The Connecticut Elder Law Blog

Glastonbury River Runners

I'm happy to annouce that I was fortunate enough to be elected to the Board of Directors for the Glastonbury River Runners at the club's Annual Meeting this past Sunday.

I have been a member of the club since its inception back in 2008 and it has been exciting to watch it grow and become a major facet of the local health & fitness community here in town. My hope is that my 27 years of running experience and my time spent on the Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors will allow me to help the club continue to be successful. 

Our New Headquarters...

I'm thrilled to announce that we have moved the law firm from a large office complex near downtown Glastonbury to the charming village center of South Glastonbury, less than 5 miles south of our old site.

The new address is 787 Main Street, South Glastonbury, CT 06073. All of our other contact infomation, including the phone number, remains the same. 

 

 

Our single-floor, newly-renovated building is in a quiet spot, set well back from Main Street. We are the only occupants of the building and parking is a cinch. In fact, clients with mobility challenges will be happy to find that they can pull right up to the front door of the office and be inside after just a few steps (although I am still happy to make house calls for homebound clients!). 

This is also a home-based office. My wife and I have spent the last four months converting our old, beat-up garage into the new home for Keenan Law. The building is detached far from the house and 100% devoted to the law practice. Yet clients will still enjoy a warm and comfortable environment as we discuss their legal concerns. 

If you're an existing client then please give us a call. We'd love to show off our new home with a 30-second tour and then catch up on any new developments on your end. And new clients are always welcome (of course)! Just give us a call at (860) 657-2683.

Click here to see a photo album of the building's evolution from "nasty garage" to "cute little law office".  

Strategic Planning and the Glastonbury Chamber

I recently wrapped up my two-year stint as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce, capping off many enjoyable years as a member of the Chamber's leadership.

Here I am sharing my thoughts on long-term strategic planning for the Chamber.  I'm a big fan of the GCC and what it does for the local business community.  I'm confident that this is going to be a successful and dynamic organization for many years to come!

  

Governor Rell Calls for a Huge Probate Court Shake-Up

Well, Governor Jodi M. Rell has proposed a pretty bold budget in order to get the State's deficit under control.  There are two components to the proposal that have a profound impact to the elderly here in Connecticut.

First is a big shake-up for our probate court system.  The "consolidation" drum has been beating on-and-off for years, but it has never reached this level of discussion.  The proposal calls for choppng down the number of courts from 117 to 36, with the reconfiguration based on state Senate districts.  Service and business hours for all of the courts would be standardized and judges would have to be attorneys with at least 10 years of experience (currently you don't have to be a lawyer to be a probate judge in Connecticut...never understood that one). 

I think some consolidation would be a good thing for the probate court system, but I'd love to find out how they decided to base it on state Senate districts which, if I'm not mistaken, would nonsensically send residents of the same town to different probate courts.  I hope our legislators take a long, hard look at that before they finalize it.

Second, the budget would increase funding for Medicaid and other health programs, but calls for co-pays for many Medicaid recipients.  Also, legal noncitizens who have been in the U.S. for less than five years would not be eligible for state-funded medical assistance. 

So...those are the proposals.  We'll just have to see how the legislative process goes and hope that our political leaders do the right thing!

Section 8 Housing and Rental Assistance Program Announcement

This post is a summary of a Public Notice from the State of Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS).

DSS will make the waiting lists for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and State Rental Assistance Program (RAP) available statewide on Monday, June 18, 2007.

Pre-applications for the programs are accepted from elderly, disabled, single-member households and families. Applicants must be eighteen (18) years of age or older to apply, or an emancipated minor. The programs offer rent subsidies to eligible families.

The same pre-application form is used to apply for both programs.  A computer lottery system will be used to select seven thousand (7,000) pre-applications for the Section 8 and five thousand (5,000)
pre-applications for the RAP waiting lists from pre-applications received during the application period.

Pre-applications for the waiting list must be mailed to: Section 8/RAP, P.O. Box 1039, Southington, CT 06489.

Only pre-applications postmarked between Monday, June 18, and Monday, June 25, 2007 will be accepted. One pre-application form per family is accepted. Make sure your pre-application is complete and legible or it will not be accepted.  Applicants will be notified only if they are selected to be on a waiting list.

Pre-applications will be available June 18 through June 25 at the DSS web site and all DSS offices.  The Section 8 Voucher page of the Department of Administrative Services web site.

Applicants with disabilities who require assistance may call 211, which is the United Way Info-Line. Deaf and hearing impaired individuals may contact the department via TDD/TTY at 1-800-842-4524.

Forget Power Lunches...Try a "Power Walk" Through Glastonbury!

For anyone who works in town and is interested, the Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce recently launched a wellness initiative with several health & fitness businesses and organizations (and one law firm) to establish the Glastonbury Chamber as the healthiest chamber in Connecticut. 

This wellness initiaive has resulted in the Glastonbury Chamber Walking Group which organizes daily walks, Monday through Friday (possibly less often during the summer months) at 12:30pm.  These half-hour walks start and finish at the fountain near the intersection of Main Street and Hebron Avenue.  The route is half on sidewalks, half on trails that have been created as part of the new Riverfront Park.  Participants get free pedometers from Connecticare and the Chamber Insurance Trust.

I've jumped into a couple walks so far and it has been a great way to meet and "network" with other Chamber members, but you don't need to be a Chamber member to participate.

If you're interested, make sure you join us on Monday the 11th because Channel 8 News will be there to do a story on the walking group.  The Hartford Courant will also show up to do a photo shoot and story.  Hope to see you there!

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and that you enjoy the great weather!

Kudos to Glastonbury Senior Center for Accreditation

The Glastonbury Senior Center has certainly come a long way.  The seniors in our town had to deal with a relatively disjointed program which had lunch, computer classes, exercise classes and crafts all in completely different locations. 

But that was a couple of years ago.  Then Glastonbury's beautiful Riverfront Community Center opened in the fall of 2005 and the senior center was finally able to keep all of its activities and operations under one roof.  Since the big move, the senior center's programming has increased by 31%, lunch attendance has gone up 61% and the average daily number of seniors participating in programs jumed from 160 to 225. 

And now, to cap off all of the improvements, the Glastonbury Senior Center has earned the much sought-after accreditation of the National Institute of Senior Centers.  The honor has been given to only seven senior centers in Connecticut and only 126 centers nationwide.

Congratulations to the center's coordinator, Maryleah Skronski and her crew.  Well done...you've made the town proud!

A Plug for "The Glastonbury Connection"

This post is more geared toward my local readers, but I would just like to put in a plug for a fellow blogger, Zilru Jones, and her blog, "The Glastonbury Connection" which is an effort to keep Glastonbury residents informed of what's going on in our community. 

Zilru covers a wide spectrum of topics including local politics, sports, businesses, etc.  While my running blog is highly focused on one patricular aspect of life in Glastonbury, I think it's fantastic that there is a blog that is casting a wider net for the town.  So please bookmark it or add it to your reader and please submit comments to Zilru's posts in order to generate a nice blog-forum for the town.