A consultant-led public workshop—the second of three in a series guided by Boston-based Goody Clancy—took place last night at the downtown Hartford public library. The focus: what to do about the highway through Hartford, specifically the section known as the viaduct.

The piece of highway is a poorly designed, raised section roughly between Sisson Avenue and Union Station (between exits 46 and 48/49 or so). The state department of transportation will have to do something with the stretch anyway, as it’s aged and in need of replacement. A community initiative (the Hub of Hartford) to consider alternatives has evolved to the point where the public is now able to weigh options realistically and methodically.

Last night’s meeting was an opportunity to weigh preliminary options through the lens of Goody Clancy’s matrix assessment. Each of five distinct alternatives developed so far was considered with respect to its merits on urban design and land use, transportation design, and contribution toward economic development and market potential.

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Public workshop on I-84 through Hartford. Photo © H Brandon

Last month, the I-84 Viaduct Hub of Hartford steering committee met with representatives from CRCOG and Goody Clancy to hear a wrap-up of the first phase of the consultant’s study of the highway through the city.

Phase two has been launched, estimated to be complete by the end of February, with a second public input meeting tentatively planned for some time next month.

The Hub of Hartford is defined as “a lively and walkable, mixed-use, mixed-income urban place, a regional crossroads centered on Union Station, where business, government, community and recreational uses integrate seamlessly in a historic context supplement by compatible new development. …Cyclists, walkers and transit riders [will] share the road comfortably with automobiles.”

Boston-based Goody Clancy was hired by the city of Hartford and CRCOG to conduct the study assessing possibilities for the viaduct, an elevated portion of I-84 snaking through and disrupting the street grid at the center of the city. According to Ken Krayeske’s report about the initial public workshop on November 19, the city is funding the study with $100,000, while CRCOG is channeling $200,000 in federal funds. (more…)

Union Station in Springfield. Photo © H Brandon

According to the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, the agency is no longer handling the major redevelopment effort of Springfield’s Union Station. Instead, the Springfield Redevelopment Authority will be in charge of making the project happen. The PVTA so far had been on the verge of hiring a project manager, as requests for qualifications had already gone out to bid, but it has been stopped in its tracks.

Some say the reasons are political.

On the surface, the reason is this: transit is no longer the number one priority for the redevelopment effort. Instead, the priority is economic development, with transit coming in second.

Put another way, the priority for this transportation development project is no longer, in a word, transportation. Perhaps instead the aim is being able to channel the large amounts of federal funding, with transit a distant consideration. Instead the project’s main priority will be labeled “economic development.” Transit is ostensibly now a second tier priority.

The two priorities could go hand in hand, and moving the project forward could be regarded as more important than such labels at this stage of things. It seems a shame and a show of unnecessary disregard to oust the PVTA from leadership of the project in addition to demoting transit in significance. What did transit ever do to the SRA?

Last year, the PVTA and SRA were able to negotiate a memorandum of understanding (PDF) outlining how they would work together to make Union Station an intermodal reality. Today the PVTA confirmed that the memorandum is now null and void. An announcement is scheduled for Wednesday at noon by PVTA administrator Mary MacInnes on the change in priorities.

The public is invited to a meeting on Tuesday, January 5, 5:30 pm at Hartford City Hall for a city council planning and economic development committee meeting focusing on transportation initiatives. Updates will be offered on various plans in the works, and representatives will be present from the state, region and city in a sort of unprecedented opportunity to consider multiple levels of activity and potential.

An email sent this morning from City Councilman Jim Boucher noted:

In recent years, Hartford transportation strategies have been the subject of significant study and planning, and in many ways have become a core priority to the city’s future development related to strengthening connections to other major cities (Springfield, New Britain, New Haven, New York, Boston); connecting to Bradley International Airport; strengthening mass transit options; providing shovel-ready opportunities; and renewing more favorable transportation and community development options (Hub of Hartford; major avenue enhancements).

