A Beautiful City

Contrary to what David Randall wrote in Forbes magazine, Waterbury is far from being a "junk pile." Here is a selection of images I've taken in Waterbury over the past few years--this is an incredibly beautiful city!


The view from Holyland.

Leavenworth Street.

St. John's Episcopal Church

Holiday lights on the Green

Spring flowers at Hamilton Park.

St. Mary's Orthodox Church.

Grand Street.

Silas Bronson Library

Immaculate Conception Church

The art deco Post Office on Grand Street.

Fulton Park

The Waterbury Green

A view of Exchange Place from the Green.

Main Street Waterbury's outdoor dining event at La Cazuela.

Rush hour traffic near St. Mary's Hospital.

Taxing

I've gotten two parking tickets in the past month. The first, on February 28, was a deserved overtime ticket. The second, two days ago, was at a broken meter (it took my quarter, but didn't give me any time).

The parking ticket has written instructions to file complaints at the Tax Assessor's office. Yesterday I went to the Tax office, stood in line, and was told to fill out the form located on the wall behind me. I tried explaining that there were no forms on that wall, but the woman at the window insisted that the sheet bearing step-by-step instructions (to write down my complaint) was indeed the form to fill out. When I asked if I could write down my complaint and hand it to her, I was told that I had to do exactly what the "form" said, which meant mailing in my complaint to the office I was currently standing in. I think this is an excellent example of bureaucracy making life absurdly complicated.

Today I received a letter from the city Tag Division (which I'd never heard of before) notifying me that I am delinquent in paying my ticket from February 28 and that my fine has doubled. Except that the total amount I now owe is exactly the same as what I owed on February 28. The real kicker, however, is that I mailed in the check for that ticket the same day I received the ticket--February 28. The tax office didn't process the check until March 19, so the city's computer system automatically generated my delinquent notice. So, for a $10 fine that was paid as on-time as possible, the city spent 31 cents on postage, plus the cost of the mailing envelope, plus the cost of the return envelope, plus the cost of the letter, the ink used to print it, and the time it took someone to mail it. Also add a few cents for the time spent answering my phone call! Small amounts, sure, but they eat into overall profits. And, of course, as a routine operation, these delays lead to things like the city losing out on the F&S tax payment of $44,000. (Come to think of it, I bet they get a lot of bounced checks because it takes them so long to make the deposits--a lot of people forget to leave money in their bank accounts for checks written three weeks earlier!)

I think it's time for a complete overhaul of the city's Tax office. Anyone operating a business will process and deposit all incoming checks within three days' time (within 24 hours for a smaller retail business). Can you imagine any successful business waiting three weeks to deposit a check?

Nature's Art

The morning frost on one of my windows this January. Hopefully I won't see anything like that again until next year!

Now if only I could figure out why my YankeeGas bill (I have a gas furnace) is just as high now as it was then...

Creative Sustenance

The University of Connecticut at Waterbury

presents

Creative Sustenance

in support of the

Greater Waterbury Interfaith Ministries

featuring

Tom Dulack Professor of English, UConn/Waterbury; a playwright whose works have been performed on Broadway, in London, in Los Angeles, and in too many other venues to mention; when the New York Philharmonic wanted to revive the Young Peoples’ Concerts that had been so successful when led by Leonard Bernstein, they selected Tom to write and direct each performance. He is now filling a similar role for the Los Angeles Philharmonic while still masterminding the concerts for New York.

Ira Joe Fisher Poet, actor, educator, and perhaps best known as a Weatherman and features reporter on WNBC/Channel 4 and later WCBS/Channel 2 in New York City. Ira Joe now teaches Creative Writing, Introduction to Poetry, and other English courses at UConn/Stamford. He is a recent winner of a Governor’s Award, given to those who volunteer their time to support Culture and Tourism in CT.

Davyne Verstandig Director of the Litchfield County Writers and Artists Project and Lecturer in English at UConn/Torrington. Davyne, who is an accomplished poet and essayist, also serves as the Director of the Creative Writing Program at UConn/Torrington.

Creative Sustenance began at UConn/Storrs in 2003 to help the Windham Interfaith Ministry feed the hungry in Willimantic, CT. People come to hear readings by poets, playwrights, novelists, and other talented writers. They bring donations of non-perishable food, checks, or both, in support of the chosen local charity. This event at Waterbury means that we have now had Creative Sustenance events on each of the six UConn campuses.

Where: The Multi-Purpose Room at UConn/Waterbury
When: Monday, March 31, 2008, 7:00-9:00PM

Eat Your Art Out

Eat Your Art Out is a week away! Buy your tickets online through the Palace Theater at http://www.palacetheaterct.org/calendar/index.php?id=391.

Easter Flowers

Last fall I bought many bags of bulbs at PriceChopper (2 for 1 sale) and planted them in my front yard. This handful of crocuses started blooming over the weekend.

Forbes on Rowland

Back in January, I wrote a blog post reacting to the news that ex-Governor Rowland had been given a high-paying job as Economic Developer for the city. My primary initial reaction is that this was a bad idea, and that it was presented in a manner that can easily be described as arrogant. My impression of this being a bad idea has been reinforced by David Randall's article in Forbes Magazine and the commentary on the article in today's Republican-American.

Rowland's supporters (Jarjura, Sasala, et. al.) insist that he can do a great job of luring new businesses into Waterbury. This, in fact, seems to be his job description--to bring in new businesses... but ignore the fact that half the state has a passionate hatred of Rowland. When asked about negative comments towards him and his new job, Rowland claimed that his detractors all lived outside of Waterbury, so their opinions don't count. But isn't his mission to bring outsiders into Waterbury? Surely we could have hired a qualified economic developer who isn't hated by half the state and ridiculed by anyone outside the state who knows who he is. Maybe if the Chamber had advertised for the position, they would have found someone better than Rowland.

The article in Forbes pretty much declares Waterbury to be a bad place for businesses. If Jarjura and Sasala had not given Rowland his new job, the article would never have been written. The adage that any publicity is good publicity might not hold true in this case. The article creates a painful image of Waterbury as a cesspool of corruption, poverty and abandoned factories. This is an image that will stick in the minds of many business people, and it will not help Waterbury.

The worst part of the Forbes articles comes at the end, when we read that Rowland was offered a special discount on a suit and a free lunch. We aren't told how Rowland responded to these offers--maybe he politely turned them down--but for these offers to have been made at all just confirms Waterbury's image of corruption.

