Tree Lighting on the Green

Here are some photographs from Friday night's tree lighting ceremony, and a few photos of some of the winners of Main Street's Third Annual Holiday Decoration Competition (I took photos of more than just these, but for some reason the camera didn't save them). The Green will be lit up all month--it's worth a visit.































Vintage Restaurant


Universal Copy



John Bale Book Company

Presidential Votes

UConn has published the results of the election with breakdowns by town. It's interesting to see that Waterbury and Naugatuck are very nearly surrounded by a sea of red, while almost the entire rest of the state is blue.



More election maps are online at magic.lib.uconn.edu/election.htm

Getting Ready for Spring

Last week I planted bulbs in my front yard. Iris, because they've always been my favorite; hyacinth, because they smell nice; and anemone, because they came in packets of 25 multicolored, so they'll help fill in the yard.

My neighbor across the street was interested in what I was planting, since he has the best view of my yard. My next-door neighbor heard us talking and came out to see what was happening. I don't think he'd ever seen anyone garden before. It was a revelation to him. I showed him the photos and descriptions of what the bulbs will become in the spring, and he was amazed that something so large and beautiful could grow from something that looks like a cross between a potato and an onion. He said something to the effect that he doesn't understand how anyone could not believe in a high power when you see how a tiny little seed or bulb can be put in the ground and then grow into a large plant. I had a similar thought earlier this year, when I saw the first tiny little sprig of a plant growing from seeds I had planted. Life is truly miraculous, and gardening can have a positive impact on people's lives.

In Waterbury, the Brass City Harvest has been doing a lot of good work to bring gardening and fresh fruits & vegetables to the inner city. They have a newly launched blog at brasscityharvest.blogspot.com/. Check 'em out!

Staying Current

The Hartford Courant has a reputation for being biased against Waterbury. This is something that can be seen going back decades. I don't know what started this "tradition" at the Courant, but maybe one of the reasons it continues is that they haven't bothered to stay up-to-date on what's happening here. Take, for example, their official description of Waterbury on their website: "Principal industries are manufacture of brass and copper products, clocks, and watches."

I'd say that puts their knowledge of Waterbury at least thirty years behind the times.

Doomed

(photos taken in 2007)

A lot of factory buildings tend to be ugly behomeths, especially if they were built during the 20th century. During the 19th century, factory buildings were typically beautiful brick structures. Many have been rehabilitated, converted into dynamic apartments, condos and shops. Many others have been demolished, and it seems that Waterbury is about to lose another one. The abandoned factories at North Elm and Cherry Streets are going to be replaced with a new facility. It's a real shame. For years, I've been hoping that someone would rescue them. Rehabbing them is on my wish list of things I would do if I won Powerball.









A portion of the old watch factory was converted to Enterprise Apartments, and, as you can see from the photo, it looks really nice:





By contrast, here's the depressingly hideous, cement-block, bunker-style housing on the opposite side of North Elm Street (why does it seem like the ugly architecture stays forever, while the attractive architecture gets destroyed?):




I don't know for certain, but the neighboring Benrus factory might also be not long for this world:






Last, but certainly not least, here is the main office building for the factory complex, designed to look like a miniature mansion. I don't have a lot of hope remaining for its future.

Good Music

After I moved to Scovill Row last year, I kept hearing some fantastic music being played in the neighborhood. I did some online searching and finally discovered that what I was hearing was Bachata, a style of music from the Dominican Republic. My favorite bachata musician is Zacarias Ferreira--his Dime Que Falto CD (I almost called it an album...) is fantastic.

A couple of weeks ago, I started to notice a flyer cropping up all over Waterbury and Hartford (and presumably all the other cities in Connecticut). Ferreira is going to be putting on a concert in Waterbury on November 16 at Salon La Fatima (Our Lady of Fatima Church) on Baldwin Street.

If you aren't familiar with his music, here are some good links to listen to:
Dime Que Falto
Ay Amor
Es Tan Dificil
Se Marcho El Amor

The Local Public House

I've had a terrible time remembering the new name of T. Pic's bar, probably because they haven't gotten new signs up yet. So here it is: The Local Public House. Conjures up images of old Irish pubs.