At Tuesday’s meeting, the committee will consider recent planning developments and their relationship to local economic development, as well as further steps the city can take to support the initiatives.

The meeting will include State Rep. David McCluskey, Hartford Chief Operating Officer David Panagore, Director of DPW Kevin Burnham, CRCOG representatives Lyle Wray and Tom Maziarz, and Hub of Hartford steering committee chairman Bob Painter.

Hartford, bisected.

If you were suffering from a dearth of planning meetings related to the city of Hartford, ’tis the season to rejoice. Or cry. Or both.

We are entering a month-long, intense phase of significant public meetings related to planning efforts. On one hand, this is an exciting time for any subset of city residents really eager to participate on this subject. Consider your dance card full.

On the other hand, it sure would be nice if these meetings were either condensed or spread out just a bit, especially considering that the every-ten-years Plan of Conservation and Development is five years late or so, and the I-84 Viaduct study has been unfolding, now in the capable hands of Boston-based consultant Goody Clancy, for several months. But beggars the public can’t be choosers.

Surely those who scheduled these meetings gave plenty of consideration to what it would be like for the average citizen to try to attend. Yet still we are faced with all this good stuff—these gem-like opportunities to engage as residents with our esteemed planning experts and elected officials, non-profit heads and business representatives—crammed into a short time. In the case of the POCD meetings, we’ll have six opportunities, at six locations, on six topics, to learn, share thoughts, and exchange ideas on the big planning picture. And smack in the middle of those six meetings is the first of three Goody Clancy sponsored “public workshops” as part of the viaduct study.

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In the wake of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s recently-announced transportation and economic security plan, which includes a proposal to raise the state’s gas tax by 19 cents per gallon, key meetings are set to take place in the Springfield area on Wednesday, March 4 to provide input to leaders and hopefully give voice to shaping policy.

At 4:00 pm at Springfield Technical Community College, State Rep. Joseph Wagner of Chicopee will chair a public transportation plan hearing, the first of four in the state focusing on the governor’s proposals. (Directions to get to STCC are here.)

Just prior to that, starting at 2:00 pm, representatives of the area’s Metropolitan Planning Organization will meet at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission’s office in West Springfield to confirm the first round of federally-funded transportation stimulus projects, according to a press release today from Pioneer Valley Advocates for Commuter Rail. The advocates group will offer direct testimony to MPO officials requesting support for commuter rail in the area.

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Four panelists attempted to answer the question, “Can Rail Save Connecticut Cities?” at an event at Hartford’s UConn Law School on Friday, February 20. Boosting cities will take efforts on multiple fronts, and rail ought to be a part of the effort, the experts said. This is part three of a series capturing their remarks. Read part one here, and part two here.

For State Rep. David McCluskey (pictured) of West Hartford, rail can revitalize Connecticut cities, but not by itself. Noting a number of contributing factors that need to shift in order to help urban centers, McCluskey repeatedly emphasized a need for regional cooperation on transit. He said he thinks Connecticut should reduce its number of regional planning agencies and figure out a way for localities to work together more collaboratively with state agencies.

A member of the state legislature’s Transportation Committee, McCluskey said, “We need regional entities to support transportation projects. We need to work with our surrounding states. We need to improve our zoning, and our local governments’ functioning. We need to make brownfields recapturing a priority along our transportation corridors. Our bureaucracies in the state and city agencies need to be able to talk to each other seamlessly.”

McCluskey, who works as Education Coordinator for the Connecticut State Employees Association, added, “We must demand [more coordination] from our policy people. It’s all our money, and we deserve it.”

He said our goal in doing all of the above should be to form a better link between our two economic engines in the broader region, New York City and Boston. McCluskey’s wish is to invite the governors of New York and Massachusetts, along with related heads of transit agencies—the MTA in New York City and the MBTA in Boston—to meet in Hartford and discuss what can be done to connect services. “Connecting through Hartford,” McCluskey said, “would do more for smart growth, economic development and affordable housing than almost anything else.”

