Waterbury City Hall

Waterbury's City Hall building is one of our great treasures. It was designed by Cass Gilbert (architect of NYC's Woolworth Building and the U.S. Supreme Court building) and built in 1914. Along with the four other Cass Gilbert buildings surrounding it, City Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places. The building, however, is now yet another victim of our unpleasant recent past. Maintenance of the building was neglected for a long time, and it was further damaged by flooding from a sabotaged water pipe.


The ceiling of the front lobby. This looks like it mostly needs some fresh paint.

A proposal to appropriate and issue bonds for $48 million, to be used for the renovation of the building and the construction of a new firehouse on East Main Street, was rejected by voters on election day. I can certainly understand why some voters are afraid that the funds will be misappropriated, since that sort of thing happened frequently when Giordano was mayor. However, Giordano is long gone, and current-mayor Jarjura has not done anything to suggest he would misappropriate funds.


The ceiling of the stairwell... more fresh paint needed.

When the Palace Theater was still in worse shape than City Hall is now, there were plenty of people in Waterbury who didn't want to see it restored. They said it would cost too much, that it wasn't worth the effort, that the money would just get stolen by crooked developers, that we would be better off tearing it down (this idea makes me angry--we have these fabulous, beautiful, historic buildings; replacing them with something of equal quality would cost more than renovation; replacing them with something cheaper would be a tragedy).


A view up the main stairwell of Waterbury's city hall. How could anyone in their right mind suggest tearing this down???

All the same arguments against restoring the Palace are now being put forth against renovating City Hall. The Palace Theater was successfully renovated and is something we are all proud of. We should do the same for City Hall.


The bottom of a flag pole in front of City Hall.


The clock tower--it looks like the columns need to be scraped and repainted, and the dome might need some fresh gilding.


The window in the main stairwell. Again, how could anyone suggest destroying this? I'm very relieved that Jarjura has flatly stated that tearing it down is not going to happen. It would be such a nightmare if that were to happen! Waterbury would once again be ridiculed by the entire nation, and there would probably be a prolonged legal battle to prevent it from being destroyed.

The mayor will be meeting with the Board of Aldermen and the state oversight board on Tuesday next week to discuss options for saving city hall. At the very least, they need to bring it up to code so that it can be reoccupied. Renting office space is predicted to run as high as $800,000 a year. I don't like proposals to go ahead with the bonding even though it was voted down. Overriding the election results sets a bad precedent. If bonding really is the only way to go forward, then Jarjura should put some of his considerable funds into a campaign to save city hall and hold another referendum.

UPDATE 1/2/2011: Here are a few more shots I took the same day as the preceding images. For whatever reason, I didn't include them at the time.

Here's hoping we never see those vending machines return to the hallways!

For the Birds

A couple weeks ago, I set up a bird feeder outside my living room window. It took almost a week before any birds noticed it. And, as it turned out, it wasn't a bird that found it first. The birds didn't notice the food until after a squirrel had started tearing into the seed bell. At first I was annoyed at the squirrel, but then I realized that he was eating only one type of seed and scattering the rest onto the roof for the birds to eat.



There seem to be only two types of birds here: sparrows and one blue jay. The blue jay sits in the tree and yells at the sparrows until they make room for him. The squirrel pretty much ignores the birds and focusses on getting his prefered type of seed out of the little cage they're in. I had to use a metal twist tie to keep him from opening the cage door. I tried a string, but he pulled that open.



When the bird seed was all gone, the squirrel climbed up on the metal bar, looked at me somewhat insistently, and made a loud knocking noise. Pushy little critter. Smart too. He knew that the cats couldn't get him through the glass, and he certainly seemed to know that I was supplying the food. The birds were just opportunists, but the squirrel makes things happen.

Palace Marquee

Here's another thing I would have missed out on if I were driving instead of walking. On my way home from work last Friday, I wandered into the opening ceremony for the new Palace Theater marquee.


Here is the crowd waiting patiently through half an hour (or more!) of speeches. I had trouble with the acoustics where I was standing. The speakers' voices were loud enough (and Jarjura's was overly loud), but it was difficult to make out the individual words. I think that one of the speakers said something about gathering here again on New Year's Eve. I hope that's true. I would love to see a NYE celebration in downtown Waterbury.


Just after 7 p.m., the sign was turned on. Bright lights on East Main Street! It was very cool.


I was amused by the number of people, at least 30, taking photos of the sign with their cell phones. Plenty of news cameras were present as well.

Pine Grove Cemetery

I'm walking a lot more than I used to, and I'm seeing things that I would miss if I were driving. For example, this sign posted at the entrance to Pine Grove Cemetery. It sounds like there are plans to build a "telecommunications facility" (a 60x60 foot compound, including a cell phone tower) in the center of the cemetery. There is a public hearing scheduled for November 21st at City Hall. Full information is online at the CT Sitting Council website.





Here's the plan for the compound from the CSC website.


I wonder how many other things I miss when I drive instead of walk?

We Need a Better System

I did my duty and voted this afternoon. With two exceptions, I did not feel good about any of the candidates I voted for. Put simply, I did not like my choices. I was talking to someone about this yesterday, and we came up with an idea (for all I know, someone else has already put forth this idea) that might result in a better quality of public servants.

For each candidate, we should be able to vote Yes or No. Any candidate receiving more No than Yes votes is automatically disqualified. For each of the remaining candidates, should there be any, subtract the total number of No votes from the total number of Yes votes. Whoever ends up with the most number of Yes votes wins. If no candidate has more Yes than No votes, then we go find some new candidates.

In addition, there should be a clear job description for each position. The job description should be posted online and in the newspapers, accessible to everyone. The candidates would apply for the jobs in more-or-less the same way everyone else applies for a job--post resumes and references on their websites and in their mailings, and answer interview questions on television.

I think this would be a much more professional, responsible and civilized approach to elections. Any candidate trying to run a smear campaign against their opponants would be penalized.

Whoops!

The Republican-American has an election website up with some information about candidates, polling places, etc. I decided to give it a look this morning before going to to vote, just to make sure I'm decided about who I'm voting for. The website has an Election Day Countown clock, letting you know how many days left until Election Day. Today, which is election day (and it's only 10:15 in the morning, so I know the polls are still open), the clock reads "You missed it!"

Lieberman, Lamont & Schlesinger

We're a week away from the election, so things are starting to get ugly. Lieberman is retaining a significant lead in the polls over Lamont, and Schlesinger barely even registers, with only 8 percent of the presumed votes. For reasons that are completely a mystery to me, Waterbury is now being "blamed" for Lieberman's success, with Lamont supporters citing our recent history of convicted criminal politicians (ref. today's issue of the Republican-American).