When I was there the other day, I got a little history lesson from my fellow drinkers. Before it was T. Pic's, it was 457 (after the street address). Before that, it was No Fish Today. Before that, it was something I can't remember now (sorry!).

There used to be a bar just down the street, in a building that was lost to fire, that had the longest bar in Connecticut. It is believed that the bar was purchased and moved out of state.

Mattatuck Cafe Reopens

The Mattatuck Museum has been without a cafe for several years, but they are finally re-opening it this week, Wednesday, November 5. This time around, the cafe will be run by the Bunker Hill Deli. Sandwiches, soups, salads, all available Tuesday through Saturday, 11:30 - 2:30.

If you still haven't stopped by to see the new history exhibit, now's the perfect time--see the history, eat some lunch, and if the weather is nice, borrow one of the MP3 players and a map, and tour some of downtown's architecture.

Merchandise!

After much nagging, pestering and good advice, I'm finally giving merchandising of my art a try. Marketing my own work falls outside my comfort zone, so please forgive my awkwardness and buy some stuff!

Postcards, prints, mugs and other items are available through cafepress (click here to view).

Once I finish a painting, I will add its image to the store. If you would like a specific product that is not included in my store, just let me know, and I will add it.

The Impact

I've been working from home for about a month, starting when the Wall Street collapse began. This past week, I was back to riding the train to NYC again, and was shocked to see a very noticeable decrease in the number of suited passengers. Stamford is normally the busiest stop, with swarms of men and women in high-end business attire getting on and off the train. Now there's hardly anyone. Normally the morning train is standing-room only, with five or six people standing in every doorway. Now there's plenty of empty seats.

The news reports I've read have all been focused on the bail-out and on how the banks are currently spending money. There have been plenty of incendiary reports about bankers being given raises and bonuses, and exposés of corporate partying. What I wasn't aware of until this week are the huge numbers of layoffs. So far approximately 110,000 people connected to Wall Street have lost their jobs, with more layoffs anticipated. No wonder the train wasn't crowded. No wonder Stamford looks like a ghost town.

I have also read a Forbes report on towns most likely to suffer during this economic whatever-you-want-to-call-it. They cite the small town (25,500 people) of Zanesville, Ohio, which has an unemployment rate of 8.9% (Waterbury's is 8.6%, according to city-data.com), a poverty rate of 16.2% (35% of Waterbury households earn less than $25,000 per year), and an education statistic of 18% with an associates degree or higher (compared to 23% in Waterbury).

Zanesville's mayor is optimistic about his town's future, pointing out that they have plans for more than $250 million in school and downtown development construction over the next two years (sound familiar?). The article, not surprisingly for Forbes, does not spell out exactly what dangers Zanesville and other vulnerable towns face, nor does it in any way suggest what actions might be prudent for vulnerable towns. I would like to know those details, especially since it sounds like Waterbury could also be considered vulnerable. We've already seen fallout from the mortgage fiasco--foreclosures on homeowners who couldn't make payments when their subprime mortgages adjusted to higher rates, and numerous properties purchased by real estate speculators who drove the prices up without adding value and have now abandoned the properties, leaving pockets of blight throughout the city.

In that regard, maybe Waterbury has already seen the worst of the mortgage fall-out (just don't expect to get a good price if you're selling a house right now). Unemployment could very well increase. We're seeing a steady decline in the number of big stores, not just in Waterbury. We've lost two grocery stores, and it looks like they won't be replaced. The national chains are steadily going under: Steve & Barry's declared bankruptcy and closed their Waterbury store; Linens N Things declared bankruptcy and is closing its Waterbury store. When the plaza with Linens N Things first opened, there was a craft supply store on the other side of Stop & Shop which closed almost immediately and has yet to be replaced. I doubt that Linens N Things will be replaced. Waterbury is turning into a town of half-empty plazas.

On the bright side, the prices of gasoline and heating oil have decreased significantly. But that's probably not much consolation for anyone who's lost their job because their employer went bankrupt or lost their house because the bank increased their mortgage interest rates so much that they couldn't make their payments.

