Posted: 7/17/2017 9:52:48 AM EDT
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We live in Georgia and my wife is about to start working for The Hartford remotely so is heading there for two weeks on the 24th.
She has a few questions and thought this was a great place to ask them! -She is a runner; how is the safety of the area in downtown Hartford? Good parks to run at? Most likely will be early evening runs and unarmed (except for some mace, any issues with that in CT?) -There will be a weekend where she is free, anything in the area she should make sure and see? -How's the weather?? |
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The Hartford has a gym and showers according to my wife. Also a secure running path accessible by company badges. Wow, sounds like this company cares about the health of its employees! We are really excited about her starting with them. I take it your wife works there? |
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I believe mace is good to go.
Weather will most likely be hot (mid 80s-mid 90s), strong sun, humid, very humid, oppressively humid, and scattered showers/storms on account of the fucking humidity. Or it might be 65 and gorgeous. You never know up here but it probably won't snow, probably. The New England Air Museum is fantastic if she's in to that kind of thing, its "attached" to Bradley International Airport. Theres tons of great hiking/trails just outside of Hartford. I don't know if she plans to rent a car or not but I would for the free weekend to get out of the city. "Enders" is a nice state park in Granby with a trail that follows a small river with some small waterfalls and nice scenery. Talcott Mountain is an easy hike with a nice view right over in Avon. Theres a "lighthouse"/tower at the top, Hueblin Tower. I don't know what else to do in Hartford but everything in the state is an hour or less from there. She could go down to the coast, Mystic Village, Groton sub base, or just sit on our "beach" with the hordes. Im 30 minutes down the highway from Hartford if you need something in a pinch. ETA: Just for clarity, Bradley International, while always described as "Hartford", is actually about twenty minutes north in a town called Windsor Locks. |
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Hartford is not a great city. Most of the businesses have closed years ago. There is a small downtown area with some bars and restaurants. After dark the ghetto rats come out. You do not want to be alone in Hartford unless you are armed.
If you wife will be making frequent trips to CT you should get her a non resident pistol permit. Very easy to get and then you would feel better about her being here alone. If you go to West Hartford or Avon those towns are higher end suburbs. There are some rail to trail areas where she can run. Weather is humid and in the 80s all week with a chance for thunderstorms. This time of year it typically stays in the 70s at night, occasionally dipping into the 60s. The humidity makes it feel warmer. If she needs anything feel free to contact me via PM. My wife or I can help. Questions, problems, whatever. I am sure most on here will tell you the same. I have met many of the guys on the CTHTF and they are all great people. |
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Thanks for the input!
She carries here (LCP) and that is one of the things we were worried about, so we will look into the non-resident permit for sure. Most downtown areas can be a little sketchy as is. Most likely, she will stay in the hotel (Homewood Suites) most of the time and/or hopefully meet some cool co-workers that can accompany her to some of the restaurants and such. |
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She's better off avoiding Hartford as a whole other then work. But theres lots to do in West Hartford tons of food and shops in blue black square.
One thing about Connecticut is that there are massive differences in settings and quality of life just by going a few minutes down the street hence why I can say avoid Hartford but go have fun in West Hartford. As for evening runs, not something I would do in Hartford armed or unarmed. The Hood rats are always out in force and the headache in unnecessary. Weather is good till 1st week of September humid and sunny. |
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She has a few questions and thought this was a great place to ask them! -She is a runner; how is the safety of the area in downtown Hartford? Good parks to run at? ) -There will be a weekend where she is free, anything in the area she should make sure and see? -How's the weather?? I would recommend against randomly running in downtown Hartford. It's a lot safer than many other parts of Hartford, BUT one of the things that she will notice is that there is a perpetually existent unsavory element that is always present. I have run in some Hartford parks in the past and never had any problems, but it's not something that I would encourage. A really beautiful place that I would recommend for her is the West Hartford MDC reservoir. They have some really good paved and unpaved trails and its generally very safe. (Remember that even if she gets a CT permit, MDC is posted/prohibitive....also the City of Hartford has an ordinance against carry in parks, which in conjunction with 29-28e could make for a big problem) It's not far from WeHa center so she could treat herself afterwards. Also Fleet Feet in WeHa organizes a lot of no cost group runs from the store (wednesday evenings, and thursday evening speed/strength workouts are from the store IIRC with Hall closed for construction). She could probably meet some great people doing that. Fleet Feet was holding a program early on Wednesday mornings out of Riverfront Park in Hartford, but I don't see that on the calendar any more. Right now, weather mid 80s-90ish. Most sunny. It's not as dry as last year. |
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Hartford is not a very happy place right now. They have made the national news because they are literally bankrupt and even have a bankruptcy lawyer working for them trying to figuer out how they can do this. The state, itself, is short $5 BILLION dollars in their budget, too. So, things are pretty sketchy right now.
My daughter work in the Hartford Steam Boiler Building and my wife works just across the river in East Hartford. I always worry about both of them but at least my daughter has a secure office and parking. As Edge said, after 6pm, the ghetto rats begin to stir and I always carry when I'm in that city, period. Suggest to your wife that she stick to the gym in the hotel if need be for the time she'll be here. I don't remember you mention how long she would be here. If she has time and transportation, she might want to head to the Connecticut shore and spend a weekend down there exploring some of the coastal cities and the few public beaches we have. Just be sure she's up on her "situational awareness" and keeps her head on a swivel when she's out and about. Rome |
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Thanks again for all the input!
