Addressing Housing Shortages: Meriden Breaks Ground on Historic Factory Conversion

By Hugh McQuaid

October 22 @ 2:00 pm

Developers and public officials representing Meriden broke ground last week on a project to convert the historic Aeolian Organ and Music Company factory into a mixed-income apartment building, which will provide 82 new housing units in the city’s North End.

During a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, town officials and members of Meriden’s legislative delegation said the adaptive reuse of the 140-year-old factory complex would provide housing solutions for new residents in a variety of income brackets.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Sen. Jan Hochadel, D-Meriden, said, “not only for the residents but the community and Meriden as a whole, because Meriden is known as a great place to live and raise your family and I think this project exemplifies that so I cannot wait to see this final project finished. I hope it becomes a model for everywhere in this state because this project will change lives while revitalizing those communities.”

Of the 82 housing units that will be created by the project, 71 units will be affordably priced for household making at or below 80% of the area’s median income. The project is located within walking distance of public transportation and will include amenities like a fitness center, kids’ playroom, indoor bike storage, and a community room.

Dan Drazen, a vice president at developer Trinity Financial, described the factory’s storied history as a one-time leading producer of automated organs and pianos. The Meriden-based facility produced high-end musical instruments between 1887 and 1930, he said.

Trinity’s “adaptive reuse” project seeks to preserve much of the facility’s historical charm by including original features like exposed beams or new energy-efficient windows built in an historically accurate style. Drazen joked that the project’s developers had settled on a new name, Tremont Flats at the Piano Factory, because “it’s easier to say.”

The redevelopment of the 123,000 square-foot building at 85 Tremont St. has been funded in part by $9.5 million in financing from the Connecticut Department of Housing and $4.78 million in financing from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority.

U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, said the project came at a perfect time, as Connecticut seeks to address an ongoing shortage of available housing units, and served the dual purpose of repurposing a long-vacant property.

“This community has had to live with this blighted property for so long that I can imagine the excitement and the anticipation of seeing it transform,” she said.

Early Voting Begins in Connecticut

By Hugh McQuaid

October 21 @ 12:15 pm

Early voting in the 2024 general election began Monday in Connecticut — a milestone for the state which, until this year, was among a tiny minority of jurisdictions that did not allow voters to cast ballots in-person before Election Day.

Voters in each of Connecticut’s 169 municipalities have access to at least one location to vote early until Sunday, Nov. 3. Early voting hours will run most days from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. However, these hours will be expanded from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on both Oct. 29 and Oct. 31.

The option to vote early follows a constitutional amendment, which was approved by Connecticut voters in 2022, and subsequent legislation crafted by state lawmakers last year.

Although residents had the opportunity to vote early in primary elections earlier this year, Monday marks the first time Connecticut voters will have the option to vote early in a presidential general election, when turnout is typically higher.

In a press release last week, Gov. Ned Lamont said the new policy would provide voters with an early option that mirrored the traditional in-person Election Day voting process.

“Connecticut is finally joining the rest of the nation by having a system of early voting, and our hope is that the convenience this creates will encourage more people to vote,” Lamont said.

Connecticut’s adoption of an early voting policy leaves voters in only Alabama, Mississippi, and New Hampshire without the option to cast ballots ahead of Election Day.

After residents voted to amend the state constitution to permit early voting in Connecticut, legislators approved a policy allowing 14 days of in-person voting.

The two-week period is shorter than the early voting window in many other states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which found the national average was 20 days. However, voting periods in U.S. states ranged from three to 46 days, the NCSL found.

Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said the start of Connecticut’s early voting window followed months of efforts by her office and local administrators across the state to ensure a safe and secure election.

“After years of waiting, voters will no longer need to worry that an emergency or unexpected event could prevent them from casting their vote,” Thomas said.

In many municipalities, local election officials are conducting early voting at the town or city hall. However, municipalities with populations exceeding 20,000 residents have the option of operating additional early voting locations.

Voters can visit myvote.ct.gov for a list of early voting locations in each Connecticut town and city.

Seasonal Respiratory Illnesses Hitting Harder Amid Flagging Vaccine Uptake

By Joe O’Leary

October 18 @ 1:00 pm

Connecticut’s dashboard built to track statistics related to illnesses – COVID, influenza and RSV – is now up and running as the state enters the respiratory virus season, which runs from October to June.

Statistics showcase a fall in reported COVID cases in October after an extended plateau of cases in the summer. The state experienced 109 reported deaths from COVID from August to October and 19 total hospitalizations from the flu so far this season.

The available data reveals an interesting trend. As of October 12, about 202,189 Connecticut residents – representing about 5.6% of the state’s population – have received the latest updated COVID vaccine after it became available in September.

