Here it is, sweetie pie, the weekend of the Savin Rock Festival. As I told yew last week, it’s hard to believe this is number 36. Cobina remembers it as if it were yesterday. Tempus really does fugit, don’t it. What I didn’t tell yew, is that, once again, the Mystick Maidens of the Marsh were politely told their request for a booth was refused. This is the 36th time setch a thing has happened, and it’s getting to be a rite of summer.
One would think that an old and cherished organization that goes back to the time this berg was still known as West Farms would be welcome, but for some reason, politicos and committees have shunted us aside for decades.
No matter, we’ll be traversing the festival and then retreating to the Cove River marshes to have our own lit’le celebration. And this year it’s jest gonna be us gals, no politicos, no special guests.
While we’re thinking about the festival, Cobina was wondering about the carousel projeck. I know that Mikey Mercuriano and his crew are still working to put a carousel at the Savin Rock Museum or an adjunct, but we ain’t heard much about it in the past little while. I know they need about $3 million to git the thing off the ground. That could be part of the problem.
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Jest in case yore wondering, Sammy Bluejay kind o’ confirmed whot we all thought. We were all told that once the kiddies left for the summer, the infamous G-wing at West Haven High School would see the wrecker’s ball faster than you can say Jack Robinson. Well, that ain’t gonna happen.
Sammy sez that nothing is gonna happen until the “small gym,” which was once known as the girls gym – but yew can’t say that anymore as some Social Justice Warrior will get his or her panties in a bunch – is made ready for the moving of the shop classes.
And, right now, that can’t be done until the asbestos that is under the current basketball floor is removed. Soooooo, crews have been working to secure the area so asbestos can be “remediated.” Don’tcha jest love the woids they use to mean “removed.”
Tennyrate, the way Sammy gits the story, it’s gonna take a while fer that to happen, and then the space will have to be converted in setch a way that it can be a shop area. How long d’yew think that’ll take?
Suffice it to say that the word around the street is the G-wing will be around at least until Christmastime, when it is expected the dastardly space will be eliminated and the angst of the powers that be will go along with it.
Still, the feeling amongst some of those in the know is that this is all gonna be a smoke screen. There is persistent feeling amongst some that somehow, some way the projeck is gonna be jettisoned after the G-wing is eliminated. There is also a bit more that Cobina knows, but she doesn’t wanna divulge it at this time.
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As far as the Vic Hogfeldt saga, it’s been a busy week. Madame Olga tells me she’s been peering through her crystal ball and there have been letters and emails and all kinds o’ phone calls to and from Vic and people within and without. Vic wants a hearing before the Board of Ed, which according to state law he has every right to have.
His former attorney might have tacitly agreed to an arbitration hearing, rather than a public hearing, but he may have done it without Vic’s approval, which means it ain’t binding. But, the powers in the system and, of course, in the union don’t want that public session. Things may come out that they don’t want the public to know.
Superintendent Neil Cavallaro tried to silence Vic by sending him a cease-and-desist letter concerning his missives to this papyrus. That didn’t go anywhere, nor should it. He’s been getting phone calls urging him to take a settlement and get on with his life, but he wants that hearing.
They are trying to force an arbitration hearing on him instead, and he’s already told them he will not comply nor attend. So, this is headed for the courts, methinks.
And as I keep telling you, word is that his evaluations as a member of the teaching staff prior to his kerfuffle with the union and the super were perty good, some would say very good. ‘Twasn’t until his problems that his evaluations and his fortunes seemed to take a tumble. A jury will not look kindly on that and the school people know it. Stay tuned, it’s gonna get more sordid before it gits better.
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Meanwhile back in the political realm, the two political parties will have picked their candidates this week. The Demmies were gonna caucus on Tuesday, and it was too late for me to git the results, but I think we can assume that hizzoner will git the nod, and Nancy Rossi has begun her quest to unseat him by means of a primary – it’s what the Demmies do in this berg.
From whot I am able to glean from conversations with the wag, the petitions will be pulled and then there will be a two-week interval wherein the challenge candidates hafta submit their petitions. They don’t need too many, cuz the number of voters in the last election was perty slender. So, they might need less than a hundred or so in some districts, with only several hundred for citywide positions.
We shall see. But make no bones about it, the fun has begun in the Democratic Party, and a primary will be held in September. It’s also a foregone conclusion that the little potshots the Demmies are taking at each other are nothing compared to what will follow.
Meanwhile in the GOP, Dave Riccio is a shoe-in for the top spot, it’ll jest be something of interest to see who is on his slate and whether the minority party will fill out the complete slate this go-round. We shall see.
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I hear-tell the P&Z is considering a petition to demolish the Captain’s Galley building over on Beach Street. The restaurant has been closed fer about four years now, and Mother Nature is starting to take its toll on a building that wasn’t all that sturdy to begin with.
Part of the problem over there was that the building and land were owned by different people and a rental agreement could never be finalized betwixt them and anyone who wanted to reopen. So, another business goes the way of all flesh, and that location will probably never git built on again, at least not in its present operational state.
The rest of the properties are being “monitored” by the P&Z we are told. We shall see. Debonair Motel is about four years into a purchase by Sam Gejdenson the former congressman and state official and his wife. They determined to see what the neighborhood wanted, but we never heard back from them. Meanwhile, the property was fenced in cuz squatters were coming around.
There are expensive properties surrounding the former motel, and those values hafta be hurting with a dilapidated building sitting right in their environs.
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Speaking of projecks, Nelly Nuthatch tells me there is a pool in the area amongst some perty in-the-know individuals wondering when the backhoe or derrick will be put into place at the Haven property now that an election is in the air. It’s an age-old formula in these parts to put a bulldozer or backhoe or some other earth-moving device into position to show the voters that the current administration is working to get things done. It ain’t appeared yet, but like basketball pools, there are people who are picking dates.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,