iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 18h

This story is WILD and is straight out of a @volts.wtf rant. Here, in black and white, clear as day! The Eversource Utility CEO texted the CT Gov an offer to hire his former staffer (who resigned after misusing state vehicles) to rubber stamp the approval of $800M in cost recovery (didn't happen)

Text exchange between the CEO of Eversource and the Governor of CT in which the CEO is pushing to get a cost recovery approved and offers to hire Lamont's former staffer

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

NYC finding: 94% reduction in speeding where cameras were in place www.nyc.gov/html/dot/htm... Speed is known to be the most important variable in outcome from a crash (vehicle size and front profile are very important but those are fixed for a given vehicle, speed is variable)

Image showing pedestrian survival rates when hit at different vehicle travel speeds

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Hartford Mentioned! www.reddit.com/r/Raccoons/c...

Photo of a lot of racoons in one dumpster taken in Hartford, from the reddit link included

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

My gosh, natural gas is down under 1 GW of production right now 🤯

Updated 12:15 report showing nat gas at 0.95 GW of production

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Yessss, crush that Nat Gas generation share. Down to just 1.5GW as of 9:25 am this morning Wind is putting more power onto the grid than nat gas is at the moment! That has to be a first Total of 85%of the entire New England region being run on renewable + nuclear/adjacent sources

Point in time ISONE snapshot of the current energy mix on 6 October at 9:25 AM showing Nat Gas power plummeting

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

A new way to tell it is officially spooky season, New England smashing its wind power record 👻💨🎃

Graph showing the max wind in ISO New England with the latest record set 5 October totaling 2,298 MW

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It also is speeding only, not redlight/intersection? The thing that is glaring in this map is a total avoidance of any commuter pathways into/out of the city... This seems to fly in the face of the spirit of the law and my knowledge of dangerous roads @kerriana.bsky.social - am I off base here?

Map of school camera locations planned for Hartford

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

For many reasons, that lot isn't getting apartments on it. Primarily because the state wants to expand and reroute the giant urban highway right through it. But I hope to god they do successfully to build on it because that would be so funny The highway should be removed, box them out

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

SO this is a fun new AI slop The owner of the large parking lot inside the Hartford wye next to Union Station (which is under the highway) is marketing the site as developable and asking $5M for it which is crazy The AI rendering they made takes out multiple city streets, lolz

AI rendering of a apartment building next to the highway and union station

Google earth view of the same lot circled in red

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It is hemmed in by a rail line, surburan neighborhood, a golf course, a private school and some mansions. Really tucked into a corner I bet you could do something to create a mixed use district along Bloomfield Ave on someone else's dime and it would do wonders for the school's curb appeal

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Just to be clear, this is a point in time 10%. It fluctuates as demand varies as does the wind The trend is clear though, more and more wind is powering the grid. Here is the wind record tracker with the latest record set on 10 September This bodes well for winter with even more to be added

Record tracker showing growth over three years to now 2k MW record set on 10 September

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

With more offshore wind coming on line, over 10% of all the power being consumed in New England is from wind turbines. That's pretty cool

ISO NE Dashboard from Grid Status website showing currently 10.3% of all New England electricity is coming from wind

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Connecticut already has one!!! We'll as a state give you up to $10,000 to get your ass off oil AND finance your project at 1.99% APR What is missing is a public push and intentional outreach to get home owners to actually commit

Landing pace for Connecticut's Energize CT program offering incentives for heat pumps

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

There is a lot of investment needs for SEAT area but rather than peanut butter smoothly spreading the increase in funding I would go big on launching quality service on one line:

Google Maps with line drawn for new potential transit line connecting New London and Groton

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Interesting early vote count in CT, numbers still overall quite low www.wtnh.com/news/electio...

These Connecticut towns had the most early votes cast, according to state officials.

West Hartford: 2,519
Hamden: 1,935
Manchester: 1,475
Norwalk: 1,134
Bloomfield: 1,121
Glastonbury: 1,067
Stamford: 1,013
New Haven: 969
Milford: 939
Hartford: 887

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This is far from true, nat gas plants are still cranking at mid-day all over the country CA (and ERCOT/SPP) are exceptions, none of the rest of the country are particularly close to that. On a very good day New England only hits 50% renewable midday (excl nuclear)

NE ISO production graph for 4 August 2026 showing that most of the day's production is Nat Gas incl at mid-day (large blue band)

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

That is roughly right. I have a tweet somewhere about this from when they got the $6M in state fund. Total I believe is $21M for this project State + Federal Classic "should be a roundabout" situation too www.wtnh.com/news/connect...

