Councilman Reacts to Courant Cartoon

Below is a letter submitted to the Eye from Councilman Phil Pessina. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the of the authors of the Middletown Eye. It is posted as a courtesy to the readers, facts and opinions expressed are the sole responsibility of the author, Councilman Phil Pessina.

Note: This letter is in regards to the cartoon done by Mr. Bob Englehart. Welcome to Middletown, appeared in the Hartford Courant on Oct. 20.

To Mr. Bob Englehart
I am very upset and disappointed with your choice of cartoon characters concerning the recent developments involving our former Acting Police Chief and your lack of sensitivity towards our city's Catholic residents and our beloved Patron Saint 'Saint Sebastian'. Your pen has struck a direct insult to both our residents of Italian descent and our parishioners of Saint Sebastian Church.
I am perplexed that with all the political nonsense and the problems our state is facing, which our lives are filled with on a daily basis, at all levels of our country's government including the economic situation, people out of work and especially at a time when a community is trying to make sense out of the actions or inactions of an individual, that you would be so insensitive towards our City of Middletown and a large population of a particular faith community.
Your insinuation that our town is all "screwed up" is unfounded and based upon your personal feelings. Just because we have a challenge to deal with in our city government, it doesn't give you the right to besmirch our community.
Our city has been recognized for its diversity, economic growth, its Main Street scape with some of the finest restaurants in the state; all of which are protected by the men and women of our Police and Fire Departments.
Your reader poll comparing an individual and a saint, is very disturbing and a direct insult towards the parishioners of Saint Sebastian Church who have a deep, devote faith in their patron saint who was put to death because martyrdom for the Christian people.
I am in a unique position within our city, as a second generation Italian who proudly served for 33 1/2 years in our police department, ending my career as its Deputy Police Chief. I dedicated my career to youth education and community policing with our residents and was the catalyst for arriving at positive solutions towards negative problems. Presently, I am a current 2 term member of our City's Common Council and a very spiritual person dedicated to my faith and Patron Saint of St. Sebastian; to include service to my faith community of St. Sebastian Church as a Eucharist Minister and Lector, to include over 25 years on our St. Sebastian Feast Committee.
My suggestion to you Mr. Englehart is that in the future when you are about to put your artistic talents to work on a political issue, that you do so with a much greater sensitivity towards your readers, our state's faith communities and take a much more positive approach towards our state's city and towns. Remember, that when communities are facing challenges, especially during these tough economic times and high unemployment, we need the print media to be more supportive and bring hope to their residents and the issues they are dealing with; not a negative tone with an insensitive drawing, which strikes a blow to a community's heritage which becomes part of the problem not the solution!
Therefore, I am respectfully requesting a retraction of this cartoon and your apology to the Italian population in our state and our City of Middletown, especially towards the parishioners of Saint Sebastian Church who have done so much to make our City of Middletown what it is today; a Community to live in, invest in and educate your children in!

Thank you,
Philip J. Pessina
Councilman, and Parishioner of Saint Sebastian Church.

Food Proves to Be A Public Relations Bomb for Middletown

COMMENTARY

Spread across the front page of the Hartford Courant this morning is a story of Middletown's effort to ban Food Not Bombs from sharing meals with Middletown residents every Sunday morning in front of the Buttonwood Tree. It is now a statewide story, and will likely be picked up by the national press. What a picture it paints of Middletown.

Sharing food with folks who need and appreciate it, especially food which would have been discarded (American waste 100 billion pounds of food every year), seems like a decent idea. Young, enthusiastic Wesleyan students willing to engage residents who most of us have never met, and some of us would not like to even think about, are being told that they are breaking the law because they don't use sneeze-guards. These students are engaging the community, forming community, and the adults in town are sneering at their effort.

Imagine what the rest of the world is thinking.

And Middletown, sticking to a selective and rigid interpretation of the law, is prosecuting this band of "hippies" because it is presumed they are dumpster diving for their food (which they are not). I've helped them prepare a meal, and I've found them to be decent, friendly, funny and concerned young men and women who may not even be thinking about the gospel, but their walking the talk when it comes to "loving your neighbor."

