Author: manchesterctblog

For 35 years, I have lived in Manchester, CT. Exploring, photographing, and writing about Manchester is the aspiration for this blog. I think it's a great place to live and raise a family. Money Magazine named Manchester 2018's #1 place to live in the state of CT.
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Manchester Community Services Council Meeting

Kind and Caring People Co-ordinate Services to Offer Support & Resources

 

Last Thursday, on the second floor of the Manchester Police Department, the Manchester Community Services Council (MCSC) met.  Approximately 20 people attended the meeting.  This group meets once a month to focus on networking and timely topics with a goal of matching resources and agencies with Manchester people in need.  Shannon Baldassario, Director of Community Outreach and Emergency Services for Manchester Area Conference Of Churches (MACC) was the speaker.

Attendees were from Eastern CT Health Network (ECHN), Rebuilding Together, Highland Park Market, Manchester Adult & Family Services, National Alliance for Mental Illness, Manchester High School Family Liaison, Interval House, Pastoral Counselors from the  Unitarian Universalist Society, a retired University of St. Joseph professor, and a representative from an organization that helps homeless veterans.  (I don’t always write fast enough to get names of all of the organizations so please excuse any errors or omissions.)

Meeting attendees provided a glimpse of the good work performed daily to offer valuable assistance to those in need in Manchester.  Shannon Baldassario, of MACC Charities, spoke to the group about her efforts to provide outreach to people whose circumstances leave them without a home.  She informs them of services available, including clothing and showers at MACC Charities, free laundry, and appropriate referrals for mental health and addiction services.  Once a connection is made, follow-up occurs after a week or two with additional support provided if needed. Shannon is persistent and thorough in reaching out as often as needed to connect individuals with appropriate resources.

Another service provided by MACC utilizes resources available at MACC Charities to keep individuals or families in their home or apartment.  Clothes, dishes, grocery vouchers and funds to pay for utilities are available for people at risk of losing their home/apartment.  This is short term help to keep people and families from becoming homeless.

Emergency referrals can be made directly to Shannon Baldassario by calling (860)647-8003 X 31 or emailing sbaldassario@macc-ct.org.  A phone call may also be placed to 211 to refer someone to the Coordinated Access Network (CAN).  This network provides triage for people at imminent risk of becoming homeless or for people who are chronically homeless.  Individuals will be placed in shelters or on a waitlist for a shelter. The maximum stay at a shelter is 30 days.  Families are referred to an organization called Journey Home.

If you are interested in helping out here is a brief list of needs:

  • Joy of Community Sharing (adoption of 40 families not receiving services but in need for Thanksgiving and Christmas)
  • December 20 – Holiday Party for children under 10, volunteers needed
  • November 10, 11, 17 & 18 Stop & Shop Food Drive
  • Yoga for Food TBA
  • Thrift Shop open Mon-Sat
  • Check out MACC-CT.org for volunteer opportunities
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Manchester Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast

 

October 31, 2018

The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce (GMCC) is located in a Cheney Mansion built by Frank Cheney, Manchester’s first fire chief.  It’s situated at 20 Hartford Rd. close to Main St.

Early Wednesday morning the chamber, in partnership with AT&T, hosted a breakfast for people running for office.  After eating breakfast provided by AT&T at the Shoppes at Buckland Hills and some time to wander around meeting people, April DiFalco, President of the GMCC asked everyone to sit down.  The pre-election forum was set up with a panel of candidates facing the audience and a moderator, John Emra from AT&T.

The panelists seated from left to right were:

  • Mark Tweedie (R), CT Senate District 4
  • Thomas Tierney (R), CT House District 12
  • Jennifer Fiereck (R), CT House District 13
  • Jason Rojas (D), CT House District 9
  • Geoff Luxenberg (D), CT House District 12
  • Jason Doucette (D), CT House District 13
  • Jeff Curry (D), CT House District 11
  • Steve Cassano (D), CT Senate District 4
  • Jennifer Nye (R), US House District 1
  • Jeff Russell (G), US Senate
  • John Larson (D), US House District 1

Each candidate had two minutes to introduce themselves. I took brief notes on the introductions that I will share here:

