Rumblings: Thank you sir! May I have another?

1. Middletown could be the host location for the next Pixar movie: "Cars VIII: Sloppy Jalopy."
Periodically replacing police cruisers was always an annual expense as precedent in tales of budgets past. But with the Mayor snipping this from the budget, an appropriation for approximately a baker's dirty dozen new cruisers purchased all at once may be in taxpayers' futures. CNR baby!

2.  Macdonough Elementary gets grants to cover after-school care for low income families. Other school districts S.O.L. Due to a record number of early dismissals parents scramble to line up babysitters. Where are those fictional teen Babysitters' Club girls from the 1990's paperbacks when you need them?With a record number of folks needing sitters, there is apparently a shortage - current babysitter rate now in Middletown is up to $30 an hour!

3. If teen babysitters can get $30/hour minimum wage should be $15/hour! At least, according to Rep. Matt Lesser who held rallies to raise minimum wage to $15+ outside the Dunkin Donuts on Washington Street earlier in the month. That's some fart sminking Lesser!

4. A wise man once said there are actually 3 budgets... The Mayor's Proposed Budget in January, The Council's Adopted Budget in April, and the grande coup de gras total at June 30th of the following year when the total of what was actually spent via appropriations is known. What's in your wallet? Or rather what is left?

5. Renowned Hobbit costume designer & Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, on her never ending campaign for re-election recently blew into town to read to some elementary school children. "D" is for Diapers provided by the government...

6. Cromwell selectmen flush the idea of allowing Middletown to join the Mattabasset sewer district. Middletown counters by commissioning author Taro Gomi to do a rewrite of his famous book with the new title "Everybody Poops & Your's Ain't Nothin' Special Cromwell"; book signing at the Buttonwood Tree, TBD. Lil' Danny ought to get on the horn to Big Dan and straighten this out.

7.  Personal photography entourage aka the Middletown Mess posted pics of the Mayor frosting cupcakes today. Seems Double D is doubling down on all the photo ops he can before the election as well as any opportunity to spend away from the office. Mayor Drew to assemble Youth Cabinet. Hey we thought that was what besties Joe S. & Matty L. were for? What happened? Actually, no wait this is a good thing; students can probably teach you a thing or two about budgeting. Is a Senior Cabinet to follow? Middle Age Cabinet?  
YES YOU DID!!



8. Parking Wars Middletown!  
To air this fall on A&E. Can

a small City Mayor really plug holes in the budget using revenue from parking fees & fines?  Street sensors malfuctioning- can the Mayor find away to blame the past administration? Will gouged citizens revolt? Will the mayor give his bestie a waiver from his $300 worth of fines & booted car? Stay tuned.
 
9.  Middletown's 9th Voting District selected to be randomly audited by the state. The state will review the optical scanners used to process ballots. Rep. Joe Serra volunteered to upkeep the official chain of custody & transport that scanner himself to the state office for inspection. Deja vu?
 
10. Food glorious food. All Middletown school students to get breakfast at school served in classrooms.  Board of Education publishes monthly newsletter "Nutrition Nuggets" with tips on fighting childhood obesity. Students & families to get free discarded bread from Freihofer's Cromwell. North end students sent home with food for weekends. Farmer's market gets grant for students to get healthy vegetables... too little food too much food.. anyone else confused? Thought so.

11.  Stephen4Stephen wins primary. Villagers protest fact there is nothing left to protest.

12. And then there were two: Killian & Carrol.  In a saga more dramatic then a romance story between sparkly vampires and a human,  state says no third party lines on the ballot allowed without signatures ie Realistic Balance is forced to dump all candidates that had also appeared on major party ballots. 

13.  Wait a sec...Mayor Drew and the D Crew appeared front and center in the Mess at the ground breaking for Eckersley Hall Senior Center. Not everyone on the council, including those who originally supported the project were invited. Mayor Drew was initially against the Senior Center project and paid a consultant last year mucho bennies $$$$$ to do a plan of an addition on City Hall that would make a wing for the seniors and a spacious suite for the Common Council. Those against the project are seen in the photos in the Mess now praising the project they once denounced as frivolous. Lest we forget, oh what a different a year makes...must be an election year!!

Updates on Riverfront Development Commission, RDC To Hold Public Kick off Meeting

The Riverfront Redevelopment Commission seek public input on Tuesday during a meeting at City Hall at 7pm.

City Planning and Zoning Department Director William Warner gave the Planning and Zoning Commission an update on the riverfront committee’s progress at the zoning board’s  regular meeting Wednesday . The City hired Projects for Public Spaces a New York-based,nonprofit to consult on the redevelopment. The Office of Planning, Conservation and Development has made a  Facebook page seeking comments from the public. Because not all citizens have facebook, Warner stated he set up a web page, linked to the planning department’s main website, with updates on the Riverfront Redevelopment Commission. Commissioner Molly Salafia (R) asked if a strategic plan with a timeline will be done by the consulting firm, rather than just conceptual philosophy and precedent case studies, and Warner stated that yes the firm will make specific plans that pertain and can be used by the City as a launch point. He stressed that ultimately, the Planning and Zoning Commission has final say of what new zoning is adopted. Warner said he would like to see the existing rail line used as a tourist trolley. Commissioner Beth Emery (D) asked if bike paths would be apart of the plan of development. Warner stated that he still has the notes from thirteen years ago from the public sessions held then by the then riverfront development consultants and that those previous concepts developed in committee had not been forgotten. Warner stated to his knowledge, the South Cove area would need to be dredged for a public boat launch, but that a public park area was going to the be vital point in driving development. Warner elaborated that the City needed to provide, plan for, and implement an overhaul of infrastructure to attract private development, and that this infrastructure was the critical first step.

