My first inclination was to post something snarky. But the song and video is quite good. Done very well, indeed. Talented folks. As to the question about loving Hartford, well no, of course. I don't feel love for a town. If I feel any love, it would be for the people living in it. And here again, no love lost.
Downtown has been brought back to life, not quite the way it once was but not too bad. The neighborhoods are one pan-neighborhood of blight, slum in which Public Works is as much fault as the lower socio-economic and greater need people displacing a more middle class strata. Liter, blight, drugs, speeding through stop lights, car-jackings and home invasions, higher taxes and the highest to boot, commercial lots along Franklin Ave over-filled with used car lots. A place where all the street signs are marked with graffiti.
The new Mosque on Franklin has nasty graffiti on it too. Who dose such needless crime? Apparently, it is not just on Franklin Avenue but throughout the entire Capitol City. I cannot place blame on the Public Works. How lean can city government cut them? Look at the employed Public Works people who are Hartford residents. They pay taxes. Do you actually think they want to see their city look dirty. Many Hartford residents disregard ordinances, animal control, driving safety, loitering, child neglect and list goes on and on. There should not be any pointing fingers and blame for Public Works. I am very pleased to see young people enjoying a song and sharing smiles. Hartford should have the same theme in every neighborhood. Then, Hartford would be a model place to work, live, dine and walk through. Downtown has a long way to revitalize before I can claim it is a wonderful place to spend time in.
Kevin, so glad you posted this. I first saw it a couple of weeks ago and was very impressed. Expressing themselves through the arts is so great for our city's young people, and the benefits are many. Hartford kids are involved in playing and singing music, theater, dance, drawing and painting, photography, poetry, and more, and I've seen the positive results and attitude shift that self-expression brings. It's a shame that the city's schools have cut back drastically on their arts curriculum.
Allow me to put in a plug here for Charter Oak Cultural Center's Youth Arts program. They offer free music lessons--both individual and group--and summer arts camps for Hartford children ages 6 and up. The instruments are provided, and the faculty members are all professionals in their fields.
I think we tend not to highlight the positives of our City nearly enough.
Yesterday there was a marching band in the Parade and we were trying to figure out who they were, I said I thought they might be from New Britain, I was quickly corrected by someone that said they were from the Trinity College Magnet School. I had no idea, but these are the positives highlighting our community and our young people that we don't hear enough about
Love - say what? ------------------- Government bureaucracies even, or especially those controlling Education Systems and Departments of Children and Families don't do love, wouldn't even if they could. Nor does social engineering according to abstract principles of "equality" produce a happy community. We have to be grateful that the city isn't worse than it is, and admit that it is not entirely good points. I've long assumed and hoped that we have bottomed out. But, now as the State and City realize that they've run out of other people's money to spend, let's see (and pray).
My first inclination was to post something snarky. But the song and video is quite good. Done very well, indeed. Talented folks. As to the question about loving Hartford, well no, of course. I don't feel love for a town. If I feel any love, it would be for the people living in it. And here again, no love lost.
ReplyDeleteDowntown has been brought back to life, not quite the way it once was but not too bad. The neighborhoods are one pan-neighborhood of blight, slum in which Public Works is as much fault as the lower socio-economic and greater need people displacing a more middle class strata. Liter, blight, drugs, speeding through stop lights, car-jackings and home invasions, higher taxes and the highest to boot, commercial lots along Franklin Ave over-filled with used car lots. A place where all the street signs are marked with graffiti.
Love - say what?
The new Mosque on Franklin has nasty graffiti on it too. Who dose such needless crime? Apparently, it is not just on Franklin Avenue but throughout the entire Capitol City. I cannot place blame on the Public Works. How lean can city government cut them? Look at the employed Public Works people who are Hartford residents. They pay taxes. Do you actually think they want to see their city look dirty. Many Hartford residents disregard ordinances, animal control, driving safety, loitering, child neglect and list goes on and on. There should not be any pointing fingers and blame for Public Works. I am very pleased to see young people enjoying a song and sharing smiles. Hartford should have the same theme in every neighborhood. Then, Hartford would be a model place to work, live, dine and walk through. Downtown has a long way to revitalize before I can claim it is a wonderful place to spend time in.
ReplyDeleteKevin, so glad you posted this. I first saw it a couple of weeks ago and was very impressed. Expressing themselves through the arts is so great for our city's young people, and the benefits are many. Hartford kids are involved in playing and singing music, theater, dance, drawing and painting, photography, poetry, and more, and I've seen the positive results and attitude shift that self-expression brings. It's a shame that the city's schools have cut back drastically on their arts curriculum.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to put in a plug here for Charter Oak Cultural Center's Youth Arts program. They offer free music lessons--both individual and group--and summer arts camps for Hartford children ages 6 and up. The instruments are provided, and the faculty members are all professionals in their fields.
Thanks Anne.
ReplyDeleteI think we tend not to highlight the positives of our City nearly enough.
Yesterday there was a marching band in the Parade and we were trying to figure out who they were, I said I thought they might be from New Britain, I was quickly corrected by someone that said they were from the Trinity College Magnet School. I had no idea, but these are the positives highlighting our community and our young people that we don't hear enough about
Love - say what?
ReplyDelete-------------------
Government bureaucracies even, or especially those controlling Education Systems and Departments of Children and Families don't do love, wouldn't even if they could. Nor does social engineering according to abstract principles of "equality" produce a happy community. We have to be grateful that the city isn't worse than it is, and admit that it is not entirely good points. I've long assumed and hoped that we have bottomed out. But, now as the State and City realize that they've run out of other people's money to spend, let's see (and pray).