4th district bike tour

I went on a bike tour of the 4th district today. The Council and residents were invited, but only Town Manager Michael Milone and P&R Director Bob Ceccolini accompanied me.

We started at Lock 12 and first visited an abandoned house up on Prospect Ridge, accessed via Roaring Brook. I'd never been there before, but had known about the house since I was kid... I could always see it (during the winter) from the hike up to the falls. Anyway, it's in disrepair and is now frequented by kids... which isn't good with who-knows-what going on and windows getting smashed. Should the town knock it down? I don't know, but there are problems. My thought instead was to try to find someone who would live there (even free of charge), as long as s/he fixed the place up and maintained it... so if you know anyone, pls mention it. Do consider though... there are lots of downsides to the place.

Rode up Higgins and cut across the linear trail, returning to N. Brooksvale to visit Norton School... where the town is thinking about building a sidewalk from Farmington to Norton, on the north side of the road. This would be good for Norton walkers. But then I remembered the sidewalk cut thru from Farmington to the back of Mr. Verrilo's kickball field, behind Norton. So maybe the sidewalk isn't really necessary?

We stopped by firehouse #3. Construction has begun. We rode thru the back of Southwick to Cherrywood to see the drainage system back there. Then it was up Cook Hill, around Fenn, back to Ives Corner and up South Brooksvale before getting back on the linear trail to Lock 12.

One thing that I had been wondering about... does anyone know why the tiny little house at Ives Corner (the one b/w S. Main and Harrison) got torn down? I'm wondering if it's related to a possible additional turning lane (out of S. Brooksvale, turning north), but I'm not sure. Someone recently told me the DOT is working on that... but who knows what happens when it comes to the DOT.

This tour included only the 4th district. I'm not sure when the "5th district" portion of the 4th district will be covered. Geographically, it probably makes sense to cover part of the fifth with the first district, and part of the fifth district with the third district. Can you say the word... "gerrymander?"

I believe Elizabeth Esty will be leading a bike tour of the 1st district next week. And rumor has it the press is going to be there. We'll just have to wait n see.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District