Please submit any comments you wish to make about New Britain's Budget Proposals.
And please comment on Governor's Malloy's proposed tax increases.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Open Forum Thirteen
Please submit any comments you wish to make about New Britain's Budget Proposals.
And please comment on Governor's Malloy's proposed tax increases.
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23 comments:
I would like to discuss the so-called $1.6 billion savings the governor claims he is getting from state employees.
The plan guarantees that any current employees who retires before 2022 will be guaranteed the current 20 year pension that they are now guaranteed, and guarantees no layoffs for the next 4 years. status quo is guaranteed for at least the next 11 years.
The health care portion of it mandates that every employee go to a doctor for an annual physical, and then complete all follow-up tests and treatments this doctor assigns to each patient, and that every state employee and retiree must get dental cleanings every 6 months. Failing to do all this will require each employee to pay a penalty of $100 per month for their health care, otherwise their health care is free, and so are all these new doctor visits and the multitude of newly ordered tests. It sounds like Obamacare for state employees!
How can mandating over 100,000 people start going to doctors annually and taking a multitude of additional tests and treatment that are all paid for directly by the taxpayers because the state is self insured for health care save any money?
No wonder the governor is in a huge hurry to ram through a massive expansion of the UConn Health Center that will involve the state borrowing $900 million dollars and will result in the hiring of 16,000 new state employees that will also be the recipient of these lavish retirement and health plans, and who will most likely vote to re-elect him in thanks for their new lavish patronage jobs!
If you have to pay a retiree for the rest of their lives and they get guaranteed cost of living raises in their pensions for every year they live, how can you claim to save money by keeping them alive longer???
Why don't we simply contract out the public works and parks departments? Mayor DeStefano is saving New Haven much needed money by contracting out maintenance of city properties.
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Jim Sanders Jr said...
10% across the board should be easy for every department, all they need to do that is common sense!
30% in the parks department is easy to, considering we have employees driving around on lawnmowers doing nothing but wasting fuel and putting hours on the equipment! And why do we need them in the winter?
40% in public works is even easier considering this past winter employees worked there overtime then came in for there regular shift and went to sleep, and most recently I personally found employees hiding behind beehive field for 45 minutes, not to mention the gross abuse of overtime during last summers storms that dropped trees and caused loss of power to the city( 22 men st one job with only 6 working is a joke)
If we could actually stop playing political games and start running this city like a business we could see our taxes go down and some long lost services restored
The New Britain Public Library, like public education, is a taxpayer-supported institution with a value that isn't easily measured on a ledger sheet. The New Britain Public Library value to NB community exceeds what it costs by many measures of human capital and civic involvement...
The possibility of staff layoffs in city government could hit the library in terms of reduced hours and diminished services that will be very painful as depicted by New Britain Herald Staff Reporter Robert Storace's May 17th 2011 story ...
The New Britain Republican Town Committee is seeking candidates to run for elected offices in the upcoming 2011 November Municipal Elections. Potential candidates can contact NBRTC Vice Chairman Jamie Giantonio at JamieGiantonio@gmail.com.
While the NBRTC primarily endorses Republican candidates, we have in the past and will continue to consider Democrats and unaffiliated candidates who support efforts that would help control taxes, limit local and state government and generate private sector jobs....jobs...jobs?
Visit the New Britain Republican Town Committee Website...
http://www.nbrtc.com/
Connecticut's Paperboy: Website...
EAST HADDAM, Conn.—One of the most followed voices in state politics is found in a gray house in East Haddam, CT. That's where Tom Dudchik puts out the CT Capitol Report, a website modeled after Matt Drudge's the Drudge Report that aggregates local Connecticut political news, slapping on biting headlines and driving the 24-hour news cycle.
Launched last year by Mr. Dudchik, the site quickly has become a home page of sorts for the state.
