Give me land, lots of land

After a day of shooting video at an ice cream manufacturing plant, I arrived late to a meeting about the role of environmental planning in Middletown's Plan of Development.

I arrived early enough to hear plenty of information that was completely fascinating, including:
- when Aetna finally vacates their Middletown headquarters, the building, owned by GE Capital will likely be demolished for future development
- when Aetna is gone, the Maromas section will carry the largest tax base in the city with industrial giant Pratt and Whitney, and two power plants located there
- Maromas' I-3 zoning make it a candidate for industrial development along two corridors
- a large swath, a corridor, in fact, of Maromas is designated for current and future open space preservation
- our town planner does not does not think it's safe to walk on Middletown's Main Street after attending movies downtown because it is too dangerous (a conclusion he arrived at after examining several crime reports about downtown residents). "You can't imagine what they find in those apartments," he said. I, of course, began to try to imagine. I'll admit that I probably wouldn't let my teen daughter walk on Main Street late at night either.
- social service agencies continue to use legislative muscle to create dozens of halfway houses, safe houses, and affordable living units in the downtown sector
- the plan of development (currently in draft form) makes damned interesting reading, and I want to get me a copy