This was the rare week and change that brought me into Asylum Hill on multiple days. I was lucky to see the progression of a community mural at the 224 EcoSpace. In a time of seemingly non-stop bad news, this creation was needed.

 

Volunteers received instructions for how to contribute to the partially-completed mural, then went to work on creating a message of justice in spite of the heat and humidity.

 

 

 

 

 

The mural faces one of the city’s many community gardens. The combination of gardeners, artists, neighbors, and those visiting the 224 EcoSpace made for great collaboration and vibes.

 

 

 

 

 

From the garden, you can see the West Middle renovations, which are more dramatic on the outside from Niles Street than from Asylum Avenue.

 

 

We find it weird that there is this strong, almost sole, association of the insurance companies with Asylum Hill. Sure, they’re there, but they don’t tell the whole story of this neighborhood. Go on a week night or weekend and you’ll still see people frequenting the small stores along Farmington Avenue, visiting the numerous churches, or working in their yards, some of which contain hens. Behind Hartford High you can see kids playing on the field. Right over the neighborhood division, just a bit into the West End, there is a vibrant farmers’ markets on Tuesdays. Since it moved from a few blocks west, it has been attracting patrons from the apartments in Asylum Hill. The neighborhood does not stop at 5 p.m. It does not pause for the weekend

That is a perspective to keep when we hear that the Connecticut Department of Transportation has reneged on its half-baked plans to create a pedestrian bridge that would mitigate the damage done by the conversion of Flower Street from a through street to one that dead-ends in the middle, forcing pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists — many of whom have no connection to the insurance industry — to find inferior alternatives for north-south passage, that is, travel between the Frog Hollow and Asylum Hill neighborhoods. Those smaller employers might not have the financial sway of the insurance companies, but they matter regardless, and especially when it comes to who is employing those living in both of these neighborhoods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the insurance companies are not the neighborhood, sometimes they do help. The Hartford threw a few million to the City when it came to the former Capitol West building, which was demolished in 2012. Instead of sitting as another dreadful surface parking lot, this site was landscaped, creating a more inviting entry from Downtown to Asylum Hill. Its future, as with so much in Hartford, is uncertain and contingent on whatever the I-84 hellscape and renovation dictates, but in the meantime, it is boosting the area visually.