If you read the blog regularly, you'll remember that a while back I asked the question "Who is Willie Edwards?.
Well, you have waited long enough and here is your answer.
Willie Edwards is a City of Hartford employee assigned to the Department of Public Works.On Saturday October 14, 2010, Willie was assigned to the DPW Transfer Station to supervise people dumping refuse and brush. AlthoughWillie appeared to be doing his job, he ran into a problem when he would not allow Charlie Ortiz to dump at the transfer station. Charlie Ortiz is the husband of Mayor Pedro Segarra. In the document below the "Description of Claim" clearly spells out the allegations that will result in yet another lawsuit against the City of Hartford
In the claim you will see that there is mention of an "investigation", I have asked DPW Director Kevin Burnham for that report, both by e-mail and in person. That report has not been provided to me as of yet."Willie Edwards Intent to File Suit
Since posting the Lt. Brooks information yesterday, over 2,302 hits were recorded on the blog for a 24 hour period, the best numbers yet since I started the blog.
In yesterday's posting regarding the video of the Pawtucket Street shooting, I need to make a correction.
Several sources familiar with the investigation called or contacted me to let me know that my perception of what happened was wrong. In watching the video, I thought that a shot was actually fired from inside the car through the rear passenger window.
Apparently the suspects (or victims, depending on how you look at it) never fired any shots. Any shots fired were fired by Police Officers outside of the car. Although a gun was recovered from inside the car, it was never fired.
One source close to the investigation also stated that with the heavy tints on the cars window, they felt it would have been difficult for anyone outside of the vehicle to actually see anyone pointing a gun at them as one officer was heard saying on the video.
In looking at the video again, I think we are very lucky no police officers were shot by each other. If the shot was fired by a police officer, as I was told, from outside the vehicle, they would have been on the sidewalk and officers were approaching from both directions.
This video should be used by every Police agency in the country to show how things should NOT be done.
For anyone that follows the blog and the hit counter, "We the People" has surpassed a quarter of a million hits. Today is shaping up to be one of the better days as far as numbers. Between 4:00PM when I posted the item about Neville Brooks "You Can't Handle the Truth" and now, there has been almost a thousand hits. The next closest days were when I posted and predicted Eddie Perez's first arrest would take place the following day and all of Dan Nolan's pieces produced heavy blog traffic.
Keep the comments and information coming, none of this would be possible without you. Change is definitely taking place by shining light on what is happening in our City.
The old saying "do as I say, not as I do" seems like it may be the rule of thumb for some operating out of the Chief's Complex at 50 Jennings Road.
If the previous posting about Lt. Brooks and his removal from IAD when he had the nerve to question Chiefs as part of investigations wasn't enough, this accident report should raise some red flags also.
Let me start by asking a hypothetical question, actually a couple of questions.
Would you think it would be unusual for someone to have a couple thousand dollars worth of damage done to their car and not notice it? Especially if that damage was down the drivers side of your car, maybe a couple inches under the lock and door handle and ran almost the full length of the vehicle?
Another question, if you had a company car provided to you by your employer and that vehicle was clearly involved in an accident, would your employer accept that you didn't know what happened , yet you refused to answer questions or co-operate with a police officer assigned to investigate the accident?
Ok, one last hypothetical question. If you were a police officer and at the end of your shift, showed up at the station with damage to your cruiser that you claimed you didn't know how it happened and then refused to answer any questions about the crash or the damage, do you think that would go over without any problem?
I seriously doubt anyone would answer yes to those questions and think it would all be acceptable.
Although if you are Hartford Police Department Assistant Chief Lester McKoy, rest assured, it all will be fine.The vehicle damaged is McKoy's city vehicle that we, yes we the taxpayers of Hartford, have provided to McKoy for his daily commute back and forth to his home in Stamford . I have spoke about this extreme waste of money on numerous occasions only to be met by blank stares from Council members and even the Mayor himself.
For McKoy to think he is above answering questions of a police officer investigating his accident and possible evading goes to show the sense of entitlement apparent by the Command Staff at HPD. Chief Roberts needs to set the tone that discipline and respect is the same no matter who you are from a Cadet up to the Chief himself.
Over the next few weeks I'll be writing more on the varying degrees of discipline at the Hartford Police Department depending on who you are and who you know. How can one person be possibly demoted for his actions, while another is promoted after having alcohol related accidents in a City vehicle?
HERE IS THE ACCIDENT REPORT FOR McKOY'S VEHICLE, BE SURE TO READ THE NARRATIVE ON PAGE 2:
For anyone that remembers that classic line uttered by Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men", it came after investigators got a little too close to the truth.
The same refrain might quite possibly be echoing through the second floor Chief's complex at the Hartford Police Department. Through police sources and documents obtained, it appears that the Commander of the Hartford Police Departments Internal Affairs Division has been removed from his position. Lieutenant Neville Brooks, a 17 year veteran of the Department,was removed as Commander of IAD and escorted out of the offices at HPD on April 15, 2011.