  • John Larson is an incumbent U.S. Congressman who talked about being proud to be involved in a bi-partisan technology take-off that helped Sikorsky, Pratt & Whitney and Electric Boat in the state of CT.  Also, he had a plan to fix and fund social security and talked about how it is unfair to women.
  • Jeff Russell is the green party candidate.  He isn’t worried about the U.S. running out of money because the U.S. is the source of money.  Our debt is not actually a debt but represents the money supply.  He is for universal health care.
  • Jennifer Nye’s experience in office included a position on the Manchester Board of Directors.   Running against John Larson to be a representative in the U.S. Congress  she would support strong borders, legal immigration and term limits.
  • Steve Cassano previously had served as deputy mayor and then mayor of Manchester.  He is an incumbent running for office for the last time and is running against Mark Tweedie.  He wants to fill manufacturing jobs at Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky and Electric Boat by providing training.  He doesn’t think everyone needs to go to college and that junior high school is the place to begin to let students know about all of the career options.
  • Jeff Curry is an incumbent who is running unopposed.  His district includes the Buckland Hills area and East Hartford.  He is concerned about crumbling foundations and as a state rep has been involved in a committee that will provide funding to homeowners whose foundations are deteriorating from pyrrhotite.  There will be a rollout of funds which will be available in December to homeowners.  He wants to improve the predictability of education funding so schools are not scrambling at the last minute or during the school year to fund teaching positions.  He has championed LGBTQ rights.
  • Jason Doucette is an attorney and small business owner running against Jennifer Fiereck.  He started his own law practice and works with many small business owners.
  • Geoff Luxenberg recognized local politicians Jay Moran, mayor of Manchester and Darryl Thames, Board of Education member who were in attendance in the audience.  He also defended Chris Murphy who he felt had been unfairly attacked by Jennifer Nye because he has enrolled his children in school in D.C.  Geoff defended Mr. Murphy’s decision to be involved in raising his family by moving them closer to where he spends most of his work days.  Jennifer had questioned if Chris Murphy  is still considered a CT resident.
  • Jason Rojas is running for a 6th term.  He serves as co-chair of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee and is a member of the Planning and Development Committee and works closely with the Appropriations Committee.  There is much work to do but behind closed doors there is a bi-partisan effort to get things done for CT.
  • Jennifer Fiereck is a political outsider who wants to make the world better for her children.  She is a small business owner who supports term limits and doesn’t want additional burdens on the wealthy and big business.
  • Tom Tierney is running as an unaffiliated candidate but has been supported by the Republicans.
  • Mark Tweedie runs a dental lab that makes crowns and bridges.  He believes business is the answer to our budget problems and we need less red tape which slows growth.

After each person spoke the candidates were asked questions; first by the moderator and then by the audience.  The initial questions were on transportation and the crumbling infrastructure and how to fund both.  John Larson is concerned that infrastructure funding has not increased for 8 years.  He is an advocate for using federal funds to build two tunnels through Hartford to re-connect the city divided by I-84 and gain access to the riverfront cut off by I-91.  Jennifer Nye does not want a tunnel but would go through the northend of Hartford.

Jason Doucette would fund infrastructure improvements by requiring tolls for out of state traffic.  Steve Cassano supports a mix of spending.  Mark Tweedie thought the cost of the tolls would be passed on to the consumer.  Jeff Russell questioned if tolls were a violation of the commerce clause of the constitution.

Additional questions were asked about what has been done in the past year to train people to fill the 35,000 job vacancies at Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky and Electric Boat.  Steve Cassano stated that a program was started in Jr. High Schools to get students interested in those careers and Jason Rojas indicated that money was re-allocated to workforce programs.

The final question was asked by Darryl Thames of the Manchester Board of Education.  He mentioned that state funding for schools has diminished and requested that the candidates share their views of funding public education.  Jeff Russell addressed this question by speaking strongly about the need for better leadership from the U.S. Department of Education.  We need someone who supports students by getting rid of these ludicrous tests that are turning public education into child abuse.  Geoff Luxenberg also spoke up in support of more funding for the public school system.

At that point we ran out of time.  I went back later to speak to April DiFranco and get pictures of the building.  Since Election Day is tomorrow I felt that sharing this information as soon as I could was important so please excuse any errors and please vote tomorrow.

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Fall Pictures in Manchester

While Shelburne Falls is a great weekend get-away there is plenty of fall color right here in Manchester.

The sun finally came out Monday in the late afternoon so I drove around town and took some pictures as the sun was fading.  I never noticed before how the telephone poles and wires obscure the view.  So, I went to the golf course and I found some more color.  These pictures were taken in the southend of town.  Since, there were so many beautiful options and I took a lot of pictures in a short amount of time and had trouble choosing the best for this post I have used every format offered by WordPress to display about 1/4 of the pictures I took.

