TELL IT TO THE MAYOR!

Since so many of the posts on here are either criticisms or praises for the mayor, I am offering you a special open forum to let New Britain Mayor Timothy Stewart know what is on your mind.

You are welcome to post items anonymously, or may sign your posts if you choose to do so. Consider this an opportunity to speak up about issues you feel may be important to the people of New Britain. Simply click on the comments link below to leave your message. Thanks for checking in to review my postings and please feel free to check back frequently as I have a number of interesting stories in the works.

False Promises by the Mayor:

JUST ANOTHER EMPTY PROMISE FROM MAYOR TIMOTHY STEWART:

After a petition was sent to the mayor’s office, the mayor then indicated to the Szczesny garage customers in writing that a solution would be found by August of 2008. After writing continued comments that the delay was still ongoing, there still is no apparent resolution planned.

As a last resort, I asked the city’s property Manager “the sixty four thousand dollar question” as to when the installation of the security cameras can be expected. Mr. Pelligrino’s immediate reply was that there are too many priorities before we can deal with that issue.

The city’s property manager seemed to be of the opinion that there are many priorities to the safety of the elderly residents, CCSU students, and other customers who use the garage.

Let’s not forget that video taping the ducks on Stanley Quarter pond was seen as one of these priorities.

Financial Problems at New Britain EMS

Few people realize that the New Britain EMS Service is a non-profit corporation not actually operated by the city. The EMS service is suffering from financial problems due in part by the number of transports they perform for the uninsured and the lower payments they receive for Medicaid transports--$208 versus $435 for Medicare transports—but there is more to the story than just the fees.

At their regular Wednesday night meeting, the city council approved a measure that will authorize the mayor to purchase the equipment and negotiate a lease to the EMS service at a rate that will allow them to keep operating at least for the time being.

New Britain EMS responds to all calls for medical aid in the city without regard to a victim’s insurance or ability to pay. New Britain residents are also fortunate that we have one of the best equipped, best trained, most efficient EMS services in the state. The people of New Britain need to decide if they want to keep receiving such valuable services, and then if they do, we all have to make a commitment to these professionals to provide the financial assistance needed to keep the program running efficiently.

THE REST OF THE STORY:

Many of you are probably of the opinion that the fees charged for transports should be able to provide the needed finances to run an operation like this one, but that has been proven wrong in a number of studies nationwide. Many of you may remember all the problems a few years back with the contract ambulance services in Hartford and all the reports that surfaced about the lack of response, poor response times, and just no ambulances being available for life threatening emergencies. During that period, there was a lot of attention given to studies in Sarasota County Florida, Los Angeles City Fire Dept, and a number of other cities.

Sarasota County reported similar problems as Hartford was experiencing with a contract ambulance service having unacceptable response times, and no ambulances available when needed for serious life threatening emergencies. What they determined in the Sarasota case was that there is a direct conflict between profitability and the proper deployment of ambulances for the needs of public safety.

In many cases public safety needs dictate that an ambulance, staffed with a fully trained and equipped EMS crew is kept stationary for hours on end simply waiting for a call. Public safety needs dictate that this crew be ready to respond on a moment’s notice for the next life or death emergency call. The quick response time needed to maintain such a response requires that these crews be in standby just waiting for that call, and this is anything but profitable. It is this conflict between public safety needs and profitability that has been at the route of most failures we have seen with privatization of EMS services nationwide. In the Sarasota case, they had abandoned the arrangement with the contract company and opted for their fire department taking over the EMS service and stationing their own ambulances at fire houses throughout the county.

That might be a little too drastic for our needs here in New Britain. We already have established one of the best EMS programs in the state, so quite frankly, if it isn’t broke, let’s not try to fix it. What we need to do is make sure our city is committed to making sure they are given the financial support they need to continue doing the great job they are already doing. The council has already taken the first step by allowing the mayor to purchase the equipment and leasing it back to them. A number of other Connecticut communities have been faced with similar financial problems with their EMS programs and had to resort to appropriating funds to keep them operating. If that is what we need to do to keep those ambulances rolling then that would be money well spent.

OPEN FORUM NUMBER THREE

I am offering my readers a third forum to post any issues they feel are important to the people of New Britain. If you have an issue with city government that you would like to share with the rest of the readers, feel free to post it here. Whether it be a problem you experienced with a city agency or official, or something positive they may have done and you would like to share it with the rest of New Britain, this is a chance to do so. Public interest stories are also welcome, so if you know about a person, or group of people that is doing something to somehow make the lives of others better, feel free to post it here.

