In the Wake of DOT Commissioner Joe Marie

State Transportation Commissioner Joe Marie, a staunch proponent of the nine-mile, $600 million, New Britian-Hartford busway, is gone.

An interesting story on the front page of today's Hartford Courant (www.courant.com) tells the tale with a few juicy details, but I'm sure there is much more to it than that. Marie leaving now is especially intriguing given that Marie would certainly have been a goner anyway when Gov. Jodi Rell departs early next year and a new governor takes her place. What was the rush to dump him now?

Of more interest locally, I'm wondering what it means for mass transit in Connecticut, especially in our little corner.

A Bird's Eye View of the Awards Ceremony

ESPN doesn't have enough stuff to decorate all those buildings with. Believe me, it's all bare walls and empty trophy cases in there.
(That's why security is so tight... they don't want anyone to know they don't have any furnishings.)
Anyway, thank goodness Gov. Rell and the state's culture and tourism people picked Bristol's own World Wide Leader for an Award for Excellence in Culture and Tourism. Now they have a nice little statuette for their trophy case.
This is a nice thing, though. The picture at the left is a view from above the atrium in the Legislative Office Building where they held the awards ceremony.
ESPN Vice President Mike Soltys was there to accept the award on behalf of the company and his lovely wife Teresa was there to see it. That's them in the front row, on the right side of the circle. She's wearing light colored clothing and he's just another dot in a dark suit.

Other Towns Restrict Vendors

For today's edition of The Bristol Press, (www.bristolpress.com), I wrote about how other towns, specifically Plainville, Southington, West Hartford and Farmington, handle food vendors who want to sell out of a cart or truck.
All of them make the vendor go through planning and zoning applications before they can set up shop.
None of them allow vending on a city street.
Southington came right out and said their policy is for the good of their downtown businesses and that it has helped their development quite a bit.
Today, the city council's ordinance committee is going to take up the issue, after downtown restaurant owners complained about the unfair competition. It could be quite a scene as the vendors have a lot of support.
Steve Collins will be there to soak it all in and report back on the Bristol Blog and in The Bristol Press. I'll be at the capitol watching Gov. Jodi Rell hand an award to ESPN.

Just Another Day at ESPN

I'm back from another pleasant visit to ESPN. This time, I toured their newest and largest (and greenest) building -- very cool. Then they upstaged their own story, which included a visit by Gov. Jodi Rell, by holding an irresistable event.

They invited several Bristol girls who play high school basketball onto the campus as part of a celebration of the WNBA draft. Top WNBA draft picks were on hand to share their thoughts with the high school girls, who were thrilled to hear what they had to say and really excited to be inside ESPN.

I talked to almost all of the Bristol girls and none of them had set foot inside ESPN, ever.

Hats off to ESPN for opening that door for those hometown girls and offering support for women's basketball over the years.

The future WNBA stars impressed me as thoughtful, appreciative and quite generous in what they shared with the Bristol girls. I walked away impressed with every one of them.

No Mention of Bristol in Rell's Speech

The governor gave her annual budget address today, and by all accounts, it was a bit skimpy on specifics. Steve and I squeezed the local delegation for their thoughts and came up with this story for Thursday's Bristol Press (www.BristolPress.com):

BRISTOL – If there’s one thing lawmakers and Gov. Jodi Rell agreed on Wednesday, it was the need to set politics aside and work together for the benefit for Connecticut.
Sen. Tom Colapietro, a Bristol Democrat, said he agrees with Rell, whom he called “a nice lady,” about the need for everyone to work together to get the state's books in order.
“Enough of this finger-pointing and name-calling,” Colapietro said. He said he sees signs that the legislature and governor may do a better job of working together this year.
“Everybody's gotten beat up so much” for all the problems this year that they are more willing to sit down and cut a deal now, Colapietro said.
“It’s obvious it’s going to take a lot of hard work on both sides,” said Rep. Frank Nicastro, a Bristol Democrat, who said it is not a time to play games, but to do what’s right for everyone in the state. “If there was ever a time to put politics aside, this is it.”
Rep. Bill Hamzy, a Plymouth Republican whose district includes Bristol, said it felt different at the Capitol on Wednesday. This could be the year for bi-partisan effort, he said.
“Big decisions and difficult decisions of how to literally restructure state government cannot be made by one party or the other, nor should they be,” said Hamzy. “Everyone acknowledges the problems, but there’s very little follow through on doing something about it. I hope this year’s different.”
Rell’s budget does not specifically mention Bristol, its schools or courthouse. The only reference to Bristol is in a list of every town’s municipal aid.
“She really didn’t say that much,” said Nicastro, who said he received three thick budget and economic reports only after the governor completed her speech.
“It's just everybody's wish list,” said Colapietro, whose district includes Bristol, Plymouth and Plainville.
Hamzy said the speech contained few specifics and the only surprise to him was the governor’s proposal to establish a commission to look into streamlining government.
“I don’t think we really need a commission,” said Hamzy. He said that’s what the General Assembly is for.
“You establish a commission to pass the buck,” said Hamzy, unless it is created to deal with an unusual issue that is unfamiliar to most lawmakers, such as stem cells.
Rep. Chris Wright, a Bristol Democrat, said it’s going to be a difficult session because of the ongoing budget crisis.
“In a year like this, I don’t know how much is going to be in it for anybody,” said Wright. “We’re going to be having to tell people no. We’re going to have to cut programs. It’s tough to do, but we have to do it.”
Worse than raising taxes, said Wright, is cutting programs.
“You think it’s tough to vote for a tax increase? Try voting for a spending cut,” said Wright, who said he is always “flooded” with mail and email when a program is threatened or cut.
Colapietro said the simple reality is that everyone who comes in can make a good case for more funding.
“We just don't have the money for everybody,” said Colapietro. “That's the hard part.”
Hamzy said Connecticut lawmakers are “looking at a whole bunch of red ink.”
New legislation would have to be passed in order to close the Bristol courthouse, Wright said. He said he’s not sure where things stand with efforts to close it.

Gov. Rell's Budget Speech

There weren't any specific references to Bristol and the local delegation didn't have much in the way of reaction, either. Everyone is promising to play nice.
Steve and I are trying to make something interesting out of it all.