Food distributions scheduled are as follows:
Mondays; 12-4PM
Wednesdays: 3-7 PM
Saturdays: 9 AM to 1 PM
The locations of this site is 460 Osgood Avenue, City
Another location that is planning to open sometime in the future that is located in the rear of the Salvation Headquarters, 78 Franklin Square, New Britain.
This pantry is undergoing renovations and the planned opening date has not been determined as of yet.
Funding for the food cost, for both locations, has been provided by United Ways food security collaborative for New Britain.
The Spanish Speaking Center’s North Street food Distribution point has been terminated until such time Mr. Mary Sanders is able to regain the state budget cuts.
Let us hope that our state representatives are successful in convincing the Governor to replenish the center’s $100,000 cut.
They have been serving food to an approximate 1,500 persons each month who live in the downtown area.
With the major economical hard times facing our city’s poor all three locations should be a must and our Governor should recognize this dire need with her reinstituting the much needed funds to the Spanish Speaking Center.
12 comments:
Let's get the third location on North Street back to furnishing food to the poor again.
"Big Mouth" Suggest that the politicians should get involved with the food for the poor and help the third location get back to halping the poos with food.
Big Mouth" Suggest that the politicians should get involved with the food for the poor and help the third location get back to halping the poos with food:
Must be one of the elitist Democrats from the council, maybe even fatboy Cantazaro. Who else would be against helping the poor have some food on their table besides those fat cats that are bleading the taxpayers dry?
Anonymous said...
"Oh where of where has filthy Phil gone, oh where oh where could he be?"
I heard he is doing communications for the new Speaker of the House Chris Donovan.
Perhaps now that Sherwack has moved on up we'll be hearing less of him here in New Britain?
Good riddance to him. That is a good place for Philthy Phil, working for the head commie!
NEW BRITAIN — Democratic alderman Paul Catanzaro will be back before the city Ethics Commission Jan. 21 on the same charge discussed and dismissed by the commission Dec. 1.
Catanzaro, a Parks and Recreation Department employee, had spoken up at a council meeting about landscaping work he thought could be done in-house, by his department, instead of by a contractor hired and paid by the city.
And for that — including Republican suspicions Catanzaro made the suggestion to earn overtime pay — he is being called in on the carpet.
Mayor Timothy Stewart confirmed last month that the ethics panel had met twice over complaints by Salvio because “Paul Catanzaro had been shooting off his mouth about his job” during a previous council meeting.
The commission voted unanimously at a special meeting Dec. 22 to bring Catanzaro back, after clearing him in a 2-1 vote earlier in the month.
Catanzaro would only say that he had retained an attorney for his defense at the coming hearing, although he didn’t do anything wrong.
As to the mayor leaking the substance of what the commission twice considered during closed-door sessions, Catanzaro said, “I was always under the impression that if was in executive session, it wasn’t meant to be leaked … Maybe the mayor didn’t get that memo.”
There is a section in the city’s ordinance concerning the ethics panel — Section 2-465 — that says that “Unless the board makes a finding of a violation, a complaint alleging a violation shall be confidential,” said commission member William Dworski, a retired lawyer.
He would not go so far as to say the mayor had erred by talking about the Catanzaro case, and he would not give a definitive answer as to why the commission was revisiting the complaint.
But he stressed that “Anything we do is aboveboard and proper. There was no arm-twisting or politics involved. We will do our job fairly and honestly without politics or prejudice.”
The concept of double jeopardy — in which you can’t be charged twice for the same crime — would definitely not apply, because this not a criminal proceeding, he said.
Still, several council members expressed disdain and disbelief over the entire affair – the complaint, the dismissal, the second vote on the same complaint and the mayor going public over Catanzaro being the subject of the ethics probe.
“Maybe this time the mayor will get the answer that he wants,” alderman Greg Gerratana said.
There is a word for this kind of thing, he said, and “It’s called fascism.”
“This is a case of blatantly trying to attack a guy who has done nothing but serve the city of New Britain,” Gerratana said.
The mayor should also know better than to be talking about a pending ethics complaint, alderman Larry Hermanowski agreed.
“I think it is pretty cheap,” Hermanowski said. “It never should have been filed in the first place. All Paul wanted to do was save the city money. Why bother him? This is the pettiest charge I’ve ever heard of.”
In a previous interview, Republican alderman Lou Salvio said he thought Catanzaro did wrong by participating in the landscaping discussion, which involved work to be done around the garage at City Hall.
“This is about liberal council members steering work to the union,” he said, adding that when his complaint was dismissed the first time, he protested.
“I said I thought they should look at it again because it came to my attention that some people were confused,” Salvio said. “Catanzaro should not have voted on it.”
But Hermanowski said he suspected Salvio did not act alone when he complained about Catanzaro.
“Stewart’s mouthpiece is Louie,” he said. “Whenever he whispers in Louie’s ear, Louie pops up and starts talking.
At the council meeting when Catanzaro spoke about the landscaping job, alderman Phil Sherwood said he didn’t think there was any conflict of interest unless he started seeing trees in Catanzaro’s yard, and he blasted Salvio for impugning Catanzaro’s integrity by insinuating he would be looking for overtime.
