A typo has led to the election of the wrong man to a finance board in Derby, Conn.

DERBY, Conn. -- A typo has led to the election of the wrong man to a finance board in Derby, Conn.
James J. Butler was the highest vote-getter, winning 1,526 votes for the 10-member Board of Apportionment and Taxation, which monitors the town's finances.

However, his father, 72-year-old James R. Butler, was the candidate nominated by Democrats. The News Times of Danbury and New Haven Register report that he said he wants the job and that his son is not interested in public office.

James J. Butler, who is 46, would not comment on whether he wants the job. But he calls city officials incompetent for confusing him with his father.

Av Harris, spokesman for the secretary of the state's office, says James J. Butler should be sworn in because he was elected.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/24/typo-wrong-candidate-election_n_1112364.html 

Urban Blight Reporting

This is actually from over the summer. Since I put these signs up, the graffiti on the outside of the building has been painted over, the awning fixed, the graffiti on the inside of the building has been painted over, the disgusting carpet on the stairs pulled up (but not yet replaced - still it is an improvement). The drain that prevents flooding to my neighbor's basement apartment has been unclogged so his apartment doesn't flood anymore. Today there were painters out painting the area outside the doors. It is looking pretty good. :)

 Squeaky wheel gets the grease - right?

Homeless Person Trap?

I can't quite figure this one out. My best guess is it is a homeless person trap. Unshelled peanuts on the window sill, a quilt with a water bottle, and my schizophrenic neighbor standing guard behind the now broken blinds.

Evan is back

Okay, I stopped posting because my dad got a hold of the email address, and while I find the happenings in Derby hysterical, I can see that by a father's perspective, they might not be....

I met Evan when he was moving in - a guy my age with all his teeth. Alright! So I chatted with him, welcomed him to the building, joked about what a slum this place was. He knew already, which is probably a bad sign to start with.

Then nothing for the next 1 to 2 months.

It was mid week, I was asleep, because that is what people who have jobs do at night. At around 2am there is loud knocking on my door. Relentless. Now, I live by myself, and this is not a welcome sound to be awakened to. It is not stopping. What do I do? Who is it? I remembered to deadbolt the door, right? What weapons do I have? Where is my cell phone? Is there a lock on my bedroom door to that I can use?

Finally after about 5 to 10 minutes (time passes slowly when you are freaking out). I get up with my can of mace (there is also a nice IKEA steak knife that I could use in the kitchen). By the time I get into the living room the mysterious knocker has identified himself. "It's Evan, let me in." And all I could think was Evan, who?

me: "Evan, who?!"
him: "It's Evan, I have cats."
me: ????
him: "I'm drunk."
me: yeah, I can tell.
him: "We met when I was moving in, I live upstairs."
me: this rings a bell.
him: "Let me in, I want to see your rabbits"
me: "It is late"
him: "Open the door"
me: that is the last thing I will do. "I am already in bed"
him: "put some clothes on and we can hang out"
me: what does he imagine I am wearing now!?! "It is late"
him: Are you alone (or something to the effect of that)
me: Stupidly after surveying my apartment - let's see FuFu the boy bunny, and some male tadpoles.... "Yes and I need to work tomorrow"
him: "Oh, what do you do?"
me: why am I having this conversation? "I am a teacher."
him: "My girlfriend is a teacher!"
me: why is he knocking on my door at 2:30 am if he has a girlfriend? "It is late, I need to get up, talk to me tomorrow"
him: I don't remember what he said, but he left.

So then it took me another hour to calm down enough to fall asleep.


The Next Night

Again, knocking on the door in the middle of the night. But this time it only lasted for a few minutes, then he gave up.

The Following Day

Seeing as this is getting ridiculous, I make a trip up to his apartment and knock on the door. I let him know that he can't knock on my door after 9pm. I need to sleep. He said he just did it the once, and I let him know that it was actually twice. He just wanted to cuddle. (This makes perfect sense and a good reason to knock on a strangers door at 2am) I reminded him that he had a girlfriend. And he let me know that it was over between them.  Which is interesting because he introduced me to her a few times in the upcoming weeks.

