Funds For the City's Poor Cut By State

Unfortunately, The New Britain Spanish Speaking Center of 28 Cedar Street, due budgetary cutbacks by the state, will no longer be able to provide food for hundreds of people affective this coming January according to Ms. Mary Sanders who heads this wonderful organization.

Governor Rell has slashed a sum of $100,000 form the center’s annual budget request.

There are two options left to help the poor in our city and that is to have the city Council to supplement the center’s financial needs from their rainy days fund or to get a local bank to set up a fund drive to help in providing the necessary funds in keeping the food supplies to continue.

The current people being furnished, by the center, with the food supplies, as listed in the New Britain Herald on November 27th. by its staff reporter Mr. Rick Guinness as follows:

Number of adults under age 65 who are being served by the center 390
There are 75 seniors 65-87 years old.
There are 270 Children being served.
Making it a total of people being feed is 735 in 243 households.

I am sure that most of our citizens while driving through the city have witness the poor recipients walking with their familiar carts filled with food on their way back to their residences.

This plea for help on their behalf should be the stimulus for both the city council members and the city residents to join in with their efforts in order to help out in any way possible.

NB Council Conflicts of Interest Should Be Reviewed!

The Common Council of The City of New Britain should examine itself for conflicts of interest.

Besides the complaint filed with HUD against Alderman Paul Cantanzaro, is the additional conflict that is constant by his being an Alderman, President of the New Britain Human Resources Agency and a city employee for the parks and recreation department of the City New Britain.

The conflict persists by the mere fact that the council approves accepting Federal funding that is awarded to the city’s commission on community and neighborhood development which in turn approves and requests funding to be approved by the Council for the HRA agency.

One instance of an outstanding conflict of interest was with Alderman Cantanzaro insistence of voting on the cemetery issue involving undertakers being eliminated from serving on the cemetery commission when in fact his boss at the parks a recreation department, where Alderman Cantazaro works, is the executive director of the city’s cemetery commission. By the mere fact of his making a motion to eliminate the undertakers and subsequently voting on this motion is an example of his display of defiance to the conflict laws and appears to be above the law with this vote.

The council should review the existing conflict that Alderman Cantanzaro presents to the general public with his determined disrespect to adhering to proper conduct as a city Alderman.

He should be told to resign at least two of the positions preferably all three.

OPEN FORUM NUMBER FIVE

OPEN FORUM NUMBER FOUR WAS SO POPULAR THAT IT RAN OUT OS SPACE SO I AM POVIDING THIS NEW FORUM NUMBER FIVE IN ORDER FOR THE RESIDENTS TO TELL THEIR ELECTED OFFICIALS HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT CURRENT ISSUES.

The Pending Demise of the New Britain Herald

It was not shocking news for many of the city’s residents to learn of the possible demise of New Britain’s newspaper. It was very noticeable in its approach since many of their news stands stood idle adjacent to the Herald offices. The readership dwindled due to a lack of news coverage.

Additionally, its reporting style of news coverage changed drastically since the departure of Editor, Patrick Thibodeau. The noticeable change in style seemed to irritate its loyal readers. Reporter after reporter came and left. One would assume that there was a revolving door for the reporters or was it just a low pay schedule with little future advancement in pay that made them move on? Consistency was lost and in time, so were the readers.

I recall Mr. Thibodeau sitting in the front row of the City’s Council chambers and would be insulted or abused by the Aldermen regarding his past news reports but Pat would just sit there showing no emotions and his following day’s report would not even mention the vicious personal attacks, but would only report the newsworthy issues for his loyal readers.

There were many good reporters that followed Pat such as Elisa Hutcoe [Krockmalnyckyj] who subsequently joined Pat as his co editor of a Washington enterprise called the “Computerworld” which is based out of Boston, Massachusetts.

There were many more notable writers in addition to the two aforementioned like Ms. P Riordan, Ms. Herran Kerry, and now Ms. Lisa Backus is holding the fort along with Rick Guinness and Scott Whipple.

I am sure that Mr. William Millerick, a former Editor of the paper, is holding back his emotions over this great loss for our city.

