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Bristol Blog

  • Foley sounds like a gubernatorial candidate

    Number of comments: 17
    Speaking to the city's Republican Town Committee tonight, former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley sounded every bit like he's made up his mind to run for governor next year.
    Foley said he "can make more of a difference" as a governor than he can as a U.S. senator.
    Though [...]
    Posted: November 30, 2009, 9:52pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Watch the busway vs. rail hearing in Hartford

    Number of comments: 0
    If you want to understand the busway issue, watch this (but be ready to lose three hours of your life in the process):


    *******
    Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
    Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com [...]
    Posted: November 30, 2009, 5:02pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • City upset at possible cut in state aid

    Number of comments: 28
    The prospect of losing as much as $1.5 million in aid from state budget cuts put on the table by Gov. Jodi Rell has city leaders up in arms.
    “Municipal aid cuts would be disastrous for our city,” second-term city Councilor Cliff Block said Monday.
    Mayor Art Ward postponed plans [...]
    Posted: November 30, 2009, 3:48pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • City may another budget deficit

    Number of comments: 23
    As state officials scramble to close a large deficit by possibly cutting aid to cities, Bristol itself is eyeing a possible second straight budget shortfall.
    City Comptroller Glenn Klocko said the city will likely report a deficit when it finishes its fiscal year report in a couple of weeks.
    He [...]
    Posted: November 30, 2009, 3:47pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Two new issues of The Tattoo online now

    Number of comments: 1

    Composers Row: (from left to right) Gerald Shapiro, Robert Carl, Neely Bruce and Ken Steen at the Mitchell College performance of Bruce's "The Bill of Rights: Ten Amendments in Eight Motets." Shapiro is a professor of music at Brown University, where he is chair of [...]
    Posted: November 30, 2009, 10:22am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Goldwasser one of many on unemployment lines

    Number of comments: 7
    Mickey Goldwasser, a familiar figure around town, is among the many middle class professionals who have landed on the unemployment lines due to the recession. I wrote about him here.
    *******
    Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
    Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com [...]
    Posted: November 30, 2009, 8:56am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • State's unemployment fund goes broke

    Number of comments: 5
    Good story at hartfordbusiness.com about the state's unemployment fund going belly up. It needs to borrow $1 billion to pay claims for the next two years. The story is here.
    *******
    Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
    Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com [...]
    Posted: November 30, 2009, 8:52am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Bristol courthouse closure eyed for March 2011

    Number of comments: 31

    The state court system aims to close the Bristol courthouse by March a, 2011 in order to save $150,000 in lease and operating expenses, according to the chief court administrator.

    Judge Barbara M. Quinn recently told the legislature’s appropriations committee that three courthouses – in Bristol, Willamantic and Norwalk – [...]

    Posted: November 27, 2009, 11:40am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Thanksgiving 2009

    Number of comments: 20
    It's a good thing to have more to give thanks for than I can possibly list here, but a couple come to mind right away.I'm deeply thankful that somebody donated a liver that made it possible for my friend Neal, whose own liver was riddled with disease, to get a' [...]
    Posted: November 26, 2009, 8:07am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • A little brook without a name

    Number of comments: 7

    On one level, there isn’t much to say about the 2,000-foot-long, unnamed brook that begins somewhere in the storm drains above El Toro Drive and flows into the mushy ground at the base of Nelson’s Field.

    It’s just one of scores of tiny rivulets that meander through the hills of [...]

    Posted: November 25, 2009, 1:25pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Still no progress on Pequabuck pedestrian bridge

    Number of comments: 21
    Though seven years have passed since the city bought a former Wonder Bread outlet on Riverside Avenue in order to build a new parking lot and pedestrian bridge to Memorial Boulevard, nothing has yet happened to make the plan a reality.
    “We really need to follow up,” Mayor Art Ward [...]
    Posted: November 24, 2009, 1:27pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Industrial park entrance project may be delayed

    Number of comments: 37
    Work on the Middle Street entrance to the city’s new industrial park may not be on time, city officials said.
    Though development officials had hoped the $728,000 state project might be done before winter, it’s looking increasingly likely it may not be finished before the April 15 deadline set by [...]
    Posted: November 23, 2009, 7:58pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • UConn-Hartford Hospital deal is dead

    Number of comments: 18
    The Hartford Courant's Chris Keating has an email that indicates the proposal for a partnership between the UConn medical school and Hartford Hospital is kaput.Bristol Hospital officials are no doubt thrilled, having warned that a new hospital in Farmington, paid for by taxpayers, could cripple Bristol's own hospital.
    *******[...]
    Posted: November 20, 2009, 3:42pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • City to drop local emergency planning position