I am actually pretty surprised to hear how downtrodden the area is. Â Before I posted this we were both clearly naive in thinking Hartford CT was this nice safe place. Â Thankful that I asked these questions so she can be fully aware of what to expect. Â The good news is she is very smart and has a good head on her shoulders so she will make good decisions while there. She will be in town for two weeks and the hotel is about a block or two from the office. Â There is a shuttle from the hotel to the office, so that is a big plus. Â |
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CT is a very nice and safe state with the exception of a few cities that are complete cesspools, Hartford being one of them.
The Wall St. ranking of 50 worst cities in America, Hartford took #8 and Waterbury took #37. Hartford was also ranked #2 worst state capitol after Jackson Mississippi. Don't let all this change your perception of the state as a whole though, aside from political absurdity, it's a great state full of beautiful woods, streams, lakes, and coastline. |
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Allow me to interject one additional bit of info.
Not far from where she'll be is the Mark Twain House. He built and lived there with his family while he wrote some his best stuff. Harriet Beecher Stowe's house is right next door. Both are worth the look see. The other thing to see, if she has time, is the Wadsworth Atheneum (https://thewadsworth.org/). None of us want to leave you with the impression that we are all that awful with no redeeming attributes. We are after all one of the original states in the Union and home to the Constitution Oak. Just about every name you've heard attached to the Revolutionary War is represented here in Connecticut. It's just that Hartford became one of those "gimme" cities like Bridgeport and New Haven and are filled with people who feel we owe them something which attracts drugs and violence. They tend to congregate in large sections of that once wonderful city. So, your wife will return home with some additional education. If your wife wishes answers to anything else you can contact me directly from this forum. Rome |
| I run at least twice a week during lunch through downtown Hartford and across the river into east Hartford as do many other people. During the day no worries but I will beat the dead horse and suggest not running after 5-6pm. That's when the workers leave and the city dwellers come out. Most nights Hartford is dead after 6pm. |
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She'll be fine running at HartBeat park. That's the fenced in with security park that The Hartford owns and recently renamed after a dead CEO. She's probably OK running around Bushnell Park during daylight.
I would stay away from the Frog statue, it's surrounded by the biggest thieves in the country. That area is also inhabited by zombies, real ones, not this movie garbage. "You see them sometimes walking around blindly with dead eyes, following orders, not knowing what they do, not caring." If she gets a room on the south side of the hotel she can see the gold lined dome they use to collect all the cosmic bullshit in the universe and funnel it directly into their brains. She can go to Black-Eyed Sally's for some Gen-u-ine southern cooking. 
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| I spent 2 years working at Bushnell Park doing a Streetscape project and she will be fine running in the park from 7AM to 6PM. There is plenty of Hartford Police and Capital Police floating around the park all the time as the State Capital is on the same property. I could be wrong but I think The Hartford is one of many companies in the city that give a long lunch if you do exercise so maybe she can get out a noon time when there are plenty of people out in the park. |
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+1 for the Max group of restaurants, pick your style and enjoy. The Billy Grant set is good too. Grant's, Bricco and then going the other direction from the city, Bricco Trattoria.
For great BBQ check out Bear's, but don't plan to wear the same shirt to anything afterward, MESSY. For lunch if she's downtown, Salute is a popular business lunch spot and then pre-event dinner's. If she is into the arts there are a number of things in the general downtown area. The Bushnell theater always has stuff going and there's an art museum right downtown as well. I'm not sure what the theme is right now but the regular collection is decent. +1 for West Hartford/Avon in general if she wants to go exploring. Further out for antiquing and such. New Hartford is pretty in that old new england way and has some neat little shops. I'm sure there's dozens of towns that fit that description, it's just the one I tend to pass through most often since it's on the way to a camping/hiking area I like. West Hartford center is nice and fades right into Blue Back Square, which is the more up and coming project. There's a bit of everything and it's about as safe as it's possible to be. Do you know for sure that she is training in the downtown location rather than the Windsor one? Huge difference in environment and easy options. From the Windsor location you can easily skip downtown hartford entirely. |
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Do you know for sure that she is training in the downtown location rather than the Windsor one? Huge difference in environment and easy options. From the Windsor location you can easily skip downtown hartford entirely. Yes, she is staying at a hotel about a block away in the middle of downtown. She ate at the Black Eyed Pea last night and said it was fantastic! Cornbread and brisket was really good. Today is her first day working since she was laid off 6 months ago. Very exciting for us! |
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Hartford has it.
Shooting resulting in death next to the Hartford building... Homocide this afternoon on Sumner St. |
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Hartford has it. Shooting resulting in death next to the Hartford building... Homocide this afternoon on Sumner St. Yes, I will be glad when she gets home, not that I live in some utopia here in North Georgia, but at least we are armed 
So far she is enjoying her job and loves the people of Connecticut :) In August she will most likely be heading back out that way to spend some time in the Windsor facility (which someone did point out earlier in the thread). She has one more week to go in Hartford!! |
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Yes, I will be glad when she gets home, not that I live in some utopia here in North Georgia, but at least we are armed
So far she is enjoying her job and loves the people of Connecticut :) In August she will most likely be heading back out that way to spend some time in the Windsor facility (which someone did point out earlier in the thread). She has one more week to go in Hartford!! Quoted:
Quoted:
Hartford has it. Shooting resulting in death next to the Hartford building... Homocide this afternoon on Sumner St.
So far she is enjoying her job and loves the people of Connecticut :) In August she will most likely be heading back out that way to spend some time in the Windsor facility (which someone did point out earlier in the thread). She has one more week to go in Hartford!! Go visit Hartford, North GA is very much a utopia compared to it...
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