Middletown is making the case that they are trying to protect the people who are being served the food. Though they don't seem to share an equal concern, when it comes to sneeze-guards, at bake sales, church dinners, lemonade stands and other Main Street events. A lot of watermelon was sliced and distributed during the recent road race on Main Street with nary a sneeze-guard in sight.

Some of these events, church dinners for example, are licensed and food is prepared in inspected kitchens, but one can assume that inspections at the actual dinners are few and far between because of a lack of manpower.

We have to be happy that our health inspectors have a strong and enthusiastic concern for food safety and food consumers, but in the case of Food Not Bombs, where there has never been a problem with tainted food, city hall might easily look in the other direction. It's not difficult to think of other times city hall looks the other way, on any number of other issues in town, (say the excessive noise issue when hundreds of illegally mufflered motorcycles gather on Main Street).

Finally, because Food Not Bombs has asked for a state hearing, the city has felt obliged to hire legal representation for the health inspectors. That costs real money. Tax dollars. To fight a fight which hardly seems worth fighting.

So what has Middletown gotten for its effort? A reputation as a town that would take the food out of the mouths of the hungry. A reputation as a town which is making a stink about doing something that Jesus recommended - feeding the hungry.

I guest if JC showed up on Foss Hill and recited the beatitudes while multiplying loaves and fishes, he might get a citation for distributing food unsafely.

Melissa Pionzio ends her Courant blog

On Friday afternoon, Melissa Pionzio wrote a farewell post on her iTowns blog on the Hartford Courant's website. Although it wasn't the same as having a local reporter (since Melissa was covering several towns) it was nice to know that you could occasionally find a Middletown-oriented story on her blog, like her recent post on a dance workshop at Keigwin Middle School. She writes that she will still be working at the Courant, and sometimes helping with Middletown stories -- it's just her blog that is ending.

Wesleyan Exposed In Courant Article

One of my first interactions with Wesleyan University in moving to town eight years ago was being awakened at about 2 a.m. with the noise from a party in what was then the Art House dormitory on High Street.

Groggily, I looked out the window and saw dozens of naked students running across a frozen lawn, and dozens more dancing wildly, framed in the picture window of the large old house.

This morning, the Hartford Courant features an article, featuring a photo of an undraped ungergrad, about Unlocked, the student-produced erotic art magazine.

Not exactly shocking at a university where students have never been afraid to confront issues of sexuality and gender.

But in the interest of better town-gown relations, perhaps for the next issue, Unlocked should extend invitations to pose to the community. Maybe a spread on the Common Council? Then again.

More Community Conversation

Melissa Pionzio from the Hartford Courant did a great job covering yesterday evening's Community Conversation at Russell Library. Phil Pessina was the facilitator, and you can read all about it in her blog.

I covered the earlier conversation at noon at the Library -- and so I know it's not easy to keep track of all the comments and controversy. I really appreciate how thorough she was in reporting what people were saying.

Thanks Melissa!

The Hartford Courant (better late than never) reports on Artie Schielmann Farm

On January 5 the eye reported on Artie Schiemann Day;
www.middletowneyenews.blogspot.com/2009/01/art-schiemann-day.html
Today the Hartford Courant reported the story. They do have a nice photo of Artie with the farm in the background. Thank-you once again Artie for your contribution to the city and to future generations of city residents. Middletown Farm To Be A Farm Forever,
www.courant.com/community/news/mr/hc-farmerartie0119.artjan19,0,703931.story
They spellled his name wrong on the map in the lower right corner.

Comment: Middletown and Wesleyan?

Melissa Pionzio writes a blog on issues in Middlesex County for the Courant. The other day she reported that every month she gets sent a copy of a newsletter from the Middletown Managers and Professionals Association. These newsletters often include an opinion piece by the group’s president, John Milardo. This month’s installment, which she links to on her blog, is entitled, “Where is Wesleyan University?” It is an interesting, thought-provoking piece. After paying Wesleyan several compliments, Mr. Milardo writes, “I grew up in the neighborhoods surrounding the University. My parents and their parents lived in the same neighborhood before me. I know the school grounds like the back of my hand. The only thing I don’t know about Wesleyan University is; what do they do for the City of Middletown residents?”

