Murphy Tours Manchester

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy stopped by Manchester Friday morning to tour the town and discuss ways the federal government could help support Manchester and other local communities. 

The Democratic senator got a guided tour of several sites in town that were already the recipient of federal grants from Mayor Leo V. Diana and General Manager Scott Shanley. 

The first stop on Murphy's tour was the parking lot of Town Hall, where he was shown the Manchester Police Department's new "Bearcat," an armored vehicle primarily used for SWAT team operations. The Bearcat, which was purchased thanks to a $250,000 federal grant, is housed in Manchester but is available for use by any of the 30 municipalities in the Hartford area that make up the Capital Region Council of Governments (CRCOG).

Murphy then visited a house on Princeton Street where the home owner, Debby Bailey, benefited from a combination of federal and local grants that totaled $41,000 for led abatement and other safety renovations to a home she purchased in January of 2011. The home was built in 1926, but Bailey said she was able to purchase the home at a low price because of the presence of led paint. She knew the abatement would be expensive, however. 

"I wouldn't have bought the house," she said, if not for the availability of the grants that covered the cost of the abatement. 

From there, the group went to the intersection of North Main and Union streets, where a town project is currently underway to replace the sidewalks in the area, re-grade sightlines and install a traffic signal at the intersection. 

Public Works Director Mark Carlino told Murphy that the project cost about $2 million and was the result of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act. 

"We couldn't afford to do a project like this on our own," Carlino said. 

Murphy said he was impressed with how Manchester has applied federal dollars to local projects, which he said was important information to take back to Washington, particularly as costly school renovations loom on the horizon for the town.

"I think it's clear that Manchester is putting federal dollars to good use," Murphy said. "In tight budget times, I've got to be able to make the case that the dollars are going right into the community."