    Number of comments: 14
    The city plans to eliminate the part-time local emergency planning coordinator position it created 15 years ago.
    Its functions will be shifted to the Capitol Region Emergency Planning Committee beginning in January.
    The former chairman of the city’s Salary Committee, Frank Nicastro, said the move is part of the ongoing [...]
    Posted: November 20, 2009, 3:41pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Bristol Mums owner dead at 62

    Number of comments: 5
    The owner of Bristol Mums - Jerry Heresko -- has died at age 63. It's a real loss to the community.Here's what reporter Jackie Majerus wrote about him back in 2007:
    Jerry Heresko knows his mums.

    Owner of Bristol Mums Inc., he oversees the cultivation of hundreds of thousands of the [...]

    Posted: November 20, 2009, 1:22pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Memorial service for Deschaine on Saturday

    Number of comments: 3
    A memorial service hosted by a Washington, D.C. city council member will be held Saturday in the nation’s capital to honor Desi Deschaine, a Bristol native who drowned last summer in a boating accident.
    Deschaine, 30, made such a mark in politics in Washington that the Gertrude Stein Democrat Club [...]
    Posted: November 19, 2009, 4:01pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Damn flu

    Number of comments: 30
    I'm down and out.
    *******
    Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
    Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com' [...]
    Posted: November 17, 2009, 4:16pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Baldwin retires, new lawyers to be hired

    Number of comments: 25

    The retirement of longtime city lawyer Ann Baldwin leaves a gaping hole in the city attorney’s office.

    Baldwin, a 32-year veteran, was one of two full-time attorneys working for the city.

    Her departure means the city has to get by without a corporation counsel – the part-timer who’s supposed to [...]

    Posted: November 16, 2009, 6:13pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Renaissance impressed New Hampshire officials

    Number of comments: 25
    If you care about the fate of downtown, don't miss reporter Jackie Majerus' story today about the experience in Nashua, N.H. of one of the two competing developers. Click here to read it.
    You should also check out her piece previewing tomorrow's Bristol Downtown Development Corp. meeting.
    Figuring' [...]
    Posted: November 15, 2009, 9:20am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • City considers allowing committee members to participate through internet

    Number of comments: 58

    City councilors agreed recently to consider allowing municipal board members to participate in meetings without actually attending them.

    First-term city Councilor David Mills said that more people would be able to participate if they could sometimes attend through web-based meeting programs or other electronic means.

    “Maybe the pool could be [...]

    Posted: November 13, 2009, 1:42pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • City rescinds sale of Broad Street house

    Number of comments: 34
    City councilors recently rescinded a real estate deal approved last month to sell a decrepit house at 406 Broad St. for $55,200.
    The city acquired the house in June when its former owner fell way behind on taxes. It put the house on the market a month later.
    Councilors agreed [...]
    Posted: November 13, 2009, 12:18pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • City eyes trash can advertising

    Number of comments: 19

    To raise revenue, the city is exploring the idea of putting advertising on the side of residential trash bins.

    They’d be like “mini-billboards” on both sides of the wheeled receptacles the city distributes to residents to toss their trash.

    The idea, which a public works committee is looking into, hasn’t [...]

    Posted: November 13, 2009, 11:26am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Mills aims to recruit volunteers to help elderly, infirm shovel snow

    Number of comments: 45

    The mandate that property owners clear sidewalks after a snowstorm has always been a problem for elderly and infirm residents who don’t have deep pockets to pay for help.

    Now one city councilor, newcomer David Mills, is hoping to come to their aid.

    Mills said that after from residents who [...]

    Posted: November 12, 2009, 12:40pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Say a prayer for my friend and his family

    Number of comments: 6
    Joe Killian and his grandfather, Kenneth Rose, Sr.
    My friend Joe Killian, a Bristol Eastern High School graduate and a brilliant writer, is waiting for news today after a 44-foot commercial boat sank last night off Cape May, New Jersey. Three men are missing in terrible [...]
    Posted: November 12, 2009, 10:28am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Vandals strike new pedestrian bridge in Forestville

    Number of comments: 22

    Vandals are having a field day painting the pavers and concrete beneath the new pedestrian walkway over the not-yet-open Route 72 extension in Forestville.
    In addition to an array of curse words, they’ve painted the outline of a bicycle in white paint, written ‘KKK’ in [...]
    Posted: November 11, 2009, 3:47pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Veterans Day in Bristol

    Number of comments: 22

    As old soldiers read the names of those who left Bristol for war during the past century and never returned, the audience at the annual Veterans Day ceremony remained hushed save for a few suppressed coughs and the whispers of antsy children.