Image of theoretical alignment from previous grant announcment

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

This isn't just something Nolan is saying. If you look back at early zoning history and what the champions were saying, they were incredibly explicit This from West Hartford, CT. The first community in CT to have zoning

Long passage in which the champion of zoning in West Hartford states explicitly that the purpose of larger lot zoning is to make it uneconomic to build dense housing

Table with five zones and linking intended use to minimum land required per family housed

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This might be the most interesting part of the article in its forward looking nature: Maintaining 97% occupancy despite over 500 apartments coming onto the Market in recent months is remarkable, moving right ahead with plans for 242 Trumbull and another 145 homes. Major sign of confidence

Three years ago, Shelbourne Global Solutions purchased the 324,000-square-foot mixed-use office complex at 242 Trumbull St., which includes 64 Pratt St. and approximately 30,000 square feet of retail space along Pratt and Trumbull streets.

With the residence hall complete, Shelbourne and its partners are turning their attention to converting the remainder of the office complex into apartments.

Reilly said preliminary designs call for at least 145 apartments. He expects to seek zoning approvals and additional CRDA financing this fall.

Reilly said demand for downtown housing remains strong, noting the roughly 900 center-city apartments in Lexington’s portfolio are about 97% occupied.

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Great news, can they tear down route 8 while they're otherwise doing work there?

Site pinned juts west of route 8 in Bridgeport

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

So it seems the NHL is already materially faster from previous phases of TIME for CT 11 minutes is nothing to sneeze at! Esp when you layer in the super express on top of it

Connecticut sped up service from New Haven to Grand Central in 2022 by offering “super express trains” with fewer stops, cutting about 10 minutes off the trip.

“Our Super Express trains between New Haven and Grand Central have reduced trip times to as little as 88 minutes,” said Joe Lagana, the vice president for operations at Metro-North.

“Since then, we shaved another 11 minutes off of that timetable due to infrastructure improvements,” Eucalitto said. Those improvements included addressing signal problems and bad drainage that forced slower speeds.

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Much of the Time for CT website details have been scrubbed but here is an old graphic. Maybe it is true 25 minutes off a 2 hour journey is quite a seismic change. Add in the dual mode locos coming to the HL and we could be looking at almost an hour shaved off Hartford-NYC routes by 2035!

Time for CT graphic showing current run time in each segment and estimated time savings

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

LMAO, Greenwich CT which has thrown every thing it could at outlawing townhomes and quietly rejecting thousands of apartments over the last decade is welcoming with open arms this 18k sq foot Mansion with a private 40 space underground parking garage This is perfectly @nedlamont.com's Connecticut

Rendering of the 18,000 sq foot mansion to be built in Greenwich

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

But at the same time the State is stiffing the city by not paying its statutorily required PILOT payment for state gov + non-profits. You could argue it does this through other channels (education, other) but its really just hamstringing things

The city also is constrained in taxing because about 1,500 properties — including state offices, hospitals and religious institutions — are exempt from paying local property taxes. The state does pay the city of Hartford a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, but it is far less than would have otherwise been paid. In 2022, the city estimated that $370 million would have been paid by exempt properties, while the PILOT payment was $52 million.

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Lol. Gonna call bullshit on that one

Arulampalam dismissed any speculation that the revaluation delay coincided with next year’s mayoral campaign as cynical and out-of-touch “when so many people are hurting right now.”

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Hartford should really put one of these on the bridge over Columbus boulevard up on the plaza. It would open a lot of eyes

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

what do you think about getting a Colorado style transit system to make it possible to travel between towns outside the shoreline rail line? Would be a good tangible way to get some support and coverage Can DM details, its silly cheap for the value

Map showing possible intrastate middistance transjt routings

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

The Bridgerton night on Pratt Street last night with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra was awesome. People were so into it Living in a Real Place™ is so underrated (note the chandeliers!)

People dressed up enjoying Bridgerton night on Pratt St In Hartford

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

history doesn't repeat but it does rhyme The city was on the verge of having a shop rite in DONO over 10 years ago until the powers that be opted for a baseball stadium instead

2014 rendering of a shop rite grocery store along Main Street

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Just learned that CT has formed a "citizen assembly" to attend a series of workshops over the next few weeks with a stipend to learn about & make recommendations about how to change our local tax system What a novel invention, maybe we should do this convene this annually at a central meeting house

screen shot from https://ct-citizens-assembly.org/ reading

An Assembly of Everyday CT Residents to Define the Future of Local Funding
The Connecticut Citizens' Assembly is a groundbreaking democratic initiative designed to give residents a direct voice in state policy. By bringing together a representative group of citizens from across the state, we aim to solve the complex challenge of funding local public services.

From transportation and infrastructure to education and emergency response, local public services are the backbone of our communities. Our mission is to give a representative sample of the people of Connecticut a chance to set their priorities for public service provision and funding.

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Parking Reform means more homes and great walkable neighborhoods 7 days from CT's new law becoming effective, we have this great project in Seymour CT on the corner across from the train station! 14 homes + commercial ZERO PARKING

Property owner Lon Syla previously pitched a plan to the commission in 2023 to build 15 apartments there, with first floor retail and 15 parking spaces. The town’s zoning regulations, however, required more parking spaces than Syla had proposed. As a result, Syla withdrew his application.

