On a weekday afternoon in early October I stopped by the Meriden Green as I had never been there before and was impressed by the foot bridge structure. My visit did not disappoint. This 14 acre park was quite beautiful. It’s many walkways and open greens allow for public recreation. There is a nice amphitheater with ample seating on one end. The brook running through the center of the park is a nice touch that adds visual appeal as well as some flood protection if I understand correctly.

I wandered through the park from one end to the other and one side to the other. There were very few people there. Some were using the foot bridge just to get from one side to the other. There were a few individuals just chilling on park benches. Occasionally I’d see a Mom or a couple with their kids. I would hope on the weekends, that it is a lot more utilized then what I saw because this seems like a great space.

It’s been 30 years since I’ve lived in Meriden so I can’t speak to crime and safety. It is a small city but a city none the less and I would presume the park is not immune to sporadic incidents that you’d see at any downtown city park of its kind. However, that’s just a guess, no facts to support it.

When I was a teenager in the 70’s this area consisted of a bank on one end with a substantial parking lot between itself and going north what was the Meriden Hub (to the best of my recollection). What I’m referring to as the Hub was a small mall in which all the stores were accessed internally. My Mother worked at Merle Normans Cosmetics, in the Hub, during the 70’s as well. I believe the Mills Memorial Housing Project was located just north of the Hub.

The hub had been abandoned for many years and apparently the City wasn’t all that excited to keep the Mills Housing Complex in place so they re-purposed the area. Mills was torn down I believe in 2019, other units were built in the area in its place. 2017 -2020 saw the construction of the new downtown Greene.

I’m not in a position to judge whether tearing down the Mills complex as a good thing or a bad thing. I didn’t live there. It wasn’t me who was affected. It wasn’t me who had to hope I could find a new affordable home. So I’ll leave that final judgement to the residents. However, putting that aside, tearing down the old Hub and Bank and putting this Green in place did seem like a very good thing.

Again my uninformed opinion is that this downtown area as a whole needs to be revitalized. I’m speaking not only to Pratt St but to Colony St. on the other side of the tracks. New modern construction, affordable housing, business incentives, accessible public parking, safe streets, tax breaks yada, yada, yada all need to happen before Meriden has a thriving downtown like a Stamford, New Haven or Hartford.

I wish this old town of mine, where both myself and my daughter graduated from Platt High School, nothing but the best. Building this green was a good move for the community, again in my opinion only. I can’t speak to those misplaced by the tearing down of the Mills Housing. I don’t think being displaced is ever an easy thing. Hopefully they all landed on their feet and in a better place then where they were.

All photographed with a Sony Nex 7, 24.3 MP mirrorless camera and various lenses consisting of: Sony 10-18 F4, Sony 18-35 3.5-5.6, and Sony 50mm F1.8. All shot in aperture priority ISO 100.