asylum avenue

in west hartford is closed. it appears it's closed somewhere between trout brook and ballard or griswold. so find an alternate route

i can't find anything online, but on the news, they said a construction worker was hurt quite badly last night. he was struck by a car. i'll keep him in my thoughts.

congratulations to john phillips who will be the new

west hartford director of public works. i DO have an ulterior motive for saying that though. i have been (as well as a few others i know of) calling the town of west hartford to get a burned out street light replaced on asylum avenue. i have personally been calling for well over two years. YES OVER TWO YEARS (more like 3 or 4 i think). why is it bothering me so much? well i'll tell you. the burned out light in question is right near one of those effing stupid and effing dangerous and effing ridiculous lovely traffic islands on asylum. they should be lit up as much as possible to avoid MORE accidents than they've already caused. soooooooooooooooooooooooo mr phillips how about fixing that burned out light on asylum?

years is way too long to wait to replace a light. and tell whoever answers the phone when we call to stop lying. they always say it's on the list and they'll get to it. must be an awfully big effing list if that light has been on it for over 2 years.

(p.s. seriously though, i'm happy mr phillips got the job. i am glad they promoted from within)

U.S. Navy Veteran Named West Hartford Director Of Public Works

By BILL LEUKHARDT
WEST HARTFORD — - John Phillips, a U.S. Navy veteran hired in 1996 as a public works laborer, will be the new director of public works.

Phillips, the public works department's municipal parking manager since 2004, will replace Dana Hallenbeck, who will retire July 18 to start a new career as an ordained Lutheran minister.

"It was a difficult decision, because we had excellent applicants," interim Town Manager Ron Van Winkle said Monday. "John is an incredible hard-working person and has done a great job as parking operations manager."

The town recruited from within and had seven applicants. The pay range for the director's job is $65,000 to $119,000 a year. Van Winkle said Monday that he has not yet met with Phillips to set a salary.

Phillips, 38, said Monday that he looks forward to the challenge of running the department that maintains roads, supervises trash collection, cuts grass and, in Van Winkle's words, "basically [are] the ones who take care of the town."..........

so let me get this straight,

the town (which is going broke) builds all sorts of 'traffic calming' islands (the ones on the VERY NARROW) asylum are my personal favorites. you can see my previous postings here and here and here. not only were they a GIANT waste of money, they are useless AND DANGEROUS

anyway, i did a posting not too long ago about all of the traffic cameras and new lights i saw going in around town. i tried to find it just now but can't (could it have been a figment of my fertile imagination? perhaps).

we're spending THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON TRAFFIC CAMERAS THAT ONLY SEND OUT WARNING MESSAGES? wtf?????????????? IF and i do mean IF they are going to save lives, FINE. but the corner of boulevard and whiting lane? no effing way. during SOME heavily trafficked times there is a school crossing guard there ANYWAY. i can think of 20 other places in west hartford that need that camera MORE than boulevard and whiting lane. is it because the houses in that area are bigger than the houses in OTHER areas? i sure don't know. but come on. THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS and not one legit traffic ticket to offset those cameras?
the following courant article lists some accident data from west hartford AND the particular corner in question. i personally would like to see that data and/or do a bit more investigating on my own. sure boulevard can be a speedway, but isn't that what we have the police for? well one of the reasons.

Camera To Keep An Eye On Speeders In West Hartford
By JOSH KOVNER | The Hartford Courant
WEST HARTFORD — - Speeders beware — you are being watched.

But the speed-detection camera installed this week at Boulevard and Whiting Lane is a kind of compassionate Big Brother that just wants to slow down drivers. Those photographed traveling 45 mph or faster at this 30-mph location will get a photo with a warning letter.

The legislature prohibits using these radar cameras for enforcement purposes, so the joint effort by police, the engineering office and the public works department amounts to a public awareness campaign.

And make no mistake, the public could stand to be more aware. There were 2,626 crashes in town last year, 426 with injuries, and two fatalities.

Assistant Police Chief Robert McCue said excessive speed was a factor in most of the accidents.

The intersection of Boulevard and Whiting Lane — the first in a series of locations for the camera over the next year — has a "moderate" accident history but a high injury rate, said Lt. David Dubiel, head of the traffic division. Eight people were injured in the 11 crashes there in 2008, Dubiel said.........

lock your cars!

oh and just so you know, i was trying to avoid one of those medians (for traffic calming MY BIG FAT ASS) on asylum the other morning - ON MY WAY TO WORK - sober, at 3 am AND I HIT A CURB. i did some damage to my car. i'm NOT happy. i can't wait till winter..........

Items Stolen From Unlocked Cars In West Hartford

By JOSH KOVNER |The Hartford Courant

WEST HARTFORD — - Police are investigating five thefts from unlocked cars that occurred late Tuesday and early Wednesday on Shady Lane, Whetton Road, Westborough Drive and Uplands Drive.

Among the stolen items were GPS devices, an iPod, a laptop computer and satellite radios.

"All the cars were unlocked," said Capt. Paul Melanson, head of detectives. "Smashing windows makes noise and attracts attention."

Drug users trade stolen electronic items for narcotics, Melanson said. Town police urge residents to lock their cars, leave nothing in plain sight and bring equipment inside.

Shady Lane is off Asylum Avenue; Whetton runs between Asylum and Albany avenues; Uplands and Westborough are off Mountain Road...........

do you know what i have to say to the town of west hartford?

luuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccccccyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy you have some 'splainin' to do!!!

yesterday my sister pointed out to me some spray painted writing in the road. it was done either friday or yesterday morning. it says 'raised island' or something similar.

i phoned the town this morning and spoke to a VERY nice man. turns out they ARE going to put FOUR islands on asylum avenue between steele road and trout brook. i asked why. i was told it was for traffic ease. i am going to ask the town if i can see the traffic study on this. i drive on asylum EVERY day. not just five days a week EVERY day. between steele and trout brook. the ONLY thing that even resembled any kind of 'traffic study' was one of those light up signs that tells you how fast (i.e. how many miles OVER the speed limit) you're going. that was only there for a few days. i sure hope that wasn't their 'study'. there was NOTHING else. nada. zip. well nothing i'm aware of. that's why the town is getting ANOTHER call from me tomorrow. i'm going to ask to review that traffic study.

• i asked WHO was going to pay for these traffic islands since the town is on a budget. well i guess it's in the budget. who knows? i didn't get a real answer. that was NOT the fault of the person i spoke to mind you. he was as helpful as he could be. nice too. how the heck are we going to fund these traffic islands (which NO ONE i talked to who lives in the area is aware of. they were actually SHOCKED about it) when we're on a WICKED TIGHT BUDGET. taxes are up and the citizenry is up in arms over that. (well not the taxes so much as the assessments. it all boils down to we're getting our asses nailed)
• they did mail letters out (smartly so i think. they knew EXACTLY what they were doing) telling us the gas company was going to be doing some road construction. what they forgot to add was, THEY WERE GOING TO BE DOING SOME CONSTRUCTING OF THEIR OWN ONCE CNG WAS DONE. so west hartford, you weren't going to TELL US about the islands? we were supposed to wake up one morning and see them? hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
  

there is NO NEED for those traffic islands on asylum between trout brook and steele road. the construction done a couple of years ago (adding those two lanes on either side of the street. for parking and what not) did the trick. not much speeding (unless it's 2 am - then everything goes). it does get rather congested in the evening rush hour though. how would traffic islands ALLEVIATE THAT? (answer=they wouldn't)

expect my call in the morning