Real Hartford

Global Warming and Big Business

kerri — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:43:39 +0000

On Monday (July 28th), John B. Larson and the House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming will be speaking in the auditorium of the Mark Twain House Museum at 11am. The discussion is titled, “Economics of Global Warming: How Climate Change is Shaping the Way U.S. Companies Do Business.”

It’s requested that people RSVP to Larson’s office: 860.278.8888.

It sounds like the focus of this will be national rather than local.

Frankenstein’s Monster

kerri — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:40:34 +0000

Lately, all I’m hearing and reading about is how shitty the economy is right now. I’m not going to argue that.

But I have to disagree with the way we are looking at certain financial problems.

Just off the top of my head, I know that there are reports on how the Mark Twain House and Old State House have been struggling. Two branches of the Hartford Public Library have closed. A number of public school employees have been laid off. The state is having budgeting issues (which apparently means that some state employees get to currently work without having the security of signed contracts. Employees can get paid for what they have worked, but be told not to return for the rest of the term. source: personal experience). When hearing about each of these issues, the message I am receiving is that nothing can be done. Our hands are tied. The library does not want to take responsibility for their budgeting mishaps. Some politicians don’t seem to want to step up and do their jobs, which directly involve city budgeting issues. What’s more, the city has this image problem (exacerbated by the media on a nearly daily basis) which allows outsiders to justify letting everything here crumble.

Money problems are not the same as late stage cancer or earthquakes–there is, in fact, something to be done. Capitalism, the whole concept of money, and esoteric budgets involving huge sums are all manufactured, aka, they are all man-made things. This is America, and no matter how awful our economy is right now, we, as a country, are faring better than many places in the world. The American Dream myth of pulling oneself up by his bootstraps is flipped. If anyone has the ability to succeed in that way, it’s not the individual, but the larger entity–the organization or corporation. (more…)

Downtown Housing: Workshop and Panel Discussions

kerri — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:30:23 +0000

UPSTAIRS DOWNTOWN, an all day event, is planned for Friday July 25th at the Lyceum Center at 227 Lawrence Street. Connecticut Main Street Center is sponsoring this workshop. They host four workshops each year, which are based on the “Main Street Four Point Approach.” This approach deals with organization, promotion, design, and economic restructuring.

The Connecticut Main Street Center provides the following description for the UPSTAIRS DOWNTOWN workshop:

There are thousands of buildings in America’s older downtowns with vacant upper floors. These spaces boast a central location, high visibility, complete community infrastructure, and are prime candidates for redevelopment. UPSTAIRS DOWNTOWN is an award winning initiative created to help owners reclaim and reuse these vacant upper floors, and turn them into income producing properties.

(more…)

Unreal

kerri — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:06:48 +0000

What is the deal with administrative/operating decisions lately at the Hartford Public Library? Weeks ago, there was criticism that librarians were not contacting the Hartford Police Department when circumstances indicated they might want to do so. Now, the Mark Twain Branch and Blue Hills Branch are closing, but a source quoted in the Courant makes it sound like there are political games going on:

Leo Laffitte, a representative of the library’s union AFSCME Local 1716, said Monday he does not believe that chief Librarian Louise Blalock intends to close the branches.

“She intentionally selected those branches because she knows community activists in those neighborhoods would not allow for that to happen.”

The union suspects that Blalock has inflated the number of layoffs and the amount of the budget gap.

“It’s a scare tactic,” Laffitte said.

The idea that this is all a mess created by pig-headedness and grandstanding does not sit well with me. It costs money to operate everything. We know that. Surely there are places to make cuts that do not involve closing branches. In the meantime, how’s about not toying with Hartford residents, who are dealing with enough garbage as it is?
The library finally got around to posting notices about the closures. Nothing like a little procrastination, y’all. Both say essentially the same thing:

Hartford Public Library sincerely regrets the loss of services at the Blue Hills Branch. The branch will close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 3, 2008. Please visit the Albany Branch and the Library On Wheels for your library needs.

Albany Branch (1.56 miles)
1250 Albany Avenue (at Blue Hills Ave.)
(860) 695-7380
Monday, Wednesday 12:00 to 6:00 PM
Tuesday, Thursday 12:00 to 8:00 PM
Friday, Saturday 12:00 to 5:00 PM

Former patrons of the Blue Hills branch are referred to the Albany Avenue branch:

Summer Reading Program:
Student Folders will be transferred to the Albany Branch. The first 100 youth customers from Blue Hills visiting the Albany Branch to check out or report on summer reading assignments will receive round-trip bus fare reimbursement ($2.00) The Teen Leader you worked with at Blue Hills will be available to help you at Albany.

Likewise with Mark Twain Branch:

Hartford Public Library sincerely regrets the loss of services at the Mark Twain Branch. The branch will close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 3, 2008. Please visit the Downtown Library and the Library On Wheels for your library needs.

Downtown Library (1.43 miles)
500 Main Street
(860) 695-6295
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Friday, Saturday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Sundays 1:00 to 5:00 PM (October through May)

[…]
Summer Reading Program:
Student Folders will be transferred to the Downtown Library—3rd Floor Children’s Library. The first 100 youth customers from Mark Twain visiting the Downtown Library to check out or report on summer reading assignments will receive round-trip bus fare reimbursement ($2.00) The Teen Leader you worked with at Mark Twain will be available to help you Downtown.

The library is prepared to spend roughly $400 on bus fare. Giving a one-time bus fare voucher is more of an insult than any kind of proactive measure. This might get each patron to the library once over the summer, but it does not erase any inconvenience created by the situation.

Where else could money be saved? (more…)

On Foot

kerri — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:23:35 +0000

Yesterday I walked ten miles. I walked to work, the garden, and later to see a movie. Part of why I have been walking more is environmental, but part of it is that I prefer not to work four jobs simply to pay for gas. I took this photo today at the gas station on the corner of Broad and Capitol. I was cutting through the lot on my way to the farmers’ market, and not actually stopping there to buy gas.

Housing: Crisis and Rebates

kerri — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:54:20 +0000

Perez released this yesterday:

Hartford Rent Rebate Program to start on May 15, 2008 The Department of Health & Human Services will begin processing applications for the Elderly/Disabled Tax Rebate Program on May 15, 2008 thru September 15, 2008. The department’s Senior Services Division, which processed a record number of over 4000 applications last year, anticipates an increase for this year.

(more…)

Reflection on Rachel’s Words

kerri — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:14:26 +0000

I was born the same year as Rachel Corrie, the dead woman whose letters home I read at the Quaker Meeting House tonight. I am thinking a lot about parallel lives these days. Maybe parallel is not the right word for it, but I can’t think of a better one. When I watched Persepolis, I thought about how Marjane, only a few years older than me, grew up in a war zone. What I feel about this cannot be described as guilt. It’s more like awe. There are some overlaps between us, despite what would otherwise be lives defined by opposite sides of the planet. The punk scene seemed to interestingly save and alienate us both. Being headstrong and vocal got us both into trouble. Yet her adolescence was wrought with gender-based oppression, bombs, and just a generally stifling and dangerous environment. My run-ins with peers at school over pieces of my own identity were nothing in comparison. I never had to fear imprisonment for speaking out. (more…)