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Four panelists attempted to answer the question, “Can Rail Save Connecticut Cities?” at an event at Hartford’s UConn Law School on Friday, February 20. Boosting cities will take efforts on multiple fronts, and rail ought to be a part of the effort, the experts said. This is part two of a series capturing their remarks. Read part one here.

For Sara Bronin (pictured), Associate Professor of Law at UConn, the deceptively straightforward question of whether rail can save Connecticut cities was less compelling than considering ways rail transit has been regulated in the past, and the many complicated issues to consider in looking at how it might be regulated in the future.

Why does law play a role in rail transit? Bronin said legal regulation has a strong influence over the layout of rail, operation of transit systems, and preservation of the landscape and existing structures. Overall, she said, law can be a “transformative tool.”

A LEED accredited real estate development consultant, and an expert in property, land use, and historic preservation law, Bronin listed several challenges a renewed focus on rail in the northeast would most likely face. These challenges include zoning, land use, environmental and employment laws, extensive safety regulations, eminent domain powers and restrictions, and the current fragmentation of numerous entities involved, including private rail companies as well as local governments and their agencies.

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Four panelists attempted to answer the question, “Can Rail Save Connecticut Cities?” at an event at Hartford’s UConn Law School today. Boosting cities will take efforts on multiple fronts, and rail ought to be a part of the effort, the experts said. This is part one of a series capturing their remarks.

For Professor Norman Garrick (pictured), director of UConn’s Center for Urban Transportation and Planning, the answer to the question was yes, with several caveats. “The real issue is: can our cities save Connecticut?” he said, turning the question on its head.

He posed the challenge to state and local leaders, planners and policymakers, who he said must “re-learn the art of place-making.”

The state ought lead the way in helping cities become relevant, competitive, and reactivated, he said, in order for the cities to be beneficial to the state in turn.

Showing several photos of Bristol and Waterbury in Connecticut, towns he had only just visited for the first time after living in the state for 23 years, Garrick explained that the state’s highways and elevated viaducts have “ripped apart” the fabric of its cities and placed a high value on paving land for parking in order to be competitive with suburbs.

“You cannot sustain a city with this running through it,” he said. “Cities built on rail cannot survive in that atmosphere.”

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Mark Muro (pictured) of the Brookings Institution appeared today by phone on WNPR’s “Where We Live,” along with Heidi Green of 1000 Friends of Connecticut and Bill Cibes of the Connecticut State University System in the studio. Along with several others, Green and Cibes co-authored the recently-released “Prosperity for All: A Blueprint for Connecticut’s Future” (PDF), a broad, visionary document for the state.

The episode, titled “A New Blueprint,” is part of a Thursday series looking at “big ideas” for Connecticut. Next week’s show will feature David Osborne, senior partner of the Public Strategies Group, and author of Reinventing Government and The Price of Government: Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis.

Big ideas can be useful, and they can also be overwhelming and sometimes a little too broad to feel relevant. While today’s show was intriguing and important, it also exacerbated my own sense that for all of our talk about putting cities at the center of discussions and revitalization efforts, we’re forgetting to put cities at the center in any practical fashion. In some ways, “metropolitan area” has become a cliché to talk about networks of suburbs where people really live, and cities are relegated and reduced conceptually to being empty places that just make us feel sad.

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A day-long transportation forum, “The Need for Speed,” hosted by the National Corridors Initiative, Inc. and the Sierra Club of Connecticut, will take place in New London on Friday, January 9, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Radisson Hotel. The event is open to the public, although there is a $25 registration fee that includes the cost of lunch.

In an email, NCI’s Jim RePass and the Sierra Club’s Molly McKay wrote:

[T]his is an important event because we will be gathering transportation project ideas and ways to accelerate those projects, for the new Obama administration, as well as for New England’s governors, with the view in mind of creating an integrated, efficient, balanced transportation system for New England.

