Last Thursday evening I attended one of Mayor Luke Bronin’s Town Hall Meetings. The topic which is of keen interest to me was Public Safety. It is impossible to convey just how excited I am to have a mayor with Luke’s vision, capability, intelligence and vigor (love the Kennedy-esque term because it fits!). My great concern for this meeting is the total misconception of personal safety in Hartford.
For decades in mentioning that I live here I am greeted with shock and surprise that I am somehow vulnerable to rampant crime and bodily harm. Just this past weekend I was at a dinner where someone who does not nor has ever lived in Hartford explained to the table that Hartford teems with crime. I politely pointed out that his opinion was one of perception based in absolutely no reality.
The Mayor was candid about the pressing financial burdens which the city will shoulder for the near future. He acknowledged that the police force is not staffed to the level which would be advisable. However, we surely benefit from the great management of Chiefs Ravella and Freeman of the Police and Fire Departments, respectively. These leaders are doing a fine job of keeping us safe. We are an urban center so there will be crime yet the statistics do not bear out any form of reality that we exist on mean streets.
Rather than carry on I want to pin a blog to this post written by Kevin Brookman. His blog “We The People” has become for me the must-read for what is happening in Hartford. Please take a look at his blog representing the town hall meeting regarding Public Safety:
Perception, regardless of how false, is something we here live with. As Mayor Bronin asked, it is incumbent on all of us to push back and talk about the reality of safety in our city. Just as I did at dinner. I politely asked my fellow guest to prove his words or simply stop bashing Hartford. He fell silent.
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