I don't know what the demographics are for Lieberman's district, but it seems highly unlikely that all of his supporters are in this one city. Maybe there is a higher percentage of Lieberman supporters here than elsewhere in his district. The polls indicate that he has 73 percent of the Republican vote, and Waterbury probably does have more Republicans than the suburbs do. However, I think the real issue is that the Republican party, at least around here, never seems to have a viable candidate. How many people know or remember that Schlesinger is running? Come to think of it, remember when Giordano was the Republican candidate running against Lieberman? Even before his corruption charges, everyone knew that was a joke. It's not just Lieberman, either. Joan Hartley never has competition from the Republicans. Most years there isn't even a Republican candidate at all. In the Waterbury region, the Republican party is pretty much dead, even though there are plenty of registered Republicans (and in this case, I suspect most of them are voting for Lieberman in order to maintain the status quo). Is it like this in other places?

After reading today's article (about an article in the Providence Journal blasting Waterbury), I have the unpleasant feeling that Lieberman's win, should it happen, will be attributed to the support of "that evil city" Waterbury. It's unfair, not to mention irresponsible. If a journalist wants to talk about this being a politically corrupt city, then he should do some research and attack our current situation and politicians, not the ghosts of our past.

More Neighborhood Comparison

My first Halloween in my new neighborhood, just north of Hamilton Park, was a disappointment. The first trick-or-treater showed up at 6:45--just a boy and his dad, not even wearing real costumes, just wigs. A little after 7pm, a pack of twelve kids, plus parents, swooped up the street and made a good dent in my candy supply. I wish I had put out more in the bowl for them, because that was all I got for trick-or-treaters. Heck, there was only one other house on the street with any decorations up, and most of the houses were doing a good job of looking empty. There's no Halloween spirit here.

By contrast, my old neighborhood, near downtown, full of drug dealers and prostitutes, had tons of kids out trick-or-treating. They started at dusk, with the youngest kids out mostly between 5 and 7, followed by increasingly older kids. The younger kids always had on great costumes. It was a lot of fun. I miss my old neighborhood. It was noisy and had serious traffic problems, but people were a lot friendlier there. (Okay, some of them were a bit too friendly... my neighbor came home one day to find a crackhead sleeping on his couch...).

Palace Marquee

The new marquee for the Palace Theater in Waterbury is being installed today, replacing the flat metal sign that has been up since they reopened (although there was one day this summer when I saw the metal sign being reinstalled, which seemed odd). The new sign has an electronic display on the sides for promoting upcoming events.

Palace Theater's website: palacetheaterct.com

11/10/06 - Here's another photo from about a week later; banners have been bolted to the sides of the building, and pine trees have been placed out front... here comes Christmas!

Library books

I checked a book out of the Silas Bronson library at the start of the month. I need to read the book for my next book club meeting in November, but so far I haven't even started reading it yet. I started reading something else first (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay), and I want to finish reading that before starting Paris to the Moon. I started getting panicky about the library book--it's due back on November 1st--and I don't want to pay two weeks' worth of overdue fees just to get it read before my club meeting. Luckily for me, I had a vague memory about online library book renewals. I went to the library website, logged in using my card number, and I was able to renew my book in a few seconds. Yay! Modern technology is great!

Waterbury Brew Fest

The Brass City Brew Fest was held yesterday in Library Park. There were 180 different types of beer, both domestic (including Connecticut) and international (Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, Chinese, Austrian, Belgian, and so on). Also good music, courtesy of Carnegie Clapp, and good food from several Waterbury restaurants.

I'm still learning how to use the camera in my new cell phone, so unfortunately these aren't the best-quality images.


The beer was served under the tents. The crowd tended to gravitate towards the sun, where it was warmer.


This is always one of my favorite things: a van with a tap on the side.


A good beer from China.


Another good beer; this one seems to be named after my cat, only he's more evil than saintly.


More crowds of people having a good time.


Clapp & Friends playing great music for the beer drinkers. I think the seats and tables were empty because it was so extremely cold out and they were in the shade.

At one point I saw someone pour a beer they didn't like onto the ground. My first reaction was annoyance (litterbug!), but then I decided it was a nice libation for the people buried there (little known fact: the area immediately in front and behind the library was the first cemetery for Waterbury; when they built the library in the 1890s, most of the burials were left in place, either because the coffins were too deteriorated to move or because there were no family members left willing to spend the money to relocate the remains).

Chris Murphy

At the moment, I don't know much about Chris Murphy. I usually wait until closer to the election to do my research about who I will vote for. What I do know about Chris Murphy is that somebody really hates him. He must be doing well in the polls, making his opponants nervous. Twice a day, I receive recorded phone calls telling my that Chris Murphy has dark secrets suggesting that he might be a corrupt politician so don't vote for him.

I'm really really tired of getting called twice a day to hear recorded messages. At this point, I'm planning on voting for Murphy, just to get back at the harrassing phone calls.

Unsolicited political messages should be included on the "do not call" lists that block phone solicitations.

Waterbury Tax Collector

I received a mysterious and threatening letter in the mail today from the Waterbury Tax Collector's Office. It was a DEMAND NOTICE stating that I owe $10.37 in taxes, plus 31¢ interest, and that I had ten days in which to pay this bill or else the city would seize my vehicle. They sent the letter to my old address, and the time lapse for forwarding my mail seems to be about a week. So that means I have three days to hand over $10.68 if I want to keep my car.

The mystery is that I paid my taxes this summer. So I called up the tax collector to find out why I still owed $10.37 in taxes. I had a very difficult time getting a clear answer from the woman who answered the phone. She sounded like she didn't really understand what was going on either.

The tax bill I paid stated that it needed to be paid by July 1 and that it would be delinquent after August 1. Well, for one reason or another (probably because I moved in June), I didn't remember to pay it until August 16. I paid using a credit card. The city did not process the payment until the middle of September (which screwed up my budget calculations).

At first the woman in the tax collector's office said that the $10.37 was the late fee for August and September. When I suggested that it didn't seem fair to charge me a late fee for September, given that my payment arrived in August, she said that $5.70 was the interest they charge for credit card payments. When I pointed out that the bill stated that credit card fees were automatically taken out of my credit card, she said that the $10.37 was the late fee for July and August. At that point I gave up and did not ask why I was charged a late fee for July when the bill said delinquency didn't start until August 1.

I'm putting a check for the full amount in the mail today; it should arrive in their office tomorrow. I can't wait to see what happens next. If it takes them until some time in November to process the check, will they try to seize my car? or will they just send me another bill, this time with late fees for October and November?

More Pearl Lake Road

Alderman Arthur Denze has agreed to represent the residents of Pearl Lake Road in their fight against City Hall. Finally! Somebody willing to represent the people!

Sheila O'Malley, the mayor's chief of staff, was quoted by the Rep-Am as saying "Alderman Denze is entitled to put forward any resolution he sees fit, but the mayor has to concern himself with the safety and well-being of citizens who travel Pearl Lake Road. We will go forward with it because it needs to be done." This raises some questions for me.

Shouldn't the mayor also concern himself with the safety and well-being of citizens who LIVE on Pearl Lake Road?

WHO are these faceless citizens travelling the road? Why does the mayor care more about them than the citizens who live on the road?

Has anyone ever complained about the road being too dangerous? Have there been a lot of accidents caused by the road conditions?