Mr. Milardo feels that the university is too isolated from the town, that by creating lounges, eateries, etc., it has created too much of a town within a town – and that “[o]ther universities and students’ involvement with their towns is much greater and noticeable”. While I’m not sure I agree entirely, I do think it is the case that too few students are aware of what an interesting, welcoming place Middletown is.

Most of Mr. Milardo’s piece, however, is devoted to a different if related topic. He feels that Wesleyan needs to “step up to the plate” for Middletown in the way of a financial contribution, in short, that Wesleyan should pay higher taxes, particularly in this time of economic stress. He observes that though Wesleyan has a physical plant and real estate valued at nearly 290 million dollars, it only pays taxes on about 7.5 million. This translates to about 230,000 dollars per year in taxes. Mr. Milardo then compares Wesleyan's contribution to the city coffers to those of other colleges and universities, mostly unnamed – save for one important exception – which, he argues, do much more for their host municipalities. The example Mr. Milardo cites is Yale University, which (according to Mr. Milardo) pays about 10 million dollars to the city of New Haven every year in addition to boasting its own police and fire departments. 10 million per year is about 43 times more than Wesleyan contributes to Middletown's treasury. What is Yale's endowment? About 17 billion (with a 'b'). Wesleyan’s, meanwhile, is about 500 million (with an 'm'). [These figures are based on where Wesleyan and Yale thought they stood as of about December. Neither figure reflects debt obligations, as far as I am aware.] Yale's endowment would appear, therefore, to be about 34 times greater than Wesleyan's. So while Wesleyan’s relative tax contribution, when factored only for size of endowment, is slightly lower than Yale’s, it is not dramatically so. And this comparison does not take into account other 'contributions' Wesleyan makes on an annual basis, such as the amount Wesleyan has spent on the Green Street Arts Center in recent years, which is sizeable (probably equal to or more than Wesleyan’s tax contribution). Or the considerable financial assistance Wesleyan provided several years ago to bolster the Inn at Middletown development on Main Street. Or more routine line items like occasional free events at the Center for the Arts or in the athletics program, the occasional gratis use of Wesleyan sports fields and gallery space by city schools, and the various 'service learning' activities that emanate from the Center for Community Partnerships at Wesleyan, including big brother/sister programs or tutoring or research on childhood hunger, etc.

Now, one may argue about the real worth (not to mention worthiness) of some of these additional 'contributions', which is why I put the term in quotes. Whereas the Green Street and hotel projects can be quantified fairly easily, some may feel these are not wise expenditures. Meanwhile the value of free athletic events, mentoring, tutoring, and usage of CFA space and sporting fields is harder to calculate. In any case, reasonable people can disagree on whether Middletown and Wesleyan should sit down and recalibrate its tax burden.

But a larger and more important point is raised in Mr. Milardo's letter, which has to do with how Wesleyan approaches Middletown (and how Middletown too often perceives Wesleyan). So long as the city's relationship to Wesleyan University is perceived and promoted solely or mainly as one of "what can Wesleyan do for us" – or, from Wesleyan's perspective, "what can we do for Middletown?" – the image of Middletown as a basket-case community perennially in need of charitable handouts will persist. Certainly this is the perception of too many people at Wesleyan, especially as you move up the food chain, who prefer, perhaps partly as a result, to live in other villages and towns such as Guilford, Madison, the Haddams, Chester, Old Lyme, and West Hartford (of course, there may be other perfectly good reasons as well, such as the quality of schools, but that is an issue for another series of posts). The “basket-case” rhetoric unfortunately also underwrites much of Wesleyan’s institutional engagement with the community, some examples of which are noted above.

The “basket-case” rhetoric is bad for Middletown, and bad also (I feel) for Wesleyan. Insofar as it deters Wesleyan employees from living in Middletown, it means lower homeownership rates, a depressed grand list and lower tax revenues for town hall, less consumer spending in town (especially in Main Street businesses), and less engagement in town politics. It means more cars and parking lots clogging the streets and neighborhoods, more speeding by commuters in a hurry, and less pedestrianization and bicycling, especially in the core neighborhoods of the city. For Wesleyan it means faculty and staff who are not as involved as they should be in the life of the institution, particularly those occasional faculty who decide to come to campus only on the two or three days per week when they have to show up to teach. (Of course, it’s not clear that living in Middletown would produce an appreciable change in this behavior.)