Your State Tax Dollars At Work

Here's a shot of the notorious State Government shuttle van idling outside the Buckingham Parking Garage. When the Rowland Government Center was being constructed, the state employees who were scheduled to be relocated to Waterbury were apparently horrified by the prospect of having to walk all the way from the garage to their office building. To placate them, the state agreed to operate a shuttle van. In the morning, the van sits waiting on Cottage Place with the engine running. When I took this photograph, it was there for five minutes before one woman arrived. The van then drove her to the Rowland building, then returned to idle some more. I don't know what the van's specific schedule is, but it's probably safe to assume it operates for one or two hours twice a day during the week. With the engine running the whole time, even if it's just sitting at the curb.

The distance from the parking garage to the Rowland building is about a thousand feet. One-fifth of a mile. The average person needs four minutes to walk that distance. But the state of Connecticut is willing to spend tax dollars on a shuttle van.

You can't even argue that it's for safety. At 8 a.m. on a weekday, walking along Grand Street in front of the Post Office or, on the other side of the street, in front of several small cafés, a dry cleaner, and a pizza place; then turning down Leavenworth Street, walking in front of law offices and restaurants before reaching the Rowland building at the end of the street--what could be safer?

It's ironic that the shuttle van is green in color; it's very not green in environmental terms.

[I should also add, before anyone asks, the Rowland building is not named for the former Governor. It is named for his grandfather, Sherwood Rowland, who helped expose (and halt) political corruption during the 1930s. While I'm on the topic of clarification, Rowland Park was named for Rowlands who were not related to those Rowlands. The mini-park was donated by the Chase family--Elsie Rowland Chase came to Waterbury in the late 19th century, when her father, Rev. Dr. Edmund Rowland, was appointed to St. John's Episcopal Church.]

Anya Thai

I've been meaning to try the Thai restaurant on Meriden Road in Wolcott for years, and last night I finally did. Yum! It was delicious! There is something about a Thai curry that is emotionally soothing--for whatever reason, it's comfort food for me. I had a hot curry soup with shrimp, balanced very nicely with a vegetable roll, followed by a green curry chicken dish. It was so good, I could eat there every day. I can't believe it took me this long to try them!

The one downside is that they don't serve alcohol, but considering that I have to drive so far to get to the restaurant, that's probably just as well. It certainly didn't impair my enjoyment of the food!

Condos

Condos are not universally bad. You wouldn't know it from the way people in Waterbury have been talking lately, but it's true. Locally, take a look at Heritage Village. That was built many decades ago, but is still high quality and very park-like, with the winding roads and dense woods.

The problem is that condos in Waterbury are almost always built with the cheapest materials and methods. They are some of the ugliest buildings you will ever see, easily considered a blight even when they are well maintained. Bradley Gardens is one of the worst and is a proven fire hazard, but it is certainly not the only example of shoddy condo construction in Waterbury.

Residents of the "nicer" neighborhoods have been complaining loudly about how they don't want condo developments, but I suspect that it's not condos in general they are opposed to, it's the slum-like condos that typically get built in Waterbury that they are resisting.

Building codes typically deal with safety issues. Aesthetics are harder to pin down and enforce. But what about enforcing a minimum ratio of built acres to landscaped acres? How about enforcing a certain number of shade trees per landscaped acres? While I'm at it, how about requiring any new building development to construct sidewalks?

I could keep going with the wish list for a while!

Mixmaster

Last year, I went to the DOT's public hearings about their plans to rebuild the highway interchange in Waterbury, and I thought there would be one more, once they finally narrowed down the options. Instead, they're asking that the city give them an opinion on two options by Wednesday. Neither option is great. I really dislike the idea of spreading out 84 as it cuts through the heart of the city. It's really sort of offensive, as if the DOT is trying to wipe out as much of Waterbury as possible. 84 has to be a double decker through Waterbury, to minimize the impact on the city.

I'm also offended by the DOT's efforts to sugar-coat their proposal. Last year they were very reluctant to state which business would lose their buildings because of highway construction. Now they are giving fractions: 43% of Jarjura's Market, 76% of CL&P, 70% of YankeeGas. Are we really supposed to believe that these businesses would continue to operate with only a partial property? Plain and simple, those are 100% losses. The highway construction will take out businesses that have been reliable taxpayers for a very long time. There is no guarantee that they will relocate within Waterbury. The DOT tries to smooth this over by claiming that new developments will somehow bring in millions of dollars in yearly taxes. What, exactly, are these magical developments and how in the world can the DOT promise that they will happen?

