HYPE Hot Takes - Hartford 400!

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Episode Transcript

(00:02):
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(00:44):
more at okhillct dot org. Nowhere's your host for Pulse of the Region,
Kate Bowman. Hello, Hello,and welcome back to another episode of
Pulse of the Region. I'm yourhost, Kate Bauman, here in the
iHeartMedia Studios, here in our capitalcity of Hartford, and I'm going to
tell you listeners, we have apacked house. I have never had this
many people in studio, which isawesome. I will say, we're all

(01:07):
a little cramped though, so whichis kind of fun and exciting. Everyone's
nodding their heads a little bit atme, probably thinking partially I'm crazy.
But anyways, we have a greatshow lined up for today because today it
is our second episode of Hype HotTakes, the podcast which gives you the
pulse about the city of Hartford froma young professional's lens. So, as
many of you may remember from pastepisodes, you remember Hype which is our

(01:32):
Hartford Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs initiative ofthe Metro Hartford Alliance Today Alliance, and
today I'm with my colleague Mia Sinatro, who's becoming a regular here on the
show, and she's going to beleading the charge for the conversation today and
today we will be getting the pulseabout Hartford four hundred from a young professional
lens. Hartford four hundred is acoalition led by the Equal Partnership which aims

(01:56):
to create a unified and forward thinkingplan for the capital city and the region.
So with that, let's get intoall the great stuff we're going to
talk about today. So first thingsfirst, So would love to reintroduce Mia
Sinatro, the executive director for Hype. Hey Kate, good morning, thanks
for having me on today, andjust to give a quick elevator pitch about

(02:16):
Hype For those that are not familiarwith the organization, we are Hype Hartford
Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs, a professionalnetworking group that provides social and professional opportunities
for young leaders and entrepreneurs in theregion through curated event experiences. We are
all about learning, growing, andleading the way to a brighter future.

(02:39):
Fantastic when Miya, thanks so muchand if I'm gonna has it back to
you and pretty much I get tosit back and enjoy today, which is
I appreciate that this is like anice little lead into the weekend. Heck
yeah, So all right, folks, are you ready to roll? I
wish you all could see the studio. Like Kate said, it's a packed
house today, but we have someawesome folks joining us for the conversation.
Well, welcome to Hype. HotTakes, a table talk style podcast where

(03:02):
young professionals offer unfiltered discussions on talent, lifestyle and workplace trends, challenges and
more through a candid gen z andmillennial lens. As we like to say,
the limit does not exist. Theopinion shared one Hot Takes are not
a reflection of their participating organizations values, as Hype's role is to facilitate a

(03:23):
neutral and inclusive environment for open discussions. I'm your host, Mia Sinatro.
On this episode of Hype Hot Takes. We are taking a deep dive into
the transformative initiatives of Hartford four hundred. Our guests will discuss the Hartford four
hundred solutions and what they offer youngprofessionals as we look to the future.

(03:45):
I am so excited to be handingthe mic over to our guests to lead
today's show and allow them the floorto dig into the nitty gritty of all
that Harper four hundred has on thedocket before I pass the baton. Joining
me in the studio are three Hypeleaders Matt, Max and Jesse Welcome,
thank you, Thanks, Maya,thank you, and special guest Jackie Mandyke,

(04:06):
the executive director of the Quel Partnership. Welcome Jackie, Thanks so much,
Mia, and without further ado,let's get into it. Over to
you, Matt, Thanks Mia,and so to do right by four hundred
and Hartford four hundred. In thisconversation, let's level set with a little
bit of Hartford history, right,So why is there a need for Hartford
four hundred and this vision. Well, Mark Twain lived in Hartford, Right,

(04:30):
we know that we've seen the beautifulhome. He called it the most
beautiful city in the world. There'sa man who went to Paris. So
when we look at some of theshortcomings that we've experienced since the golden age
of Mark Twain's time, right,there's a lot that goes into it,
and infrastructure is a huge, huge, huge component. One huge example of
this is what's happened to our NorthEnd neighborhoods here in Hartford. In the