In my opinion, we need to get beyond the “what Wesleyan can do for Middletown” thinking. Like any town, Middletown has its problems. But Middletown is actually a fairly nice place to live. It has many beautiful old houses and an increasingly lively and, for the most part, walkable downtown (save for the occasionally poorly placed parking lot). It has a fascinating maritime history. It has a multiplex theatre, a decent array of restaurants, a great “children’s museum” (KidCity), a “top-100” hospital, and is situated in a beautiful natural environment. And what Connecticut town has a better public library? Sure, we need more retail on Main Street, and it would be great if we could reconnect with our waterfront. But these are problems that can be overcome, especially with a more engaged population.

Rather than constantly harping on “what Wesleyan can do for Middletown”, perhaps we should be thinking in terms of “what Middletown can do for Wesleyan”. (And, insofar as it is possible, we should avoid expressing these issues in terms of dollars and cents.) For example, instead of being embarrassed about Middletown, Wesleyan should showcase the town’s many amenities for recruitment purposes, whether to students, faculty, or staff. I do so, on a regular basis - often to the amusement of my colleagues.

The best thing that Wesleyan can do for Middletown, and that Middletown can do for itself, is to stop thinking in terms of “what Wesleyan can do for Middletown”, and to start asking, “how can we leverage Middletown’s many unique and positive features to improve Wesleyan?” This will, I believe, pay dividends for Middletown.

[Full disclosure: I am on the faculty at Wesleyan. And I am a homeowner in Middletown.]

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.

Paul Doyle gets tagged by Jon Lender

At the center of a contentious race for State Senator for the 9th district is a complaint by Republican challenger Ralph Capenera that incumbent Paul Doyle (D) manipulated fees he's received from the CRRA so that it would prevent him from being declared an official "state contractor."

The Hartford Courant's Jon Lender explains the ramifications in an article this morning.

Blumenthal continues to battle Army legal opinion

Friday, CT Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued a press release indicating that his office will continue to fight the JAG (Judge Advocate General) decision that the Army's legal opinion concerning interpretation of the BRAC law is protected as "attorney-client" privilege.

The BRAC law was passed to consolidate Army bases across the country. In Connecticut, the law states that an Army Reserve Training Center will be built in Middletown "if a suitable site can be obtained."

Of course, that has been the subject of months of disputes between the Army Corps of Engineers, residents of Middletown and state and city officials.

Currently, the city has offered Cucia Park, just this week publishing an RFP for development of the site, following procedures to offer the park to the Army, if the Army chooses it as its preferred location.

The Army Corps of Engineers yestereday completed their study of preferred sites and submitted them to Army brass for approval.

It must be some accident, some misunderstanding, some fluke, but this development was mentioned in the first featured news piece about Middletown in the "new" Hartford Courant in nearly two weeks.

Unfortunately, in these days of reduced resources, and fewer resources, Middletown has seen a diminished presence in the "new" Courant. And with this piece we get an undoubtably overworked reporter simply filing the Attorney General's press release as a story. Note the similar language of the official press release, and the story "written" by the reporter.

From the press release:
Blumenthal has appealed this rejection to Secretary of the Army Pete Geren, rejecting the JAG's claim that the letter is protected as intra-agency legal advice or attorney-client privilege. Blumenthal urged immediate release of the opinion...

From the Courant article:
Blumenthal appealed this rejection to Secretary of the Army Pete Geren, rejecting the JAG's claim that the letter is protected as intra-agency legal advice or attorney-client privilege. Blumenthal urged immediate release of the opinion.

Sad. But there's nothing wrong with printing official correspondence as long as it's labeled as such. The problem with printing government press releases as news is that the original releases have a point-of-view, a public relations objective and a goal of influence which is not the "objective" stance a newspaper is supposed to take.

Does Middletown exist?