You are welcome to post items anonymously, or may sign your posts if you choose to do so. Consider this an opportunity to speak up about issues you feel may be important to the people of New Britain. Simply click on the comments link below to leave your message. Thanks for checking in to review my postings and please feel free to check back frequently as I have a number of interesting stories in the works.
This third forum is being provided since the second was a great success.

New Britain Board of Education Members Admonished

I must congratulate the concerned parents of the Chamberlain School for calling in the New Britain Police department to investigate the alleged acts by a special education teacher regarding autistic children.

I must also admonish the members of the Board of Education for their not demanding that their Superintendant of schools to immediately place this individual on leave rather then giving her other duties while the matter was being investigated internally.

Now that the Police Department has made an arrest,following the parents complaints,it would therefore make any further comments by me inappropriate since a person is innocent until proven otherwise.

Crying Baby Number "Three"

The Honorable Chris Murphy: Via Email

Unfortunately, one of our council Alderman Louis Salvio (R) admiringly claimed he blew the whistle and HUD took the money away.

It originated with a complaint he filed with the Hud Agency claiming three Democratic Aldermen were in a conflict of interest regarding HRA agency and Federal Funding. When in reality two abstain from voting and the third was absent from attendance of the meeting in question.

HUD did investigate and cited two Republican Commissioners with a conflict of interest and withdrew a sum totaling $264,248 affecting eight of the city’s agencies.

With the onslaught of winter arriving Heat, Food, and children’s clothing are the priority for the poor in our city but the funds remain with HUD.

At the New Britain Council Meeting this past Wednesday two distinguished individual from The Spanish Speaking Center and The Salvation Army spoke of the need for food, winter clothing for the poor and heating. Unfortunately, they did not mention the large sum for this purpose is sitting at the HUD office in Hartford, Ct.

I am respectfully requesting that you devote the necessary time in order to have HUD release these extremely needed funds in order that our poor can survive this winter with sufficient food, heat, and clothing.
Sincerely,



Frank Smith

Lou: Think about the children being cold and hungry and trying to sleep at night; because you blew the "whistle".

Residents: If you are concered about the adversities the poor are going through because of Alderman Salvio's actions please call Rep. Murphy at 860-223-8412 or 202-225-4476 and plead with him to get HUD to release the funds for the city's poor.

The Never [Never] Endless Fence Story!

Again, the Fairview Cemetery fence vs. vehicle occurred recently.

But having been designed in a sectional system which prevented the adjoining sections from being damaged.

This type of feature has proven itself and when the legal issues are resolved, by the city, it is hopeful that the 3.786 foot fence would be completed with the same sectional design since this fence location has a history of attracting and encountering passing vehicles.

The Legislative Debate

League of Women Voters’ Legislative debate held in the New Britain council chambers on 10-21-08.

Disappointing that out of the ten candidates only four were allowed to participate because the opposition candidates did not show for this debate. It was greatly unfortunate for the voters in attendance of not having the privilege of hearing from the other candidates in order to make their choices on Election Day.

The audience was allowed to hear from four candidates Former Senator Thomas Bozek a Republican vs. State Senator D. DeFronzo and A, Wright Republican Vs. Representative Tim O’Brien Democrat.

Numerous issues were discussed such as the Constitution Convention in referendum. Bozek: Supports allowing referendum for people to vote on issues of interest to them. Ct. would benefit from having the people make a choice of what they want.

The public teachers union is apposing the convention and other private interest groups as well. Bozek supports the home rule to decide the issues by the local voters. Senator DeFronzo responded that the convention occurs once in 20 years and that our state constitution has been amended 25 times in the past by the legislature and it really should be left to the state legislatures to make the decisions for the electorate because that is why we are elected. Therefore he opposes the referendum. Representative O’Brien stated he would vote no because the constitution itself was well structured and by having a referendum it could wind up being very costly for the state because we could wind up with many groups wanting their preferences. Former Senator Bozek countered the foregoing comments by citing that the people want to decide issues like gays rights etc. Senator Defronzo immediately countered by citing that the legislature every year reviews the gay rights, death penalty, tax issues that doesn’t result in forcing mandated cost onto the towns, and etc.

