By David Fortier
Come Sunday morning, the Mum Festival will continue on Memorial Boulevard and the field at Bristol Arts and Innovation Magnet School–not exactly the morning, but at noon. And then at 1:30 p.m. the 62nd Mum Festival Parade gets started on West Street.
The music, the activities, the food–it’s all there and it’s all fun. If Saturday is any indication, Sunday should be more of the same. It’s fun to watch the moms and dads pushing strollers, and granddads and grandmas guiding grandkids, and couples walking hand in hand or checking out the artwork in the main tent or sitting at a table or chairs listening to the live music on the main stage.
Sounds like a place to be–before and after the parade, of course.
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And then some news about The Bristol Edition. We have just received a newspaper audit from the Local Independent Online Newspaper (LION) Publishers. We will be sharing the recommendations with you, our readers and supporters when we can find a little time to go through them. Yes, we are that busy.
In the meantime, one good thing about a local news operation is that the people who cover the news live right here. For instance, at our Mum Festival booth yesterday (we won’t be there today), we learned that some people have not been getting emails with our daily stories. We will look into that situation and try to remedy it as soon as possible.
As an aside, accountability for a local news medium, such as ours, is a two-way street. We do our best to cover the city as best we can, especially city hall. That is one side. The other side of accountability is that, since we live here, we are approachable. Any concerns can be aired to us person to person. And of course, we have our letters section for those who would like to air their concerns about our reporting to a broader audience.
Back to more TBE news. In addition to information from our audit, just a heads up, we will be featuring at least one new columnist along with articles from CT Mirror–we have an agreement with CT Mirror to post some of their stories here—and some writing by local authors. As always, we are looking for people who are interested in learning about journalism and who can contribute.
With our focus on local news, we like to think we provide the particulars that are missing from the sweeping and intermittent coverage from news media outside our city borders, and we do it differently from what one might glean from social media platforms such as those found on Meta. While we are available online, we are not a social media brand.
It is also important to know that our organization is a non-profit, run by the same people who volunteer with TBE, functioning under a 501 (c)(3), Central Connecticut Online Journalism Project. That is the name that appears on receipts for donation and the one that donors write checks out to. It is a bit clunky, but it is how we are identified legally.
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And on to the recommended listening.
A single podcast with two different segments got my attention this week. The podcast is from Jacobin Radio. The first segment features Niobe Way, who wrote “Rebels with a Cause,” about the emotional and social lives of boys “and what they are telling us about society.”
The second segment features Branko Milanovic, who wrote “Visions of Inequality.” Milanovic discusses “what economists have said about the topic over the centuries.” For a link, click here.
For reading this week, I have begun reading, “Beautyland” by Marie-Helene Bertino. Here is some information about the author on from Goodreads. Click here. Here is some information about the novel, also from Goodreads. Click here.
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City meetings this week include the following:
On Monday, Sept. 30
- Animal Control Building Committee, 5 p.m. Council chambers, city hall. For virtual meeting link, click here.
On Tuesday, Oct.1
- Police Awards Committee, 9 a.m. Police Chief’s Conference Room, 131 N. Main St.
- Ordinance Committee Public Hearing, 4:45 p.m. Meeting Room 1-1, city hall.
- Ordinance Committee, 5 p.m. Meeting Room 1-1, city hall. For a virtual meeting link, click here.
- Energy Commission, 5:30 p.m. Meeting Room 111, city hall. For a virtual meeting link, click here.
- Zoning Board of Appeals, Virtual Online via Zoom, 6 p.m. For a meeting link, click here.
On Wednesday, Oct.2
- Code Enforcement Committee, 9 a.m. Council chambers, city hall.
- School Readiness Council, 12:15 p.m. Bristol Board of Education Auditorium.
- Arts & Culture Commission, 6:30 p.m. Meeting Room 1-3, city hall. For a virtual meeting link, click here.
On Thursday, Oct.3
- Economic and Community Development, 5 p.m. Council chambers, city hall.
On Friday, Oct. 4
- No meeting posted.
TBE will do our best to update meeting times and locations, but it’s a good idea to check the agendas ahead of time for cancellations. Click here for specific meetings and times.
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If you know a high school student who would like to get first-hand experience covering sports or city government, send them our way. Contact editor@bristoledition.org.
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Consider becoming a supporting member by signing up for monthly recurring donations of $6, $12, or $24 or making a one-time donation of $60 or even better donating more. It might seem outrageous, but 5,000 members paying $6 a month would allow us to hire editors and reporters who would do a great job covering Bristol.
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Enjoy!
All TBE readers, supporters and donors
The Bristol Edition will be limiting the number of stories non-members and free readers may access each week. This decision is based on our financial projections and, most certainly, to remind people that TBE is serious about providing accurate, timely and thorough reporting for Bristol. To do this we have devised a financial support structure that makes unlimited access extremely affordable, beginning with a $6 monthly donation.
- Non-members will be able to access four (4) articles per week.
- Free readers and people who have subscribed by email will be able to access four (4) articles per week.
- Donors and financial supporters will have unlimited access as long as they log in.
Note: Donors may have to contact TBE if they find they are being limited, since we will need to set up a membership account for you. Email editor@bristoledition.org for instructions. Sorry for any inconvenience. People with financial difficulties may write editor@bristoledition.org to be considered for free access.
