Well sweets, by the time yew git this missive, the Election of 2019 will be in the books. As I scribe this week’s installment of this almost-50-year communication we’ve had with one another, I am struck by the fack that things in the berg are perty quiet for the days before an election. It ain’t that I’m pining for the days when we had primaries that weren’t decided until Election Day – like in 1980, but it is that there jest wasn’t the excitement that we had for elections.
As I said, I ain’t sure who is winning this go-round. I hafta give Michele Gregorio credit, she was a good candidate, and really tried to take it to the Demmies. Whether that was enuff is to be seen, and you’ll know when you git this.
As an aside, let’s hope – and I know I’ve said this before – that this election was a springboard for the resurgence of the city’s Republican Party. Since the 1990s – with the debacle that was the Clem Evangeliste years – the party has been perty much an after-thought. One would hope that, regardless of this year’s results, the party does something that will boost its numbers and its visibility in town – and not just at election time.
Sammy Bluejay did perch himself outside GOP headquarters and did say that there was some activity. He did indicate however, that all was not well with the party, and that there was some in-fighting going on. Why that would be in a party that hadn’t won an election in almost 30 years is beyond Cobina’s comprehension, but there it is.
The party has to do something to get a presence in town. For too long it’s been a word we’ve used before “moribund.” Gregorio gave it a bit of oomph, and the Oomph Factor is a big deal in trying to rebuild something. But in this case, the term “rebuild” means that maybe it’s time to start from scratch.
Meanwhile, Sammy did indicate that there is some Demmie support for Gregorio, and effen that translates into votes, this thing, which I have a feeling is closer than we think, could be even more interesting.
The unions ain’t a friend of the incumbent cuz they think their perks are in jeopardy – perks, setch as they are. The unions, meanwhile, should know that Gregorio is more aggressive on cutting spending. So, it might be the “devil you know,” rather than the challenger. At the pernt of this writing, who knows.
The Demmies, meanwhile, are as split as they’ve ever been, and that was borne forth in the primary in September. There ain’t any way these boys and girls are ever gonna get along. That in itself is a story to be told. But it still is a matter of somehow or t’other the politicos in that party fight with each other for some kind o’ power. The only power is in hiring, and that has to be where the attraction is, I guess.
Meanwhile the city is near bankrupt, the infrastructure is fallin’ apart and the city’s neighborhoods are getting seedier and seedier.
Here endeth the rant.
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Didja hear the wind last week during that storm? Cobina did. In fack, a dead tree jest the next yard over from Cobina’s domicile crashed in the middle of the night. Honey bunch, m’self as lived at the same spot for a long time. That was some o’ the worst wind I’ve ever witnessed. I made sure the feline was in for the night, though she wanted out, and we battened down the hatches. The house actually shook a couple o’ times.
Whilst that is going on, Iva Lootey told me that the city perty much withstood a lotta the wind, but there were some big trees that came down after we had about two inches o’ rain. The leaves too have been fallin’ at a better-than-steady rate, and effen yore lookin’fer color, forget about it. It’s over. That gray sky is becomin’ more and more common and the furnace has been hummin’ for the better part o’ two weeks. I know that Iva likes to hole himself up in the livin’ room of his own domicile at these times, and he probably watches Hallmark Channel and all those Christmas movies that have started up.
Meanwhile, it’s jest about the time that Mikey Walsh sends out his reminder about snow parking rules. Once that happens, it’s time to get the winter coats outta mothballs.
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With the new election, there is gonna be a new crop o’ council people. Some o’ the people now sitting on the panel will be leavin’ with the inauguration of the new administration – which as yew remember is the First Sunday in December, so it’s not far away.
One of the people who’ll be happy with the new faces is our own Eleanore Turkington. She is the scribe that pens the Gripe Vine colyume, and there have been one or two officials who have been rather….slow….in responding to constituents’ complaints or gripes. The administration put in the dictum two years ago that instead of the Actors Colony answering gripes, the individual council members would handle them. It started off a bit rocky, but it got better with time.
That is, excep’ for a couple o’ the membership, who jest could not be bothered to answer. Well, one or two of the major culprits have lost their seats and won’t be around to ignore the voters. Somehow, that seems like a bit of poetic justice.
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The wag did come in again this week, and did mention – yet again – that with a little luck this will be the last election the city will have under the current charter – and the current form of government. As I told yew last week, the current mayor-council form of government was altered when West Haven became a city back in the 1960s.
The new charter, effen it is approved by the voters of this fair city will forever alter the makeup of the way business is done – and change the way politics is done as well. And, that m’lady is the reason that the power-brokers in this berg are none too thrilled with it.
It’s still up in the air how this whole thing is gonna be voted upon. There is some talk about using the Presidential Preference Primary in April, but there has been rumblings that setch a thing is prohibited by law in the People’s Republic of Connecticut. We shall see.
And, of course, there are fears that the length of time betwixt the council approval – which was weeks ago—and the actual ballot could give the politicos time to deep-six the entire venture. Again, we shall see.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt my usual luff und kizzez,