The health issues was also discussed with representative O’Brien with his mentioning the proposed health care partnership care plan for small businesses which was vetoed by the Governor. Mr. Wright on the other hand we should be careful and review cost and affordability. Representative O’Brien stated if we provide good medical converge businesses would come to our state and that represents jobs. We could help the businesses to be competitive by providing a good health care system so that they can compete with their competitors.

The next question related to the health care system is it working? Senator DeFronzo stated that the system is not working very well with 350 thousand families without or with poor coverage’s and that a lot of work has to be done to resolve this problem. Bozek countered that we tell the public we can do it and the social agencies can’t handle all of it with their trying to protect the seniors and children. He continued by saying can you imagine how many people, would this coverage provided by the state, would it draw into our state seeking these benefits? Senator Defronzo countered by saying we cannot sit back and allow these many families to go without coverage. That is our job to find the solutions however the Feds should be resolving this issue and not just hand the problem down to the states to resolve.

The cut backs for the adverse economy was discussed with Bozek cited an immediate state budget cut, place a cap on property taxes, cut the sales tax and that would keep existing jobs here. O’Brien added that we should help the businesses that are here and give them the support with labor techniques in order to be able to be more competitive and remain in business here in our state. Senator DeFronzo said that the Republican administration in Washington and in our state has let our state down. What we need are high tech jobs but we must also face the very difficult budget cuts and crises we now face. Rep. O’Brien added that we need to invest good educational programs in order to train our youth for the technical jobs we need to keep our state competitive. Bozek admonished Senator Defronzo for blaming everything onto Bush administration and the Ct. Governor and not himself and Defronzo countered with his getting a business tax relief in order to be more competitive and brought back to New Britain in state funds that amount to 10 mills in reduction to the city taxes something that my Republican opponent doesn’t believe it but he should look it up its all a matter of record.

The magnet school system was discussed with all its financing problems with Senator DeFronzo stating that New Britain possibility of having a magnet school was blocked by the former senator Bozek when he was in office. O’Brien sated he supports the that system and we need to look into the Charter schools as well as the charter schools and take advantage of the state funded programs that nearly provide all the required building funds and support to help our kids get a better education we have the largest High school in the state of Connecticut and we have to do something about that with the state providing plans for providing theses good programs so our kids can take advantage of with a better education. Mr. Wright said he support the charter school. Senator Defrozo stated he supports both the charter and magnet schools system. Rep. O’Brien added that our kids are suffering from the budget cuts and are forced to attend larger classes and we need to take advantage of the magnet state funding that is available for our city.

The next question involved finance reform legislation: Senator Defronzo its Public money and should under strict oversight of the use of the money and supports audits of the reports after the election with Bozek supporting since it attracts new people to run for office instead of supported by special interest unions with special agendas that you have to pay back. Rep. O’Brien countered that he was very proud of that we were the first state in the nation to push the special interest money out. Mr. Wright agreed to rid of special interest. Bozek went on citing his past legislative merits referring to the sending prisoners out of state, breast cancer issues and his constructive surgery aid.

The Supreme Court same sex decision was the new question with all being asked if they supported the decision of the court. Rep. O’Brien said the Supreme Court has ruled. Bozek countered with I don’t support gay marriages and alluding to let the public decide but there wasn’t any leadership at the state level over moral issues. Mr. Wright said that the legislatures should not legislate how people should live or how they chose to live.

Questions regarding a green programs proposals for our community. Obrien suggested looking towards fuel cells and sun energy sources. Senator DeFronzo stated that they passed a bill to provide loans for improvements foe energy savings.

Bozek was asked if he would support a veto to over ride Gov. Rell’s veto and he replied no because it was the unions leveraging to control the health care by the labor groups wanting to handle the plan and everyone can join in. Senator Defronzo said he would vote to veto because it gives the communities the opportunity to decide to join the plan he continued by saying just because it comes from a labor union it doesn’t mean it is a bad idea. Mr. Wright suggested actuarial studies be made. O’Brien said it make common sense to buy the insurance through a pool it says the small businesses enough to stay in business.

This debate was a let down due to the fact that not all the candidates were present making it hard to judge who to vote for.

Szczesny Garage Safety Ignored By The Mayor

The need for cameras in the garage was reported in the New Britain Herald on 7-27-08 by Staff Reporter Rick Guinness “Mayor calls for security cameras in senior housing parking lot.”