Outside the apartment - Sunny Afternoon

I was talking to Michael, my favorite neighbor (deaf, middle aged, and gay) and Evan butts in, then when he realizes that I am only talking to Michael he leaves. Michael does not like Evan, he does not like drug dealers. He says that Evan is a crack dealer. On my way back into the apartment, Evan is talking to a car on the road and he comes jogging back to me: "Hey, do you smoke or party [do drugs I forget the language he used]" no. "Can I get some of your piss?" no. "Come on!" NO! "Why not?!?"

A few days later - Sunny Afternoon

 I was working in my garden and Evan comes up drinking a bottle of Corona. We are chatting. I find out he gets $2000 a month from the government because he is bipolar. This gets me mad as that doesn't seem quite fair to the non addicts who have to work for a living. He is able bodied enough to do some work. I don't see why he gets money for nothing. Maybe the government should make people work for their Section 8 money. Like construction, or day care, or litter clean up, painting buildings, cleaning government buildings or something.

But I digress. He wants to know if I have any prescription drugs. At this I get mad at him. "First you want my piss, now you want drugs?!" This confused him: "I asked you for piss? I must have been really messed up." Fantastic excuse "IT WAS THE MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON!" He took off after that.

A couple weeks later - Outside on the Sidewalk

Michael lets me know that Evan got arrested the previous night. I wasn't home, so I didn't see it. I see Evan and decide to have a little fun with him. "So I hear you get arrested last night." And he brushes it off and wants to know if I saw it. So I let him save a little face by conceding that he was probably just having a little chat with the cops.


Then

He stopped me on the stairwell. "Hey, just in case I don't see you before Monday, I wanted to say goodbye." okay. "I am going away for a while. I don't know if I am going to jail or will get probation." makes sense. [and this is my favorite sentence uttered by anyone looking to win points with me] "Oh.... it is nothing bad  I am just a misdemeanor kind of guy!" Okay, well goodbye and good luck.


A couple of days ago

I saw him on the stairwell talking on his cell, so where ever he was, he is back. But shucks, he is only a misdemeanor kind of guy!

Vampire Bedbugs kill 6 out of 13 people on Caroline Street

Just got back to town and met Mark hanging out of his window. Apparently he moved out of his apartment and is now back in it. He said he moved to Caroline Street, but had to move back because of an infestation of large crab-like vampire bedbugs. He knew something was wrong when he saw two of them smashed bloodily on the door to his new apartment.

They bite limbs, you know - like arms and legs.6 out of 13 people died on Caroline Street. Heart attacks. I am supposed to make the link that the vampire bedbugs caused these deaths. Mark wanted me to visit him so he could show me. (No thanks, I have had a long day) So he met me on the stairs to show me the bite marks on his legs. They look like insect bites. If you go to the doctor for it you have to put a lotion on all over your body. And it is a good thing that he grew up in the woods because he knows about ticks.

He said that my neighbor also has vampire bedbugs. I so hope that this is not true (well not the vampire part, but the bedbug part) I really don't want to have to throw out all my furniture and move. I really really hate the idea of bedbugs.

Now off to visit my more sane neighbor to ask about the vampire bedbugs. If they turn out to be real bedbugs, I am moving out.

Neighbors and a Rabbit

My favorite neighbor is a middle aged, gay, deaf man that lives in my apartment complex. He is the sweetest guy. And he can read lips, so I can talk to him, although I am learning a little bit of sign language. The first day we met, he saw I had rabbits and he said "I wuv wabbits!" and he told me that he had a rabbit once, and he almost started to cry. The sweetest guy, as I have said. He gave my bunnies the sign for "I love you".

