery introduced Brian Kent of the Mystic-based architectural firm Kent+Frost.  They had been paid $20,000 by the Common Council to help prepare the report for the committee.   Kent said the report focused mainly on policies that could be enacted to incrementally create safer pedestrian routes, bike lanes, signage and the like.

The first step after adopting the policy would be collecting data and identifying streets that are a priority.  Kent mentioned Newfield Street, Randolph Road and Saybrook Road as examples of streets that are main travel corridors but hazardous for pedestrians and cyclists.

Kent said the goal of the policy proposals was to have different city departments -- planning, public works, parks, health, etc. -- asking common questions such as "Is this a Complete Streets priority corridor?" before embarking on a project.

While he admitted that it was "not unusual to have property owners resisting new sidewalks because of liability issues", Kent cited several surveys showing broad support for more bike-able, walk-able communities.  He noted that a project such as the proposed Wesleyan Hills to downtown pathway is a good way to rally further support for "complete streets".

Kent also suggested that the town might be eligible for Safe Routes to School grants.  In researching the report, the Complete Streets Committee visited South Windsor and Northampton, MA to see how they implemented changes.  Kent said S. Windsor had gotten $1 million dollar grant to improve roadways through Safe Routes.  Councilman Serra questioned if there was a matching obligation from the town, which Kent did not know.

Safe Routes grants also require a safety curriculum to be taught to 4th graders in the area.
"The principal justification for the entire program is safety," Kent said.

The EDC voted unanimously to forward the report to the Common Council.  Chairman Gerald Daley said "There are any number of reasons to pursue this. Environmental benefits, health benefits, aesthetic benefits."

In addition to Emery, the meeting was attended by another eight members of the Complete Streets Committee, which Emery pointed to as a sign of their commitment to follow through on the ideas in the report.

In other business the Economic Development Committee accepted notification from Lady Katherine Cruises that they were exercising a one year extension on their 5-year lease at Harbor Park.

The Committee also approved two new leases for the Remington Rand building, one for 1400 square feet for Trinity Power Washing, and 6000 square feet for the Green Skies Renewable Energy to store solar panels for use around the country.

Remington Rand Bldg. Filling Up, May Expand

"We just want to brew some beer."

That's the message from Shane Lentini and Andrew Daigle, the men behind Stubborn Beauty Brewing Company.  And if the Common Council approves their lease, they'll be the latest tenants in the city-owned Remington Rand Building at 180 Johnson Street.

"We've been looking [for brewery space] for a year" says Lentini.  "We needed something affordable."  Both men have day jobs, but brewing is their passion, so they started Stubborn Beauty.  "This is a part-time venture on top of full-time work."

That made them a good fit for Remington Rand, which has become an incubator for local homegrown businesses.

A Rich History

The 1000 foot long, red brick building has a rich and colorful history.  Originally built in 1896 as a bicycle factory, the building also produced "horseless carriages".  In 1909 the company that eventually became "Remington Rand" converted it to typewriter manufacturing. The facility was one of Middletown's largest employers, enduring a violent labor strike in the 1930's.  But in the 1970's Remington Rand closed down production at the site.  Various companies attempted to use the building but nothing took hold, and 13 years ago the city took the building in tax foreclosure proceedings.

Isolated at the end of Johnson Street in the North End, contaminated with lead and asbestos, the property had become a haven for crime ranging from prostitution to illegal pit bull breeding.  "We pulled over 70 junked cars out of there" said city planner Bill Warner.

Remington Rand Brownfield Cleanup to get EPA Funds

Governor Rell announced today that the City will receive $200,000 to help the city remediate environmental contamination at the Remington Rand site on Johnson Street. The funding is part of stimulus package dollars disbursed through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The state applied for $2.3M on May 1st, including $300,000 for Remington Rand, and was awarded a total of $600,000 in August. The State Department of Economic and Community Development selected the Remington Rand site, as well as a site in Montville and a site in Willimantic, for funding.

Almost all of the environmental contamination at Remington Rand is the legal responsibility of the Unisys Corporation, which bought Remington Rand. A remedial action plan submitted by Unisys to the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), with a total cost of $6M, was approved this summer, according to City Planner Bill Warner.

In their remediation plan, Unisys claimed and the DEP agreed, that a portion of the contamination occurred subsequent to 1974, when Remington Rand ceased to exist. Unisys estimates that this portion of the remediation will cost about $300,000. Rell, in a press release, said, "This latest funding will be used to actually do the environmental remediation that is needed at the former Remington Rand site." Warner said the City is also applying directly to the EPA for the additional funding.

Rell praised the conversion of a brownfield into land that can be used, "We are taking property that is not 'working' at its full potential and converting it into a community resource that reduces sprawl, preserves natural resources and creates economic opportunity for all."

The city hopes to sell the Remington Rand property to a private owner who would use it for a business. The city had a preliminary deal to sell the property for $1M in 2008, and the Common Council budgeted and spent the anticipated revenue in the 2008-09 fiscal year. Mayor Giuliano said that the deal fell through when the buyer became concerned about whether Unisys would follow through on its portion of the environmental remediation (Remington Rand Deal DOA?). Movement towards cleanup should make the city-owned property much more valuable.