The Mayor, quoted in that same article, further demanded the city property manager to obtain a cost estimate of equipping the D’Amato parking garage with security cameras and to have this report ready by the end of August.

The Mayor’s action was generated after the police department reported, in the same Herald report, that they responded to the Garage more than 80 times with many reports of property damage to parked vehicles.

To date, the action to rectify this existing problem has not been initiated either by the Mayor or the City Property Management Department.

The petition that was signed by tenants of the garage apparently has not been sufficient to cause the necessary action in order to provide both the customer’s safety and protection for their vehicles as well.

Therefore, I recommend that the City Common Council take the action to mandate the resolve. The Mayor promised action by the end of August and it is now the end of October with no apparent action on this problem. Do we need to buy the mayor a calendar to remind him that August has come and gone?

ENDLESS FENCE STORY!

New facts has arisen regarding the Fairview Fence issue according to a New Britain Herald story dated 10-19-08 written by Rick Guinness , a Staff reporter, that this matter is currently under police investigation.

The City Council members requested answers for this coming Wednesday’s meeting regarding the 3,786 foot long fence but, according to the Herald story of today, the council agenda does not make any mention of the issue for Wednesday's council meeting.

THE BAND WITH NO NAME!

Each Wednesday a group of elderly musicians meet at the New Britain Senior center and play the old familiar music from the forties for the seniors dancing pleasure.

I purposely visited the center on numerous occasions and noticed that the faces are never the same.

That is the reason why it is a nameless band.

Even though they remain nameless each of these wonderful musicians should be congratulated for their bringing great joy to the seniors that attend each week.

Mayor Timothy Stewart's Passionate Approach

Mayor Tim Stewart’s Passionate side,a job well done by both the Mayor and the Fire Commissioners.

The Mayor undertook a difficult fight in helping a fellow firefighter who was injured at an Oak Street blaze in 1993 when his breathing apparatus malfunctioned, causing a disabling medical condition.

The Mayor recognized that the worker’s compensation received by the injured fireman was exhausted through medical bills and needed better income in order to support his family. The mayor, against all odds, fought for increased benefits to be instituted retroactive to the date of injury. This was a long hard fight and Mayor Stewart didn’t stop with his passionate plea to anyone who would listen.

His effort paid off when the fire commission, at their Wednesday night meeting, approved granting a full annual pension doubling the annual payment to the stricken firefighter.

The mayor and I often disagree on many issues but on this item we are both on the same page and I commend the Mayor’s efforts for pursuing this matter against all odds, and thanks to the members of the fire commission for fulfilling their obligation to this stricken firefighter and his family.

OPEN FORUM 2

I am offering my readers a second forum to post any issues they feel are important to the people of New Britain. If you have an issue with city government that you would like to share with the rest of the readers, feel free to post it here. Whether it be a problem you experienced with a city agency or official, or something positive they may have done and you would like to share it with the rest of New Britain, this is a chance to do so. Public interest stories are also welcome, so if you know about a person, or group of people that is doing something to somehow make the lives of others better, feel free to post it here.

You are welcome to post items anonymously, or may sign your posts if you choose to do so. Consider this an opportunity to speak up about issues you feel may be important to the people of New Britain. Simply click on the comments link below to leave your message. Thanks for checking in to review my postings and please feel free to check back frequently as I have a number of interesting stories in the works.
This second forum is being provided since the first was a great success.

Senatorial Debate

League of Women voters Senatorial Debate in Berlin, October 16, 2008: Between Senator Donald DeFronzo and Former Senator Thomas Bozek:

Q Do You support the state conventional convention?

Senator DeFronzo Our Constitution has been amended thirty times and we as voters must give our full examination in our making this important decision for our state’s future. Former Senator Bozek in contrast stated it would give the newspapers print stories on death penalty issues, gay rights but it is worth trying.

The next question was regarding state spending with former Senator Bozek expressing the state is currently 300 million dollars in the red and that he would propose state employee lay offs just like Massachusetts is currently doing. Senator DeFronzo stated that we are 300 million dollars in the red heading for a 700 million dollar deficit and 1.3 Billion dollars by the end of next year. He continued by saying we can’t cut across the board and cautioned that we have to identify the service needs of core services such as aid for providing heat and children in need of aid. We have to seek additional taxes from businesses and possibly look into placing tolls on our state roads. But to cut expenses across the board the senator said no.