[Update, 12:45 pm -- I love some of the comments that are appearing on the Forbes website! There are so many wonderful things about this beautiful city that get overlooked far too often. The article in Forbes certainly was written with an agenda. I had the impression from the journalist and their fact-checker that the emphasis would be political corruption, although they were also interested in the Hillside neighborhood and finding out the name of the train station architects. The brief mention of the clock tower made it into the final article, but the rest over-emphasizes the negative.

A better article on Waterbury for a national audience would highlight the city as one of hundreds around the country that are struggling to improve themselves in an era when the cities are continually abandoned for the suburbs. Waterbury is one of many small cities making progress while facing difficult challenges. The article in Forbes was just a quick slam, taking advantage of one small piece of trivia. I imagine their editors assume that most readers will find it a moderately amusing sidebar.]

Political Corruption

The Rowland/Waterbury debacle is back in the news and, thanks to a bout of insomnia, I’ve spent the past half hour reading through more-or-less anonymous comments posted to the Hartford Courant’s website on the topic. Most of the comments seem either ill-informed or just plain psychotic (I think some of the comment-writers have some serious personal issues that are inspiring them to express some very disturbing levels of hatred towards Rowland). Overall, however, there seems to be a general theme: Waterbury is closely associated with political corruption. This got me thinking—there really is a sort of general public concept that Waterbury is plagued by political corruption, but why is this the case? I don’t know that anyone has fully explored the topic. An upcoming issue of Forbes magazine will include an article about Waterbury and our more recent corruption scandals (Santopietro, Giordano, and the 1986 Moffett-O’Neill primary mess), but I have the impression that the article is just a survey piece, not a really in-depth examination.

Waterbury’s first major political scandal occurred in the 1930s, when Mayor T. Frank Hayes and many other people were charged and eventually convicted with defrauding the city of more than a million dollars. (My apologies in advance—it’s late, I’ve got insomnia, and I’m being loose with the facts—I hope to eventually do some more solid research on this topic.)

The city had a real reprieve with John S. Monagan became Mayor in the 1940s. Although he was young and somewhat inexperienced, Monagan was a genuinely honest and principled man who did his best for the city. Under his tenure, the city adopted a five year plan for improvement that included a comprehensive study and implementation of infrastructure needs.

Waterbury seems to have enjoyed several decades untroubled by political scandal after Hayes, although I do still need to do real research on this. Even decades after Hayes’ conviction, he still had many fervent supporters in Waterbury. This seems to be a typical feature of Waterbury politics, and is perhaps an important ingredient to our history of corruption. Former Mayor Santopietro was convicted in 1992 for taking bribes and kickbacks, but many people in Waterbury insisted that he was innocent, that he was “a good boy” and had taken the fall for some bad friends. (He has since been convicted of doing more or less the same thing again.)

The most hideous political scandal is that of former Mayor Giordano, who was being investigated by the FBI for financial fraud (including the notorious million-dollar dog pound) before being swiftly arrested and convicted of sexually assaulting children. Giordano is the worst that Waterbury has produced. Long before we knew he was a child molester, it was clear to many people that he was a crook. In fact, Giordano is one of the reasons why I moved into Waterbury—I wanted to be able to vote against him. I could not believe it when he was re-elected. It seemed like everyone knew he was up to no good, but he was still winning elections.

So why does Waterbury suffer under the stigma of political corruption? I feel certain there’s an answer to the question, but I don’t yet know what it is. I think it is interesting to look at who our mayors have been since 1976—Mike Bergin was Mayor from 1976 until 1986 (he was arrested and then acquitted of taking bribes, but there are plenty of people in Waterbury who are confident that he was guilty); Bergin was replaced by Santopietro, until Santopietro was arrested and eventually convicted; Bergin had by then been acquitted of his corruption charges, and he was voted back into office (which suggests a lot about the Waterbury electorate!). Bergin was replaced in 1996 by Giordano, whose term in office ended with his arrest in 2001. Over the course of 25 years, Waterbury had three mayors, all of whom have been investigated and arrested for corruption (I think that’s correct, although I’m not positive that Giordano has yet been charged with political corruption).

The emergence of political corruption in Waterbury seems to coincide with the death of the brass industry in this city. Are they related? I don’t know. I think the small size of the city is part of the problem, for a number of reasons. I think, perhaps, the structure of the political parties in Waterbury is also part of the problem (seriously, HOW did Giordano end up as his party’s candidate for mayor??? I met the man once, briefly, and could tell immediately that he was slimy. Wasn’t there anyone else who was willing to run for office?).

Someday I hope to do more on this topic. I think there’s a very interesting story to tell, but it’s going to take a lot of unraveling of history and opinion.

Digging the Library

Today’s Republican-American included an article about the Silas Bronson Library’s efforts to received state funds for building improvement and expansion. As the article said, given the size of the region the library serves, it is surprising that they’ve had trouble getting state assistance. What the article did not address is the physical problem the library will face with an expansion.

Before 1894, the land surrounding the library was a cemetery. The “Old Burying Ground”, also known as the Grand Street Cemetery, had fallen into disrepair by the 1890s. After a very emotional public debate, city officials finally decided to convert the cemetery into a park, with a library in the middle. The graves located within the footprint of the library were dug up and relocated. A small number of other graves were also dug up and relocated, primarily to other cemeteries in Waterbury. The vast majority of the graves in the cemetery were, however, left in place and are still there today. This includes the beautiful parking lot behind the library—all those wonderful tall old trees make it one of my favorite spots in Waterbury, but I imagine the roots are entangled with the human remains buried there.....

Three of the oldest headstones were donated to the Mattatuck Historical Society (and are still in their collection). The grave markers from within the library footprint were stored in the library basement until the 1920s, when the park was expanded to Meadow Street. The more interesting stones were placed in the wall along Meadow Street. The other grave markers throughout the cemetery were buried, lying flat, roughly 2-3 feet underground.

When the library was redesigned by architect Joseph Stein in the 1960s, he re-used the original library footprint, so as to avoid disturbing any graves. Something as simple as laying down new utility lines to the building has, in recent decades, resulted in the unearthing of headstones.

According to today’s newspaper, the library plans to expand the current building back 50 feet. There was no information about how they intend to do this. Any excavation work is guaranteed to disturb graves (including that of Dr. Jesse Porter, an early downtown developer, whose portrait can be seen at the Mattatuck Museum).

Today there is a state law in place that might have prohibited the conversion of the Grand Street Cemetery to a library, had it been in place in the 1890s:

Sec. 19a-315a. Use of ancient burial place. No municipality shall alienate or appropriate any ancient burial place to any use other than that of a burial ground. No portion of any ancient burial place shall be taken for public use without the approval of the General Assembly. If any ancient burial place is appropriated for any other use and the bodies buried therein or the grave markers marking the same are removed, the burial ground authority shall preserve a record of such removal indicating the date of such removal and the site or place to which such removal was made.