When you go out on your porch to pick up your copy of The Courant this morning, look up and down the street to be sure Middletown is still there, because, apparently, the Courant doesn't think so. No news again today. Okay, everyone, raise your hand and say "yoo hoo!"

But who's counting?

For a second day in a row, there was no Middletown news in the print version of the "new" Hartord Courant. This must be what they mean by more local coverage.

Absent

The "new" Hartford Courant was not present at last night's Common Council meeting. In fact, Middletown was entirely absent from the "new" Hartford Courant today.

The Courant remakes the paper, removes Kamins

You've all seen the ominous Hartford Courant ads: 9/28/2008, they scream, like some promo for a post-apocalyptic horror film. It may not be so far off of an analogy. That's the day we all get to see the "re-made" Hartford Courant.

Today brings another kind of preview.

After many years of weekly columns previewing arts and cultural attractions and events in Middletown, Middlesex County, and in other nearby towns and venues, the Hartford Courant has relieved Richard Kamins of his duties as columnist.

His farewell column runs in today's print edition, but is strangely absent on the web version of the Courant.

Not only is it exactly the wrong move to make to keep local readers informed and involved while providing a sense of community, it's foolish from a financial standpoint. Believe me, what they paid Richard is meaningless in the rocky ecomomics of the Tribune's balance sheet. The value they received in return was huge. They are throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and coupled with the current lackluster reporting on other town affairs, I suspect more than one subscription will be cancelled as a result.

As for Richard, he should be commended for doing a great service for the community, and for artists of all stripes for all these years that he's written the column. I read it faithfully each week, and having once written a similar column for another newspaper, I know the hours it takes to consolidate the information and present it in a way that's informative and interesting. Thanks, Richard.

Kamins, remains totally involved in the cultural scene in Middletown. He's got his radio show, and he's currently involved in a local production of Hamlet.

So, I suspect, it's not the last we've heard from Kamins.

After all, there are other ways to learn about what's going on in the community than reading a watered-down version of community news in the Courant.

The invisible Eye

Commentary by Ed McKeon

(NOTE: This is an edit of the original posting, based on a conversation with the reporter who wrote the Courant story.)

It may be small of me to carp. But the Middletown Eye is small, for now.

A few weeks ago, I took time out of busy day and spent an hour and a half talking to Courant reporter Jodie Mozdzer about The Middletown Eye, the state of journalism in the state, and the difference between a newsblog and an online newspaper. Her story appeared in Sunday's Courant, and The Middletown Eye didn't even get a single mention. Strange.

Mozdzer warned me that the story might never appear since it was a story she was pitching, and not assigned. I noted that while I love and hate the Courant with equal passion, depending on the day, the Courant indeed may see me as a bit too critical of that paper (not in this blog, but over at Caterwauled), and might spike the story. I know for a fact that folks over at the Courant read both blogs regularly. Mozdzer herself confessed to reading the Eye to get a catch-up on town topics as she took over stories from Josh Kovner who had recently decamped to West Hartford.

Mozdzer now tells me that she wanted to focus on the newest of the local blogs, and one which was actually hiring reporters.

The story that appeared Sunday focused on something called East Hampton Today, published by Hometown Today News Publications (HTNP), with websites programmed by Biznuzz IT Services.

When I first spoke to Mozdzer, she had spoken with but not yet met with East Hampton Today editor, Cristina Johnson, or publisher Jean Maheu, but when hearing about the sites, I guessed it was an attempt at creating an on-line template, for local editors to fill with stories. Look at the site for Mansfield, and you will probably agree. I argued that sites like the Middletown Eye might have a truer sense of mission, because the only mission here is to provide information that other media outlets don't provide, and not necessarily to strive to make a killing on the internet with a "online newspaper product." But, admittedly, we are amateurs.

Who's to say which business model will work (maybe we should dredge up Rich Hanley like anyone with a newspaper question seems to do these days)? Maybe HTNP is onto something, but it seems like an online version of a newspaper chain, and aren't the chains the ones who killed the dailies in the first place?

I find it strange that HTNP became the core of Mozdzer's story, when other sites, like Paul Bass' New Haven Independent (the model for all such sites), and Christine Stuart's CTNewsJunkie, are mentioned, but only in passing, when they have a much longer track record than HTNP.

