With the morning air getting jest a bit nippy, yew can tell that fall is jest around the corner. September brings two things that has to do with weather, cool mornings and humid days with jest enuff heat to make it uncomfortable. Last week, we had a taste of fall, and then back to the heat. Meanwhile, pigskins are the in air, and election ads are in the mail. Squirrels are taking advantage of the acorn crop that can be seen jest about everywhere in town, and life is getting back to normal too quickly.
Here in the Asylum by the Sea, many things are in motion. Foist off, effen you’ve been out in yore gassamobuggy along the main drag that bisects this berg, you’ve noted, Felicia, that some big-time milling is going on in preparation for repaving Campbell Avenue. As I write this missive, crews have been milling blocks-worth of pavement, making an obstacle course for drivers trying to not get any front-end damage when going over manholes and other “raised structures.”
Of course, Cobina noted in her own travels that the milling does tend to slow a body down in his or her travels along the road. That does upset some, who wanna cruise along as if things were normal, and tailgate drivers trying to be careful.
There was a letter sent out about the project, but the only thing one wonders is effen the entire 3-mile route of Campbell is gonna be paved. At the rate they’re milling that could take about 3 weeks by my calculations. We shall see.
Jest one final note on the weather. Cobina has noticed that some forecasters are calling for a mild winter, whilst some are saying at cooling in the Atlantic could mean a very cold winter. The Farmer’s Almanac is about to be on the newsstands, maybe we should jest see what it predicts. It’s about as accurate as the people on the boob tube.
As noted it’s “election season,” and whilst it ain’t a mayoral election, it is a state a fed’ral one for Congress. And, it’s stitch when one takes a gander at the stuff that’s coming out this way or that for whatever office. The incumbent says he or she is doing, and the wanna be says how incompetent the incumbent is. And we’ll be seeing these adverts for the next little while, I’m afraid.
And, I know that Cobina has harped on this before, but what else does a old harpy like me have to do? The behavior of Sen. Chris Murphy, and everybody’s favorite screwy aunt, Rosa DeLauro Greenberg (I do that jest to tick off her peeps), has been quite something, to the effeck that national publications are taking notice.
Both have two temperaments, unreasonable, and off the wall crazy. In recent hearings Rosa has flipped her purple pate, going off the deep end, and embarrassing the people sitting next to her. Meanwhile, Murphy is jest a nawsty individual. This is the best we have to offer from the Nutmeg State?
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Before we go any further, we had an error in the last missive, sweets. The artifacts from the Carousel and Savin Rock are not being kep’ at the Veterans Museum, they are in storage. That begs the question, still, on what is gonna happen to the future of a Savin Rock Museum, to wit: will there be one?
The museum as yew remember was in the Savin Rock Conference Center that is now being transformed into the Kelsey. The building was closed in 2019, and the stuff taken out of the venue. The pieces were gonna be put on static display in the brewery that never materialized, leaving the question of the future.
Let’s hope the powers that be can find a reasonable space for the artifacts. Meanwhile, Cobina still hasn’t hoid from Mike Mercurian on the Carousel projeck. I mentioned to you last time that he wanted the papyrus to do an update on the plan, that is nearing the 30-years-old mark, with nary a thing done.
Tennyrate, he was going to get some info our way so that the public will know the projeck ain’t dead. That was more than a month ago, and we haven’t heard hide nor hair about it. Soooooo, Mike, the ball is in yore court, m’friend.
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The big talk on the avenue, besides the repaving, according to Sammy Bluejay is the public/private partnership the city is attempting to git Quigley Stadium up to snuff – a long “up to” effen yew git m’drift. In local papyri the city is putting the cost of rehab at about $3 million. Wanna bet? With the cost of things nowadays, $3 million is chicken feed, and won’t go very far.
As I told yew the last time we discussed this, what is needed down on Front Avenue is an entire overhaul of the neighborhood. And, effen somebody does want to do something with the space, the parking situation is gonna hafta be addressed, and toot sweet.
As we mention in this week’s editorial, the partnership idea is already stoking the city’s grist mill with new material, and it’s the age-old UNH buying the property, and allowing the city to use it when not in university use. This would make the school the “private” part of the public/private equation.
As pernted out, the current athletic facilities have to be upgraded, and the location of the North Campus venues are someone of a problem for almost the same reason: parking, and the fack they are in a residential neighborhood. So, that is stoking the fires of the talk about town.
Still interesting is the fack that Herronner wants to use this public/private synergy (thought I’d use a useless new woid) to move other projecks forward. Cobina can think o’ one: the Piantino Library in Allingtown. Effen Andrew Carnegie can fund the main library’s oldest section, maybe some modern-day robber barons and do the same for the Allingtown Branch. We shall see.
Public/Private partnerships might be the wave of the future, sweets. Maybe the formula could be tweaked to work on the former Haven project – with a new private partner. It’s been a while since Cobina mentioned it, but it is still lingering untetched since the buildings came down so many years ago.
Then, we see that the former Nobel School might be the next public/private projeck to get put on the boards.
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Meanwhile on Beach Street, things seem to be moving along. Though Nelly Nuthatch was down in the area, and saw that the coffee shop that is supposed to open in the last of the Savin Rock buildings at the corner of East Avenue and Beach has had a rather interesting series of names. Not sure effen they’ve determined which one to use, but Nelly noted that earlier in the year the signs posted on the site had one name, and then a second name popped up.
There’s a lotta work to complete on the site, soooo, getting excited about names might be a bit premature. Let’s git the thing opened and then, we can worry about what it’s called.
Whilst that is going on, across the street, the new pump station/bath house that is planned is moving along, though there must be a lotta groundwork (literally) that has to be done. Not much of a superstructure has been shaping up, but lotsa work along ground level is happening.
And jest to show that Cobina does move around the berg, we noted that work is being done on the new Community Center at the former Malloy School (on Meloy Road). Opening of the facility is supposed to happen in the coming weeks effen the signs are right.
One wonders what monicker is gonna be put on the building. This is ripe for a dedication, and one can think of a slew of people who might be so honored. Maybe the city should have a friendly contest to rename the building – unless the plan is to keep ole Miss Malloy’s name affixed to the property.
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Well, a filmmaker has determined to use li’l ole us as a backdrop for his crime drama, No Loose Ends. It’s nice to know that our little corner of the universe is seen as having enough character and “characters” to be the scenery for setch a piece of celluloid. It’ll be interesting to see how this all pans out, tell the truth.
It’s nice for the city to be seen in a nice light, even if the plot of the story is about the dark side of humanity. That don’t reflect on the scenes. Hope all goes well for the company.
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With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,