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By Kerri Provost, May 4, 2013 10:08 am

Growing up, I made maps of the woods, marking all of the forts. Most of those “forts” were not structures as much as imaginary spaces, large rocks, or easy-to-climb trees. Because this was my map, the places would be named and given the status of “secret forts.” Some of the images in this edition of In Your Neighborhood represent secret forts around Hartford’s Behind the Rocks neighborhood. I’m not going to give exact coordinates for where each photograph was taken, but all of the locations can be found with the willingness to explore the city on foot. Continue reading 'In Your Neighborhood: Behind the Rocks (round two)'»

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By Kerri Provost, April 30, 2013 7:20 am

Scenes from the Sidewalk is a collection of interesting or strange things found while walking through Hartford.

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By Kerri Provost, April 2, 2013 6:10 pm

Travel lanes were recently reduced in the area of Flatbush Avenue to accommodate CTfastrak construction. Now motorists will be re-routed through a shopping plaza parking lot for approximately one week. The detour is set to start on April 8, 2013 at 5 a.m. Beginning on April 4, 2013, the traffic pattern within Charter Oak Marketplace will change to allow detours.

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By Kerri Provost, March 5, 2013 8:09 am

Starting on the evening of March 15th, the stretch of Flatbush from New Park Avenue to the highway ramps will be “reduced to one lane”, eastbound. Newfield Avenue, northbound, between Shopping Plaza Drive and Flatbush, will also be “reduced to one lane,” according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Despite ongoing construction in this area, CTfastrak is describing this as the beginning of stage one for the Flatbush Avenue reconstruction project. There are four stages. There is no indication of when this stage will be completed.

The CTfastrak is seeking input via a survey, with questions about service options and room to comment on other aspects of the New Britain-to-Hartford busway.

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By Kerri Provost, March 2, 2013 6:13 am

There are the rocks. Let’s look behind them. Continue reading 'In Your Neighborhood: Behind the Rocks'»

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By Kerri Provost, February 11, 2013 1:58 pm

Trinity Street in downtown has been plowed several times. Residents in some neighborhoods are still waiting for one plow.

The snowfall stopped two days ago, but residents are reporting that a number of streets have yet to see a plow. Streets described as not “open,” with open being defined “as the plow opening up the middle of road” were posted by residents on the Hartford Fire Department’s Facebook page. It is safe to assume that this is an incomplete report, as not everyone has access to Facebook.

If you want to know exactly which streets were reported as “not open” — which areas receive service and which do not — check out the map created by Real Hartford. The streets included on the map — marked with snowflake icons — were reported on Monday morning and early afternoon.

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By Kerri Provost, October 31, 2012 10:44 am

On Tuesday, November 6th, as with every election, the polls are expected to be open from 6am-8pm on Election Day.
This year’s ballot question (yes or no) asks whether or not more funds should be appropriated for the massive MDC project. According to The Hartford Votes-Hartford Vota Coalition, the question — in layperson’s terms — reads:

Approval for the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) to appropriate an additional $800 million for Phase 2 of the Clean Water Project, which is being implemented to comply with a Federal consent decree and State consent order requiring the reduction of sewage overflows.  The appropriation is to be financed through grants, loans, and MDC issuance of bonds.

But on MDC literature, it is stated as follows:

Shall the appropriation of an additional $800,000,000, to be financed, in part, by the
issuance of bonds and Clean Water Fund grants and loans, for Phase II of the Metropolitan
District’s combined sewer overflow, sanitary sewer overflow and nitrogen removal programs to decrease levels of pollution in Metropolitan District member towns, the Connecticut River and its tributaries, and Long Island Sound to comply with a consent decree of the United States District Court of the District of Connecticut and a consent order of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, be approved?

Currently, diluted sewage is sent into the Connecticut River and its tributaries. The Clean Water Project will deal with the “approximately 1 billion gallons of combined wastewater and storm water currently released each year to area waterways,” says the MDC. Residents of Bloomfield, East Hartford, Newington, Rocky Hill, West Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor will also be able to vote on this question.

As for the candidates, voters should have taken responsibility to learn about their options by now; however, one’s choices might seem limited if a person’s total knowledge of the process comes from advertisements, commercials, and phone calls. Besides the choices listed on the ballot, it is possible to write in candidates. The Registrar of Voters is not required to have the names of all candidates listed on the ballot; in other words, it is up to the voter to know the names of write-in candidates when they enter the polling place. The Hartford Votes-Hartford Vota Coalition has provided a list of options:

In addition to the listed candidates for President,  it is possible to write-in Stephen Durham, James E. Harris, Tom Hoefling, Raymond Sizemore, Jill Stein, and Gerald Warner.