I have driven on Pearl Lake Road many times, and as long as you obey the speed limit, there is no danger to the driver.

Maybe someone should fix it...

The downtown power grid blew up again last night. Sheesh! This seems to be happening more and more frequently. And this time the explosion caused a car to go up in flames. According to Jarjura (in the Republican-American), CL&P recently claimed that "all the power grids are in good order." And yet, following the last blow up on August 30, CL&P blamed the problem on the age of the power grid (it's 40 years old) and said that it would cost "millions and millions" to replace. "Millions and millions." Sounds to me like it needs replacing and they just don't want to do it. What if this had happened during Mardi Gros, when the downtown is packed with hundreds of little kids? This time a car was destroyed. Next time someone could get killed.

Neighborhoods

I used to live in a Waterbury neighborhood that scares most people. It has a high rate of unemployment, and a lot of police activity, because there are quite a few drug dealers, gun runners and prostitution.

I now live in a neighborhood that is mostly working class, with no sign of drug dealers, prostitutes or guns.

I lived in the "scary" neighborhood for two and half years. I never once had any trouble with my mail being stolen. Packages were delivered when I wasn't home and were left on the front porch. Sometimes I didn't realize the package was there for days. As far as I could tell, nobody ever considered stealing my stuff.

Yesterday a package was delivered to me in my new, "crime-free" neighborhood. I wasn't expecting it until today, so I didn't look for it last night. And, guess what? it was stolen. My downstairs neighbors saw the package and considered bringing it in for me, but didn't. This morning it was gone. On the bright side, Amazon.com's telephone representative in India assured me that my ordered will be redelivered on Monday, presumably at no extra charge.

At the moment, I'm feeling very charitable towards the drug dealers and prostitutes. Upscale society hates and fears them, but at least they respect other people's property.

Farmington Canal Greenway

One of my favorite things about living in Waterbury is that it's only a short drive to a linear park/greenway that starts in Cheshire. The trail was built along what was, at one point, the Farmington Canal and, at another point, the New Haven/Northampton Railway. It currently extends to Hamden, making it roughly 12 or 13 miles in length. Most of it is pretty much level, although the further south you go, the more hills there are.

As you can tell from the photo I took with my very old cell phone, it's a really nice trail, great for bicycles, rollerblades, jogging and walking. On the weekends and evenings, it's packed with people. It is wide enough for three or four bicycles, and is divided into two lanes, sometimes with a dirt path along the side for joggers.

Click here to visit the website for the trail.

I really hope they someday extend the trail its full length, all the way to New Haven. It would be even more amazing if they could build it all the way to Northampton, MA.

Target Acquired

As I was driving by Target today, I noticed that the parking lot was packed full of cars. The banner on the side of the store still says "Opening October 8," but according to what I overheard while I was there, it opened yesterday.

It's a pretty good store, much posher than the WalMart and not just because everything is all shiny and new. The goods are of a higher quality (for example, pajamas that are 100% cotton, instead of polyester (although they have those too)). There's a better selection, more variety, and more to choose from. They have a really nice selection of curtains, including a brand that is supposed to block out 99% of incoming light while also insulating against the cold. The grocery section is larger than WalMart's, although still small, and they don't have any craft supplies like yarn. The Halloween decorations were pretty uninspired, mostly just electric jack-o-lanterns (afterwards, I went to the shabby old K-Mart and found a really great pirate skeleton in a hanging cage -- it will look great on my porch).

Inside the Target there is a Starbucks (what does that bring us up to, three Starbucks in Waterbury? as opposed to maybe twelve or fifteen Dunkin' Donuts...) and a Pizza Hut Express (which is the only Pizza Hut in Waterbury).

Poverty

The Republican-American ran an article on Thursday, Sept. 28, summarizing a talk given for the United Way at Timexpo by Douglas Hall, associate director of research for Connecticut Voices for Children.

According to the article, 24 percent of Waterbury's children live in poverty, while the median income is $42,000 a year.

Twenty-four percent. It's depressing. There are community centers and other organizations throughout the city that help improve the lives of the kids that have it the hardest. I can only assume that they are giving them the guidance and the skills to make their lives better (but, gee, wouldn't it be nice if the minimum wage were high enough for the parents to not be in poverty despite working full time?).

There have been a few times when I've seen community organizations encourage children to be beggers. That really annoys me. The Long Hill community center sometimes has the kids stand out on the corner hollaring at drivers to put money in buckets for their fund raiser. School groups will sometimes stand outside the grocery store asking for donations. This is not good skill-building. This is teaching the kids that begging works and is perfectly okay. The kids aren't even selling bad candy bars or making a lame effort to wash cars.

I think I'm going to start looking into the different volunteer organizations to see what's going on, and do what I can to help.

Pearl Lake Road

The city wants to widen and straighten Pearl Lake Road. The people who live on the road have been fighting this for decades. Currently, the road twists and winds through a nicely wooded residential area. The speed limit is 25, but a lot of drivers use the road as a cut-through and go as fast as they can without crashing.

The city claims that widening and straightening the road will get rid of "serious safety concerns." Uh-huh. The road would be perfectly safe if drivers obeyed the speed limit. Straightening the road will make it less safe. Drivers will probably start going 50 mph along it, making it significantly less safe for anyone living there. Jarjura appears to be one of the drivers who uses it as a cut through. He's making big talk about pushing the plans through no matter what the residents think.

The city's plans include new drainage, but I haven't seen any mention of sidewalks. The city never puts in enough sidewalks. All the city road developments over the past several years have failed to consider the needs of pedestrians.

What really galls me is the dismissal of the concerns of people who live on the road, and the total lack of official concern about speeders. It's like the city is saying that speeding and reckless driving is encouraged.

Brass City Buzz

My favorite place for coffee, panini and wireless access is gone. Brass City Buzz, on East Main Street, closed last week without warning or explanation. The owner covered up the windows with paper and posted a few signs saying "Closed", "Gift Certificates can be redeemed by sending them to x address" and "Please deliver mail to Louie's Pizza next door." Even the store's website is gone. This week a large realtor's sign went up in one of the windows.

I'm really sad about this. I loved Brass City Buzz. The paninis were fabulous, the atmosphere was great, the location was convenient. The suddenness of the closing is unnerving. I hope everything is okay with Dave (the owner).

I don't approve this message...

I don't know when it started or why, but all of the political campaign commercials I've seen in the past month end with the candidate saying "I approve this message." Most of the commercials are narrated by the candidate, and most of them have the candidate as the only speaker.

Of course you approve the message! You just delivered it! It's your commercial!

It makes me wonder if there is a single ad agency responsible for all the commercials. Maybe there are only two or three, and they aren't creative enough to come up with anything else. It's annoying to the point where I'm almost willing to say that I will vote for any candidate who runs an ad that doesn't end with that statement. But, it would probably turn out to be a candidate I really don't like. On the other hand, I would love to see a candidate who isn't afraid to be different from all the other politicians.

