Here we are, at the start of the second week in December, and the finish of 2015 is starting to take shape.    

Political transitions are well underway, and new municipal regimes around here are in place. It's generally been a Republican tidal year.

Perhaps the municipal official who will be missed most in 2016, at least for entertainment value, will be New London's Mayor Finizio.

In his long and boastful farewell letter to the people of New London, issued Friday, Finizio proved that a decisive loss at the polls may be neither instructive nor humbling.

The year is ending with state lawmakers trying to push more sand into the budget quagmire, which still glows a bright Christmas red.

I wonder if the money-saving plan by Senate Democrats to offer incentives to allow those on the state payroll to retire early will also apply to Senate Democrats.

It looks like 2015 will end as another year in which the historic landmark Cass Gilbert buildings at Seaside in Waterford will continue to deteriorate, demolition by neglect by the state.

Whatever happened to the governor's politically motivated plans for Seaside Park, which were supposed to be unveiled last spring, when the 2015 tulips were in bloom?

The two gaming tribes have remained busy right through the latter part of 2015.

Could 2016 bring approval for a trendsetting, MGM-crushing Connecticut airport casino? I hope so.

Attorney General George Jepsen is the person who can ultimately enable state lawmakers to let the tribes compete in the new Massachusetts/Connecticut casino wars. I hope he does.

The year is ending, weatherwise, the way 2014 did, dry and warm and snowless.

One wonders, with the prospects of another long winter at hand, whether the new mayor of New London, in returning the old guard to public works, will do a better job clearing streets and sidewalks.

The National Coast Guard Museum finished 2015 with some impressive fundraising announcements. A million dollars here and a million dollars there, and pretty soon you have $70 million and a new waterfront museum in downtown New London.

Another year is ending with no new development at New London's Fort Trumbull, a neighborhood that strangely remains with no buildings, but cars parked up and down every street.

I wonder if the new regime in New London might not consider putting gravel down on all that empty land and charge Electric Boat workers to park there. Or how about smart meters that take credit cards and charge $10 a day?

Given the pace of development proposals, that revenue stream could last a long time.

The year finishes with officials at the New London Maritime Society wisely acknowledging they should apply for city approvals to regularly bring visitors to their Harbor Light. This is progress.

Here's hoping the society also sees the need to make nice with neighbors who bear the brunt of the intensifying use of the property in a residential zone.

Connecticut politics, interesting right through the end game of 2015, will fade in the glare of presidential politics in 2016.

There are clear national Democratic and Republican front runners now in place, by polling, at year's end.

Gov. Dannel Malloy has emerged as Connecticut's principal cheerleader for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Which prominent Connecticut Republicans might emerge as cheerleaders for Donald Trump?

Anyone?

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com

Twitter: DavidCollinsct