Hartford Blight Persists

the owners of Capitol West should be proud of the mess they have left in disrepair over the years. Who owns this blight on I-84?

The whole area within 500 of this building is a breading ground for crime. Camera's should be set up to help the Police gather the evidence they need to clear the streets of the drug vermin.

Civil rights 'experts' will cry about the loss of privacy but the law abiding residents of this area will weep with the joy of being able to live in their neighborhood without fear of someone trying to enslave their children through drug addiction.

Hartford needs to adopt much stricter penalties for landlords who fail to maintain their buildings, particularly when not doing so endangers the public or contributes to crime or the reduces property value in the neighborhood. The current fine of $100 a day is a joke. Make it $1,0000 a day and within a very short period of time the city can confiscate the property and have the resources to rehabilitate it or tear it down.

Let the city tear it down and bill the owner, if not paid, sell the lot to cover expenses.

Hartford suffers miserably from decades of poorly concieved "urban renewal". But it's still not to late to develope a sensible master plan. It's discouraging that so many resources are aimed at new project like Adrians Landing and the Convention Center and Science center when there are ignored proberties right next door. Hartford is not an attractive city. So much emphasis is put on downtown, which benefits the suburban daily white flight professional crowd but does little to improve the quality of neighborhood folks that actually live in Hartford. Hartford is a tale of two cities in that regard, poor residents and white collar suburbanites that leave the city at 5:00 PM. It's really sad.

I happened to visit Newark, New Jersey, recently and could not help but appreciate the difference between a troubled city on the rise with a charismatic Black mayor (Corey Booker) and Hartford in a freefall.

The Black Power riots in Newark in 1967 and 1968 brought the largest city in New Jersey to its knees but, like Rocky, Newark is coming back.

A couple of suggestions.(1) Someone in Gov. Rell's office should shadow Mayor Booker for a week or so and see what heis doing right.(2) Offer JROTC in Hartford high school.

The last thing the Hartford area needs is more under-performing magnet schools. Hartford needs more discipline in its schools not more hype.

Newark Blight Desists wrote:

I happened to visit Newark, New Jersey, recently and could not help but appreciate the difference between a troubled city on the rise with a charismatic Black mayor (Corey Booker) and Hartford in a freefall.
The Black Power riots in Newark in 1967 and 1968 brought the largest city in New Jersey to its knees but, like Rocky, Newark is coming back.
A couple of suggestions.(1) Someone in Gov. Rell's office should shadow Mayor Booker for a week or so and see what heis doing right.(2) Offer JROTC in Hartford high school.
The last thing the Hartford area needs is more under-performing magnet schools. Hartford needs more discipline in its schools not more hype.

I agree that Newark is just staring an upswing, but remember, they have an advantage that Hartford doesn't: land value. The city's close proximity to New York City (and Manhattan in particular) makes this very attractive to developers looking to turn this into a bedroom community. Same thing with cities like Jersey City, Hoboken, even Stamford here in CT (which at one point was a very dangerous place.) But I see what you mean

Bull droppings!! The building has been standing there, falling apart since 2002(6 years) and Mayor idiot is just getting around to notifing the owner? Nothing like a little white wash to try to make people leave him alone.

Only thing wrong with the "butt-ugly building" lot, it sits north of I-84. Developers seem to turn a blind eye to ANY developing in this area.

Could Hartford be suffering from "development profiling"?

GrayPlayer wrote:

Only thing wrong with the "butt-ugly building" lot, it sits north of I-84. Developers seem to turn a blind eye to ANY developing in this area.
Could Hartford be suffering from "development profiling"?

Who cares if it's developed or not?! Level it and make a parking lot..or is that too easy an answer?

Hey Eddie,

Two words: EMINENT DOMAIN

How sad that 4 areas in Hartford give visitors and people traveling I-84 such a negative first impression of Hartford. The neighborhood by the old Spaghetti Warehouse, the Davis Building, the area by the old board of education building on High St.,the old Sonesta Hotel, and the Davis building on Main St. all have an ugly, aged appearance.
Corporate executives visiting their Hartford Area offices would never entertain the thought of adding offices and staff in this area.
When one contrasts the more beautiful spots in town, these areas are a tragic testimony to a poorly run city which is lawless, dirty, poorly educated, a waste of state money, and an extremely inept mayoral administration and board of education. It seems that the majority of people living in the city, including the mayor, have no pride in this city. Perhaps the biggest plight is the Mayor's office, itself.

Come to think of it, how can Hartford voters be so ignorant as to vote Mayor Fast Eddie? All they have to do is look at his choice of superintendent of schools to see that the inept hire the inept. Fast Eddie has done nothing for the city residents, especially for those in the North End and Dutch Point. To his credit, he displaced thousands of people, tore down their housing, and put up an insufficient number of housing in their place. This is a mayor who says that he looks out for the most unfortunate in the community. I think it appears that Fast Eddie and his political cronies look out for themselves.

The State should take over the whole city just as they took over the school board years ago. They could still collect taxes and spend money on the city, but at least they would have the right to make decisions on where the money should go. It is obvious that the city cannot govern itself. It is a failure. Mayor Perez is a failure. I never thought Hartford would become worse than Bridgeport.

2prinesquare wrote:

I never thought Hartford would become worse than Bridgeport.

Believe it - it is.

2prinesquare wrote:

I never thought Hartford would become worse than Bridgeport.

Compared to Hartford, Bridgeport I believe is miles ahead. They got a good jump with the demolition of Father Panik Village. It's relative closeness to NYC doesn't hurt either.

I used to have to risk life & limb in that ****hole back in the early 70's. I was a wrecker operator back then. I used to occasionally go there to recover stolen cars, if there was anything left to recover.