The official excuse given to me by one of the aldermen is that the sewers needed to be repaired first. Others, including my partner, insist that the sewers have already been fixed. Any information on this?

I'm not sure who gave you an "official" excuse - and while I know that they still need to do some sewer work in the area, the City should not be waiting for that to occur before doing the repaving that is neccessary. Bishop isn't in the budget for this year, but I'll try to get it into the budget for next fiscal year (I'll confer with the other alderman who represents half the street and see if he can help get this done) Bishop isn't nearly as bad as many other strets across the city, but it certainly needs quick action.

I believe that we were told that this end of the street could not be resurfaced until some waste water pipes were replaced. Well the waste water pipes were dug up and replaced, I believe at least a year ago. Would it be possible to resurface the street this year, and raise the stone curbs? Thanks, Rich Richie, 24 Bishop Street.

I appreciate the need for service here, without question, particularly given the taxes our neighborhood now faces as a result of revaluation - but, to be honest, I just got an estimate that this type of work will cost in the neighborhood of $40,000- money that I know I can't get this year, but like I said earlier, I will fight to have included in next year's budget, hopefully with the help of the alderman from your ward.

It was Michael Smart who mentioned to me the waste water pipe issue in a conversation over the phone, when I sent out emails to both him and Roland some three weeks or so ago. Back then I did not know that the waster water pipe issue was really an official excuse, hence my comment. Now that I know that it is an official excuse, I would expect both the aldermen as well as the city to move to do something about it. Roland's concern is appreciated. I also believe that given the tax reevaluation, we should at least press for more from the city. After all, they get a lot of money out of us.

I am not good at mapping wards, can someone map Michael Smart's Ward so that he gets alerts.
Also, could we pass this issue to him so that he may be involved in the conversation.
Anybody have an email for him?

The sidewalks should be "bumped out" when the street is repaved. Currently, the crosswalks are too wide, making it likely that a pedestrian will get hit by cars turning onto Bishop from State/Orange, or vice versa.

Also, ideally, the crosswalks should be raised. This would have a major traffic calming impact on the street as a whole (raising property values), and also make it easier for people to cross Bishop when walking down Orange.

Example: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2365/2238158788_ba1601db58.jpg?v=0 (this is what every street in London looks like)

With many young families, children and elderly persons constantly in the area, this would be a smart thing for the city to do.

There are other things to consider, like small speed tables and 15 mph posted speeds (including "15"s painted on the road a couple times to drive the point home to drivers). If you want to see property values rise, you need to make the street an attractive place to live, work and play, not just drive down.

This is great Mark,
It would be incredible if the city experimented with this here.

I agree. I hope the complete streets design manual (which the Board of Aldermen unanimously voted to create back in October) will have design guidelines that include improved pedestrian facilities like these. If London and virtually every other city in Europe, and many in the U.S., are installing these, Connecticut's cities should as well.

Calling your state reps, Senator Looney, Governor Rell, etc., can help get these on the radar screen this year. The General Assembly is poised to pass a bill that would fund such improvements, but they need to hear from many more citizens who are in support.

Here's a photo. A bunch of potholes have opened up.

Has anyone received feedback on this from Michael Smart?

I just sent an e-mail to Michael to see if he could address our concerns to have the street resurfaced, and the curbs raised. I will post again when I get an answer back from Alderman Michael Smart.

Thank you for following up, Richard.

Any progress on this?