InvisiCross

There was a lot of hoopla over the installation of a new cross at Waterbury's Holy Land this June. This is the third cross at that site. The previous cross was an enormous beacon, lit from inside at night, that dominated the skyline. If you were driving along the highway, you couldn't miss it. Thousands of people who never got off the highway refer to Waterbury as "that town with the cross."

The new cross is comparatively small, delicate and graceful. It is also very nearly invisible at certain times of day. When the light hits it just right, you have to know it's there in order to see it. Rather than being lit from within, it's illuminated by spotlights, which is certainly more tasteful than the giant glowing cross we've all been accustomed to.




The reported cost of the new cross is $250,000. That seems like a huge amount of money for something so simple. I can't help thinking about all the many quality-of-life improvements that could have been made with a quarter million dollars. A new cross seems frivolous. But maybe this is the first step in a process to at least partially restore Holy Land.

North Square Murals

If you pay attention, you'll notice murals all over Waterbury. The North Square area seems to have the largest concentration, varying in subject and age, but mostly connected to the PRIDE Cultural Center and New Opportunities.











(Gabe's United Tyre is next door to PRIDE, and the mural on the tire shop is really a continuation of the PRIDE murals.)

This pair of murals (above and below) surround the parking lot at the corner of North Elm and Cherry Streets, near the New Opportunities building.

Many of the North Square murals are fairly old, remnants of efforts to revitalize a neighborhood that was devastated first by riots in the late '60s and then by poverty and neglect throughout the 1970s. There are pocket neighborhoods throughout the city that have yet to recover from the loss of the factory jobs that helped build those neighborhoods.

This last bit of outdoor art is in the same neighborhood (Cherry Street), but it's more recent and much more light-hearted--since it was created for Bender Plumbing Supply (in the former Benrus watch case factory), there is a toilet, tub and bathroom sink scattered about the undersea design.

ParkCard

I've been hearing rumors that there is a special card for the parking meters downtown. If you look at the meters, you can see a slot on the side for the card. I've haven't seen one of the cards yet, but maybe I'll take the time to get one soon.

The advantage of using the card is that you don't need quarters, dimes or nickels, and you can use the card to secure the maximum time available on the meter, but then get a refund if you don't use all the time. The downside is that the card costs $5, but if you park at meters often enough, the convenience and the money you save by refunding the unused minutes probably balances out the initial card cost.

ParkCards can be purchased and reloaded with minutes at the Waterbury Police Parking Division office, 210 Bank Street (at the corner of Grand Street), Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Their phone number is 574-6721. (A word of caution: I've heard that you buy the card at the Bank Street office, but that you have to take the card to the Police Department on East Main Street to load it, so allow some extra time for getting the card. Or wait for me to try it out and blog about it!)

Bird Watching

After writing about the bird lover on Ashley Street, I heard a knock-knock-knock sound in my backyard and snapped this shot of a downy woodpecker.

Conflicting Reports

I wasn't able to go to last weekend's performance in Library Park by the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra. The Republican-American ran a very short article about it the next day. As described in the newspaper, only 150 people attended and the highlight of the performance happened when the police had to force a man to leave because he was getting in the way of the filming of the performance. Based on the newspaper coverage, I was left thinking that this was an event that was worth missing.

Then I talked to a couple of people who attended the performance from start to finish. They estimated a crowd of at least 500 people, and in their minds the highlight was an adorable little girl who was brought onstage to conduct one piece. In the newspaper report, the incident with the man who was in the way sounded dramatic and scary. According to the people I talked to, the incident wasn't newsworthy: the man in question is mildly retarded and was simply enjoying the music, unable to understand that he was in the way. Because it was a hot day, the crowd was spread throughout Library Park's shady areas. The best guess is that the reporter stopped by for five minutes, didn't look around the park to see how many people were really there, and make a big deal out of something that was barely memorable.

