I just got back from a trip to Dallas and have a bunch to post.
Here’s a great shot I snapped a week ago from my window of two guys stopping on my street in Hartford’s West End one shiny spring afternoon. One guy kept watch while the other urinated against the side of my neighbor’s house.
As first discussed (with pictures!) in Hartford Blight, Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez took his plans to combat the “blanks” on our urban landscape beyond conversation with Dennis House on WFSB to an editorial in the Hartford Courant today.
I don’t have anything snarky to add beyond humming a few bars of Naked Eyes’ “You made me… promises, promises (bah bah bum buh buh), you knew you couldn’t keep…”
“Thugg City, motherfuckers! Providence is for pussies.”
From today’s Courant online: Hartford Officials Release Crime Stats: Gun Violence Up
City officials are launching a new safety initiative in response to a recent wave of reports of gun violence in the city.
In less than a two-month period, between March 16 and May 10, there have been five gun-related homicides and 50 shooting victims in 36 confirmed gun-related incidents. All together during that period, there have been 188 unconfirmed and unconfirmed reports of shots being fired.
… Hartford police officers have seized 133 illegal guns and made 75 weapons arrests since the first of the year , Roberts said.
The department plans on hiring 30 new officers and training officers for bicycle units and a mounted horse patrol. Roberts also said he asked state and federal authorities for resources.
WFSB’s Dennis House did an interesting interview with Mayor Eddie Perez last Sunday, March 2, on urban blight in Hartford. I like House. He lives downtown (or used to), married well, and genuinely seems to care about Hartford while he waits to get a gig in a bigger market.
Eddie told House that he had City Council approval to take $50M of “his” capital fund (money, he said, that was normally used for schools and libraries) and reallocate it towards resolving blight in three target areas downtown and one in each of the Franklin Avenue, North Hartford and Frog Hollow neighborhoods. Through use of eminent domain and his war chest, he predicted he’d be able to wrestle under used property from negligent owners and hand them over to developers.
House and Eddie then reviewed plans for dilapidated and empty property (including major parking lots) in the downtown area.
Here are some of the interview highlights, but go watch the full thing since I had to set my universal translator to “WHAT-THE-HELL-IS-HE-MUMBLING” in order to understand Eddie.
Capitol West Building
111 Pearl Street
Maharishi Hotel on Constitution Plaza
410 Asylum Street
Main/Trumbull Street
Former YMCA
Asylum & Main Parking Lot
Quote of the day from Peter Bosco of New Britain, complaining about the small-minded thinking that went into hosting the speedboat races in Hartford last weekend in
“Hartford’s biggest problem is itself - not unlike the ugly sister (ask Providence) who is thrilled to be going to the prom in a borrowed dress with the unemployed kid who drives a souped-up pickup truck.Hartford needs to find a better dress to wear. Perception is 90 percent of the solution.”
Actually, it’s more like “Haters-15, Hartford-0″ given the mass exodus of people making plans to get the hell out of Hartford lately.
We moved here just about 3 1/2 years ago and most of the people that we identified as being essential assets in the creation of a new Hartford, those people with real energy and desire to make Hartford a better place, are now gone or in the process of packing up.
Wait…isn’t anyone willing to wait until Front Street is done? Don’t you want to see if the city can attract a Stop & Shop downtown? Would you stay for a GAP?????
No exit causes as much pain in our hearts as the departure of our own Scary Bunny #77, who sent in a farewell earlier this afternoon:
Three Years and Gone!Hey Scary Bunnies, I am leaving town. Moving on to, dare I say, greener pastures. But before I sign off completely, I felt it far too necessary to share with you all of the great things I have come to love about Hartford, and all of the memorable things that have happened to me…
[cue Karate Kid montage music]
- Held up at gun point on High Street, took cops 45 mins to respond…
You’re the best… Arooooound!
- Almost got knocked on my ass by some homeless drunk/crack addict dude whilst running outside the Spigot earlier this week…
You’re the best… Arooooound!
- My best friend gets her license plate’s registration sticker cut off of her car right outside the bar we were drinking in, whilst we were drinking…
You’re the best… Arooooound!
- Get denied access to Club Blu for wearing boots… Club Blu people!!!
You’re the best… Arooooound!
- A crack dealer gets arrested in my backyard by 8 cops in S.W.A.T. gear, automatic weapons drawn, I was still in my underwear…
You’re the best… Arooooound!
- My iPod is stolen from inside my car, whilst partying at the Chez Est… no windows broken, doors still locked…
You’re the best… Arooooound!
- Get started on by a Webster Theatre parking attendant, claiming my Mexican wrestling mask was an insult to his culture… when he was quite clearly of African-American decent…
You’re the best… Arooooound!
- Spent three years in a town with 2 strip joints, 47 Dunkin Donuts, a barbershop named the Players Club, 6 drunk driving arrests in the last year, 7231 cover bands, all of whom are shite, and a bunch of people with my penchant for sarcasm, and my love of all things alcohol…
God I love Hartford!
Not so much for shits, but rather mostly for giggles we thought it appropriate to follow up on
Simsbury 1
“One of the best towns in Connecticut, known for the academic excellence of their school system, and beautiful homes. Based on Mastery Test, and SAT scores, has the “smartest” school system in the state of Connecticut, and are ranked number 6 in the country, for the same statistic.I live in Simsbury, possibly the best town in Connecticut, and it doesn’t matter that my family pays so much in taxes because I have one of the best education systems in the country.”
Simsbury 2
“An absolutely shitty town and high school filled with terrible hippie liberals who sit around all day smoking (probably skipping practice) wishing they lived 40 minutes south with all the other “elite” Darien kids drinkin brain grenades. Don’t live here or in Darien….ever.
Ryan Terrance Mcgrath!“
Dear Ryan,
If you ever read this, please send us the recipe for “brain grenades” as they sound delicious. Dude: you wanna help us track down and beat up the author of “Simsbury 1″?
Best regards and fondest wishes, Scary Bunnies.
Courtesy of an
“Capital city of Connecticut. Abandoned after 5pm when all the insurance company workers take their daily white flight back to Farmington, Glastonbury, and Avon, where they are far less likely to get shot or carjacked. Hartford is a city so sad that it lost its one professional sports team when Whalers hockey left. A city so sad that *I* had to be the first one to define it. If it wasn’t for the Wadsworth Atheneum or the insurance companies it wouldn’t be on the map.Me and my UConn friends go to Hartford on Saturday night to bar hop. Make sure you avoid the north end unless you want to get jumped.“
We encourage everyone to contribute more definitions of Hartford to the site.
A brilliant entry to our Hartford billboard slogan contest submitted via email by “Ecstacy LSD”
We’ll keep this going until we get sick of it, Hartford puts up a billboard slogan that we actually like, or until we run out of original spray paintings by Scary Bunny #77 to give away.
Entries so far below. Keep them coming, and remember–you don’t have to be a hater to play. Positive slogans are welcome and encouraged too.
Hartford – Come Get Your Authentic Bullet Souvenir
Hartford - We Got Glitter Streets
(Disclaimer: Glitter is actually broken glass)
Hartford – The City That Never Sleeps Because of its Sleep Apnea
We’re Hartford – Our Mom Says We Have Lots of Potential
Hartford – The Apathy of it All
Hartford - Because NY and Boston are expensive.
Hartford - All complaints, no action.
Hartford - We swore it was fun until we saw New Haven.
Hartford - Free parking in Wethersfield!
Hartford - Open from 9-5 weekdays.
Hartford - The gangs are only in the North End. And near The Webster.
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