January 23, 2020
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BENEfIT CONCErT fOr PuErTO rICAN EArTHquAkE VICTImS fEBruArY 1 Bomba Radio will host a special concert on There is no admission charge but all those island. ances by Charlie Cruz and Domenic Marte. Saturday, February 1, from 1 - 6 pm to raise attending are asked to make as generous a Scheduled performers include Diel, The concert will be hosted by Bomba’s money for victims of the recent earthquakes donation as possible to assist those who were Lyzbeth, Abigail, Choco Band, Alex Cabrera, own on-air personalities. in Puerto Rico. The concert will be held at injured, left homeless or otherwise affected Nikko y Rosario, Candela “Mr. Que Bonita Those unable to attend are asked to donate Favela, 145 Newfield Avenue, Hartford. by the series of quakes that recently shook the Bandera,” and Giova, plus special appear- online. Go to: CThelpsPR.org. The January 23 – 29, 2020 Hartford News FREE Cold Truth OperationNEWS BRIEFSFuel’s Ice Problems at the city’s House Event this overnight warming shelter Friday and Saturday BY ANNE GOSHDIGIAN Come visit Connecticut’s coolest Monday, Martin Luther King Day, was attraction, the Operation Fuel Ice bitter cold. Daytime temperatures barely House presented by Eversource reached into the 20s, and dropped down to Energy on January 24-25 at the Old single digits after nightfall and into the late State House Grounds in Hartford. hours. At 4:30 that afternoon, a dozen peo- Don’t miss this unique structure ple shivered outside the entrance to the carved from 40,000 pounds of ice plus city’s Thirman Milner School overnight thermal imaging body heat photos, warming shelter on Vine Street. Some giveaways, food trucks, mascots, and stood on the cold stone steps, a couple of more. Your suggested donation of $5 others sat on them, and one man rested in will help Connecticut families and indi- his wheelchair—a double amputee who’d viduals with energy assistance. Go to been in that spot since 7 a.m. They were www.operationfuel.org/ice for more wrapped in blankets, and rubbing frozen information. Operation Fuel provides hands. Three of them were veterans of the energy assistance year round U.S. military. Two women were also pres- throughout Connecticut to lower- ent. They were all waiting for the Salvation income working families and individu- Army employees, who are contracted by als, the elderly, and disabled individu- Library Sizzles with Salsa the city to staff the shelter, to arrive and als who are in a financial crisis. Mirthalys Melendez and Marco Quintana show off their dance moves at “Sizzling Salsa open the doors at 7 p.m. This scene isn’t Currently more than 400,000 Night” at Hartford Public Library in Downtown Hartford on Tuesday, January 21. The night new, and has become the norm since Connecticut households can’t afford opened with a salsa dance class taught by Rey Bermudez, and was followed by a free dance Milner opened last month. There are 80 (16 their energy bills, which are among the hour with music provided by Latin Jazz band Agua Pa Chocolate. (Hart photo) reserved for women; the rest are for men) highest in the nation. cots available in the school’s gym and they go quickly, so an ever-growing number of Night Fall Movie Hartford...Once upon a Time people experiencing homelessness arrive Rescheduled to this hours ahead of the admittance time in order Saturday to secure a place out of the winter weather for the night. While waiting, they have no A FREE screening of the movie of the access to food or drink, no bathroom facil- 2019 Night Fall performance will be ities, and no place to charge their phones in shown this Saturday, January 25, at case 211 calls offering a bed in a homeless Christ Church Hall, 45 Church Street shelter, so they wait, they talk a little, and in Downtown Hartford. The movie was they freeze. There’s nothing else to do. originally scheduled for last Saturday, On Sunday night, one man—an activist but was postponed due to the snow- who is intermittently homeless—made a storm. Arrive this Saturday at 6:00 pm short video with those gathered outside for refreshments, mingling and a that included a plea to Governor Lamont to chance to win fantastic prizes! Movie do something about their plight. He posted starts at 6:30 pm sharp, followed by a it on a Hartford Facebook page, where it brief discussion with the artists of also caught the attention of the Salvation Night Fall. Snacks and beverages will Army staff. They were not pleased, and be available for purchase. If you issued a warning to the shelter-seekers: would like to make a gift to Night Fall, “You guys know you’re on