For those just tuning in, this Ghost Town series began after the umpteenth time I heard someone declare Hartford to be devoid of people.
I was waving my hands, standing in front of them, being like “hey! I’m people!”
It made me think about where they were looking and who they were not seeing. Who they don’t recognize as other people.
If you stand outside of an office building — not mixed use, but entirely office space — during a pandemic, you are unlikely to see anyone. But why would you go there and expect to? That’s like showing up to the shopping mall on Christmas Day and deciding that retail is dead because nobody’s there.
Most of Hartford is not made of office buildings. You only need to walk one block over, to where there are restaurants and apartment buildings. Go into the parks. There are at least two outdoor church services happening on Sundays in downtown alone. I don’t love the racket, but it’s hard to deny the presence of people either in Bushnell Park or outside of City Hall.
You can go out to any of the neighborhoods and walk along the main thoroughfares: Park, Farmington, Albany, Maple, Wethersfield. Even New Britain Avenue and Broad Street.
Get on public transit, and by that I don’t mean the parking lot shuttles. Get on the 53 or 56 or 60-66 buses. Good luck being able to maintain physical distance on any of those routes.
Also for those just tuning in: I don’t take my camera everywhere and I don’t photograph everyone I see. Otherwise, this week’s collection would include a shot of an older gentleman wearing a “Bimbo” (like the bakery) shirt and another of a woman holding her dog who was rockin’ a cone of shame. There would be a pic of a woman in her underwear outside of an apartment building. Lots of people jogging. Dozens of kids looking wholly unbothered by wearing their masks as they entered the school on the first day. So, so much more.