Bonding

Bonding seems to come up frequently here in Waterbury, as if it were the magic solution to many problems. I wonder how many city residents understand what bonding is. For example, the Mayor has proposed purchasing the Wachovia building for $5 million through bonding. What the newspaper left out is the explanation of how much debt the city would accrue in doing this. How many years will it take to pay off the five million and how many millions more will we have to pay in interest?

When a city makes major purchases through bonding, it's not much different than an individual person making major purchases on a credit card. Given what's been going on with the economy recently, it seems like now is a good time to be much more cautious and frugal.

There have been times when I have had to rely on credit cards to cover my necessary expenses. I learned early on that you have to be careful about how much debt you accumulate--if you have too much debt, you won't have enough money to cover your monthly payments. This could happen to Waterbury with bonding. Too much bonding, and we won't have enough money to make our payments and keep up with other expenses. As I understand it, the interest rate paid by the city is variable. Which means monthly payments could get larger. Can a city declare bankruptcy?

The way I see it, there has to be a limit to how much debt Waterbury can afford, while it seems there is no limit to the number of things the city could spend money on. If the Wachovia building can be acquired without increasing the city's expenses (compare the bonding costs to the rent money saved, then factor in the lost taxes and any ongoing maintenance costs), then it's probably a good plan.

Draw!

This year's Downtown Draw is Saturday morning, with judging in the early afternoon. This year's theme is to tie in with The Big Read. It's always a fun event, and it's very cool to see what can be done with chalk. The weather is supposed to be good, so stop by the Green to what's happening!

Photos from last year

Official Website

Parks vs. Parking

I've spent the past several days thinking about open space issues in Waterbury, and stumbled onto an intriguing question: how many acres of parking lots are there in Waterbury? There are 905 acres of parks, which Mayor Jarjura says is "enough" (I strongly disagree). Jarjura, a developer, has encouraged the conversion of outlying woodlands into new office and retail spaces with ample parking lots (next weekend I think I'll be ruminating on urban sprawl). If all of the unprotected woods and fields in Waterbury were turned into parking lots and nondescript buildings, what would the ratio of pavement to greenery be?

During the hot summer months, I'm always acutely aware of parking lots. All of that open pavement radiates heat, making the summer hotter, while in the shade of the forest, the summer is cooler. In the winter, the cold wind blows freely across parking lots, while woodland trees offer a little bit of protection from the biting cold.

I wish I knew how many acres of parking lots there are in Waterbury. I could probably figure out an estimate from a map, but that would be very time consuming, so how about just a preliminary list of lots (I'm not including the parking lot between the library and City Hall because the huge old trees there make it just as much a park as a parking lot):

Buckingham Ramparage
Palace Theater/WAMS parking garage
UConn parking garage
Prospect Street parking garage
the train station parking lot and the newspaper parking lot and garage
Meadow Street parking lot (below Library Park)
Home Depot/Sports Authority
parking garages at both hospitals
Colonial Plaza
every single small shopping site in town--CVS, Walgreens, Frankie's, McDonald's, etc.
Brass Mill Mall
Wal-Mart and Stop & Shop
Marshall's and the former Shop-Rite center
the new Shop-Rite
K-Mart
Target/Stop & Shop mini-mall
the long strip of businesses on Lakewood Road
every condo complex

There are plenty more that I could add to the list. I would not be at all surprised to learn that there are more acres of parking lots than of parks, even though parks add much more to the city's quality of life. Obviously, businesses need parking lots, but I think they need to be less utilitarian and less sprawling.

More Trains!

Metro-North has finally added one train each way on the weekends for Waterbury, which means a new weekend schedule. Starting in October, we will now have five trains each way (not great, but definitely a step in the right direction!).

Tragically, the last train leaving Grand Central for Waterbury is still the 9:07 p.m. WHEN will they figure out that we need a later train???

I-84 "Wins", Waterbury Loses

I'm currently watching the state Department of Transportation's latest report on their plans for rebuilding the highway interchange through Waterbury. Most of their proposed plans would decimate the center of the city, even worse than what happened when the highways were first built forty years ago. The South End has never recovered from the last highway construction--the presentation immediately preceding the DOT presentation was the Loyola Development group's proposal for rebuilding the South End.