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With an eye on downtown Hartford, Emily Gianquinto at Live in Hartford reviewed five Pratt Street eateries over the weekend: The Russell, Tamarind Grill & Bar, Tanuki, Vaughn’s Public House, and JoJo’s Coffee Roasting Company.

Another new locale on Pratt Street Gianquinto didn’t review is The Society Room of Hartford (pictured), “where elegance meets excellence,” for private, catered gala events only. Amy Bergquist at the Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog noted its setting in the space formerly occupied by Joe Black’s, as well as the Courant’s coverage of the opening alongside the closure of the downtown Goodwin Hotel. Also closing downtown, as of tomorrow: Rosco’s Big Dog on Temple Street, to the chagrin of blogger Helder Mira.

First Night festivities begin in Hartford at 2:00 pm tomorrow downtown. Tickets can be purchased for $15 for adults and $2 for children under 15. A list of places to purchase tickets is here along with maps and schedules to download. To the north, the place to be is clearly the downtown Sheraton Hotel in Monarch Place, where the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield is ringing in the new year with a massive $59-per-person gourmet dinner and dance party beginning at 8:00 pm.

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Yesterday I appeared alongside the Courant’s esteemed Tom Condon on an episode of John Dankosky’s show, “Where We Live,” at Hartford-based WNPR. We discussed how Barack Obama’s proposed economic stimulus might benefit Connecticut’s infrastructure.

Other guests via phone during the show included Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell and Jim Cameron of Darien, blogger and chairman of the volunteer CT Metro-North Rail Commuter Council. Rell began the show with her call to share what priority projects are emerging for the stimulus funding, and Dankosky pressed her with questions about whether there is any broader vision behind all the assorted projects, and who should be making key decisions about selecting them.

Rell said she thought such decisions should essentially lie within the state legislature with an emphasis on getting people to work. She didn’t mention many specifics, but spoke broadly of roads, bridges, dams, and water and sewer projects. She briefly cited Moses Wheeler Bridge (pictured) over the Housatonic River, adding that safety is an important issue in considering how to allocate infrastructure spending.

The bridge, between Bridgeport and New Haven, carries I-95 spans the river between Stratford and Milford, and is scheduled to be replaced completely by 2016 following an feasibility study and re-design by STV Inc. It’s also about to undergo work, beginning early next year, to preserve its structural integrity for the time being; a contract has been granted to Minnesota-based Abhe & Svoboda, Inc. at a cost of just under $2.5 million. Whether stimulus funding could go toward shoring up the bridge temporarily, or replacing it instead, which will be more costly, wasn’t clear.

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A crowd of 40 people gathered Tuesday evening for a public scoping hearing at Hartford’s Union Station to hear plans on the developing New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail line.

Ralph Trepal, PE (pictured), regional vice-president of Wilbur Smith Associates—headquartered in South Carolina, and ConnDOT’s consultant—led the presentation on the status of the project. In front of business and civic leaders, Trepal described the goals of project, the details of an environmental assessment underway, and alternative proposals. (Chapter 7 [PDF] of the June 2005 commuter rail implementation plan described the anticipated potential environmental issues associated with the project.)

Audience members implored the consultants and ConnDOT officials to proceed on the project with a sense of urgency.

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Pioneer Valley Advocates for Commuter Rail will collect signatures supporting regional commuter rail on Thursday, December 4. PVACR member and Hatfield resident Nancy Considine will be available from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at Holyoke Community College, inside the entrance to the cafeteria in the campus center, also known as Building G.

The petition will be delivered to the Massachusetts legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, and Governor Deval Patrick, as well as Sen. Edward Kennedy, Sen. John Kerry, and Congressional representatives.

From a press release:

PVACR is an all-volunteer grassroots organization promoting the economic, environmental, and ease of travel benefits of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Commuter Rail line.

Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd was recently in Enfield, where he urged Massachusetts leaders to support this commuter rail line.

Conservative estimates calculate that a commuter rail line from New Haven to Springfield could bring in $152 million in new economic activity. At a time when national priorities for transportation are in transition, Massachusetts residents need to show their leaders they want commuter rail.

An editorial in today’s Hartford Business Journal notes an urgency for business leaders in the area to “get cracking immediately on a detailed list of infrastructure priorities.” The piece cites Barack Obama’s pending job creation effort to invest heavily in infrastructure projects. Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell issued a press release last Friday noting that such potential projects in the state should be shovel-ready in anticipation of the federal assistance.

Rell is meeting with Obama, along with other governors, tomorrow in Philadelphia (see her press release on the subject). She will argue that the federal government should cover the infrastructure projects completely rather than asking the state to pitch in 20 percent, referring to a high level of need along with lacking funds.

In her release, Rell said, “The nation’s governors have already identified the national transportation system as a top priority for investment. It truly is the lifeblood of our economy for Connecticut and across the country. The jobs these investments will create will help us rebuild both our highway and rail systems and our economy.”

Some such local projects came to light during a November 21 meeting between Senator Chris Dodd (pictured) and various local officials in Enfield.

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At an October 15 forum downtown, two candidates vying for Connecticut’s second senatorial district seat answered questions from moderator Tom Condon of the Hartford Courant. The district seat represents an area that covers part of Hartford (roughly its northern half), part of Bloomfield, and most of Windsor.

Below is a summary of questions Condon posed and the candidates’ answers. Topics included unemployment, the stalled busway project, and city violence. The candidates were also invited to make a closing statement.

For more information about candidates in the state, the League of Women Voters provides a helpful online guide. The state government also provides a number of maps of voting districts. Also, the Courant published endorsements recently for candidates for state Senate as well as those for the state House of Representatives.

Hartford’s official unemployment rate is well over eleven percent. The real rate is probably much higher. What should the state be doing to increase the number of jobs available to city residents, and to prepare residents to take those jobs?

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A proposal (PDF) from HDR, Inc. to redevelop Springfield’s Union Station, which has active Amtrak service on a platform, but has otherwise been a dormant hulk of a downtown building complex for decades, was unveiled today during a morning press conference, as reported this morning by Peter Goonan for the Republican.

The plan includes a mix of transportation services, and anticipates active commuter rail as well as continued Amtrak and bus service, all accessible in one station. Where there used to be a Hotel Charles at the corner of Main and Frank B. Murray Streets, a new streetscape and signage would appear along with retail, pictured below in a rendering.

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Citing increasing fuel prices and decreased demand, Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced yesterday that they are canceling flights between the Hartford-Springfield region’s Bradley International Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

The cancellation is effective as of October 1 for flights departing Schiphol, and effective as of October 2 for flights departing Bradley.

Earlier this week, Delta Airlines, which is merging with Northwest, announced that it is ending its nonstop flights between Bradley and Los Angeles, which Eric Gershon in the Courant noted yesterday is the only direct flight between Bradley and the west coast.

Northwest and KLM are also canceling flights between Detroit and Dusseldorf, as well as suspending flights between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Paris through the winter season.

Officials promoting economic development and tourism had been understandably excited about the potential for international activity when the flights between Bradley and Amsterdam launched last year. Now market pressures and rising oil costs are dictating needs for a new road map to prosperity and development.

An effort in Springfield to redesign and provide a major facelift to just over three miles of a major city artery, known as the State Street Corridor Project, will break ground at an event on Tuesday, July 1, 10:30 am at the Putnam Vocational Technical High School, 1300 State Street.

The project, which aims to improve physical conditions, will improve traffic flow and provide guidelines for corridor aesthetics, and will better accommodate cyclists pedestrians and cars alike. “The vision is an urban boulevard with strong visual appeal,” the city’s planning department notes, “that will act as a front door to neighborhoods, key institutions, and employers. Preliminary research shows a possible total of nearly $400 million of annual expenditure potential.”

