About

The West Hartford Blog is a work in progress. It aims to help West Hartford, Connecticut residents discuss in a friendly fashion the issues and news in town.

14 responses to “About”

  1. Alice Kugelman
    April 5, 2007 at 10:49 am

    This is not a comment for publication, but to start a dialog with you about how to “blogify” some issues.

    Thank you for your blog on West Hartford. It is badly needed. I was attracted to your site, dear whdad, by the skate park issue. God bless those kids.

    Almost a year ago I took over the initiative for a dog park in WH. I founded CT Canine Search & Rescue in 1994, and have always had a Newfoundland requiring a lot of exercise to stay in shape. It is my fitness program, too.

    The previous group, called PUPS West Hartford did a lot of research and groundwork, presented a document to the Council in 2005, and……….nothing. They were stonewalled and, eventually lost their momentum. This was a little surprising, given that the head of the group was a professor at UConn Law School. Since he was headed off for a sabbatical, he handed the material over to me.
    No problem, I thought, I can do this. I was president of the WH League of Women Voters and have founded several organizations. How hard could it be?

    I was heartened to read the towns 2006 Leisure Services Blueprint for the Future. The revised mission statement and goals were right in line with what we were looking at: unstructured, healthy activities with civic engagement opportunities. And the report even included a half page on Dog Parks, including some excellent references to research the put to rest many of the concerns people have about parks (and that PUPS had already addressed.)

    Eleven months later we are no closer to the park, but I have assembled enough information to make your toes curl.

    My urgent concern, right now, is that the town budget not only contains the miniature golf thing, to be bonded at $300,000, but in the following years a golf training center at Buena Vista for $1 million. Something is terribly wrong here.

    1) Skate park and dog parks are ignored
    2) The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board exists on paper, but has been shut out
    3) I tried to find out how to get the town to ACCEPT and HOLD FUNDS for a project (foundation or other mechanism) and the town manager didn’t return my call.
    (Did I mention that any activity you want you have to fund?)
    4) Given that walking is probably the biggest healthy recreational activity in town, wouldn’t it make sense to connect sidewalks, such as on Mountain Rd, or leading to Bishop’s Corner.
    5) WH has hundreds of acres of open space owned by DEP and available for lease to the town – and they don’t even know that.

    Where to start?
    Alice Kugelman 521-6482

    Reply
  2. Kevin Sullivan
    April 13, 2007 at 3:51 pm

    Since I mentioned it to Chris Bigelow who spoke to my Quinnipiac students this week, let me pay the compliment directly. Whether I agree or disagree, this is a great blog and a great community service. Keep on blogging.

    Reply
  3. Ted Madfis
    May 5, 2007 at 4:00 pm

    Mortgage Note
    You felt good last year when you learned that your home or condo had increased in value over the last several years. You suffered through the down ward spiral of home prices in Connecticut and West Hartford since the 90’s. But last summer things were looking better. Maybe you could get a home loan and fix the kitchen, fix the roof, or get a few bucks to help pay for this kids education. Maybe with the increase in value got you some security for your old age. You could get a reverse mortgage and not have to ask the kids for money, of course not leave them anything. You felt good.
    Forget about!
    Thanks to Jim Francis “Town Manager”, Mayor Slifka and the rest of the Town Councilors and the Board of Education you have a second mortgage on your home. You did not even have to apply for it. You dont even have to sign.They told you how much it would be and blamed it on revaluation. They did not even try to ease the burden by cutting spending. They all congratulated themselves for voting for higher taxes. Not one opposed!
    This year the rate is on your mortgage is only 4.6%. Next who knows. But from what I hear it may double! Add increased taxes to that !
    We all know that with increased costs of carrying real estate values and prices go down. Back to the 90’s. So what else is new?

    Reply
  4. Joe Visconti
    May 5, 2007 at 8:15 pm

    Let’s ask the The Town of West Hartford to link this blog to it’s website.

    Reply
  5. Chrysanthe
    June 11, 2007 at 3:22 pm

    Hi,

    We’d love to have your e-mail contact info for our site (since your blog is included in our system). Please drop me a line: chrysanthe@outside.in.

    Thanks!

    Chrysanthe
    Neighbor Liaison, outside.in

    Reply
  6. Kevin Sullivan
    August 29, 2007 at 4:44 pm

    A policy question for the blogmaster: Is this now to become a spot for not even disguised political ads and promotions? If so, WH Blog and posters beware state campaign disclosure, contribution and attribution issues.

    Reply
  7. Chalenois
    September 14, 2007 at 7:34 am

    I received an email notice last night from HealthTrax stating,
    “We are announcing that Healthtrax has sold it’s interest in the West Hartford location so we will not be offering memberships as previously planned.”
    Does anyone know anything about this?

    Reply
  9. Greg Ng Webmaster
    September 26, 2007 at 4:10 pm

    West Hartford subject of WFSB blog. This was also discussed by Scot Haney and Kara Sundlun on “Better Connecticut.”

    http://www.wfsb.com/getinthehouse/index.html

    Reply
  11. Emporer of Ice Cream
    January 17, 2008 at 1:25 am

    New Blog in Town, though admittedly not as good as WH Dad’s

    http://whagon.blogspot.com

    Reply
  12. Amy Bergquist
    February 2, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    Old blog, new name. “In the Neighborhood” has changed to “Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog.” Boring, I know, but helps with The Google.

    Reply
  13. Yaz Okulu
    March 22, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    does anyone knows if there is any other information about this subject in other languages?

    Reply
  14. Kiernan Majerus-Collins
    April 30, 2012 at 10:13 pm

    It’s too bad this blog died.

    Reply

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