The Jonah Center for Earth and Art and The Rockfall Foundation invite the public to an evening with Wesleyan Physics Professor Brian Stewart on Monday, May 20, 7 – 8:30 p.m. in the deKoven House at 27 Washington Street, in Middletown. The talk is titled, “Tipping Points in the Climate, Nature, Society, and Ourselves.”

A tipping point is a watershed moment in space or time, beyond which things play out differently from before; a point of inevitability.  The climax of a narrative, the moment your tires begin to slip on an icy road, the chain of runaway business and bank failures started on Black Monday — these are all examples of tipping points.

Of great importance to us right now are ecosystem tipping points, climate tipping points, social tipping points, political tipping points, and personal tipping points. How are they interrelated?  Do we control any of them?  Professor Stewart will examine the interplay of these tipping points in the context of our unique moment in world history.

Co-sponsoring the event are Artfarm, Ecoin, Middletown Resource Recycling Advisory Commission, and the Middletown Garden Club.  For more information, contact John Hall at 860-398-3771 or Amanda Kenyon at 860-347-0340.

Chris Corson, founder and Technical Director of Ecocor High Performance Building of Maine, will discuss the benefits of pre-fabricated, panelized construction in Passive House buildings and how to address the most important imperative of the building industry: reducing the effects of climate change.  Click here for more information and to register. 

A new, sturdy kiosk at the Phil Salafia, Jr. Canoe and Kayak Launch at 181 Johnson Street was built and installed by Jonathan Shaw on April 27, 2019, as his Eagle Scout project.  The Jonah Center recommended the project to Jonathan, and Middletown’s Department of Public Works supported the improvement. The kiosk will be used to provide maps and other information to paddlers in the area.  Thanks, Jonathan!

Invasive plants are everywhere and a serious threat to the native ecosystem.  Here is an opportunity to learn about this problem and how to identify and deal with invasive plants s in your own yard.

The State of Connecticut’s plans for Route 9 in Middletown are still being developed, but one matter has been settled. Pedestrian bump-outs will be installed on Main Street from Union Street to Green Street during the 2019 construction season. Below is an artist’s rendering of the construction plans at the intersection of College Street and Main Street.

The stated purpose of this project is “to enhance pedestrian safety and reduce vehicular congestion  by shortening pedestrian crossing distances along Main Street.” According to CT-Dot, the significant width of Main Street and the presence of on-street parking has led to the current situation with crosswalk distances of 80-96 feet. The significant time required for pedestrians to cross this distance safely means longer delays for vehicles stopped at intersections. A total of 18 bump-outs are proposed that will reduce the pedestrian crossing distances to approximately 55 feet, allowing the “pedestrian phase” of the traffic signals to be shortened and for the vehicle delay at each intersection to be reduced. Also, the elevated bump-outs will improve visibility for both pedestrians and motorists. Continue reading →

On Wednesday, February 13, 2019, the Transportation Committee of the CT General Assembly held a hearing on a large number of proposed bills, including Proposed S.B. 775, establishing the Central Connecticut Loop  Trail.  Senator Norm Needleman of Portland and Senator Mary Abrams of Meriden and Cheshire were co-introducers of the bill. The legislation passed in the 2019 session, but no funding was included to pay for the route study needed to advance the project.  We are very appreciative of Senator Matt Lesser of Middletown, Rocky Hill, and Wethersfield who took the initiative on this project.

The Central Connecticut Loop Trail will be a 111 mile mostly off-road bicycle route in the center of our state.  The route passes through Cheshire, Southington, Plainville, Farmington, Avon, Simsbury, Bloomfield, Hartford, East Hartford, Manchester, Bolton, Andover, Columbia, Willimantic, Lebanon, Amston, Colchester, East Hampton, Portland, Middletown, and Meriden. Continue reading →

The proposed ordinance to ban single-use plastic checkout bags in Middletown has gathered support. Click on the “Continue Reading” link at the bottom of this post for Facts and a Summary of the draft ordinance, prepared and distributed by the Middletown Garden Club.

Here’s what you can do to help. The draft ordinance is scheduled to be on the agenda of the Public Works Commission on Wednesday, March 13, 6:30 p.m. in Room 208 of City Hall. Early in the meeting, there will be a “public comment” period for residents to voice support or opposition to the ordinance. On the following night, March 14, 6:30 p.m., the ordinance will be on the agenda of the General Counsel Commission in the same room.  Again, there will be an opportunity for public comment.

If all goes well at these two commission meetings, the ordinance will be before the Common Council on Monday, April 1, at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Members of the Common Council may be reached by email (individually, or through one message to the whole Council) through this page on the City’s new website. 

Continue reading →

Middletown’s Department of Public Works has scheduled an important hearing on the Newfield Corridor Trail on Wednesday, February 13, 6:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the Police Station at 222 Main Street.  The Department of Public Works will make a brief presentation on the project. Members of the public will have an opportunity to express support, make comments, and ask questions.

