I want to share some highlights including state and local updates.
I always look forward to the opportunity to meet with residents face-to-face and really talk about your concerns and ideas – it’s what helps me to best represent our community. I’ll be hosting Virtual Office Hours. If you’d like to participate, sign up for a time slot by clicking on the link below.
Please call the office with any questions at (860)240-8541 or email us at Awet.Tsegai@cga.ct.gov
In this email you'll find updates on district resources and news. Please click the links below to read the section that corresponds with the highlighted headline.
A NOTE: If you're having trouble clicking through the following links, open this email in a browser, use a computer or scroll through this email to the relevant section.
In the 1790s, a deadly epidemic of yellow fever swept throughout the eastern United States, hitting densely populated urban centers like New Haven especially hard. As fever-related fatalities multiplied, the burying grounds located behind the churches on the New Haven green — operation for nearly 150 years — quickly exceeded capacity. City leaders responded by designating and designing a large plot of land near the outskirts of the city as the Elm City’s new city of the dead.
On November 9th, 1797, Martha Beardsley became the first person to be buried in the “New Burying Ground,” which soon came to be known as the Grove Street Cemetery. City planners designed the cemetery to model the nine-square grid pattern of the city itself. They carefully laid out the sections where future residents and their families would be buried to avoid the overcrowding issues commonly experienced in disorganized churchyards. Because of these features, the Grove Street Cemetery is considered the first planned burying ground in the country, as well as the first to incorporate the use of formal family plots. Its construction marked a turning point in American urban history. Following the Grove Street model, more cities began favoring purposefully designed, sprawling, park-like cemeteries to house their dead, instead of the centuries-old model of ad hoc, disorganized graveyards typically located behind church buildings and meetinghouses.
An 1879 photo of the Grove Street Cemetery’s Egyptian Revival-style front gate, with a Victorian-style chapel behind it.
When the cemetery’s original wooden fence began to decay in the 1830s, the city built high walls of brownstone to surround and protect the yard. They hired architect Henry Austin to design a striking Egyptian-revival-style front gate, inscribed with the portentous phrase “The Dead Shall Be Raised.” Since 1797, the Grove Street Cemetery has become the final resting place for over 14,000 Connecticans, including many of the state’s most famous residents. These include Noah Webster, Eli Whitney, Roger Sherman, Lyman Beecher, Charles Goodyear, Walter Camp, Glenn Miller, and scores of other famous architects, inventors, Yale professors and presidents, and statesmen. Today, as a National Historic Landmark, the Grove Street Cemetery remains one of New Haven’s most popular historical attractions and urban retreats..
Manchester
Please arrive early to be in line for 9 am as the truck leaves promptly at 9:30 am. Open to the public--bring a sturdy grocery bag! This program is made possible by Foodshare and Winn Residential - Resident Service Program. For more information call 860-646-1280.
Squire Village, 48 Spencer Street, 06040 (1st parking lot off Imperial Drive #78)
Tuesday, November 21, 2023 | 09:00 AM - 09:30 AM
Tuesday, December 05, 2023 | 09:00 AM - 09:30 AM
Get mobile pantry updates in your area by texting the word Foodshare to 85511.
East Hartford
The Connecticut Foodshare truck will be in the parking lot to distribute the food. Please bring your bags and be prepared to possibly wait in line.
Mayberry Village –St. Isaac Jogues Church Parking Lot (41 Home Terrace East Hartford)
Monday, November 13th, 2023 12:30 PM-1:15 PM
Monday, November 27th, 2023 12:30 PM-1:15 PM
Get mobile pantry updates in your area by texting the word Foodshare to 85511.
Whiton Branch Library, 100 North Main Street, Manchester, CT, 06042
The Manchester Public Library will be having a “Diwali Diya Painting” event on Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. at the Whiton Branch Library on 100 North Main Street.
For this adults-only program, participants will be provided with all the materials necessary to decorate a clay diya with paint in celebration of Diwali, the Festival of Lights. This is a FREE program but spaces are limited to 20 participants and registration is required - please call 860-645-0821 to secure a spot. For more information on this event, please call: 860-645-0821.
Veterans Day Parade
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Parade and Color Guard form and step off from American Legion Drive, at 10:30 a.m. Arrive at Manchester Memorial Hospital for Outdoor Ceremony on Front Lawn. Lowering of Colors, Placing of Wreaths, Playing of Taps, and Bagpiper.
In case of inclement weather, the remainder of the ceremony will take place inside the hospital in the H. Louise Ruddell Auditorium at 11:15 a.m.
Manchester Road Race
On November 23, 2023 10am
For more information on the race and activities click on the link below
Each fall, the Town receives many inquiries from residents regarding the leaf collection program. The following information may be useful in understanding the Leaf Collection Program
As part of the Town's continuing effort to improve efficiency and maintain the safest operation possible, it is possible that leaves on one side of a street will be collected up to two or three days in advance of the other side of the street.
Residents are reminded that once vacuum collection has been completed on your street, leaf disposal must be either in paper yard waste bags set out at the curb on your normal trash collection day, or dropped off at the Manchester Transfer Station at 311 Olcott St.
For more information on the collection schedule and to see which area your road is located in, follow link below:
Manchester has launched planning efforts for its 2023 Bicentennial Celebration. This year long celebration will consist of a variety of opportunities to remember the past, celebrate the present, and dream about the future. Festivities will include historical and educational programs, special events, and commemorative projects.
East Hartford Parks and Recreation Basketball
Registration OPEN for 2023-24 Season
The East Hartford Parks and Recreation Youth Basketball program will open it’s 2023-24 registration for East Hartford Boys and Girls in Grades Kindergarten through 8th grade on Monday, November 6th. Preseason Basketball Clinics begin the week of November 13th for Boys and Girls in Grades 3 through 8th grade. Our regular season will be the week of November 27th with mandatory evaluation. Players will be placed on teams after evaluation and the program will start December 4th. Instruction Basketball Program for our younger players will start Sunday, January 7th.