(04:55):
nineteen sixties and the Civil Rights movement, a lot of African Americans from the
South moved up to the North End. They sought Connecticut for incredible opportunities to
join the insurance industry and education andall of the like. They also came
here for publishing jobs and type writingjobs. Well, we know that a
lot of those publishing jobs have sincebeen off shored. Right, And when

(05:18):
it comes to access to education andconnecting with the neighborhoods that eventually joining the
professional landscape. We then built ahighway through the city of Hartford that disconnected
the neighborhoods from those resources. Right, So that's just one driver that affects
where we are today. We havethe disconnected neighborhoods, we have a heavy

(05:39):
traffic flow that goes through downtown,and we've created an autocentric capital city which
crowds out some development. Now,I want to pass this over to Jackie
to level set us to what Hartfordfour hundred is, what the vision is,
and how we're going to solve forthese things. Over to you,
Jackie so much. Matt really appreciateyou guys having me here today and just

(06:03):
really thrilled to be here and talkabout Hartford four hundreds. So you know,
as we all know, Hartford isgoing to be turning four hundred years
old in the year twenty thirty five, and we really think that that year
that is our reach, that isour goal. How can we make the
greater Hertford region more vibrant, moresustainable, more prospous, prosperous, How

(06:25):
can we grow? How can wemake it more vibrant? And that's what
Hartford four hundred is all about.How can we build coalitions, with Hype,
with other nonprofit leaders, with thecorporate partners, with foundations, with
individuals, with community leaders. Howcan we start to take that and start
to all move forward in one directionto succeed in some of these goals that

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we look at. As Matt mentioned, one of the big initiatives that we
have right now is how do youchange some of the infrastructure to improve livability?
How do you change it to helpus with economic development and grow Since
the COVID happened, we have alot of opportunities about where we can go
and what is important to people andwhat the quality of place needs to be.

(07:11):
Like With the Biden administrations really heavyreliance on really looking at some infrastructure
changes, we think this is awonderful opportunity for us to take advantage of
that. Thanks Jackie, and Iwanted to ask you what are some of
the specific Hartford four hundred initiatives thatyou're excited about. Well, if I

(07:33):
look at some of the infrastructure goalsand let's just take that piece right now
we have in the region. Rightnow, the state is doing something called
the Greater Hartford Mobility Study, whichlooks specifically at how can we adjust some
of our infrastructure or I eighty fourninety one in the Greater Hartford region,
and with that we have some ideas, some plans. We believe getting more

(07:58):
back to the river than what RiverfrontRecapture has already done is extremely important.
If you've looked all across the country, cities have really started to come back
to the river. As we tookit away with the Advent of ninety one
and building ninety one there, peopleare coming back to making sure that we're
enjoying those natural resources. We havethose types of infrastructure that we are really

(08:20):
trying to work with the state onto try and make improvements. But then
we have some smaller projects that webelieve can be early implementers that really help
out some economic development and quality oflife and equity, such as the Heartline
component that we're really looking at,which is a rail trail system over in
the North End. The disconnected cityreally has an impact on young professionals here

(08:41):
today. Just from someone that livesin the West End, right, it's
I do feel disconnected from the restof the city and having a connected waterfront
and even on the other east sideof the river would be lovely to have
a broader, more vibrant city,more connected to every neighborhood. What are
you finding to be some of theimpacts that the Hartford four hundred will have

(09:03):
on the community? You know,I think Hartford four hundred has the potential
to really pull people together and formthose coalitions to move our region forward.
I don't think any one single entitycan do it. The city can't do
it by themselves, the state can'tdo it by themselves. But it's really
trying to bring people together and allgoing in the same direction. So let's

(09:26):
say we're all going to go north, So let's let's push the boat all
the let's try and go in thatdirection. And I think that's what.
You know, we're a very smallorganization, the Equal Partnership, so we
really build a lot on our strengthof building that coalition and working with others
and getting them to buy into avision that we believe can really help the

(09:48):
region. You know, if youlook at other examples, if you look
at things like the LA Olympics thatare coming in the next several years,
if you look out in La andyou do a little bit of analysis,
you know, for years they foughtabout transportation improvements, They couldn't get anything
done. They fought about other developmentand everything else. When they got the
Olympics, all of a sudden,everybody had to come into a room.