According to sources and a Union grievance filed with Chief Roberts on April 26, 2011, Lt. Brooks' was removed from IAD due to investigations that required interviews of Assistant Chief's and at least one Deputy Chief. Apparently it is an unwritten rule that Command Staff are usually "off-limits" when it comes to interviews for investigations. One source told me that the last time anyone could remember an "official" interview of an Assistant Chief was Micheal Fallon several years ago.
The Union Grievance claims that Lt. Brooks was removed "due to the fact that he had been disrespectful to command personnel in the conducting of a number of investigations". The full grievance is below.
According to sources, in one instance Assistant Chief Brian Heavren appears to have been less than truthful with IAD investigators regarding a claim made by a detective of a "hostile work environment". In that case which involved a Detective and a Sergeant "photoshopped" pictures were being circulated of a less than flattering nature. Chief Heavren claimed that he had no knowledge of the allegations and had never seen the photo in question.
IAD investigators were able to confirm that the e-mail was sent to Heavren and was opened. From what sources are telling me, the photo in question was actually found on the hard drive of Chief Heavren's office computer. When investigators interviewed Heavren, they invoked his "Garrity" rights and he apparently became indignant that he was being questioned.
In another incident, Assistant Chief John Horvath became involved with rumors that a Detective might be "hanging out with the wrong crowd". There were also accusations of drug use on the part of the Detective. Rather than proceed through proper channels, Horvath, according to sources, intervened and accusations against the Detective became common knowledge and that Detective has hired an attorney and most likely will be suing the department for apparent damage to his professional reputation. He will apparently join a growing list of members of the Department now suing the Department's Administration
The detective accused of drug use was not asked by the Department to take a drug test, even though he volunteered to do such according to sources. From what sources told me, the Detective contacted his own doctor and through Quest Labs paid for more than one test on several occasions, all of which apparently came back negative for drug use.
Horvath apparently took the same stance as Heavren and was indignant that he would be questioned by IAD investigators as to his actions.
The third incident apparently involves recently promoted Deputy Chief Scott Sansom. According to sources, Sansom's interview was over an ongoing investigation into procedural issues over a police involved shooting on Pawtucket Street in Hartford on December 15, 2008. I'm not quite sure why that is still going on over two years after the incident, but apparently Chief Sansom was not happy about being questioned .
The incident apparently occurred under the watchful eye of a video camera and was all documented. It seems that a videographer for a documentary was riding with Hartford Police and US Marshalls that day and the entire incident was caught on video. Apparently, the shooting was found to be justified but the issue was with the procedures used by the officers.
Plain clothes Officers in unmarked vehicles were responding to Pawtucket Street in regards to information that the suspect vehicle had weapons inside it. As they quickly pulled up on the suspects, no one seems to identify themselves as police officers or were readily identified as police officers. In the video, it appears that the back seat passenger is the first to fire a shot through the passenger side window, then officers returned fire.
During this entire time on the video it doesn't seem that anyone identified themselves as police officers and and after the shooting stops a voice can be heard, presumably one of the officers, stating "guy pointed a gun at me yo".
The 14 minute raw video can be seen below, the first time it was posted on "You tube" it was suddenly removed. I would watch it soon if you wish, chances are it won't be up there long. It is graphic so if the sight of blood bothers you, be advised.
I can see why someone would not want to answer questions about the procedural issues raised in the video, but clearly questions need to be asked and answered to identify problems.It might be good for a cop show, but could have proven deadly for police officers. As you can see, no marked police cruisers were present, even though the vehicle was parked and not moving, even as the officers approached.
Although I can't understand Chief Roberts decision to move Lt.Brooks, other actions taken since his removal also seem to show the vindictiveness of the actions. In a memo issued last week, Headquarters Captain William Long stated that he was being ordered by Assistant Chief Brian Heavren to also remove Lieutenant Brooks as the supervisor of the Hartford Police Bicyle Patrol program.
Lt. Brooks has hired an attorney to protect his interests. One Union official commented that Lt. Brooks is the type of investigator that any police officer would want in IAD. According to the Union official, Brooks was known for his integrity and objectiveness. The Union official said "if you needed to be investigated, Neville is the type of person you'd want". He claims that Brooks has no agenda and can't be influenced, the facts go where they go.
I guess unless the facts lead to the Chief's Complex.
I'll be posting a little more later about the apparent sense of entitlement coming out of the second floor at HPD.
Assistant Chief Horvath claims he was unaware of the grievance filed and when asked if he wished to comment on his actions in Lt. Brooks' removal, he replied "absolutely not". Assistant Chief Heavren and Deputy Chief Sansom have not returned calls for comment.
