Well, honey bunch, now that the Fourth of July is over, things in our little part of the universe start going from thinkin’ of fireworks and setch to the Savin Rock Festival. Foist a word about the ‘works. Cuz of the weather, the show was moved from July 3 to July 5. That meant all the No Parking signs had to be torn down with the one date, and put up with the new one, which kep’ the DPW busy for a while.
Things in the burg weren’t as hectic as one expecks on Fireworks Night, cuz the El-em City changed their fireworks to the same night from East Rock Park. Sooooo, the crowd that normally invades the shore each year wasn’t quite as large as is usually expected. It was just as well.
Construction on the Beach Street area betwixt Morse Avenue and Second Avenue – about a quarter mile or so – began a couple weeks before and the street is now ripped up, and the elevation is gonna be some seven or so feet higher than before. Whilst that wasn’t the case the night of the fireworks, Beach Street is closed, and that meant that stretch of beach was off limits unless someone wanted to trek along the shorefront.
More about the construction later, but suffice it to say the residents dodged a bullet with the fireworks being changed as who knows what traffic would’ve been like. We’ve seen times when it was bumper-to-bumper from the Kimberly Avenue Bridge all the way to Washington Avenue and beyond. We didn’t have that this year.
Meanwhile back in the political sphere, jest what many thought would happen did, Dorinda Borer threw her chapeau into the arena and is running for mayor. Effen yew don’t think that changes the dynamic of this year’s mayoral race, yew ain’t payin’ attention.
It seems the $20k raise the City Council built into the budget for the just-begun fiscal year, was the enticement members thought it would be. The perks of the General Assembly and the collection of titles she’s accrued over her time in Hartford couldn’t hold a candle to $108k as a serious consideration. So, one expecks she will leave her post as the rep for the 115th Assembly District, and get onto the new task of running for mayor – or maybe she’ll hedge and not resign until after November’s ballot.
But onto the machinations behind the scenes. Sammy Bluejay came by and sez that in the time up to the formal announcement, there was some discussions with current members of the City Council, and whether they should seek another term. As is usual in these situations, Borer, who is the odds-on nominee is looking to install her own peeps into the council chamber.
Sammy sez that all but two current members have stated they aren’t interested in returning. Several have been there for three or more terms and the savor o’ the position loses something after a time, especially when yew consider the hours needed. And, let’s face it. Dealing with the public is not easy.
Tennyrate, there seems there will be a big turn-over on the Demmy side, but not all. We’re hearing that one or two of the current members have said they will primary for their seats if they are forced. So, there is that going on.
Then there is the primary situation. During the last few months, Sammy reported that Ed O’Brien might back out as a candidate, since he was only doing an “exploratory” look-see into the possibility of running. With Borer now in the race, don’t be surprised effen the field is whittled down to two – and maybe fewer!
Victor Borras has said he is running, but one wonders effen he isn’t doing a little negotiation to back outta the race for maybe his council seat again? Borras doesn’t have a lotta name recognition, whilst Dorinda has been around the block once or twice.
Don’t be surprised effen the possibility of a Demmy primary goes the way of all flesh, and quickly. Effen one has aspirations to be mayor, losing a primary ain’t the way to build one’s political resume. We shall see.
When the Demmy Town Committee meets for its biennial caucuses in a few days, don’t be surprised effen the field clears, Borer is given the nomination and a slew of council candidates are endorsed – and there won’t be too many new faces, methinks. Given the fack the Borer faction of the party will take charge, look to see those faces in the slots. It’s jest a revolving door.
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That leaves what is going on in the GOP. That primary still seems to be in the cards. With three candidates, none of whom seem to wanna back out, on the roster, things will be percolating on that side of the aisle when the caucus meets. Don’t be surprised effen Paige Goldstein gets the nod from the GOP Town Committee. In fack, both Steven Mullins and Barry Cohen expeck that to be the case.
She has garnered the favor of the leaders of the party, and every time the name is mentioned, the fack she might have some of her own kopecks involved in the run comes up. The GOP ain’t exackly swimming in cash. So, Weinstein is expected to get the nod even though (getting back to name recognition) she ain’t exactly a household name hereabouts.
Nope, expeck that she’ll be the nominee, and then will have a three-way primary. There is a concerted effort to make sure Cohen doesn’t get the nod, which is kind of surprising – and goes perty much against Poly Sci 101. There’s a lotta inside-baseball stuff going on in the party, so don’t expeck it to be a white glove primary.
Mullins and Cohen certainly have name recognition. Mullins is in a lotta organizations, and does a lot in the community. Cohen ran a business in town, is involved in several projecks, and was the nominee in the last election, losing by only a handful of ballots.
So, the question remains, no matter who wins come September, is the party gonna be able to come together to support the winner? With Dorinda Borer in the race, it’ll be interesting, cuz whilst many in the party are die-hard Republicans, there are enough who like to play in the sand box with Demmies to make it a big question mark. We shall see, but given the party’s past history, I wouldn’t bet the mortgage on GOPers havin’a kumbaya moment.
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The Wag was in t’other day and noted that the city is making Beach Street some Shoreline Zone or t’other to keep the neighborhood from becoming a high-rise haven. The Wag, who looks at things in the broad sense at times, said that the city is fond of putting areas in “zones” but after the hoopla and the ink is dry on the press release, things seldom git done.
He used as his example the “Enterprise Zone” the city designated for Front Avenue adjacent to the West River and along Spring Street. Whilst there have been some improvements in existing businesses, the long line of businesses looking to get into the zone never quite materialized the way it was advertised.
That ain’t the only zone that has been used over the years. Remember the Enterprise Zone announced two decades ago for West River Crossing that was gonna extend all the way to North Street? That was a big hoopla, and withered on the vine. Even when the erstwhile Haven Project was announced, the area it was to take up was much smaller than that big announcement promised. Yew git the idea. Yew wouldn’t wanna hang for as long as we’ve been waiting for things to pan out in this burg.
Meanwhile, with the Beach Street reconstruction, and the spots that are up for sale, and setch, don’t expeck too much. Hope for the best, but expeck little.
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Iva Lootey noted that the New England Brewery projeck is now “back to the drawing board.” One wondered cuz after all the hoopla of that announcement, things kind o’ petered out to the pernt people were wonderin’ effen that plan was withdrawn.
Well, Iva sez with a new plan coming about, maybe some kind of accommodation can be made for the Savin Rock Museum? The city was gonna take the artifacks and let the developers make some kind of display, but that didn’t set too well with those who wanna see the museum survive, including people who are in economic development in the city.
Not sure what’s gonna happen, it’s like reading tea leaves or who is standing next to Stalin at the Kremlin, yew never know what to expeck.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,