    The names, said clearly and carefully, one by [...]

    Posted: November 11, 2009, 2:31pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Garbage advertising

    Number of comments: 32
    Get this, from the September meeting of the Public Works Board's Miscellaneous Matters Committee:
    Advertising on Bristol’s trash binsThe Committee had a general discussion the concept of allowing ads to be placed on both sides of the automated rubbish collection barrels for a yearly fee and determined that it [Miscellaneous' [...]
    Posted: November 11, 2009, 1:29pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • City councilors happy with committee assignments

    Number of comments: 40
    All six city councilors said Tuesday they’re happy with the way Mayor Art Ward divvied up committee assignments and council appointments.
    “I’m very excited about them – and ready to get going,” said city Councilor Kevin Fuller, a Democratic newcomer.
    The mayor met with each of the six councilors elected [...]
    Posted: November 10, 2009, 9:05pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Lieberman's go-it-alone health care stance draws praise from GOP, criticism from Democrats

    Number of comments: 20
    In blue collar Connecticut, where U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman found the support he needed to secure reelection three years ago, Republicans are hailing the senator’s battle against the Democrats’ proposed health care overhaul.
    Democrats, though, are increasingly disheartened – even disgusted – with their party’s former vice presidential standard-bearer.
    “Joe [...]
    Posted: November 10, 2009, 4:32pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Parenti thanks voters

    Number of comments: 11
    City Treasurer Rose Parenti sent this today:

    Rose Parenti Says Thank You

    To all the people of Bristol that came to vote, regardless of which candidate you voted for, THANK YOU. For those that voted for me THANK YOU. To everyone that ran the race whether you won or lost, [...]

    Posted: November 10, 2009, 2:54pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Ward's speech kicks off second term as mayor

    Number of comments: 21
    Text of Mayor Art Ward's inaugural address last night:
    Good evening.

    Before moving on, I would request that we share a moment of silence for all of the men and women serving in our military with an emphasis on those serving in harms way and these whose lives were taken,' [...]

    Posted: November 10, 2009, 9:40am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Masiero to speak at Veterans Day ceremony

    Number of comments: 12
    This was in the Press. I thought it would interest some of you.
    BRISTOL — Spc. Kristen Masiero with the 405th Combat Support Hospital will be the guest speaker at the Bristol Veterans Day ceremony Wednesday at 11 a.m. in Memorial Boulevard School.
    Attendees are being asked to bring items [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 9:45pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • A new administration takes office

    Number of comments: 22

    With a new city administration sitting on the stage beside him at Bristol Eastern High School Monday, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal hailed the voters who turned out last week “to make a difference” to the future of Bristol.

    “Tonight is really a triumph of democracy,” [...]

    Posted: November 09, 2009, 9:40pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Rell's choice not too surprising to political leaders

    Number of comments: 4

    Political leaders said Monday they understand Gov. Jodi Rell’s decision to retire rather than run for reelection next year.

    "Right now, it's tough for any politician to be in office," said state Sen. Tom Colapietro, a Bristol Democrat.

    With all the problems facing her over the past year, Colapietro said,' [...]

    Posted: November 09, 2009, 9:14pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Swearing-in, live blogging, part 4

    Number of comments: 9
    Mayor Art Ward is talking now, beginning with a moment of silence for the troops.
    He said he tried to coax from both the comptroller and attorney general which of them would run for governor, but neither took the bait.
    Ward said they've both been good friends to Bristol.
    He' [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 7:26pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Swearing-in, live blogging, part 3s

    Number of comments: 7
    Attorney General Richard Blumenthal just said he wants to thank everyone who backed Mayor Art Ward.
    "Tonigth is really a triumph of democracy," he said, adding that "voters who want to make a difference really can."
    He said Ward is a fellow U.S. Marine. "Semper Fi," the attorney general said.[...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 7:22pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Swearing-in ceremony, live blogging, part II

    Number of comments: 2
    Forgive any mistakes, folks. It's hard to type quickly on a shoddy laptop.
    City Clerk Therese Pac is dutifully making sure the paperwork is in order.
    Kate Matthews had to correct the language of her oath so she could say "councilwoman" instead of "councilman."
    Really, it's time to follow the [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 7:16pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Live blogging from city swearing-in ceremony

    Number of comments: 1
    About 150 people are gathered in the auditorium at Bristol Eastern High School to see the candidates elected last week formally take office.
    We had a nice rendition of the National Anthem from Jenna Connelly after a police honor guard brought in the flags. They were followed by the candidates, [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 7:10pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Blumenthal surprised by Rell choice

    Number of comments: 2
    Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he is still digesting the news from Gov. Jodi Rell.
    "It's certainly surprising and interesting," Blumenthal said as he waited to deliver the oath of office to releected Mayor Art Ward.
    Blumenthal declined to say how Rell's decision might have an impact on his own [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 7:07pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Colapietro plans to run again in 2010

    Number of comments: 36
    State Sen. Tom Colapietro, a Bristol Democrat, said he's too stubborn to quit yet."As long as those Republicans keep calling me names, I'm going to keep running. They keep shooting their mouths off," the senator said, and making it so he wants to stick around just to show them up.[...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 5:51pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Rell not running again

    Number of comments: 9
    Gov. Jodi Rell is not seeking reelection.Art Mocabee, a state GOP official and former Bristol city Republican chairman, said the news "comes as a shock," but not as a surprise."Governor Rell has served us all well since taking charge six years ago. Rest assured that Connecticut Republicans have many qualified" [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 5:30pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Veterans Day honors many who sacrificed for all

    Number of comments: 2
    Written for Veterans Day by Lori DeFillippi of Bristol:
    Veterans Day is the day when the service of those men and women who honorably performed their duty in the military service by fulfilling their commitment to the call of duty with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 4:48pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Krawiecki on his new motorcycle

    Number of comments: 7
    I particularly like the "Oddities From All Over the World" above Ed Krawiecki's head in this shot. He won the Harley in the fundraising raffle done by the New England Carousel Museum this weekend.Krawiecki is a city lawyer and a former state House minority leader. He' [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 4:01pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Larson: Trying to get money for flood control

    Number of comments: 8
    The city's anti-flooding effort has been more or less on hold while waiting for approval for federal funding of what's needed to help control the water during heavy rains.U.S. Rep. John Larson, an East Hartford Democrat whose 1st District includes Bristol, said today that he's "working on it."Larson said that [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 2:11pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • How health care measure might pass

    Number of comments: 3
    We all know that U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut's independent-minded junior senator, has declared that he will side with Republicans in trying to filibuster the proposed health care bill because it contains a public option. For Lieberman, it's a matter of conscience.Without Lieberman or some Republicans, the Democrats simply can't' [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 12:34pm EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Live with Larson, the last chapter

    Number of comments: 1
    The chamber is talking about awards and grants in town.
    Price Chopper is getting something now. The Bristol Boys and Girls Club got a $15,000 grant from AT&T earlier. That's nice.
    So far, it doesn't appear anybody's going to give me a grant. Damn.
    The closing comments will come from' [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 9:33am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • T. Boone Pickens coming to Connecticut

    Number of comments: 0
    Just wanted to call attention to U.S. Rep. John Larson's comment that he plans to bring Pickens to Goodwin College soon to talk about energy options.
    Pickens is doing fascinating stuff these days.
    Update:Larson issued this press release a few hours after disclosing the news in Bristol...

    Larson: T.' [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 9:31am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Live with Larson, Part IV

    Number of comments: 1
    Larson said there's a need for reform.
    "These reforms are tough," he said.
    He said "it would turn your stomach" to see all the money marshalled in Washington in the effort to kill health care reform.
    But it's crucial.
    Now he's opening it up to questions.

    Q: Asking that [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 9:09am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Live with Larson, part III

    Number of comments: 0
    This Saturday, the first leg of health care reform "will provide the key safety net," Larson said.
    "We created history. It's great that this is a historic moment," he said.
    "This is a national security issue," Larson said.
    Disease "has no borders" and with the global economy that keeps shrinking [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 8:54am EST
    by Steve Collins
  • Live with Larson, part II

    Number of comments: 0
    Next up is U.S. Rep. John Larson, who's being introduced by Thomas Phillips, president of the Capital Wokforce Parners, the main sponsor of the event.
    "He truly is a champion on the national level when it relates to health care," Phillips said.
    "It is quite an accomplishment to see health" [...]
    Posted: November 09, 2009, 8:44am EST
    by Steve Collins

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