Local Model Train Club Hosts Holiday Display

Submitted by citizen John Rzasa

Planning and Zoning Discusses Transportation

The Planning and Zoning Commission spent most of their Wednesday meeting on transportation issues relating to the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). Director of Planning Bill Warner, and Commissioner Catherine Johnson took turns leading the discussion, which ranged from the regional to the very local.

"How do we get connected to the rest of the world?"

That was the first question posed by Warner. He said there was a real possibility, in the long run, of developing rail connections from Middletown to connect with train service to Boston and New York. He pointed to movement in the state and federal governments to extend commuter rail from New Haven through Hartford to Springfield and urged commissioners to consider how Middletown could position itself to connect to that line, at stations in Meriden or Berlin, when there is an increase in rail service.

The other rail possibility which Warner brought up would revive the light rail from Middletown through Cromwell, Wethersfield and up to Hartford. The railway rights of way are largely intact, according to Warner, and he said of a train between Middletown and Hartford, "that's an economic development magnet."

Warner told the commissioners that including plans for rail in the POCD would be the first in a long series of steps necessary to move forward. Commissioners were receptive to developing rail, but also wanted to see less ambitious and expensive transportation alternatives considered. Commissioner Carl Bolz suggested that a dedicated bus with pre-set stops could serve as a stepping stone for the later development of trains.

Sidewalks and Bicycles

Warner told the commissioners that if the POCD includes a plan for which streets should have sidewalks, it would be a relatively trivial matter to include a very small extra sum of money in street paving bonds to add sidewalks to those streets. He gave a few examples of streets where a short stretch of new sidewalks would connect two isolated neighborhoods each with sidewalks.

Warner also presented a map with what he termed "bike sheds, with drainage into downtown." He said the addition of short bike paths in each of these areas could allow 80% of the city's residents to bicycle downtown.

Johnson also proposed new bike routes, but hers were targeted not at bringing bicyclists to the downtown, but rather at fostering bicycling to schools, parks, and grocery stores. She showed a map (reproduced at the bottom) of a route which uses smaller streets and occasional short new paths to create a loop. This loop of bicycle-friendly streets and paths would allow easy bicycle travel between Middlesex Community College, Xavier High, Mercy and Vinal High, and Middletown High, as well as Stop and Shop, Waldbaums, and Veterans, Chrystal Lake and Wadsworth Parks.

Other Business

During the public comment period, Attorney Ralph Wilson, who sometimes represents clients before the Commission, expressed his heartfelt thanks to the Commissioners for their part in his effort to get compensation for damage to his house on Bow Lane. The damage was caused by blasting associated with nearby construction. Wilson indicated that three lawyers observed the commissioners during their visit to his house, and that he received a settlement shortly thereafter.

The Commissioners scheduled for October 28 a public hearing on a proposal to operate a dialysis center at 100 Main Street, the site where Pelton Drugs was.

Johnson advocates river rail line in Courant

Middletown's noted city planner, architect and Planning and Zoning Board member appears in the Opinion section of the Hartford Courant today with an idea to revive the river train line between Middletown and Hartford.

It's a perfect idea for the time, but considering the mindset of local, state and federal leaders, it's a bit like spitting into the wind.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation has, for year, favored road construction, road improvement and road repair over all forms of mass transit. Even when faced with what can only be called a huge success in the recently-revived Waterbury to Bridgeport line, the legislators are dragging their feet and expressing doubt about improvements.

According to the Hartford Courant:

Given the national economic downturn, some of the big-ticket improvements — adding overhead catenaries for electric service, or laying down a second set of tracks — seem very improbable in the near future, Senate Pro Tem Donald DeFronzo, D- New Britain, said Wednesday. No current figures are available for the Waterbury line, but a recent study estimated that electrifying a slightly shorter Metro-North branch in Danbury could cost up to $117 million, while double-tracking the Danbury route would run $270 million to as much as $1.1 billion.

Given the payback, it's seems a no-brainer that investing in rail would be appropriate, and totally fit the goals of infrastructure investment, progressive transit, and alternative transportation that the Obama administration is advocating.

On a local level, a plan to build a trolley on Main Street is on the table in Middletown, but is not one of the "shovel-ready" projects the town is proposing to get potential funds for infrastructure development in town. Once upon a time, the trolley provided good, cheap and timely trasportation throughout the town. While the town is proposing needed road and sewer upgrades, the trolley is among the most progressive of plans in town. Still, the trolley is not "shovel-ready" with permits and plans and state (DOT) approvals needed to proceed.

But these are extraordinary times. The incoming presidential administration is asking states and cities to propose progressive infrastructure projects that will have future paybacks. One needs to question whether the Middletown proposals have such a payback, or are merely a matter of backfill.

We've seen the town fathers swing into action when a developer with big-money and big-ideas rolls into town with a pie-in-the-sky proposal. It's time to see if these same political and municipal leaders will act with alacrity and grasp the opportunity progressive alternative transportation provides, or whether they'll rely on their tried-and-true tactic of moving slowly, pursuing reliably backward-gazing, hidebound solutions and spending taxpayer dollars on infrastructure projects which aren't an investment in the future.

One of the most telling lines in Johnson's piece is a question:
Could we build this by ourselves? Could we take the gas and car taxes from the region and establish a fund, which included private money, and start building it ourselves?

Perhaps Johnson is onto something. Maybe the time has come to put all our creative thought into how to get around all the obstacles that the state, federal and municipal bureaucracies have placed in front of progressive solutions to difficult problems.

Time to take the trolleys out of the museums and get them back on the streets.