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Showing posts from May, 2018

Editorial: Enfield’s Revised Blight Ordinance Isn’t Ready for a Public Hearing

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  AI generated art via ChatGPT The Enfield Town Council tonight may set a public hearing date for a revised blight ordinance. In its current form, this proposal is not ready for public hearing and needs significant changes before moving forward. Anonymous Complaints While the ordinance itself still requires signed complaints, Enfield’s revised blight complaint form explicitly accepts anonymous complaints and signals that they may still be investigated. That represents a clear shift from the town’s prior policy, which discouraged anonymous filings and stated that the town was not required to investigate them. Historically, Enfield’s practice has been to reject anonymous complaints. For example, on SeeClickFix — the town’s reporting platform — a town official wrote in response to one blight complaint: “All complaints require a signature. Currently this complaint is showing anonymous. Please add your full name and contact information to this complaint.” That was the standard approach...
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Connecticut Millennials are overpaying for higher education

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The new Democratic nominee for governor, New Lamont, says he wants to make make community college free for those students with "financial need." That's great, except just about everyone graduating from college today is in "financial need." My benchmark on this issue is from my own experience. I started attending Central Connecticut State University in 1976. A full year – two semesters – cost an in-state resident in tuition and fees $601.  Adjusted for inflation, the $601 tuition/fees that I paid in 1976 should be, in today's 2018 dollars, $2,693. For the 2017-18 academic year, the in-state tuition and fees at CCSU is $10,225 – adjusted for inflation, that is almost four times my cost Moreover, I did not pay tuition because my non-combat military service was Vietnam era. (The state still has a  v eteran waiver , but I'm not sure if it's as comprehensive.) When I was a Connecticut student, I can't recall anyone complaining about th...
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