We lost the battle against the power plant and its pollution (DePillo's "compromise" amounts to nothing more than tossing a dog a bone), and now we're about to get shafted by the DOT.

[Update, 9:45 p.m.]
And, speaking of getting shafted, I can't help wondering why the Independents are spending so much time complaining about not being treated with as much respect as they want. I expect my elected officials to focus on government, but Waterbury's Independents seem to spend all their time trying to get into a fight with the Democrats, hampering the progress of government. Whining achieves nothing. Whatever happened to "sticks and stones"? They seem to be more concerned with their egos than with helping Waterbury, which means they are hurting the city they claim to work for.

Migration

Here's a snapshot I took at Hamilton Park two Saturdays ago. Flocks of Canada Geese are always a sign of changing seasons.

Colors

Every so often, I get to catch a glimpse of an amazing sunrise or sunset in Waterbury. When I lived on Johnson Street, I had a great view of the sunset, but my current home is angled just wrong for viewing the dramatic colors of the sky.

This morning, however, the sunrise was at its best right when I was hurrying to leave for the train station. If I hadn't been so worried about missing my train, I would have tried to take a photo.

There were spectacular bright pink clouds filling the sky, becoming a grayish-lavender further up, with a bright white full moon shining behind them. It was an impressive start to the day!

Cycling, part two

Rode my bicycle to the train this morning. I got up half an hour early to make sure I had enough time, but it turns out that bicycling to downtown takes the same amount of time as driving. So I had plenty of time to get breakfast at Barci's and write this post.

The train station doesn't have a bike rack, just a chain link fence, so I decided to lock up my bike at the library, where there is a lot more supervision. Leaving it there all day might annoy them, but there aren't a lot of other options.

Cycling

Today I start using my bicycle to get around town. It's something I've been meaning to do, but until now I've let myself be lazy and drive. Last night, however, I did some very dramatic driving on Route 20, just before merging with 91-S, narrowly escaped death (the Good Samaritan who stopped to help couldn't believe I was uninjured, never mind still alive), and messed up my suspension, so I'm feeling very motivated to bicycle instead of drive.

One of my pitiful excuses for not bicycling around town is that "it's SO far" to get to anything. But when I used Google maps just now to see how long it might take to get where I want to go today, I realized that it's only four miles to Straits Turnpike. When I go to Cheshire to use the linear park, I routinely bicycle 20 miles. Four miles is nothing, even with the hills.

It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so I'm heading off to enjoy the day while I run my errands.

A New Year

Today, in the very early morning hours, swarms of teenagers were huddled on street corners and in unused doorways, looking chilled (they never wear enough warm clothing), and with blank expressions on their faces. While I didn’t see any yellow buses, I can conclude only one thing—the new year of purgatory, I mean, school has begun.

It seems cruel to make teenagers get up at dawn. From what I remember of being a teen, they need anywhere between eight and ten hours of sleep a night, and they are very unlikely to go to sleep before 11 p.m. Maybe this bit has changed, but at my school, we weren’t allowed to drink coffee until senior year. Something about all that caffeine being bad for our growing bodies.

My memories of public school are mostly bad. Endless hours trapped in soulless cinder-block chambers, trying to pay attention as the teacher droned on and on through a lesson delivered countless times before, sapping the teacher’s ability to make it sound fresh, new and interesting. School architectural design had a big influence on my education experiences. I loved going to Salem School in Naugatuck. I was there for only half a year (we moved to town half way through 5th Grade), and I was dazzled by the beautiful woodwork and high ceilings. I was incredibly grateful that I didn’t have to attend Naugatuck High School—the first time I saw it, I thought it was some sort of industrial prison. I did put in the requisite two years at Swift Middle School in Watertown. Those were miserable years. I was having a hard time being the new kid again, I was dealing with all the emotional turmoil of those years, and I had to spend my days navigating the dark, low-ceilinged, soulless cinderblock maze of hallways. That’s what I remember most about Swift—soulless cinderblock and endless hallways where I still sometimes took a wrong turn after the first year. Meanwhile, I remember Salem with fondness.