The roughly $16 million project is 80 percent federally funded, and 20 percent state funded; the city is planning an additional $750,000 expenditure on lighting improvements, and area utility companies have invested more than $5 million over the last two years in infrastructure improvements, according to a release from Mayor Domenic Sarno’s office (see below).

Expected at the event, along with Mayor Sarno, are Congressman Richard Neal (pictured left) and Massachusetts Highway Commissioner Luisa Paiewonsky (pictured right).

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The Hub of Hartford Steering Committee and Hartford Public Library invite the public to a second citizens’ forum regarding the future of I-84 through the city, later today at the downtown library branch. Light refreshments will be served at 5:30 pm followed by a program at 6:00 pm.

Planned speakers include representatives of the city government; the Capitol Region Council of Governments; the Connecticut Department of Transportation; and stakeholder neighborhoods and institutions.

Of the challenges, Tom Condon wrote in an article in the Courant earlier this spring:

Hartford was subjected to a very unfortunate double whammy: First I-91 cut the city off from the river, then I-84 cut the city in half. … Construction of the east-west interstate caused the loss of irreplaceable architecture, such as the former Hartford Public High School. It isolated the North End, constricted the growth of downtown, cut Asylum Hill off from downtown, impinged on the Capitol grounds and generally made the city seedier, noisier and more polluted. It sacrificed the place for the means to get through it.

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A gaggle of mayors and planners in the Connecticut River Valley region will gather today at Hartford’s Union Station (pictured at left by Jim Frazier) to brainstorm aspects of transit-oriented development and learn the status of the proposed New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail project (PDF).

Gina McCarthy (pictured at right) of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection will lead things off. Listen to a recent “Where We Live” interview by John Dankosky of WNPR with McCarthy here.

The group of elected officials and planners will also hear a presentation by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, with a focus on extending commuter rail north of Springfield. See the PVPC’s updated logo at right, created by Springfield’s TSM Design and apparently fostering that essential idea of forward motion, which the region needs.

Can the planners save us? If not, at least they can hold meetings and discuss the prospects. Today’s meeting will be held in Union Station’s multipurpose room from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.

Of the region’s condition, Neil Peirce and Curtis Johnson wrote in February 2006, ” On the transportation front, New England seems frozen in time and space, unaware of how seriously isolated and inefficient it’s becoming.”

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Update 6/6: Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell is offering a $10,000 reward each “for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individuals responsible for two recent hit-and-run crashes that left a 78-year-old man paralyzed in Hartford and an 11-year-old girl dead in New Haven.

Update 6/5: Mayor Eddie Perez held a press conference and issued a release late Thursday calling for city residents to “turn their outrage into action” in the wake of this incident. He also reported that four 911 calls were placed in the minute following the hit-and-run. The full release is at the bottom of the post.

Earlier 6/5: Hartford police released a video of a hit-and-run that took place in front of 33 Park Street at about 5:45 pm on May 30. A 78-year-old man, Angel Torres, was hit and left to suffer in the middle of the street for what seemed like a painfully extended period of time while onlookers apparently did nothing to aid him.

Torres is currently hospitalized in critical condition and is reported to be paralyzed from the neck down following this accident. Police are requesting the public’s assistance in tracking down the culprits. (more…)

The Hartford City Council apparently approved the next fiscal year’s $547 million budget yesterday, according to an article in today’s Courant. The budget does not appear to be available online yet, however, and no meeting records of the City Council’s deliberations have officially been made available to the public electronically. From the piece, by Daniel Goren:

The budget still includes extra money for the school system, 30 new recruits for the police department and continued debt service payments for the construction of schools, libraries and a new public safety complex. The city still anticipates some cost savings from last year by hiring 50 new firefighters, more than offsetting that cost by a projected reduction in overtime for the department.