Fencing in Middletown

Everyone who reads The Eye knows that a lot goes unnoticed by most people every week, but one of the most undiscovered places in Middletown is hidden in the back of the Remington Rand building. ICONN fencing club just finished running a week long intensive fencing camp where high school and college fencers (myself included) improved their endurance and technique with drills and spent several afternoons fencing each other. While I was taking breaks between bouts I had time to snap a few pictures. If you've never experienced fencing in person I highly recommend visiting the club on a Monday night to check out the free fencing scene. Check out the ICONN website at iconnfencing.com

Serra defends handling of Remington Rand sale proceeds

Democratic Majority Leader in the Council, Tom Serra, defended the Council's handling of the sale of the Remington building, in an interview with The Eye on Sunday. He was responding to Mayor Giuliano's criticism of the use of the anticipated sales revenue by the Council to balance the City's budget in the 2008/09 year budget. The sale of the Remington building has recently been jeopardized by the reduction in the share price of the company, Unisys, responsible for the $5 million clean up of environmental contamination at the site.

Serra said that the deal should have been finalized before the stock price of Unisys collapsed from about $5 to about $0.50 per share. Serra said that the resolution authorizing the sale was passed in April of 2008, and questioned why the closing of the deal took so long. He said about the mayor, "He was cool to [the sale of Remington Rand] when it was suggested," and said that the Mayor's "footdragging is responsible" for the possible collapse of the sale.

The Remington Rand sale to Thomas Briggs was endorsed in April 2008 by the Economic Development Committee. The City also considered another offer for the building, by Evan Blum. The Council used the anticipated proceeds from the sale of the building as revenue in the budget that they approved on May 15th of last year. On June 2nd, the Council voted to accept Briggs' offer to purchase the building.

Remington Rand Deal DOA?

At a budget presentation Thursday in Westfield, Mayor Sebastian Giuliano declared that the deal the city made to sell the former Remington Rand typewriter factory to TWB Properties, is dead.

"The Remington Rand deal is not going through," Giuliano said to the assembled group of Westfield and Middletown residents.

The mayor explained that the broken deal, which appeared to be imminent for months, will be a problem for the city since the Common Council voted to appropriate the $1.2 million revenue from the expected sale of the building in the fiscal year 2009 budget. The mayor explained that the loss of the revenue from the deal, which he later in the meeting described as likely dead deal, will mean a significant budget shortfall.

"I vetoed the budget specifically for that reason," Giuliano said today. "They were counting chickens before they were hatched. They overrode my veto because they said there were three prospective buyers. I don't think any of those buyers want the $5 million liability now."

The land deal apparently fell apart over the remediation of heavy metals in the soil which would cost $5 million dollars to clean. While former owner Unisys is responsible for the cleanup, fiscal problems at that company, and the state's unwillingness to require a cleanup bond from the company, means that the cleanup burden is too much for the proposed buyer to bear.

EDC Approves Remington Rand Clean Up

The city of Middletown stands to lose up to $100,000 in a reduction of sale price for the Remington Rand property to TWB Properties if clean-up is not conducted.

John Moore, property manager for the city at the Remington Rand, showed photographs of "15,000 square feet of junk," left behind on the second floor of the building by now-defunct Buddy's Moving and Storage. The tangle of old furniture, personal belongings and used clothing is what's left of city-directed evictions.

Moore proposed a scenario which would cost $15,000-$20,000 to clean up the space. The Economic Development Committee, in a bid to save the majority of the $100,000 reduction in the sale price, approved a measure to request a bid waiver to allow the clean-up to proceed.

In other business, the EDC voted to write a letter of support for Georgine Sherman's plans to move the paddle-boat Becky Thatcher from Ohio to Middletown.

The EDC decided not to take up further discussion of prioritization of shovel-ready projects when the list of eight designated projects could not be procured until after adjournment, when a member of the public, Trevor Davis, found it in a January Middletown Eye story on his iPhone.

The remainder of discussion of old business was postponed until the town planner returned for next month's meeting.

Sasquatch Assault begins in Middletown tonight!!!!

From the people who brought you Banshee, and Werewolf:Hound of Hell, Synthetic Cinema will be in Middletown tonight to begin filming scenes for their latest horror epic, Sasquatch Assault.

Filming will begin at sundown on the site of the former power plant for the Remington Rand Typewriter Factory on Johnson Street. The film is directed by Andrew Gernhard, director of photography is Wesleyan grad Colin Theys.

The public is invited to observe the filming as long as they are willing to adhere to crew instruction for staying outside of shots, and agree not to try to lure the Sasquatch from the filming area with Little Debbie snack cakes.

Common Council - November 3

Monday evening’s Common Council meeting did not have a marquee bout or momentous decisions with which to draw the public downtown on the eve before election day. Nevertheless, two dozen high school students and a dozen other interested members of the public observed amicable council members conduct several important items of business.

