Last week of February and ole March is set to come in like a Lion, honeybunch. Woid is that this week we’re gonna see a bit of a white snow coating for a couple o’ days, and then move into yet another rain storm. I gotta say, when it comes to wet weather, we’ve had more than our share over the last year or so. Hard to believe that at one pernt they were sayin’ we were in a drought.
Around these parts, there is no drought when it concerns the enmity betwixt herroner Nancy Rossi and the former hizzoner, Ed O’Brien. The two had a verbal jousting match as I mentioned in my last missive, and from what Sammy Bluejay told me this week, it ain’t gonna the one and only time. As yew remember the two o’ them had battles almost every week during the run up to the 2017 primary, with each tryin’ to outdo the other in vitriol and sarcasm. It looks like it’s gonna be the same this go-round.
O’Brien, though, is perty much settled on goin’ the independent route toward this year’s election. As I have been tellin’ yew, he’s kind o’ fallen outta favor with the Morrissey faction, we are told, and they are probably gonna put their eggs in the Deborah Collins basket this time ‘round. More on that later.
So, O’Brien is startin’ early, makin’ sure that he stakes out some isshews and some territory before the campaign gets crowded with other candidates. Still to be determined is the Republican standard-bearer, but that is months away.
Still, there were some who were surprised by herroner’s challenge for any and all to get their back sides up to Hartford and let the Municipal Accountability Review Board know what they have in mind to make the city more solvent. Some thought that was a tactical error on her part, as maybe that ain’t the time or the place for political maneuvering. Sammy Bluejay sez that nobody really expecks anyone to trek up to Hartford to take her up on her challenge, it’s just a bit o’ posturing.
Y’see, she is trying to make solvency THE issue of the coming campaign. Meanwhile, O’Brien seems to be sayin’ that DEVELOPMENT is the way to go. As one person put it, the city don’t have a tax problem it’s got a revenue problem. That seems to be the tack that O’Brien is homing in on.
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Whilst all that is going on, Nelly Nuthatch is expectin’ that Deb Collins, who has been mentioned as a possible challenger for the Demmie nod, is gonna make an announcement sooner rather than later, maybe even this week. Collins has been lookin’ into a run, and talking with all and sundry about the possibility.
The woid is that she is gonna come out with an announcement that an exploratory committee is gonna be set up to see effen a run is possible. That is political-speak for she’s gonna run. Yew don’t set up an exploratory committee to explore, you set one up to start fundraising. Expeck that the usual suspecks will be behind her in this run and the three-way split in the party will once again play a part in how this all turns out. The chess game has begun.
Like we said, the Morrissey faction is said to be supportin’ her, and it’s jest a matter o’ how the thoid faction of the party – the so-called Borer faction – determines it wants to lean. Then the battle lines’ll be drawn, and the road to the primary perty much set.
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Whilst all that is goin’ on, we see that the Haven Group, LLC has determined it better station some security personnel around the four-block site that is the Haven Projeck. As yew know, the local fire brigade has been kep’ rather busy of late cuz fires have erupted in the area, the last one being at the old Bilco Door factory.
The first one, at 22 Richards Place, was thought to be accidental – by vagrants or squatters lookin’ to keep warm. The last one at Bilco was thought to be deliberate and put city officials, fire officials, homeowners and the developers on edge. We don’t wanna have a fire a week over there.
Of course, there was a joke runnin’ around town that maybe the quickest way to git rid o’ all those structures is a “controlled burn” or inviting the NHFD Academy over for a few training runs. It was all gallows humor, of course.
Things are gonna be on edge until they start takin’ those structures down, and clearing the way for construction. It’s been a long time – almost two years for many of those properties – since they were boarded up, and besides the eyesore, it jest gets more attractive to those who wanna do mischief.
As we reported to yew a couple weeks back, business owners have got letters sayin’ that the demolition of the property is near at hand, but until there is a backhoe or big claw taking down those structures, people are gonna be edgy.
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Before we go too much farther, we see that longtime Park-Rec Director Bill Slater has put in for his retirement. It seems like only yesterday that he was fresh outta college and workin’ for the department, moving his way up the chain until he got the big job. Needless to say he worked with our late pal and scribe Bob Tingley at one pernt. Seems like only yesterday/.
Well, Willy. We hope you have a great retirement. He was feted at a party this week. Iyam sure he enjoyed himself. It’s gonna be interesting. Marge, his long-sufferin’ wife, has been retired for a couple o’ years, and now he’s on the shelf. Wonder how long it’s gonna be before one or both find a way to stay outta the house for a bit. Retirees do get under each other’s feet, it seems.
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Iva Lootey was in t’other afternoon and inquired about the sale of the Thompson and Stiles school buildings. It was announced more than a month ago that the two properties had been put up for sale an the deadline for submission of bids had passed. Thompson was gonna go to the Housing Authority, but funding couldn’t be secured and it had to go back out to bid.
One wonders effen this is gonna be a long process or if the city is gonna have a buyer or buyers for both places sooner rather than later. The schools have been closed for quite some time – Stiles for almost a decade. The area around it, particularly, is rather seedy looking, and with the choo-choo station near there , one would hope some economic development could take place.
Let’s face it, the promise of that end of Elm Street becomin’ an economic Mecca has kind of gone the way of all flesh. People thought it was gonna replace downtown as a mercantile area, but excep’ for the fack the Stop&Shop went in, not much has happened over there – at least not like it was promised.
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With that bit o’ chatter, I’ll close this time till next, mitt luff und kizzez,