So yesterday I was talking with another neighbor - Schizophrenic (government brain scanners) - and he let me know that he had the rabbit and couldn't keep him because he ate the power cords, so he gave them to a family on Anton Street. He described Anton as a drug infested street. (which makes me wonder what kind of street I live on)

The rabbit was used for BB practice. My neighbor was mad, but didn't do anything. Apparently the guy who was shooting the rabbit, later got a gunshot wound to the eye.We agreed that the rabbit got its karmic payback.

So now I suppose I know why my deaf neighbor almost cried when he told me he used to own a rabbit.

Government Brain Scanning

I was about to unlock the front door to the apartment complex when Mark came out. He told me to look at the roof of the neighboring building, where there was a door open.

"The government is building something  up there."
The government is building something?
"A brain scanner... to find the commies."
Not sure how to reply to that.
"They want me to look out for the commies. Imagine that, the government wants me to help them look."

"Hey. I'm a single guy. If you ever wanted to be nursemaid. You're pretty and smart."
Uh. 
"What apartment are you in?"
"201?" (luckily the wrong number)
"We are 100 apart then. I am 101."
Yeah.

Sunday January 30

Evening. Enjoying my new place. How am I going to decorate? I think maybe brighter colors. I used to go with the more natural tones, but maybe a daring purple with teal and bright green.... I could build shelves to go in the windows and probably have enough sun to grow veggies - at least herbs.

Faint knocking. Is that on my door? Can't be, it is too far away. Continued knocking. Polite but insistent knocking. A few minutes pass. Finally my neighbor (Loud TV) calls out "Who is it?" "The police" Alright this gets my attention. I get up to peer out the peephole. I love that invention. Can only see the shoulder of the cop, as he is right to the left of my door.

"What do you want?"
"Is everything okay here?"
mumbled response.
"We got a call from this place."
mumbled response.
"Okay, just wanted to make sure everything was okay. Have a good night."
And then he left.

Hmmm. The possibilities. I don't think anyone was in the apartment beside him, because I didn't hear anyone else. How do you accidentally call the police?

Once my brother and I were fighting and we rolled onto my phone and I guess we accidently called 911. They heard our struggle and then I guess we hung up the phone. 911 called back and my dad answered. No everything is okay here. Kids playing (or something like that).

It was nice of the police to check up. And it is nice to know that the police have a key to our building.

Saturday January 29 - Still moving in

This move has taken forever with all the snow! We just set a new record in CT - snowiest month on record - at 4 ft 11 inches.

So it is a bright sunny day with water dripping down from the gutters on my apartment complex onto the sidewalk below. An occasional large hunk of icicle gently plummets the forty feet to rest on the 3 inch layer of ice that has accumulated on the walk.

I was moving more stuff out of my car when I came across a couple on the street. I like to be friendly and say hi to my new neighbor hood folk. They were white and in their 40s or 50s, hard to tell because they looked like they lived a weathered life. Black leather jackets, tattooed fingers and lean.

They want to get into my apartment complex.

"We have to see an old man on the third floor!"
"An old man on the third floor?"
"Yes we need to get inside. You see he isn't answering his phone, and he can't let us in."
"What is this man's name?"
"We don't know his name."
"You don't know his name?"
"Yes, we need to see him. He is old. He lives on the third floor."
"Mark knows us. You know Mark. He is in trouble with the Housing Authority."
Quizzical look.
Pause. Look at each other. "You know, everyone knows Mark...."
A nod to continue.
"Uh, he is in trouble because he lets in people to do drugs."
That explains the kids on the street calling for him the other day. 
"We need to get inside to see the old man on the third floor."
"Any you don't know his name?"
"No we don't. He is old. He lives on the third floor."
"Uh, I got to go."

January 25, Early Dismissal Due to Snow

Not much is happening. Did my laundry. There was graffiti in the dirty laundry room that read "beware of Harry" but the "e" in beware was first written as an "a" so I wonder what language that might be from. And who is Harry? Haven't met him yet, but I think I will be wary of him if I do.