Education Opportunity

From CNN.com -- Yale University said on Wednesday it will offer digital videos of some courses on the Internet for free, along with transcripts in several languages, in an effort to make the elite private school more accessible.

While Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others already offer course material online without charge, Yale is the first to focus on free video lectures, the New Haven, Connecticut-based school said.

The 18-month pilot project will provide videos, syllabi and transcripts for seven courses beginning in the 2007 academic year. They include "Introduction to the Old Testament," "Fundamentals of Physics" and "Introduction to Political Philosophy."

The courses cannot be counted toward a Yale degree, and educators say they are no substitute for actual teaching.

Students at Yale -- one of the nation's most exclusive schools and the alma mater of U.S. President George W. Bush -- can be expected to spend nearly $46,000 for this year's tuition, room and board.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for us to share a vital and central part of the Yale experience with those who, for whatever reason, are not in a position to pursue a Yale education at first hand," Yale President Richard Levin said in a written statement.

The project is funded by a $755,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

from Yale's website:
Yale University is producing digital videos of selected undergraduate courses that it will make available for free on the Internet through a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

The Open Educational Resources Video Lecture Project has received $755,000 for an 18-month pilot phase. The project will create multidimensional packages—including full transcripts in several languages, syllabi, and other course materials—for seven courses and design a web interface for these materials, to be launched in the fall of 2007. If the venture proves successful, Yale hopes to significantly expand its online offerings over the next few years. The new venture joins a growing number of university-based initiatives that use the Internet to make educational materials widely available.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for us to share a vital and central part of the Yale experience with those who, for whatever reason, are not in a position to pursue a Yale education at first hand,” said Yale University President Richard C. Levin.

“This exciting new venture is part of thinking more globally about the University and its reach beyond the walls of Yale,” said Diana E. E. Kleiner, Dunham Professor of the History of Art and Classics, who is directing the project.

“The Hewlett Foundation is committed to making high-quality educational content and tools freely available on the web by partnering with leading universities, said Marshall Smith, director of the Hewlett Foundation’s Education Program. “Yale’s commitment to open educational resources is a very important contribution to this goal.” Detailed information on the Yale project and others supported by Hewlett’s Open Educational Resources Initiative is on the Foundation’s web site.

While MIT’s OpenCourseWare model has been widely emulated, Yale will be the first university to tap the potential of digital video by combining course architecture with essentially complete sets of lectures from these courses, as presented by its faculty.

To create the online offerings that will introduce and test this new approach, Yale will draw on its recognized excellence in teaching across the full spectrum of liberal arts disciplines. Some of Yale’s most distinguished scholars are taking part. The three courses being taped this fall are:

Introduction to the Old Testament, with Christine Hayes, Robert F. and Patricia Ross Weis Professor of Religious Studies;
Fundamentals of Physics, with Ramamurti Shankar, John Randolph Huffman Professor and Chair of Physics;
Introduction to Political Philosophy, with Steven Smith, Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science.
Those whose courses are slated for taping next spring include Charles Bailyn, Thomas E. Donnelley Professor of Astronomy; Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology; and Langdon Hammer, Professor and Chair of English.
Handling the technical aspects of the project will be Yale’s Center for Media Initiatives.

Nancy Johnson

from WTNH.com:
Johnson TV spot: "A call is placed from New York to Pakistan. A terrorists plot may be unfolding. Should the government intercept that call or wait until the paperwork is filed? Nancy Johnson says; act immediately. Lives may be a stake. Liberal Chris Murphy says no, apply for a court warrant even if valuable time is lost."

Democratic challenger Chris Murphy says the spot purposely distorts his view.

"Current law allows you to intercept a communication at any time so long as you apply for a 'wiretap' after that communication has been intercepted. She knows that's my position and she's deliberately distorting it on the air," says Chris Murphy, (D) For Congress.

Yet another reason why I don't like Nancy Johnson... truly a career politician, happy to say whatever it takes to win votes, even if she is spreading dangerous misconceptions and making people more paranoid and bigoted. (For the record, I am not a Murphy supporter either. I don't yet know enough about him to know if I would vote for him or not.)

I met her once, a couple years ago. She was scheduled to attend an event where she gave out Congressional Art Awards to children. She showed up nearly an hour late, rushed inside, rushed the ceremony, and then rushed off, saying that her kids were waiting for her in the car. Didn't apologize, didn't pretend to care about the people who were excited to meet her--the same people she claims to represent. How can you represent us if you don't take the time to get to know us?

Shopping Amenity

I noticed today that Price Chopper has a dispenser of sanitary hand wipes at the entrance to their store. This is the sort of thing that I probably would have scoffed at in the past, but after recently getting laid low by the flu for the better part of a week, I have a greater appreciation for keeping my hands clean. Using the wipe was great, not because I was worried about germs on the handle of the shopping cart, but because I touched a very grubby handrail on the stairs at school and my hand still felt icky from it. It was also nice to have handy after selecting a steak; the bottom of the wrapping was wet and I got some on my hands before I put it in a bag.

Holy Cow!

My new motor vehicle registration sticker arrived in the mail today. It's huge! The stickers they've used until now were little one-inch squares that go in the corner of the rear license plate. I was very confused when I opened the mail and found a 2x3-inch sticker. For a brief moment, I wondered how it could possibly fit on my license plate. Then I noticed the diagram for placing it on the windshield.

The little FAQ included with the sticker says that the new location is intended to cut down on registration theft. It also says that the old registration sticker can be left on the license plate. Hm. I once got pulled over because my registration had expired (it hadn't really--the new sticker never arrived in the mail). It was a cop downtown who pulled me over, just as I was driving past the Green. I have never seen Waterbury cops go after anyone for speeding (lots of drivers do 50 in residential 25 zones) or running red lights & stop signs, but they pulled me over because it looked like my registration had expired. Go figure.

Brewfest!!!

Downtown After Dark

Every so often, I meet someone who tells me that they won't go to any events that take place in downtown Waterbury after dark. This always amazes and disappoints me. Downtown Waterbury is incredibly safe, any time of day or night. The crime rate is almost nonexistent, and most of it seems to take place during the middle of the day (for example, a store on Bank Street was robbed one afternoon a few weeks ago; no one was hurt). I don't think it's any more dangerous than Southbury or Watertown.

I have worked and lived and socialized downtown for nine years. I have walked across the downtown area alone after dark many times. The sum total of the "encounters" I've had are this: a very pleasant man talked to me about life while we walked down the street, then asked me if I had any money I could give him; on a couple of occasions, a man in a car (not the same one each time) has pulled up alongside me while I walked and asked if I "needed a ride"; a dude sitting on a bench asked me if I was "all set"; a different dude lurking in the doorway of an abandonned building asked me if I smoked; one time my friend and my sister were walking further ahead of me, and they claim that a prostitute started yelling at them about how she didn't want their competition. Oh, and I did once hear a story about two girls getting mugged by a skinny white guy wielding a stick in a parking lot behind a bar. Nine years, and that's all that's happened.