Because the Waterbury burial ground has already been appropriated, the library might be able to get permission to dig up more of the cemetery without too much trouble. If so, the process will be a lot slower and messier than they might hope. The state archaeologist, Nicholas Bellantoni, might very well have to coordinate a careful excavation of the remains (many of which are likely to have decomposed to the point where they are almost indistinguishable from the dirt), which could take a long time and be fairly expensive. It could also be a really interesting and informative project.

For more on the history of the cemetery, visit the Fortune’s Story website.

More Signs of Spring

Winter is officially over. Traditional signs of spring are flowers and robins. Forget them. I just heard an ice cream truck playing its familiar, cheery music as it slowly drives around Waterbury's neighborhoods. The song it's playing is so old I don't know the lyrics, but it sounds like summer!

Where the Art is At

The art world (around here) can be divided into a few parts: "safe" traditional realism that appeals to a general audience; "literati" art (I'm sure there's a better term), in which the artist explores a unique vision, that appeals primarily to art snobs; and "underground" art, which tends to appeal to the Bohemian spirit. Of those three categories, underground art is the least likely to appear in art galleries, but it is also the one that, in my opinion, best represents true artistic vision and energy.

For much of the twentieth century, Waterbury was a great city for artists. The Waterbury Art School brought instructors up from Yale; the School's students regularly exhibited their works at the Mattatuck Museum; and they spent much of their time in studios on Bank Street. The Mattatuck's Juried Show is now held once every other year and is pretty much the only opportunity for local artists to get any exposure in Waterbury. The Mattatuck also has a regular contemporary art show, but the artists are always well-established in the art world. The Silas Bronson Library has a wall for art shows, but it's little more than a hallway, dimly lit, small and often overlooked. John Bale Books has had a couple of great one-night shows, coinciding with their summer open mic nights, where any artist can display artwork (and it would be great if they did more of that!).

The Artwell Gallery in Torrington is the closest art gallery to Waterbury where any artist, no matter what their style or level of experience, can exhibit. Down in Bridgeport, there's a fantastic cooperative art space called The Nest Arts Factory. They've taken over an old factory, using one room for a gallery, another for music and performances, and other spaces for studios.

Increasingly, the place to find great art in the Waterbury area is tattoo parlors. No Regrets in Naugatuck has an art gallery and regular exhibits. On March 22nd, they're holding a benefit art auction to help fund low income classrooms, with "underground" artworks from artists all around the state and region.

MySpace is also a good place to find local artists. The site has a great setup for musicians, less so for artists, but a lot of visual artists are posting their work on their profile pages.

A Real Challenge

John Rowland, newly appointed Economic Developer, recently "challenged" Carl Rosa of Main Street Waterbury to help him clean up the litter in the Buckingham ramparage. The purported challenge seems a little silly to me: Main Street has cleaned up that garage before; and a one-time cleanup is not a real solution.

I propose a better challenge. I challenge Rowland, Jim Smith, Steve Sasala, Kevin Taylor, and any other would-be downtown developer who lives in the suburbs to spend one full month living in a downtown apartment, using only public transportation and walking to get around Waterbury during that month.

I lived in downtown Waterbury, walking to work, for two years, and I loved it. If I had been able to find a good apartment that allowed cats, I would still be living downtown.

I think it's great that so many people want to make downtown better, but living in the suburbs (or even the suburb-like neighborhoods of Waterbury) distorts their perspective of what downtown is and can be. The only way to really understand downtown Waterbury is to live there.

Spring is Sprung!

There were tiny little snowdrop flowers basking in the last rays of the sun when I got home today. Daylight Savings Time starts Sunday. As far as I'm concerned, spring is here, and I don't want to hear anything to the contrary!

Identity Crisis

At last week’s Economic Summit, Cicero Booker mentioned something about a certain city status or ranking that he felt Waterbury should have because it would be beneficial to Waterbury. It wasn’t clear to me what he was talking about (partly because he wasn’t sure of the acronym), but the gist was that this status is reserved for city’s with a population of 500,000 or more; Booker suggested we petition to gain this status, even though our population is under 110,000.

On numerous occasions, I’ve heard and read descriptions of Providence, RI as a role model for what Waterbury’s development could be. Providence’s population is 60% larger than Waterbury’s. Providence is the capital city of Rhode Island, as well as the state’s largest city. It does not seem comparable to me.

Brass City Records used to have (maybe still has?) a sign in their window calling themselves a college music store in a grammar school town (or something similar to that... I can’t remember the exact quote). It captured some of the essence of Waterbury—there’s plenty to do if you’re under 12, and almost nothing to do if you’re 20.

Two years ago, one of the city’s bus drivers was quoted in the newspaper, describing Waterbury as a “country city.” I thought it was an excellent description.

Waterbury is a small city composed largely of residential neighborhoods designed very much like suburbs. One of the great things about Waterbury is that it has all of the classic features of a town, but is large enough that you don’t ever have to leave town or own a car to get what you need (with some exceptions).

I think the best way for Waterbury to succeed is to build on our assets, rather than attempting to be something we’re not. We don’t have a population of 500,000, so we shouldn’t waste time wishing we were. If we’re looking for success models, let’s look at cities our own size, not ones that are significantly larger.

Waterbury’s brass industry was established and flourished early on because of our assets: numerous streams running down steep hills, creating power to run the mills; and a convenient location at the intersection of the main road running east-west across the state and the road running along the Naugatuck River to the Housatonic River in Derby, which provided access to shipping routes.

Our assets today: that same convenient transportation convergence (greatly modernized, of course); our pleasant town-like residential neighborhood qualities; and the incredible diversity of our population.

Let’s focus on our assets and build from the ground up.

A Walk in the Snow

I took a break from work this afternoon and went for a walk into downtown with my camera.

One of the great things about Waterbury is that the buses still run even when the weather and roads are a mess. One of the bad things is that most bus stops don't have any form of shelter.

The Waterbury Arts Magnet School main entrance, as viewed from the parking garage. In times past, the main entrance would have been located facing the street, but now, in the 21st century, there's a prevailing mentality of everyone being able to park as close to the front door as possible (no wonder so many people are overweight... nobody wants to walk more than two minutes at a time!). Okay, in fairness, it makes sense for the WAMS students to have a semi-private entrance.