More from the Mark saga. Currently there are a couple kids on the street calling out for Mark, and he is apparently not answering.

I also noticed that below the window that he was hanging out from the last time say him was a awning that was intake, but now looks like something fell through it. Snow? Mark? or something Mark throw out the window?

January 21 - another f-ing snow day

Remember Mark, who the EMT guys told him not to jump (out the window). When I was moving more of my stuff in, he was hanging out the window, talking to me. Not a big window like I have, but a smaller window. His apartment seems to only have to small windows. And they are positioned about 15 feet above the sidewalk. I am having a hard time guessing what position he was in when the EMT guys were here, it looks pretty hard to jump out those windows. Or to make it look to a bystander that you might be thinking about jumping out the window. I suppose another reason the EMT guys left is because if he did jump, he would only fall 15 feet. Break a bone maybe, and then they could take him to the hospital for real.

I finally have a table and the food from my old house. The area rug that I got for my old place, doesn't match the new place, so I rolled it up and brought it downstairs and put a free sign on it. Even drew a smiley face. I got the table top into the apartment. I thought that the legs to the table would be safe - across the room from the rug with the free sticker on it. One last run to the car and I came back and a guy was checking out my rug. And he had one table leg in his hand. Was he planning on taking just one table leg? Ummm.... you can have the rug, but the table legs are for the table I have upstairs..... Find out he is my loud TV neighbor.

My table now stands in front of one of those big windows and FuFu and Teala's cage fits neatly underneath.

I also bought a shower curtain rod. Didn't want to go to the gym just to exercise so I had the excuse of using their gym. And I got some contact paper. This will go under the condom pile sink. I think that contact paper will probably keep biohazards away from things like my extra soap and toilet paper.

Hopefully my mover isn't still broken tomorrow - I want to grab my bed. Sleeping on the floor is fun and all. But I am feeling pretty fancy here with a table, can't let one room have all the good stuff.

January 20

Met the "I like to play crappy hip hop music really loud at 3:30am in the morning" guy. I was totally expecting to meet a 20 something hoodlum. I mean, who else would be partying hard on a Monday night, when most respectable people have to wake up in the morning and go to their jobs? Instead, I find that he is an overweight 40 to 50 year old white guy. Always surprises here in the Dirty Derb.

January 18, Tuesday. Another snow day.

Woke up naturally. Neighbors are still partying. Cocaine? It is light enough outside and I feel rested enough that I figure it is probably 5am. I have been known to wake up before my alarm clock. Lay around for a while waiting for my alarm to go off. When it doesn't, I reach for my phone and find out it is 2am. And they are still talking about nothing - VERY LOUDLY. ugh.

I get up and get some red wine and play on the computer. at about 3am they start playing music. At first I like the music. It is somewhat arabic, then change of songs and it is hip hop. Run of the mill, radio stuff. loudly. Then it stops around 3:30am. And it is quiet. Then I hear loud goodbyes and see you laters etc in the hallway. I guess the other man also lives in this apartment.

At 4am I am ready for bed again. Plow trucks are making so many runs past this place. It must be a mess out there. I am hoping for a delayed opening. I need to get some sleep.

5:30 first alarm goes off. then the 5:45 alarm goes off. I wait until 6:00, no text message or phone call from my school telling me there will be a delay. I guess I am going to school today. set my alarm for 6:20. Still no phone call or text. I get up and check NBC school closings and my school is listed. But now I am awake. I decide to go back to bed. Then at 7:07am I get the text. I wonder why it was so late today. Normally I am already in school by that time.

Put all of my books on top of the kitchen cabinets. Saves space and keep the bunnies from eating them. I think it looks kind of nice.

Maybe today I will explore and see what the laundry facilities are like.

January 17, Martin Luther King day, Monday

Went to the gym. Took a nice clean shower there. I am going to try not to shower in this apartment. And besides, when the last person moved out, the apparently took the shower rod with them.

