Well, sweets, as Iyam scribing this week’s missive, I note that January is “supposed” to be a rawther quiet time o’ the year. Jest after the holidays we git into a mid-winter lull, usually, and things are slower until they pick up in March. Well, that’s “usually.” This January is becoming anything but “usual.”
No, I ain’t talkin’ about the “polar vortex,” or what we used to call a “cold spell.” Polar vortex sounds soooo much more ominous for the guys and gals who give us the weather every night. Heck, last week, they had a near-blizzard coming this way on Saturday, only to have it be a mere couple o’ inches when all was said and done on Monday.
Honestly, I sometimes think they have a contract with the grocery stores to scare the wits outta people so the midweek shopping is out the door. Cobina stopped by a local emporium only to see that checkout lines were as far as the eye could see. It was something. You’d think people were gonna be stranded like the Blizzard of ’88.
Tennyrate, the weather aside, the thing that makes this January seem so different come down to two things: this latest kerfuffle with Jimmies, Inc., and the special election on Jan. 23. We’ll tackle both o’ those things in order.
As far as the Jimmies thing is concerned, Sammy Bluejay related that the talk around the Actors Colony was the new Herronner was about as angry as anyone saw her when the appeal of the revised plan for NEBCO was reissued. She had hoped that a sit-down with the company would hammer out a deal. Nope.
This is a familiar pattern when it comes to that company. As our editorialist this week noted, for once we’d like to see what Jimmies, Inc. is in favor of, cuz they’ve been tellin’ us what they’ve been against for more than a half-century. Despite the nice talk in that advert they placed in this papyrus a few months back, every time something is planned for the area, things end up in court.
Herself is now in the first big isshew of her tenure, and this is gonna be a test to see how it’s handled. We hope she’s able to put a good team together and force the owners of that restaurant to come to an agreement. That’s what should happen.
As far as the developer Doug Gray, he must be pulling his hair out! He thought he had an agreement in 2022, got flack from the guys next door about it and tried to compromise, only to have opposition from the usual suspecks. He pulls the plan, and then was able to come back after being cajoled, and got a new agreement with the city, only to have it thrown back into the judiciary. The guy “can’t win for losing” as we used to say. The whole this is crazy.
Meanwhile, the restaurant next door took out the ad cuz of the public blowback. It’ll be interesting to see effen there is a similar reaction this time around.
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As regards the special election, that thing is getting curiouser and curiouser. We now have four people looking for the seat in the 115th assembly district that was vacated by Mayor Borer after her election. As stated earlier, Bill Heffernan was given the nod by the Democratic Town Committee and has that line; Sylvana Apicella got the nod from the Republican Town Committee, and has that line; former mayor Ed O’Brien, whom many people thought was getting the Demmie nod, is running as an independent candidate; and there is a fourth write-in candidate. And that is really curious. That is Victor Borras, former City Councilman.
Now, it has to be admitted that Heffernan was a name nobody associated with being interested in the sparring associated with politics. He could be very good at it given his way with woids if elected. Apicella is a name that would be good, too. She’s got some good ideas and ain’t a politician either.
O’Brien running was a bit of a surprise. I think I told yew last time, the Demmies, who have a history of fracture and factionalism, looked perty united during the mayoral election. One wonders effen the honeymoon is over, and that which has plagued the majority party for decades is as big as ever. We shall see, but the seeming veneer of a united party might be just that. O’Brien was rumored to have the nod, but that didn’t happen. Soooo, he is hoping a run as a third candidate will fracture the vote, resulting in an upset.
Borras is a bit of an unknown quantity. He wanted to run for mayor, and did make a bit of a run, but when Dorinda Borer decided to throw her pillbox hat into the ring, that kind of was a political tidal wave o’ sorts. Now, he’s lookin’ to get into the seat by means of a write-in vote.
One wonders effen he things putting it into a four-man race will mean he can pull off the upset. Who knows, Iva Lootey is of the opinion that he must have some type of support from someone in order to do this, and might get jest enuff votes to thwart somebody. It’s all very puzzling, but it ain’t surprising. It is West Haven politics, after all, and they play it down and dirty in our neck o’ the woods.
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Nelly Nuthatch saw that the Bored of Ed is looking for an increase in its request for funding this year, and one o’ the reasons for same was the fact the gravy train that was the pandemic funding is now history. Now, I really ain’t been keepin’ up on how the B of E has been spending the money, but one would think – or hope – that it was for extra things and not line-item matters. Can we be wrong?
Now, the school bored always seems to ask for big increases every so often, and get pared down in the budgetary process to more reasonable bottom lines. But this pandemic money thing really has Cobina perplexed. Money like the pandemic money should be for things like amenities and products one might not be able to git otherwise.
It looks like the board is looking to fund items that were added to the budget. That’s never a good idea, and leads to the wailing and gnashing of teeth about making “harmful cuts” and setch. We will look into this more closely, hon. It’s not a good thing to expect taxpayers to fill a hole that was made by padded funds.
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Well the more things change the more they stay the same. Saw that Rick Fontana is coming back home for a stint in the job he had in the El-em City. He was director of operations for the city when it had what they call now “weather events.” There aren’t too many “events” on the horizon, but he’s got a few miles under his belt on that score, so it should be a good fit.
He’s a local, grad of the high school and setch and was quite the snappy talker on the telly when he had to be. Soooo, he is back in town after a long hiatus. Here’s wishing him well in his new/old position. He probably will find when he’s comfortably ensconced that – as we said above – the more things change the more they stay the same.
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The Wag was in tow t’other afternoon and was quite surprised by the advert that was in the last isshew of the papyrus concerning the filling of city positions. Whilst we were aware a lot of people jumped ship during the last administration, we – and I’m sure John and Jane Q. – weren’t aware of the extent. We counted 23 major positions in the ad that needed to be filled.
That’s quite a number of posts and run the gamut of posts from Finance to the matron in the upstairs restroom (jest kiddin’). The advert points the fack the city has been without some perty important people for a while and that’s one o’ the big problems.
Of course, there was a shuffle of positions jest before Christmas as well, and pernts the realization that yew can’t run a ship without a crew, and we’ve had a skeleton crew for quite some time.
It’ll be interesting to see jest how long it takes to fill these posts, and, hopefully, we’re competitive with other burgs and can get qualified people.
As an aside, Iyam told that many of the posts have been vacant for months and months…not a good way to run a railroad. Not atoll.
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Madame Olga was telling yours truly that the former tackle shop on Beach Street may be toined into some type of café. Well, what a lotta people might not realize is that is one of the fewest, if not the only, building left from the Savin Rock days, and was a concession of some sort when thee amusement park was around, though for the life o’ me, my fading memory can’t remember what.
Effen yew remember, sweets, let me know.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,