Thanks to Paul and to you, readers

Quite a few people have spent time reading about Sam Dimenstein, a friend who died last week. Some of you were introduced to Sam through the New Haven Independent's key to my piece on Sam Wednesday, June 27. If you haven't read it, please go down to that posting. It's worth the time.

Thanks to all who stopped to spend a few minutes finding out about a good man and the community he loved so much. Thanks, as well, to Paul Bass, the editor and publisher of the Independent, for featuring Sam on his main page.

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If you are a New Haven homeowner, first of all, you are a minority in the city. According to people who should know, the majority of New Haven residents are renters, while only around 35 percent of New Haven homes are owner-occupied.

Second of all, you know your assessment has gone up and probably your taxes. Your taxes may have gone up a lot. You are anxious to find out.

About half of the homeowners in the city already know their fate. Others do not.

I found this out because last week, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't gotten by home tax bill. I'd gotten the bill on my car taxes, including one for a car I no longer owned (my fault), but no house tax bill.

So I called the tax office and was told that only about half the tax bills were mailed out in early and mid-June. The others were mailed the last week in June. I should have gotten it by now, but if I don't get the bill by the middle of this week, call back and see about it. Bank on it.
Wouldn't it be fair for those of us who are in the last half of the mailing to get the same amount of time to pay our taxes as the others. If the taxes aren't paid by July 31, the city starts charging interest. The next day.

Wouldn't it be fair for those who didn't get their tax bills until later to have until the middle of August to pay their bills?

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The day after tomorrow is July 4, a day that should be celebrated, especially now that the nation is in such irons (that's a sailing term meaning unable to move because of certain wind actions).

So, I went on the Web to find out about any New Haven celebration, and soon found one scheduled at Long Wharf park along Long Wharf Drive. It starts at 6 p.m. and the fireworks start a bit after 9.

What wasn't apparent was where parking was available. I went to the city's Web site, followed the prompt to infonewhaven.com ...still nothing. I followed the parking prompt. I found out about valet parking, where to pay a ticket, where to buy a parking card. Nothing about parking for the July 4 festival, so I called. Three calls later, I found the information I sought.
Because you have read all the way down to here, you are rewarded by not having to go through all that.

Parking is available at the New Haven Register -- Gateway Community College lots. The entrance to both is at Long Wharf and Sergeant drives. Signs are supposed to be there to direct you to the parking lots. Parking is probably not going to be available at Ikea, a city worker said.

Have fun. See you there.

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Lots to talk about today.

I received an e-mail from a group called HonestReporting, an organization that wants to put some fairness back in the coverage of the Middle East.

They put together a short film about the residents of Sderot, the Israeli town unlucky enough to be close to Gaza and the recipient of hundreds of rocket attacks since Israel gave up that unhappy strip.

Here's the address: www.honestreporting.com/a/15seconds.asp

Spend a minute or two watching this and some more time thinking about that. Thanks.

Back Page

Hats off to Mika Brezinski.

Brezinski, who worked years ago at WFSB Channel 3 in Hartford, now is an anchor as MSNBC
She has been shown shocking her co-anchors by first ripping up and then shredding the script of the network's fawning over Paris Hilton after that waste was released from jail.

Mika kept insisting the network, which wanted to lead that segment with a Hilton story, would not have any Paris Hilton coverage. She balled up one script, shredded another and kept saying no to the coverage.

Many thanks to Mika and people like her who want to put coverage of people like Hilton to the end of the news segment, if at all. That's where they belong.

We need more Mika Brezinskis and fewer Larry Kings in the news business these days, I say. Larry King had the first interview after Hilton was let out of the klink and tossed nothing but puffball questions.

Until next time....