November already! Before yew know it the Christmas stuff will be up in stores…wait a minute…it already is up in stores. No sooner do the managers have the Halloween stuff down, the holly and ivy seem to take their place in the blink of an eye. We had Indian Summer last week, and now we are really feeling what fall is like, temps have tanked and it’s noticeably damper and colder. Quite a turn-around.
Of course, the turn of the calendar to November means we are going to have the election of somebody on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of the month. This year, the boys and girls of voting age are gonna be selecting who will run this burg of the next little while. There has been some back-and-forth amongst the candidates, but not much to speak of.
A debate a couple weeks back proved not much. Both candidates said what was expected, both pushed change in the way the city does things, and both took minor snipes at each other. The biggest kerfuffle, though, came by way of write-in candidate Steven R. Mullins. Mullins was left outta the debate, which was probably a faux pas on the Mayor’s Advisory Committee of the University of New Haven.
The leader of said group made the determination that Steve R. wasn’t gonna get more than1 percent of the vote, and excised him from the proceedings. Mullins, as he should, was not happy with the decision. It really was not a good one, methinks. Foist off, write-in candidates have done fairly well, albeit they were sitting mayors. But, more than that. In a city where the voters are gonna made an overhaul outta the leadership – that’s what this election is with the decision by Nancy Rossi not to run – all the voices should be hoid.
It shouldn’t be up to a guy who works in town, but doesn’t live in town to make that decision. Mullins is well known and has a following. So do the other candidates. Everyone should be hoid, but they weren’t because of a bone-head decision. The city needs change, three people are running for office and saying changes are needed. The best way to make a decision is to hear all sides. Jest Cobina’s thoughts.
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Needless to say, this election “cycle” has been free of all the stuff that used to drive candidates and their supporters batty. Madame Olga was in t’other afternoon and sez that there has been lit’le if any damage done to lawn signs. Remember when that was setch a big deal??? It used to be a fall sport to see how long after signs were put on lawns that they would be vandalized – usually by supporters of the opposition. We remember many a persona who was caught over the years.
And everyone seems to be complying with the size limitations. That used to be a bbbiiiigggg pernt of contention among candidates. Not so much anymore. Now they worry about other things – like a person’s pronouns or something inane like that. Inanity was lost on one side, but gained on another.
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By the by, Olga had another topic she wished to discuss, and one can be allowed to wonder. She was positing the possibility the whole NEBCO thing was a bit of political circus. The developer gets push back at a City Council meeting, feigns indignation, pulls the project “off the table,” gets his main opposition to post something in this papyrus about being “disappointed” the project was pulled, and then puts it back on the table.
Now, whether that happened or not, one could wonder. Things were jest a bit too coincidental. And, effen there is one things we have learned over these many decades yew and I have been corresponding, there is no setch thing as a coincidence.
So, now the project is back on the table, the new lease was passed, and all we hafta do now is wait for the magic to happen and the new place in whatever form it takes be constructed. Don’t git me wrong, I yam glad things turned out the way they did, this town has a reputation for treating developers like the plague. But, one wonders effen a bit of political chess was played and not only was the game played, but so was the city.
Madame Olga is usually perty good when it comes to pondering setch things.
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Speaking of projects and developers, there is a new rumor going about the burg about the former Haven property. It’s kind o’ sketchy but we did hear that some type of talks are going on. The former developer still owns the property, and has made a big effort to demolish pert near the entire space. Only the last few buildings on the west side of Main Street and Bayview remain.
So, that has made the usual suspecks wonder effen something is cooking regarding the sale of the land, which the former developer wants to do toot sweet. Over the months there has been talk of a movie studio and other types of businesses going up there, but who knows.
The one thing Cobina can say is that in this war of attrition that has occurred over the last nine-plus years since the Haven was announced and 27-plus years since the original “Water Street Project” was announced, is that the once verboten idea of residential property is now being accepted.
There was a time when any type of residential construction was dismissed as more stress on the city’s infrastructure and services. Well, now that people just want something over there, talk of a “residential component” is now not the taboo topic it once was – funny how that happens.
Now people are saying they wouldn’t mind some “high-end” condos or apartments there on the waterfront if it’ll bring in big-time tax dollars. Maybe, but the reason we want commercial is that it doesn’t stress the system. Funny how people forgit those arguments when they jest want things to be over.
Still, until we know who is interested in the property, and what will be proposed, all of it is jest more speculation, and Goodness knows, we have more of that in these parts and anywhere else.
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It’s good to see the WHPD contract was signed, sealed and delivered…at least with the City Council. Now it has to be given the imprimatur by the Municipal Accountability Review Board, otherwise know as MARB. MARB is reviewing the return to a pension plan, and getting rid of the 401(k) the city had imposed more than a decade ago.
Let’s hope they put this approval in high gear. The fack the city has lost a lotta people and is currently under-staffed as far as the PD is concerned is a direct result of what was decided as a cost-saving measure that had the opposite effeck.
This papyrus was the foist to publicize the problems with the force more than two years ago. The city was hiring new candidates, training them at a cost of more than $100,000 per, giving them a job, and after a year or two losing them to other departments cuz the benefits package – read pension – was not up to snuff. In the long run the “cost saving” measure was one that cost the city many, many kopecks, and many, many good people to other departments.
Kudos to Chief Joe Perno who has been able to keep things afloat over there. We’ve known Joe for decades and remember his family very well. We thank him for being the one constant in this entire process. Kudos, too, to the Police Commish, which brought the problem to the public and finally got people to sit up and pay attention…not an easy thing to do in these parts.
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Speaking of kudos, Best of luck to Joe Montagna, who has retired after working for the city since the cooling of the earth’s crust. It seems that Joe was always around and always involved in the city. Now he gets to enjoy some years of retirement. Best to you and yours!
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Iva Lootey was cruising about and happened near the Beach Street reconstruction. It seems that things are moving along on the project. The new roadway is nearly finished, and maybe it will be sooner rather than later when we can git back to opening that major artery back up.
Of course, the residents over there are probably not as happy to see things open up. It’s been nice and quiet over there with no traffic. Once things get back to normal, the quiet will become the urban noise it always was.
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With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,