Hartford’s Store Curfew Saps Profits
Business Owner Says Being Forced To Close Early Hurts, Sends Message That City Is Closed
For the four years he managed it and the nine he’s owned it, the gas station on the corner of Capitol Avenue and Broad Street has thrummed all hours of the day and night for Domenic Vallera. Just a block from the ramps to I-84, motorists slip off the interstate to fill depleted tanks. Commuters top up before heading home.
And Vallera, 36, kept it going, all day, every day — until this July, when the city denied him and 12 other gas stations and stores a 24-hour license, forcing them to close at 11:30 p.m. because of concerns about violence and late night disruptive activity.
On July 1, Vallera complied with the new restriction and closed his station at a half hour to midnight — the first time in its 40-year existence, he said, it hasn’t been open 24 hours. Since then, revenue has dropped by 38 percent and he’s laid off two cashiers, both Hartford residents, he said.
“I’m worried about paying my bills,” Vallera, who owns three more stations outside the city, said. “The rent’s the same. Taxes are the same. To lose this kind of revenue is having a huge effect on us.”
Mayor Luke Bronin said that while he understands the owners’ concerns, he has to weigh them against complaints from residents about crime and quality of life issues.
“I’ve said to them, ‘We’re happy to talk,’ ” he said. “We’re happy to discuss their concerns. I understand their concerns, but again, we have to strike a balance with the importance of having strong safe neighborhoods and a good quality of life for our residents.”
Vallera says it sends a different message: Hartford isn’t open for business. Rather than working with private-sector shareholders to address quality of life issues, the city administration has chosen to simply shut down taxpaying businesses, he said. “It’s not a good image for Hartford.”
And then Will and everyone else on the bus went to class.
Later in the day, the principal, Mary E. Grande, called Will’s mother,Tara Restall and the parents of other students on the bus to let them know what happened.
“She called him a hero,” Tara Restall said. “He’s 11 and doesn’t understand, but everyone is proud of him.”
Tara Restall added that things could have turned out differently if her son hadn’t caught the bus at the last second or had his head phones on, which would have blocked the sound of the noise that caught his attention.
Jen Biddinger of the bus company, First Student, said the bus driver is “at home resting and recovering and she is going to be OK. We’re thankful the student was able to help.”
The driver had reported to dispatchers that she wasn’t feeling well after she parked in front of the school, Biddinger said. When dispatchers tried to reach her on the two-way radio, she didn’t answer, she said.
“No one responded,” she said.
They then heard the boy’s voice reporting what had happened.
Biddinger said First Student bus drivers talk to students about the importance of the two-way radio each year.
Asked if he would have done anything differently without the training, Will said no.
“It’s the right thing to do,” he said. As for his “hero” status, which includes several television news appearances and interviews with reporters, Will has expressed a reluctance to be in the limelight.
“I had to bribe him,” said his father, Tim Restall, who is president of the Hartford Yard Goats baseball team.
And what was the reward for telling his story?
Fortnite V-Bucks, Tim Restall said.