Mass transportation question was answered by former Senator Bozek: the claimed public use hasn’t been accepted by the general public and me. Senator DeFronzo was in support for mass transit and indicated that the Gov. eliminated l4 million from the state budget for mass transit with Former Senator Bozek stating l4 million is nothing. Senator Defronzo countered that mass transit would help the financial growth for Berlin, Meriden and all the towns throughout our state.
The question would they support new housing developments? Senator DeFronzo stated he had worked with the local officials in defeating a complex that was proposed in Berlin after approval by its local zoning board. Former Senator Bozek immediately stated that Berlin cannot support this type of housing and suggested Safe Home rule be strengthened for local control.
Changes in Medicare coverage’s? Senator Defronzo indicated that Medicare made changes on items to be covered by their changing the asset levels of the recipients and it will get worse in the future due to the economic conditions getting tighter. Bozek immediately made claims that when he was in the legislature he supported home care for the elderly seniors in place of convalescent hospital care which is much more expensive and continued by mentioning his supporting a bill that provided breast cancer care for women in our state and also his husky program for children.

Regionalization was a question asked for both to state how they stand on this issue with Senator Defronzo responding that we have to careful about regionalization cooperation because we don’t have county government so the cost would be much higher. Bozek countered with the effort of regionalization for water and sewerage including the handling of trash lowering our overall cost in doing so.

Question of school drop outs was waged to both candidates with Senator DeFronzo indicating that we do have kids at risk and we should get to the kids earlier with after school programs with Bozek countering that he had proposed while in the legislature a pilot program reformatory for girls and boys on a trial basis and that they would get weekend passes to go home and that proposal failed to get passed.

THE WEEPINGS OF THE CRY BABY CONTINUE:

I received this shocking e-mail message from Alderman Louis Salvio today which is full of his typical rantings and ravings. I believe that for an elected official to send out a message like this to a member of his community is totally outrageous and completely unprofessional for a member of the Court of Common Council. You be the judge:

----- Original Message -----
From: Louis Salvio
To: Frank Smith ; franksmith
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 3:21 PM
Subject: Your attacks directed toward me.

Frank:

Don’t know if either of these e-mail addresses is correct but it’s what I have. This will be the only communication you ever get from me from this day forward.

I don’t usually read blogs but I was shown a reprint of one of yours by Adam Platosz at the most recent Council meeting. Frank, you have hit a new low in the daily expressions of your flawed character. Your associations with a Herald reporter and a couple of professional agitators on the Council speak volumes about your petty, puerile persiflage, unsubstantiated claims and lies and your abysmal character.

