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Friday, June 13, 2008

SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCIES OR POVERTY PIMPS?




A few years ago when I reached my boiling point with crime in Hartford, I put together a roundtable discussion on Hartford Public Access Television. Helen Ubinas from the Courant, local activists Andrea Comer and Carl Hardrick and a student from the Hartford School System were part of the panel. Former Police Chief Patrick Harnett had agreed to be on the panel and at the last minute he backed out. According to HPD insiders, Harnett was going to teach me a lesson by not appearing because I had made his life a "living hell" since the day he arrived in Hartford. I wonder who taught who, he bailed on the city after less than two years. Although with the price of gas, his weekend commutes out of the city back to his house in New York would be more costly to the city these days.

Well, let me get back on point. During that panel discussion, Helen Ubinas used a term I had never heard before, "poverty pimps". She explained that many of the so called "leaders" were making a very good living off the problems facing the city. Much money is dumped into the problems facing Hartford, with very little oversight or tracking of results. No one seems to really expect results, but by funding the "poverty pimps" City Hall can at least say they are doing something. The other point was that many people in Hartford are making a very good living off poverty, so there is not a real reason to correct any problems other than making superficial progress so it looks good. It's called job security.

Tonight I watched Channel 3 news and they had a report on Cornell Lewis and his group the "Men of Color Initiative". I was surprised also to hear Mayor Perez mention him at Wednesday's dog and pony show on the steps pf City Hall. Is this the same Cornell Lewis that moved out of Hartford when the going got tough. Or did he move out of Hartford with the salary he was making after the Mayor and the city dumped a couple hundred thousand dollars in his lap for funding his social programs, and to make sure he remained faithful to the Perez regime. For those of you who don't recall or didn't see the event, Lewis was the one standing behind the mayor in the dark shades waving a Perez campaign sign at Rawson School when Perez announced his re-election campaign last summer. I would doubt that anyone ever asked for an accounting or even a report on the accomplishments of Lewis's group. I know some of the funds were spent on yellow windbreakers, but I'm not sure who accounts for the other couple hundred thousand. I doubt it is the Mayor's Office , they have a hard enough time just controlling the costs for Hartford Public High construction.

That's just one example. Let's look at the Keney Park stables. Even though our King, EDDIE THE FIRST, promised throughout the campaign last fall to re-establish the Mounted Police Unit, the week after the election he gave away the rights to stables to the Ebony Horsewomen. The stables were leased to the group, or actually given, free of charge, with the only requirement that they provide insurance on the building. This group was also funded by the City to provide a horse riding program to benefit Hartford's Youth. Recently, Chief Roberts realized the need for use of the stables and was caught in a quandary since Perez had given away the farm. He requested a list of youth served by the program and an example of their results so he could lobby for them and work out some arrangement. No list was available, no list has been made available since and not even a list of program results has been provided. Although it seems that it is very profitable renting out the stalls to private individuals for boarding of their horses, apparently at the city's expense.

And let's not forget our Council President Torres. From what I am being told, activities that he has allegedly been involved with through the Puerto Rican Forum and funded through the City, are believed to be part of the inquiries being conducted by the Grand Jury looking into King Eddie the First and at least 3 City Council members as well as other targets throughout City government. Torres, as a council member apparently voted on financial proposals to benefit himself and others at the Forum or connected with the Forum, and funded by the City. Clearly a conflict of interest obvious to most prudent people.

And so as not to leave the Southend out, when are we going to take HART off life support and pull the plug connected to the City Hall respirator. HART which at one point was a vibrant community organization under Jim Bouchet, has become almost as irrelevant as the Republican Party in Hartford. Their annual bus tour of blighted properties and their annual Congress are pretty much their major claims to fame, and at last check the budget was close to 1 million a year.

The other major issue I have with Hartford's "Poverty Pimps" are how few of them actually reside in Hartford. The city of Hartford should be more than just a paycheck during the day to many of these people. It amazes me that many executive directors of Hartford's non-profits funded through the city, don't even reside in Hartford. Whether it's homeless shelters, the local public access station, consultants for the NRZ's or any other program, do we really need to be guided who flee the city at night. Wouldn't people who work in the communities and reside in the neighborhoods they serve have a much better understanding of the needs facing those neighborhoods. I know this wouldn't work for the Chairman of the Board of Education, since as King Eddie told us, so it must be true, he was the only one qualified to lead the Board. But in the case of our poverty pimps, I'm sure there are many Hartford residents who would be more than qualified to work to improve our city, at the same time re-investing their $65,000 plus salaries into our local economy through home ownership and living and working in Hartford. I don't think that people from Glastonbury or Portland or Enfield or Farmington need to tell us how to fix Hartford. I keep saying that we don't need to keep hiring consultants to tell us how to fix the city, just ask almost any of our city residents and they will gladly offer solutions as well as volunteer to work to fix the problems.
Lets start looking at programs that are making a difference in the City without any government funding. A couple that immediately come to mind are the Greater Hartford African American Alliance, a group that has committed members that meet every Saturday morning and address many issues including Public Safety, Education, Minority employment on government funded projects and numerous other issues with very positive results across the city and at the Capitol, all without a penny from the City. Also, the NRZ program which is top heavy in its funding , has many neighborhood groups that are doing great jobs in their respective neighborhoods without any money from Hartford 2000 (the NRZ parent organization). The one that I attend regularly is the Maple Avenue NRZ. I can assure you that nothing happens in their area without the NRZ taking a stand on it and seeing results from their actions.

It is called leadership, something Hartford is sorely lacking.

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