Over the past ten years, I think I've heard nearly every downtown organization complain about the newspaper's coverage of their events. The consensus seems to be that the Rep-Am prefers to publish bad news only about downtown. This is a large part of the reason that downtown has a bad image. If the article about the WSO performance had been written by the folks I talked to, everyone who read it would have wished they had been there to enjoy a great afternoon of music. Instead, I'll bet most people who read the published article felt glad they weren't there.

Bird Lover

Here's a good example of why I like living in Waterbury:

This morning I decided to walk to downtown. I needed to pick up one of my paintings from Goldsmith's, and I wanted to get a few things from the Farmer's Market on the Green. From where I live, it's about a twenty minute walk, and I really need to get at least twenty minutes of exercise every day, so it's a good thing to do. I also wanted to get a few photos for some upcoming blog posts, so my walk meandered a bit.

I stopped on Ashley Street to take a photograph and started talking to a guy who was washing his truck in his driveway. He wanted to know if I was taking photos of birds. Then he told me that about his mom, Carmen Narvaez. She plays music (Puerto Rican, I assumed, from what I heard and from knowing that they're Puerto Rican) to attract birds to their house. From what her son told me, this works really well. They get every type of bird in Waterbury, including a mystery bird that's yellow with brown wings (maybe a goldfinch???). Mrs. Narvaez is even taking care of a bird that was attacked and injured by a squirrel.

This is my Waterbury. I can go for a walk, stroll down a side street I've never been on before, meet people from different countries and cultures, learn something new, and have interesting conversations with total strangers. It's the sort of thing that would never happen in the suburbs.

Meadow Street, Pine Street

Here's another one of my paintings, completed only yesterday. This is actually the second painting I started, back in 2006. I abandoned it for a while, because I didn't have the necessary skills yet. Then I discovered Copal oil, and my skill leaped forward rapidly. Copal is fantastic for working in thin layers. I'm still not at my full skill level yet, but I can see myself improving with every painting, and the last three paintings all have small areas that are the equal of highly regarded artworks done at the height of the artists' careers. I'm getting there. I just have to keep at it.




This next painting was completed a couple months ago. I need to retake the photograph, after I get the painting back from being framed at Goldsmith's on Bank Street. Photographing paintings is tricky. You need bright, indirect light so the image won't be grainy, the colors will be accurate, and there won't be any glare from the glossy paint surface. Today I discovered that my front porch on a bright sunny day has ideal lighting for photographing paintings.



Both paintings are available for purchase. $360 for Pine Street, $450 for Meadow Street. My painting of East Main Street is currently on view at John Bale Books, with a negotiable price.

Evenings Downtown

There are a gradually increasing number of things to do after work in downtown Waterbury. Here's a short list, just off the top of my head:

Mondays: live jazz at Vintage on Bank Street
Tuesdays: "Terrific Tuesdays" at the First Congregational Church on West Main Street--live music and bbq dinner
Wednesdays: Open Mic Night at Boru's
First Thursday every month: live music and refreshments at the Mattatuck Museum
Third Thursday every month: Young Professionals Networking happy hour (http://www.xyng.org/)

Plus, of course, special events like Shakesperience Productions summer performances in Library Park and whatever is showing at the Palace Theater. And the regular, every-day things like great restaurants.

Farmers' Market

The Farmers Market on the Green started again today. Like last year, it's held every Thursday, 11am-3pm, until late October. Payment options are cash, WIC and EBT/food stamps. Below are some photos from this afternoon.

Hydroponic greenhouse tomatoes:

The hydroponic lettuce, always my favorite:

Tony's Seafood on ice:

The lobsters were very tempting.... if only I weren't sticking to a tight budget!

Some decorative flowers:

The Italian Ice truck:

Bantam Bread Company, mostly sold out by 2pm:

A diverse variety of oils, with some bread for sampling:

Ornaments carved from the trunks of old Christmas trees:

Air Pollutants

Summer's here, and we're getting those miserable days where it's hot and humid and the air quality is poor, making it hard to breathe. I sometimes wonder what people did before air conditioning, but now I'm starting to think that maybe the air quality didn't get this bad before the twentieth century.

