Real Hartford

“It feels so good. I have been up and down all day today […]My heart is pounding.”

Marie Kirkley-Bey is quoted in the Courant as speaking the above words to describe her victory in yesterday’s primary. She defeated opponent Abe Giles, best known for being that guy involved in a trash-hauling scandal.

Don’t assume that the slightly-more rational choices for candidates all won in the primary. Despite the Hartford Police Department’s release of documents showing a complaint had been filed against Hector Robles–a cop being accused of misusing his authority–voters of the Democrat persuasion selected him over Carmen Sierra for a General Assembly seat by a difference of 102* votes. Here’s to hoping that he is successfully challenged by a Republican or Third-Party candidate in November who is actually on the up-and-up.

The full list of primary results is here, and eventually will be here.

*A final tally was released after I posted this, changing the numbers slightly. To see those results, go here.

Here’s What Went Down

I could not stay for the entire meeting of the City Council last night, but during the 2.5 hours that I was there, (plus the protest before), this is what I observed. A more complete account is on Mira Hartford.

Oh yeah, the Immigration Ordinance passed!

HPD Acknowledges Citizen Complaint About Misuse of Authority

The Hartford Police Department has released a copy of the complaint filed against Hector Robles. I know I saw an extensive write-up on this the other day, but it appears to have been pulled off whatever news site it was on. If it reappears, I’ll link to it.

EDITED: I was wrong. The write-up wasn’t something I had read online; it was from an actual, physical newspaper– La Voz Hispana.  I should have remembered right away because I even commented while reading it that it’s a little bogus that to get detailed reporting on local politics, I have to read a Spanish-language newspaper. I guess that’s my incentive to learn more Spanish, because I’m not getting much from the English-language papers.

State Senate: First District Primary

On Tuesday August 12th, Hartford and Wethersfield registered Democrats will get to select between Ed Vargas and John Fonfara (incumbent) in a primary. I’ve been a little allergic to politics lately (but I’m getting over it), and have not been paying much attention to either candidate. Yesterday, I received a very polite phone call from the Fonfara campaign. The woman on the phone was enthusiastic and informed, which did not influence my decision, but was a nice change from the usual campaign calls from jaded and tired-sounding volunteers.

“For the last time, don’t share your toys with your brother!”

My ancestors might have been illegal immigrants. I have no reason to suspect that they were, nor any reason to believe that everything was on the up and up. We are not a family of scrapbooking types, so if there ever were immigration papers, they would have been lost, destroyed, or stuffed in an unmarked box in the dank corner of someone’s basement long ago. What I do know is that there have never been any claims of American Indian heritage in my family, so basically, we are guilty of being part of the problem. We come from Russia, Germany, Poland (when it was part of Russia), Ireland, Canada, and France. Maybe elsewhere. My Russian family had our name changed by dolts who could not pronounce or spell anything other than strictly Anglo words. The result: a Russian last name that was –almost ironically–converted to one that looks Hispanic and is often pronounced as such. That part of the family came through legal means, I suppose, in the late 19th century. As for the rest of my family, who knows? It’s plausible that the French-Canadian ones crossed over to Vermont through the woods at night. Others ended up in the state after being routed through Indiana and Wisconsin. At any rate, we have not been here for terribly long.

I was born in the U.S., as were my parents. I can’t vouch for my father’s parents. How far back must one prove legal entrance before the current surge of nativists are content with offering us non-Mayflower arrivals “services” or “privileges?” Because I am white and speak without an accent (beyond the occasional regional inflection) I have not once been questioned by anyone in government or law enforcement about my immigration status or right to be here. It’s assumed that I belong. When I have called the police in past years to report various crimes (drug-related activity, fights/altercations), I was never asked to prove my identity. There was not even a check of my driver’s license.

I can not get away from the irony that exists in the immigration “debate.” For starters, many opponents of sharing the land claim religiosity of the Judeo-Christian persuasion, yet have no attention span about the tenets of their religions. Like many other parts of American life, they have gone the route of picking and choosing what seems most convenient in their religion/laws to suit their personal prejudices. In the Ten Commandments, we are directed not to steal, murder, or cheat. Elsewhere in the Bible, we are urged to love our neighbors, our brothers. Although not an expert, I’ve read the Bible a few times independently, and don’t recall ever seeing a suggestion that God urged people to take up arms, sit by borders, and pick off fellow humans as they attempted to cross without filing paperwork.