To view the Preseason Clinics, Evaluations, Regular Season, and Instruction Basketball Program schedule, please visit www.easthartfordct.gov/parks-recreation.
Any questions, please call the East Hartford Parks and Recreation Office at 860-291-7160, Monday – Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
East Hartford Intergenerational Event
Breakfast & Interactive Drumming
WHO: Anyone who is 55 or older and reside in the Town of East Hartford and their guests WHAT: Intergenerational Event – Breakfast and Interactive Drumming WHEN: November 18th at 9:00 am WHERE: 15 Milbrook Drive, East Hartford
The East Hartford Senior Center invite you to a Breakfast & Interactive Drumming. Breakfast will be served at 9:00 am. Come alone or bring your adult child, grandchildren and or great grandchildren. We will be serving your choice of pumpkin pancakes or buttermilk pancakes, bacon, OJ, coffee and tea. We will have an interactive drumming show for you and your family after breakfast. Please arrive for breakfast for 9:00 am. If you show up past 9:15, you may lose your spot. One adult guest per member. Space is limited. You must register in person at the Senior Center. Cost is $3.00 for members, $5.00 for non-members and children under 12 are FREE.Seating is limited. No tickets will be sold at the door.
Any resident wishing to challenge alleged excessive rental charges, and alleged violations, including retaliation may do so by submitting an application to the Fair Rent & Quality Housing Commission.
Applications are made available; online-scroll to end of these instructions for web form, Tenant Complaint Form (PDF), orhard copy in the Mayor's Office.
East Hartford to Celebrate Small Businesses
with a Passport Contest
The Town of East Hartford has partnered with East Hartford Development Department and local Main Street businesses to offer a fun contest in celebration of Small Business Saturday coming up in November.
Individuals who wish to participate will be asked to collect stickers from at least 5 participating businesses for a chance to win a $100 gift card to one of them. How to participate?
Pick up a contest passport at any of the participating businesses starting October 24, 2023.
Passports will be available at the following locations:
Community Cultural Center – 50 Chapman Place, East Hartford
Raymond Library – 840 Main Street, East Hartford
Wickham Library – 656 Burnside Avenue, East Hartford
Fill out the required information in the passport book, including your name, email, and phone number.
Visit at least five of the participating businesses and ask for a passport sticker. Purchases are encouraged, but not required!
Drop off your filled out passport in the designated boxes at the Community Cultural Center or either branch of the East Hartford Public Library by Wednesday, November 22. Only one entry is allowed per person.
On Small Business Saturday, November 25, 2023 three winners will be selected at random from passports that have at least five stamps.
Winners will receive a $100 gift card from one of the participating businesses. The contest is open to both East Hartford residents and visitors. Remember to support East Hartford small businesses this Small Business Saturday and every day!
Leaf Collection Program 2023
East Hartford, CT— The Town of East Hartford will begin the annual curbside leaf collection program began on Monday, October 30, 2023. The program will feature a continuous vacuuming of leaves placed in piles on a tree belt. Leaves will be vacuumed Monday through Saturday continuously through December 9, 2023.
The leaf collection program will commence on roads in the northwest corner of town in the area of Pitkin Street and then proceed north and east through the Burnham and Goodwin Street areas. Leaves will be vacuumed along each street, weather permitting. Collection will proceed in a clockwise direction around town. There will be no leaf collection on two (2) Town-observed holidays—Veterans Day, November 10, 2023 and Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2023.
The schedule for leaf pickup can be found on the Department of Public Works Weekly Advisory Map, and on the Facebook page. The map will show completed areas as well as the areas where leaf collection is anticipated the following week. Residents should note that the map is tentative and dependent on the weather and the speed of collection and should not be considered a set collection schedule. Progress of the collection is weather-dependent and will be affected by rain or snow. Snowfall before mid-December may cause a suspension or cancelation of leaf collection. The map will be updated with address-specific collection information, such as whether collection has been completed or is anticipated by close of business on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Residents, please look for leaf program lawn signs! Leaf collection lawn signs will be posted in neighborhoods to notify residents that curbside leaf pickup is coming, and to encourage raking to the curb and paper leaf bag collection.
This information will also be communicated via our EH Alert platform as a text, call or email to those subscribed to “town services.” To receive those notifications, please select "Town Services" during registration in the drop down menu. Residents also have two (2) additional options for leaf disposal: OPTION 1: Curbside Brown Bag Collection for six (6) weeks
Town crews will pick up leaves placed in biodegradable brown paper bags beginning October 30, 2023 through December 9, 2023 on your regular waste collection day, weather permitting. Leaves, in biodegradable brown paper bags only. No grass clippings, branches or other waste items can be placed in the paper bags nor will the Town collect leaves in plastic bags.
OPTION 2: Resident Transport to The Transfer Station for FREE Disposal
Residents may also bring their leaves to the Transfer Station on Ecology Drive between 8 AM to 1:45 PM on the following days:
Every Saturday in November
First three Saturdays in December
Transfer Station will be open on November 11 & 25 for leaves only.
Leaves in plastic bags will not be accepted.
Instructions for using theWeekly Advisory Map:
Enter your address in the search bar.
The Map will show your property- click on it to pull up the anticipated collection week.
To find out if the leaf collection has already been completed in your area, please click on the road centerline, which will indicate if the street has been completed. For any additional information, please call Public Works Administration, 860-291-7374.
My office is always open if you or your family are in need of assistance. Please do not hesitate to contact me by email atJason.Rojas@cga.ct.govor by phone at 860-240-8541.
