Letter to the Editor: Mayor: Don't Play Politics on Riverfront

All letters to the editor are published as a courtesy to readers, and opinions expressed/ claims made may or may not be shared by Middletown Insider editors. Salafia was named on the list of most influential Middletown women of 2012: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2012/12/2012year-of-middletown-woman.html

MI Editors Note: Per charter, all commissions and committees must be created by ordinance. To be clear, a mayor can seek and take advice from anyone, be it an individual or a group of people. A mayor then could therefore form a group that advises him and him alone. The mayor can't form a Riverfront Advisory Task Force i.e. a Committee that has any real duties; only the Common Council can create such an entity. The mayor would then appoint its membership and the Council would then vote to confirm those appointments. Unless this process has been followed, this "task force" is worth little to nothing. Which raises the very same question about the "Mayor's Bi-partisan Task Force on Government Reorganization" or, as it has been referred-to, the "Blue-ribbon Commission."
Dear Editor,
     My letter is in response to the article published by the Hartford Courant on January 2, 2013 announcing that Mayor Drew would put together a 7 member task force to make recommendations about River Front Zoning. The article is here:
http://articles.courant.com/2013-01-02/community/hc-middletown-riverfront-20121228_1_sewer-plant-riverfront-proposals-master-plan
     The first time I had heard that the Mayor was considering such a committee was from this article. As a Planning and Zoning Commissioner, I should have been made aware of this by well before the announcement. By charter, there is already an existing Harbor Review Committee and the question as to why a second "task force" or essentially a committee is needed should  be questioned.
     Immediately after reading the Courant article, I submitted my name to the Mayor and asked to be considered for  the committee as a representative from the P&Z Commission. I believe my training in  architecture, planning, historic preservation, and sustainability could be useful.Because I work in the planning and architecture field for a living, I  was volunteering my skills as a professional out of my dedication to Middletown.  I only received an answer 3 days later ,after a second request, from the mayor's assistant that my request was received and being reviewed.
     This was all ruse. The Mayor had already chosen the committee by the time the Courant published the article asking for volunteers. 
      The problem I have is not that I was not considered, it is more so none of my republican colleagues on P&Z, who have over 30 years combined experience on P&Z were not chosen - a wealth of knowledge that is being wasted.  Equally as troubling is that the only minority representation on the whole 7 person committee is a single council member.
     Furthermore, Mayor Drew neglected to choose to add the Harbor Master, any representatives from Harbor Improvement committee, Design Review and Historic Preservation, the Conservation Commission, and most importantly the public.
     As commissioner, and a taxpaying citizen of Middletown, I am disappointed  that the Mayor is once again playing politics when choosing committee members to make crucial decisions about Middletown. 
     When people go to the City of Middletown website, there is no indication of what committees are open. When I have asked the Council Clerk for a list of open committee seats, I have only been given the run around. I have asked to be apart of other committees, only to receive no answer to my request. Despite this Mayor's mandate for evening meetings, committees regularly meet during work day hours and not always at public locations.  This is  disturbing because the transparency of such committees is then an illusion because they  are purposely inconvenient to the majority of full-time working citizens who are entitled  to access to their government.
      If this Mayor, and the Democratic majority keep choosing the same people to make decisions, and acquiesce to the same desires of those chosen,  we as citizens will only be burdened with the same mediocre results that stagnate us as a community.

Respectfully submitted,
Molly Salafia, Assoc. AIA, LEED GA,
 Middletown Citizen & also
P&Z Commissioner, (R)

Letter to the Editor: Lessons for the Future About Route 9 Traffic Lights

 A letter to the Editors of the Insider brings to light an old but once again relevant issue. With decommissioning of the Middletown's Sewage Treatment plant  and the subsequent joining of the Mattabassett Sewage District scheduled for referendum this fall, new opportunities open up Middletown's river front for development. One reader cautions citizens and begs the question: Is an increase in patronage to businesses downtown worth the tragedies that have resulted from traffic lights put in place to direct people to Main Street? With new developments on the horizon, what will the new traffic patterns needed to be to satisfy developers look like? What have we learned and what can we do to make this stretch of road safer now that there may be new opportunities?

The Hartford Courant published an article about the  CT Department of Transportation's conclusion that this stretch in Middletown is the most dangerous stretch of roadway in the state. Read the article  here. In the Courant's article, manager of Amato's on Main Street Diane Gervais describes the delicate relationship between Route 9 Traffic and Main Street patronage, she is said: "Our customers need access to Route 9, and we need access to our customers from Route 9."
 

Below is one readers opinion, in his own words. All letters to the editor do no necessarily  reflect views of the Insider and are posted for information purposes only.
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When Route 9 was proposed to pass along the river front in Middletown, the leaders of another generation agreed to it on one condition. That being there be traffic lights on a four lane highway to stop passing motorists for the sole purpose of patronizing Middletown businesses.

The lives lost at that dangerous bottleneck will be forever on their heads. Take the traffic lights off RT 9 and end the bottleneck to the flow of traffic. There are plenty of on- and off-ramps and the traffic lights are not needed and are deadly.

Tom Salafia,  Resident  of Middletown, CT

Celebrate Saturday With Rocky Hill-Glastonbury Ferry

This report originally appeared at Rocky Hill Patch: Saturday June 9,,,

  Anyone who wants to cross the Connecticut River on the nation’s oldest continuously operating ferry service can do it this Saturday for free. The Friends of the Connecticut River Ferries along with the Department of Transportation will be hosting an open house day celebration on Saturday, which is part of a statewide event. The state is offering Connecticut residents discounted or free admission, free gifts, special exhibits and activities at more than 175 destinations across the state. In Rocky Hill, the open house, which will run from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., will feature the following:

• Exhibits
• Activities
• Food
• Music

Continue reading at Rocky Hill Patch