And just in a matter of full disclosure, Lt Brooks and myself have known each other almost our entire lives. We attended elementary school together and have remained friends right up until this time. Neville is one of the few people I know that I can honestly say is beyond reproach, and I don't say that lightly. I could probably count on one hand the number of people I would feel comfortable saying that about.
In what seems to be the precursor to a summer of violence on Hartford's streets, homicide victim number 12 for the year was pronounced dead at Saint Francis Hospital at 9:30pm this evening.
The 29 year old victim was shot a short time earlier in the area of 38 Martin Street
In July of 2009 I wrote here about Hartford Fire Lieutenant Gregory Simon and his arrest for allegedly stealing electricity at a rental property he apparently owned. Lt. Simon was also a licensed electrician and had apparently rigged the electric meter to bypass it and steal electricity.
Now Simon is apparently in trouble once again. According to both fire and police department sources, Simon was arrested on April 22, 2011 at 1:02am on various charges including weapons in a motor vehicle, strangulation, assault and breach of peace.
According to HPD arrest logs, Simon was not released and was being held on $250,000 bond.
I am still trying to make sense of actions by the City of Hartford in relation to the Dan Nolan termination. One of the main questions is how and why did it happen in the first place? Who in their right mind could fault someone for encouraging young adults entering into a career of public safety to become involved in charitable events?
I think the hearing officers report was pretty clear that the actions by the City of Hartford were not appropriate when he ordered Nolan re-instated with all back pay, benefits and seniority. That leads me to the next big question. Why is the City dragging its feet when it comes to getting Nolan back to work?
The clock has almost expired on the 30 day period that the City had to decide whether to bring Chief Nolan back or appeal the hearing officers decision. The report seemed pretty clear. There was no question what so ever as to Nolan's truthfulness or character. Even the City's witnesses seem to have been better witnesses in Nolan's favor.
But more interesting is the video below. On February 11, 2011 the Worcester Massachusetts Fire Department graduated their most recent recruit class of new firefighters. During the ceremony, a Lieutenant assigned to the Fire Academy speaks about efforts to get recruits involved in charity events and their efforts. He talks about raising funds for scholarships, collecting turkeys to donate to the Salvation Army and even chipping in to buy a piece of equipment for the Training Academy.
Clearly, if we go by the standard used in the Nolan case, this Lieutenant should be fired immediately.
Some of the layers are being peeled back though to shed light on the real reasons for Nolan's termination. It's a very interesting story involving a former Fire Chief, a corrupt Mayor, a City Councilwoman, a strip bar in Springfield, a Doctor specializing in Lasik surgery and his checkbook and don't forget to throw in a Union President to complete the picture.
Watch the video below, I left the bagpipes in at the beginning because I love hearing them, but the good part starts at about 3:20 minutes in.
Sometimes I think that Hartford is its own worst enemy. We can study issues to death, fund all types of non-profits that are supposed to be addressing issues even though very little changes, yet we seem to be unable to find the missing part of the puzzle.
My mother had wanted to visit O'Rourke's Diner in Middletown for breakfast today. She had read about the diner in Yankee Magazine and seen profiles of O'Rourke's on various TV programs. I wasn't sure that we would even be able to get in on Easter Sunday, but we gave it a shot. After a short wait we had breakfast, even though I think my Irish Soda Bread has theirs beat handsdown.
During breakfast my mother told me that in all the years she had lived in Connecticut, she had never been to Middletown. After we finished we drove around Downtown Middletown. I was surprised by the vibrancy of Main Street in Middletown compared to Downtown Hartford. I didn't see rows of vacant storefronts. What I did see were retail shops and numerous restaurants that were open and seemed busy.
There was a waiting line to get into O'Rourke's and it seemed like most restaurants along Main Street were having the same problem. Wouldn't that be a wonderful problem for downtown Hartford to have on a Sunday?
We went by the First and Last Tavern which is housed on the groundfloor of the Middletown Police Department's relatively new building. That obviously took some leadership and foresight for someone to decide to offset the operations costs of the PD by incorporating retail and rental space into the construction of a Municipal building.
I was asking myself what Middletown was doing that Hartford wasn't. For anyone that remembers Hartford in its heyday, our downtown was vibrant and thriving. The streets were busy not only at noon time, but through out the evening and on weekends. Today Hartford is like a ghost town after the corporate world bails out.
One of the big differences I saw in Middletown was abundant parking and most of it was free at the time. Another big factor I'm sure is Middletown's tax rate, 26.4 mills compared to Hartford's rate of almost 74 mills. Downtown businesses in Middletown also pay a 5.5 mills "Fire District" tax, compared to Hartford's 15% surcharge on all businesses across the city. Hartford's downtown businesses also pay a Business Improvement District tax of an additional mill.
