Twenty Years-What's Next?

My husband, Jon Harden and I moved back to Hartford in 1989, after twenty years in book publishing in New York City. I had lived here until I went away to college in 1965, and remained informed of Hartford's booming years through many visits home to my mom and dad, Ruth and Arthur Lumsden, who led the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce through most of those years. We returned to the family home in West Hartford because we had a new baby daughter to raise, and a recently widowed mom in that house to care for. I remembered Greater Hartford as safe, prosperous, honest, and a little boring. A great contrast to New York City, and just the right formula for a young family, we decided.

Neither Jon nor I had ever heard of The Hartford News when we read the "For Sale"ad for a small Connecticut publishing company in The New York Times, one Sunday in October while visiting mother. The next day when Jon called the number in the ad, we couldn't believe the coincidence-that there even was a publishing company in Hartford-not to mention one in our price range-and for sale now! Within days we had made our deal with Bob Pawlowski, who was very gracious during all the negotiations, and the transfer of ownership. He didn't even mention that his paper in its earliest days had taken the opposite side of many issues my dad advocated, like regionalism, business-friendly taxes, redevelopment and private housing, community-corporate partnership, volunteerism, etc.

It was weeks later, after we got into the paper and met many community members who shared with us the paper's earliest history, that we realized there was an interesting irony in Art Lumsden's daughter now owning The Hartford News.

We also soon realized that Hartford was not as I had remembered it from childhood. First, it was not at all boring! We found ourselves with more to do, and more people expecting us to show up at their special events, than we ever had enough time-or babysitters-to handle the demand for our presence "on the town." Hartford was happening!

We also discovered that Hartford was not as prosperous as it had been. Never buy an advertising based business at the start of a huge recession-we learned too late! And sadly, it was not always safe, but we found the other media in town blew this symptom of city life way out of proportion. We had lived in New York City after all, and Hartford was a welcome contrast to that. Ironically, we also learned that old, stuffy, honest, clean, Yankee, Hartford, wasn't immune to wheeler-dealers either-we arrived just as the Colonial Realty scandal was breaking.

What had not changed was that the people are wonderful; they welcomed us with open arms. The arts and cultural institutions were, and continue to be, remarkable in their quality and variety. The business community is still, for the most part, very dedicated to the city, and the politicians much more realistic and accessible than I remembered. After years of petty squabbling between ethnic groups, the neighborhoods were beginning to see the strength of working together with the politicians to actually get things done.

The best part of this experience is helping people who turn to us in real need. I remember when an AME church was celebrating a big milestone, and we were the only ones who could produce their program book for them on time and budget-very little of both we discovered when we completed the job at 4 a.m. that morning. Newsletters for all sorts of grassroots organizations are done within the offices at all hours of the day and night, without anyone here expecting overtime pay- and some are still paying us over time! One of our most wonderful success stories is a man who was discovered by reporter, Steve Walsh while Steve was delivering papers in the North End. The man was collecting cans from trash bins for a living. Steve gave him a job, and that man, who has become a successful entrepreneur, has now worked with us for over five years. Others have come to us when they had no experience and no one else would give them a chance; now they are famous authors, journalists, and artists. Even Mayor Mike, as a young man, learned to sell ads for this paper-no wonder he can sell us on almost anything now!

Jon and I are the last "publishing couple" left in Hartford. Others have found it just too hard a market. But we don't think of Hartford as a market-to us it is home. We'll never get rich here, but we don't ever want to live anywhere else.

My daughter loves Hartford, and although she never knew her granddad, I know he is pleased she is being raised here-often right in the office- in a newspaper that tries to do the right thing for other kids just like Heather. Dad died before his work was done for the city he loved. It is wonderful that we have the chance to continue some of that good work in the future-and to discover our own new ways to make Hartford all that it is and should be. With your help this paper will serve you for a long time to come. You are the reason we work to ponder, to predict, and to report what's next!