Tom Condon
Connecticut Mirror
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Past articles by Tom:
Newington complex is 8-30g success story, but law has detractors
Can CT's affordable housing shortage be resolved without what one critic has called the “sledgehammer” of 8-30g? → Read More
CT bus fares are free. Now, ridership is topping pre-COVID totals.
State lawmakers suspended fares this spring. Here's what the numbers show. → Read More
CT has spent over 20 years trying to improve police conduct. Is it working?
The state now requires body cams and tracks racial disparities in policing. → Read More
More aboard! State rail ridership is coming back as pandemic wanes
Rail commuters are returning to Metro-North and Hartford Line trains. The state is trying to get them a faster ride. → Read More
With trash plant at death's door, is it time for state leadership?
The uncertain fate of MIRA, the region's trash-to-energy facility, has some wondering whether it should be run as a utility. → Read More
State sees dramatic drop in traffic as residents 'stay safe, stay home'
The coronavirus shutdown has brought a precipitous drop in highway traffic -- and a couple unanticipated benefits. → Read More
Best of 2019: City Revival — Did We Learn From the Urban Renewal Era?
Many Connecticut cities are seeing a 21st century renewal. Are they getting it right -- or at least better -- this time? → Read More
Best of 2019: Reviving cities must include the excluded
Inclusive growth calls on cities to revive themselves so that all residents benefit, which has been challenging here in Connecticut and elsewhere. → Read More
A Time For Cities
For the next several months a remarkable partnership of media organizations will take a close look at Connecticut cities. We call it The Cities Project. → Read More
Despite naysayers, Larson won't bury the tunnel idea
Two years ago, U.S. Rep. John B. Larson stunned many in Connecticut with an idea to build a system of highway tunnels under Hartford and East Hartford longer than Boston’s “Big Dig.” Reactions to his plan ran from “brilliant and necessary” to “the mother of all pipe dreams,” but Larson plowed ahead and asked state Department of Transportation officials to study the tunnel idea. They did. In an… → Read More
The electric car comes of age, right when we need it
Imagine you're mired in heavy traffic on I-95 on a steamy summer day, with plenty of time to study the car ahead of you. Something puzzles you about it, but you're not sure what. After staring for a long minute, you realize -- aha -- that it has no tailpipe. You are tailing a Tesla -- an electric car. If you’ve not yet had this experience, you soon will. → Read More
Eat my dust, Maserati
Disabuse yourself of the notion, if your entertain it, that electric cars are elaborate golf carts that can barely get out of their own way. That is not the case, by a long shot. I took a short spin in a Tesla Model 3, driving through the streets of West Hartford and on I-84. I now see why people like Teslas. → Read More
Henning, Birch push for a new trial in decades-old murder case
Pointing to false testimony by famed state criminologist Henry Lee, two men who have spent nearly 30 years in prison for a murder they steadfastly insist they didn’t commit asked the state’s highest court on Thursday for a new trial. → Read More
Hayes wins ground-breaking victory for 5th District nomination
Jahana Hayes, the political novice whose compelling life story drew national attention, soundly defeated former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman Tuesday for the Democratic nomination to represent Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District. → Read More
How to stop squeezing nonprofits and their clients
The task for caring for society's most vulnerable citizens was first taken on by churches, then by towns, and now primarily by the state. So how can the state maintain its commitment to those with developmental disabilities, mental health or addiction issues and other conditions in difficult budgetary times? There are ideas out there... → Read More
CT's two-tiered human services system: 'One tier too many'
Oak Hill, Inc., the largest nonprofit provider of human services for the state, recently trained two group home workers, only to see them jump to the competition earlier this year. The competition is the state. → Read More
After years of cuts, nonprofits struggle to survive.
The term “nonprofit organization” may well be misleading. Some might think nonprofits aren’t really businesses. Ah, but they are; indeed, some are large, intricate and highly regulated businesses. Like for-profit businesses, they need revenue to execute their missions. When that revenue falls off, they must make creative and/or hard-nosed business decisions. → Read More
Sex offender registry: More harm than good?
Public sex offender registries, created In the 1990s in response to a number of horrific crimes against children, are getting a second look as critics across the country demand changes, saying the registries are based on false assumptions, are a waste of money and do more harm than good. → Read More
New movie will revive painful lesson in how not to redevelop a city
It was a fiasco, one that gave Connecticut and one of its oldest cities a black eye. Now we get to relive it as a new film tells the story of Susette Kelo, a woman who gained national publicity for her years-long battle to save her beloved pink cottage in New London’s Fort Trumbull neighborhood from a major redevelopment project. → Read More
A proposal that could empower state's metros
The Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth Thursday recommended giving regional councils of government or municipal consortiums an optional taxing power that would allow a new level of regional cooperation in the state. Third of three articles. → Read More