This is a rant, plain and simple, because we didn't get mentioned, and we can't figure out why.

Are those in the heritage media are threatened by blogs like The Independent, CTNewsJunkie, MyLeftNutmeg, CTBob and even HTNP? Why else would the online version of Mozdzer's story fail to give a single hot link to any of the news sites mentioned in the story? Afraid the readers might actually read one of them?

I can only vow that the Middletown Eye will continue to grow, pursue the news of Middletown Connecticut, and give residents and readers an angle on town information that disappeared with local ownership of local newspapers.

And I invite Courant editors to hire and send reporters to every meeting in town to demonstrate their commitment to local news.

Corps Starts Again--Hartford Courant Editorial

Today's Hartford Courant lead editorial (I've only changed the formatting)

Officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said this week that they would reopen the site selection process for a new regional Army training facility and promised to keep citizens and local officials better advised about the project's progress. Both are welcome developments.

In the interests of time and money — and avoiding public angst — we urge the Corps to go further, to wit:

• Expand the search to sites outside Middletown. Col. Keith Landry, who is overseeing construction for the Corps, says Army lawyers interpret the federal law calling for the consolidation of Connecticut's Army bases to mean that the new base must be in Middletown. But that is an unnecessarily narrow reading of the legislation. The law stipulates the base should be located in Middletown if a suitable site can be found. That language clearly gives the Army some flexibility.
• Consider brownfields. Army officials have ruled out abandoned industrial sites, saying they're too expensive to clean and develop. But former industrial sites can offer several advantages, including proximity to downtowns, transportation corridors, water systems and sewer lines.  By adopting a policy of reviving brownfields, the Corps would be working against sprawl and helping to preserve open space, an increasingly precious commodity in New England. Also, the state's brownfield remediation program could be used to clean a potential site for the training center. 
• Heed the advice of state and local officials and citizens. In the past eight months, Corps officials have selected two sites. Both met strong opposition from neighbors and public officials. Corps officials deserve some credit for agreeing to step back from their plans, and for promising to keep the public better informed from now on. But they also need to listen and allow their selection of a site to be informed by the community.
• Respect the authority of the local inland wetlands agency. This is a corollary to good listening. Corps officials appear to be balking at the notion of submitting their site plans to a local wetlands panel for approval. By going through the application process, however, Corps officials will be ensuring that the development of a new training facility is shaped by local priorities and concerns.

Corps officials say they're under a tight schedule for building this regional training facility. By listening and working more closely with the community, however, we suspect the Corps will enjoy a smoother, less troublesome site selection process.

Corps officials have tried it their way for the past eight months, only to end up almost where they started. It's time they tried a different approach.

No more joshing around

(SCSU photograph)

With considerable regret, I report that we've lost longtime Hartford Courant reporter Josh Kovner to West Hartford, where he's been reassigned. According to Josh, Alaine Griffin, and Jodie Mozdzer remain in the Middletown bureau with another reporter to be assigned there sometime in the future.

Kovner has done a great job covering the town for a decade, and his knowledge of the town, its issues and its personalities, will be sorely missed. Kovner, who shared in a Pulitzer for his work on the story of the Lottery headquarters slayings several years back, is part of the Courant's realignment and redesign. We wish him luck, and have one more reason to envy West Hartford.

Casting Reserve to the Wind

A Commentary

In the Commentary section of Sunday's Hartford Courant are two opinion pieces, one which deals directly with a problem Middletown faces, one tangentially.

Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz published a piece in which she invites Governor Rell, the Commander-in-Chief of Connecticut's Army Reserve, to get involved in the controversy over placing an Army Reserve Training Center on parcel of land in Middletown. To her credit, Bysiewicz wants the governor to force the Army to adopt principles of Smart Growth in the development of their base. This would include the consideration of brownfield development, and in one specific case (the Pratt and Whitney property on Saybrook Road), property which was made a brownfield by the Federal government.