Because Sherwood had stood up for him, Catanzaro said he made it a point to clarify his position on the matter, saying the thought the job could be done cheaper in-house.
When asked if he thought the charges being brought against him were politically motivated, he responded by quoting the old saying, “If it quacks like a duck…”
Rick Guinness can be reached at rguinness@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 236
Hmmmm.... there is always more to every issue. The question is did the city simply hire an outside lanscaper to improve the grounds around the parking garage or was this apart of a bigger project that
a contractor bid on to work at the garage? Why then would Paul interject and try to undermine the project by pulling a piece of it and guide the work to his park and rec department? Plus wouldn't that decision go to his boss Bill DiMaio? This is why Paul has ethics problems by making decisions
and votes on the council while working for the city he governs
not to mention his work at HUD. Paul may get complimented on his service to the city by some? but lets face it he crosses ethical lines all the time and it needs to stop.
As for the mayor "leaking" the information! Hey the public needs to know. More cats should be let out of the bag.
The CT State Bond Commission expressed its support for feeding hungry families in New Britain by approving a $150.000 Bond for a new centralized food pantry to be located at The Salvation Army, 78 Franklin Square in downtown New Britain CT.
But the operating budget for the Spanish Speaking Center, one of the primary organizations the state has been using to distribute food in the city at the same time had it’s budget cut - in order to fund and construct the new centralized food pantry (with refrigeration capacities) for more frozen meals and perishable foods by converting the Salvation Army Garage into a brand up to date New Food Pantry.
Mayor Timothy Stewart said the city is establishing the new centralized food pantry with refrigeration and will be tracking in 2009 all the needy folks who need and receive services from new Salvation Army Food Pantry going on line in 2009.
The CT State Bond Commission expressed its support for feeding hungry families in New Britain by approving a $150.000 Bond for a new centralized food pantry to be located at The Salvation Army, 78 Franklin Square in downtown New Britain CT.
But the operating budget for the Spanish Speaking Center, one of the primary organizations the state has been using to distribute food in the city at the same time had it’s budget cut - in order to fund and construct the new centralized food pantry (with refrigeration capacities) for more frozen meals and perishable foods by converting the Salvation Army Garage into a brand up to date New Food Pantry.
Mayor Timothy Stewart said the city is establishing the new centralized food pantry with refrigeration and will be tracking in 2009 all the needy folks who need and receive services from new Salvation Army Food Pantry going on line in 2009.
Osgood Pool should be used for that purpose--as a pool for area residents. Rather than using the poolhouse as a food pantry, move the pantry over to the newly renovated HRA building on Clinton Street. A park is a park not a social services agency...or, move the pantry to Paul Catanzaro's home on Hillhurst Avenue...less than 1 mile away. Let the residents of the Osgood Park area have a pool to go to in the summer!!
NEW BRITAIN — With shelves fully stocked and city officials on hand, the New Britain Food and Resource Center celebrated its official opening Monday January 5, 2009 at Osgood Park Food Pantry.
The Pantry, converted from a long-unused pool house at Osgood Park, is the product of the New Britain Food Security Collaborative. Composed of local agencies including Connecticut Works, CMHA, Foodshare, The Spanish Speaking Center, The Salvation Army and others, the collaborative was created in July 2006 to combat food insecurity among city residents.
The consensus Monday was that although this location is only temporary, there is a great need for it. Several officials attended the event, including Mayor Timothy Stewart, who was on hand for the ceremonial ribbon-cutting.
“I’m glad the city had this building available,” he said. Stewart praised the collaborative and the pantry as “a shining example of the things that are happening here in New Britain.”
State Sen. Don DeFronzo, D-6th District, and state Rep. Tim O’Brien, D-24th District, got a warm welcome at the event and thanks for their efforts to free funds needed for a permanent food pantry.
Pantry project manager Enrique Juncadella, who also represents The Hospital of Central Connecticut on the collaborative, said it is his wish and that of the collaborative that one day New Britain won’t need to have a food pantry. Until that time, the pantry will supply food to the hungry in the northwest side of the city. The Salvation Army is working on another pantry behind its building in the southern part of the city that will go on line in 2009.
Talk of a permanent food pantry in the North End in Corbin Heights has been stalled since the State Bond Commission promised $150,000 for construction in late summer.
O’Brien, who did not speak at Monday’s event, later said it was up to the city to decide how to spend the $150,000.
“Everybody agrees with the goals,” O’Brien said. “We’ve all been fighting in different ways for money to help people. It’s good that the whole community has come together. These are tough times. We have to roll up our sleeves.”
O’Brien said that Mayor Stewart had some good ideas about where to build a permanent food Pantry in Corbin Heights area.
Anonymous:
The Herald makes sure that while DeFronzo, O'Brien etc., do nothing to help NB, Guinness makes sure their names are put out front in the Herald for people to read. Saying that somebody does something and proving they do it are two different things. Since NB"s do-nothing legislators have been in office, how much has the quality of life for NB citizens changed? NOT AT ALL! Everything has been accomplished by Stewart and his administration at the local level. Go figure.
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