Red ink headlines

Another bad week for newspapers.

The Journal-Register Company, corporate owner of The New Haven Register and the Middletown Press, has filed for Chaper 11 bankruptcy, filing a reorganization plan that calls for protection from creditors, closing more newspapers, the cancellation of stock and becoming a closely-held company.

It remains to be seen, of course, which newspapers will close.

The other news comes from inside the Hartford Courant where falling circulation and advertising is being blamed on the need to make more personnel cuts. Of course, the real reason for the huge financial mess is the leveraged financing used to purchase the chain's newspapers. Reports are that staff may be cut by 20%. One wonders who will be left to write the stories.

Maromas profile in Press

Middletown Press reporter hiked Maromas with John LeShane, and has written about it in the Press yesterday.

This kind of profile helps establish the fact that the character of a town is drawn by a combination of its developed and non-developed spaces. The wisdom to maintain this balance frequently escapes those who carry the Grand List as the most important priority in mind.

How 'bout we smash a few antiques for the sake of progress

(I stand corrected, below)


Pardon me for being pissy, but I'm one of those "cranky" preservationists who insisted that the house at 9 Liberty Street be saved. And it was, as it was moved early Sunday morning to a new site on Rapallo Avenue.

Thank god for Izzi Greenberg, of NEAT (North End Action Team) who originally was skeptical of the house move, but now recognizes the beauty of the building, and the integrity it will bring to the North End as housing is transformed there.

Unfortunately, the house move gave Sloan Brewster, of the Middletown Press, the opportunity to get the story wrong again, mostly by quoting people on only one side of the story (every story has two sides, Sloan).

Let me make some things clear about me, and about most preservationists:

- Every old building is not sacred, and not worth saving.
- Old buildings, are not more important than the lives and well-being of residents.
- Progress is not bad.
- All new development is not bad.

As for this particular story, here are some facts that are lacerated in the Middletown Press tale:
- That Peter Harding "donated" the house. Technically, yes, but the town "deeded" the house to Peter Harding with the condition that it would be moved. I can't recall clearly, but I believe the town took the house through eminent domain, and "deeded" it, at no or nominal cost, to the developer. His "cost" for the property was to help pay to move it.
- Mayor Giuliano says we can't make up for mistakes made in the 60's and 70's when a wave of redevelopment left parking lots where beautiful historic buildings once stood. No, Mayor, but we can avoid making the same mistakes again. I grew up in a once beautiful town called New Britain, you don't have to tell me about the ravages of redevelopment.
- "Some people have said it is not a remarkable example of an historic house..." Some? Who? Just plain old lazy journalism not to have that answer.
- "...others protested and so Harding offered it to the cause." Others? Again, who? Oh, me. That's right, I protested, and so did many other residents with names. Who might have known those names? The mayor, the town planner, the developer, the NEAT representatives. More lazy journalism Sloan.
- The house had lost its "historic relevance." Well, it was on the National Historic Register of Historic Structures, is that relevant enough? May I remind you that the Mark Twain House was a rooming house before it was rescued by pesky preservationists. (I stand corrected. The Mark Twain House was an upscale apartment building before it was renovated as a monument to one of America's great writers. Thanks to Susan Forbes Hansen for setting me straight) In 1915, the Old State House in Hartford was abandoned. In 1921, a group of pesky preservationists started a restoration drive. In 1961, it was declared a National Historic Landmark. Sure, 9 Liberty was no Old State House, but it was, and is, significant to Middletown's history. Ironically, as a result of the move, it lost its place on the National Register. There are buildings all over town that don't look like much because they're covered with ramshackle additions, asbestos and aluminum siding, and cheap porches, but that's not an excuse to knock them down.
- The story quotes the mayor and "others" (who?), who claim that it would be more economically sound to have demolished the old building, and built anew. I don't think that was ever proven to anyone's satisfaction, and several meetings were held to discuss the issues. Maybe the mayor knows something we don't. Maybe he and the "others" are simply wrong. But you wouldn't be able to determine that unless you asked someone on the other side of the issue....Sloan?

As many of the people quoted in the article agree, this is a needed, and positive step forward toward revitalization in Middletown's North End. There are unasked questions about the revitalization. Has the redevelopment East of Main, simply relocated the poverty and some of the attendant problems into other North End neighborhoods West of Main? Is the grand experiment of mixed-income housing at Wharfside Commons working? Is another surface parking lot, adjacent to the sidewalk on Main Street, a good thing? And is a driveway, across that sidewalk, leading to a busy grocery store, safe?

One final note. I've been in several banks, lawyers offices, stores, and restaurants on Main Street where I see a familiar photograph. It's of the beautiful old town hall. Demolished to make way for a surface parking lot. We should use that old photo as a reminder to keep the wrecking ball at bay until we're sure we want to sacrifice our past for the sake of our future.

Sewer reporting flush with bad puns

The writing and reporting is at an already the dregs, but the staff of the Middletown Press seems to be squatting to new lows. In reporting on the possibility that Middletown will become part of the Mattabassett Sewer District, reporters seem to be competing for the dubious honor of whom can make the worst sewage and shit puns.

In his story, Rick Guiness, excretes a lead that would be laughable, if it were funny: As some might deem proper, issues concerning the regional sewer district remained stagnant Wednesday.

Guiness continues his peristaltic witticisms by calling a complaint, "murky," noting that issues were "stalled," and that "a major movement on Mattabassett" was a step backward.

In a related piece, Sloan Brewster dumps a redundantly sophomoric lead on the reader: Middletown officials are pumped about getting city sewage pumped through the Mattabassett District regional sewage treatment plant.

Brewster reports that board chairman William Candelori want to "push the process," and quotes Middletown mayor Giuliano who talks about "dumping into the river" and who also says, about a joint town effort, that "the other three load's get abbreviated."

Memo to reporters: just because you're writing about shit, the writing needn't be shitty.

Good bathroom reading, still, and when you're done, you can put the Middletown Press behind you.

Impressed by the Press

Okay, as recently as yesterday, I called the Middletown Press pathetic.

Like many local newspapers, whose glory days have been wrung from them by greedy corporate owners, The Middletown Press was once a respected and respectable daily. But as readership dwindled, and continues to dwindle, corporate ownership has only exacerbated the problem by cutting news staff to the point where, on some days, The Middletown Press, has only a single real news story about the town listed on its masthead. That's shameful. If you want to kill a newspaper, there's no better way than to eliminate the local news.

Local news reporting is important for a lot of reasons, not the lease of which is to let local government know that someone is watching, and maybe things will get better when the Press leaves its old building and moves into Main Street Market. It's a brave move, and one that should be good for downtown.

Now let's concentrate on good reporting.

Pressing issues

So, there's been a bidding war for a property on Main Street. What's that say to town leaders who are unwilling to make design demands on developers who intend to build here?

It should say that Main Street property is valued and that if one developer won't build because he can't get his way, then there's likely another who will step in.

As for the demolition of the Middletown Press building, fare-thee-well. It's ugly late century design was not right for an important corner of Main Street. It's good news that Middlesex Hospital did not win the bid. Their disregard for important historical architecture is already well-documented. Their craven desire for more and more parking is also evident. And building a medical building in the style of their medical buildings, on Main Street would be unwelcome.

Now it's up to city fathers (and mothers) to demand that the winning developer shape his plan in a way that is right for the future of the city.