There's a website called AirNow that tracks the air quality across the country and gives advice on how to help reduce unhealthy air quality (like what we have right now, what I guess used to be called hazy, hot and humid, but is now all about ozone levels being too high).

The basics from the site certainly suggest that hot summer days weren't this bad over a century ago:

Bad Ozone. In the Earth's lower atmosphere, near ground level, ozone is formed when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources react chemically in the presence of sunlight. Ozone at ground level is a harmful air pollutant.

Days when ozone is expected to be high:
• Conserve electricity and set your air conditioner at a higher temperature.
• Choose a cleaner commute—share a ride to work or use public transportation. Bicycle or walk to errands when possible.
• Refuel cars and trucks after dusk.
• Combine errands and reduce trips.
• Limit engine idling.
• Use household, workshop,and garden chemicals in ways that keep evaporation to a minimum, or try to delay using them when poor air quality is forecast.

What You Can Do On A Daily Basis
• Choose a cleaner commute — car pool, use public transportation, bike or walk when possible.
• Combine errands to reduce "cold starts" of your car and avoid extended idling.
• Be sure your tires are properly inflated.
• Keep car, boat and other engines properly tuned, and avoid engines that smoke.
• Follow gasoline refueling instructions for efficient vapor recovery. Be careful not to spill fuel and always tighten your gas cap securely.
• Use environmentally safe paints and cleaning products whenever possible.
• Some products that you use at your home or office are made with smog-forming chemicals that can evaporate into the air when you use them. Follow manufacturers' recommendations for use and properly seal cleaners, paints, and other chemicals to prevent evaporation into the air.
• Conserve electricity. Consider setting your thermostat a little higher in the summer and lower in winter. Participate in local energy conservation programs. Look for the ENERGY STAR label when buying home or office equipment.
• Consider using gas logs instead of wood. If you use a wood-burning stove or fireplace insert, make sure it meets EPA design specifications. Burn only dry, seasoned wood.


There's also a website where you can see the UV forecast, so you can do a better job of guessing at how much sunblock you'll need for the day.

The Other Side

Proof that Waterbury really is a "country" city: there are still cows in town, on Farmwood Road in Buck's Hill. It was a hot day when I took this photo, so you can see some of the cows are cooling off in Great Brook Reservoir.

Chili Tasting

The First Annual "Five Alarm Chili Tasting" is scheduled for July 27th, 12-4pm at the Waterville Fire House.

Sin Soon

If the recorded visits to this blog are a reliable indicator, it looks like Sin City is the biggest thing to happen to Waterbury in a long time. My blog's had hundreds of visitors looking for info on the new nightclub (which opens Thursday), and they're located across a wide-spread area: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. Freight Street is going to be jam-packed this weekend!

Photos from the July 3rd opening night:

Gessler

I think I first started hearing Tom Gessler's name a year or two ago. I don't know a lot about him directly, except the "buzz" that he's a New York real estate investor who owns a few properties in downtown Waterbury. The other major downtown property owner is Phil Nargi, who lives in Waterbury and hangs out downtown. While I certainly don't agree with everything Nargi's said and done, at least he's involved in the community. I don't know that I've ever seen Gessler around, and I have no idea where he lives. He has a couple of companies for his investments, but when I try to research them online, it's like they don't exist. Gessler's name appears nowhere in the city assessor's website.

I did a little further digging, and found that Gessler, through the guise of "Leavenworth & West Main, LLC", based in Hamden, is the owner of the former Mattatuck Museum building at 119 West Main Street. Gessler purchased the building many years ago and almost immediately replaced the beautiful wrought iron fence with a chain link fence nailed a board over the front door, effectively defacing the oldest building on the Green. Nothing has been done with the building since then. I can't help but wonder what he did with the original fence. Is it stored on site or did he sell it?