Walnut Street. Not only can you see how messy the roads were today, but you can also see wobbly tire tracks from cars sliding up and down the hill. The car in the foreground smacked into the curb on the wrong side of the road a few seconds after I took the photo. Luckily for me, they got maybe 70 feet past me before impact. Over the course of my walk, I saw several cars slide into curbs as they tried to negotiate a turn in the road, even though they were all traveling at a snail's pace.

Wood Street. Most people went outside to shovel at least three times over the course of the day.

The Soldiers' Monument in front of the Green, with the Mattatuck Museum and YMCA in the background.

Poor Ben Franklin looks like he's freezing.

Christopher Columbus wears his snowy mantle a little better:

I can't do a photo album of Waterbury without the clock tower.

The eateries on Grand Street were all closed (except for Subway)....

...while the eateries on East Main Street, from the Golden Wok to City Hall Cafe, were pretty much all open. I'm just guessing, but I think the East Main Street restaurants (not including City Hall) rely on downtown residents for their business, while Grand Street seems to be favored more by office workers (I could be entirely wrong about this).

Looking towards St. Mary's Hospital and downtown from Walnut Street. Normally you can see much further into the distance. It seems like there is always a pedestrian crossing at this location, between the Walnut Street Market and High Street.

I saw a lot of family groups out for a walk. Mostly fathers and sons, so maybe it's a guy thing.

Exchange Place, full of pedestrians and cars.

Another shot of the Green:

To those of you who now live in warmer climates: aren't you glad you moved? 

To those of us still living here: I hope you love the snow as much as I do!

Lunar Eclipse

If only I had a better lens... but how often do I take photos of the moon?

These shots are roughly 15 minutes apart (except I seem to have left one out), taken between 8:45pm and 9:59pm tonight.

Economic "Feel-Good" Summit

I went to last night's economic summit expecting to hear a discussion of the many issues that concern Waterbury's business people and residents. Since the summit was created in response to the chaos and communication problems that ensued over the health clinic move to Bank Street, I assumed this was going to be an opportunity for everyone to get together and communicate. Instead, we were subjected to more than an hour of long-winded speeches telling us things we already know about what WDC does, what Main Street does, and what the City does for economic development. We were also had to listen to Rowland give his rah-rah speech, broken up into three or four segments, but otherwise nearly identical to the same speeches he's been giving on Ed Flynn's radio program.

Last night's summit was a fantastic gathering of many of Waterbury's best: people who work and live in the city and do what they can to make this city great, and they had to sit idle for more than an hour of pointless speeches. I almost left out of boredom. When the audience was finally able to speak, I think many of us had given up on being able to have our voices heard. There were still many people who did get up to share their thoughts, but it seemed almost pointless to me. I did not feel that the panelists were there to listen; they were there to convince us that they know what's best for the city. The paper reported that Jim Smith thought the summit was a success--that just shows he is completely out of touch with what's going on in this city.

Over the course of that hour plus, we were presented with only one piece of new information. The mayor has decided to create a task force to get things done. He did his best to present this in a positive light, but it really doesn't hold up well.

The mayor gave no indication as to who will sit on the task force. For the city's sake, I hope the committee members are all city residents or business owners, and that they represent the full range of people in this city. If the task force looks like the panel at last night's meeting (a long row of aging white men in pricey suits), it will receive very little respect.

This new economic committee will be charged with "getting things done" and telling WDC, the Chamber, Main Street and other groups what to do. I can't help wondering if the mayor doesn't understand that Main Street is a volunteer, grassroots organization. I can't imagine the Downtown Merchants taking kindly to being told what to do either. WDC already has a board of directors telling it what to do--why do they need a second group to direct them?

I suppose it boils down to the subtle message that the city's current economic developers have failed (I'm not saying I agree with this). Instead of replacing presumably incompetent staff with people who can get the job done right, the mayor is going to appoint a committee to run the city. Who is the task force accountable to? What do they base their decisions on?

I'm sure it's safe to assume that Rowland will be on the task force. I hope he starts doing research before making actions. Every time I've heard him speak in the past two weeks, he has talked about his vision of UConn students living in downtown apartments. The first time I heard him talk about this, he first said that he made UConn a success by moving it downtown (and here I thought the school's teachers and administrators made it a success....), and that he had envisioned converting the upper floors of the YMCA to college apartments. In subsequent versions of this talk, he has taken out the details and merely said that he thinks having UConn students rent apartments downtown would be a great tool for revitalization. I can only assume he's thinking of a fantasy land in which college students are wealthy and well-behaved tenants. Based on my interactions with UConn-Waterbury students, I'd say the vast majority are living with their parents because they can't afford to live on their own. They are already working as much as they can to pay their tuition. If any of them did get apartments, they would rent the cheapest apartments and have as many roommates as they could fit. College students living on their own also have a tendency to trash their apartments.

I suppose Rowland's college dream would work if a building were converted to dormitories, funded through UConn, with full university supervision and regulation. But it would require UConn to find new funds for branch campus housing.

After listening to all the speeches last night, I'd say the officials in charge are still at the dream stage--if you built it, they will come mentality. If we create market rate housing, all of a sudden the downtown will be full of residents with disposable incomes. Where are all of these new residents going to come from? If they are coming from within the city, all we're doing is emptying out apartments elsewhere. The only way we'll be able to entice people from outside Waterbury to move downtown is with a serious marketing strategy. Before buying a house, I tried to find a good apartment downtown, but there was no way to search for one, other than walking the streets, looking for signs in windows. The apartment owners need to work together, possibly with a realtor, to market downtown living, as a destination, not just an amenity.

There were several other issues brought up, like parking. I have yet to experience any problems parking downtown, and I've been doing it for eleven years. I have never been unable to find a parking space, and, when I park in the ramparage, it adds maybe five minutes to my overall travel time. There was a man last night who said parking in the ramparage added 30 minutes to his visits downtown--I have no idea what he's talking about. It takes me ten minutes to walk anywhere downtown. Walking from Willow Street to City Hall Cafe might take 25 minutes at most. I wish I had thought to say that last night, but my mind wasn't quick enough.

Waterbury's Early Catholic Buildings

The first Catholic mass in Waterbury is believed to have been held in the home of Cornelius Donnelly, celebrated by Rev. James T. McDermott, before 1837. From 1837 to 1847, Waterbury’s Catholic priest was Rev. James Smyth, first pastor of St. Mary’s parish in New Haven, and one of only two priests in the entire state. Cornelius Donnelly’s employer threatened to fire him if he housed Father Smyth. Waterbury’s early Catholics instead gathered for mass in the home of Michael Neville on East Main Street.

