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By Kerri Provost, June 15, 2011 2:10 pm

At the halfway point of the planning stage for the Bushnell Park Restoration Plan and GreenWalk, the iQuilters held another public forum on Tuesday evening; the skepticism that had subsided during the last session has reemerged.

In March, there was a lengthy public discussion about ways to improve Bushnell Park. (You can read all about that here, here, and here. ) A few participants wondered if those steering this plan were perhaps steering a bit too hard. Upon the release of the Programming and Pre-Design Report and the recent so-called public forum, this question might be asked even louder. One might also ask whose interests are being served by this plan.

For the time being, let’s set aside the factual inaccuracies that can be found in the report– we will get to some of that later. First, let’s do a compare/contrast between what people (the public, of that public forum) thought were great ideas and what the iQuilters have decided to run with, even if these concepts were not popular during the meeting.

On page 13 of the plan,  they list  “Possibly Recommended Uses” for Bushnell Park: volleyball, ping pong, basketball, bocce/petanque, horse-drawn carriage rides around the park, biking, skateboarding, farmers markets, book loaning/book carts, weather station, puppet theater, barbecuing, and a Christmas market. It seems as if planners are pushing these ideas, even when the public at the March workshops had not gravitated much toward any of these. Skateboarding, for instance, is silly to promote as a possible activity when the City is currently hashing out funding for a skate park in an already established skating area of north Downtown. Nobody even knew what a weather station was at this previous meeting and only one person seemed to be fascinated by the book loan idea, which would again be redundant, as the library is in very close proximity to the park. None of the ideas on that aforementioned list really resonated at the March public workshop. Reading the Programming and Pre-Design Report before attending Tuesday evening’s public forum was a warning of what was to come.

In that document, it is stated “all agreed that the park has sporadic use during the weekdays, some use during the weekends, and little to no evening activity” (13). There is no indication as to who was in this group of “all,” and as someone who travels through Bushnell Park on weekdays, weekends, and evenings, I find it to be inaccurate. The characterization, for instance, of the western side of the park as getting little use except for during concerts is false. During the school year, gym classes have regularly used that side for major parts of the day during the week. This inaccuracy was not the only one presented in the iQuilt documents and presentations. The Programming and Pre-Design Report erroneously states:

Bushnell Park Café, which is open only in the summer months, occupies the building’s southern wing, and offers drinks and dining on an outdoor patio. (15)

This establishment has not been in operation for several years. Though it is expected that designers and planners from out of town might make this error, it is astounding that nobody has corrected this mistake during their dozens of meetings. Continue reading 'Whose Quilt?'»

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By Kerri Provost, May 23, 2011 9:08 am

“Question: Isn’t street harassment the price you pay for living in a city?
Answer: No, local taxes are the price you pay for living in a city.” Continue reading 'Show Some Respect!'»

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By Kerri Provost, April 26, 2011 4:24 pm

“We’re Here/We’re Queer/We’re Fabulous/Don’t Fuck with Us” was a chant heard on the Trinity College quad Tuesday afternoon. A few hundred students, faculty, and staff wearing neon green ribbons gathered in front of Mather Hall at noon to demand a Zero Tolerance policy for those committing acts of bigotry on campus. This protest was called in response to a series of hate crimes on the Trinity College campus. Most recently, a Latino Trinity student, according to a report in the Hartford Courant, was told to get off the campus by a white student. The Latino student was reportedly called a “nigger” after having a beer launched at his car. This was noted as the third reported racist incident on campus in approximately one month.

At Tuesday’s protest, a number of students held signs and wore name tags announcing who they were, that they were students, and that they were not to be referred to by various hate slurs. Before marching to the Dean of Students’ office and other locations on campus, several students and a professor spoke to the crowd. The professor said “we demand to live in a culture that is civilized.” A student speaker called for the isolation of those who commit hate crimes, explaining, “they divide our community [...] they create an environment of fear.” Continue reading 'Trinity Students Protest Hate on Campus'»

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By Kerri Provost, March 29, 2011 9:36 pm

The next time I hear somebody run his mouth about how people in Hartford don’t care about anything, I’m going to drag him to a City Council meeting. He would then see that even at meetings without a public hearing session, residents are willing to stand — if there are no chairs left, which often is the case– for over an hour to listen to public servants make decisions that will affect them.

Monday night, many residents showed up at City Hall to support designating roughly $50,000 for the Salvation Army’s Marshall House emergency shelter to remain open through the end of June. Because there was no public hearing, they held signs. This agenda item was not debated because its sponsor apparently missed a deadline. Items that were discussed: trees, the impact of war, and whether or not voters were too dumb to know what they were voting for in 2008 when they gave an 80% pay raise to City Council. Continue reading 'Removing Trees, Ending Wars, and Repealing Raises'»

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By Kerri Provost, March 20, 2011 6:13 am

Seeing beer bottles and empty miniature alcohol bottles is routine. What’s a little less common is finding a wine cork. This is what upscale litter looks like. There goes the neighborhood.

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By Kerri Provost, March 15, 2011 4:35 pm

State Rep. Vincent Candelora

A standing room only crowd wore yellow ribbons as they testified before the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday morning for H.B. No. 6390 An Act Concerning Access to Postsecondary Education. The bill was introduced by State Rep. Donovan, State Rep. Sharkey, State Senator Williams, and State Senator Looney.

Currently, students who are undocumented immigrants pay the out-of-state tuition fee, rather than in-state tuition, regardless of whether or not they actually reside in the state. When people think about “illegal” immigrants, they typically imagine adults sneaking across borders; what is often the case is that youth, who have no discernible free will, are brought here by their parents, often at such young ages that these individuals have no memory of their country of origin. It’s not unheard of for these undocumented individuals to reside in the state longer than their native-born peers who benefit from the reduced tuition.