Gessler also owns the property where the city Health Department currently rents space (on a side note: why are city departments renting space? this makes no economic sense at all!). When their lease was about to expire, they naturally started looking for cheaper rent. They found it on Bank Street, in the former Jones Morgan building, which is owned by Phil Nargi. The city agreed to lease office and clinic space from Nargi. When Gessler found out he was losing his tenant, he threw a fit and started complaining to everyone he could. This launched the enormous public debate over the location of the health clinic earlier this year. (Please don't take my chronology as hard fact--this is my second and third hand reconstruction of what happened.) Gessler's supporters insisted that moving the health clinic from Scovill Street to Bank Street would destroy downtown development. Lynnette Letsky-Piombo addressed the Board of Aldermen and said that Gessler is planning to invest $7.5 million in downtown Waterbury, therefore we should do what he wants. This was the most chilling, disturbing thing I had heard in a long time. I know I'm exaggerating here, but how is this different from prostitution? Do whatever he wants, because he says he's going to pay enough money later on?

This past week, the Board of Aldermen finally voted to honor the contract with Nargi for the Health Center to move to Bank Street. In my mind, that debate boiled down to a couple of key ingredients: the vast majority of downtown business owners spoke out in favor of the move; and the city had already entered into an agreement for the new lease. Gessler responded to the BoA vote by throwing a staged tantrum. He claims that the relocation of the Health Clinic to Bank Street makes the Lombard Building, at Exchange Place, a bad investment for him. Therefore, he will no longer continue his negotiations to purchase, renovate and enlarge (with two new floors) that building. Seventy-five downtown merchants believe the relocation will improve business downtown. And, as the Republican-American pointed out, Gessler's negotiations to purchase the Lombard Building were already in jeopardy, given that the building is chock-full of asbestos and other toxins. Sounds to me like he's using the clinic move as an excuse to back out of his deal. Just as well, as far as I'm concerned. Downtown Waterbury is full of empty upper stories. Adding two more floors to the Lombard Building is not what downtown needs.

Gessler doesn't seem to be doing any good for Waterbury. He's defaced a well-loved historic building, attempted to manipulate the proper course of government through sleazy tactics, and there's no indication that he's involved with or cares about the community. Maybe I'm completely wrong about him, but I really have not seen or heard anything about him to make me think that he's worth having in town. Hm. Okay, I take that back. He does seem to hire good property managers. Much better than Sy Management, which is constantly in the news for not maintaining the basic necessities in their buildings. But decent property management doesn't make up for Gessler's low points. Waterbury deserves better.

Smoke Free

The latest bar buzz in town is that the new owners of T-Pic's have declared the bar to be smoke-free. For all of us non-smokers who like no-frills, cheap bars that aren't overpopulated with 21-year-olds, this is great news. The smokers are feeling a little sad about it, but there probably are a couple of other places in the region that still ignore the no-smoking law. If not, well, I guess they'll have to stay home or curb their habit.

Hamlet in the Park

The annual performance in Library Park by Shakesperience Productions, Inc. begins this Thursday, June 19. They do a different performance every year--this time it's Hamlet. I tried to persuade them to cast me in the lead role, but Dan wouldn't have it, so instead I will content myself with being in the audience.

Picnic dinners can be purchased from the JoBa Cafe. Performances will be held June 19-21 and June 26-28. Picknicking at 6pm, performance at 6:30.

Full details available from the Shakesperience website.

Here are some photos from the June 19 performance:

Wash Out!

Long Hill Road has never been great for pedestrians. Only half the road has sidewalks, and most of the sidewalks are barely wide enough for one person, never mind someone in a wheelchair. The road isn't really wide enough for a shoulder, so pedestrians, whether on the sidewalk or the side of the road, are walking only a foot or two away from traffic that often goes much faster than the posted speed limit.

As if all of that weren't hazardous enough, now there are giant gouges where the road has washed out, primarily because the road was built without adequate drainage.

















This next image is a storm drain (is that what they're called?) on Oak Street, next to Long Hill. I don't know how well you can see in the photo, but it is large enough for a young child to fall in.

Sin City

Waterbury finally has a night life! Sin City's grand opening is July 3rd. Check them out at myspace.com/sincityct.

Indoor Water Park

The indoor water park at what is now the Holiday Inn waaay out East Main Street is nearing completion. Every time I drive by, I'm startled to see the construction.



