How a stop sign taught me about the importance of local news

There are no unimportant issues in New Britain City Hall and this is something I learned more as a resident of the city than as a reporter at The Herald. I'll use my experience with street signs to make this point.

Mayor William McNamara use to joke about how New Britain officials never met an intersection that didn't need a stop sign. (He was far wittier about it.) But that brings me to this story about my experiences with two street signs.

I lived on Lawlor Street for many years as well as Miller Street and, as a result, frequently used Allen Street.

One day, I was driving up Allen to Stanley Street and realize that I just blew past a stop sign at Carlton and Allen. I never hit the brake. The stop sign wasn't there the previous day. I never noticed it. But what upset me the most was the fact that I never alerted Herald readers about it. I was The Herald reporter responsible for informing people about items before the Common Council.

My suspicion was that many other residents didn't see the new stop sign at Carlton and Allen and that gave me a story idea.

The next day, a photographer and I parked on Carlton and watched what happened. And sure enough, a lot of drivers went through that stop sign without slowing down. We kept count and I wrote a story about it. I also asked city officials about whether there was a need to do more to alert residents about new stop signs. The story didn't change anything, and I'm sure residents are still surprised from time-to-time by the sudden addition and removal of signs.

Stop signs, no parking signs, are usually the result of complaints by residents who want to slow traffic down or get rid of on-street parking. Aldermen have been apt to support restrictions because they don't cost much and it usually earns the thanks of neighborhood residents. But this brings me to another story.

When I moved to Miller Street in 1987 there were signs prohibiting parking during the winter months. For reasons unknown to me, the parking signs were removed before winter began that season. It was a big relief. I had bought a three-family with some friends. In total we had six cars, but only enough room for two cars in our driveway.

Some years later, the Common Council was asked to approve a no winter parking restriction on Miller Street. It was on an agenda. I called the alderman sponsoring it and was told by him that his petition was at the request of some Miller Street residents. It had to do with the mess the plows made to get around cars not removed during parking snow emergency bans. But this is a problem in every neighborhood.

None of my neighbors wanted a seasonal parking ban because they all had small driveways and needed off-street parking. The push for no parking was no doubt coming from those Miller Street residents with large lots and room for all their cars.

When I pointed out to the alderman that there were many other residents on Miller Street who needed on-street parking and would be forced to park on adjoining streets (gobbling up on-street parking spaces used by residents on those streets) and then walk, often after dark, to their homes, he pulled the measure.

My experience with the signs on Allen and Miller streets helped to drive home an important lesson: that there is no such thing as a routine item on a council, board or commission agenda.
If I was living on Miller Street today and not in Washington DC, I would have a blog and mailing list as well, about this neighborhood. It would be a way for neighbors to share information and news of importance. An effort by some neighbors to ban parking would be noticed and debated. I think that -- in time -- most neighborhoods in New Britain will have blogs that focus on these often important local issues.

But one thing local bloggers need is access to information and the city has a very important role to play here.

Common Council agendas and minutes are posted online, but you won't find agendas online for many other governmental bodies, such as the Zoning Board of Appeals, an extremely important group or the Police Board. Aldermen can really help by making expanded online posting a priority. There should be very little costs -- if any -- to make reports, agendas and minutes available online.

Keeping residents informed today involves more than newspapers. It includes actions by concerned elected officials, as well as neighborhood residents.

For those New Britain residents interested in creating neighborhood blogs, a great resource is placeblogger. You can also look at my blog in DC, DCBlogs for an idea of how local blog communities develop. Some of the local blogs in placeblogger and DCBlogs are sophisticated but don't let that scare you off. All it takes is opening a free account at blogger.com and within minutes you can have an attractive blog. Adding photos and video is easy as well. Blogging is also a great hobby and much fun. If you want some help, please email me at dcblogs@gmail.com.

Note: Please welcome Elisa, a former Herald reporter who I worked with, will also be writing on this blog. We worked together on many stories, and she loves this city as much as I do.

Photo: Taken on Allen Street this past summer from my car.