(10:11):
They all had to negotiate, andthey all had to come up with,
Okay, this is how we're goingto do it because we have a deadline.
We're hoping the Hartford four hundred deadlinein twenty thirty five brings organizations together
to use that deadline to get somereally great transformative projects in the region.
And obviously using some of the infrastructuredollars that we have available on the federal

(10:31):
level right now provides that kind offunding to be able to do some of
those projects. Yeah, there's agood amount of initiatives with the Hartford four
hundred, But before we get intokind of like this future state, this
better state that Hartford can be inat the end of these projects, Jesse
and Matt, what are some ofthe impacts that you're seeing right now today
as of folks that live in thearea that you'd like to see improve.

(10:52):
Yeah, So, Max, toyour point, the connectedness of not just
communities in Hartford, but connectedness withother cities and towns are round Hartford,
right that's I live in West Harfordmyself. I know plenty of people that
live in East Hartford, Simsbury,New Haven, even you know, down
in Stamford. How do we connectall of our cities together? How do

(11:13):
we make the capital region the heartregion of the state? Right? You
know? How does Hartford four hundredaddress that when it comes to a multimodal
space not just within our communities withinHartford, but outside of Hartford. I
think one of the you know,we have another organization in the city of
Hartford that runs statewide, and that'sConnecticut Main Street. In Connecticut Main Street

(11:35):
really focuses on those main street quartersin our other municipalities. I think that's
very important. But it's not onlyabout connecting the Manchester East Hartford main streets
right, or Hartford or West Harfordor anything else. What it is is
it's trying to form those connections betweenEast Harford and West Hartford, or Hartford
and Manchester. How do you startto build those main streets but then connect

(11:58):
them to other main streets and kindof see it as an entire system rather
than just oh, you know,Manchester has a cool main street and let's
go there. It's it's all aboutabout how can we build that network of
will Manchester is a really cool one, but then oh my gosh, look
at what's happening over in Windsor orlet's see what's going ahead and happening in

(12:18):
East Hartford. It's all about tryingto figure out how we can build each
other up rather than just have youknow, everything in a silo kind of
form. So I think, youknow, West Hartford's doing really well in
downtown. Like I've mentioned Manchester afew times now, they're really going gangbusters
as far as they're building over there. And it's how do we start to
spark that in other areas and usethat energy that's being created in those areas

(12:43):
to help build in other municipalities.Yeah, that's That's one of the things
that drives me crazy too, iswe're all working at silos. Right.
We live in one of the smalleststates in the country, and every region,
every town, you know, theirsuccess is our success, right,
We're so close together. Um,so as we start looking for you know,

(13:03):
towards the future for future transportation,for example, the connectedness of those
communities, you know, the successiveNew Haven is a success of Hartford.
The heart the success of Hartford,the successive New Haven, and you know
you can keep going down the list. Uh you know. So you know,
Matt, I'd be curious to hearyour thoughts. Um. I know
you're a transportation buff so, um, you know what's your what's your your

(13:28):
dream for the Hartford region. Well, my hottest take is that infrastructure development
is economic development, and the fundshould be used as such. So when
we look at our regionalism here inthe silos that we've created in Connecticut,
it doesn't have to be that way. You know, when you say that
you're from West Hartford and I livehere in downtown, we're one of the
same brother you know, exactly.If you're Connecticut, your family to me.