One of my favorite downtown stories involves me, a toga, and floral garlands. I dressed up Roman style for an event at the Palace Theater, wearing a shirt, skirt and sandals that weren't too dissimilar from what Roman women wore. I wrapped a white bedsheet around myself as a palla (the feminine form of the toga), and then a friend helped me pin giant fake flowers in my hair. It was very impressive looking. I then had to walk the length of the Green and the short block to the Palace in this outfit, in broad daylight. I think I almost caused a traffic accident, as everyone turned to look at me and struggled to figure out what I was. One driver asked a police officer if I was supposed to be the Statue of Liberty. The walk back was done after dark, when the streets were pretty much deserted. One of the event organizers was very worried about my safety; she was convinced that I was going to be assaulted. The one dude I encountered in my walk across the Green in the dark just stared and muttered about how crazy I was. I think maybe he thought he was hallucinating. The moral of the story: if you really are worried about your safety, just look like you're crazier than anyone else, and they won't know what to do.

Juried Show at the Mattatuck Museum

Any artist with a studio or home in Connecticut is invited to enter THE CONNECTICUT VISION 2006, a biannual juried show. This year's jurors are artists Charles Cajori and Barbara Grossman.

Entries need to be brought to the museum on September 10-11. Full details are available at the Mattatuck Museum website.

Also, VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED to assist with receiving, especially during the afternoon of Monday the 11th. No experience necessary, and it's a great way to meet artists and see their work. If you can help out, call the museum at (203) 753-0381, x10.

Slime, Evil, Insanity and Stupidity, all in one package!

Giordano has managed to make himself a center of media attention once again. I think he must have been feeling left out when he saw all the political attention Waterbury has been receiving this month.

After stealing untold amounts of money from the people of Waterbury, after using his office to molest little girls, after abusing his power as mayor in more ways than anyone will ever know, Giordano still has the audacity to claim that the city owes him money for unused vacation time and sick leave. Waterbury owes him no money. If anything, he should be expected to pay back any salary he ever received. And he calculated the amount of time he claims to have acrued based on a 35-hour work week. Thirty-five hours of work a week from the mayor of a city of 107,000 people. That hardly even counts as full time. What a stupid man. But I guess that's why he's done so many evil things. He's too stupid to know right from wrong.

Lieberman

More catching up on blogs I should have written a week or two ago...

Jarjura officially endorsed Lieberman at my favorite pizza place (Dominick & Pia's -- best pizza!). Lieberman said that "Mayor Mike" was an inspiration to him, having won reelection through a write-in campaign after losing his own primary.

I've never been big on party politics. I'm not really a supporter of the existence of political parties. I think they go against the interests of the public, allowing self-serving politicians to keep their racket going.

There's been a lot of talk about Lieberman doing damage to his party by running for reelection even though he lost the primary. Part of the reason he lost the primary was his public stance about his intention to continue running no matter the result of the primary. A lot of Democrats disliked what they heard as arrogance in his determination. As if Lamont were any less arrogant...

I hope Lieberman wins (and not just because Lamont doesn't seem to like Waterbury). Maybe his actions will lead to positive changes to our two-party system.

Lamont, Swan, Slime & Evil

This is now old news, but I'm going to comment anyway. Would have commented sooner, only I was away when most of it happened. In reading through online articles about the incident, I noticed that a lot of newspapers in other states and countries referred to Waterbury as a gritty industrial city. It's been decades since that was an accurate description.

Shortly after Lieberman lost the Democratic primary to Lamont, Lamont's campaign manager, Tom Swan, was quoted as describing Waterbury as the place where "the forces of slime meet the forces of evil." Waterbury has proven to be a Lieberman stronghold, which adds a greater sense of pettiness to Swan's comment. Swan claims that he was referring to ex-Mayor Giordano as the slime and ex-Governor Rowland as the evil. All other things aside, I think that's a terrible analogy. Giordano is both slime and evil. Compared to Giordano, Rowland is a bastion of goodness.

Swan's derogatory comment is a slam to all of Waterbury. He may claim that he was referring to specific individuals, but it seems pretty obvious that he was putting down the entire city and everyone who lives in it.

Swan initially apologized to Mayor Jarjura with a comment about how he usually doesn't associate Jarjura with corruption. Okay.... interesting use of "usually".... interesting that his apology only applied to Jarjura, not to the rest of us living in this city.

Lamont has since done some apologizing of his own, but hasn't gone further than to say that the comments were "unfortunate." It certainly gives the impression that Lamont doesn't care much about the people who live in Waterbury.

While You Were Out...

I left town for five days and all sorts of interesting stuff happened. Not to mention that the weather finally turned pleasant (while I was down south, where the temperature hit at least 95 every day -- but gas prices were at ~$2.85). Lamont, Lieberman, Jarjura, Dominick & Pia's, slime & evil... oh my!

I'll try to do some catching up over the next couple of days.

Cleaning up the mess

Yesterday the excessive heat and humidity finally came to an end with an intense storm at 6:30--torrential downpour, lightening, thunder, gale force winds. I briefly lost power a couple of times, which seemed odd since the storm had finished passing through long before-hand. Around 10pm, I noticed a flashing light out on the street. I peeked out the window and saw a utility guy warning a neighbor not to park too far down the street, but it was too dark for me to see anything else. When I went out this morning, there were small tree branches everywhere in the driveway. And, out on the street, half of a tree was resting on the power lines. There were two orange cones in the street on either end of the danger area.

Shortly after midnight tonight, a very noisy truck and crew pulled up outside. They're now working on cutting the tree out from the power lines. If they're working out there this late at night, more than twenty-four hours after the storm caused the damage, they must have had a lot to clean up elsewhere!


Blurry night shot of the cleanup crew. I really need to learn how to use my camera.

Farmer's Market

Here are some photos from the Farmer's Market on the Waterbury Green last week (with live music performance by The Carnegie Clapp Trio). The Farmer's Market is held every Thursday, 11am-3pm and was made possible through the tireless efforts of Marianne Vandenburgh and the Main Street Waterbury volunteer group. There is also a Farmer's Market in the Brass Mill Mall parking lot on Thursday afternoons. And I think there is one over near Lakewood Road as well.



Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers, Pies, Cookies, Organic Breads


Peaches!


Fresh Corn


Carnegie Clapp Trio

More Politics

I've now seen television commercials for both of the Democratic candidates for Governor. Based solely on their ads, it looks like DeStefano and Malloy are both scumbags. Aren't political campaigns great? ..... They leave me feeling ill. It's no wonder most people don't vote. It's too depressing.

Wonder Bread Thrift Shop

The Wonder Bread Thrift Shop on Meriden Road closed a couple of years ago. Today they started tearing it down. I don't know who "they" is. It was kind of a nice building. A little art deco in design.





Meanwhile, the gas station next to the thrift shop building closed a few weeks ago. I think it was a small-scale family business. I don't know why they closed. Maybe because there are larger gas stations on either end of the street.

