Hartford’s iconic Mayor Mike died on Sunday. He had been liver problems and complications following a transplant for quite some time. A former fire-fighter, Mayor Mike helped keep Hartford’s major employers from taking off for greener pastures, and a bunch of other stuff The Courant lists that I’m too young to substantiate, but include: knocking down housing projects, rebuilding others, and apparently getting a butt-load of money from Washington.
Surely, Mayor Mike’s familiar face will be missed but I think the Courant’s descriptions of his achievements are dubious.This paragraph would imply that perhaps these problems had been solved.
In the 1980s, he was working at Engine 15 on New Britain Avenue. Blocks away, gangs of drug-dealing thugs were gunning one another down. The public schools were awful. Abandoned housing soiled street scapes. Corporations were downsizing and moving away.
That seems like a pretty accurate description of Hartford today. But the article also points out that Mayor Mike’s powers were limited by the city charter — which has been revised, and gives current mayor Eddie Perez much more power. Of course, Hartford is still a nightmare, but I guess building new luxury apartments and hotels is a plus.
Alas, Mayor Mike did make waves. Apparently, he was a hit with out-of-town reporters when they came to town for the 1996 presidential debates (seriously, I don’t remember that at all) and he brought the Stop & Shop and Crown Palace Cinemas to the west side (and everyone knows that’s the best place to get a good deal on movies). Thanks Big Guy!
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