I personally feel what the Late Mrs. Brown, former publisher would say if she were here to say it, along side the late Mr. Vance.

I cannot finish this dialog without mentioning the faithful all around assistant to everyone in the newsroom, Ms. Carroll Miller, who dealt with the public such as me with charm and impeccable grace.

I wish to convey to all who were associated with the Herald a heartfelt thank you for your dedication to your readers and you will all be sorely missed by all the residents you so faithfully served.

Any comments from current or past readers are welcome on this blog and you may make your comments anonymous or you may sign your name to your comments, but feel free to join in on wishing the men and women behind the scenes at the Herald a fond farewell.

Open Forum Number Four

I am offering my readers a fourth open 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 fourth forum is being provided since the third was a great success.

The Obama Transition Phase

This is to give our readers the opportunity to discuss whatever effects they may feel that will affect both their personal economic problems, as they see it, and the national economic downturns, layoffs, and business closings that the new Obama administration presents.

And last but least the adversities the economic dilemma that our city and town governments are currently facing regarding the possibility of being forced to layoff some of their employees.

Please restrict your comments on the national issues to this particular blog in order to free up the local blogs with local issues.

East Side Residents Meet With Mayor Stewart

The East Side Neighborhood Community Action Meeting held with the Honorable Mayor Timothy Stewart at their meeting held on 11-6-08.

The mayor gave his overview as an excellent update of the current and future expectations of the city services for the west end.

He mentioned the rehabilitation that is underway at the old fire station which has been used as the emergency building and will be ready in a few months for public use and scheduling of meetings. He touched on the Broad Street area growth that is occurring.

Leaf pick up whether curb side or bagged with a spring time final pick up after the snow has melted.

Importantly he announced a terrific change in this year’s snow plowing schedules by going from 10 routes to l4 with double shifts and arranging the same routes being done by the same trucks with their first doing the emergency and or public safety routes which will result in faster completion of the task with the same employees becoming familiarized with their routes. He also announced a change from the traditional salt and sand to a salt that is less toxic to the grass and trees by the road side.

He continued by announcing in addition to the standard garbage pickup that they will be introducing a separate canister for the recycling materials which will only have to brought out to the curb every two weeks. Some people place metals and furniture on the on the curb side without arranging a scheduled pick up with the city’s department of public works. They have inspectors checking around the city and issuing $100 fines to these violators.

The Mayor also mentioned that with the new recycling program, the materials are being sent to the Bristol facility, which produces electricity, and suggested that it helps the city to save on electrical cost. He also mentioned that the contractors assigned to pick up the garbage start as early as 4 AM in order to beat the traffic caused by the school busses but that he will negotiate a 5 AM start up when their contract renewal is due. He also did mention that the containers cost the city approximately 800 to 900 thousand dollars which was funded through bonding.

The Mayor elaborated that the planned work for the Walnut Hill Park which will commence after the cancer walk-a-thon on mother’s day in order to correct the pot holes caused by drainage problems on Hart Street and in the Park itself. Due to the major drainage corrections needed to be accomplished, this project will take a long time to complete. Hart Park had its baseball field re-done along with the girl’s tennis courts as well.

He also mentioned that the New Britain Police Department is attempting to fill the current vacancies with New Britain Residents if at all possible with the 70 Applications that have applied. He reported the removal the police sub-station from Broad Street to the West End near the Chesley Park area.

He also explained the city has experienced less income from its investments creating a shortfall on the anticipated budgeted income and we will not hire to fill the vacancies at city hall and may have to go to a shorter work week for our workers because we cannot layoff all of our workers. We have stopped our personal use of city vehicles for going home for lunch in order to save the fuel involved.

He announced the planned west end streets to be repaved are Jubilee, Smalley, and Linwood which is part of a five year plan that was decided not on a political basis but by having a survey done and setting the priority needs.

The Mayor did answered many questions asked by the residents but he seemed reluctant in answering about the cemetery fencing problem since it is a legal matter but did indicate that the individual contractor was arrested and that there is a performance bond involved.

He mentioned the problem properties while under bank forecloses with the banks providing no services such as lawn maintenance and snow removal and how the city has to do the clean ups and having to place a lean on the properties.