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Shelburne Falls, MA

Manchester, CT to Shelburne Falls, Ma is an easy and picturesque Sunday afternoon drive in October

Shelburne Falls, Ma is an interesting place to visit any time of year.  One of the conveniences of living in Manchester is the highway system that takes one to the Mass border in a half hour.  From there it’s another 50 minutes up 91 to route 2 and west to Shelburne Falls.

An old bridge over the Deerfield River to Buckland was saved and up-cycled to create a bridge of flowers.  A recent frost killed the tender perennials on the bridge but some mums and more hardy flowers added fall color when we were visiting last Sunday.

Bridge St. has some interesting shops, restaurants and coffee houses which remind me of a miniature downtown Manchester.

A waterfall and glacial potholes formed about 14,000 years ago are the big attractions.  In the summer people find their way down to the rocks for sunbathing and swimming.

A one mile hike up nearby High Ledges Wildlife Sanctuary will offer a spectacular view of the town and surrounding area.

Bridge of Flowers Pictures

Town Views

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Waterfall, Dam and Glacial Potholes

Views from Hike at High Ledges

 

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring along my camera so all of these pictures were taken with my cell phone.  No camera really captures the true essence of a place so if you get a chance take a drive and a short hike some Sunday afternoon.

 

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Did you Remember to Vote?

 Admittedly some of the candidates are pretty scary this year and conversations with them can be downright frustrating.

Wednesday is the last day to cast your ballot.

And here are your choices.

 

 

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To vote go to this facebook page: facebook.com/DowntownManchesterScarecrowFestival

Or, better yet go downtown and see for yourself and then vote in one of the downtown stores.

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Excited About Toddling Tots

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ROSE AND I ARE HAPPY TO BE GOING TO THE MANCHESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY

On Tuesday, my granddaughter Rose and I attended a program at the Manchester Public Library called Toddling Tots.  The children attending were in the age range of 12-24 months.  The parents and grandparents were older.  We had a great time singing songs, playing with scarves, listening to a story and looking at a book.  The program was downstairs in the Howroyd Room.

We arrived a little early and stayed a little bit after the program was over.  In the children’s section of the library there were two chairs just the right size for Rose to sit in, puppets to play with and lots of books to look at.  The Children’s Department at Manchester Public Library is staffed by four librarians with Master’s of Library Science Degrees.  They choose books, read reviews and prepare and present programming with an emphasis on encouraging a love of reading.  What could be better?

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Manchester Public Library

What do the towns of Greenwich, Stamford, Fairfield, West Hartford and Manchester have in common?

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Here is a hint.

Did you guess?

GREAT LIBRARIES is the correct answer!!!!  That’s right, in Manchester, the library circulation numbers are just below the numbers for Greenwich, Stamford and Fairfield and comparable to West Hartford.  However, Manchester has a much smaller library and only 25 parking spaces!  Must be a lot of motivated readers in town.

Did you know that the Manchester Public Library got its start in the Cheney Mills in 1840?  At that time the mills were smaller wooden structures, not the large brick buildings which dominate the west end of Manchester today. The women who skeined the silk worked in a large room together.  The work was monotonous and they decided that while working they wanted someone to read to them.  That was multitasking in the good old days!  So, they pooled their money and started buying books.  In all, they bought 150 books of which the library today still has 125 original copies.  We saw a couple of them at the Manchester Government Academy Meeting last Thursday.

In 1850, these women decided they would like to have a circulating library and petitioned the town.  All of the books previously purchased by the mill workers had been non-fiction.   Some people wanted to add fiction to the collection.  There were discussions and disagreements because another group thought non-fiction was all that should be allowed.  You could call it fiction friction.  But, eventually, it was agreed that both fiction and non-fiction books would be purchased.  The books were first housed in the office of the Cheney Brothers and later moved to the basement of Cheney Hall.  In 1880, the books were moved to a house on Wells St where they remained until the fire of 1913.  During the fire, many of the books were saved using a bucket brigade in reverse or book saving brigade.  The books were then moved to a house on Main St.  Circulation increased with this more central location.

In 1937, labor was cheap because of the depression.  Skilled craftsman worked for a dollar a day using WPA funds and matching town funds to construct what today is known as the Mary Cheney Library or the Main Branch of the Manchester Public Library.  The Whiton Branch is a smaller building located in the north end of town.  With a budget of $3 million and a full-time staff of 25, the library offers books, ebooks, audiobooks, downloadable movies, museum passes, kits for teachers and families, CDs, DVDs and lots of programs.

