Frank Smith Says NB: NEW BRITAIN: Budget Veto Expected: The Herald

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

NEW BRITAIN: Budget Veto Expected: The Herald

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: Rick Guinness had some interesting comments about the budget meeting:

OPINION

Bernacki convinced me that the school board is full of nonsense, hyperbole and elitism. But it did not take much to sway me.

I saw them in action, chowing down on $10,000 - $20,000 worth of catered meals at their meetings when I covered New Britain for the Herald many moons ago. And they were crying poverty then.

Doris Kurtz and Sharon Beloin Saavedra do not like to be reminded of this and both ladies slammed me in the parking lot after public comment for my remarks about their piggish past.

Kurtz said that no money was taken from the students and that it had been budgeted under an account for food. Yeah, well it should have gone to the education of the kids, not Kurtz's stomach.

Now we have more than 600 less kids in the district. Bernacki, a successful businessman with 17 years on the council -- by the way, he had more than 40 kids in his classes when he grew up -- noted that if he suddenly had 800 less customers, he would have to cut expenses. The school board has a hard time doing that.

Each year they threatened to cut sports and music -- like a lot of districts do -- and now they are using the threat of larger class size to scare parents and sway public opinion.

He said he was shocked to find out that despite a flat lined budget that has stayed at $118 million they still found a way to hire 30 new people.

But it is not the credibility of the education "proponents" that ever comes into question. Rather, it is their hyperbole and threats of gloom and doom that enough people are starting to believe that the fantasy may very well become the reality.

For instance, local parent Melissa Rose said, "My kids are going to Hartford. As a parent, there is not much hope that I can see."; June 15, 2010 at 11:25 PM
Anonymous said...: The growth of government
union jobs - and the huge increases in pay they are receiving - is destroying this country. Under the guise of being "public servants" these hard core extorting organizations are rife with corruption and demands. They threaten to shut down cities if you don't give them money and incessantly whine that they aren't paid enough--John Stossel.; June 16, 2010 at 12:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Rick Guinness had some interesting comments about the Budget meeting:

OPINION...

...Before the big Budget meeting, Alderman Sherwood told the media – which only hung around for public comment – that he expected “every parliamentary trick in the book,” and that the Mayor was doing everything short of pulling the fire alarm to stop the Democrats from accomplishing their mission.

By those standards, the meeting was somewhat anti-climactic. But it was not without its moments:
The Democrats were so ready to fight – Sherwood and his forces were so prepared to override the Mayor’s expected veto, that they even brought Democrat Alderwoman Silvia Cruz up to the second floor of city hall (after she just recently had major back surgery) in order to be sure they had all their votes!

Sherwood said there was a hospital bed for Silvia Cruz to lie down on, if that isn’t a first -- and if that isn't dramatic enough. But Cruz was in too much pain and had to go home. The forces of education and righteousness began to unravel.

Sherwood appeared genuinly pissed and did not give much in the way of an interview, after what appeared to be a hard fought round -- that went down in the record books (at least for the moment) in the Democrats' favor.

Alderman Sherwood kicked the door or an object by the door that made the door resonate throughout council chambers just before the last caucus. But he caught himself and acted as if he had just bumped into the thing.

And after caucus, and a much a shorter meeting that did not have every paramentary-trick in the book, it was all over. The Democrats passed their budget and filed out of council chambers.; June 16, 2010 at 6:48 PM
Anonymous said...: The Rick Guinness "New Britain Advocate" Website link is listed below for his Hardware City fans.

http://newbritainadvocate.com/; June 16, 2010 at 8:21 PM
Anonymous said...: In his New Britain Advocate Website Rick Guinness had some interesting comments about the pain-full medical situation with Alderwoman Sylvia Cruz being present at the common council budget meeting.; June 17, 2010 at 9:16 AM

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