CLUB MANSION TO RE-OPEN THURSDAY....SORT OF

After being shut down for repeated problems inside the club, the mansion will reopen Thursday as "Club Entourage". The press release from the Department of Consumer Protection is below and outlines the changes that will be made before opening:

Suspension To Be Lifted On Closed Hartford Nightclub

Entourage will Replace The Mansion


HARTFORD, September 11th -- The Department of Consumer Protection and the owners of The Mansion, a Hartford night club, met several times over the summer months to address the safety and security of the club following a shooting on the dance floor of the club earlier this summer. A signed written agreement issued today by Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell, Jr., which outlines public safety improvements, led to the lifting of the summary suspension of its liquor permit. The lifting of the suspension will be effective September 17, 2009. With their signature, the operators of the former Mansion nightclub agree to numerous terms and conditions including the following:



The name of the club will be changed to Entourage; the club will feature a Top 40 theme and will enter into a partnership with radio station KISS 95.7 fm.


For the first four weeks that Entourage is open, the club operators will pay for overtime hiring of two (2) Hartford Police officers at all times that the business is open. After four weeks, the issue will be reviewed by the Hartford Chief of Police to continue, modify or end the added police detail.


A dress code for entrance will be enforced, barring loose clothing, any clothing with gang insignias, and other clothing considered inappropriate by the security staff in light of the new theme.


Wide-angle surveillance cameras will be maintained throughout the premises, sending images to a digital video recorder with extended memory. Both entrances will be well-lit.


The entrance located at 191 Ann Street shall be open only to persons twenty-one (21) years of age or older; when juice bar events are held, patrons 18 years of age or older will use the entrance located at 183 Ann Street, and the club will take measures to ensure that underage patrons do not walk through or remain in an area where alcohol is served.


Specially trained and identifiable security personnel will be posted at both entrances during all times the club is open. All current and prospective club employees will undergo criminal background checks.


All club employees, promoters, consultants, and managers will cooperate with local police and fire officials regarding any lawful request or demand, and any non-cooperation will result in that person’s immediate termination and barring from the club.



The club’s liquor permit was suspended on June 12, 2009 following a review of Hartford Police reports detailing a shooting on the dance floor of the club a few nights earlier. Since the suspension, the Department of Consumer Protection, the Hartford Police Department, and the Hartford Fire Marshal’s Office have been meeting with the owners and permittee of The Mansion on a regular basis, developing a security enhancement plan designed to better protect the patrons and employees of the club, as well as provide increased safety and security for the neighborhood.



“I am grateful for the valuable input and advice we received from both the Hartford Police and Fire Marshal’s Office, together with the willingness of the owners of The Mansion, in crafting this agreement which leads me to lift the suspension,” Farrell said. “However, actions speak louder than words, and we will ensure that the terms of the agreement are followed.”



-end-

DAN CAREY PASSES, A TRUE LOSS FOR HARTFORD

I received the first call a little after 9:00am today informing me that Dan Carey was found dead in his home. I was in utter disbelief and had the feeling of helplessness as I felt nauseous.

I first met Dan Carey during the Mayor Mike years as I was one of the founders of Mayor Mike's Companies for Kids. Through the "Irish" circle of friends I found a group of people that were always ready to step up and make Hartford a better place. The Jim Donnelley's, the Bill Hogan's, and the Dan Carey's of our city. Dan was always instrumental in stepping up and doing his part to help make Mayor Mike's "Mayor's Trophy Golf Tournament" a huge success. He also loved his involvement in the "Sister's City" program with New Ross,County Wexford, Ireland and the picture above shows his pride as he was named Irish person of the year for 2009. Dan was always someone that was more than willing to help, but less than willing to be in the limelight. I think he was very content keeping a low profile in both his community efforts as well as running an extremely well organized operation in the Clerk's Office at City Hall. Dan would have no hesitation coming out from his office and from behind the counter in the Clerk's Office to help someone navigate the bureaucracy of City Hall. Whether he knew you or not, whether Republican or Democrat, Dan took his position as a public servant seriously. I know we always talk about people kindly after they pass, but with Dan, his Irish charm always shone through. Before many Council meetings Dan would find me in the hallway and quietly say "take it easy on them tonight" or during one of my rants before the Council give me a subtle wink of support.

