This week’s featured home was found on a quiet, residential side street in the Blue Hills neighborhood. As you might have noticed, I like to show houses from what’s dubbed “North Hartford” which are not anything like what may come to mind after listening to one crime report after another. Data released by the Hartford Police Department for the week of February 13-19, 2011 showed crime in Blue Hills to be at the same level as that in the West End and Southwest neighborhoods.
Once again we’ve entered the season of The Vagina Monologues. If you just want to watch, there are four Hartford venues where you can catch a performance:
Charter Oak Cultural Center: February 4th and 5th at 7:30pm. Proceeds benefit Interval House, My Sister’s Place, and TransAdvocacy. $15 general admission; $10 for seniors, Charter Oak members, and Let’s Go! members; $5 students.
Trinity College: February 17th at 7pm in the Washington Room. Proceeds to benefit Interval House and Survivors of Violence in Haiti. $5 for students and low-income; $10 non-student.
University of Hartford: February 25th and 26th in Auerbach Auditorium. Proceeds will benefit Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services. Speaking parts will be available for University of Hartford students, staff, and faculty. More information will be provided as it is made available.
Capital Community College: March 11, 2011. Speaking parts will be available first to students and then to the community. More details on this to come as information is made available.
If you’re someone who likes to join in, don’t worry about having acting skills. There are no strict auditions, as one of the guidelines for performing this play is that anyone who wants to be involved can be in some manner. The time has come and gone for planning meetings for the performance at the Charter Oak Cultural Center, but community members and students alike will be able to participate in the one at Capital Community College (students get first dibs).
This does not look much different from a home that I photographed in the West End in September. This is the type of house associated with Hartford thanks to shows like the Gilmore Girls. This one is in the Blue Hills neighborhood, just off a busy route that leads to Bloomfield.
The Blue Hills neighborhood is bordered by Bloomfield, West Hartford, and the West End, Asylum Hill, Upper Albany, and North East neighborhoods. Keney Park is nearby. Though isolated from downtown, this area has its own businesses and is not far from shopping centers in Bloomfield. While being in downtown may have conveniences, it is not conducive to raising a family, unless your family does not mind hearing the bass from nightclubs on school nights.
A Christmas Carol is being performed at Hartford Stage through December 31st.
Ebeneeza opens on December 3rd. It will be performed at Kinsella Magnet School of Performing Arts on 12/3 and 12/4, West Indian Social Club on 12/9 and 12/10, and at the Mark Twain House & Museum on 12/17, 12/18, and 12/19. There are also four separate out-of-town performances this year in Manchester and West Hartford.
The Nutcracker Suite will be performed in Millard Auditorium at the University of Hartford on 12/18 and 12/19.
On Monday we looked at what residents are concerned about in the Upper Albany, Clay Arsenal, North East, Blue Hills, West End, and Parkville neighborhoods; yesterday, we examined the data from Downtown, and from South Green, Sheldon/Charter Oak, South Meadows, South End, and South West neighborhoods. Today, we’re going to look at the rest: Behind the Rocks, Barry Square, Frog Hollow, and Asylum Hill.
Behind the Rocks’ three most frequent 311 cases are related to pesky trees, graffiti, and housing concerns. Housing concerns were the major cause of complaint for folks in Barry Square — almost three times as many as the next highest item of concern, trees. The top two issues for Frog Hollow right now are housing complaints and bedbugs. There are 28 cases related to housing in Asylum Hill; all other 311 cases in that neighborhood currently total in at 28. Continue reading 'The 311 Data Dump: What Do Hartfordians Worry About? (part 3/3)'»
A roof in good shape, hanging plant, and potted chrysanthemums — it’s positively bordering on suburbia, except this house is another from the Blue Hills neighborhood.
In real life, it’s not crooked, obviously.