I thought I was the most engaged student in any of my classes. Learning wasn’t cool, so all the kids made a big effort to show that they weren’t being uncool. The funny thing is, as adults, most of us spend a fair amount of time trying to learn things, whether it’s how to operate your DVR or preparing to pass a test to get a new job or promotion. Maybe the most important thing to teach in the public schools is how to learn.

Transportation Center

It's been some months since I last heard anything about plans for a consolidated transportation center at the train station. In fact, I think it's been two years since any noticeable progress has been made. Lately, I've started taking the train from Waterbury on a regular basis, so I am more aware than ever of the need for the transportation hub. I love taking the train, it's a million times better than driving to work, but our "station" needs some upgrades.

I don't like parking at the railway (I can't call it a station, since all we have right now is a platform). The parking lot is full of shattered glass from car windows that were broken into. There is a very large sign that originally claimed that This Lot Is Monitored, only someone has used spray paint to change it to Not Monitored. Because I never seem to be able to get out of the house early enough to park in the Ramparage on Field Street, I've been leaving my car at the railway lot. No damage to it so far, thank goodness. Maybe all the broken glass is old. There's no sign that the city ever cleans the parking lot.

If the buses ran late at night, I'd get up earlier in the morning to walk the half hour downhill to the train. It's great exercise. Walking home after dark while carrying my purse and computer is less great. But the Waterbury buses stop running at 6pm, so I have to take my car. If the buses ran until, say, midnight and had the proposed transportation hub as their starting/ending point, that would be fantastic.

Because our beautiful brick train station was sold to the Republican American, all we have now is a platform with minimal amenities--trash and recycling containers, benches and shelter from the rain. If you need to buy a ticket, you can purchase only a one-way, higher price ticket on the train. Other train stations have ticket machines selling the full ticket options for less right on the platforms.

The amenity I most long for is a coffee shop at the railway. Someplace to quickly grab a coffee and a portable breakfast (egg & cheese sandwich, for example). Diner food to go, located right next to where you get on the train. (Please, no Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts! The mini-diner at the Bridgeport station is perfect, albeit expensive--$2 for a small coffee, another $2.75 for the egg & cheese sandwich; I can get the same thing at Penn Station for half the price.)

Returning at the end of the day, there are always taxi drivers on the train platform asking if anyone needs a taxi. There's really no other way for them to go about this, since there is no taxi stand at Waterbury. I suppose it's a system that works, but it means that anyone can stand around claiming to offer taxi rides. Not the safest situation. I'd be a little scared to walk off into the dark with some guy claiming to be a taxi driver. Fortunately, there are always plenty of people around. There's a regular little traffic jam on Meadow Street when the train pulls in. Within ten minutes, the regular commuters are long gone, the joyful reunions are over, the bags are loaded into cars, and all that's left are the small number of people sitting by the sidewalk wondering when their family or friends are going to pick them up.

Heavenly Invader

Now that I have a yard to tend, I've suddenly noticed a new tree that is shooting up everywhere in Connecticut: the "tree of heaven" (Ailanthus altissima). It is similar in appearance to the staghorn sumac, which is native to the northeast, so this may be why I didn't notice it until just now. The other day I thought back to when I was growing up. The trees in our yard were mostly pine, maple, chestnut. Twenty years ago, maybe even ten years ago, maple trees were the most prolific Connecticut tree (going by my memory). Now where I live is surrounded by the tree of heaven.




The most noticeable thing about this tree is that it grows like a weed. It can release up to 325,000 seeds per year. If you cut it down to a stump, the stump will sprout numerous shoots. If you pull it out with the roots, any tiny little root fragment left in the ground will start growing a new tree. It ought to be called the hydra tree.




I've been somewhat casually trying to remove the saplings growing along my property line. There's a slender stump that has maybe half a dozen new shoots growing on it every other month. The good news is that they are easily broken in half. But they will keep coming back for all of eternity. They grow fast, too, and can get as tall as 80 feet (or more) in a relatively short span of time.



Full-grown, it does make for a nice shade tree. But it really is a destructive weed of a tree. The roots can damage sewers and foundations. It produces a type of toxin that prevents other types of plants from growing, and it can quickly crowd out any other type of tree. The maple tree has met its match.

