City May Sell Off Parking

Hartford eyes one-time payment as budget fix

With limited prospects for filling its estimated $30 million budget hole, the City of Hartford is turning to one of its most reliable revenue generators for a potential solution — parking.

‘Lean’ Means Less Red Tape

Maligned for delays, DEP tries streamlined, efficient approach

Businesses have long complained about the bureaucratic backlog in state government. But now some state agencies are looking to shake a business unfriendly stigma by taking a page out of the private sector to reduce the size and cost of government.

Lead Paint Rule Weighs On Contractors’, Consumers’ Wallets

Farmington contractor Darek Talewicz is among those who have taken the renovation course and registered with the EPA.

He Sold Hartford, Now Can He Sell Oz?

Since announcing his candidacy for governor in January, longtime Hartford businessman Nelson “Oz” Griebel has been doing what he’s done most of his professional career: making a sales pitch. But instead of trying to woo new customers, he’s vying for voters and delegates.

AT&T Boss Seeks To Fix CT Business Climate

Q: You most recently were assistant vice president for AT&T in Washington, D.C. Why was your extensive congressional experience important for becoming president of AT&T in Connecticut?

Career-Changer Finding Selling Is Key To Success

Susan Nolte shows off her May Cookie Co. line at her Newington office.

Talking Points

Commercials used to be the time to get up and stretch the ol’ legs, get a snack or let the dog out. Today, they are the signal to hit the fast forward button on the remote.

Hartford Insurance Exec Bennett Takes Helm Of Insurance Institute For Highway Safety Board

Jonathan Bennett of The Hartford is the new chair of The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the trade group known for staging spectacular crashes of late model sedans and SUVs into brick walls.

Planned CT Bank Merger Stirs Search For Uneasy Investors

Four out-of-state law firms have announced that they are investigating potential claims against the board of directors of Southern Connecticut Bancorp Inc. in connection with the company’s recently announced merger.

Housing Picture Murky: Sales Fall, Contracts Up

February’s single-family home sale and price data for the 57-town Hartford area presented a mixed bag, as closed sales fell 11.27 percent from a year earlier with prices down 2.09 percent, while pending sales rose 34.18 percent, and new listings increased 23.15 percent, the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors reported.

‘No’ Is Often Best Answer A Boss Can Hear

Some of the worst employees a manager will ever deal with have a vocabulary problem. “No” and “maybe” don’t seem to be in their dictionary. Who are they? The “Yes” people — those who answer “How high?” every time the boss says “Jump!”

Fresh Faces

Kerry M. Moss

The Connecticut Health Foundation

By Sanford Cloud Jr.

Jewish Community Foundation Receives $1 Million Bequest

The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford has received a $1 million advanced distribution from the estate of Isadore Gershman, who died in January at age 85. An additional $3 million distribution is expected from the estate.

Parking Dilemma

The city of Hartford doesn’t like the term privatization. Officials prefer to brand their latest revenue gambit as “securitizing” the city’s parking assets.

Looking To The Angels

When the legislative circus is in town, not a day goes by without some politician floating an “innnovative” proposal promising to solve a major problem with a tiny tweak.

Ban State From Wine Aisle

The far edges of theoretical Libertarianism might suggest that we all live, naked, in the woods, free to fend for ourselves in the absence of Connecticut’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, local planning and zoning commissions, and all 312 agencies and boards and commissions empowered to give away taxpayer money in the name of “economic development.”

Bipolar Energy Policy Denies Jobs, Growth

By William F. Shughart II

OTHER VOICES

By James Brett and Mike Reopel

Hair Cuts for Hands on Hartford

Platform Salon LLC of Wethersfield presented a $1,515 check to Hands On Hartford on Feb. 25. Funds were raised from Platform’s ‘Cuts for a Cause’ hair cutting event on Valentine’s Day. More than 50 people from throughout the region attended. Pictured, from left, are Platform Salon stylists Bethany Sikora, Heather Schwartz, Vanessa Marinelli, and Rosemary Aiello, Hands On Hartford¹s director of development.

Helping FIRST Robotics Team

Lindsay Parke, Economic Development & Community Relations Manager for CL&P, presents a $5,000 check to support the FIRST Robotics team at Hartford Public High School. Receiving the check is Eddie Rodriguez, an engineer at Pratt & Whitney who also serves as a FIRST Robotics coach at the school. He is surrounded by mentors, teachers, and students, as well as fellow coaches and Pratt & Whitney engineers Madeline Sola (right of Rodriguez) and Nery Cruz (directly behind Rodriguez). Rodriguez, Sola, and Cruz are all Hartford Public High School graduates, class of 2000.

Office Supplies Help Children

Hartford Stamp & Office Works supports the cancer research and treatment programs at Connecticut Children’s with a quarterly donation from their sale of office supplies, rubber stamps, and printing. It presented a check for $2,443.98 to the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center Foundation. Pictured, from left, are David Bourreaux of Hartford Stamp, Martha Schall, foundation president, and Patrick Ringrose of Hartford Stamp.

MS Taste of Hope

Lena Cialfi, pastry and pasta chef at Peppercorn’s Grill of Hartford and Piccolo Arancio of Farmington, stirs up a dish with the restaurants’ executive chef and part-owner Tina Autunno, right, at the MS Taste of Hope, Hartford. The event, held at The Society Room in Hartford, attracted nearly 200 guests and raised more than $30,000 for the National MS Society, Connecticut Chapter, with a matching grant from the Gibney Family Foundation. Cialfi, who was born in Italy, makes all of the homemade pasta served in the two family-owned restaurants.

Rell starts new education commission

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