There was some opposition to the bill. As one representative — Vincent Candelora — said, “we’re faced with the dilemma of federal law.” There was also concern about the budget deficit and how this “$30 million dollar expenditure” would affect that. The representative said, “We are going to be potentially educating a workforce that is not eligible to work in Connecticut,” referring to how it is illegal to employ undocumented immigrants in the state.

A college education does not guarantee jobs for anyone, though it certainly makes one more competitive; moreover, laws have the possibility of changing and students seeking higher education today may in fact find themselves with the possibility of legal employment in Connecticut a few years down the line. As any nontraditional (re: older adult) college student will attest, it’s easier to seek an education while young than it is to do so when burdened with responsibilities like full-time employment and children. Using the concern of employability as an excuse to not pass this bill is simply weak; currently, there are some students filling spots at every college and university who are there because it is expected of them, and not because they are driven to acquire the needed skills and knowledge for a future career.

Furthermore, the $30 million dollar estimate is not accurate. The $30 million dollar amount actually came from if all out-of-state residents were to pay the in-state tuition; the bill would not be allowing all out-of-state residents to pay the reduced rate, only in-state undocumented residents. Additionally, it is based on the assumption that all undocumented immigrants would be attending college; we know that many students, of all backgrounds, do not go to college for a variety of reasons. The discussion of the $30 million dollar expenditure produced a lot of confusion as there was no clear explanation for how that sum was decided on. State Senator Looney actually noted that there was evidence that there could be a revenue gain.

There was also a need to clarify the bill itself, which proposes that any student who has resided in this state for four years and who has attended high school in this state would be eligible for the reduced in-state tuition. In other words, nobody would be moving into Connecticut on Sunday and getting the reduced tuition on Monday. Yet, some speaking out against the bill seemed misinformed, saying that this bill would provide a kind of “aid” for students. Undocumented students can not receive financial aid. For more examples of sheer misinformation, read through what opposition to the bill have been writing.

State Senator Looney spoke in support of the bill, saying that “these young people are highly motivated.” He argued that we will have a more viable and attractive workforce if it is a highly educated one. Looney stated that “our nation should be a meritocracy,” and that the undocumented students would have to meet the same standards, with no special seats set aside for them. Continue reading 'Equal Financial Access to Higher Education is an Issue of Access'»

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By Kerri Provost, February 28, 2011 11:31 pm

The post about grade inflation (2/12/11) in the Hartford Public Schools created some discussion about whether or not such a practice was detrimental to the students. Some readers found that the practice could serve as a safety net, while others found it to simply present a false sense of hope.

There has yet to be any discussion of this issue among members of the Board of Education. I hear that if such discussion occurs, it will be in March. I still have not heard a peep from Superintendent Adamowski, David Medina (spokesperson for school system), or the principal at one of the schools practicing the questionable grade policy. To make this more interesting, while Medina is not responding to citizen inquiries about ethical practices, he has had the time to do some cheerleading for two superintendent candidates.

Troubles in the system. Troubles in the classrooms.

I have since been contacted by other teachers within the school system who are finding social promotion to be an even bigger concern. One has stated that his/her eleventh grade students are unable to read or write beyond a third grade level. Ideally, students in the eleventh and twelfth grades would be getting prepared for college-level work, but because of this inability to perform at grade level, such idealism does not play out. Students are apparently able to graduate from city high schools without being able to write a basic persuasive five-paragraph essay. Continue reading 'Failing Students Through Social Promotion, Poor Planning, and Skewed Testing Policies'»

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By Kerri Provost, January 12, 2011 10:46 pm

Can we have a new superintendent now? And some news writers who are willing to use their critical thinking abilities? The Courant has published — in the past two days — two articles that show the need for both of those things. Continue reading 'Who Needs to Get Schooled?'»

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By Kerri Provost, January 5, 2011 10:15 pm

“Shared sacrifice” was a phrase Governor Malloy repeated during his inaugural speech. He spoke to the need for being fiscally conservative and played to the middle, or maybe the fringes, when he said that there was a need to make good decisions, not democratic or republican ones.

The video clip below includes a portion of Malloy’s first remarks as Connecticut’s Governor.
Continue reading 'Hello Governor'»

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By Kerri Provost, October 17, 2010 1:15 pm

The Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice held their sixth annual conference at the UConn School of Business on Saturday, October 16th. There were two keynote speakers — Wilma Subra and Lisa Garcia — and eight panels within two workshop sessions: Climate Change and Global Injustice; Oil: Hazardous to Your Health at Every Stage; History of Energy and Oil; Back to the Future of Transportation; Oil and Water Just Don’t Mix; Taking a Peek at Peak Oil; Petroleum and Food Production; and Ending Dependency: Exploring Options. Due to time constraints, I was only able to stay for invocation, one keynote speaker and one workshop session.

Wilma Subra

Wilma Subra of the Subra Company dedicated her speech to discussing the recent BP disaster which began on April 20, 2010 when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Subra shared with the audience a timeline of events during the oil spill, including a number that received no mainstream news coverage to speak of in this part of the country. She described the groups most affected by this disaster as Vietnamese, Laotian, Native American, and African-American populations who were living and working along the coast, many of whom are experiencing headaches, nausea, respiratory problems, and other symptoms due to their exposure to oil in aerosol form. Subra said that people living as far as one hundred miles inland are still being affected. What began in April was not just an oil spill, but a natural gas leak and consequent dispersant contamination. Continue reading 'Crude Oil: Dependence and Consequences'»