Although Dan had a lot of great attributes, the two major ones that cemented my view of him were his love of Ireland and his over the top support of the Boston Red Sox. Any guy with those two charms is ok in my eyes, everything else was just icing on the cake. Dan was a true Red Sox fanatic and anyone that ever spent any time with him or walked into his office at City Hall would be well aware of that.

Dan, the City of Hartford and City Hall won't be the same without you. Your absence at Council meetings will be strongly felt. Say hello to our buddy Mayor Mike and may your Irish eyes continue to shine down on our city. Thanks for a job well done.

AN IRISH PRAYER
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be ever at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall softly on your fields
And until we meet again, May God hold
you in the hollow of his hand

GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE- POINTS FOR HPD

I spoke to someone over the weekend who had parked downtown, only to return to their car and find what appeared to be a parking ticket on the windshield. They were pleasently surprised when they went to read the ticket though. The bright "ticket" appeared to be the old style orange front tickets issued by the city before the switch to computerized tickets. After the ticket was removed and crumpled in the drivers clenched fist, they finally read the back. They were pleased to find that the "ticket" was actually a warning from the Hartford Police Department that they had left items in plain sight in their car. Items that are attractive to thieves breaking into cars downtown and across the city. The warnings are disguised as parking tickets so as not to tip off the would be thieves which vehicles to hit. And before someone jumps on me for giving away some top secret tip, I doubt I have more than a few car thieves reading my blog. Although I'm sure criminals do read my blog, from what I understand they are more of the white collar, political type.

It is good to see HPD being creative and proactive. Maybe someone responsible for this should get an "ESI" bonus

The front and back of the "warning" are below:

HPD Warning

WHO IS PAYING FOR THE MAYOR'S ATTORNEY?

I mean the Mayor's defense attorney for his criminal arrests. We already know who is paying for John Rose, the man who thinks he is the "Mayor's Attorney". But I'll try to focus on real attorneys here, not John Rose.

The question keeps coming up as to whether the City of Hartford and its taxpayers are paying for an attorney to keep Eddie out of prison. I requested verification of this question through Sarah Barr, the Mayor's Media Mouthpiece, I mean spokesperson. She did not respond to me, rather I received an e-mail from Carl Nasto, Hartford's Deputy Corporation Counsel. The ambiguous e-mail really didn't answer any questions, other than we may be "obliged" to pay for Perez's attorney to avoid his pending reservation at the Graybar Hotel. I'll keep asking the question until I get a definite answer.

Here is the e-mail response from Nasto:

Request for Information

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Nasto, Carl R."
To: krbrookman@earthlink.net
Subject: Request for Information
Date: Sep 4, 2009 4:59 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kevin: In response to your request for information to Sarah Barr earlier today, I can provide the following. To date, no City of Hartford funds have been spent on the criminal defense of Mayor Perez. I cannot at this time anticipate whether funds will be spent for such defense. The City may be obliged under law to pay for the Mayor’s defense.



-Carl

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING...EXCEPT IN HARTFORD

Athe August 10, 2009 Hartford City Council meeting, one of the things I spoke about was the poor condition of many area the City is supposed to maintain. One of the most highly visible spots is the traffic circle at Pulaski Circle. I posted the slide show to the right here and also called Hartford's solution to everything, "311". I figured after bringing the matter to the attention of the City Council, action would be swift. I guess I gave them too much credit.