Also in Hartford, the Advocate has a piece in this week’s paper about reporter Adam Bulger’s experiences going car-free, and opting to bike to work. He notes the bad habit he developed of commuting to work by car on I-84 and I-91, within the city, which he gave up after totaling his car in an accident and then guiltily borrowing his girlfriend’s for a short time, which he had to stop doing. He comes to grips with his other bad habits, too. From the piece:

By the time I got to work, my face was the color of a grape. On the bright side, I found $3 lying in the sidewalk on Wethersfield Avenue in the south of Hartford. On the dark side, my ride home entailed going up a lot more hills. Also, I did something so epic in its stupidity that it boggles my mind even now—I rode the bike to buy cigarettes at a gas station. When I got back, sweaty and panting, the last thing in the world I wanted was a cigarette. Not that I didn’t smoke it eventually.

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A group of Springfield citizens are taking a close look at the city’s riverfront bike path this morning, in part as a result of comments emerging from an interview with local real estate professional Evan Plotkin, published here on April 30. In the piece, Plotkin identified the bike path as a potential draw for downtown business owners who value a healthy lifestyle or alternate means of transportation. He also perceived it to be relatively underused and not well presented when he contacted the visitor’s information center located along the path.

The residents taking the tour, who live in various parts of the city, will be making multiple visits to the riverfront path starting today, taking some notes, documenting what they see with video and photos, and hopefully sharing the results of their work. (more…)

A few months ago I sat down with Evan Plotkin (pictured) of Samuel D. Plotkin and Associates, Inc., based at 41 Taylor Street in downtown Springfield, to discuss some of his ideas about what the city needs to become revitalized.

In Plotkin’s view, the arts are an essential component to bringing life back into the central business district. For about five months, he maintained a blog on MassLive.com called Metro Musings where he shared some of his thinking.

Plotkin, who lives in Somers, Connecticut, has been working on a project to secure a location for some of his plans to take root. In the last several months he launched a Web site, Creative Capital Springfield, to help foster some of those ideas, along with his colleagues Ann Black and Linda McInerney.

The site mentions the former Paramount Theater, known also as the Hippodrome, as a potential location for both a performing arts venue as well as living space for artists upstairs. Plotkin said the location is one of many possibilities in Springfield, but he sees much potential in the surrounding neighborhood and the city in general.

In this first portion of our interview, we discussed some of the history and role of his real estate company in Springfield, some aspects of the conditions downtown, and an example of challenges faced by real estate professionals looking to attract workers to the central business district.

Evan Plotkin: The automobile, basically the first gas engine, was built in this building [on Taylor Street]. They called it the horseless carriage in 1895. The ironic thing is the car is what really [caused] the decline of the city. My grandfather, who started here in the 1920s, talked about this in speeches he gave in the 1940s—the decentralization of urban cities—and he started to see what was going on in the suburbs, that development was going outside because we had automobiles.

Heather Brandon: Was he excited or worried about that?
He was worried about it. [Shows framed maps] These are the real estate maps my grandfather made of the downtown central cities. I have one of Springfield. He coined the term “100 percent location.” He used to stand on street corners with a number counter, and count how many people walked by at 12 noon.

Did you grow up here?
For the most part. I was born in Chicago, and lived there for five years before I moved here. My father came here and joined my grandfather, who made the real estate atlases, and whose building is right over there. In fact, from my office, I can see where my grandfather started. So that was like, 1961, and my father sort of came to work for my grandfather, helping him to lease his office buildings, and manage his properties, and eventually Plotkin Associates Company formed from that. He started to develop relationships with a lot of doctors, quite frankly, and the idea was born of building medical office buildings. (more…)

An innovative combination of art, design, and concepts behind the sustainable living movement is captured in a traveling art exhibit on display now through June 10 called, “Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art,” at the Joseloff Gallery at the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford. The exhibit features the work of 13 artists and groups (two pictured here), and attempts to address questions about what sustainable living means and why it matters. Download a catalog of the exhibit here (PDF). From the exhibit description:

These artists create portable, human-scaled works that emphasize the ways environmental concerns are linked to other social relationships. Some adopt proven principles of “green” design; others propose small-scale alternative modes of living. Still others highlight the problems and contradictions in the very nature of sustainability.