"The only thing I check more than Capitol Report is my pulse," said Roy Occhiogrosso, a senior adviser to Connecticut's Democratic governor, Dannel Malloy. Mr. Occhiogrosso says almost everyone at the capitol—including Mr. Malloy—keeps CTCapitolReport.com on their computer screens.
Also, Paul Bass, editor of the New Haven Independent, calls Mr. Dudchik Capital Report - "Connecticut's paper boy - on the Web?
Dial-a-Ride for seniors is a must for the elderly. Hoping the council will find a way to retain this great service.
my dad uses this service for his medical appointments
Anonymous said...
Dial-a-Ride for seniors is a must for the elderly. Hoping the council will find a way to retain this great service.
my dad uses this service for his medical appointments
......
With 2 large bus companies right here in the city, have they ever looked into contracting our this dial-a-ride program to one of them, or is this just one more of those government run functions that simply continues to bleed the taxpayers for every dime they can get from us?
Governor Malloy's deal with the union is costing the taxpayers big bucks.
Even the 27 union negotiators made six figures for their services.
Drive around any city in CT, and look at all the empty manufacturing facilities. You think it was all those evil rich people who fled to Mexico, China, India, etctera ?
Of course those pure union people , who were just looking out for those poor workers, had nothing to do with it. Then with the EPA rules, you can't even tear these crumbling facades of civilization down.
You have to take them apart brick by brick, by union masons, who then have to wash off every brick with Dawn detergent.
Maybe we could get our Canadian neighbors to buy the bricks for $5 a piece.
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When I lived in NB I think the local paper was called the herald, when did they change it to the journal?
"Anonymous said...
Dial-a-Ride for seniors is a must for the elderly. Hoping the council will find a way to retain this great service.
my dad uses this service for his medical appointments
......
With 2 large bus companies right here in the city, have they ever looked into contracting our this dial-a-ride program to one of them, or is this just one more of those government run functions that simply continues to bleed the taxpayers for every dime they can get from us?
May 19, 2011 12:11 PM"
This is a great idea; has anybody looked into it?
Is Cris Carillo going to have a fundraiser to raise the money to defend himself against the legal attacks of Phil Sherwood?
It's bad enough that Sherwood asked our fellow Republican Carillo to get arrested and it's even worse that we're not out there publicly supporting Carillo's god given American right of Freedom of Speech.
For the 8th year in a row now, when it comes to budget time. the Dems bite off more than they can chew. This time however, the Democrat majority has nobody but Mike Trueworthy to follow. The other Dems are either neophytes or simply unable to understand what it takes to prepare a responsible municipal budget for 71 K people. The Dems should know by now that it takes more than a majority vote to prepare and pass a budget that is responsible to the taxpaying public.Of these 71 K folks, the true taxpayers will bear the brunt of Dem mistakes. Wake up Trueworthy, obstructionism and dirty tricks don't work!
The magnet School belongs to the control of the Board of Education and also the location should be in town. Not in the commercial lot known as the pinnacle heights
" Anonymous said...
The magnet School belongs to the control of the Board of Education and also the location should be in town. Not in the commercial lot known as the pinnacle heights"
This would truly be a predictable disaster. The NB BOE, led by Beloin Saavedra can' get out of its own way. What a dumb idea.
More than 130 people gathered in Hartford yesterday to listen to former Governor and current WTIC 1080AM radio host John G. Rowland talk about state spending, Governor Malloy, and the bad public policy choices being made by state government:
“When you have Andrew Cuomo and John DeStefano holding the line on the political power of unions, what are we missing?” Rowland said.
“While other states are pandering to businesses we’re pandering to unions.” As for the $1.6 billion concession package for state employees, Rowland believes the silence is deafening.
He said people continue to ask him what works and doesn’t work, but “all you need to know is one thing, do you hear the state employees screaming bloody murder?”
OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON COSTCO PROPOSAL.
by Alderman David DeFronzo on Thursday, June 18, 2011 at 10:40 pm.
Here is the statement I just released on the Mayor's proposal to sell city-owned parkland to Costco...