What I find really striking about certain neighborhoods, or even blocks, including the one that this house is in, is how residents can be almost competitive about taking care of their homes and yards. Here, most of the houses are on the smaller side, but there is a sense of pride. These are some of the benefits of home ownership. If you want to find a yard that’s dirt year-round or covered in litter, just seek out the property that is not owner occupied. Chances are, the landlord does not come around enough to clean up or care. But here, on this particular street, I have a feeling that if someone so much as drops a cigarette butt on the sidewalk, the homeowner is going to come outside right away to either give the offender whatfor or pick up the debris. That does not seem like such a bad place to live.
Welcome to the big, bad North End. This cute home, with gorgeous foliage, color scheme, and white picket fence, is located in the Blue Hills neighborhood, one of the several neighborhoods that compose Hartford’s North side. If one were to take this street to the end, traverse the Weaver High track, one street, railroad tracks and river, she would find herself on the University of Hartford campus, which is also located in the Blue Hills neighborhood; the University of Hartford is not in the West End, as some claim. Geographically, nothing in Hartford is tremendously far from anything else.
Although this particular house was not one I looked at during the house hunt (I don’t believe it was for sale), I looked at others nearby. Many of the streets in this neighborhood could easily pass at those in Manchester, Newington, Bloomfield, or Windsor. It’s fairly quiet, save for all the elementary school children boarding buses or walking home mid-afternoon. Nobody tried selling me drugs any of the times I was in the area. I never saw any weapons. I never heard gunshots. It hardly appeared to be a war zone, as some make it out to be.
Other than the military personnel who are armed to the teeth with coffee and junkfood from Dunkin Donuts, I rarely see significant foot traffic near the Legislative Office Building. Mostly, people drive to the parking garage and enter the building through the pedestrian entrance, never needing to come into contact with sunlight. Yet, there are large, well-marked warnings painted on the driveway, warning motorists to slow down. There are stop signs posted in places that make them more noticeable. There are even neon yellow signs telling motorists to stop for pedestrians — the signs are posted right in the crosswalks. I do appreciate this, as I use the area as a safer passage to downtown, given that the alternative of continuing along Capitol Avenue means having to cross the I-84 on/off ramp. Even with the stoplights all working and with the pedestrian walk signal on, the cars do not stop. Last week I saw a noticeably pregnant woman pushing a stroller across and the cars were not even obeying the law for her. It seems strange that few such safety features exist along a major street, but within a parking lot, traffic is managed quite well.
Sunday morning, when I read about the volunteer crossing guard who was threatened with arrest for keeping children safe, my heart sank. I read the article a few more times, trying to find a hidden clue that would make this story make sense. In a nutshell, a grandfather, who happens to be a disabled Vietnam Vet, decided to contribute to society by helping children safely get across the street to the Achievement First Academy in the Blue Hills neighborhood. He began this back in September. He had been honored by the school in the school newsletter and by being given a vest and stop sign. That sounds like his actions had been more than merely approved of by those he was interacting with directly.
The final community listening session for the Planning & Zoning Commission will be Tuesday evening at Rawson School. So far, there have been sessions at the Pope Park Rec Center, United Methodist Church, and Metzner Rec Center. Each session has focused on proposed land use for nearby neighborhoods. Continue reading 'Proposed Land Use for Hartford’s Neighborhoods'»
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Once again we’ve entered the season of 
This does not look much different from a 
Upcoming Live Holiday Performances
On Monday
A roof in good shape, hanging plant, and potted chrysanthemums — it’s positively bordering on suburbia, except this house is another from the Blue Hills neighborhood.
Welcome to the big, bad North End. This cute home, with gorgeous foliage, color scheme, and white picket fence, is located in the Blue Hills neighborhood, one of the several neighborhoods that compose Hartford’s North side. If one were to take this street to the end, traverse the Weaver High track, one street, railroad tracks and river, she would find herself on the University of Hartford campus, which is also located in the Blue Hills neighborhood; the University of Hartford is not in the West End, as some claim. Geographically, nothing in Hartford is tremendously far from anything else.
The final community listening session for the Planning & Zoning Commission will be Tuesday evening at Rawson School. So far, there have been sessions at the Pope Park Rec Center, United Methodist Church, and Metzner Rec Center. Each session has focused on proposed land use for nearby neighborhoods.
