BRISTOL — A consultant hired by the city to review plans for the former mall site threw cold water Monday on the proposed Depot Square project pushed by the developer officials chose to revitalize the 15-acre property.
“We don’t think it’s likely to be successful,” said Michael Goman, principal of the East Hartford firm of Goman+York Property Advisors. “There are probably better options out there.” Goman said city should try to turn the empty lot on North Main Street into “an authentic place” — perhaps a huge public piazza — that could anchor downtown and catalyze economic development in the area around it. “It’s a wonderful site for this kind of public venue,” he said, and could include space for concerts, a farmers’ market, outdoor movies, classes and public art. The $18,500 study sought by Mayor Ken Cockayne reviewed the financing plan and earlier documents submitted by Long Island-based Renaissance Downtowns, which has been working on a proposal for the site since 2010. Goman’s firm looked only at the initial financing plan for the site, which called for a 100-unit, market-rate apartment building parallel to the railroad tracks near Main Street. Renaissance had said it would cost about $18 million and require public financing for $6 million of the cost — about $7 a year from the average homeowner in Bristol. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New CTfastrak buses roll into view; transit project nearly complete
NEW BRITAIN — The first of CTfastrak’s shiny new 40-foot feeder buses groaned to a stop on the Harry Truman Overpass Monday afternoon and disgorged a bus-load of dignitaries. Those with picture phones snapped postcard views of the nearly completed New Britain station several feet below them. The new 40-foot bus built for service on the CTfastrak bus rapid transit system left the state capitol building following its unveiling and a press conference that included Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker and representatives from the Department of Housing, Housing Finance Authority, Department of Economic and Community Development, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Office of Policy and Management. Redeker told The Herald the project is on schedule, and service is expected to begin the final week of March 2015. The new fleet of hybrid diesel-electric buses will include 30-foot buses to provide neighborhood circulator service and 40-foot buses to operate connector routes. The main line service will be operated with 60-foot articulated buses that will begin to arrive in the fall. All the new buses will feature GPS tracking so riders can find out where their bus is, LED lighting and free WiFi service. Redeker said there will be “even-level boarding — the height of the boarding is the same height as the platform. Doors will open and you simply walk on or off.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Officials say impact of street construction should be minimal to Meriden schools
MERIDEN — As work on Gravel Street continues, town and state officials say they’ve taken steps to minimize traffic issues once school starts next week. The $8.7 million reconstruction is being overseen by the state Department of Transportation and is expected to finish in November 2015. Work on Gravel Street and Baldwin Avenue will include new drainage systems, improved sight lines, widening in some areas and new pavement. In the beginning of the summer, workers on the street project were working alongside construction crews at Maloney High School to replace the drainage system that discharges into Willow Brook. “We finished up over there by mid-June,” said Mohammed Bishtawi, DOT supervising engineer, adding considerations have been made for more work near the high school, which is in the midst of its own $107.5 million construction project.
Bishtawi said crews are set to finish new sidewalks and curbs along the northbound side of Gravel Street before school starts Aug. 27, meaning that work in front of Maloney should be complete. “We should be totally done with the school area before school starts,” Bishtawi said.
Crews are replacing the drainage system on Baldwin Avenue. Bishtawi expects to finish by the time school starts, as Baldwin Avenue runs alongside Nathan Hale School. Public Works Director Robert Bass said detours have been planned while work continues on Gravel Street in the coming months. One side of the street will remain open throughout reconstruction. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
A busload of state officials toured the route Monday, stopping at several stations in Newington and West Hartford where they hope to encourage creation of nearby retail shops, apartment complexes and commercial office buildings. In Newington, they look at the gleaming new shelters and benches at a stop almost next door to the derelict old National Welding building, a long-abandoned industrial hulk that is scheduled for demolition. It may be the premiere site along the busway for large-scale commercial development, planners say. In downtown New Britain and at the Parkville and Elmwood stops, Lyle Wray envisions new residential development. "If you build condos at Elmwood, it's just out the door to five or six restaurants. A lot of the amenities are already there, like they are in Parkville — food, shops, restaurants, a 7-minute trip to downtown," said Wray, a longtime busway advocate and executive director of the Capitol Regional Council of Governments. Wray predicted that people living near the route will be drawn to the service, even if they're skeptical about it now. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Better paying jobs stage a comeback in US labor market
The recovery in America’s job market is finally spreading to industries with good pay after years of being concentrated in fields with low wages. Hiring has picked up steam in areas such as construction, manufacturing and professional services in recent months — sectors with a median hourly wage of at least $20. Nearly 40 percent of the jobs created over the past six months have been in high-wage industries, compared with just a quarter during the last half of 2013, according to an analysis by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) for The Washington Post. Meanwhile, growth in many low-paying jobs has leveled off or even declined. “I often hear that the recovery is only in low-wage jobs. That is categorically inaccurate,” Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said in an interview. “This recovery is creating a lot of good jobs.” If those trends hold, economists say it could mean that the bumpy road back from recession is beginning to even out — particularly if it means that more jobs with better pay can help boost household income. When averaged across all occupations, the median hourly wage has fallen 3.4 percent since the recession, after adjusting for inflation, according to NELP research to be released Monday. Many economists, including Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, have pointed to an increase in earnings as one of the key missing pieces of the recovery.Yellen and dozens of other top economists from around the world will convene in Wyoming this week to discuss the health of America’s labor market. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Klairdes wants CT DOT to reassess Woodbridge road project
WOODBRIDGE >> State Rep. Themis Klarides, R-Derby, is meeting Tuesday with residents opposed to a road project and wants the state Department of Transportation to “reassess” the plan because its engineering report was done in 2004. Klarides could not be reached for comment on a previous story about the issue this week. Part of the miscommunication was related to a reporter’s telephone problem. A group of residents who live near the intersection of routes 63 and 67 are fighting the scope of a project to widen the intersection and install a traffic light and a crosswalk.
Residents say the DOT collected data for the project in 2004 and that makes it outdated. DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick has said the work will make the intersection safer and more efficient. Nursick said residents rarely complain about a traffic signal being put in — it’s usually the opposite.
Klarides’ office had released what appeared to be two conflicting press releases on the subject July 10 to July 28. The first was in favor after she met with DOT officials, including engineers.
The second release stated concerns, and said she believed “following public outcry, that the project will diminish road safety.”