(13:50):
If you're great at Hartford, yourfamily to me. So we should
be governing that way. Yeah,I mean look to that point. You
know, think about Boston. Forexample. I know people that live in
Worcester and they're like, oh,I'm from Boston. It's like, now
you're not. You're from Worcester rightwhere It's like around here, it's like,
oh, from Simsbury. Well,sims Fury's eight miles from Hartford.
But people on sims Furrey said fromSimsbury, not from Hartford, right,
and even within Hartford, I mean, ultimately it's one of the smallest cities

(14:13):
in America. It's eighteen square miles. If if Hartford County itself were Hartford,
it would only be it would actuallybe the seventh biggest city in America,
comparable to Jacksonville. And think ofthe resources that we'd be able to
share across there, and you know, the infrastructure that would be able to

(14:33):
build across I'll obviously I eighty fourand any adjustments to ninety one along the
river, those are federal investments,right, And that's that's bigger than just
what a city is doing and whata town is doing. Yeah, even
beyond public transportation and better transportation thanthe Hartford metro area. One of the
most exciting aspects of the Front redevelopmentis the increased walkability up and down the

(14:56):
riverfront, and they really connectedness tothe river. I mean, there is
a correlation between walkability scores and economicprosperity in cities, and that you can
see even over the past four orfive years, people aren't moving to cities
in and out of cities. Specificallyfor the cities they're actually moving to more
walkable neighborhoods, more walkable communities,so they can get access to food and

(15:18):
jobs and really what they might needto live a healthy and healthy life.
That's a really great point. AndI don't know if many people know this,
but the city of Hartford is theonly walk friendly City designated city in
the state of Connecticut. So ifyou look at that, and if you
look at the opportunities for bike friendlycities, we're the only walk friendly city.

(15:43):
Were comparable to ann Arbor, We'recomparable to other major cities where silver
level. We have wonderful amenities andwonderful assets here in the city of Hartford.
And if you look at the riverfrontdevelopment, you know Riverfront Recaptures working
on expanding their trails system up toWindsor, which would connect to the Windsor
trail system. Weathersfield, the townof Wethersfield is looking at and doing a

(16:07):
study about how to connect into theRiverfront Recapture system from the south. And
then we're working on this project calledHeartline, which is really a linear park
trail that would connect that river trailsystem. It would connect the East West
Way. So we're looking at goingWest and going all the way into Bloomfield,
which then connects to Simsbury and GranbyTrails. It's all about creating this

(16:30):
systematic when people are here, theydon't know if they're riding their bike or
going for a run or going fora walk, if they're in Hartford East
Hartford West. I mean, youknow, it's it is very funny how
we're very regional in nature here inthe state of Connecticut. But you know
what, when you're developing trail systems, it's all about quality of life.
It's equity, it's sustainability, it'smobility. I mean, it is really

(16:52):
an exciting time in the state ofConnecticut. I mean, we have such
great opportunities now we just have tomake sure that we're taking hold of those
and getting it done. We haveto cross the finish line. Yeah,
I think, you know, bringingthis to a slightly different topic in a
post COVID world, looking at downtownHartford, in the city of Hartford in

(17:14):
general, we don't have as manyfolks downtown. Many of the companies are
working remotely, you know, fiftypercent of the time at least, right
you know, how are we youknow shifting you know, as a society.
We're shifting as shared workspaces, peopleworking from home. People want to
live in cities that, to Max'spoint, are walkable. You can get

(17:37):
your groceries, you can do yourlaundry, you can, you know,
go out on the town, goshopping, whatever it may be, within
you know, a reasonable walkable radiusof where you're living. So as a
city, you know, from thatyoung professional lens, I think we can
all agree. And Matt and Maxwell, I'll lean on you on your opinions
as well here. Uh that that'ssomething that the Hartford read in the city