The development of the riverfront - with land both owned by the City, State, and private entities in play depends on the decommission of the current sewage plan on River Road and Middletown joining  Mattabassett District—the acceptance is still pending in Cromwell, Berlin and New Britain to allow Middletown in. Middletown is scheduled to pay $13 million to the surrounding towns to join the district.

Highway Routes 17 and 9. are a disaster, ranking number 1 as the most dangerous highways in the state. Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting at Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce’s Central Business Bureau Committee on Wednesday at 8 a.m. at the Chamber’s headquarters, 393 Main St. Rep. Joseph Serra, a 25 year veteran legislator who represents Middletown, is the chair of the Highways committee. Warner stated at the PZ meeting ,when asked by Commissioner Nick Fazzino (R) if the DOT had any plans to deal with the traffic lights on this stretch of highway, that the state has only mentioned it will discuss the RT 17 and RT 9 on ramp.

Candidates Face Off in Westfield October 22

The Westfield Residents Association is holding a forum at 6 pm on  Monday October 22.at 3rd Congregational Church at 94 Miner St. The public is encouraged to attend.

Scheduled to attend:

10+ years Incumbent 3rd Congressional District U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat vs.Republican Wayne Winsley

Incumbent 9th District  Democrat State Sen. Paul Doyle, a Democrat vs.  Republican Joseph Dinunzio

Incumbent 13th District  Republican State Sen. Len Suzio, a Republican vs. Democrat Dante Bartolomeo.

Incumbent 100th House District State Rep. Matt Lesser vs. Republican Deborah Kleckowski,

20+ years Incumbent  33rd District Democrat Rep. Joe Serra vs. Republican Callie Grippo.

The forum format will devote 15 minutes to each race of which candidates will have 3 minutes each to speak; the remaining time will be for audience Q & A. No word on moderator.* Continued:

Guest Blog: Councilwoman Salafia Weekly Round-up

Councilwoman Linda Salafia provides a summarized view of last week's municipal meetings with her own commentary. A unique viewpoint for our Insider readers- Stay in informed!
If you wish to be a guest blogger and provide your take on daily happenings write us!

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Last year at this time I was attending every event that I could possibly attend, walking
door to door, working full time and was an active union officer (local 466). This year is somewhat
different, after a few months of retirement, I’m basically back to work full time trying
to get a little shop of my craftwork up and running. One of the things that I did as a
union officer was to try to attend as many committee meetings as I could so that the
union would be informed. I have found that now attending the Finance and Government
meetings is a great help in being informed prior to the council meetings. The meetings
are open to the public and I encourage everyone to attend.

  On that note, out of the last meeting, which was Wednesday, there is some exciting news.
The first being that the Common Council Clerk applied and RECEIVED a grant in the
amount of $83,205 to offset the costs of the upgrades to the audiovisual equipment in
the Council Chambers. The grant was available for equipment costs only, which in the
project were $85,000 and we were granted $83,205. Great work by the Clerk.

  Also, other great news from the meeting is that the City will be streaming the council
meetings live via the internet. The City will be contracting with Granicus through their
Legislative Management Suite to broadcast/ stream the council meetings so that those
who are not able view over Comcast will now have a venue. This program has a search
function so that the public will be able to advance to the part of the program that they
are particularly interested in.

   From the point forward that it starts, we will able to search
all meetings for a particular subject. The presentation was very detailed and looked
great. This will able to be used for all meetings that are recorded at some point. It should
be noted that the funding is included in the bond already approved so no additional
appropriation will be needed. Although I’m not able to explain all of the details here I
am excited and pleased with this move and suggest that everyone check out their website
as this company has extensive experience and only works with government entities.
At the Special Council Meeting of August 30, 2012, the ordinance and resolution
were passed regarding the referendum vote at the general election in November for
the bonding of funds for the Senior / Community Center.

 There was a presentation by Councilmen Pessina and Klattenberg and the architects on the project and somecomments from the public. Most of the comments were in favor of the senior center at
this location; however, there were two speakers who were not in favor of the project. The
decision now will be up to the public in November. (I think it’s long overdue and that the
location will work well! I’m personally a firm believer in the need for a strong and active
senior center – it should be a gathering place welcoming to all.)

  Since Labor Day is Monday, the regular monthly meeting of the Common Council will
be held on Tuesday. AT 6:00 p.m. will be a presentation by Waterhouse Development
Company for development/ building an apartment complex at 225 River Road. There is a
resolution on the agenda for the regular meeting for the approval of a 7 year property tax
fixing / abatement agreement and a capping of building permit fees and water and sewer
hook-up charges. One thing to note is that the development of this property is totally
contingent on the City decommissioning the treatment plant on River Road and joining
Mattabassett. This item will probably generate a lot of discussion at the regular meeting
as it involves significant funds being abated over a significant time period.

 However,it involves the development of private property, which is currently not bringing in the
property tax dollars that it could. I’m sure that I’m not stating that very clearly but one of
the questions is: development with concessions better than no development at all??
Also, on the agenda for the meeting is a resolution for the setting up of a CNR line item
for the replacement of fabric chairs at the Russell Library due to the bed-bug infestation.
A no-brainer in my mind.
Linda Salafia

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