Stephen Durham is an openly gay candidate running with the Freedom Socialist Party; his running mate is feminist Christina López.

Tom Hoefling is an America’s Party candidate; this party believes that abortion and euthanasia violate the U.S. Constitution.

Jill Stein, Green Party candidate, is running with Cheri Honkala.

Individuals do not need to vote along party lines. For example, a registered Democrat can vote for a Libertarian candidate if he feels so inclined. Voters can also choose not to vote, either in general or for any position or question. Even if only one choice is provided for a particular seat, there is no obligation to cast a vote for that candidate. While this seems like commonsense, less informed voters are sometimes given misinformation by cheerleaders standing outside of polling places, and worse, by poll workers. Continue reading 'Hartford Voting Guide'»

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By Kerri Provost, June 28, 2012 11:04 am

There’s more to July than fireworks and barbecues.

All Month

• July is International Zine Month. Abandon Twitter, Facebook, and tumblr for awhile and go make something that matters.

Monday Evenings

July is jazz month in Hartford. If there is no official designation as such, there should be. In Bushnell Park, starting at 6pm, there will be shows on the following dates:

• July 9: Emery Smith Trio and Winard Harper Sextet
• July 16: Lummie Spann Quintet and Katie Bull Quintet
• July 23: Dave Palla Quintet and Onaje Allan Gumbs Quintet
• July 30: Bob Paskowitz and Latin Quarter; and Ed Fast and Conga Bop
• August 6: Jen Allen Quintet and Dona Carter Quintet
• August 13: Mike Casey Quintet; and Earl MacDonald and the HJS New Directions Jazz Ensemble

In the event of rain, the free concerts will be moved to Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 814 Asylum Avenue.

Wednesday Evenings

There are three outdoor music series at two venues on Wednesdays:

1) The chapel at Trinity College will be hosting the chamber music series this summer. These will run from 6-7pm.

• July 4: Paul Bisaccia, piano
• July 11: Trium, soprano trio
• July 18: Scandia Duo, violin and organ
• July 25: Arpello Duo, cello and harp

Each of these will be followed by the carillon music series, also at Trinity, from 7-8 pm

• July 4: Trevor Workman
• July 11: Ellen Dickinson
• July 18: Adolph Rots and Auke deBoer
• July 25: Joey Brink

2) Another option for Wednesday night music is over at Elizabeth Park. Also free, these concerts are held on the lawn of the rose garden from 6:30-8pm.

• July 4: First Company Governor’s Footguard
• July 11: River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs
• July 18: Fiesta del Norte
• July 25: Latanya Farrell Continue reading 'July Events'»

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By Kerri Provost, April 18, 2012 9:14 am

Not to be confused with Grilled Cheese Week or Shark Week, all next week there will be activities to celebrate the parks in Hartford. Continue reading 'Parks Week'»

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By Kerri Provost, June 21, 2011 2:54 pm

Not fatigued yet by all these development meetings? Here are four more to add to your schedule then:

June 22: Handel Performing Arts Center on the corner of Albany Avenue and Westbourne Parkway will host the discussion pertaining to Asylum Hill, Blue Hills, Parkville, and the West End.

June 23: Metzner Recreation Center at 680 Franklin Avenue. This meeting is for the Barry Square, Behind the Rocks, South End, and Southwest neighborhoods.

June 27: Hartford Public Library will host the meeting for Downtown, Frog Hollow, Sheldon/Charter Oak, and South Green.

June 29: Parker Community Center at 2621 Main Street will host meeting for Clay Arsenal, Northeast, and Upper Albany neighborhoods.

The meetings about Livable & Sustainable Neighborhoods are described as opportunities for the public to learn about how the One City One Plan projects are being implemented. Literature sent from the City of Hartford says this will pertain to “infrastructure, community development, and anti-blight projects” happening “over the next two years.” A press release from the City indicates that this is part of the One City, One Plan. The One City, One Plan — the Plan of Conservation and Development through 2020 — was developed after receiving input from NRZs and the public. The projects vary from neighborhood-to-neighborhood. All of these meetings run from 6-7:30pm.