(18:00):
of Hartford should be focusing on aswell, reached Jesse and no doubt.
I mean I've I've met Max forcoffee right here in downtown. You know,
we all hear the phrase live,work and play right, Well,
what does that mean for Hartford?And what is Hartford four hundred doing to
facilitate that? I mean, it'squite a bit. I lived in Atlanta

(18:22):
for a year and one of theincredible developments that I experienced was the belt
line that connected within downtown using alot of old, previously abandoned manufacturing buildings.
So the reuse of space was brilliantand created connectivity in midtown Atlanta to
the downtown, so the heartline.You know, obviously we're not claiming to

(18:44):
be Atlanta, but it's absolutely inspired. And you know, I'd love to
know the different cities that you guyshave been to and the attributes that you've
seen that you would love to bringback to Hartford and would make it,
you know, a great place tolive, work and play. Yeah,
it's an interesting thing about travel.You often reflect upon what can you bring
back home regarding improvements? Why isn'tlife where you are as it is as
you experience it outside of it.I lived in DC for about a decade

(19:07):
or so and frankly got spoiled withthe walkability and the public transportation in that
city. And while Connecticut's my homeand I absolutely love it, you know,
here I am right talking to folksthat are really passionate about public transportation.
There's a reason for that. Ithink a lot of people in Connecticut
and in the Harford region feel thatway, even if they haven't experienced it.
They want to have access to otherparts of the community and have a

(19:30):
space to live enjoyably with folks intheir community. Yeah, I just wanted
to circle back on my point Iwas making earlier. I'd be remiss if
I didn't say, you know,we're in a new normal. And I
know we've heard that a thousand times, right, But we can't approach our
future like it's twenty nineteen, right. You know, the new normals are

(19:53):
positive, right? If we lookat it that way, you know,
we're not going to be able toattract you know, our corporations to come
back full time in the city ofHartford, and from an economic development standpoint,
and you know, building a communityhere, how are we going to
attract people here? Who is atthat our target audiences? And I really
do think that it's young professionals,right. How are we going to create

(20:17):
a space that brings young professionals intothe city of Hartford, Share work spaces,
cool living spaces, you know,walkability, as Max was saying,
transportation around the entire state. SoMax, I'm curious to hear your thoughts
on this. You want to chimein, Oh gosh, I have too
many thoughts, probably for the timethat we have left. Circling back to
Hartford four hundred, we hear there'ssome exciting things coming on in the near

(20:40):
future. There anything you'd like toshare Ja. Yeah. So we received
some funding to do some design andengineering for the Heartline project, which we're
very, very excited about. Ifyou look at the freight corridor line which
is for which is called the GriffinLine and it really connects the city of

(21:00):
Hartford to the center town of Bloomfield, we think that there's wonderful opportunities to
do something similar to the belt Linein Atlanta that Matt was mentioning. There's
trails like this in Detroit Charlotte,DC. We think that this is a
wonderful quarter to open up and reallyprovide that kind of connectedness and eventually the

(21:22):
economic development opportunities along that quarter alongHomestead on up through Bloomfield. In addition,
we think that there's an amazing opportunityif you guys have ever been over
to the riverfront, you know,we only really have two connections to our
riverfront. That's in the up nearWindsor and then the downtown connection. But
we have a little unknown one whichis the pedestrian bridge that goes over into

(21:44):
it. And you know, welike to call that bridge a little bit
similar to the Shawshank Redemption Prison.I mean, you don't you don't know
you don't know it's there, youdon't want to go in, you don't
think you can get out. It'snot what I would provide that I would
say is very friendly and welcoming toget over to our riverfront. We have
some cool ideas for that. Lookat the ramps in Chicago that they've been

(22:06):
doing to really do some great thingsup and over the river. You know,
we can look at others to inspirewhat we're doing. And I really
want to put a plug in forthis. You know, we're working on
projects, but you know, Iquote to a very small organization and we
want to encourage other people to thinkabout what is there Hartford four hundred,
because we're not going to do itall for everybody. We've got some cool
ideas, but we think the coolestis people like the members of Hype sitting

