With its low self-esteem and high urban blight, Hartford is the ultimate underdog city. Sad City Hartford documents the joys, sorrows and eccentricities of New England's Rising Star.
The Evil Undead Zombie of Abraham Giles has come back to terrorize Hartford once again.
Ed. Note: Originally published April 18, 2012, Council went forward and passed a resolution naming a street corner after Giles last night. Surrounding areas laugh and shake their heads.
Are we the only ones who are completely appalled by the idea that an admitted extortionist, the late Abraham "Butt Ugly" Giles, is very likely to have a street corner named after him in Hartford? No? Good.
We know it's not good to speak ill of the dead, but this one really deserves it.
Reverand Brown at an Anti-Violence Rally this summer.
Earlier this week Hartford Police Chief Daryl Roberts and Mayor Pedro Segarra announced a 6.9% decrease in "serious crime" from 2009 to 2010. Hilda Munoz of the Hartford Courant, informs us that "serious crime is defined as murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and auto theft." All sound pretty serious to us. This is obviously a good thing right? Nobody could be upset about a drop in crime right?
Hartford has been named the 19th Most Dangerous U.S. city according to FBI violent crime statistics. How does this qualify as a minor victory? Hartford beat neighbor city New Haven (ranked 18th) and only a week after repelling an invasion from the north, Hartford scored yet another victory over Buffalo who ranked 17th on the list.
In a refrain all too common throughout the City, police report that they have no suspects and no witnesses from the shooting that killed one and wounded another on Sunday night. The shooting was reported to have taken place at 8:06 PM on a busy area of Franklin Ave yet amazingly no one was a witness to the crime. On a busy main street of a city. At 8 o'clock on a Sunday night.
One of our many skills here at Sad City is solving crime and we think we may have cracked another case. Hilda Munoz of the Hartford Courant is reporting that a man posing as handicapped in a wheelchair and an accomplice robbed a cab driver on Canaan Street Friday night. Going through our extensive database of mostly useless knowledge we have come up with a prime suspect.
Recently we visited Mather Street for the Anti-Violence Rally after a shooting of a Hartford police officer. While taking footage of the rally we couldn't help but notice a site far too familiar. Another abandoned house. Without going into why these are a blight on our city let's look at the positives of this property.
This weekend saw a brawl erupt on Broad St in which a man used a machete and broke a guitar over a man's head. While police are searching for an at large suspect, we here at Sad City think they might have the wrong guy in mind. Reaching back into our memories from growing up in the 80's we recall a man with a propensity for these types of attacks. Even more damning is the fact that this suspect worked for the Connecticut company that current Senatorial candidate Linda McMahon was CEO of. Was this a political attack possibly co-ordinated by McMahon to intimidate an opponent? Or was the suspect acting alone and re-living the glory days of the 80's? Before you dismiss these theories be sure to view the circumstantial evidence in the video clip.
Attorney General/Senatorial Candidate Richard Blumenthal, busy dodging steel chairs from Linda McMahon, still has time to perform his AG duties and announced he will go after convicted Ex-Mayor Eddie Perez's pension. Blumenthal will try to revoke/reduce the pension under a new law enacted after the conviction of also disgraced politician, former Governer John Rowland.
Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez was found guilty on 5 of 6 charges and faces a maximum of 55 years at sentencing on September 10. Following his defenses lead of making inexplicable, preposterous statements, when asked if he had anything to say Perez replied "Yes we can" in Spanish. Nothing like pandering for some sympathy by flatly ripping off the slogan from one of the more successful political campaigns in recent memory.
The police in Hartford needlessly harass its citizens, according to the man loitering in the near vacant city park in the middle of winter. The highlight of this clip is at about 2:30, when we get a glimpse of a man who may or may not be in need of a twelve step program.
In a refrain all too common throughout the City, police report that they have no suspects and no witnesses from the shooting that killed one and wounded another on Sunday night. The shooting was reported to have taken place at 8:06 PM on a busy area of Franklin Ave yet amazingly no one was a witness to the crime. On a busy main street of a city. At 8 o'clock on a Sunday night.
One of our many skills here at Sad City is solving crime and we think we may have cracked another case. Hilda Munoz of the Hartford Courant is reporting that a man posing as handicapped in a wheelchair and an accomplice robbed a cab driver on Canaan Street Friday night. Going through our extensive database of mostly useless knowledge we have come up with a prime suspect.
Recently we visited Mather Street for the Anti-Violence Rally after a shooting of a Hartford police officer. While taking footage of the rally we couldn't help but notice a site far too familiar. Another abandoned house. Without going into why these are a blight on our city let's look at the positives of this property.