The Jonah Center began advocating in 2012 for a multi-use trail that will start close to the downtown area (such as Veterans Park) and connect with the Mattabesset Bike Path in the Westfield/Westlake section of the city at Tuttle Road. We are excited and delighted that the Public Works Department appears ready to move forward with this long-awaited and talked-about project. The Jonah Center and Middletown’s Complete Streets Committee would appreciate your presence and show of enthusiasm at this meeting to send a strong message to City officials that bicycle and pedestrian are important to you. A strong turnout will help move the project forward.

The City has many infrastructure projects in the works and tends to give priority to those that are perceived to benefit the largest number of residents. So it is important to show that this project has strong support from residents all over town, not just to those who live in the immediate vicinity of the trail. Delays could result in the funds earmarked for the project purchasing far less than they would have originally. 

More information on the trail can be found by clicking on the following links:

 Newfield Corridor Trail  

Air Line Trail – Farmington Canal Trail Connector Route.

As many Middletown residents know, the single lane, wood-decked West Street bridge over the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad just west of Washington St., (pictured below) is badly in need of replacement. The State of Connecticut Department of Transportation (CT DOT) declared the bridge obsolete at least ten years ago, but plans for replacement were delayed for a variety of reasons.

West St. bridge over railroad, looking north

When the Jonah Center and Middletown’s Complete Streets Committee were informed of this project in 2012, we began advocating for a generous (bike trail width) pedestrian and bicycle bridge to be incorporated into the new motor vehicle bridge. Not only is the bridge dangerously narrow for cars, but pedestrians, bicyclists, and wheelchair users frequently cross the bridge, often at great peril. West Street is identified on Middletown’s Complete Streets Master Plan as an important route for bicycles to travel from the south to the north side of Washington Street, and a future multi-use trail is envisioned for the entire length of West Street, from Wadsworth Street to Washington Street.

Middletown’s Public Works Department was supportive of our request, and CT DOT readily accepted the suggested addition of a broad pedestrian and bicycle lane on the east side of the bridge. Continue reading →

Ecoin, Middletown’s Environmental Collective Impact Network, has embraced an initiative, led by the Middletown Garden Club and former Middletown Mayor Maria Madsen Holzberg, to develop and propose a City ordinance to reduce or eliminate free single-use plastic checkout bags handed out by local retailers.

According to the film Plastic Ocean, 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into our oceans every year. Plastics not only contribute to unsightly litter that is a danger for birds and marine life, but they release toxins as they break down. Micro-particles of plastic end up in the muscle tissue of fish eaten by humans. Clearly, as a species we need to find our way to doing less damage to the biological systems we depend on, and that includes using and discarding less plastic.

Reducing our consumption of single-use plastic items — shopping bags, straws, drink containers, utensils, etc. — is something we can all do. But we need some “carrots and sticks” (incentives and regulations) from society as a whole to help us change our ways. Continue reading →

The Jonah Center’s most far-reaching project is to plan and build a mostly off-road bike route from the Air Line Trail in Portland to the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in Cheshire. In partnership with the “RiverCOG” (our local Council of Governments, a  planning agency), we gathered officials from Portland, Middletown, Meriden, and Cheshire in April 2016  to share this vision. All municipalities showed enthusiastic support, at least in principle.

Since that meeting, we have focused on getting Middletown to commence design work on the Newfield Corridor Trail. Progress on the Newfield Corridor Trail and the Air Line Trail in Portland will, we hope, attract the attention and support of statewide transportation planners.  Continue reading →

Beginning in 2012, the Jonah Center has encouraged the City of Middletown to build a 3- mile multi-use trail from Veterans Park to Tuttle Road, where it will connect with the current Mattabesset Bike Path in the Westlake area. The project is called the “Newfield Corridor Trail.” The trail’s location (shown in blue below) is only approximate or tentative while a detailed route study is being performed.

The Newfield Corridor Trail will allow hundreds of students in high density residential neighborhoods to bicycle or walk safely to 4 schools: Lawrence, Keigwin, Middletown High School, and Spencer. It will also be a huge step in creating bicycle access from Cromwell and the Westlake area of Middletown to downtown Middletown. Finally, this 3-mile section, added to 4.5 miles of the existing Mattabessett and Westlake bike paths, will complete nearly 8 miles of the proposed 18 mile Air Line Trail – Farmington Canal Connector Route, a regional project involving Portland, Meriden, and Cheshire that the Jonah Center has been spearheading.

As shown in the conceptual map above, the trail’s approximate route (as of summer 2019) lies on the west side of Newfield Street between Veterans Park and LaRosa Lane, where turns toward Middletown High School. From there it follows a sewer right-of-way to Mile Lane, then beside Kaplan Drive to Lawrence School. From the school, the trail will likely continue north across city-owned open space to Tuttle Road and the existing Mattabessett Bike Path. A more detailed map of the Newfield Corridor Trail may be found here..  (Another possible route from Westfield Street north to Middletown High School south follows the sewer right of way further west of Newfield Street, thus avoiding driveways along Newfield Street completely.) The exact route is now (in the year 2020) being investigated with the help of Milone and Macbroom engineering consultants.

Continue reading →