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The no-frills airline Skybus, which operates flights to selected locations from Chicopee’s Westover Metropolitan Airport, serving both Springfield and Hartford, has announced it will cease operations as of today. An announcement on its Web site, which currently offers no further information, provided a brief explanation:

Skybus struggled to overcome the combination of rising jet fuel costs and a slowing economic environment. These two issues proved to be insurmountable for a new carrier.

The airline announced early this year that it was adding a second flight between Chicopee and Columbus, beginning in March. Then, last month, it announced it was adding flights between Chicopee and two Florida locations. Flights between Chicopee and Greensboro had already been added in January. A full description of the latest flight destinations is, at the moment, still available at the airport’s Web site.

Foreshadowing what was to come, a blurb in the March 31 Business West, regarding adding the Florida flights, said, “Skybus officials noted that it will have to adjust its schedule to help deal with the unprecedented increase in the cost of fuel. The adjustments will include some flight reductions as Skybus focuses on improving customer service and meeting demand on its most profitable routes.” (more…)

Jody Williams Visit: Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams (pictured) will speak on Friday, April 4, at Springfield’s Symphony Hall, at a free event starting at 7:00 pm. The tenth woman to win the Peace Prize in all of its 110-year history, Williams, reputed to be a very inspiring speaker, was recognized for her role as the founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. She continues to work for justice on the international stage, currently as a spokesperson for ICBL. Most recently, she served as UN High Commissioner on a mission to Darfur.

Rally for a Library Branch: Asylum Hill and West End residents in Hartford are invited to come to a community meeting tonight, March 26, at Immanuel Congregational Church (pictured), 10 Woodland Street, starting at 6:30 pm, to discuss the potential for establishing a site for a new library branch. The current branch serving the two neighborhoods, known as the Mark Twain Branch Library, at 256 Farmington Avenue, “has long outgrown its current location,” according to meeting sponsors Asylum Hill Problem Solving and Revitalization Association, Farmington Avenue Alliance, and West End Civic Association. “The City has acquired two of three necessary parcels for a beautiful location on Farmington Avenue for the Mark Twain Branch Library,” a meeting notice asserts. “But the City must act within days to commit to buy the third parcel needed for the branch development, or it will be sold for another use. Come make sure your voice is heard!” (more…)

Just prior to last Friday’s seminar at Hartford’s Trinity College, the second in a series hosted by the Center for Urban and Global Studies, West Hartford resident Lyle Wray (pictured) had a lot of trouble finding a parking place.

This was no small matter: in his capacity as the executive director of the Capital Region Council of Governments, he was a panelist for the seminar, titled, “It Takes a City-Region: Economic Development and Political Governance in Greater Hartford.”

Some of Wray’s presentation, once he was able to park and get inside Mather Hall, focused on the lack of a regional-scale planning strategy, adding that the built environment ought to be retrofitted as pedestrian-friendly.

He cited Trinity College’s parking situation as a prime example of pedestrian hostility—a dense urban location where safe crosswalks are sparse or entirely absent, and where it’s hard to know where to park. The length of Summit Street on campus is at the top of a city hill that drops off precipitously on one side, just beyond a long, narrow strip where a bulk of the school’s heavily-regulated parking is located.

Crosswalks there are nearly impossible to find, and there is poor lighting and no sidewalk close to the parking areas.

When he arrived for the seminar, a bit late, Wray turned to fellow panelist and 1000 Friends of Connecticut president Heidi Green (pictured), and said, “Did you have trouble parking?”

“I went to school here,” Green gave as her answer, as though to say, this was just par for the course. (more…)