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Showing posts from June, 2018

Town faces lawsuit after DPW worker killed in North Main Street crash

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  North Main Street at Enfield Town Hall As some people noticed, Enfield got behind in its mowing schedule, in part, because of town employee lawn maintenance training. This training follows a crash in Sept. 2025 between a town lawnmower and a car on North Main Street at the town hall. A Department of Public Works employee operating the mower was killed. The town is being sued by the estate of Jamie Nickerson, the town employee. The plaintiff is his wife, Amy Nickerson. The lawsuit, filed in Hartford Superior Court, also names the vehicle driver, Alexander Torres. The lawsuit alleges the town was not following safety policies for regulating traffic around a worksite or meeting safety standards. It seeks unspecified monetary damages. Police have not released the accident report, citing an ongoing investigation. The lawsuit states the mower was being operated on the roadway during grass cutting and clean-up operations when the crash occurred. The lawsuit argues the town failed to fo...

MGM is dramatically changing downtown Springfield for the better

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MGM casino view from Main Street.  The developers opted for a style in character with surrounding properties. Note the 1940s-style hotel sign.  Red Rose Pizza to the left. It's not obvious from I-91 that a radical transformation is underway in Springfield's downtown. The view from the highway won't give you a sense of the scale of change. For a better understanding, get off the highway and park near Main Street, and prepare to be wowed.  Springfield has a lot of older commercial buildings that have survived redevelopment. It's fortunate in this respect. The city has retained an urban feel. It just needs the stores, shops and restaurants to make that happen.  MGM could have walled off their casino from the city, much like a shopping mall. But they did the exact opposite. They made this development an integrated part of Springfield's downtown. On the casino side of Main Street, MGM has preserved the facades of the older buildings. This section of ...