Facebook? a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, you There won’t be resources for you if you can do so at the door. keep doing that. And if you talk about this, we can make it so you can’t go anywhere Public Punishment else.” This is why most of those waiting focus of Discussion were afraid to give their names to the Saturday Hartford News or be photographed; they The Encounters Series will discuss In the early 20th century, real estate developers realized that they could make more money off feared retaliation in the form of being “Public Punishment, Race and prime real estate by building the taller buildings that had been made possible by new construc- denied a cot at Milner. (That actually hap- Remembrance” this Satur day, January tion techniques and the invention of the safety elevator. The buildings in the photo, which were pened to the man who made the video. On 25, from 10am-12pm (lunch to follow) probably demolished in the 1930s, were certainly located on prime real estate at 740 Main Street Monday night he waited in line and when at the Old State House, 800 Main and 744-742 Main Street in Downtown Hartford (across the street from where the Gold Building his turn came for admittance he was Street, Downtown Hartford. The dis- stands today). The site is now occupied by a 11-floor office building. The photo was apparently refused, and was told that it was because cussion will center on the question, taken just before the buildings were demolished, as one sign in Dorothy Dodd Frocks on the sec- he’d posted that video on Sunday.) But ond floor of the building at right states, “Forced to Vacate. Building Coming Down.” A small they were eager to talk, and grateful that any- Continued on page 6 sign on the third floor reads 1790, apparently the year the building was constructed. (Photo courtesy of the Hartford Public Library’s Hartford Collection) Continued on page 6 We Deliver!!! ($10 minimum order) OPEN 7 DAYS Mon-Wed, 10:30 am - 11:00 pm; Thu-Sat, 10:30 am - 12:30 am, Sunday, 11 am - 11 pm 861 New Britain Avenue Hartford, CT www.EmpirePizzaHouseCT.com • Fax: 860-953-7788 860-953-0596 • 860-953-6951 BEER • TV • CATERING AVALABLE EVERY SUNDAY!!! BUY ANY KIND LARGE PIZZA AND GET A SMALL CHEESE PIZZA FREE. PICK UP ONLY. 2 The Hartford News January 23 – 29, 2020 CAN YOu rEAD mE? Great news for Hartford’s Icelandic, Catalonian, and Finnish populations! COmmENTArY BY ANNE GOSHDIGIAN There have been some complaints directed at City most native-born Americans. And they probably also Hall about announcements on the weekly Hartford read it well, since a lot of them manage or own many 311/One Hartford website not being printed in Spanish Hartford businesses. But what the heck—the more, the in addition to English. I think that’s a reasonable request merrier! in our city where nearly half of the residents are Spanish- Property and car tax bills are coming due, and the speaking. Knowing what’s going on when and where— city has warned us multiple times, in both English and “rain of Parks” in some of that information vital—should be accessible to Spanish, that even if we haven’t yet received a bill in everyone. Now, in an innovative move, one that may the mail, we still have to pony up by the due date or pay Hartford’s Weather forecast well become a model for other great metropolitan areas, a late fee. Thankfully, those Hartford residents who can In the late 19th Century, Hartford mer landfill in the North those announcements can now be read in 49—count only read Arabic, Afrikaans, Hungarian, Swedish, was at the forefront of landscape Meadows), and the new park devel- ‘em, 49!--languages in addition to English. Yes, the city Slovakian or Slovenian (I always forget which one of gardening with its “Rain of Parks” oping adjacent to the Connecticut has discovered Google Translate; check it out online. those last two is Melania Trump’s place of birth) can movement. More than 100 years River, as well as a narrated “win- There’s already rejoicing in the Norwegian, Bantu, and avoid the penalty and save a few bucks. However, with later, many of these beautiful gar- dow tour” of Coltsville, before Hebrew speaking neighborhoods. announcements of city meetings now readable in dens still exist and await their her- returning to Keney Park to visit its No longer will those of Celtic, Macedonian, and Czech, Malaysian, Latvian, and Thai, it’s only natural itage to be rediscovered. Over three experimental garden. Romanian descent be forced to miss a Compstat meet- that the next step the city needs to take is to provide days in May, Hartford Blooms will The afternoon tour starts with the ing at HPD because they didn’t get the word.