As for picking and choosing, some nativists like to talk about how their ancestors did everything by the book, and so they are rightfully here and now entitled to prohibit others from coming. The Edge of the American West addresses this in Eric’s article, “Inventing Illegal Immigration.” Likewise, an overview of immigration history on the Ellis Island website shows that immigration laws and restrictions have been in flux, and at times, there were no laws regarding this issue. Continue reading “For the last time, don’t share your toys with your brother!”…

Frankenstein’s Monster

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. Continue reading Frankenstein’s Monster…

City Council Meeting - July 14, 2008

Here are the actual minutes (courtesy of the City of Hartford’s website) from last night’s meeting, which I understand went on for a real long time.

CONSENT CALENDAR:
ACTION TAKEN

COMMUNICATIONS

1. MAYOR PEREZ, with accompanying resolution de Authorization to apply for and receive

funds from the Federal U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) under the

Part A of the Ryan White Treatment Modernization Act of 2006, to develop and

implement core medical and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS and through its

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and execute contracts, sub-contracts and

amendments with various providers for services.

Passed

Continue reading City Council Meeting - July 14, 2008…

Absolute Power…

As Hartford considers revising the City Charter, possibly in November 2009, to address concerns that the “strong mayor” system isn’t working, residents will have opportunities to let their voices be heard on the issue. On July 24th, the Hartford Public Library will be hosting a panel (which always allows for a Q&A session) on this subject. So far, the two definite panelists (inasmuch as these things are ever definite) are Allan Taylor and John Kennelly. Matt Ritter will be moderating. The program begins at 6pm– light refreshments will be available.

If you follow the hyperlinks, you can find the complete charter for the City of Hartford, as well as a transcript from a City Council discussion of this issue. This will provide you with an idea of exactly what is being debated and what the time frames are.

Ladies and Gentlemen…

the wait is over! Luis Cotto just posted the third installation of As the World Turns (Hartford-style) on his blog. This insiders’ look at local politics is sadly without Democratic Pizza.

Tales from the Cesspool: Part Three

The embellishments and lies distributed in past days by the media only damages Hartford’s reputation. Posting video of a person lying in the street after being hit by a car seems to be in bad taste, serving no function, except ironically, to show that the reports do not line up with reality. As several, including Heather Brandon, have noted, the time lapse between the accident and assistance was about 90 seconds. People did help. Those people happened to be the police.

Before making all kinds of judgments, let’s hear some reasons for possible bystander inaction:
1. callousness and/or apathy toward fellow human beings
2. trauma from witnessing a kind of violence
3. ignorance of first aid (most people are not required by their jobs to be trained in this)
4. lack of cell phone (that would have been my reason for not calling 911)
5. assumption that someone else had already alerted authorities

In times like this, we can’t trust the media or total outsiders to carefully assess the situation. For all of the judgments cast on witnesses, one could ask why journalists, who routinely capture violence (sometimes preventable) on camera do not put their cameras down to help. Just saying.

There have been a few more sensitive and sensible responses to recent highly publicized incidents, as well as to other misinformation distributed by the media:

breaks it down for you on her blog:

What’s happening in Hartford is happening “to us all,” it’s just that you may not see the same kind of hit-and-run just anywhere as a case-in-point demonstrating the ills of today’s society.

The city does not have a monopoly on purely self-interested behavior. That’s an issue we can all own, rich or poor, highly educated or not, wherever we dwell.

sent out a press release days ago:

Mayor Eddie A. Perez is calling on the people of the City of Hartford to turn
their outrage into action in the wake of recent incidents that have plagued the Capital City.

In a news conference with city leaders, business owners, clergy, and family members of victims,
Mayor Perez says, “We are here to stand together as a community and a city and send a clear
message: We are not going to let anybody take away the progress we have made to make
Hartford a safer city.”

The group was unanimous in their feelings that the “City of Hope and Opportunity” is filled with
law-abiding citizens who partner with police every day to make Hartford more vibrant. That
was made clear by announcing the fact that four 9-1-1 calls were made within one minute
of an elderly gentleman being struck on Park Street.