Thomas said the new state law no longer requires off-street parking for projects with less than 16 residential units, if there is public parking nearby along with access to train and bus lines.

This proposal has all of that, Thomas said.

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Grid scale batteries are needed asap, everywhere

day ahead price graph for NE ISO shoeing big price spike as the sun sets

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

we had a new New England renewables records today, saved our bacon from sizzling jn this heat

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

All those "innocent towns" NIMBYing solar and battery projects have real world consequences Heat waves align with long clear sunny days. Fossil plants can no longer fill the gap and are causing the price spike seen here. We need a big battery deployment like seen elsewhere

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

🔔🔔RING THE BELLS🔔🔔 Residential Parking Mandates are officially a relic for the history books!! No longer will the tyranny of rules like 3 spaces per studio apt rule Connecticut Wallingford CT out of the gate strong taking a sharpie to its existing rules. Those that embrace this will rue the day

Wallingford CT mandates being struck through

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Cool to think about what is to come in New England I bet we can push to do this even faster

Slide from MassDOT about the planned service expansion on the inland routing and NYC through running of service

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Wait, ConnDOT is also overhauling State Street Station? Damn, look at this!! Turning Court St overpass into Ped/bike only with plazas 😍 Added second entrance from Court street to platforms 😍 Lengthen platforms to accommodate 4/6 car trains 😍 Reconfiguring tracks to smooth service 😍

Aerial view of the new State Street project showing ped bridge, longer platforms, new entrance

Street level view of new Court St pedestrian bridge open only to ped and bikes

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Have you seen this plan for an overhaul of New Haven's Union Station??? Oh My, Oh My Indeed. A proper station it would become

Interior rendering of the new station Canopy at New Haven Union station from a platform view

Birds Eye View rendering of the new station Canopy at New Haven Union station showing the design concept

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Folks, it happened. New England hit 1 GW of utility scale Solar today at 12:20 PM Source: www.gridstatus.io/records/ison... Certainly worth some coverage! Newsworthy transition update! CC @kendixonct.bsky.social / @ctmirrorpaz.bsky.social / @janellens.bsky.social

Stupid Achievement Certificate for New England hitting 1 GW of Grid Solar today 10 April

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

What a cursed site plan for this project in Glastonbury CT There simply must be a better way to design our communities than what most zoning codes dictate

Site plan for new development in Glastonbury which shows over 400 parking spaces for the proposed housing development

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

third straight day of FTM records in NE. Will today be the fay we cross the GW threshold in New England? It could very well be

ISONE max solar record of 998 set at 11:15 am on Friday April 10

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

A house fire over 20 years ago (sometime between 1992 and 2005) created a scar in Hartford's clay arsenal neighborhood Finally, that scar will be healed. Plans have been files for a 4 family home with equal sized 3 br homes. I expect to see this trend accelerate in the coming years

Vacant lot at 36-40 Brook Street in Hartford's Clay Arsenal neighborhood

Second floor floor plan showing two identical three bedroom apartments

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

New renders just dropped for the next phase of Arrowhead. What a difference this project will make, healing a decades old scar. 19 new homes, only 8 parking spaces. Love to see that ratio, bus service is fabulous here Parking reform means more homes

Photo of current conditions which is a grassy empty lot and boarded up building

Rendering of 275 High Street at the corner of Albany and Main showing a new building fronting the sidewalk and phase 1 complete at Arrowhead

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

We did it again, new record for utility scale solar (Front of Meter) production in New England today thanks to clear blue sky Let's zoom out, the amount of utility scale on our grid has tripled in just five years and came up just below a full GW today at peak production

Graph showing record production of utility scale solar production since April 2021 in New England

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Folks: We are dangerously (positive) close to outdoing yesterday's solar records here in New England

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

I deeply appreciate the stupid dog art they chose for the model unit during the rent up phase. What a great touch

Image showing model unit with stage furniture, a view of Old Statehouse, and a Dog in a suit drinking a martini portrait on the wall

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Just look at this beautiful fuel mix graph for today. Solar absolutely stomping demand during the daylight hours This on a day in which nuke reactors are out of service for refueling, solar is really showing its value.

Fuel mix graph showing a large yellow swell during daylight hours crushing the peak periods of demand

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

New England continues to set local renewable generation records. Today we had over 8 GW of solar powering our grid The world is changing quietly behind the scenes, good stuff is happening

List of seven records which were smashed in the last four weeks with maximum solar records set earlier today April 8

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Both East Windsor and Ellington town centers are 25% parking by land area. The solar facilities take up 9% of East Windsor's total land area Lol

Parking Lot map of East Windsor's Broad Brook town center area showing 25% of the land area as parking lots

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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Don't get me wrong, I love living in a city with legitimate farms less than 5 miles from city center. I see solar farms as the same as hay farms. We are harvesting the sun, just way more efficiently The ground is still grassy and pervious

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