In researching the tree of heaven, I learned a couple of interesting things about it. First, it is native to central China (known in Mandarin as chouchun). It was brought to Philadelphia in 1784 by a gardener, and by 1840 was available through nurseries. Now it is somewhat universally regarded as a pest, although it is the title "character" of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Grasshopper

For the past couple of months, whenever I've worked in my front yard, I've seen this one grasshopper. I'm assuming that it's the same grasshopper each time. When I first saw him, he was a miniscule little speck of bright pastel green. He's been noticeably larger each time I've seen him. Now he's huge.



I think he came to my yard from Suffield. I bought a lot of plants from farms up there, and it was after that I first saw my grasshopper. There aren't a lot of opportunities for grasshoppers to flourish in the heart of the city, although this one seems to be doing fine, maybe because he doesn't have any competition.

More Art

My latest (and sixth) painting of Waterbury:



Next up: Shakespeare in Library Park. Might be a while before it's done, though. Have to focus on "real" work for a while.

Coming Soon...

This Sunday, August 10th, at 12:30 p.m., the Immaculate Conception church will hold a special mass by Archbishop Mansell, who will read the decree making the church a basilica. The new sign is ready, but is being kept under a blue tarp until Sunday. When the sun shines just right, you can see the wording through the tarp.




The Immaculate will be the only basilica in Connecticut. Along with the recent rededication of Ste. Anne's as a Shrine for Mothers, this new century seems to be a good one for Waterbury's Catholic community. A hundred and fifty years ago, Catholics were a disliked minority in Waterbury. Now Waterbury is very much a Catholic town!

Chili Festival

It took me a week, but I finally found the results of the chili competition last week at the Waterville Fire House. The Republican-American once again did a terrible job covering a Waterbury event--they announced the top prize winner, but didn't identify which number it was, nor did they identify any of the other chili makers (the chilis were numbered and anonymous; I tried to stick around long enough for the results, but once the dunking was over, I got bored and left). The event's co-host, the Waterbury Neighborhood Council, hasn't posted the results on their website, and they haven't replied to my email asking for the information. I googled for the event this morning, and found the results on the Waterbury Fire Fighters Association website--Go Fire Fighters!!!



Chili #1 -- Crossroads Cantina -- top place winner (and just like the chili I make at home!)
Chili #2 -- Fire Fighter Dave Lanese -- 3rd place winner -- I liked this one, but it had chicken instead of beef, which I wasn't sure I liked
Chili #3 -- Uncle Willie's BBQ
Chili #5 -- no show
Chili #6 -- T. Pic's
Chili #7 -- Legendary Dean's Tavern (located on Rubber Avenue in Naugatuck) -- 2nd place winner (I remember that I liked this one, but now I can't remember anything else about it)
Chili #8 -- That's A Wrap (located in the East Gate Plaza)

The dunk booth was a major attraction, with the dunkees including the mayor, several aldermen and others. The most popular person to dunk (reflecting how unpopular he is--a lot of folks were absolutely delighted at the prospect of giving him a dunking), was John Rowland. Here is the crowd gathering to watch:



... and here he is getting dunked, one of many times.





There were plenty of other activities, including live music in the park across the street, discount prices from an ice cream truck, hot dogs, hamburgers, fire equipment displays, fire rescue displays, a fire safety trailer, air brush tattooing, slides, balloons and raffles.

Brewfest 2008

I'm starting to get blog hits (and real-life questions!) for this, so here's the info:

This year's Brass City Brew Fest will be held Saturday, September 13, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. in Library Park. Full information is available at www.brasscitybrewfest.com.

Don't wait until the day of the event to buy your tickets--if you get there late without a ticket, you might not be able to get in.

Tickets are available online or at the following locations:
Main Street Waterbury
WDC
Café Europa
John Bale Book Company
Boru's
Drescher's
Brass Horse
The Turf
Mountview Plaza Wines & Liquors (in Naugatuck--a great store, and organizer of many great events!)

There will be a "classic car cruise" before the event and, for those of you who want to burn off the calories, a 5k race the next day.

InvisiCross

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

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




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

North Square Murals

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











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

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

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

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

ParkCard

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

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

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

Bird Watching

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

Conflicting Reports

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

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

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

Bird Lover

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

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

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

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

Meadow Street, Pine Street

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




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



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

Evenings Downtown

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

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

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