Who’d have thunk it, sweetie, here we are on the verge of the 250th birthday of the US of A, and we’re still here some 55 years after we began these missives in various papyri that once graced the newsstands of various place, from the West Haven City News that became the West Haven News, to the Towne Voice, that lasted a couple o’ years, and then to this publication, the Voice, that hearkened back to those older papers.
We got to thinkin’ after last time’s colyume of the many people who passed through the offices of all the newspapers, and gave tidbits of info to Cobina – many linked with politicos or the politicos themselves when they wanted to get “out ahead” of something. But we think of the Lady Nawth, Harriett North, who called or visited regularly, and passed away soon after the city’s 350th. Then there was Shrimp(us) Flynn, the aforementioned Joe Pascale and Lucien Picard, both of whom led the IMPACT Party (Independent Movement for Positive Action), that had the political order in a tizzy for years. We wonder what Lucien would’ve thought when his son, John, became the chief exec hereabouts.
Needless to say, over the years that we’ve been doing this back-and-forth many people have been fluttering by or letting Sammy Bluejay, Iva Lootey or Madame Olga info to pass along. Politicos and those that say they aren’t are a chatty bunch, and effen you don’t think so, you haven’t been paying attention for the last half-century plus five.
A lotta water has gone under that bridge, and a lotta people as well, and it’s times like big anniversaries that one’s mind kind of drifts in that direction.
The kiddies will be out of school for the next eight weeks or so by the time yew git this missive. Classes were extended this go-round because of all the snow we had and the seniors had to wait until last week to put on their caps and gowns. But the Class of ’26 is now a memory, and the young people git on with their lives. We hope them the best as they traverse “the real world.”
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I mentioned to yew last time that the City Council had passed the budget with time to spare, and Herroner wanted people to know what was in the package. As yew remember, she determined that no tax increase was needed for this year, which, according to Sammy Bluejay, had a few veteran politicos in the burg flummoxed.
Y’see, the common wisdom is that effen yew need a tax increase one does it the year after the election, not the year before. Of course, it could be that Herronner figgers the new charter revision package will go through with four-year terms in the next go-round and she won’t hafta worry, but that still means she has to git by the next go-round in 2027, when things will take effeck.
Soooo, according to Sammy, this move was particularly strange in some politician’s noggins because with the school deficit announced earlier this year, people were kind of expecting a tax increase.
Don’t git anybody wrong, it’s always good politics to not have a levies hike, but effen yew gotta do it, the off-year is the better option. She did some cost-cutting with job slashing and targeted cuts in spending, though. Any cut in spending is a good thing when talking about government – any government.
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Now, usually Cobina does not venture into things “sporty,” but something has come across her desk that has got her scratchin’ her head and thinking about some of the people mentioned above, or not mentioned above, who might be spinning in their graves. Word is the “West Haven” Twilight League ain’t playing at Quigley Stadium anymore, and has picked up stakes and gone to Rochford Field on the Hamden-New Haven line in Newhallville.
This has some longtime sports people, including our editor, very upset. He umpired in the league for 35 years, and is a Gold Bat recipient, and has been railing about the way the league has been treated for some time.
Quigley has been in a state of decline for years. In fack, our editor did a colyume about its decline before COVID and said what a disgrace it was to the city. Well, some improvements were made then, but the decline continued. The place was a mess.
Everyone knows the city wants to bury that part of its history (it seems) and sell Quigley to the highest bidder, taking another bit of our history with it. Hard to believe that a sitting mayor tried the same thing in 1989 and lost an election because of it.
Now, the city is doing the same thing and hoping that a certain local institution will make it part of their expansion plans.
It’s a sad and maddening thing to see something neglected on purpose, and that’s what happened here. The place became unplayable to the pernt that Notre Dame High played at Painter Park this past year. The irony is the league was founded at Painter Park in 1933 and only moved during the metal bat era. Now it’s back to wooden bats and should move back to our own little field with the friendly confines.
Instead, the word is a group is looking to have the league renamed the Southern Connecticut Twilight League and its link to the city and its proud history will be left on the trash heap of history. Not good.
Bobby Greenwood must be spinning in his grave!
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Natchurly, one of the big things that people look forward to every Fourth of July is the fireworks at Bradley Point the night before. And with the 250th, this year should be quite the place to be. Like we said the last time, there aren’t the massive crowds of the old days. We remember more than 100,000 estimated along the beaches. Other towns have fireworks now, and with the problems that sometimes come with big crowds, the city doesn’t publicize it like it once did.
Tennyrate, Iva Lootey sez that things are moving along at their usual pace, and the show should be quite the thing for those who wish to traverse out there. It’s nice, too, that the Fourth is on a weekend this year, giving an extra day off to celebrate.
Cobina generally stays home that night. The traffic is usually perty bad, and the fack it is on a Friday night this year will jest make it more heavy. She will park the gassamobuggy and stay indoors. But, we will hear the ‘works no doubt.
Meanwhile, the Mystick Maidens of the Marsh are planning on parking somewhere off the Cove River to watch the spectacle. The usual suspecks will be there, and the entertainment will be interesting. Jest another year for us gals.
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Nelly Nuthatch fluttered by t’other afternoon, and sez that nightly traffic on the highway from Long Wharf has been brutal these last few weeks. The much feared tie-ups that the construction of the new bridges on I-95 have begun.
Nelly sez that traffic starts backin’ up every week night around 7 in the peeyem when one lane is cut from production and siphoned into two. Needless to say, Long Wharf, which ain’t an easy trek any day of the week is now Hades on steroids.
And think about it, they’re only working on Foist Avenue right now, and only one side. We have the t’other side and another overpass (the one over the railroad tracks) to deal with before it’s all over. Two more years of this at least. Yikes!
Oh, and don’t forgit, eventually, the Kimberly Avenue Bridge is up for a rebuild. That bridge, remember, was supposed to last only about 30 years (when it was built in 1972). Traffic on the revised entrances from the highway have been interesting on a nightly basis. What’ll happen when that has to be replaced? As Shrimpus Flynn used to say, “’Nuff said.”
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Cobina went out to check on Beach Street to report to yew, and found that the last of the Debonair Motel walls came down and are now being cleaned up. The entire parcel is getting torn up so a new foundation for what is to follow (23 units of housing at last report) can be put down.
Meanwhile, work continues a half-block away on both sides of the street, with the coffee shop taking shape on the corner of East Avenue and Beach, and the pumping station rebuild taking place across the street. It’s been a bevy of activity for months.
The we went down a half-mile or so to the “Haven” property. Needless to say, there ain’t much to report. It’s a study in how Mother Nature finds a way to replant once things are torn down. We are now two years after the final tear-down of properties and nothing is happening over there. I’m beginning to wonder effen we will say any activity this decade, let alone this year.
With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,
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