I believe its name is/will be Coco Key Water Resort. The corporation has similar indoor water parks in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati and several other cities.

I guess we can add this to the list of things that make Waterbury a good place to be a kid!

Meanwhile.... While you wait for the water park to open, don't forget about Quassy Amusement Park, on the lake in Middlebury. They have a beach, paddle boats, a water slide, and a "saturation station" to keep you waterlogged all summer!

Open House Day

Saturday, June 14, is Connecticut Open House Day. Museums and other arts organizations around the state will be free to all visitors this day. Many will be offering special programs. Participating organizations here in Waterbury include:

House on the Hill B&B (this is one of the great old homes of the Hillside neighborhood--definitely worth a visit!)
Mattatuck Museum
Palace Theater
Seven Angels Theatre
Timex Museum
Waterbury Symphony Orchestra

Be sure to check for their hours before dropping by!

State of the Groceries

Waterbury's down another grocery store with the closing of Price Chopper this month. According to the company, they are closing the store because it has been "under performing." That seems a little fishy, considering that it's been voted best grocery store in Waterbury. Perhaps not coincidentally, there have apparently been ongoing squabbling between Waterbury's Price Chopper and the United Food & Commercial Workers Union (Local 371). Maybe a month before Price Chopper announced that they would be closing the Waterbury store, Waterbury residents received a postcard mailing from the union asking us not to shop at Price Chopper, because the store "pays non-union substandard wages." I vaguely remember the union doing a similar mailing and newspaper advertising roughly a year ago. Maybe the union protest had more to do with the store closing than anything else.

Meanwhile, a new grocery store has opened downtown in the Colonial Plaza on Thomaston Avenue. Compare Foods is really great. The prices are low and the selection is fantastic. An article in the Republican-American about their opening stated the the manager spent a year studying Waterbury's communities and shopping habits, and has tried to meet the grocery needs of everyone. I can't speak for anyone else, but the store definitely does what I need. There are only one or two things I buy that they don't carry, and there are things they carry that I like and can't find anywhere else. The grocery store that preceded Compare Foods at the same site was very poorly managed (raw fish being sold from display stands in the middle of the store, rotting away). Compare Foods is nothing at all like that store--it's clean, well-stocked, and has great customer service.

Another new grocery topic is at Stop & Shop. They've gone "green" with their bags. If you purchase a green shopping bag for 99¢, every time you use it, you get five cents back. It doesn't take long for the bags to pay for themselves, and they are much better for carrying groceries than standard bags. The only glitch is that they aren't really all that green: they're made out of polypropylene. They're durable, but they're made from a substance that is not biodegradable and are not considered ecofriendly. Oops.

Bank Street Facades

A couple of buildings on Bank Street downtown are getting facade renovations. If you haven't been there lately, you should go check it out. If you can't get there, I've included some photos. Ideal Jewelers has removed their circa 1970 storefront facade and will be replacing with something that is a little more in keeping with the rest of the building's design (at least, that's the plan I saw a year ago). Maybe Goldsmith's facade will be next. 

I don't know what the plan is for the other building (on the corner of Bank and Center Streets), but it's nifty to see the decorative medallions that have been hidden by cement slabs for many decades.

Best Places--the kid's point of view

The recent ranking of Waterbury as one of the best places to raise a family got me thinking about the kid's view. Parents look for low crime rates, affordability, good schools. Kids, I think, just want to have plenty of fun things to do.

I lived in a lot of different places when I was growing up. The place I liked the least was Watertown. We lived in a lovely suburban neighborhood, where everyone had a large house and a large yard. And that was it. There was no where to go, nothing to do. In the winter, we sometimes went sledding over at Taft, but only if there was enough snow. Going downtown wasn't a lot of fun, since it was pretty much just a dangerous highway (there was one time when my friend and I were walking somewhere along Route 63, no sidewalk, and my dog got run over; the driver never slowed down or stopped, even though he had to have seen two young girls running across the street after the dog he just hit; the dog, miraculously, was fine).

