We Must Band Together for Our City

Once again I apologize for the lack of posts - 3 more weeks until I am a college graduate.

Another Thanksgiving Eve has come and gone. As usual thousands flocked to downtown Hartford to go out. These are thousands of young people flocking into the city from all over the state. These individuals have the potential to bring a lot to the city. Going out in Hartford or any similar city got me to thinking. We in greater Hartford and the rest of Connecticut live in a separated society. We are a suburban centered state. There is arguably not one community in this state where you can go out to a great bar or club, do big time shopping, get affordable groceries at a real supermarket, visit museums and theaters and do all this without a car. Some may tell me this is possible in New Haven or West Hartford which has made great strides to achieving something like this. We must shoot higher though. We must look to New York City where this is all possible. Do we want to be New York City? Of course not, we must be unique but it would be nice to have a microcosm of New York City's urban dream here in Connecticut.

We are still in difficult economic times but we must band together to improve our capital city. The New Year is approaching and the city is abuzz with a second wave of massive development. We need to find reasons for all those young people out downtown last night to come to the city for more then just alcohol. We must find reasons for the everyone in greater Hartford to come to the city and maybe even move here. Only by working together can we achieve this. Residents, business owners, major employers, government officials, neighborhood groups, etc. must ALL work together and not turn our backs on the state's greatest city.