In 1845, Dr. Jesse Porter agreed to allow the Catholics to meet in Washington Hall, a building he owned downtown (at the corner of Exchange Place and West Main Street, where Bank of America is now). Two years later, in 1847, Waterbury’s Catholics purchased an empty lot on the corner of East Main and Dublin Streets. The former Episcopal church (St. John’s) was purchased with the intention of relocating it to the East Main Street lot. However, when the building had been moved as far as the current location of St. Patrick’s Hall on East Main Street, the contractor found himself unable to transport the building up the slight hill of East Main. The lot where St. Patrick’s Hall is today was quickly purchased and became the home of the first Catholic church in Waterbury.

Waterbury’s first resident Catholic pastor, Rev. Michael O’Neile, arrived in October of 1847. He placed the new church under the patronage of St. Peter.

There was a fire in the church during services on December 29, 1854, but it did not destroy the building. The pastor, members of the congregation, and Waterbury firemen swiftly brought the fire under control. Services continued to be held in the building until 1859. Construction of the city’s first Immaculate Conception church began in 1857. Anderson’s History of the Town and City of Waterbury speculates that this may have been the first Immaculate Conception church in the entire country.

St. Patrick’s Chapel had previously been the Methodist Episcopal Church, located on the corner of East Main Street and Phoenix Avenue. The building had been sold to the neighboring Immaculate Conception parish in 1876, at which point it became St. Patrick’s Chapel. The building was sold to Irving G. Platt in 1887, who tore it down and replaced it with the commercial and residential building still standing at that corner.

St. Peter’s church, on East Main Street, had been used as a public school after the construction of Immaculate Conception and was torn down in 1888, to be replaced by St. Patrick’s Hall (see earlier post).

East Main Street

Okay, so this really is a shameless post of self-promotion, but my art career won't go anywhere if I don't market my paintings. Here is a slightly-blurry photo of my newly finished oil painting (18x24 inches). Feel free to make an offer (waterburygirl at gmail.com).



And here are a couple of detail shots:

Collection Agency

I just had a lovely chat with someone who works at Northstar Technologies, a collection agency based in Oklahoma. They're looking for Tatianna Tatenchenko (that's my phonetic spelling of the last name, which they couldn't pronounce; I suppose it could be Tatianna Tanchenko). I didn't ask which creditor she had bilked this time, but he said they took the account in October. I explained that Tatianna also goes by the name Tabitha Hollister and that she's been using my phone number on her credit card and bank account applications for many years now. The nice man at the collection agency was concerned about the frustration I must be feeling, but I assured him that this is now really very amusing. I'm fascinated by the way she lives her life.

The man at Northstar promised me that they would never call me again, which got me thinking. First, while I'm grateful that they believe my word, how do they know I'm not Tabitha/Tatianna? After all, if I were running the sort of scam she runs, I certainly would never identify myself to a collection agency. Second, what happens if I'm ever so delinquent with a bill that it gets sent to this collection agency? Have I just been exempted from the phone calls for all of eternity? Hopefully, I will never be that delinquent.

Nomenclature Clarification

For several years, the building to the east of the Palace Theater on East Main Street has been referred to as the "Rectory Building." I haven't really paid close attention to this name, but every time I heard it, I thought something didn't sound right. In the past week, I heard and seen it called the Rectory Building at least twice, most recently in today's newspaper, and I've finally realized why this naming bothers me: the building is not, and never has been, a rectory. In fact, calling it a rectory does a disservice to the building's rich history. A rectory is the home of the rector, or priest. The building on East Main Street, as far as I know, never served that function.

The building on East Main Street (as seen above in an illustration from Anderson's History of Waterbury, published 1896) is correctly referred to as St. Patrick's Hall. It was built on one of the first property lots to be owned by Waterbury's Roman Catholics, who purchased the site from entrepreneur Elizur Prichard in 1847. Waterbury's first Roman Catholic church (St. Patrick's Chapel--darn typos! the name was St. Peter's, not St. Patrick's--my thanks to Joseph P. Nolan for catching the mistake) stood on the lot from 1847 until 1866. The Chapel was replaced by Waterbury's first Immaculate Conception Church, built on the opposite side of the street (where UConn is today). The old St. Patrick's (St. Peter's!) chapel became a public school, until it was replaced in 1889 with St. Patrick's Hall.

St. Patrick's Hall, Waterbury's best and possibly only [Correction, 2/4/08--there is at least one other, on Bank Street, across from the parking garage] example of the Richardsonian Romanesque style, was built under the leadership of Rev. John A. Mulcahy, an Irish-born priest who came to Waterbury in 1886. The Hall contained the parish's Sunday School, as well as a library and reading room, meeting rooms for Catholic and social organizations, a gymnasium and a large hall for lectures and entertainment. It signaled the emergence of Roman Catholics as respected members of the community--forty years earlier, the parish had struggled to overcome anti-Catholic prejudices in Waterbury.

St. Patrick's Hall is both an architectural gem and an important monument to Waterbury's Catholic history, but it is not a Rectory.

Hilarious!

As most people know, the Chamber of Commerce has now hired former-governor and ex-con John Rowland at a salary of $95k/year--money that will have to be taken away from something else, since the job was created just for Rowland. Rowland's job will be to market and sell Waterbury to prospective businesses, to try to convince those businesses to move to Waterbury.

An article by Steve Gambini in today's paper describes a 2005 situation assessment of the city by Baltimore consultants McDearman Associates. The report, according to Gambini, states that most potential new businesses will disqualify a move to Waterbury in part because of the city's poor image--one of Waterbury's greatest weaknesses was cited as "political corruption."

In other words, someone who is known throughout the state for being a corrupt politician is getting paid $95k (in a job that looks a lot like a kickback to outside observers) to convince potential new businesses that there's no political corruption in Waterbury.

I'm torn between laughing at the absurdity or crying over the blow to the city's image. I had been so proud of the work I had done to help get Ken Burns to promote a positive image of Waterbury to the nation, and now we're right back where we were four years ago. I had actually dared to hope that Waterbury's political corruption was in the past, but Jarjura and the Chamber of Commerce have brought it back to life. Image is everything, and our image is corrupt.