Today, an event was held at the XL Center to a sold out crowd of 19,000 people. People from throughout the state and beyond attended as well as speakers such as Barbara Bush, Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Joe Montana and others. For many of them the "Welcome to Hartford" sign was a planter overgrown with 5 foot high weeds, a planter not maintained at all this year. For many of these visitors it may have been their first visit to Hartford, for others it may have just reinforced the image that Hartford's leaders just don't care. And maybe for Rudy Giuliani, it may have reminded him of what a city at its lowest point looks like before real leadership takes control and turns things around as he did in New York City. For a city whose Police Department was able to put out media alerts and advise commuters of the potential gridlock and did a great job handling traffic, probably double that of a normal rush hour, wouldn't you think someone could have the foresight to get the weeds pulled? Not only Pulaski Circle though, even the new Gateway that was built as part of the streetscape for the reconstruction of Trumbull Street was also overgrown with weeds. I guess we are seeing the results of what happens when our Mayor lays off the Public works laborers so that his cronies can get their bonuses.

How many Public Works laborers could Eddie hire back with the $300,000 plus he gave out to his buddies in bonuses? Probably enough to get some weeds pulled. Like they say, first impressions are lasting. What do you think many thought as they saw the poor condition of our city?

To give you a better idea of what the view looks like, watch the video below:

NO TIME FOR GOVERNING AGAIN THIS WEEK

Well, Monday was a holiday for the City. Tuesday the Mayor is in Hartford Superior Court on his latest round of felony charges. Now, after his appearance this morning, the case has been bound over to Superior Court Part A, which handles the more serious charges. That has resulted in another court appearance for Perez being scheduled for Friday in Superior Court.

Does anyone think that we are getting the full benefit of our elected CEO, Mayor Eddie A. Perez this week? And does anyone feel confident that his "acting" Chief of Staff Susan McMullen is at the helm during his absences?

SHOULD MAYOR PEREZ RESIGN?

Should Mayor Eddie Perez resign as Mayor of Hartford ? That was the question posed by the Hartford Courant last week on their website, courant.com. According to the poll numbers below, people overwhelmingly answered yes. Almost 60% answered that Perez should resign because he has been a disgrace to the City. Another 13.8% answered that he should resign because he can't be taken seriously. The "yes, he should resign" votes amounted to 73.4 percent, or almost 3/4 of the people responding think Perez should resign.Only 4.4% of those responding think Perez is doing a good job and should stay on. This poll is by no means scientific, but it was also by no means close, it seems pretty obvious what people are thinking.

Poll
Should Mayor Eddie Perez resign?

Yes. He's been a disgrace to the city. (779 responses)

59.6%

No. He is innocent until proven guilty. (290 responses)

22.2%

Yes. Who can take him seriously? (180 responses)

13.8%

No. The voters elected him and the city is running well enough. (58 responses)

4.4%

1307 total responses

(Results not scientific)

HUBIE SANTOS IS A LEGAL GENIUS

Yes, you read that right. The more that I watch the antics surrounding the Perez arrests, just when I thought I was totally confused by Santos' actions, I read the Hartford Courant today and it all began to make sense. After the first arrest of Perez on felony charges, Santos stood in court and said he was ready to go to trial that afternoon. I thought that was the height of lunacy, what about preparing a defense, what about all these "discovery" motions we see the television lawyers doing? Then we didn't want a trial right away because they needed to tear down this racist attempt on the part of the State of Connecticut to remove a strong hispanic Mayor. Then it went back and forth a few times, we want a speedy trial,then no we need more time, then we want a speedy trial, no we need more time. Finally, jury selection is scheduled for September. Then, that racist State's Attorney's office has the audacity to use information obtained from an 18 month Grand Jury investigation to obtain arrest warrants for Perez and others. Apparently it was clearly obvious that this was another attempt to remove a strong Hispanic Mayor for purely political reasons. Since Perez was now apparently the victim, Santos made the argument that all charges should be dismissed. Unfortunately for Santos and Perez, the judge hearing the motion immediately dismissed it. Then, after Santos had said the day of Perez's first arraignment that he was ready for trial that same afternoon, the dismissal changed all that. Santos stated that a trial at this point would be "suicide" and now the date has been moved to February 2010 at the earliest.

