Instead of screaming into the void of Twitter, I bring you a weekly highlight reel of what it’s like going places in Greater Hartford when one is gloriously car-free. These posts are on a slight time delay because nobody needs to know exactly where I am when I am there.

CARS KILL TREES, GOVERNMENT NEGLIGENCE, ETC. 
Nothing says “Happy New Year!” like taking a walk on January 1st and finding that a person, at some time in the night, seems to have driven straight launched their vehicle instead of following the very well-marked roundabout, taking down not one but two of the trees planted several months ago. The grass is torn up. Car parts are strewn everywhere.

If anyone is keeping score at home, this brings the total to three street trees I’ve seen killed by motorists in the last couple weeks: two on Park Terrace and one on Park Street.


I reported this to Hartford’s 311 service, hoping they would remove the debris and plant replacement trees, but I’m not holding my breath. It’s been over one month since I began reporting bulky waste on an elementary school property, and each of those weekly complaints went unacknowledged. Imagine sending your child to a school that allows carpets, broken toilets, and other miscellaneous garbage to be dumped.

Potholes and issues in Bushnell Park are the only consistent complaints to which the City responds.

Even though I already made numerous complaints using the 311 app like an upstanding, calm citizen, I know from experience the only way to snag attention is to do some shitposting on Twitter while tagging the City. While I occasionally enjoy it, honestly, I just wanted to have a glass of wine and finish the new season of Emily in Paris. Instead, I created this monstrosity and posted it on Monday:

I received a near immediate response from the City, and they finally acknowledged the complaints about trash — including that partially smashed toilet that resulted in porcelain shards in the shoulder where cyclists would run over the debris. As of Tuesday evening, it still has not been cleaned up.

The impression is that there is nobody doing maintenance at the Burns School, nor is there DPW staff, nor is there a consistent monitoring of 311 anymore. It shows. Nobody will deal with the bags of garbage dumped in Pope Park, which were reported last summer. A pedestrian crossing sign in the roundabout has not been re-installed. The mattresses get a lot of attention, but there is junk everywhere. If I wanted to nag someone constantly, I would’ve had kids. Asking for simple maintenance should not be made to sound like I’m requesting beautification services. 

It’s not my job to be patient when every year I am expected to pay taxes on time. It’s part of the contract: I pay up, and that money gets used for the public good. 

If only there had been a way to prevent massive staff shortages. . . or whatever excuse will be provided for why Hartford is especially dirty lately. Surrounding towns have not sharply declined in cleanliness or other kinds of standard maintenance. 

The trash left around the City is low-hanging fruit. It’s not like tree replacement, which requires purchasing new trees, planting when they’re most likely to thrive, and then providing the maintenance to get them started. (That’s not an excuse, by the way, for trees to go unreplaced) But, the street sign re-installation — when the sign is still in decent shape — is fairly straightforward and left alone.

Every time I pass these knocked down signs I have more questions. First, why do the signs come down so easily? What is going wrong during the installation? And, the obvious: what is up with our road design that allows drivers to take their vehicles out of the travel lane and onto the curb?

SOBRIETY CHECK POINT
As predicted, following the latest crash on Park Street, police set up a DUI checkpoint on December 30th near where a motorist took down a street tree and left debris all over the sidewalk.

For a change, police did not park their vehicles on the sidewalk. Several people were charged with DUIs. Good, but that’s not any long term solution for a poorly designed road.

As I walked by, I heard a driver aggressively blowing his car’s horn, annoyed that the car in the lane ahead had stopped. Somehow he did not see the warning sign — or the multiple police vehicles — that would suggest that traffic would be slowing down. If I hadn’t been trying to get home to make dinner, I might have lingered awhile to watch what followed, but I’d bet money he was one of the people arrested.

15 DEGREES
The secret to being comfortable while walking to work when it’s 15℉ is to not dress like you’re going out chasing skirts.

With enough layers, and maybe a hot flash, you too can leave the house for a 30 minute walk and feel comfortable the entire time. Warm, even.

Hat, mask, earbuds, scarf, an uncountable number of top and bottom layers, wool socks, boots, and mittens. I wouldn’t want to stand around for long, but perfectly fine while moving.

The weather app on my phone is set to give me conditions for Hartford, Connecticut and Fairbanks, Alaska. While it was 15℉ in Hartford, it was -20℉ in Fairbanks. It always helps to have perspective, and with our climate changing, we might as well enjoy colder weather while we are able.

JAY DRIVING
This may not look like a stressful situation, but what do you do when the crosswalk light goes on?

Do you walk behind this car or in front of it?

In the past I’ve been backed into by a motorist who chose to reverse while at a light. I’ve been nearly hit by numerous drivers who proceed without looking in both directions first.

This motorist, clueless in the middle of the crosswalk, kept trying to treat the stop light as a stop sign.  Look at the gas cap. I don’t want to assume why this person was struggling, but she should have left the driving to someone else — someone who could stay behind the stop line, rather than making an unnecessarily stressful situation.

The bonus (not pictured) is a massively overgrown shrub in the median, reducing the sight line. Getting run into by somebody not slowing down was another possibility.


UPS
The blurry pic shows a delivery truck driver seemingly unaware of the existence of  (1) a pedestrian, and (2) the ability to drive into the parking lot and turn around without drama. This picture exists because I thought I was going to be run over. I’m not quick enough to flip my phone to video mode.

Right after this impatient person drove away, I changed one of my social media bios: “Not a transit advocate. Just a bitch trying to get home alive.”  

It’s been a week and I miss taking the bus, but knowing what I do about mask wearing and enforcement on CTTransit, I’m opting out until the positivity rate is back under 5%.