Undercurrents

It’s a pretty well-known fact if you’re one of the millions of people who read your daily newspaper online. Many papers, including the Courant, provide some form of “public forum” that allows readers (or anyone) to post comments on a specific news item. Some are tightly moderated, or require that you register before you can post. Others, like the Topix forums to which the Courant articles link, can be used and abused by just about anyone. (more…)

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I spent eight minutes with Dennis House in an interview that will be aired Sunday morning at 11 on WFSB’s “Face the State.”  I think I was able to keep my seething core from blowing on camera, but I did manage to utter ”thug” and “fascist.”  Check it out.  And if you haven’t signed my petition, drop me an email at sfournier1945@yahoo.com  and I’ll pay you a visit. 

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I guess the verdict is in: we who live in Hartford are hideous. Look away!!

There is a dissenting voice though, here and there.

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I just watched the infamous Park Street hit-and-run video and I didn’t reach the conclusion that the victim was ignored by bystanders. Less than a minute after the man was hit, several bystanders walked out into the road towards him. Less than ninety seconds after the accident a police car drove to the scene and he was attended to. It is true that several cars continued to drive by. You have to wonder what they were thinking. I chalk it up to the fact that some people have the notion that someone else will make the 911 call. But to me, the video clearly shows that a group of people walked out into the road to help this man before the police car pulled up.

What I would like to know is how did this incident take on the spin of callous city dwellers ignoring someone in distress? I see this more as the media creating a story where there was none. And then there are the wingnuts who take the distortion and add their own coat of slime. To call the hit-and-run accident a “Genovese moment” is breathtakingly stupid.

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“Over and Over again we told them, and they still don’t want to listen” said Claude Holcomb to Richard Nelson of Queers Without Borders. Claude is the founder of ADAPT CT, an organization that has been working for 7 months attempting to get the city of Hartford and the Hartford Public Library to fix a big mistake: The city of Hartford spent $42 Million on expansion and renovation of the main library. A state of the art expansion where they even put in a fine new ramp to get from street level up to the entrance ~ but guess what? They forgot to make the doors accessible for people in wheel chairs. No button. No automatic door opener. Claude told Queers Without Borders that in researching this issue, that the cost of a button and automatic door is around $2,000 dollars. Not very much at all. Yet the city says that they can’t put in a button because the door is glass (an engineering conundrum?, we don’t think so). To add insult to injury, those needing accessible access are being told: “Go around to the back, that’s accessible.” Makes sense, beautiful front door for everyone (oops, unless of course you happen to be in a wheelchair!) All are welcomed to come to the meeting on May 23rd at 4:30 pm. The meeting will be held at 24 Park Place which is Park Place Towers, the 2nd building from the street. After reading this blog entry, we encourage you to contact Susan McMullen City of Hartford Director of Constituent Services (757-9525) and express your outrage at this clear violation of making all City space fully welcoming and accessible to all peoples. Separate but equal access cannot be tolerated. (more…)

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This Thursday May 22nd is the opening day of the Farmers’ Market at Billings Forge.  The market is located on Broad St. between Capitol and Russ, right next to the Firebox Restaurant.  Chef Jason Collin will be giving a cooking demonstration at 12:30 pm.

After last year’s successful first season the market will be open Mondays and Thursdays from 11 am to 2 pm with twice the vendors, prepared foods, picnic tables, and live music through the month of October.  Please visit their website for more information at www.hartfordfarmersmarket.org.

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I just saw Dessa Rose, the main stage production of the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. It’s not your run-of-the-mill high school play. These kids kick ass and take no prisoners. Public education at its finest. Students come from participating towns in central Connecticut. Great acting, singing, dancing, live music by students and a few ringers. Call 860-757-6388 for tickets. The theater is at 359 Washington St., Hartford. Parking garage adjacent to the theater or park on the mean streets of Hartford. We did. Show times Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

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Bush was in Hartford on Friday, and, on very short notice, local antiwar groups organized a demonstration. Bush was due at the Northwest Boys and Girls Club sometime after ten a.m. to talk about controlling malaria. The club is on Granby Street, a few hundred feet north of Weaver High School and just down the hill from Mark Twain School.

Granby Street was blocked at Manchester Street, about a quarter mile from the club, and I had to take Lyme Street to Durham Street. All the adjacent streets were barricaded. I arrived at about 10:30 to find, about a half-block away from the closest unbarricaded street, a crowd of about 200 people loosely assembled on the school playing field. Some were pressed against a makeshift snow fence that had been erected for the occasion. The area where the crowd was assembled and the club where Bush was to be speaking are separated by a city-block-sized soccer field and Granby Street. The armed men on the roof of the club could hardly be made out from where we were, and a man with binoculars pointed them out to me. I had to pass a phalanx of plainclothes and uniformed officers to get to this designated free-speech area. (more…)

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As a candidate for Congress, I’m in the process of collecting signatures on a nominating petition, and the signers have to be registered voters to be counted. I used to register people to vote using a sheaf of registration forms supplied by the Hartford Registrar of Voters, and so I thought I’d better get some forms for people who want to sign my petition but aren’t registered here.

(more…)

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Thursday night at 6 pm the Capitol Region Council of Governments is hosting a public meeting to discuss ideas to make the Hartford region more bike and pedestrian friendly.  The meeting will be at the downtown branch of the Hartford Public Library (500 Main St.).

Any thoughts to get things kickstarted?

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