Joining Mayor Perez were Council President Calixto Torres, Majority Leader rJo Winch,
Minority Leader Larry Deutsch, Councilman Luis Cotto, Angel Sierra of SAMA (Spanish
American Business Association), businessman Carlos Lopez, Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts,
Superintendent Steven Adamowski, and Bishop Jeremiah Torres. Together they shared their
feelings of devastation about the acts of violence and prayed for the families. Angel Arce, whose
father is the victim in the dramatic video, shared in this collective plea for Hartford to continue to
show compassion and bring this and other crime cases to justice.

Mayor Perez says, “As a community, we have made the city safer over the past few years,
however, it is also true that these terrible acts that have harmed our community show we still
have a long way to go. Again, we as a city must turn our outrage into action and become full
partners in the drive to build on our progress.”

When I write about these issues, I feel like I am in my classroom, teaching about logical fallacies. It’s no surprise why quite a few students enter with the belief that one can only be entirely for or entirely against something–society emphasizes this kind of thinking. It is possible to have many emotions while at the same time understanding facts and statistics.

reminds readers that witnesses might be hesitant to act because they could be sizing up the situation. If it is true that the hit-and-run happened after a car was following another at high speed, then there’s a chance that the situation was not over. Last year I called the police when there was some kind of dispute happening on the street. Of course, the cops never showed for that one. After the people involved seemed to disperse, they reappeared in the same location a few minutes later, having raced around the block. Thing is, it’s easy to judge a situation when one is not in the middle of it.

explains why there can be hesitation to call the police. This is something that I have experienced when witnessing various activities that could have been crimes, or could have been something totally innocuous. Obviously, someone hit by a car would need help, but we can’t pretend that everything that happens is that cut-and-dry. And, most importantly, I think is that we can’t pretend that Hartford is an island experiencing unique problems. Again, let me remind that insidious crimes occur in the suburbs, and people routinely turn their heads. Instead of it being a hit and run, maybe the crime is domestic violence, a young teen developing a drug addiction, or incest. To be honest, I’m more understanding of someone being emotionally paralyzed after witnessing a singular horrific accident or crime, than I am of someone who refuses to act during a long term problem.

So, while Hartford is being (once again) cast as the villain, wonderful things are happening here. I’ll get to that in a minute, but I think we can’t lose sight of this. Last week, someone was brutally mugged, someone else was hit by a car, and someone’s decomposed remains were found in a basement. But, I think the norm here is to help others out, to not rob, to not ignore a situation, to be friendly. From now on, I might keep track of how many days I am able to safely walk to work or elsewhere. I should document the ways in which people do not behave like barbarians, because nobody is going to get this perspective from reading the newspaper. My neighbors hold doors for me. They’ve helped me when my bag of groceries bust in the elevator. People say hello when they pass. It’s not perfect. There’s broken glass and dog shit on the sidewalk; people crank their music and drive recklessly…but the extremes of gross behavior that we hear about are not the norm. Not by a long shot.

On Thursday there was a discussion at the library about discord between gays and transfolk in the GLBTI community. (And for the record, I spent a few hours there beforehand, and did not come upon anybody having sex in the bathroom, looking at porn on the computers, or stealing books) Not everyone agreed on where the problem was or even how to resolve it, but the conversation was civil and interesting. There was talk about youth outreach (to prevent suicide and keep kids off the streets), being a triple minority (black, female, and gay), recognizing the different pieces of ourselves, not letting others define us (coming up with our own labels, whether they be “queer,” “trans,” “genderqueer,” etc), and how being a parent can complicate how and when we decide to come out. I forget who said it, but my favorite thing said was this: “People who were happiest were living their lives in an uncompromising fashion.” Amen!

I left the discussion a few minutes early to get down to the park so that I’d catch some of the blues festival. Talk about diversity! There were bikers, bicyclists, families, teens, and that after-work crowd. Between the police presence and ample portapotties, event planners went out of the way to make concert goers feel safe and comfortable.

There are plenty more reasons to come into Hartford this summer. The City of Hartford website lists some upcoming events. On Tuesday, CCSU’s Institute for Regional and Municipal Policy, Soujourn Theatre, and HartBeat Ensemble will be having a presentation with time for community discussion on why “Connecticut has lost more young adults ages 25-34, since 2000, at a faster rate than any other state in the country.” This will be from 8:30-9:45 in the Hartford City Hall Atrium, and from noon to 1:15 at the Legislative Office Building in room 2B.

There will be a series of free events at the Riverfront, including: