Happy Birthday, Steve!

Here's a public Happy Birthday to my husband Steve Collins, who is also my co-worker at The Bristol Press and best friend in the whole world. Not to get mushy or anything.

This is not the best picture of him, but it's what I've got today.

So if you see us at the Bristol Home and Business Show listening to the Bristol Reunion Jazz Band this afternoon or just wandering around, say Happy Birthday to Steve. But give the guy a break. It's his day off. No stories. No notebook. And no Bristol Blog.

The Best of the Home Show, Friday Edition

I go to the Bristol Home and Business Show every year, usually two or three of the three days it runs. I think I know the show pretty well, so let me tell you some of the highlights I encountered tonight:
1. The Tin Man (AWESOME costume made by Bill Fontaine, owner of Fontaine Mechanical Heating and Air Conditioning) If Bill shows up Saturday or Sunday, I hope some of you get a chance to check it out. It was the thing that truly made me feel like I wasn't in Kansas anymore. He gets my vote for Best in Show.
2. Cortlandt Hull's booth for the Witch's Dungeon, where he is drawing caricatures to raffle off or give away for free. It's fun to watch a talented artist at work.
3. Helen Lobaczewski in the Forestville Village Association's Duck Race booth, selling chances on a ducks for five bucks. Stop by and get your duckie!
If you go to the show, which is at Bristol Eastern High School, be sure to stop by the Bristol Press booth and tell them how much you love that reporter, Jackie Majerus. They have cool mini red flying discs, too. If you're not a subscriber, please stop by and sign up!
I'll be back at the show tomorrow, so I'll try to find some more highlights for you.

Chamber Prez Blasts Press for Busway Editorial

I just got this from Mike Nicastro at the chamber, asking for it to be posted on this blog:

As the executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce I have state how disappointed the Chamber was this morning to see the Bristol Press editorial staff endorsing a Busway project that is out of control with costs and will provide no tangible benefit to Bristol or any of the communities that make up the Central Connecticut Chambers.
Since saving the Press and Herald from the “mouth” of bankruptcy the paper’s management has repeatedly told the Chamber that they were going to “complete change the newspaper” and that coverage of Bristol and the Bristol region would be better than ever. Evidence of this change has been minimal at best. The Busway issue provided maybe the greatest opportunity for a breakout from the status quo and leap into a new day.
The Press editorial board missed the opportunity. They could have worked hand in hand with the two largest communities of Bristol and New Britain to push our federal leaders to adapt to the changing environment and work with us to evolve the limited and costly Busway project into transit solution that could service hundreds of thousands of residents providing a bidirectional rail solution to New York and Hartford with the potential in future to service Bradley International and Boston. Instead they chose to protect that status quo. Instead of demanding to know why this project is in reality a 60/40 (new federal money/state) split and not the 80/20 that we have been told all along that it was they stayed silent. Instead of leading, they chose to follow.
If we are going to change the future of our region we need to be happily accused of being “dreamers” and we need to fight to reverse ridiculous bureaucracy that works to force through bad ideas simply because they’re “too far along.” We have to work by the adage that “good enough is not good enough.” This was the opportunity to make that statement and they just plain missed it.

Michael D. Nicastro
President & Chief Executive Officer
Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce/Greater Bristol Chamber of Commerce

Press Changed Hands 25 Years Ago

My good friend Bob Montgomery, who is also the city historian and a Bristol Press columnist, just told me that today marks 25 years from the date that the Press announced it had been sold by the Barnes family, which had owned it for generations. Read Bob's column, Bristol Bits, in Monday's Bristol Press for more.