I wanted to put up more photos of my neighborhood, really to show that there is something between the “ghetto” and the gentrification in Hartford. There is an in between that I think many people here live in, where it’s typical to be woken up by some obnoxious individual’s subwoofer-on-wheels, rather than by gunshots. Usually, I just see people doing strange things.
On March 12th around 9:30pm I witnessed a man in his early twenties who did not appear to be homeless (clean shaven, well-dressed, and looked healthy) pissing next to a blue mail drop box on the corner of Hudson and Park Streets. Almost every afternoon there are men in the parking lot fixing cars. My theory is that this is a chop shop, but my roommate thinks it’s probably just an illegal d.i.y. “shop” that involves legitimate services, but without the licenses and taxes. There’s also invisible litterbugs that plague the area. I never seen people actually throw stuff down, but my backyard is pretty nasty if I don’t constantly pick up wrappers from things. Judging from what these things are (juice boxes, soda cans, and candy wrappers) I’m going to put the main suspects between the ages of 8-16. They are probably also guilty of stealing dollars out of their mothers’ purses so they can go to the store and buy this crap. I never littered, but I know all about maintaining a sugar high during those important years of growth. I suppose I could always go out back and lecture them on how they are stunting their growth, and use myself as a prime example.
Other activities of people in this area: yelling at the street, prostitution (which explains the random condoms in the parking lot, I think), budding gangs that basically exist just to write graffiti on buildings, paintball, driving illegal vehicles down street (quads, dirt bikes, etc.), jaywalking (of course), curb shopping (guilty as charged), schlepping around bags from C-Town, randomly ring doorbells asking for people who do not live there, and using the car horn as a doorbell. There are also some people who like to have very loud arguments out in the street. I’d say this happens once every few months, but I’m not home 24/7 to say for sure. It’s almost always females fighting, or young teens. From what I can tell, it’s also mostly yelling and posturing, which I can be thankful for.
South Green is a small neighborhood wedged between Downtown, Frog Hollow, Barry Square, and Sheldon-Charter Oak. The area seems to be contained between Barnard Park, Colt Park (but doesn’t include Colt Park), and Hartford Hospital. This area has about 2600 people, only about 53% of whom have completed high school. There is a 31% poverty rate for families in this area, which is higher than the poverty rate for the city of New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina.
There are also a ton of small yip-yip dogs in the neighborhood. I don’t hear them often, but if I look out the window, 75% of the time there is somebody bringing their Chihuahua or Pug out. Most people seem to be moderately friendly (you know, by New England norms), except for the few on the street who are involved in the street economy. They don’t get the welcome mat rolled out for them.
The OMaxfield site has more photos and blurbs about all of the city’s neighborhoods.