Maria Horn

I had a confluence of events this week that focused on public goods: things that are, or should be, available and accessible to all of us.  They include the US Postal Service, the ballot box, clean air and water, mental health care, and utilities like electricity, phone and internet, for example.  The way we make these accessible is different in each case, but there are market failures with each that make it necessary for the government to play a role to ensure equitable access. 

The need to close the digital divide and provide reliable internet access for every resident becomes more clear with every event that befalls us. The pandemic showed us that bare-bones access is not adequate for a family working from home with children who are expected to learn remotely. Health care also suffers when there’s no internet access.

COVID-19 hit nursing homes hard throughout the Northeast, and residents of Connecticut’s long-term care facilities experienced higher lethality levels than any other state. This week the state received an interim report taking a hard look at what happened, good and bad. The report (linked to, and described more fully below), made no sweeping conclusions, but identified a number of missteps, some of which came as a result of our limited knowledge of the virus.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which prohibited the states and the federal government from denying women the right to vote. After decades of protest and agitation, by many whose names are still not widely known today, women took a huge step towards true equality, a fight that continues today. By some measures 100 years is a long time, but it is squarely within the lifetimes of women in my family I grew up with, and it is hard to imagine a world which did want their vote.

After a brutal week (and more, for many residents of the Northwest Corner), the conversations I’m having with constituents are shifting.  They’re shifting from Eversource (and concerns about electrical power) to other utilities that provide telephone, cable, or internet (Comcast/Xfinity, Frontier, and Optimum/Altice, for example), as the fragility of this infrastructure has been laid bare, and I work to make sure individual problems get attention. 

Last night my family pried all of my devices out of my hands and made me go outside and watch the meteor shower for a few minutes.  It was a reminder that there is still, indeed, a big picture out there, and that we will move through all of the obstacles that have been thrown in front of us, with the help of our neighbors, friends, family, and loved ones: with the help of our communities. 

We have been hit with yet another serious set of challenges this week, with massive power and connectivity outages caused by Tropical Storm Isaias hitting our area hard: as of this morning, five towns in the district were still more than 80% without power.

My desk at home looks onto our patio and garden, where my husband and I have just finished taking down the umbrellas and moving the potted plants and a few folding chairs into safer spots in preparation for the high winds and heavy rain that may be coming our way courtesy of Tropical Storm Isaias.