A Bad Day for Waterbury

Last night the Board of Aldermen was scheduled to vote on the proposed health clinic move to Bank Street. The majority of Aldermen were ready to vote yes. Seventy-five downtown merchants had declared they were in favor of the move. Numerous people were planning to speak in favor of it at the Alderman meeting. At the last minute, Mayor Jarjura decided that the health department would withdraw its proposal, even though the new lease would save the city approximately $200,000 a year. As far anyone can tell, the only opposition came from a small number of people who want downtown to be expensive and exclusive. I absolutely can understand that there might soon be a good development plan put into action, but the situation was not handled at all well. There was a very clear message sent that poor people will no longer be welcome in downtown, and that all decisions will be made only by a select few. The downtown business owners were effectively told that their opinion doesn’t matter, and that they should continue to be patient (and watch their businesses go under!) while the city’s developers try to get something accomplished.

The deserved outrage accompanying the mayor’s actions in that matter has been completely overshadowed by Jarjura’s other executive decision of the day: to create a special new job for former-governor John Rowland as economic developer for the city. This is all anyone has talked about today.

So far, it’s not clear which organization Rowland will for. The articles I’ve read say that Jarjura originally wanted Rowland to take the top post at WDC (which explains, I suppose, why the job application deadline was extended a month). Rowland declined, not wanting to get stuck in an admin job. So now a special job will be creating, presumably letting Rowland work as he chooses, at either WDC or the Chamber of Commerce.

In one article, it was stated that the Chamber isn’t a public organization, but if they’re creating a position for him because the Mayor asked them to, doesn’t that make them a branch of city government?

Rowland’s supporters are blind to public opinion. The majority of people in the state of Connecticut do not like or trust Rowland. I’m a firm believer in letting everyone have a second chance, but this is hurting Waterbury. Remember when Lamont’s aide said that Waterbury was where the forces of slime meet the forces of evil? Waterbury has been called the most corrupt city in Connecticut many times today. Pretty soon this will be a national story. The entire country will once again be laughing at Waterbury. How is Rowland going to promote development in Waterbury if his role as economic developer tarnishes the city’s image?

Rowland might very well have all the right qualifications for the job, but so far he’s doing a lot more harm than good.

Sundays Downtown

The city’s buses now run on Sundays, which is a great boon for the thousands of Waterbury residents who either can’t afford a car or are unable to drive. It is also a boon for downtown. Downtown Waterbury used to be deserted on Sundays. Even on a beautiful summer day, there were no pedestrians and virtually no cars. Downtown was a ghost town. Now that the buses run on Sundays, there are pedestrians and, for some reason, a fair amount of traffic. It’s not as busy as it is during the week, probably because the few stores are all closed, but it no longer looks like the city center has been abandoned.

As I wrote earlier, there are some people who think that having 125 poor people visit a health clinic on Bank Street every day will harm efforts to improve downtown. The reality is that those 125 people will make Bank Street look busier and more successful, just as the people waiting for buses downtown on Sundays make East Main Street and the Green look lively.

Holyland U.S.A.

Early in October, I went for a long walk through Waterbury, eventually climbing up Abrigador Hill to Holyland, where I followed a barely-visible footpath along the western slope. I was surprised to see how overgrown Holyland has become. It looked completely different only a couple of years ago. The cross, visible from the highway, is going to be replaced soon with a new cross, so maybe there are plans and funding to fix up other parts of Holyland. It's a shame that it's effectively abandoned and closed to the public. It would make a great park, perfect for an afternoon hike and picnic.


The main entrance, with the remnants of a miniature city on the hillside.





The woodlands are a real contrast to the surrounding city. I've been told that there are dozens of cats that roam Holyland first thing in the morning, but all I saw was a black squirrel.


Most of where I walked was overgrown with this thorny plant. It seemed appropriate....










[UPDATE, April 5, 2008--The word is that the cross will be coming down soon, to be replaced with a new cross this summer. This will be the third cross to stand on the site. In February, Ned Lamont offered to match whatever funds are raised for the project, up to $25k (a nice gesture, considering what his aide said about Waterbury during the last campaign). Still no news on the future of the rest of Holyland.]

Being Poor Doesn't Make You a Bad Person

The latest furor in Waterbury is over the proposed move by the city Health Department to Bank Street. The merchants on Bank Street are happy about the move, but the heads of Main Street Waterbury, the Chamber of Commerce, and Webster Bank are horrified by the proposal. As it has been explained to me, having a street-level clinic for poor people on Bank Street will prevent any new retail from moving in. Having poor people right next door to Circa is, I've been told, a terrible thing.

I've tried to look at this situation impartially. I understand that there is a plan to bring upscale businesses to Bank Street. I know that business owners prefer to avoid ghettos (but Bank Street, even with a clinic, is very extremely removed from being a ghetto!). Business owners also prefer streets without empty storefronts, and I think the boarded up and vacant windows will continue to be far more noticeable than a clinic.

I think the farmer's market on the Green this past summer is an excellent example of how the Health Department clinic on Bank Street won't be a bad thing. The farmer's market was frequented by upscale office workers and by people using food stamps. And they all got along fine. The wealthier folks showed no sign of being scared off by the poor people.

The argument against the clinic claims that this will prevent new businesses from moving in. But there haven't been any new businesses moving in, and there are no new businesses on the horizon.

Another facet of the argument is that there is a plan for smart growth. This is the only argument that makes sense to me. It makes sense to have medical services grouped together near the hospital. It makes sense for Bank Street to have more arts-related organizations and businesses. But the people who are fighting the clinic move could be using that same energy and resources to do more to promote the smart growth. Why, for example, doesn't Main Street move into one of the vacant storefronts?

Bank Street would be a perfect location for an artists' co-op gallery or association. There are dozens of artists in Waterbury, and dozens more in surrounding towns, who would participate. It's something that's fairly simple to get started--the only tricky part is getting funding for rent and utilities (ideally, there would also be funding for a director, but these sorts of organizations can run successfully as co-ops). Artists would be able to show and sell their work from the storefront, and make additional money offering art classes in the same location. Some of the artists might even want to rent upper floors as gallery spaces.

Artists are often among the first groups to revitalize urban areas, so why isn't anything being done to lure them to our downtown?

I recently visited Hot Springs, Arkansas, the 4th largest art town in the country. Hot Springs, like Waterbury, saw its major industry go belly up in the 1970s. The outskirts of the town are all hideous strip malls, but the town center is beautiful. There is a centrally located visitor's center, just a small building with an information desk, maps, brochures & menus, and public restrooms. The shops are a mixture, with a large number of galleries (including an artists' co-op), a few restaurants, some dollar stores, a "gentlemen's" club (featuring strip karaoke!), antique stores and book stores. Some of the businesses are very upscale. Most are not. But the key element is that there are no vacant store fronts.