For over 150 years - until now - through Republican and Democratic administrations alike, New Britain elected officials have had the good sense to protect and preserve our precious parks. Through the Great Depression, through recessions and through repeated economic downturns, mayors and council members have had the courage to say no to the destruction of our park land.
The plan to sell city parkland to Costco is bad for New Britain. It repudiates our long standing values and is a clear admission that the city lacks a cohesive, well thought out economic development policy. With well over 70 acres of developable land at Pinnacle Heights and on Myrtle Street and with dozens of vacant properties available for development, the city council is asked to endorse a plan that will permanently alter A.W. Stanley Park. Is that the best we can do? And does anyone think that once we go down this path that the redevelopment of our parks will stop with A.W. Stanley?
City officials need to proceed with a great deal of caution when considering the Costco proposal. There are certainly a number of unanswered questions pertaining to this plan, including increased traffic congestion, environmental issues and quality of life concerns. Last week, Attorney General George Jepsen indicated he would be seeking information from the mayor and corporation counsel to determine whether or not the sale of this property is even permissible. At a minimum, any action on this plan should be postponed until all sides have all the available information. Any action beyond this would be irresponsible and not in the long term interest of the city.
This has nothing to do with being pro-business or anti-business; it has everything to do with exercising good judgment and being good stewards of our limited natural resources. Just last year the City Plan Commission – citizens appointed unilaterally by the mayor - designated A.W. Stanley as New Britain’s most valuable open space and identified it as such in the City’s Plan of Conservation and Development. What has happened in the last six months to change that?
The Stanley family set this land aside for use as a park in perpetuity. It continues to be needed and it is used by hundreds of people every week and the intent of the deed is clear. Alix Stanley had it right in 1927 and he remains right today. Those who say this development won’t change the park system are clearly mistaken.
Every so often an issue comes along which defies partisanship. This is one of them. I urge the people of New Britain and my colleagues on the Common Council, from both parties, to stand up for New Britain values, to protect our parks and to say no to the plan currently before us.
NOTE: Alderman David DeFronzo's Official Statement on the Costco proposal was posted on the " Friends of A. W. Stanley Park" website on Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 10 pm.
Also, Alderman David's Notes.
Notes about Alderman David (DeFronzo) was posted on "Friends of A. W. Stanley Park" website.
Why was The Official Statement On Costco Proposal by Alderman David DeFronzo sent to the Herald, The Courant and the New Britain City Journal?
Why?
To: The citizens of New Britain
A city like New Britain, through all of its city departments, The Mayor and his administration and through decisions of the chief deliberative body of the City, The Common Council, provides municipal services to its citizens. Taxpayers provide the funds for these services. When times are favorable there is no problem providing the services; when the times turn sour the citizens suffer.
When servicing the citizens of a city like New Britain, of course we strive for perfection. However, we cannot lose sight of something equally important, the greater good. Few things in our world, present as perfect. If we as a society are not willing to accept anything less than perfect, then we lose sight of the greater good. Such is the case with the COSTCO proposal.
There are many viewpoints on this proposal and there have been many speakers, pro and con. Many folks have come down against the COSTCO proposal, in my opinion, they have lost sight of the "greater good" of all New Britain citizens and are looking to abandon the proposal/any proposal.
In this case, my opinion is that the proposal comes down heavily on the side of the greater good for NB citizens, especially the taxpayers. That is the way I'm voting and I will urge my Council colleagues to do likewise. Hurray for NB taxpayers and citizens.
FINALLY, WHERE WERE ALL THE PRESERVATIONISTS YEARS AGO WHEN GOLF COURSE LAND ADJACENT TO WHAT ARE THE FINAL HOLES ON THE BLUE NINE WAS SOLD AND NOW HOUSES THE APARTMENTS ON HARTFORD RD? HOW DO YOU FEEL ALIX STANLEY WOULD LIKE THAT? I THINK ALEX STANLEY WOULD COME DOWN ON THE SIDE OF THE GREATER GOOD!
very good!
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