However, uptake of the seasonal influenza vaccine, also available since September, is almost exactly double that amount, at 406,145 people and about 11.3% of the state. Why are twice as many people receiving the flu vaccine compared to the COVID vaccine?

The trend likely contributed to an increase in hospitalizations, described recently by Connecticut Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani, who said in the 2023-24 respiratory virus season, 88% of COVID-related hospitalizations occurred in people who were not up to date on their COVID vaccines, which have released once a year in late summer since 2022.

The impact of these statistics has been exacerbated by age: 70% of people who were hospitalized for COVID in that time were ages 65+, the biggest risk factor for negative COVID outcomes.

However, state data shows that vaccination rates for COVID and flu are wildly different for those key age ranges. For residents ages 60-69, coverage for COVID is just 11% while flu is 16%; for ages 70-79, COVID coverage is 21%, while flu coverage is 28%; and COVID coverage is 20% for ages 80+ but 28% for flu.

According to Gallup, a similar trend was spotted last year. As of Dec. 20, 2023, Gallup said, only 29% of Americans received an updated COVID shot, while 47% received the flu shot by that time. This came after more than 70% of Americans received at least one COVID vaccine in 2020 and 2021.

Gallup spotted discrepancies in COVID rates that aligned with political ideology. While nearly half of Democrats had received the shot last year, only 10% of Republicans did, and 82% of Republicans said they weren’t receiving the updated COVID shot, compared to 52% of Republicans who received flu shots.

A Gallup survey of those who did not receive vaccine doses said they most commonly turned down shots because they believed they had antibodies against the virus, were concerned about the vaccine’s safety and did not believe it was effective, with a number also saying they believed they wouldn’t suffer health complications should they get COVID, underscoring a larger belief that COVID was less of a concern than it once was.

The Kaiser Family Foundation also reported last year that vaccine attitudes and uptake can differ among Republicans compared to their support of Donald Trump and the “Make America Great Again,” or MAGA, movement.

It found that supporters of MAGA were 10% less likely to receive a COVID vaccine, with rates falling to 20% among MAGA supporters under the age of 50. Two-thirds of MAGA Republicans said they would “definitely not” get an updated COVID vaccine, and MAGA Republicans were also less likely to get any vaccine, including the flu shot.

These factors correlated to MAGA Republicans being less likely to believe any vaccine, including RSV and flu shots, were safe to take. Whether this was due to misinformation or personality type was not identified.

Regardless of reason, reduced vaccine uptake makes public health officials’ jobs more challenging, as reduced vaccination rates often correlate to higher prevalence of illness in the community. Commissioner Juthani said that Connecticut has already seen two deaths from flu and dozens of COVID deaths in recent months as of October, underscoring a need for greater uptake – those who died were, respectively, at least 90 years old and just two months old.

Updated flu, COVID and RSV vaccines are available at local pharmacies and doctor’s offices for all eligible Connecticut residents.

New Grants Fund Broadband Improvements in More than Half of Connecticut Towns

By Hugh McQuaid

October 17 @ 5:00 am

Broadband projects in towns and cities across Connecticut will receive a boost through the release of $28 million in grants meant to support the expansion of broadband infrastructure, Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration announced last week.

The grants will offset the costs of projects to bolster access to high-speed Internet at more than 3,000 locations across the state.

Funding for the grants come from the federal American Rescue Plan Act and has been released under the ConneCTed Communities Grant Program. The initial round of grants will benefit 88 towns and cities, which accounts for more than half of the state’s 169 municipalities.

In a press release, Lamont said the funding represented a critical step in Connecticut’s push to make broadband more widely available.

“The expansion of broadband infrastructure will make Connecticut’s towns and cities stronger, more resilient, and better positioned to engage in today’s increasingly digitized world,” Lamont said.

The largest single grant in the program’s first round went to Comcast, which received more than $21 million to support upgrade projects at nearly 2,100 locations spread across more than 75 Connecticut municipalities.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection began accepting applications for the second round of funding earlier this month. The agency is expected to release another $12.8 million in grants to support infrastructure enhancements, including support for projects at multi-dwelling homes in distressed municipalities.

The state legislature approved the funds to build out Connecticut’s broadband infrastructure through a bill in 2021. The legislation passed unanimously through the state Senate.

When the proposal was raised for a public hearing, John Erlingheuser, advocacy director for the state AARP, testified in support of the bill, saying the grants would help Connecticut ensure that its older residents had access to affordable and reliable Internet.

“Among other things, high-speed internet access allows older residents to overcome social isolation through virtual visitation with friends and family, and staying connected to houses of worship, senior centers, libraries and more,” he said.