There are too many people with power who want to gentrify Waterbury. I once overheard a lunchtime conversation in which was discussed a plan to tear down buildings at the intersection of North Main and East/West Farms. The plan is to claim that the road needs to be widened, but the true goal, as I overheard, is to get rid of the undesirable "element" that live and shop in that location. I've been there numerous times. Bertie's West Indian restaurant is there. More important, a poor community is there. The women I overheard want to destroy the community because it is poor. Wouldn't it be better to help build up the community so that it can thrive?

There is a discrimination problem in Waterbury, but it has nothing to do with race or religion. It is entirely about poverty. The signal being put out over the Health Department clinic makes it clear that if you are poor, certain people want you to stay out of sight.

Rumor Mall

Someone I know, who lives in Litchfield County, recently asked me "if it's true that the Waterbury mall is going to be closed because there have been too many thefts." The person who asked me this is normally a highly intelligent person, but I guess she didn't stop to think about this one. It reminded me of when the mall opened ten years ago--there was a rumor going around the suburbs that "if you go to the Waterbury mall, someone will hide under your car, slash your ankle, and steal your purse." I don't know if there ever actually was an ankle slashing incident. The logistics seem a little too complicated to succeed, even if some idiot did try it. Even more unlikely is a scenario in which undercar ankle slashing is a regular occurrence. But, for whatever reason, people in the suburbs were eager to believe the rumor. After all, cities are dangerous, crime-ridden places, not at all like the suburbs, where nothing bad ever happens, right?

As for the mall closing because of "too many" thefts... even though this was the first time I'd heard this rumor, I flatly denied the possibility. I wish I had thought to ask what kind of thefts. I assumed she meant people stealing from the stores, but maybe the rumor is pickpockets and purse-snatchers. Actually, considering how rumors work, I'm sure the type of theft varies depending on who is telling the "story". In either case, the rumor still doesn't make sense.

The mall is always packed full of shoppers, which suggests that the many stores are all doing good business. If an individual store doesn't have enough sales to sustain itself, then that individual store will close. Not the whole mall. If an individual store is having trouble with thieves, then the store will improve its security system. If all of the stores are having trouble with thieves, the odds are that it's a specific group of people causing the problem, and it won't take long for the mall to identify them and ban them from the mall (not to mention having them arrested). The same applies to pickpockets and purse snatchers.

Maybe the mall-closing rumor got started because Shaw's closed (which had nothing to do with Waterbury or the mall--Shaw's had to close several of its stores) and because the mall couldn't afford to open early to accommodate people who were there to walk and not shop. But since the mall is always packed during regular hours, and because there don't seem to be any vacant store fronts, I can't see why anyone would believe that the entire mall is going to close. Remember the old mall? It stayed open long after it "died", and when the last store moved to the new mall, it was torn down and replaced by a Wal-Mart.

It's very easy for suburbanites to believe the worst of a city, even if crime happens in their towns. I would expect theft to be more likely in a town like Southbury or Cheshire, where residents assume that it's safe to leave doors unlocked and purses in unlocked cars. Waterbury is stuck with a bad reputation, even though it's one of the safest cities in Connecticut. People who don't worry about going to New Haven at night are afraid to come into Waterbury, even though there are often random shootings in New Haven and none in Waterbury. As recently reported, Waterbury's crime rate is the lowest since 1980. Makes me wonder how the mall can be suddenly suffering from "too many" thefts.

Eat Your Art Out

This year's Eat Your Art Out is scheduled for Thursday, April 3, 5:30 to 8:30 at the Armory on Field Street. It's a great event, with food samplings from dozens of restaurants. Proceeds help fund Main Street Waterbury.

Full details about the event are on the official website, www.eatyourartout.org. If you are interested in helping out with or participating in the event, please fill out the comment form on their website. Tickets for Eat Your Art Out are being sold through the Palace Theater box office starting Monday, January 14. Buy early and often!

Sin City

Just a quick thought while I procrastinate--I don't know why anyone would be upset that a new Waterbury nightclub will be called Sin City. I have never heard this name used to describe Waterbury. Most people associate the name with Vegas. If you want to be upset about a city moniker, pick on "Dirty Water" (Waterbury's actual nickname).

Holiday Windows 2007

Here are some photos of downtown Holiday Decorations, December 2007.

Cafe Europa:




The Connecticut Store (at Howland-Hughes)




Zia's Cucina:




Santa at Zia's:

Property Assessment

The new year has started, and I'm already wondering how much income tax I'll owe in April. Meanwhile, today's paper informed me that the new assessment for my house is available at www.totalvaluation.com.

(On a side note, I have to say I greatly prefer the old assessor's website--www.waterburyrealestate.org/propertymax/rover30.asp--it has more information, and the information is much easier to understand.)

I've been a little stressed out about the increase in property taxes this year. There's nothing like being told you're taxes might double. As it turns out, if Waterbury's mill rate stays at 55.4, the taxes on my townhouse have increased from $1098 to $1939. Spread out over a year, that's not a significant amount of money, but it's still going to wreak havok on my mortgage payments. For reasons that I don't understand, when I bought my house in June, I was starting with insufficient escrow. My payment amount was increased to compensate; now it's going to increase again. It's a little disheartening, even if the amount isn't all that large. As is the case for many Waterbury residents, I'm living on a budget, and any increase in expenses causes stress.

I'm sure there will be a lot of grumbling throughout Waterbury over the next few months!

UPDATE, March 31, 2008: The mayor's budget for the next fiscal year has the mill rate at 39. I can't imagine the Board of Aldermen will be opposed to that.

UPDATE, June 3, 2008: The budget has been approved, and the city's mill rate is set at 39.92 mills. To figure out your property tax, take the assessed value, multiply by 39.92, then divide by 1000.

Snowy Sidewalks

During my holiday travels, I was talking to my brother, who grew up in Iowa, about what it's like trying to get anywhere in Waterbury during the winter. I was telling him that, while there's snow on the ground, you pretty much have to drive a car if you don't want to struggle with snow and ice. At best, only half the sidewalks are shoveled, which means that pedestrians have to choose between possibly spraining an ankle or slipping and falling on ice, or risk getting hit by a car while walking in the side of the road. I can't even imagine what it must be like for someone pushing a baby stroller. Anyone in a wheelchair is either stuck at home or stuck in the roadway.

My brother was shocked by this situation. He had trouble comprehending that there could be unshoveled sidewalks. It turns out that Iowa not only requires property owners to shovel their sidewalks, they also have a state law (Code of Iowa, Sec. 364.12 [2c]) which allows/requires each city to shovel any sidewalk that isn't cleared soon enough. The city then bills the property owner for the job.

