If The Courant feels the need to do something attention-grabbing and different, this is the kind of journalism it ought to pursue more of.

For a long, long time, (and admittedly with some notable exceptions) the Courant has withdrawn from its readership. It has shut down its bureaus, trimmed its charitable contributions, shrunk away from community reporting and generally given Greater Hartford the impression that with each passing day, it cares less about its community and more about its bottom line.

This small venture onto a city street is a concrete and eye-level demonstration that the news staff cares about readers’ lives and is willing to take a leadership role in the community. It portrays a newspaper with heart and spine and integrity. . . one that readers and advertisers feel they owe their loyalty to.

The publisher should have been there to greet the police chief and other city officials who showed up to help with the Garden Street cleanup. But maybe his time would be better spent if he just put Helen Ubinas and her editor in charge of rebuilding the paper’s good name.