Break out the shorts and gin-and-tonics. As I scribe this note, it’s actually reached 40 degrees and feels even warmer after the big freeze we had last week. I guess Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow over the weekend, and we’re marking the event – or maybe he didn’t see his shadow. However it works, it was warm. Don’t git used to it, February is a notorious month in these parts, and we can be shoveling the white stuff before you can say “nor’easter.”
In our lit’le corner of the world, things are getting very interesting in the political sphere, according to Sammy Bluejay. Sammy was over t’other afternoon and mentioned that the Demmies, Lawd love ‘em, are planning to have an opponent for Mayor Nancy Rossi, and it ain’t Ed O’Brien.
According to the latest scuttlebutt, the former mayor has had a fallin’ out with some of the high mucky-mucks of the party that heretofore were his supporters – jest like herroner was a big O’Brien supporter in the beginning, but fell away.
Tennyrate, the word is that with the tripartite division in the party, and him having none of the three factions to give him support, he’s mullin’ over an independent run. That makes a bit more sense effen yew think about it.
With no support amongst one of the three factions – at least so far – in the party, puttin’ together a primary run would be a fool’s errand. Getting the kopecks to run usually means at least support from someone, and effen yore gonna spend lotsa money in a primary, you need the ability to recoup it for the general election – hence the necessary support.
With no support, it makes perfeck sense to run as an independent. No primary to cost money, and it gives a few more months to raise financing and put together a campaign. Also, effen he runs as an independent, it immediately makes it a three-way race. With the factionalized and broken electorate we have here, that might be just the thing needed to put him back into office. But that ain’t the whole story.
Word is that Debbie Collins, the forever City Clerk, is being courted to run against Rossi in a primary. From what is being talked about she ain’t made an official decision, but she IS thinking about it Sammy is told.
Collins is one o’ those people who ya either love or hate. She’s got many, many friends all over town, but she’s also collected a few enemies along the way. Over the years she’s been accused by opponents of running her office like an extension of this or that campaign. But, there are those who will vouch for her being as pristine as the fresh-fallen snow.
Love her or hate her, she will be a formidable opponent to herronner should she decide to run. With the number of people who like her, and the number of people who still harbor resentment about O’Brien losing in 2017, it could be an interesting race come this fall.
What’ll be more interesting than the announcement is the way the dominoes fall if and when she gives the go-ahead. The people involved in her campaign could decide the isshew. Effen it’s jest the same divisional/factional thing that has irked the party for more than two decades, it could be more wind than fire. It’ll be an interesting couple o’ weeks, that’s for sure. After that, we shall see.
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Madame Olga was eyeing her crystal t’other afternoon and came upon a notice that, I guess, has been issued to businesses in the area – Demolition on the Haven is expected to begin March 1. That is the news going about. Business owners are interested, of course, because the area around the Kimberly Avenue Bridge will be a bevy of activity when it happens.
That’s interesting, cuz we had heard just a few days before that work was stalled cuz of something or other that had to be got from the state Dept. of Transportation. Maybe all that fol-de-rol has been figgered out or decided. We know one thing viz. the above-mentioned primary and general election: effen work begins on The Haven, the chances of the incumbent are enhanced about three-fold, and will be a big hurdle to be overcome.
It may even inhibit politicos from putting together campaigns this time around, waiting instead for the next go-round. Political calculus has many, many variables, and around these parts it is much more than 2+2=4.
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Nelly Nuthatch pernted out a story by our own Josh LaBella last week — two, in fact. The one has to do with the Bored of Ed approving its proposed budget for the new fiscal year to be included in the city’s proposed budget. All that will be finalized in the middle of next month.
Tennyrate, when Nelly saw the announcement she was intrigued. She wondered whether the B of E was working with the Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) in coming up with this new spending plan. As yew know Board of Education budgets are really a list of suggestions that politicos cherry pick during the time they fashion their own budgets.
Soooooo, the big query is whether this one will pass muster perty much as is, or whether it will be sliced and diced to a mere shadow of itself as it was last year and for many years previous. Nelly seems to think that the big money would wager on the slicing and dicing.
The school budget is more than half of the total so it’ll be interesting to see how this all figgers come the mayor’s budget proposal next month. Stay tuned.
The second thing that was of interest was this back-and-forth betwixt Councilman from the Eight Districk Tracy Morrissey and the mayor. Evidently, a black book is being kep’ to determine comp time for some people. Morrissey does not think that’s something that can be done according to Hoyle. One wonders effen this is a tempest in a teapot, or something that can become an isshew. We shall see. Comp time is an interesting animal, and one that the state has had rather strick rules for and against over the decades. We shall see.
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Meanwhile, we’re gonna put out another shout out for Merlie Mae. We ain’t heard from the ole gal in months. She did call Cobina one night about six months ago, but that was the last we hoid. She was in that fire back in June in her domicile and was perty beat up. We hope everything is well, and hope that somebody lets us know how I blazes she is doing.
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Just a small note: We hoid from Helen Bennett Harvey, an old friend from way back – more moons than either one of us wanna remember. She was a great friend of Denise Madera Olenick, our late co-founder of this papyrus. Well, it seems we had a mishap over a picture we used last week – yew can read about hat in “Did You Know” on page 2. “HBH” as she was called by many of us, has a name that bespeaks a lady of fine breeding and manners – and she does.
We hope things are going well for her and her family even though she works for some other papyrus. We are always fascinated when names we remember from the old days are still working for the New Haven press.
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With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,