i grew up in the asylum avenue area

my pops and sister and i still live in the hood. both my sister and i (and, as it turned out SEVERAL other people) phoned the town a day or two after noticing all sorts of spray painted hieroglyphics in the street. one of the words said 'island'. that's when we got the scoop. the town did a traffic study (and if they really did one, i was unaware of it. as i said, i have lived in that hood MOST ALL of my life - and i ain't no spring chicken). that's what they used to say they needed those island for TRAFFIC CALMING. TRAFFIC CALMING?????????????????? all i can see is a giant pain in the ass AND creation of dangerous conditions. the day before yesterday NINE CARS CRASHED INTO THE ISLAND BETWEEN PENN AND CUMBERLAND (i don't know about the other islands). my sister observed ALL but the first crash. the islands were NOT properly marked AND the sun was coming down and in the driver's eyes. just think about what is going to happen in the winter. hey town of west hartford, we're on a budget. WHERE DID THE MONEY FOR THE ISLANDS COME FROM?????????????? did you ask the neighborhood residents if THEY thought the islands were a good idea? one more thing, why, the day AFTER the 9 crashes were west hartford police ALL OVER THE SIDE STREETS STOPPING PEOPLE AND 'HEAVILY OBSERVING' people? why weren't they ON asylum avenue?

it's a stupid effing idea. it's a waste of money. when we talked to people 'in charge' regarding the NINE CARS THAT HIT THAT STUPID MEDIAN, there was some talk of people not following the newly painted solid line down that side of asylum. i am bad at directions. it's the side going from quaker to trout brook. well, the line looks like it was painted by someone on acid. it was NOT done very well.

it's all bullshite. THE TOWN DIDN'T DO IT'S JOB

channel 3 had a camera truck out there late yesterday afternoon. they did a little piece on it but i don't believe anyone hit the island yesterday. that doesn't matter NINE IN THE SPAN OF ABOUT AN HOUR the day before last, IS NINE TOO MANY)
http://www.courant.com/community/news/hfd/hc-whdmedian0912.artsep12,0,6967761.story

West Hartford Officials Defend Medians After 9-Vehicle Crash

By JOSH KOVNER |Courant Staff Writer

September 12, 2008

WEST HARTFORD — - Town officials defended the use of "traffic-calming" measures around town after several cars — heading west into the setting sun — struck the new, granite-curbed medians in the center of Asylum Avenue during rush hour Wednesday evening. Police Chief James Strillacci said he viewed the nine-car crash as more of a construction-zone accident, complicated by the glare of the sun, than an inherent problem with the medians, "bump-out" curbs, chicanes or speed bumps that have been installed, or are being built, on at least 10 streets. These include main arteries like Asylum Avenue, Steele Road and Farmington Avenue. West Hartford is about 15 years and $2 million dollars into one of the region's most extensive traffic-calming programs. Strillacci and Town Manager Ronald Van Winkle said the measures have generally had their desired effect — that of narrowing streets, slowing down cars, and forcing drivers to be more attentive. "Asylum Avenue was a drag strip in the 1990s," Mayor Scott Slifka said Thursday. He noted that commuters and others who pass through West Hartford generally don't like the measures, while residents coping with speeding cars in their neighborhoods do............

hey mayor slifka, i take umbrage with your statement about asylum being a drag strip in the 90s. were YOU there? i was. EACH AND EVERY DAY. it was NEVER a drag strip. where did THAT come from? sure, you're get a speeder now and again. that's the same with EVERY street. let's take a side street for example. let's take ummmmm let's say MAPLEWOOD. there are far MORE speeders on THAT street than asylum. maplewood, a cut through street for farmington ave or quaker or boulevard.

hey mayor slifka if i asked the town for the traffic study justifying the islands would you furnish me with one? OR, would i have to get an foi request?
am i pissed? yes i AM pissed (but my sister is even MORE pissed if you can believe it)

picture: The newly installed granite median on Asylum Avenue in West Hartford may be a factor in the nine-car crash on Wednesday. (LORETTA WALDMAN / HARTFORD COURANT / September 11, 2008)

i have been getting a lot of hits lately

on pettibone tavern

i KNOW i read an article in the courant of late saying it was bought AND would be reconstructed and reopened. i can NOT find that article at all. i found a COMMENTS section for the article but the story (mysteriously?????) has disappeared

here is one of my original pettibone posts the fire damage posting

i solved the 'mystery'. seems like the sci-fi channel's show ghost hunters did an episode on some new england murders and included pettibone tavern

it IS inhabited by the ghost of abigail. of that i have NO doubt. however, i KNOW she's not going to show herself to no damn ghost hunters from the sci fi channel!!!

not only should he lose

his senate chairmanship, he should be booted from politics period

Lieberman increasingly expecting to lose Senate chairmanship after Obama attack
John Byrne
Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) expects to lose his position as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee if Democrats pick up four or five additional seats in the Senate, according to his aides, who floated the claim in Tuesday's Politico.

According to the Connecticut senator's staff, Democrats are upset about his speech at the Republican National Convention in which he attacked Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). Lieberman was the Democrats' vice presidential choice in the 2000 presidential election.

"Lieberman returned to Capitol Hill Monday — his first day back since speaking at the convention — and was greeted by the resignation of his $120,000-a-year legislative director, Joe Goffman," the online political news site reports. "The 66-year-old Connecticut independent has said he hopes to stay in the Democratic fold, although people close to him say he’s increasingly pessimistic about his prospects of doing so."........

Helen Ubiñas nails it

she nails it hard and she nails it so it ain't movin'. a great piece. it's short - READ IT
(some things are acceptable if you're white and the daughter or son of let's say a governor. some things are NOT acceptable if you're browner and the daughter or son of let's say a clerk at a discount store. think about this, what would those rightwingtips be saying if barack obama had a 17 year old and SHE was pregnant. if you don't think they'd rip him and her apart YOU ARE A FOOL)

A Family Values Exception For Pregnant Palin Daughter

Helen Ubiñas
I didn't get it; the way the young mothers refused to talk, how one lied about the baby girl in the stroller not being hers, and why the teenage couple who bluntly talked about the hardships of having a baby when you're just a kid yourself wouldn't go on the record.

It's their business, the young father told me. Why broadcast their lives? People will only judge.

But that's just it — I was there to tell him and all of the unwed, teenage Hartford parents I came across this week that this was a new day. No longer did they represent the face of shame. They were — thank you, Bristol Palin! — the new face of family values.

Didn't they hear?
No matter how hard I tried to share the good news though, they weren't buying it. And who could blame them — they knew better than to think that title would ever apply to them. Before Palin made having a baby at 17 the "tough and courageous" decision it has suddenly become, mostly what rained down on her poorer, darker counterparts was shame...........

i don't care if you're sick of them

i'm NOT.


my sunflowers at the half door