Took a nap in the afternoon, woke up to someone yelling on the sidewalk outside, asking if Mark was feeling okay, if he was alright. Didn't hear the response. Then sirens. An ambulance pulls up and the EMT guys hop out and are yelling up to Mark. "Mark, do you want to go to the hospital?" "Do you want to go to the hospital" "No, don't jump" "Do you want to go to the hospital?" Then more EMT people showed up. "You don't want to go to the hospital?" "Okay, then. Don't jump!" and then they left. I am assuming that they know Mark, as they knew his name and knew he had a cat. And why would they leave a man that I assume is standing in his window if it was their first time meeting him. I will assume it is the Mark I met yesterday, because the name is the same and he was on the right floor.

Loud knock on the door. The maintenance guy comes in to check out the toilet, which has stopped leaking. I show him the condoms under the sink. And I laugh about dirty Derby. I am not sure if he thought that was funny. Probably not. When he is leaving he has the condoms and the empty toilet paper tube that I used to poke the condoms with. He tells me that it is a glove. Sure.....

Cleaned up the rabbit litter boxes. Wanted to explore the other exit, as I assumed that it would be closer to the dumpster. The stair well was covered in graffiti from 2005. And only 2005, but I didn't stop to read all of it. There is a lot of love in this building. Got down to the first floor. Read a sign on the exit saying something like, don't use this door. Police will take notice. Under survailance. Then someone wrote a long quote - something about God. Again, didn't read it. Maybe I'll post the graffiti blog on a day when not much else is happening.

So I tried to open the other exit door, and I can't. either it is blocked off or no one cleared the snow on the other side. That is a code violation. If the place were to catch on fire, I like to know there are two exits to choose from. I need to call the landlord about that.

Came back from getting a pizza from down the street. They sell large pies for $7 on Mondays. And smelled pot coming from the loud TV apartment. Ate the pizza, hung up curtains. Mystery neighbor is home. with a friend. Loudly. I guess their living room is right next to my bedroom. Lots of chopping noises and the sound of glass being tapped out. It is 10pm and I need to sleep so I can get up in the morning. It sounds like they are going to be partying for a while. Listening to their conversation, I wonder why I am not very good at the small talk. How can anyone have a conversation about buying a large box of chicken for more than ten minutes? Maybe it is all the profanities thrown in there that makes the small talk last longer.

Tired enough to sleep. Leila was right, I need to get earplugs. Maybe a white noise machine.

January 16, Sunday.

Woke up to a parking ticket on my car. Asked a guy on the street if I wasn't supposed to park there. Apparently there is a even-odd parking deal in Derby. There wasn't a sign saying I couldn't park there.... And there were other cars there when I left it. $10 won't break the bank.

Met some of my neighbors on the floor below mine. I met Mark, who retired at 52 and is missing his front teeth. He was smoking in the stairwell next to the no smoking sign. He said if I ever needed anything I could see him, or if I just didn't feel like leaving the apartment building, I could visit him. He thought that I looked like I was a college graduate. Yes I am. He said it was because I looked intellegent. okay. I told him I had to go because I was meeting friends in New Haven. He said I looked like someone from New Haven.

I also met a morbidly obese woman who was blocking my path down the staircase. She had to hold onto the rail to stand up. I forgot her name, but she introduced me to another woman, Dee Dee, who was her case manager. Dee Dee and I left the apartment building at the same time. I didn't talk to her, because I couldn't figure out what to say to my neighbor's case manager.

January 15, 2010. Move in Day

Moved into the Dirty Derby.

One neighbor has a yappy little dog, the another watches TV way too loud. I can handle this. Toilet bowl was empty, so I turned on the water and flushed. Then water started leaking out of the top part.

Found a pile of stretched out condoms under the sink. And no, it wasn't a latex glove, I poked at it with the empty toilet paper tube also left in the apartment.