Riverview Parking Garage replacement
Funds for design of a new 3-story parking garage and a deck behind the Police Station were approved. $480,000 were set aside from the general fund as a loan for the engineering design and development of plans. This loan is to be repaid upon receipt of Federal grant funds, part of $17M in the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU, do the Feds have an acronym czar?). Virtually all of the council members supported this expenditure, noting that downtown needed more parking, and that the existing garage was old enough to begin to be a hazard. Councilman Pessina urged the city to look at transportation creatively, including alternative forms of transporation. Bill Warner, Director of Planning, said that after the garage, most of the Federal money would be available for transit improvements. He indicated that once the parking garage issue is settled, the city would look at light rail viability, at increasing the number of bicycle routes, and at forging connections between bicycles and buses. The sole dissenting vote on setting aside money for the parking garage design was from David Bauer, who expressed his concern that high gasoline prices and a changing economy will make parking a problem of the past.

The grant money from the Federal Government is contingent upon 20% matching funds from the city and state. Warner indicated that if the engineering and design went well, the city would be in a position to put a bond referendum before the voters in 2010, to fund part of the non-federal portion.

Sale of the former Remington Rand property
The Mayor was authorized to execute the sale of the Remington Rand building and associated property to TWB properties, LLC (for $1.2M). Several council members expressed their admiration for the developer and his plans. John Hall, of the Jonah Center for Earth and Art, expressed his support for the sale, noting that the Jonah Center is interested in the highest possible use of that building, and the developer is committed to using the building well. Bill Warner tried to allay concerns over one of the financial aspects of selling the property. The city technically will be obligated to reimburse the state for money that it invested in the building, and with the current state budgetary shortfall, there is concern that the state may not waive this reimbursement requirement. Warner assured the council members that the State Department of Economic and Community Development would view this sale extremely favorably, and he anticipated that the waiver of the reimbursement requirement would be forthcoming. The Council crossed its collective fingers, knowing that this reimbursement has already been allocated in this year’s budget. The sole dissenting vote on authorizing the mayor to execute the sale was from David Bauer.

LEED certification tax credit.
The Council unanimously approved amending the Code of Ordinances to offer Tax Abatements for construction which achieves Leadership in Energy and Environment (LEED) certification. LEED is a voluntary program which evaluates the environmental impact of new construction for residential, commercial, and industrial uses. Jennifer Weymouth, who worked as a volunteer intern in the Planning Department, helped develop a tax abatement program for Middletown to promote sustainable building practices. This program will provide a 10% exemption from real estate tax to all buildings with an assessed value of over $5M that are certified as Gold or Platinum, and the same exemption to buildings certified as Silver but valued at less than $5M. Ms. Weymouth, who did this work while pursuing her masters from Antioch University of New England, was profusely thanked by Warner and by Council Members, for her effort on this initiative. Middletown is the first city in Connecticut to provide an incentive for LEEDS certification, and there is hope that companies seeking to construct sustainable buildings will use this incentive to come to Middletown.

In other business, Ryan Kennedy (Republican) was appointed to the Board of Education. He will be filling the seat of Barbara Weiss, who served as a distinguished member of the Board of Ed for many years, but who has now moved to Cromwell. The council also approved a change in the ordinance regarding the delivery of notice and agenda for regular meetings of the Council. Individual council members will now have the right to waive the delivery of Council information by the police. For special meetings, Council members will have the right to use electronic mail instead of telegram to waive the special police delivery.

The week ahead Aug. 10-17

A not particularly inclusive lists of activities in the coming week. Please feel free to email (mieyeed@gmail.com) to include your additional notices.

Special Common Council Meeting - Monday August 10, 6:30 pm, Common Council Chambers
Discussion of the Police Contract, part of which will take place behind closed doors in executive session.

Economic Development Committee Meeting, Monday August 11, 5:30 pm, Room 208 City Hall - The renewal of the lease for Harbor Park will be discussed, as will the sale of the Remington Rand building to developer Thomas Briggs of TWB Properties. Since both agenda items are "standing items" on the committee agenda, little discussion is anticipated. The meeting will end promptly at 6:30 so board members can attend the special Common Council meeting.


Zoning Board Meeting, Wednesday August 13, 7:00 pm, Council Chambers, City Hall - Canceled.

Design Review Committee Meeting, Wednesday August 13, 5:30 pm, Room 208, City Hall - During which the demolition of 13 West Silver Street will be discussed.


Garden Party, Erin Street Community Garden - Thursday August 14, 5:30 pm. To celebrate another year of successful vegetable gardening at the community plot.

Motorcycle Mania - Wednesday August 13, 5pm - A few blocks of Main Street will be closed for this annual event during which loud noises will be emitted from polished chrome pipes.

Grupo Fantasia Concert - Thursday August 14, 7-9 pm, at the Louis Lopez Herb Garden, Main Street as part of the Community Health Center Summer Concert Series.