See what I mean? All very confusing, "we want a speedy trial, we don't want a speedy trial"

And then this Sunday, the following statement from Perez appeared in the Courant:

Every day I work hard for the people whose names you never hear and faces you wouldn't recognize — the people who open the doors of their businesses every day, send their children to school here, the people who make up Hartford's 17 neighborhoods. The job that they elected me to do is not complete.

Every day, I work to make people's lives better through education, jobs, housing and, of course, newfound hope. Since my arrest in January on unfounded charges of bribery and with my subsequent arrest Wednesday on allegations of extortion, my critics have taken the opportunity to question my ability to continue as mayor.

Some have asked me to step aside. I am eager to have the full truth surrounding these allegations revealed in court and am confident that I will be exonerated. I asked to go to trial and get this ordeal over with in January. The state did not honor that request. I have not, and will not, let the court proceedings impede the progress we have made in Hartford. This administration has 2 1/2 more years to continue to make a difference. I made a commitment to the people of Hartford and I will not walk away from that promise.

The people who raised me in this community have always said that if you work hard, good things happen. I came to Hartford as a boy and lived and worked in virtually every neighborhood, where people provided me with gifts of hope and opportunity. One person at a time, the people of this city have given me the drive to carry on their dreams. They have lifted me up and expect me not to give up. Because of their passion, I started public service at 14 years old and I'm not finished giving back as a man or as a mayor.

To be mayor, you need to be passionate, persistent and patient — all in the name of progress. When nobody believed in Hartford, I believed and Hartford has believed in me. Together, we are doing great things and great things can still be accomplished. As long as we are passionate about people, persistent in putting a long-term vision in place and patient when progress doesn't happen fast enough, we will continue to turn the corner.

The residents of Hartford made history in 2001. Three elections later, I am still humbled that people see in me the essential qualities to lead Hartford to new heights with a broader and bolder outlook that goes far beyond our city borders. We must be competitive globally and that commitment starts — and ends — with the CEO of Hartford.

Education of our youngest residents is the cornerstone of my administration. What started with developing the Learning Corridor has blossomed into new schools, new curriculums and new uniforms, with a new attitude toward learning.

As a member of the board of education, with more than three years as its chairman, I have been in the forefront of raising the standards of academic excellence and expectations. We cannot jeopardize the reform we have started together. Young people graduating from college, achieving world-class employment and reinvesting skills in our neighborhoods are all crucial elements for our future. That is why I am so persistent with my vision for job training.

Our residents need jobs. Our school construction projects have not only yielded buildings with award-winning architecture and positive learning environments, they have given employment and skills for life to thousands of Hartford residents.

On another front, homeownership, which stabilizes and revitalizes our neighborhoods, continues to be a key to our city's growth and potential. This is the toughest economy in 80 years, however, so we must demonstrate patience and be persistent in finding ways to keep people in their homes and provide opportunities for new homeowners.

This patience must also be extended to our business community. Small business owners are the backbone of our economy. Without them, Hartford would lose the traction it has gained in economic development along with some of the city's quaintness, uniqueness and diversity.

That diversity is on display every day in our shops and restaurants and is highlighted through our history, culture, architecture and arts. It is why my administration is such a strong supporter of our arts community — to grow jobs and to put more feet on the street.

The increased vibrancy on our streets also comes with a major decrease in crime. Hartford is the safest it has been in decades, thanks to neighborhood policing and strong community partnerships. However, there is still a perception of crime and perceptions must be overcome with the facts. In the end, the truth prevails.

Which leads us back to the original question: Why am I mayor and why do I want to continue to be mayor?

The answer is simple. I was raised never to give up. If one person does, it is a domino effect. I will not be responsible for setting the ripples of defeat into motion. We have accomplished so much, but the progress is not yet complete. There's a vision for the future and sometimes you don't realize how far you've come until you look back to see where you have been.