I wonder if there's any connection to the Academy of Driving moving to Watertown. The driving school used to keep its fleet of cars just up the street and used this little gas station to fuel all its cars. That had to be a pretty significant portion of the gas station's revenue. The driving school moved the fleet to Watertown, because the owner didn't want to keep paying Waterbury's high property taxes on its cars.

Country Club Neighborhood Association

The Country Club Neighborhood Association should be ashamed of themselves. They're still bitching and moaning because four retarded people are going to move into their neighborhood. Come on! If they made this kind of fuss about blacks or an ethnic group, they'd be sued.

They seem to think that one house with four retarded people will destroy property values in their neighborhood. Please! That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard. In fact, it's the sort of thing racist white people used to say when blacks moved into their neighborhood.

One woman complained that they don't know the names of the people moving into the house, so they can't check to see if they're on the sex offenders register. WHAT??? Since when does being retarded mean that you're a sex offender? (This raises another issue for me--being able to check a sex offenders registry gives people a false sense of security; John Regan was sexually assaulting women in his nice neighborhood for twenty years without being on the register.)

The Country Club Neighborhood Association is the most prejudiced group in Waterbury right now. Unfortunately, they've figured out that you can't make the sort of accusations that they made back in June, so they've changed their focus. Now the "only reason" they're upset is that they think the purchase of the house was done improperly, as an inside deal. They've got the state attorney looking into the case. This disgusts me even more than I already was. Where's the investigation into the Neighborhood Association's amoral prejudice? Why are they able to get away with being self-righteous bigots?

Lieberman & Lamont

I haven't decided who I would vote for, since I haven't read up on the candidates yet (and I'm not registered as a Democrat; I think I'm unaffiliated, so I can't vote anyway). Lieberman and Lamont both have campaign blogs, and Lamont has a campaign profile on myspace (there's a Lieberman profile too, but it's not "real").
Here are the links:

http://liebermania.blogspot.com
http://lamontblog.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/nedlamont

Not for walking

It seems like most of Waterbury is designed for cars, not pedestrians. Or, perhaps more accurately, the people in charge of the design and layout of city streets and sidewalks travel by car only. Every so often, I get it into my head that I want to ride my bicycle in town. I know I'm supposed to ride in the street in the same direction as traffic, but I don't trust drivers, especially since most of them tend to go 40+ in 25 mph zones. At one point I thought it would be safest to ride on the sidewalk, but that proved impossible. In the downtown area, the sidewalks are spacious and well-maintained, but everywhere else they're a nightmare. The potholes in the sidewalks are worse than the ones in the streets; weeds, trees and shrubs are overgrown and blocking maybe 10% of all the sidewalks; and then there are the telephone poles planted smack in the middle of the sidewalk. This is why you sometimes see people in wheelchairs and motorized chairs riding down the street--the sidewalks are unusable.

If you do find a street where there's a well-maintained, usable sidewalk, you still have the problem of walking alongside a road where traffic is racing by at top speeds. And there's no shade. For some reason, our city planners seem to hate shade trees. On the rare occasions when they do plant trees (like the ones on West Main Street near the 7-11, or the new ones on Grand Street), they're tiny little things that never grow taller than seven feet and have leaves that are so small it seems like they don't cast any shadow at all. If I could choose one thing to change about Waterbury, I would probably have shade trees lining every street. It would make the city so much more pleasant and would change its image in a positive way.

Here are some excerpts about old-time Waterbury from the National Magazine published in 1857:
"...its beautiful Centre square and its quiet shaded streets lined with handsome residences, presents an appearance quite unique for a manufacturing town."

"Do not look at the sidewalks; they will not bear inspection."

Even 150 years ago, the sidewalks in Waterbury weren't any good. I think there was a time period, between then and now, when they were well-maintained and designed for pedestrians, but now that "everyone" drives to wherever they're going, they've been neglected. Those of us who either want to or have to walk are out of luck. Bicycling works so long as you don't mind getting yelled at by passing drivers who think you shouldn't be in the road, and so long as you don't mind that there's no where to lock your bike if you go into a store.

New Addition

Alexander Calder, Giant Critter, 1976

Here's the new Calder statue in the courtyard at the Mattatuck Museum. I LOVE this statue! It exudes joy and happiness. Everyone in Waterbury should go see it. (Go now!)

Fire

I really loved this house on the corner of Johnson and Chestnut Streets. The fire was earlier this week (fire photo swiped from a friend's livejournal), and was probably caused by faulty wiring. All the residents were safely evacuated, and the owner has insurance, so I guess the main loss is architectural. I wish I had a better photo of it before the fire (pre-fire photo swiped from assessor's website), but the house still had its original wood decorative siding. Now it's going to end up covered in vinyl siding, like the light gray house next to it (which is its twin).

I really really hate vinyl siding (and aluminum, etc.) on old houses. The original wood siding on Victorian houses is usually very decorative and beautiful, while the modern siding is hopelessly generic, mimicking clapboard siding more typical of an entirely different style of architecture. There are some great WWI-era houses over near Washington Park that originally had stucco siding, but are now sheathed in vinyl and don't look anywhere near as cute as they did with the stucco. I know I'm a hopeless architecture geek, but when houses have their original siding (maintained), they look so much better than they do with modern siding added.

Too Hot!

At least it's not to humid as well. But it's still pushing 100, and probably more if you're baking in direct sun. This is the time of year when my favorite invention is the air conditioner.

Earlier this year, when it was cold and dark out, I posted photos of Waterbury in the summertime. Now that it's insanely hot out, here are some photos of when it was cold and snowy!




Thanksgiving Day, 2005 - dark, cold, snowy!




Old factory buildings on North Elm Street, December 4, 2005





Snowstorm on February 12, 2006. The long-haired cat stayed out in the snow longer than the others. The fur on the bottoms of his feet finally proved useful.






The Feb. 12 snowstorm dumped three feet on my driveway. By the time it finished coming down, I couldn't see my car.

That was weird...

A huge thunderstorm just rolled by, making an incredible amount of noise. At one point the thunder was so loud I wondered if the building was going to get hit by lightning. But when I looked out the window, it was still sort of sunny, and there was no sign of rain.

Wifi Hotspots Redux

The Republican-American ran an article today about coffee shops with wifi access for customers. The article's writer, Tracy O'Shaughnessy, focused mainly on a place in Cheshire and a discussion of telecommuting in general. Tracy noted that Starbucks makes you pay for wifi, whereas the local coffee shops usually give you free access. She also listed a "sampling" of area wifi hotspots. The only one she listed in all of Waterbury was Brass City Buzz. She also listed one in Watertown, one in Southbury, one in Woodbury and one in North Haven. North Haven? I'm not even sure I know where that is. Somewhere north of New Haven, I suspect. She really should have listed more. John Bale on Grand Street in Waterbury. I've heard that the new (and very delicious) Pizza Cafe on West Main Street in Waterbury has public wifi. The Bronson library has wifi, but I don't know if they let the public use it. Most McDonald's have wifi, but like Starbucks, they make you pay to use it.