I spent a fair amount of time in Waterbury and always had a good time. It was relatively easy to walk or bicycle to wherever I wanted to go, and there were places I wanted to go!

Thinking back, here are the things that I think make for a good place to be raised: parks and playgrounds; skating rinks; sledding hills; swimming pools; ample sidewalks; ice cream trucks; malls (I hate to admit to that one, but it's true); trees to climb; history and science museums; libraries with good children's departments; festivals and fairs; plenty of trees to keep the streets shaded during the hot summer months; and just enough adult supervision to keep the bullies in check and to help you when you fall out of the tree you were climbing.

Family Friendly

Waterbury has recently been ranked among the best places in the country to raise a family by BestLife magazine. We came in at number 43, after Stamford (#15). No other city or town from Connecticut made the list.

View more on MSN's website.

Grand Street Block Party

The Hops n Rock party is this Saturday, May 24, 7 to 11 pm. Admission is now free, so don't miss out!

Duck Season!

The third annual duck race on the Naugatuck River is coming up--the race begins at 2pm on June 1st, from the Whittemore bridge in Naugatuck. For full information and to buy your duck(s), visit www.duckday.org.

Block Party!

There was a party on my street last night that was organized as a fundraiser cookout for the daughter of Julius Sockwell, who was shot by a friend one year ago. It's a very tragic motivation for a party, but it's also a great memorial.

The party didn't really get going until around 5pm (and was over by 10pm). There was a DJ playing dance music, and probably close to a hundred people either sitting on their porches watching, dancing in the street, or hanging out on the sidewalk with friends. Maybe half the people were little kids--after a couple hours, I remembered that I had some left over chalk, so I brought that out for some of the kids to play with. I wound up talking to an older kid (maybe 10 or 11) about how guns are dangerous. He gave me the low-down on gangs in our neighborhood (I can now identify Crips and Bloods), and we talked about how there are better choices than joining a gang. It sounded like his mom and his aunt have been working hard to keep him out of trouble. It sounded like he was almost reciting what they had taught him.

The only real downside to the party is that they didn't shut down the street. There were a lot of drivers using the street as a cut-through to get somewhere else. Fortunately, the dancers were blocking the middle of the street--some of the drivers started out going too fast and might have hit one of the little kids running around, but they were forced to slow down and stop because of the crowd. The cops came by at one point and told the dancers to stay out of the middle of the road, which they did for a little while. Next year, the party organizers should get permission to shut the street down completely.

Panoramio

Google Maps has a new photographic feature through Panoramio.com -- anyone can upload photographs of buildings, parks, streetscapes, etc., and those images will show up whenever anyone views a Google map of the location. It's very cool. I just spend half an hour adding some of my Waterbury photos.

Users can search through the map, or they can search for keywords.

To access the Google map, go to maps.google.com, search for a location, and click the "Explore the Area" link to the left.

One thing to be aware of: photographs are pinpointed to the location from which they were taken. So, for example, some photographs of the Union Station clock tower are located over by the library.

Naugatuck River Race

I had to work yesterday, so I couldn't go to the canoe trip down the Naugatuck (from Waterbury to Beacon Falls). Maybe I'll do it on my own someday, when I'm feeling brave (I shudder to think of paddling past the sewage treatment plant at the wrong time of day).

The video is from the Republican-American website and has some nice shots of the river (you can download a copy by going to the rep-am.com multimedia page--they also have photographs online).

I hope more activities happen with the river. Keeping it clean is the first step.

New History at the Mattatuck

After 20 years, the history exhibit at the Mattatuck Museum has been taken down and replaced with something spectacular! The new exhibit tells the story of Waterbury and the region up to the present day. It includes open storage cases, bringing hundreds of collection objects out where you can see them. Familiar stories are told in new ways. A variety of technologies, from state-of-the-art to tried-and-true, allow you to explore in-depth or just plain have fun (there's something for nearly all ages).

Opening day is this Saturday, with free admission all day long, and a ribbon cutting ceremony at 11am.