One of the enduring shameful legacies of being a New Yorker in the 1960’s was the case of Kitty Genovese a 29-year old woman from Kew Gardens, Queens who was brutally stabbed to death one spring night in 1964 as 38 fellow citizens watched from their windows and did nothing.

Psychologists studied the matter and gave the dead woman a legacy for the callousness of the moment – “the Genovese Syndrome.” Her death came to symbolize the detachment and indifference of urban life in America and put a dark emotional stain on the city until its rebirth under Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg.

This week, Hartford may have had it’s “Genovese Moment” after the savage early morning mugging of former Deputy Mayor Nick Carbone and the hit and run accident involving Angel Arce Torres, a 75-year-old retiree who was run down in broad daylight on Park Street.

Carbone is considering surgery and Torres is paralyzed. The surveillance video posted on the Hartford Courant showed the sickening moment as silhouetted bystanders gathered and leered at the crumpled body of Mr. Torres. No one, it seems, saw the car or caught a plate number, nor offered much aid.

Hartford is also frozen in indifference, starting at the top with Mayor Eddie Perez, who couldn’t even bring himself to acknowledge the problem initially, choosing to hide behind the usual “lot of good things are happening here,” or to offer prayers for Carbone, a political foe.  Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts, a decent man who is hopelessly over-matched, gave an honest appraisal of the situation, saying the city has grown toxic.

Perez is under investigation by the federal and state authorities and it only a matter of which agency arrests him first. Shootings are regular form of street theater in the North End; the school system continues to produce teenage mothers and dropouts at record rates and the downtown redevelopment is at a standstill – due to Perez’s insistence on rewarding the unions and driving up the cost of construction.

Hartford has long been a ward of the state. It is a poverty city on steroids.  It’s education system consumes close to $190 million and though the current Superintendent has shown some promise, the schools are run by Perez, who has used the system to reward friends.

One of those is a former Perez aide - State Rep. Kelvin Roldan, who has a high paying job as an administrator, although he had no demonstrated qualifications for the job. The rest of the Hartford delegation is well, the rest of the Hartford delegation. State Rep. Ken Green, D-Hartford, an affable man, has the worst attendance record in the House, even though he lives less than a mile from the Capitol. His contribution to political discourse every year is picking the best dressed legislators and staff members.

The city’s library, having undergone a remarkable transformation through private and public cooperation, is now used as a free book store, high-end brothel, opium den and free Internet porn site. The librarian won’t do anything about it since it would create an non-welcoming atmosphere.

And if that wasn’t enough, Abe Giles, a North End legend, parking lot magnate and voter fraud specialist, is saddling up for a return to the State Capitol where he spent many a day sleeping in the Hall of the House as a state legislator.

Maybe it’s time for the state of Connecticut, the Legislature, what is left of the business community and the media to pool together and take some drastic action.

For starters, someone from the state, maybe Dick Blumenthal, should go into federal court and have a Special Master appointed to run the school system. A Special Master is used in dire situations, has absolute power, can abrogate contracts and has free reign to restructure and reorder what has been an unmanageable situation. Special Masters have worked in major cities, including Washington, D.C. where one was appointed for that beleaguered school district.

Next, have the State Legislature convene and have the city put under state supervision, lock stock and smoking barrels. Bring in an outside auditing team to ferret out all of Perez’s deals, restructure municipal contracts, fulfill the financial needs of the pension funds and put new emphasis on completing Front Street.

Declare curfews in the city, wherever and whenever necessary. Bulldoze abandon buildings and pave vacant lots and place high arch lights on them. Bring in all the neighborhood groups and give them cell phones, video cameras and mace, if that’s what it takes to give the people of Hartford a sense that their lives are just as important as those in the West End or Franklin Avenue.

Establish more community crisis centers to offer drug and alcohol services, either through court mandate or referrals. Most, if not all of these crimes, involve the use of or sale of drugs. Get people well but give them the tools to get well.

Enlist 1,000 volunteers from the corporate and surrounding communities to adopt or mentor families in the inner city. Each volunteer gets a $1,500 tax credit for completing 200 hours of service.

Republican Mayoral candidate J. Stanley McCauley put it best in today’s Courant:

Tell people the truth,” McCauley said, “and then they have an easier time adjusting to it. The city is out of control. There is no law. There is no consequence for people’s actions.

Republicans have a rare chance here to led the way on urban issues and to show how over 50 years of Democratic leadership has done little to erase poverty, promote strong families, educate children and protect innocent citizens from crime.

His words ring sadly true. But it took New York City a generation to shake off its torpor of the Genovese incident. She lies buried in a graveyard in New Canaan, CT.