(22:30):
down and having these more conversations aboutwhat can you do to improve the ecosystem
here for entrepreneurs and for young professionals. I mean, this is all This
takes all of us and not justus. And the other thing is we
need to strive and what I havefound. I've been living in Connecticut for
almost thirty years now, but Ithink The mentality is it's okay to be

(22:52):
good, and I think that's totallywrong. We need to strive for greatness.
That's what we need to do.Just designing something, just doing something
and saying, oh, well,it's okay, it's a little cheaper,
it's we can get it done thisway. We won't offend this person,
we won't offend that person. Butit's okay. That's I can't say it

(23:14):
on air, but that's not right. We need to strive for greatness.
That's how you get transfer omative change. That's how you get a really really
we have an amazing region already.That's how you boost it and keep it
going in this trajectory that we haveseen in the last few years. I'm
ready to run through a prick wall. I don't know what you guys for

(23:34):
somebody who can't join Hype because I'mout of the age range. The Hype
is a very inclusive environment. There'sno age restriction, there's no age restriction.
Get my application, well, Jackie. That was phenomenal. And another
great piece to this is that whenyou look at the heartline initiatives or bringing
eighty four and lowering it to theground and connecting Hartford together. It's not

(23:56):
just about you know, umifying downtownfor young professionals. It definitely accomplishes that,
which is a huge bonus. Butthen it also fortifies the surrounding neighborhoods
in the North End, in theSouth End, and hopefully Jesse, we
can all, you know, bringthose things together, because if we can
get all those people, it's thepeople who make the cities. Yep,

(24:18):
it's the flow of the city,right, folks being able to walk across
town. What do you guys thinkthat you can do? I mean,
now I've gone ahead and I've preachedto the choir here right, I think
we're all on the same page.But you know, what do you think
members of hype or young professionals.I mean, let's face it, I'm
gonna be lucky if you guys aregonna wheel me in the wheelchair for some
of the developments that we're doing,and I'm going to help cut the ribbon.

(24:41):
But like, what what I'm workingon is going to impact you in
your family's the most if you're stillin Greater Hartford. So I guess I'm
wondering. You know, people oftenask me, well, like what can
I do. It's so big.I'm like, well, take up bus,
take a walk, do something sustainable, join an f first start a
business. I guess what do youall think that you and your other members

(25:04):
of Hype UM, you know,could do to support, you know,
initiatives like this, because this isn'tgoing to be me that's going to see
the fruits of this. Well.I mean, I see us as ambassadors
to this region, right We're We'rethe young, professional, passionate innovators of
this region. UM. Clearly we'rehere. We care, UM. You

(25:26):
know, so I think our role, as you know, hype leadership is
to you know, carry forth messagesthat you are bringing Jackie as well as
other groups that we're speaking with,UM to not just our membership, but
the greater Harvard region and the stateof Connecticut as a whole. UM.
You know, it's advocacy at theend of the day, UM, you

(25:47):
know, being ambassadors to not justour region but also our state. UH.
You know, speaking positively about thecity of Harvard, uh and about
the Harvard region and the state ofConnecticut. And really you know, taking
the lens and we kind of mentionedthis earlier. You know, we are
a state of innovators of forward thinkers. You know, good isn't good enough.

(26:10):
It never has been for the stateof Connecticut, So why are we
settling now? So you know,I really do think that we're the ambassadors
for all these initiatives. So it'sall about that education piece and bringing people
on board. And for folks thatare just hearing our voices for the first
time and have not heard of hypeand not involved an advocacy, I would
just welcome you to take a walkaround Hartford, get your bike out,

(26:33):
go for a bike ride, getto know the city. It is a
lovely place and we could have amuch brighter future. But the verses to
understand your community, understand the differentneighborhoods we got here, just know what's
here and then we can build offof it. Absolutely, Max Jesse,
we're in the business of changing heartsand minds right and we're doing that with
folks that are our age, ourpeers, our colleagues, and we're bringing