I'm not really sure what the purpose of the article was. Maybe it was just to let people who don't use wifi know that there are people who do. For people who want to know where they can go to get free wifi access, it was close to useless. A better article would have been one that has a comprehensive list of wifi hotspots, indicating which are free for customers, and reviewing the different coffee shops. That would have been a great article--or at least one I'd like to read!

Romeo & Juliet in Library Park

Shakesperience Productions' Second Annual Shakespeare in the Park.
Picnic on the lawn with the timeless tale of love, action, and family feud, Romeo and Juliet. Resident artists join with actors in our community to bring this classic work to life.

A unique sound design, the Waterbury Clock Tower, and a warm summer evening provide the perfect backdrop for our innovative and visceral production. Bring your own picnic or reserve a box dinner from the John Bale Book Company & Café by calling (203) 591-1801.

Library Park, Grand Street, Waterbury
Thursdays - Saturdays, June 22 - July 1st
6:30pm
Free Admission
($5 Suggested Donation)

Minimum Wage

This isn't really local news, but it certainly affects a lot of people in Waterbury. Congress voted against raising the minimum wage in the US. Minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for nine years. Nine years. Think about it. The price of gasoline has doubled in the past three years. Over the past nine years, the cost of living overall has increased. Nine years ago, a nice two bedroom apartment in this area could be rented for $500 a month. Now it's more like $800 a month. Electricity costs more. Heating fuel costs more. I think it's safe to assume that costs will continue to rise, yet our Congress thinks it's acceptable to keep people at $5.15 an hour. If you work 40 hours a week at minimum wage, your annual income is just over $10k. Guess what? That's officially poverty! Kind of makes you wonder why anyone would bother getting a legitimate, legal job.

Meanwhile... this same month, the same Congress decided that it was perfectly okay to take their automatic pay raise of $3,300. In the past ten years, their salaries have increased 26% (according to USAToday). They give themselves 26% more, while giving the struggling poor nothing.

Flood Damage

I'm sure there's more to the story than I know about, but as I've driven through Waterbury since June 2, especially in the days immediately following the flooding, it seems like the trouble was with the city's sewer system. The places where I've seen parts of the road washed out look like the wash-outs occured along the drain system. On some streets, it was almost like sinkholes developed every place where the road had a patch (in other words, places where utility crews had opened up the road to do maintenance work). Earlier this spring, before the big June 2 storm, other heavy rain storms were pushing the sewer system past its capacities. I saw a lot of manhole covers with water bubbling out of them. This season's rains didn't seem to be particularly worse than any other year (not counting 1955!), so why was there so much damage?

Make Way

I went to Walmart about a week ago, and took the road entrance that slopes around and down, taking you directly to the Walmart. As I drove down that road, I suddenly saw a mother duck and her babies crossing the road. I stopped my car so I wouldn't risk running them down, and then I watched while the babies tried to get up over the curb. It's a relatively high curb, not a problem for the mother duck, but the little ducklings had a hard time. There were maybe a dozen of them, and for the most part they were able to swarm up over the curb by jumping up on each other's backs. The last duckling, however, had to make it up over the curb on his own. The mother duck and her swarm started walking away, but then she realized that one of her babies wasn't there. The poor little duckling was distraught and panicky. He kept jumping, but couldn't make it up over the curb. At one point, it looked like he was going to run back across the road, where they had come from. I honked my horn, and he went back to the curb next to his mother. The mama duck, realizing what the trouble was, settled down on the grass to watch and wait, while the rest of her babies squirmed around next to her. Finally, after many, many tries, the little duckling managed to scrabble up over the curb and rejoined his family.

If only I'd had my camera with me!

Deployment

Waterbury's National Guard unit is having a send-off ceremony on Thursday before they leave for Fort Dix and then Iraq. Also on Thursday, there will be assorted ceremonies in Waterbury to commemorate events from the Revolutionary War (someone dressed as George Washington will show up at the Green on horseback and give a speech, wreaths will be laid on the graves of two soldiers buried at East Farms Cemetery, etc.).

Sort of a weird coincidence of events.

Guard Deployment

About 70 National Guard members from Waterbury are about to be deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

A send-off ceremony for the 143rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion is scheduled for Thursday at the Waterbury Armory. The soldiers are expected to be deployed for up to 18 months.

The battalion, which deployed to Bosnia, provides support to combat-ready forces such as personnel administration support and operational and logistical support.

More than one thousand Connecticut National Guard soldiers are deployed in the U.S.-led coalition's war on terrorism.
(from WTNH)

Good luck!

Last day...

Today I move to my new apartment. Earlier in the week, AT&T assured me that my internet connection would work as soon as I moved in. A couple days ago, a different rep from AT&T called to say that DSL service is not guaranteed and that they weren't sure if I would have DSL at all in the new apartment. It's in Waterbury! in the city! not out in the boondocks! Because someone at AT&T filled out the wrong form, or punched the wrong button, or maybe because they're crazy, the earliest I will have my service restarted is on the 14th. So today is my last day with internet access at home. I'm already having withdrawal pains. Yes, I am addicted. Maybe a few days without internet will help me beat the addiction. Probably not, though. I'll just get hooked again as soon as I have DSL again.

Power Outage

Portions of downtown, most noticeably around the intersection of West Main Street and Thomaston Avenue, are without power today. I'm guessing this is why there aren't any copies of the Republican-American available anywhere in town, and why their website is down. Normally I don't buy the paper, but today is the first day I start apartment-hunting, so I was really eager to pick up a copy. Hm. Maybe if I drive up to Torrington I can find one. I think they have a separate press there.

Just before the storm...

Storm clouds rolling in from the right... lightning, thunder, torrential downpour about five minutes after this photo was shot.

First Thursday Music at John Bale

Ahab



Black Hole of Calcutta



Bela Kiss

"Civilized Disobedience"

Outdoor dining & drinking on West Main Street, courtesy of Main Street Waterbury, La Cazuela and Boru's. It started at 5pm. This photo was taken at 7:45, as a thunder storm slowly rolled up the river valley.

Intersection Improvements?

Someone from the city has marked up the area around the Willow-Pine-Johnson intersection with white spray paint. It looks like they might finally be moving forward with installing traffic lights. Or they're about to tear up the streets and sidewalks for some sort of maintenance... I hope it's traffic lights. This intersection needs help. It annoys me that the intersection of Willow and Calumet Street (way up Willow Street, in the Overlook neighborhood, with very large, expensive single-family homes) is a three-way stop, even though there's never any traffic and visibility is fine, while down on lower Willow (where it's all multi-family housing and low-income residents) where all-way stops are desperately needed, there's nothing.

I'm not convinced that traffic lights are the best solution. Given the way people drive in this city, it might make the intersection more dangerous. Drivers coming down Willow Street are going to speed up as soon as they see a yellow light. Instead of cruising through the intersection at 40mph, they'll be doing 60mph. Stop signs would be better. And cheaper. But, I suppose, traffic lights will cut down on the number of accidents and the overall frustration.

