In mid-September, the Middletown Garden received a donation of over 7000 pollinator plants from Casertano Greenhouses and Farms in Cheshire. Plants included butterfly weed, goldenrod, salvia, blanket flower, sedum, and scabiosa. Continue reading
Category Archives: News & Events
New Mobility Options In Middletown
You may have noticed the electric scooters and bikes parked on sidewalks in downtown Middletown and neighborhoods near the Wesleyan campus. The program offers new ways for people to get around without driving. Continue reading
Waste Reduction Pilot Project
Pictured from left to right: Tracy Babbidge, Interim Deputy Commissioner of DEEP; Mayor Ben Florsheim; State Senator Matt Lesser; Katie Dykes, Commissioner of DEEP; Chris Holden, Middletown Director of Public Works. The orange (bag for food waste) and green bag (for other trash) in the center will be used for the co-collection pilot project.
The City of Middletown has received a state grant of $350,000 for a one-year pilot project on curbside food-waste collection in Middletown’s Sanitation District. Now we need citizens (whether we live in the Sanitation District or not) to learn about this program, help make it successful, and advocate for its continuation. Continue reading
Another Native Tree Threatened
Dark green striping or other discoloration between veins of beech leaves indicates disease.
By Jane Harris
Although Beech Leaf Disease has been observed in the U.S. since 2012, little as yet is known about the spread of the disease, and a cure is still to be found. While it is most often seen on younger forest trees, it can spread to, and kill, ornamental European beeches, including the enormous purple and copper beeches seen in of large estates and cemeteries. Typically, the first sign of the disease is in the form of thinning leaf canopies.
While it is known to spread via a nematode, the way that the nematode infects the trees is not well understood.
Beeches have suffered for some time from Beech Bark Disease, and trees already weakened by one disease will be more susceptible to the other. More information is contained here, including diagnostic photos of infected leaves.
Sidwalk Improvements Coming To Portland
Portland walkers will enjoy expanded and repaired sidewalks over the next year or so. Continue reading
The Future of Pameacha Pond
Photo credit: Mary-Ellen Sutton
What will happen to Pameacha Pond? 4 years have passed since Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and the city of Middletown signed a consent order in August 2018 requiring the relocation of a main sanitary sewer line from the dam’s discharge culvert and the repair of the Pameacha dam. For decades, DEEP had expressed concern about deterioration of the dam, but when another break (like numerous previous ones) in the sewer line in June 2018 resulted in the discharge of raw sewage into Long Hill Brook, DEEP required the city to take certain steps leading to the repair of the dam. Continue reading
Source To Sea Cleanup On River Road
On September 24, 35 hard-working volunteers removed many bags of trash, a mattress, 5 tires, several coolers, discarding clothing, and many other items from River Road and the shore of the Connecticut River near the decommissioned sewage treatment plant. Shown here is about ½ of the total of the Jonah Center’s haul. Continue reading
Route 9 Middletown-Cromwell Multi-use Connector Trail
The proposed connector trail is indicated by the yellow line. The Arrigoni Bridge is at the bottom.
Let’s make it possible to bicycle or walk safely from downtown Middletown to Main Street in Cromwell via a multi-use trail constructed on the existing access road the lies parallel to Route 9, between the highway and the railroad tracks.
Here’s the background: Governor Lamont’s Executive Order No. 21-03, signed on December 16, 2021, lists actions to be taken by CT State agencies to achieve the goals of the Governor’s Climate Change Coalition (GC3). Among them was this item:
DOT shall set a 2030 vehicle miles traveled reduction target and develop a plan of investments to contribute to and encourage the achievement of such targeted reductions. Continue reading
Pecausett Pond Mega-Pull
Photo credit, Anne-Marie Cannata McEwen
In spite of a heavy downpour that ended just 30 minutes before the scheduled launch time of 5 p.m. on August 17, 41 paddlers showed up to save Pecausett Pond in Portland from a serious infestation of water chestnut. Our goal was to remove several large, dense patches and many isolated plants before their nuts dropped. Water chestnut (Trapa natans) is an aquatic invasive plant imported from Asia in the 1880s. Once established, the plants can cover freshwater ponds and river coves, cutting off sunlight and oxygen that fish require. Continue reading
Who’s Walking In Portland
Cora Chenier is a proud and happy walker.
The coronavirus pandemic has been hard on everyone, but especially on elementary school children. It’s an age of rapid development – intellectual, social, and emotional. When students had 3 days per week of “virtual” classes from home, learning was limited. Children’s development was restricted just when it needed stimulation through adventure, growing independence, and socializing with classmates. Continue reading
Traffic Calming in Portland
First Selectman Ryan Curley was the first to sign the Pace Car Pledge.
By Amanda Foley
Portland’s Complete Streets Group (CSG) invites Portland residents to participate in the Pace Car program by signing a pledge to drive safely, courteously, within the speed limit, and to share the road with pedestrians and cyclists. A Hartford Courant article published on 3-19-22 stated that the number of pedestrians struck and killed by cars on Connecticut roads has more than doubled in the past 10 years. Factors cited include speeding and distracted driving. Portland Complete Streets Group has introduced this Pace Car program as a traffic calming initiative to address these factors. Continue reading
Close Lyceum Road & Protect Wildlife Habitat
This article (not including the update at the end) originally appeared on June 9 in the Middletown Press.
Lyceum Road in May 2022. Photo credit Jon Morris.
Over the past winter (2021-22) Middletown’s Department of Public Works proposed to close Lyceum Road, a 3/10-mile road south of Randolph Road, between Millbrook and Chamberlain Hill Roads. It crosses Sumner Brook (below) and its surrounding floodplain. For years, the road has been in chronically poor condition due to its low elevation and frequent flooding. Continue reading