This sounds absolutely wonderful to me. I'd love to see it happen here. There's something about having clear walkways that's so civilized.

Of course, since Waterbury has difficulty just getting the streets properly cleared, expecting the city to also take care of sidewalks, even if they do get reimbursed for it, is probably asking too much.

One Week

That's how long the Waterbury pound keeps dogs before putting them down. They take the dog in, have it inspected by a vet, and if it's disease-free, they place an ad in the paper (not under "Pets" however...) and a week later, if the dog hasn't been claimed or adopted, they kill it (humanely, of course, but it amounts to the same thing).

One week does not seem like anywhere near enough time. One month would be better. I don't know how many dogs the pound can hold, but they are currently advertising five dogs (including the poor puppy I found last week--I'm working hard at finding somewhere for him to go) for adoption/claim. Five dogs that are going to be put to sleep at Christmas if nobody rescues them.

The Republican-American runs a pet photo section once a week, printing photos that people send in of their cats and dogs. Wouldn't it be a better use of that section to run photos of the dogs on death row at the pound?

Mildly Disturbing

As I was walking along East Main Street this morning, carefully watching my footing, since half the sidewalks are still covered in snow and ice, I noticed a half-eaten chicken wing on the ground, being picked over by a pigeon. This seems not right somehow. Naturally, there are birds that eat other birds (hawks, for example), and all birds (I assume) eat bugs, but for some reason I just don't expect city pigeons to eat chicken.

The strangest pigeon story I've ever heard is from New York City, where there are (supposedly) pigeons that live, permanently, deep in the subway system and are evolving into blind albinos.

Snowy Day Adventure

Right after the snow started this morning, I noticed dog poop on my front porch. I was, naturally, annoyed that someone's dog would come up on my porch and do that. Several hours later, as I stepped outside to start shoveling snow, I noticed that the dog had peed as well. Very annoying. As I shoveled the poop off the porch, I suddenly noticed, out of the corner of my eye, something dark in the corner behind the recycling bin. I moved closer and discovered the most emaciated dog I've ever seen huddled up in a little ball. He didn't move anything other than his eye as I got closer. My first thought was that he had already frozen to death, but that little bit of eye movement let me know he was still alive. My second thought was to ask one of the kids playing in the snow if they knew whose dog he was, but then I saw his ribs and spine sticking out, and realized that if he belonged to someone, they weren't ever getting him back.

I rushed inside and grabbed a thick towel to keep him warm, and he was SO grateful for it, but still didn't get up. Then I rushed inside and filled a bowl up with cat food, which the dog quickly inhaled. I got more cat food, and this time he was able to stand up to eat.


Photo is blurry, but you can see how starved he is.

By this point, I was trying to figure out what to do with him. He wasn't displaying any aggression, and seemed disease-free. Not to mention that he kept giving me that heart-melting look of adoration.... The sensible thing, I knew, was to call the dog warden, but this sweet dog has already had a rough time. I called a friend who assured me that calling the dog warden was a good thing to do, so I made the call. No one answered, so I left a message.

(Side note: In the phone book, under Dog Warden in the blue pages, there's a second number to call if no one answers the first number. Well, it turns out the second number is for emergencies requiring the police! Oops! I felt very bad for bothering them, but the man who answered was very nice about it.)

I had been planning on doing some snow shoveling and then maybe going for a walk. But before I called the dog warden, I decided to let the dog come inside. He wanted to come in, and I figured I could toss him right back outside if he misbehaved. (Letting him inside was very nerve-wracking for me, because one of my cats was killed by a dog a few years ago.) When I opened the door and let him in, he made a beeline for the cat food in the kitchen, and completely ignored the cats as they bolted for safe hiding spots. The dog also ignored my gray cat Max, who hovered nearby, growling and mewing.


A less-than-happy cat...


I was going to set up a bed for the dog down in the basement, but he refused to go down the steps. He also refused to go back outside. He wants to stay close to me, so he's currently sleeping on the towel next to the couch. Max is fascinated by him. The other cats probably won't come out of hiding for days. I have no idea when the dog warden will call me back, and, considering that we're well into getting the 6-10 inches of snow predicted for today, I have no idea how long it will be before they can come for the dog. I'm hoping to get the dog to go outside after his nap; he's not exactly house-broken (he's already pooped in the living room). If I have to keep him overnight, he'll have to go in the basement, even if I have to carry him there (which won't be fun, considering that how filthy he is).


A very unhappy cat, trying to figure out where the dog is hiding.

The Other Buses

After Waterbury was hit by the sudden snowfall at rush hour last Friday, the big news in the paper was the stranding of small children on school buses. I don't know what would have been a better way to handle the problem (shouldn't the bus drivers be trained and equipped with supplies for emergencies strandings?), although I have to agree that it was much better to have the buses pull over than crash.

What I haven't seen covered much in the news is the story of the public trans buses. I heard one person say he waited two hours in the cold for a bus after work before finally giving up and walking a mile or two to get home. Granted, that doesn't make for as wrenching a story as crying toddlers, but I think it bothers me more. The kids on the buses were, presumably, kept warm. The people using CT Transit were stuck out in the cold, and those riders typically include the elderly and small children. At least some of the downtown bus stops have a sort of shelter, but there are few things quite as miserable as standing out in the cold waiting for a bus.

I suppose there's a certain amount of effort to find someone to blame for the transportation mess during the storm, but even after the storm started, most of the weathermen were still saying that it would be an insignificant dusting at worst. For tomorrow's storm, they're going the opposite direction, predicting roughly half a foot of snow. I don't think anyone will be too surprised if all we get is an insignificant dusting.

Missing the Bachata

At 6 this evening, I was outside shoveling snow from my sidewalk and driveway. During the summer and fall, if I were outside my house at 6 on a Friday, I'd be enjoying the great bachata music being blasted at the corner bodega. Tonight, in the cold and snow, there were hardly any sounds at all. It was so silent, I could hear the crunching footsteps of a man walking up the middle of the street. I do really enjoy the quiet of new snow, but I definitely miss the music. I wonder how much the city's Dominican population has grown in recent years. It seemed like I was hearing Zacarias Ferreira's songs everywhere in Waterbury. It was great.

I stepped back outside a little after 8 tonight. The snow stopped falling before 6pm, and amounted to about an inch of lightweight powder, but the streets are like ice from snow getting packed down tight by cars. A neighbor driving slowly down the street said there was at least one really bad accident on Oak Street. There's no sign of city plows putting down sand--but, of course, even after the snow had started, the weather reports were still claiming that it probably wouldn't do anything.