Around this time o’ year, the “September Song” rolls around in Cobina’s head for a week or so. “It’s a long, long, while from May to December. And the days grow short, when you reach September.” For the kiddies who trapsed back to the classroom this week, they might be thinkin’, “It might be a long while from May to December, but it’s awfully short from June to September.”
The kiddies went back to skool Monday, the last day of August, but it had to be like the summer jest flew by for them. I know it was for m’self. It jest seems like the last three months from June 1 to September 1 were on a roller coaster that was on a downward plunge, and didn’t stop. The next nine months will be like the next upward climb that gits slower.
Tennyrate, here in the Asylum by the Sea things are starting to percolate, as the slow season, politico-wise comes to an end as well. There seems to be an uptick in activity in the Actors Colony, and now that Labor Day is approaching, things will get back into the familiar pattern. As far as campaigns and the fall elections, things will be picking up as well. The ads on the telly made an early appearance, and will only git more annoying as we git closer to November.
And speaking of politicos, what are Rosa DeLauro Greenberg and Chris Murphy imbibing? Whatever it is, they seem to be constantly angry, verging on manic. Cobina was sent a video of She of the Purple Pate and not only is she shrill and annoying (more than usual), she is getting more and more incoherent. Now that her bud Nancy Pelosi is exiting the hallowed halls at the end of Pennyslvania Avenue, Rosa will be amongst the top five oldest members of the opposition, a true geriatric group effen there was one.
Meanwhile, Murphy, who has to be one of the most unhappy people on the planet – and one of the nawstiest, just can’t git through a query or interview without going off the rails. The entire state delegation is a lesson in one-party politics and deranged thinking, but these two lead the pack. A dubious honor, indeed!
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A few weeks ago, Mike Mercuriano, who is now in retirement but still staying active, called the office to let us know that the Carousel Committee was still active. That was news to Cobina, who had thought the entire isshew had faded into the ether.
Maybe Cobina should recap for those who might not remember, or are new to our lit’le corner of the universe. The idea to put a carousel at the once-West Haven Conference Center, adjacent to the Savin Rock Museum was floated about for years. The museum was located in the basement of the Conference Center until it was closed. The exhibits are now at the Veterans Museum, methinks, at least temporarily housed.
Now that the Conference Center is memory, and the reopening of a Savin Rock Museum is on the backburner, the idea of a place for the carousel faded with both – at least that’s what we thought!
Mercuriano sez that the carousel idea is still bright and shiny and that the committee has a plan to get something underway. That might include the building of pavilion to house it. That was the plan more than a decade ago. A pavilion was gonna be built, and a merry-go-round similar to the one that once stood front and center on Beach Street in the heyday of the amusement park would be placed therein.
The cost of the project was going to be about 3 million kopecks. Then there was dickering about the size of the carousel and whether it would fit in the proposed building without encroaching on the open space. All, of course, would have to pass inspection of not only the city, but the Land Trust. Sooo, a later proposal was for a smaller carousel, made by the Philadelphia Toboggan Co., the same producer of the one at the Rock.
But things got mashed up and things seemed to die off. Now, Mercuriano is insisting there is a plan, and a move to git the funding for the project. He was going to send the details our way so we can take a gander at them. That was about six weeks ago. Nary a thing since.
We’d like to see what is planned, and then let everyone know about it. Cobina remembers the original carousel and the barrel organ that could be heard all over Beach Street. That organ, effen yew remember, was brought back to Savin Rock for the Festival about 10 years ago. It was nice to hear the music.
Sooooo, the ball is still in Mercuriano’s court. Effen the committee has a proposal, we’d like to know what it is. As the old ad sez, ”Inquiring minds want to know.”
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Sammy Bluejay let it be know, and we saw the Request for Proposal, the city is looking to have a public/private partnership for the upgrading and rebuilding of Quigley Stadium. This comes weeks after we wondered what in Hades was going on at the venerable ballpark. To say it is in a state of decline would be like saying the Blizzard of ’78 was snow flurry.
The city is looking for said partnership, and already it’s got the rumor mill in high gear. Here’s the scenario. The University of New Haven has been said to be interested in the stadium for years. The school is getting bigger, with more students, and now has entered Division I competition in all its intercollegiate sports.
The venues for most of its teams are up on the North Campus which is nestled in an Allingtown neighborhood. A new gym and athletic center was opened about a year ago, that is said to be state-of-the art. But the problem with the current locale is the geography.
As it is “nestled” in a neighborhood, what parking there is can be found at the new gym, jest like when the old gym was there. That is about a quarter-mile or more from Dodds Stadium, which is third in line after the softball field and baseball diamond. All the other parking is along residential streets. Dodds Stadium would be in need of additional seats to git up to snuff for bigger competition, Iyam told.
Herein enters Quigley Stadium. Rumors about the possible entrance of UNH into Div. I have been around for more than 20 years. And those supposed interests included the purchase and upgrading of the stadium as well as the surrounding area for better access and parking. In the meanwhile, the university will be allowing local use of the field, etc. as part of community outreach.
With the latest RFP going around, those 20-year-old whispers are louder than ever. A public/private plan seems to be right in concert with the ideas mentioned above, and the use of city teams and leagues when not in use by the university would be a match beneficial to both.
Sammy seems to think the details will be coming out sooner rather than later, and the much talked about partnership mentioned when George W. was in the White House will be a reality in a while.
We shall see. We are not as ready to believe things as Sammy is, but when the RFP went out, the wagging tongues wagged and wagged. We shall see.
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Last isshue, the city put out the Charter revisions it wants to see the voters pass in November. Amongst the spate of major changes, like a four-year term for city elected officials, there is the effort to make language in the charter “gender-neutral.” In other words, clarity will give way to, how do we say this delicately? Stupidity. Effen there has been anything more silly and, yes, stupid over the last 30 years since “politically correct” became a thing, it is the emasculation of the language in more ways than one.
It started with “hurricane” in the 1970s, when harpies started demanding that storms be named after both men and women, or is it wymyn? Then we went from “spokesmen” to “spokesperson,” etc. It is all very tiring and only caters to the loonies that ponder over setch things. Don’t say “actress” anymore, she is an “ACK-tor” and the same with “authoress” and heiress, etc.
Now they wanna change titles in the charter to conform with this nonsense. Sooo, what is being said is the charter commish spent time culling through the documents to bend the knee to the mob that has made the language unmanageable for years. This is what has led to nonsense like “Cis” and “Ze.” We don’t do that here. We re-gender the nouns so they are clear, and masculine gender takes precedence when things are unsure, jest like we were taught in school.
Let the academic classes have their “Critical Theories” of oppressed and oppressor. They are the navel-gazers of society and should not be taken seriously by people who have real lives.
Here endeth the rant.
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One more thing. We are glad the city is taking steps to curb the e-bike/scooter plague that has hit the nation. We have nothing against them, per se, hon. We do, however, think that some of the users forgit that there are pedestrians who need to traverse the same sidewalks.
Then there are those who scoff at stop lights and signs when rolling through the streets. It can be a dangerous thing when they weave in and outta traffic. A body jest doesn’t seen them when they move like that.
Like our editorial sez, though. An ordinance is only as good as its enforcement. If it’s enforceable, good. If not, its jest wasted ink.
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With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next mitt luff und kizzez,
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