With that, I invite people to come see for themselves and rediscover Hartford — its faith and its future — as well as the man who wanted to be, is, and will continue to be mayor.

After reading this statement and wondering what Perez is thinking, and even further thinking that anyone who believed this garbage must be crazy, the little bulb went off on my head. It all made sense now, Hubie Santos is laying the foundation for an insanity defense for Perez.

Hubie Santos is brilliant, it just might work.

THE BULLY ON THE PLAYGROUND

This past Friday I posted an entry regarding the case of Officer Matthew Secore and the way his "due process" rights have been trampled by the City of Hartford as Mayor Eddie Perez demands his due process rights for himself as he faces potential jail time on numerous felony charges. Keep in mind, Perez's charges are all felonies, Secore's one charge was a misdemeanor, which has been dismissed by the court, but unfortunately for Secore, was committed against the Mayor's nephew. There have been a few replies to that entry, one from Matthew Secore himself, and yes I verified it so I know it's from him.

Below is the text of Matthew Secore's comments:

Matt Secore said...

Hi Kevin, it was nice meeting you. It's also my opinion based on how my case was handled that the Hartford Police Union has been compromised by city politics. I often wondered why some of the veteran cops refused to deal with our union. I now know why. Regardless, of what you think of me or my case the fact is I had my day in court and won. My charge was dismissed and I won my job back through arbitration. It appalls me the Mayor could care less about my due process yet has the nerve to ask the public for his day in court. You have my full support exposing this double standard and I would be happy to appear on your show to answer any questions.

September 5, 2009 3:52 PM

I too have heard the same comments that the Hartford Police Union has been compromised by city politics and know several veteran officers that have questioned the Union leadership. I also have heard the same thing about the other Municipal Employee Unions as well as community groups and individuals . Although I understand the frustration, consider the alternative. In 2007 at a time when the Police Union was preparing for, or already involved in, contract negotiations, do you think they endorsed the best candidate they thought for Mayor? Or did they stand behind the candidate they knew they had to support or suffer the consequences. Myself and others have referred to this administration as an organized crime operation. Mess with a loan shark or a drug dealer and you might get your legs broken or worse, mess with the Perez Administration and you might see your job eliminated, a sudden termination, the funding eliminated for your non-profit agency, loss of your city contracts or worse. I'm sure there are many instances when the Union's would have liked to have spoke out on issues they thought were wrong or they didn't agree with. I have the luxury of being able to speak out without fear of Perez, he has already exercised his pressure over me and it hasn't stopped me yet. I have no family members working for the City for him to terminate, I am not affiliated with any non-profits that he can cut their funding and most importantly, although Eddie talks about "truth", I do have the truth on my side and I am able to prove what I say with documents. I would also argue that the union leaders, not just the Hartford Police Union, do have a strong sense of right and wrong, and for the most part the leaders and their membership do care about Hartford. They must weigh their actions in opposing the Perez regime and the consequences of their actions. This is not about the five or six members on the executive committee of the Hartford Police Union, but is more about their members and protecting their well being. The Police Union could see jobs eliminated on a moments notice if they issued the wrong press release or made a statement in opposition to the "Gospel of Perez". Just ask Clarence Corbin or Dan Nolan, and most likely if the truth were known, Tom Morrisson, Matt Hennessey, Bhupen Patel and Lee Erdmann.

I do fault the Unions as well as the Council and others for allowing this situation to develop essentially unchecked, but for any of them to come out challenging it now would be suicide, for the Unions and their members. Just ask the leadership of the Hartford Federation of Teachers who are facing legal action by the Superintendent of Schools after he hired an outside law firm to threaten them.

I understand your point 100%, but remember , in a perfect world you would be back to work already re-gaining our trust in you as a police officer, and proving your actions were a one time misdemeanor "lapse of judgement". Instead , we are too busy trying to prove that our Mayor's numerous felony "lapses of judgement" were just that and that he is not a crook as the evidence might suggest.