One interesting program is the Silk City Board Game Group which was mentioned in the Money Magazine write-up of Manchester’s #1 ranking.  There is also a Read in the Park Day, Author Talks, a Mystery Book Club and a Cookbook Club to name a few.  There are children’s programs that focus on literacy and a love of reading.  Stay tuned for a follow-up library post on the Toddling Tots Program which I attended with my granddaughter, Rose.

 

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BOE Meeting @ Bennet

For 50 of the past 60 years,  I have entered a school building in late August or early September to begin a new school year either as a student or teacher/counselor.  As I walked around the grounds at Bennet Academy trying to find the Board of Education meeting I was most impressed with it’s security.  I couldn’t get in to the meeting or even find it because I parked in the back lot and signs directed me to locked gates that kept me from the front door.  A nice young man who was supervising pickle ball and is a UConn student helped me find the meeting.

During the meeting, I listened to the Bennet administrators talk about the dedication and hard work of the staff.  Helping 10 year olds from 7 different elementary schools adjust to a huge new building and the middle school schedule and opening lockers was a challenge.  I heard about the entire staff, half of whom are new to the school, getting acclimated to a school that now housed 950 students from last year’s 400. I heard of suggestions to make changes for next year to introduce this year’s 4th graders to Bennett in the spring or over the summer.  I could picture all of the pace and the confusion and the patience needed and felt exhausted for the teachers.  I was glad that I did not have to participate in the frenzy.

The meeting was short or it was for me since I arrived late.  Most items on the agenda had been covered.  I would have liked to have had a tour of the building.

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History Lesson @Smartr2

Am I smarter too?

 

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I spent Tuesday of this week learning a little about the Manchester Public Schools.  I attended two meetings about the schools so there will be two posts.  I have not kept up with the school happenings in Manchester the way I did in Hartford while working for the Hartford Public Schools.  So, I have spent the past few days taking pictures and doing a little research online.

On Tuesday afternoon, the senior center staff hosted a discussion about the School Modernization and Reinvestment Team Revisited – Phase 2 or SMARTR2.  It is interesting to attend a meeting with people who have lived in town for a long time.  One attendee talked about the benefits of this type of presentation and discussion in a transparent and inclusive democracy.  He reminded us that schools have closed in the past and he remembered one year when five schools closed.  Most have been put to good use.  That is why I drove around and took pictures.  I used the Manchester Historical Society website to learn more about previous school buildings in town.

The meeting was attended by less than a dozen seniors,.  There were also school administrators and some members of the board of education and board of directors present.  Matt Geary, superintendent of schools, presented a powerpoint on SMARTR2 and then there was time for questions and comments from the audience.  There was a tremendous amount of information in a fast moving presentation.  In addition to the history lesson on previous school closings an audience member stressed that design for net zero energy use is the best way to go.  Another person reminded Matt Geary that we not only have the best students in Manchester we all have the best teachers and school staff.

Phase 1 of SMARTR has begun and included the following:

  • Grade 5 students moving to a brand new Bennet Academy
  • Waddell School renovation
  • Verplanck School renovation
  • Close Washington School
  • Close Robertson School

There are five additional elementary schools in Manchester.  A decision needs to be made on renovating and/or closing some of the remaining schools keeping in mind the plan strives to:

  • Meet state requirements for racial balance
  • Address aging and inefficient buildings
  • Achieve socio-economic balance
  • Achieve parity of facilities and school size
  • Maximize state reimbursement
  • Keep neighborhood structure

I will not go into detail here about the options.  It is better if people attend a meeting and ask questions.  As we all learned in school, the more citizens participate the closer we come to a true participatory democracy.  You will be impacted by the final decision whether you have children in school or not. Please consider attending one of the following meetings:

  • Oct 15 at 6:30 p.m.     Martin Elementary School PTA, 140 Dartmouth Rd
  • Oct 16 at 6:30 p.m.     EastSide Neighborhood Resource Center, 153 Spruce St
  • Nov 8 at 6:30 p.m.      Buckley Elementary School PTA, 250 Vernon St
  • Nov 13 at 6:00 p.m.    Keeney Elementary School PTA, 179 Keeney St
  • Nov 15 at 6:30 p.m.    Bowers Elementary School PTA, 141 Princeton St
  • Nov 27 at 6:00 p.m.    Waddell Elementary School PTA, 163 Broad Street
  • Nov 28 at 8:00 a.m.    Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 20 Hartford Road