These photos show casket handles and human bones at one of the cemeteries that is maintained by the City of Hartford. They are aware that these “treasures” were found and unearthed by groundhogs, yet could not immediately address the issues.

Why? The answer is always the same.

This is Mayor Bronin’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2021. It shows how much of the pie everyone gets, and yet it does not nearly say enough. The infrastructure slice refers to the Department of Public Works. That number ($16,032,382) doesn’t sound terrible until you start to think about all the things covered by the DPW: trash collection, snow removal, leaf collection, filling in those potholes people whine about incessantly. It covers planning and designing projects. Engineering (flood, street, etc.). Forestry. And it includes parks and cemeteries.

Knowing they don’t have nearly enough staff, it’s not shocking that the groundhog situation is what it is in some places.

Meanwhile, the recommended police budget is three times that of the DPW. Residents report that the city’s plan to address fireworks has been something of a sham, with various people noting that police show up and do nothing. One resident saw 6-8 officers at the Burns School, within plain view of where fireworks were being ignited, and took no action to discourage this. Do we continue to pay those who seemingly have no interest in doing their job? Would it be more prudent to better support those public employees who want to do better work but literally cannot because their department is understaffed and they would never have the luxury of sitting around, not working?