(26:56):
them in, We're making them awareof the issues. See a podcast like
this goes a long way. SoJackie, thank you so much so much
for joining us and you know,bring bringing a lot of detail to the
topic. And Jesse and Max obviouslygiving us a passionate lens from the view
of a young professional. I definitelywant to thank me and iHeartMedia as well

(27:18):
for the phenomenal opportunity for this andyou know, hey, let's let's actually
make things happen. Let's move theneedle. Thanks folks, that was an
awesome show. I'm excited to getthis out on the air and to share
it across socials in the Hype website. Very interesting topic and loved the depth

(27:40):
and breath that you all went intotoday. I'm going to hand it back
over to Kate to do our closingremarks, but just a quick plug for
hype. We are hype heart foryoung professionals and entrepreneurs. If you are
curious about what hype is all about, how to join, how to get
involved, please visit us at wwwdot Hypehartford dot com. Our social handles
are at hype Heartford on Facebook,book and Instagram. We have an awesome

(28:02):
platform there that is up to datewith all the hype happenings going on,
and please feel free to connect withany one of us myself, Jesse,
Matt, Max and Jackie on LinkedIn. We love to hear outreach from our
community, and we'd love to hearfrom our hype cohort. All right,
that was incredible. So before weactually I'm gonna say, we have it

(28:23):
a minute left, so I'm gonnado something really quick on the spot putting
everyone. But first, Jackie,I want to know where can people learn
more about Hartford four hundred? Wherecan people go? Sure, we have
a website, It's Hartford four hundred. It's pretty easy to remember. They
can go there, they can learn. It's got my contact information on it,
and we really encourage people to thinkabout what their four hundred is because

(28:47):
we can all work on this togetherand we can all get there and do
amazing things in the process for ourstate in our region. Absolutely love it.
And when we have time and todayagain it's gonna be short, faster.
Jesse, I'm looking at you.You're going on the hot seat first.
Do you love them most about beingwithin the Hartford region? Answered in
kind of a quick sentence, Andwe're gonna work our way. Let down
the line the history, arts andculture. Very very easy, very easy

(29:10):
answer. Love it. It's likeyou rehearsed a here, Jackie. Okay,
it's a shameless plug. So theAcquil partnership runs Winterfest Hartford. So
I have to say the best thingis the skating rink in Bushnell Park right
after Thanksgiving and Winterfest has to bethe best thing. Love it. It's
the best food in the world,it's incredible music, and it's incredible people.

(29:32):
You guys are my people. Thisis good. This is good,
all right. Last one, notleast, oh Man live music, whether
it's live music in the park inthe summer or just the various menus we
got. We got some good stuffgoing on. Fantastic. Well, thank
you so much for today. Asa reminder, if you want to get
involved in Hype and all of theamazing things happening there, you can go
to Hypehartford dot com more interests.If you have interests about getting involved with

(29:53):
Hartford four hundred, go to Hartfordfour hundred dot com. And before we
close out our show today, wewould like to welcome a new investor to
the MHA. We refer to ourmembers as investors because they're investing in the
work we're doing to help promote theregion. So today we can welcome Annie's
Table and Marketplace. Annie's Table andMarketplace is a delicious food destination presented by

(30:15):
Chef Annie Robanya, featuring from scratchprepared foods with a global twist, including
a variety of sauces, seasonal soups, and salads. You can contact Annie's
Table and marketplace for all of yourcorporate and private catering needs. Visit Annie's
Table dot com for more information.For all the details about today's show,
you can visit Metro Hartford dot com. A big thank you to my colleague

(30:37):
Mia Sinatro for organizing and leading everythingon the hype side, and thanks to
our partner Okel who helps our productionin each and every one of these shows
on Cape. Allman, go outand make today a good day here in Connecticut.