I will mention only One for which you were totally misinformed, namely the so-called – a terrible misnomer - “Council/City Auditor.” Some things you should know THAT ARE NOT LIES:
1. MIKE TRUEWORTHY AND SUZANNE BIELINSKI ARE NOT THE BOSSES OF ANYTHING OR ANYBODY CONCERNING THE NB COMMON COUNCIL. WHATEVER “POWER” THEY ASSUME DERIVES ERRONEOUSLY FROM THEIR 13 VOTE SUPERMAJORITY.
2. DURING A TWO YEAR HIATUS OF MY TENURE ON THE COUNCIL (2003-05) THEY HIRED A PERSON TO SERVE AS “AUDITOR”, OF WHAT I DON’T KNOW BECAUSE THIS PERSON HAD NO OFFICIAL STANDING IN CITY GOVERNMENT, NONE, NADA, ZILCH. UNDERSTOOD? AT THIS TIME THERE WERE 15 DEMOCRATS ON THE COUNCIL.
3. MIKE AND SUZANNE PREPARED, AMATEURISHLY, THE CONTRACT FOR THIS PERSON’S EMPLOYMENT. THIS WOULD BE A “NO BENEFITS”, PART TIME POSITION –4 HRS./DAY. THEN THEY GO AND GIVE TEN DAYS (ACCUMULATED ANY WAY AT ALL), PAID TIME OFF. NO BENEFITS? REMEMBER THIS FRANK! NOBODY WAS DESIGNATED AS TO HOW “SUPERVISION” OF THIS PERSON WOULD BE HANDLED. THE PERSON WOULD BE PAID TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS – YOU CAN LOOK THIS UP YOURSELF , FRANK – OUT OF CITY COFFERS.
4. NOVEMBER 2005, I AM REELECTED TO THE COUNCIL ALONG WITH PETER GOSTIN AND MARK BERNACKI. ALTHOUGH MARK IS THE HIGHEST AT-LARGE VOTE GETTER AND I AM THE HIGHEST VOTE GETTER AMONG DISTRICT CANDIDATES, NEITHER OF US GETS THE NOD FOR MAYOR PRO TEM.
5. OVER THE NEXT 5 MONTHS, I, WITH THE EXPERT HELP OF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL’S OFFICE, CONDUCT AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE POSITION OF COUNCIL AUDITOR. THE AUTHOR WOULD NEVER COOPERATE IN GIVING ME ANY INFORMATION REGARDING ANYTHING RELATED TO THE POSITION – I WOULD ALWAYS BE REFERRED TO TRUEWORTHY ALTHOUGH I TOLD THE PERSON THAT NO ALDERPERSON HAD ANY MORE STANDING OR AUTHORITY THAN ANY OTHER. ( SEE STATEMENT #1 ) I WON’T BORE YOU WITH THE TRUTHFUL DETAILS FRANK BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN THE TRUTH, BUT DURING THOSE FIVE MONTHS AND UNDER THE SUPPOSED SUPERVISION OF MIKE AND SUZANNE – AND THIS WAS ALL DOCUMENTED BY THE CC’s OFFICE – THE AUDITOR BILKED THE CITY OUT OF OVER $4000 IN UNAUTHORIZED PAY. ( SEE POINT #3 ). WHEN THE AUDITOR” THOUGHT THE CITY WOULD TRY TO RECOVER THIS MONEY, THE AUDITOR RESIGNED AT A COUNCIL MEETING IN APRIL OF 2006 AND BLAMED EVERYTHING ON LOU SALVIO. REQUEST THE RECORDING OF THE MEETING, FRANK HEAR IT FOR YOURSELF. OF COURSE YOU WON’T DO THAT BECAUSE YOU’D HAVE TO KNOW WHAT A LOW LIFE YOU ARE. THIS IS THE SAME KIND OF BULL YOU THREW AROUND REGARDING THE CDBG FUNDS FIASCO. YOU BLAMED IT ON ME FRANK AND ALL I DID WAS BLOW THE WHISTLE ON THOSE WHO WOULD CHEAT THE GOVERNM ENT OUT OF FUNDS.
6. YOU GO AHEAD AND KEEP POKING FUN AT ME AND THE MAYOR AND KEEP TELLING YOUR LIES WITH YOUR NEW “FRIENDS” AT THE HERALD AND ON THE COUNCIL. I HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE FRANK, NOBODY OF ANY SUBSTANCE WANTS TO HEAR YOU. SO YOU CREATE A BLOG AND INVITE ALL OF YOUR ANONYMOUS “FRIENDS” TO CONTRIBUTE. AGAIN, YOU ARE PATHETIC!
7. FRANK, DO YOU REMEMBER THE CONNECTICUT WOLVES? REMEMBER WHO ENDURED ALL THE CRICISM OF RIDDING THE CITY OF THAT MULTIMILLION DOLLAR FIASCO? THAT’S RIGHT FRANK, YOURS TRULY. WAS THAT WRONG ALSO? AT THAT TIME THE COST OF THAT FIASCO WAS 1.5 MILLS IN TAXES TO CITY TAXPAYERS. BUT I’M A CRYBABY FRANK, REMEMBER?


FRANK, PLEASE DON’T SEND ANY TYPE OF RESPONSE TO ME EVER. I WON’T READ OR LISTEN TO ANYTHING YOU HAVE TO SAY. OF COURSE YOU’LL PRINT THIS AND GIVE COPIES TO THE HERALD, SHERWOOD AND ANYONE ELSE YOU CALL A “FRIEND.” AND MAYBE ADAM PLATOSZ WILL HELP YOU!

LIFE SAVER FOR NEW BRITAIN'S SOUTH ENDERS

It was an honor for me today to attend the grand opening ceremony for the Hart Street Extension, with Mayor Timothy Stewart officiating, joined by Aldermen Mark Bernacki, Alderman Louis Salvio, Mayor Pro-Tempore Suzannne Bielinksi, a representative from the Maguire Engineering Group, and Kenneth Malinowski, the grants administrator for the City of New Britain. and with several members of the public works department.

This project was a long time in the making due to the need to purchase the required properties to complete the connection of Hart Street with Glen Street, A one tenth of a mile distance.