And while I'm on the topic, there are a few other intersections in Waterbury that need help. The intersection of Willow Street and Hillside Avenue is pretty tricky. The intersection of Wood and Walnut Streets is awful. If you're trying to make a left turn from Wood onto Walnut, you have to pull out far enough to get hit in order to see more than 10 feet down the road. And the intersection of Walnut Street and East Farm Street is a nightmare. If you're headed west on East Farm, it looks like you go straight onto Walnut, which means cutting across the eastbound traffic on East Farm, because they don't have a stop sign (even though it looks like they should).

I'd also like to see Waterville Street get repaved. The pot holes are so large and numerous that everyone treats the street as an obstacle course. They paved part of it this spring, but they didn't even try to patch the holes on the section of the street that gets the most usage.

Miracle Weight Loss Cure - Lose 5 Pounds Overnight!

Simply expose yourself to the stomach flu currently making the rounds. An hour spent late in the afternoon with your small niece will probably be sufficient. Wait 24-28 hours for the germs to become active in your system, then settle in for a long night with the toilet and a bucket. After 12 hours, you should see a significant drop in weight. Guaranteed! CAUTION: Miracle Weight Loss Cure can cause severe discomfort, pain, agony, loss of appetite and sleeplessness. Dehydration is a serious risk. Miracle Weight Loss Cure should not be undertaken by anyone who has a weakened immune system or is otherwise not in peak physical health.

Cookie-Cutter Politics

Thursday there was a big article in the paper about the young mayor of Torrington being pressured into removing his MySpace profile because it was deemed "inappropriate". Friday there was an article by a Torrington writer about MySpace. The writer, Bill Dunn, wrote "Mark my words, I predict that someone running for public office in the year 2036 will be forced to withdraw from the race when embarrassing comments and photos surface, comments and photos that were posted on MySpace.com during 2006."

What does this say about expectations for public officials? That they are required to fit into a tight, conservative mold? That they should never allow their private lives to be public knowledge? That they should be expected to present a public persona which is an outright lie? It's sort of like Bill Clinton saying he never inhaled--we all knew he did, and the very lame lie was far worse than the youthful exploit.

Or maybe it's like John Kerry and Al Gore modifying their public images on the advice of consultants, and then losing the elections anyway. A lot of people don't like politicians because they are viewed as being self-serving and dishonest. This certainly has been my opinion for a while. I'm beginning to understand that there are people who expect and desire that politicians lie about who they really are as human beings. This is not a healthy system, and it might very well be one of the causes of the widespread voter apathy we have in this country. Our politicians tend to all look the same, because they are all trying to fit into a mold instead of just being themselves. (Apologies for the gross generalization!)

MySpace

The local media, including the Republican American and especially WFSB (Channel 3), have been focussing a lot of attention on myspace.com lately. WFSB seems to be waging a campaign against it. Public opinion seems to be that it is the root of all evil, or close to it.

There is an internet generation gap. I'm not sure exactly what age the gap happens at, I suppose it varies depending on the person, but certainly most people over 40 seem to have a deeply rooted fear or distrust of the internet. I'm 34, and I remember when computers were introduced into the schools. There was a general sense of nervousness on the part of the adults. We were cautioned to be very, very careful, because if you did one wrong thing, you would destroy everything on the computer and possibly end existence. As far as I know, none of my classmates ever encountered any computer catastrophe worse than losing the paper they had been working on.

Most people younger than me probably can't remember a time before computers. Computers are as familiar and friendly to them as the television is to older generations. The leading complaint against MySpace seems to be the supposed preponderance of sexual predators stalking all those naive young girls. I'm pretty sure that sexual predators were around long before computers. If they weren't prowling the internet for victims, they'd be stalking them some other way. MySpace seems to do a good job of preventing crimes and/or catching perpetrators.

Personally, I really like websites like MySpace. I can't speak for everyone who uses them, but they're great for keeping in touch with friends who have moved away, or finding and reconnecting with friends you haven't seen in years. This is one of the real strengths of the internet: communication. Despite the fears of certain older people, the internet is not replacing face-to-face communication, it is supplementing it. My life is much richer and my friendships are much stronger because of sites like MySpace, Blogger, LiveJournal and just plain old email. (okay, I have to giggle here -- "plain old email" -- the newfangled becomes old hat so quickly!).

Truancy

There have been a couple of articles in the paper this week about students skipping school. The school system is now asking the police department to get involved. It sounds like skipping school will be treated as a crime. Kids can't be convinced to stay in school? send the cops after them!

When I was a kid, I think there was only one day when I flat out skipped school (that I remember... there might have been more.) I love learning and education (and I love being a teacher), but the public schools were misery. I hated going to school. It was drudgery. You were trapped in a room with a large number of other kids, and the teacher would drone on and on about the subject at hand, most of the time ignoring you, but every now and then you would suddenly be expected to provide an answer. I remember endless hours of watching the second hand spin slowly around the face of the clock on the wall. School was boring and sometimes emotionally painful. I used to fantasize about the school blowing up, imploding, or otherwise ceasing to exist so that we would all be free.

So. Based on my experience, I would guess that kids are skipping school because they think it is a waste of their time. Getting the police to force them to attend school is not going to help. I'm willing to bet it will make things worse. Now, instead of empty seats in the classroom, we'll have angry, sulking students in those seats. Fining the parents isn't going to help either. That's just going to create a more hostile home environment.

If the school system really wants to keep the kids in school, make school more interesting. Get better teachers. Find a way to reduce the classroom size to twelve students per teacher. I know it's expensive, I know everyone is moaning about high taxes (myself included), but this is important. If the public schools had a class size of no more than 12 students, the kids would be getting a better education.

If a teenager really doesn't want to be in school no matter what, then check up on their home life and make sure there aren't any serious problems. If the home life checks out okay, then let the kid drop out of school. They can always go back later if they decide they want to. It might be harder later, but they'll get more out of it. As a teacher, the last thing I want in my classroom is a student who doesn't want to be there. At best, that student is going to sleep through class or sit quietly and doodle. At worst, that student is going to disrupt the classroom and interfere with everyone else's education.

Sex Arrests Update

Police Superintendent Neil O'Leary expects that police will, by the end of this week, finally complete arrest warrants for ten men caught having sex in massage parlors (today's issue of the Rep-Am). They were busted April 27. It takes two weeks to write up an arrest warrant?

The thing that bothers me most about all of this is my personal experience with disgusting old men who harrass me when I walk down the street. There is nothing more creepy than having some skanky perv pull his car up alongside me and gesture at his groin in an effort to solicit me. I think it definitely qualifies as sexual harrassment, but I have the feeling that the police don't care. If I complain, would they be more likely to arrest me than the perv? I am not now, nor have I ever been, a prostitute. And yet I still feel like the cops would side with the perv. Or, at best, they'd say something to me like "that's what you get for walking down the street." A lot of cops working in this neighborhood definitely have an attitude that nothing can be expected to improve, so why bother. I can understand that they might be burnt out, but they still should be polite and at least pretend to not expect the worst from someone.