Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Broad Street, Make It "Shovel Ready"

A recent letter to Senator Handley, Representatives Thompson and Barry, Mayor Spaduccini, the Board of Directors and General Manager Shanley:

I would like to take this opportunity to advocate for the Broad Street Streetscape and Revitalization project to be number one on Manchester's "Shovel Ready" list. This area of Manchester has been studied, discussed and hotly debated since I became a resident of Manchester in 2002, if not longer. Action on this area of Manchester looked promising with the 2003 report from the Parkade/Broad Street Revitalization Steering Committee, and then again in 2005 with the Conceptual Design Report from BL Companies. Even a citizen lead effort on one portion of Broad Street, the now infamous Manchester Parkade, made an attempt to move on this vital area in our town. All have fallen short of what is possible.

When I first read of Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan for infrastructure projects, my first thought was of Broad Street and the Parkade. I believe that this area of Manchester, and Connecticut for that matter, has the potential to fulfill many needs and ideas in today's commercial and political climate. Whatever buzzwords that you choose, be it Smart Growth, New Urbanism, or Green Building, Manchester has an opportunity like no other inner-ring suburb of Hartford. With medium to high density, multi-use zoning, along with public and private redevelopment, Manchester would have the ability to attract and retain Connecticut's college graduates with businesses, housing and activities to suit their needs. With redevelopement on Broad Street, our town would also be able to attract young families, and active seniors. In your positions I am sure that you are privy to, or have been briefed on, a great deal of information on these subjects. I do not wish to repeat them in the interest of brevity.

Please forgive my bluntness, but the section of Broad Street from Center Street to West Middle Turnpike, measuring a mere two-thirds of a mile, is a commercial cancer that is slowly eating away at the heart of Manchester. I am sure that there are many other projects that may be closer to "shovel ready," or easier politically. I beseech you to not pick the low-hanging fruit, but to shoot for the moon and put your full combined weight behind this area of our town. Please, do not let another five years or even a decade go buy on this. Bring together Manchester, CRCOG and state agencies to get these projects off the drawing board and make it a reality. Take Manchester's working class roots and make it an example of what is possible.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas


Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at
Christmas-time.

-Laura Ingalls Wilder


Peace and good tidings from my family to yours during this holiday season.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Independent ≠ Indecisive

I choose to be unaffiliated. I choose to not bridle myself to a party line. I refuse labels, avoid pigeon-holes, and otherwise try to steer clear of anything that would allow a neat and tidy package to be wrapped around my thoughts, opinions or allow people to assume “where I am coming from.” As soon as someone assumes something about me, I'm concerned that they are no longer listening to what I have to say without coloring it with a prepackaged and presumptive label. I'm a reasonably intelligent citizen, not a demographic.

If you are a registered political party member, do you believe that those who are not are somehow indecisive, fence sitting, weather vanes waiting to see which way the wind will blow? If so, why? Shouldn't you be more concerned that you are surrounded by people who mostly agree with you? It's easy to have an opinion if everyone around you agrees with you.

The media loves to label people. Look at local articles from the Hartford Courant or the Journal Inquirer written about events surrounding BOD or BOE meetings and hot political issues. It usually follows this form:

Issue X is supported by This Party, and opposed by That Party. Director Umpty Squat may have a valid position on Issue X and is quoted in the paper: “I feel that because of these very well thought out and logical reasons, I cannot support this issue,” says Director Squat, a That Party member.

There it is at the end, the party label. As if to say, “oh... of course he opposes it, he is a member of That Party.” What if you are a member of This Party and you agree with the reasoning of Director Squat? Does that mean that you can't publicly agree and vote with him on Issue X because he is a member of That Party?

I am often encouraged by the writings of, and books about the founding fathers of our republic. Their acumen should be known by more than just the learned, or people who have an interest in history or government. I think most people would be amazed at how relevant their wisdom is, even after more than two hundred years. One of my reasons for being unabashedly unaffiliated is George Washington's open letter to the people of the United States published in most of the country's newspapers at the conclusion of his second presidential term in 1796.

In one of the subjects of this farewell letter, President Washington warned the American people, “in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party.” He went on to write that partisanship, “serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms,” and that political parties also, “kindles the animosity of one part against another.”

I ask you, doesn't that sound like the status quo at all political levels of municipal, state and federal government? Making mountains out of mole hills to distract us. Lighting fires of animosities against each other, and then fervently fanning the flames. Without looking through the lens of a political party can make some things I read in the paper, or on local message boards seem outright ridiculous. Especially after seeing that this has been going on for centuries.

Please, I ask those who are of the opinion that unaffiliated voters are indecisive to not confuse party loyalty with integrity. They are not the same thing.

I leave you with a final thought from F. Scott Fitzgerald:

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

I Manage To Find The Time...

AP study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank execs...

Ok, the main subject of the article linked above is infuriating enough, but here is what put a bur under my saddle:

"Goldman Sachs' tab for leased cars and drivers ran as high as $233,000 per executive. The firm told its shareholders this year that financial counseling and chauffeurs are important in giving executives more time to focus on their jobs."

Wow, I have to focus on my job and give my company 100% for at least eight hours a day (most days it's nine hours), and drive myself to and from work, and do my share of household chores, and be a father, and be a husband, and still be expected wake up and do it all over again the next day, and the day after that. Most days I'm happy to be able to put in a hard day's work. All this and Phil Gramm has the nerve to call us the whiners!?
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Republished copies of complete columns or portions of columns published here must be attributed with the following by line: "Silk City Independent, Manchester, Connecticut" followed by this blog's URL: http://silkcityindependent.blogspot.com/