Saint Thomas School was also mentioned with the Mayor indicating that a local Middletown developer is interested in making a 55 and over residence with it.

He answered questions about seniors obtaining a tax freeze on their property taxes by their applying at the senior center through Mr. John Coughlin to make the arrangements and especially those who need help in removal of leaves and snow off their properties due to disabilities they too must see Mr. Coughlin in order to prove their income status for their eligibility to obtain the needed help.

Additionally, the Mayor during the Q&A period mentioned how they have portable cameras that can be placed anywhere in order to get surveillance information to help the police department to move forward with their suspected criminal activity investigations. He alluded to some cameras being placed on top of telephone poles and all are motion detected and do work on the internet as well. He also indicated that they are dealing with the taggers by their grouping several of the misdemeanors charges together in order make a felony conviction stick.

The Mayor made an excellent presentation and all those present were well satisfied with all his answers and hoped to see more of him in the future. I should indicate that Aldermen Mark Bernacki and Adam Platosz were also present along with four members of the New Britain Police Department.

Crying Baby Number "Four"

As requested by my readers we are starting crying baby number "four"


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,

Boot Finder Number Two For Mayor Stewart

I have received numerous emails as well as phone calls as what the boot looks like.

Therefore, making it the reason for adding the new blog in order to present to our readers what the mechanical Boot Finder looks like. Please remember that they do place two of these bootfinders one on each side of the vehicle so it can read the plates parked on both sides of the street as this vehicle passes by.

A computer is controlling what the bootfinder is reading and it is assumed that a new down load of current information from the motor vehicles department and the local tax department is completed on a routine basis in order to keep the information stored in the bootfinders's computer up to date and accurate.

Be reminded that the city of New Haven after installing the boot system in August of last year reported that they collected $3,000,000 last year of unpaid taxes and expects to collect and additional $4,500,000 of uncollected taxes.
It is hoped that the city of New Britain’s administration will consider employing this system in order to lessen its taxpayers who do pay their taxes to see that this additional income realized as a method to lower the mill rate they are currently forced to pay because of the uncollected amounts owed by the dead beat scoffers.

The New Haven Register, reported by Angela Carter, Hundreds turn out to pay delinquent tax bills waiting line for at least an hour in order to prevent their cars from being impounded. Resulting in added towing and storage cost.

One headline reported by the New Have Register read as follows:
BYE-bye to the Boot; Hello Plate Hunter; by William Kaempffer of the Register who reported that the cost for this electronic doohickey was a sum of $78,000 and that this High Tech Italian made optical character recognition technology. It not only finds those that owe past tax bills but also targets parking ticket scofflaws as well.


West Haven and Bridgeport have evaluated this system for their own use.

Why not employing this system in New Britain?

A Boot for Mayor Stewart

Mr. Mayor: New Britain is not attempting to give you the boot but we are recommending that you get the boot like New Haven did.

With the employment of this electronic gadget called the “plate hunter” New Haven has collected 2.3 millions since the launching of the Boot Finder on August l6th.of this year.

A secondary benefit to this is the elimination of un-registration vehicles in our city thus reducing the insurance rates for our residents because of the reduction of accidents involving un-insured vehicles.

Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. stated that the Bootfinder was a contributing factor to our collecting 98.6% of the taxes due at city hall.

The New Haven Register, reported by Angela Carter, Hundreds turn out to pay delinquent tax bills waiting line for at least an hour in order to prevent their cars from being impounded. Resulting in added towing and storage cost.

One headline reported by the New Have Register read as follows:
BYE-bye Bootfinder; Hello Plate Hunter; by William Kaempffer of the Register who reported that the cost for this electronic doohickey was a sum of $78,000 and that this High Tech Italian made optical character recognition technology. It not only finds those that owe past tax bills but also targets parking ticket scofflaws as well.

New Haven has installed two on a Truck so that it can scan vehicles on both sides of the street as it passes by. It even captured a 15 year old parking ticket that was never paid by the car’s owner.

West Haven and Bridgeport have evaluated this system for their own use.

Why not New Britain?

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.