Health & Fitness
West Hartford – No Place Makes Me Madder or Happier
West Hartford is like a child who you sometimes get mad at, but always love unquestionably.
A friend on Facebook wrote about his 7-year old daughter on her birthday (among other things), "Nobody makes me madder or happier." I could say the same thing about West Hartford (and my six-year old).
I've only lived here 16 years or so but I love this town; yet it can make me mad at times. Certain parts consider themselves superior to Elmwood and the 06110 zip code. (One person told me when I was first editor of the WH News that West Hartford is really only north of Farmington Avenue.) That makes me kind of mad. Not crotchety, finger pointing mad, but still kind of mad.
But then I walk my daughter to school every day at and nothing could make me happier. Charter Oak is a rich, diverse student population with an excellent faculty that represents the best West Hartford has to offer. It amazes me that more people from West Hartford don't send their children here.
Find out what's happening in West Hartfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
What's not to like? Small class sizes. Excellent services. Gifted children are allowed to excel and those that need help get it. Plus, it's now an International Baccalaureate School after a couple of years of hard work. Yet, people are unwilling to send their kids to our school.
Also, people speed through our neighborhood, illegal parking abounds on weekends during football and soccer games, and two of my neighbors have had their homes broken into during the 8 years I have lived here. That makes me mad. Yet, we have a great police department and our neighborhood has relatively low crime as does our entire town. That makes me happy.
Find out what's happening in West Hartfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The streets around Charter Oak weren't plowed well this winter after the colossal snowfalls. Things got ugly one afternoon during a school pickup and the comments turned racial. That made me mad. Somebody suggested contacting public works director John Phillips. So, I did on a Friday morning. By Monday morning at 5:30, public works crews were clearing the snow along Sidney Avenue (the north side of Charter Oak), so once again the street would be safe to drop off students.
I'm sure it made some of my neighbors mad to hear the beep-beep-beep of dump trucks and backhoes removing snow that early, but it mad me happy to see the quick response from the town.
So, West Hartford, no town I have lived in has made me madder or happier but just like a father with his children, I wouldn't have it any other way.
