I had a good laugh yesterday when I remembered that in 1996 an article titled "Neighbors Describe Delights of Life Downtown" was published in the Hartford Courant. I wish I could cut and paste the whole thing right here, but that would violate copyright laws and I just can't bring myself to do that. (Here's the link if you want to read the whole thing. You'll need a CT-issued library card to log-in to the iconn database.)

The stars of the article were some folks named Shane, Breck, Dom, Lisa, Derek, Kim and Julie who all lived in the same apartment building on Asylum Street. Johnny Mason of the Courant had been sent out to interview us after some of us had written a letter to the editor in response to another letter to the editor.

The first letter argued that Hartford had to do something to attract and retain young professionals. The author was a young lawyer living in Simsbury who would have liked to live in Hartford, but found nothing here to entice him.

Our response: Hello! Young people live here already! And we like it!

Re-reading the article was funny.

Why?

Because so little has changed about living downtown. Sure, there is a slew of new luxury apartments and condos, which is cool, but the attractions and the challenges are pretty much the same.

Here are some quotations:

(Beman and Dixon) got together with other residents to discuss a letter sitting on the dining table, surrounded by packs of cigarettes and cups of herbal tea and coffee.

Beman, 29, who works downtown at Fleet Bank's community development department, is the most upset and vocal about the letter to the editor written by a 25- year-old Simsbury lawyer that appeared in the The Courant last month.

The letter said that for Hartford to thrive it must attract young workers, recruit young entrepreneurs and develop neighborhoods for young professionals.

"What about us?" is the cry of Beman and others, who in a letter of their own defended the city, particularly the thriving neighborhood they call home.

And:

Living in a place surrounded by restaurants and bars, across the street from the Civic Center and near TheaterWorks, the Hartford Stage Company, the Wadsworth Atheneum and The Bushnell gives residents great choices within walking distance, said Walling, an airplane mechanic at Bradley International Airport.

But the neighbors also said they'd love such suburban conveniences as shopping centers, vegetable stands, video shops and restaurants open for breakfast on weekends.

And Walling wants the city to help out with what downtown residents call their greatest problem -- finding parking spaces.

"I park anywhere I can," said Walling, who sometimes drives for a half-hour looking for a space. "Sometimes I park as far away as six blocks from the building."

Groceries, parking and brunch. Sound familiar anyone?

P.S. I'm "Beman."




For our legal stuff, here's the complete citation:
JOHNNY MASON JR.,  Courant Correspondent. (1996, November 6). NEIGHBORS DESCRIBE DELIGHTS OF LIFE DOWNTOWN :[7 HARTFORD NORTH FINAL Edition]. Hartford Courant,p. B.4.  Retrieved September 21, 2008, from Hartford Courant database. (Document ID: 14804645).