Bysiewicz, as is her right, feels that the Army Reserve Training Center would be good for Middletown, as long as the right parcel is found. She raises the specter of 9/11 as she champions the need for a regional location for Army National Guard and Reserve training. She indicates that the base would be an economic boon to the town.

I haven't heard a single person argue with the notion that the Guard and Reserve deserve, and need, up-to-date facilities for training. But it's not about building suitable training facilities; it's about building them in the right place.

And Middletown is not the right place.

That has become evident in the charged political and public relations posturing of both the Army and city leaders. The sites the Army prefer are considered unsuitable by the townspeople, and then belatedly by the town planners and leaders. The sites preferred by the town planners and leaders, are considered unsuitable by the Army.

Seems obvious to me.

The Army needs to look elsewhere, and the BRAC law leaves a gaping loophole to allow them to do so. It says the base should be build in Middletown unless a suitable site cannot be found. The next step seems obvious - look elsewhere.

And Middletown will not be losing out on some fantastic economic boon. That's a canard that's easily disproved, even as the Army Corps manipulates the number of employees it suggest will work at the center, to serve whatever argument they happen to be making at the moment. No one has suggested any specifics about how the Army Base will actualy generate anything but marginal and insubstantial ecomomic activity for this town (or for any town, for that matter).

And Middletown will not be unpatriotic for turning the Army away, as a letter to the Courant suggested on Saturday (We're at war? And so now Middletown must bear the burden of George Bush's mistakes?) Middletown already bears a disproportionate number of properties that are off the tax rolls because they are state facilities. As the city with the only statewide mental health hospital, we also host a prison facility for teen offenders, and the remaining state-run facilities for narcotics abusers. As a result, there are a host of associated non-profit facilities which are exempt from taxes. These facilities already put an undue burden on city resources. The army base would be built with federal dollars (those are your taxes too), but the city will have to maintain infrastructure to support the base wherever it is built.

And so, if I may be so bold and unpatriotic to suggest, the Army ought to take a long hike out of Middletown.

Which leads me to Tom Condon's thought-provoking column about charrettes, a means by which towns are involving all citizens in planning their towns' futures. In Simsbury and Hamden, progressive town governments are using charrettes as a way to create a vision of their communities which include Smart Growth principles, and principles, strategies and techniques of new urbanism. In Middletown, which has a regrettable history of development deals done behind closed doors, this invitation to planning involvement could go a long way toward avoiding the last-minute showdowns between big box builders, and outside developers who apparently view Middletown as an easy mark for schemes which can re-shape a city which doesn't have a firm plan in place to control developers. We need a plan that residents can own, buy into, and stand behind. A charrette is a good place to start.

Environmental Protection from Commuter Rail

From an article by James P. Repass in Sunday's Hartford Courant:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under the Bush administration utterly supine to nearly every extractive, Superfund site-creating and/or polluting industry, has suddenly gotten religion.

They have decided to save us from the environmental dangers of ... commuter rail!

Governor Rell, with bipartisan support, has endorsed a plan to link New Haven and Springfield with a commuter train, proposed to begin in 2010 or 2011. It would run on existing tracks, and would complement the Amtrak trains that run from Springfield to New Haven 8 times a day. There would be 12 stops, near Middletown the train would stop in Wallingford, Meriden, and Berlin. Now the EPA has expressed concern about the environmental impact of a commuter train line on existing tracks already being used.

A regular, reliable commuter rail between New Haven and Springfield would provide an enormous, immediate benefit to Middletown. The Meriden Train Station is a very easy drive, only minutes from most of Middletown. If there were regular train service from there to points north and south, it would connect Middletown to other vibrant towns in Connecticut and beyond, while simultaneously reducing traffic on I91 and Rte 9. If Middetown could develop a regular bus or rail service between our downtown and the Meriden Rail Station, it would bring in more people to Middletown for commerce and culture, while simultaneously reducing traffic on Rte 66.

An eye on the Eye in the Courant

The Middletown Eye is linked to on a Hartford Courant blog page, Richard Kamins' See! Hear!.  In his most recent posting  he discusses upcoming outdoor concerts in Middletown, Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng, from Ghana (discussed in the Eye) and the concert by Elite Syncopation at the Wadsworth Mansion.