Prior to this connection, an ambulance leaving a South Main Street address was required to travel all the way down South Main Street to the beginning of Arch Street by traveling the loop up Arch Street to Hart. Now with this new short cut, 2 to 3 minutes of life saving travel can be eliminated from these emergency trips to the hospital.

Thanks to the continued diligence of Mayor Stewart together with the City council members that this new life saving route exists beginning today.

New Britain Mayor, Fire Chief Censured by International Association

Mayor, Fire Chief Censured by International Association

At its international convention, held August 10-15, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, the International Association of Fire Fighters AFL-CIO, CLC has voted unanimously to censure Mayor Timothy Stewart and Fire Chief Mark Carr. The IAFF is 290,000 members strong, with 3,100 affiliates representing fire fighters and paramedics in every state of the US and Canada.

The resolutions filed with the IAFF cite both the Mayor and Fire Chief for “transferred, skipped for promotion, disciplined, docked pay, and docked vacation time of union officers.” The citations also allege that both the Mayor and Fire Chief have disregarded the collective bargaining agreement which has led to the union filing over 50 grievances (only 4 of which the city has prevailed) as well as numerous prohibited practices and the filing of 2 civil suits.

An online video of the censure action at the convention is available by visting this site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2HLZuOmYoo

In addition, the resolution regarding Mayor Stewart’s censure cites an incident in which the mayor “disparaged firefighters and the fire department as a whole in a recorded phone call to the emergency dispatch center.” Visit the site below to hear a tape of that telephone call:

http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8343



If the numbers provided by the union are accurate, this anti-union attitude of the Fire Chief and the Mayor is costing the city considerably. The legal expenses of fighting an estimated 46 grievances where the city lost, not to mention the unknown number of prohibited practices and the 2 civil suits that are pending, would appear to be a great expense to the city. It would seem that the mayor and the chief need to learn to respect the existing labor agreement which would create a better work environment for the firefighters and save the taxpayers the extensive costs of fighting all of these cases.

Maybe the Fire Chief and the Mayor should consider attending labor management training to learn how to better understand their obligations under the collective bargaining agreement.

Phase TWO OF THIS NEVER ENDING STORY

City hall sources reveal that the fence operation apparently has stopped and that the City Council members are demanding answers to be provided by the officials of the Park Department.

And that this issue has been turned over to the Corporation Counsel for further legal review.

I hope my original headline “A Long, Long, Long Awaited” will not become “a long awaited but never happened.”

BOZEK: RACIAL CLEANSING OF NEW BRITAIN?

As I was the first to report on, Bozek is back and once again running on the Republican ticket for State Senate while maintaining his affiliation with the Democratic party—a party he seems to detest, if not directly through any direct statements, certainly through his actions.

This time his campaign rhetoric is absolutely amazing! In an article that appeared on Friday in The Herald (Surprising even self, Bozek draws enough donations for race By Rick Guinness, Herald staff 10/102008) Bozek and his campaign treasurer are quoted as denying allegations that Bozek is a racist, but then they go on to propose the elimination of public housing, section 8, and other programs to help the poor.

Some of the quotes attributed to Bozek in the article include “Section 8 housing is a cancer to the taxpayers,” “Habitat for Humanity sucks,” and that his campaign is “taking a stand against social programs, public housing, homes with more than three bedrooms, and any public policy that attracts poor people in New Britain.”

In a previous article, I reported how Bozek was quoted as saying “these people” were 80% minorities. So what is the common denominator among all these groups if it is not race? Bozek says he will move these people out of New Britain, but where to? Farmington? Berlin? Where Tom, Where?

OPEN FORUM

I am offering my readers a chance to post any issues they feel are important to the people of New Britain. If you have an issue with city government that you would like to share with the rest of the readers, feel free to post it here. Whether it be a problem you experienced with a city agency or official, or something positive they may have done and you would like to share it with the rest of New Britain, this is a chance to do so. Public interest stories are also welcome, so if you know about a person, or group of people that is doing something to somehow make the lives of others better, feel free to post it here.

You are welcome to post items anonymously, or may sign your posts if you choose to do so. Consider this an opportunity to speak up about issues you feel may be important to the people of New Britain. Simply click on the comments link below to leave your message. Thanks for checking in to review my postings and please feel free to check back frequently as I have a number of interesting stories in the works.