It just seems that rather than spend potentially upwards of $5 million dollars on taking the Capitol West building, it might make a lot more sense investing in business development in Downtown Hartford. A vibrant, growing downtown will snowball into small businesses seeing that Hartford has potential, one new business at a time.
More business closures such as the cutlery shop and the cigar shop that recently closed on Asylum Street send the reverse message that small business isn't sustainable in Hartford for tax reasons, lack of traffic, lack of interest, lack of City support or whatever excuse you want to use.
Try explaining to a potential business person why most of the north side of Pratt Street is vacant, a street so quaint with it's brick walkways and lightposts that would be bustling in just about any other town. Try explaining why the Bank of America building on Main Street is vacant. A building that is probably one of the largest buildings on Main Street.
Try explaining why the XL Center shops are still virtually vacant several years after construction was completed. The only exception being a wine shop that if the truth were known, probably was just as well off at their previous location before being lured downtown and a grocery store that seems to have more employees than customers.
I would love to see the Market at Hartford 21 thrive and survive, but it takes feet on the street to do that, seven days a week. Spiritus Wines always has a great selection as well as knowledgeable staff, but again, sales are what matters and you need a steady flow of customers and convenient parking to make that happen.
We can't afford any more vacancies downtown. When was the last time anyone can recall a McDonald's closing its doors, yet the one in downtown did a couple years ago.
I spoke with a State Representative today and during the conversation I brought up the idea that I posted a few weeks ago about the old Capewell Nail Factory and turning it into an outlet mall. He thought it was a great idea and could maybe even get some state support. We talked about the numbers of people that think nothing of driving to Clinton or even to Maine to get the deals available at the outlets.
Why shouldn't that be Hartford? The answer is quite simple. The lack of leadership and the will to get things done. It is the same thing that is keeping Front Street vacant, the XL center vacant most of Pratt Street vacant and so on.
Imagine one of the vacant lots surrounding downtown Hartford, such as the parcel Channel 3 was going to use before they were driven out of Hartford by the Perez Administration, and build something like a 5 Guys Restaurant. Other businesses would grow off of that. Vacant lots attract nothing, other than crime and more blight, even if we put up pretty fences around them like the former "butt ugly" sight.
If we are going to be serious about economic development, then let's take it seriously. Having no permanent Director of Economic Development for a couple years shows that we are not serious. Instead we have the Chief Operating Officer doubling as the Economic Development Director in a Department that clearly shows it doesn't understand the meaning of economic development.
If other towns are able to develop and maintain vibrant economic areas, then we can't continue to blame it on the economy. Let's look at Buckland Hills, Westfarms and even smaller towns like Enfield and Middletown. What are they doing right?
I think the answer is pretty clear, we have a great foundation to build on here, the only thing missing is leadership to get it done.
The Greater Hartford African American Alliance held its annual breakfast Saturday morning at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Hartford. The event was well attended by almost 200 people and featured an awards ceremony and a Mayoral candidates panel question and answer segment.
Connecticut's US Senator Richard Blumenthal made a short appearance also.
The introductions of the four Mayoral hopefuls can be seen below. Mayor Segarra's first few seconds was cut out on the video and the angles aren't the best, but the audio is clear so you can hopefully learn a little bit more about the candidates. The interviewers for the QandA segment were Len Besthoff from WFSB 3, Robert Cotto from the Board of Education and Rufus Wells from the Minority Construction Council.
Over the last few weeks I have received a few calls from readers that are getting an error message when trying to view the blog.
The message""Windows Internet Explorer. Stop running this script? A script on this page is causing Internet Explorer to run slowly. If it continues to run, your computer might become unresponsive. Yes No".
I'm not sure what has changed that might be causing this, any thoughts from my computer savvy readers?
I was hopeful. The house was on the market and word was that Eddie Perez was moving out of the City to prepare for the prison stay and we might just be over the worst of the Perez era.
But no, Eddie Perez has once again proven that he knows no shame. Jeff Cohen at WNPR and Kevin Rennie at dailyructions.com, have both reported that Perez is once again surfacing to fleece the people of Hartford.
Apparently future inmate Perez has made a demand upon the City of Hartford to be paid for unused sick time and vacation pay totaling $131,590.32. If Perez really needs the money that bad, might I suggest filling out a job application for the Roldan for (fill in the blank office name here)Campaign. It seems to be working out well for Perez's former Chief of Staff who has been paid over $15,000 by Roldan already.
If Eddie pushes the issue, maybe the Council and Mayor will instruct the Corporation Counsel to file suit to recover all of the Attorney fees it cost the City for employees going before the Grand Jury to testify against Perez, those resulted from his criminal activity. That will more than cover the amount of his vacation and sick time.
In March, Hartford's Green Ribbon Task Force on Hartford's parks completed its work and presented their recommendations to Mayor Pedro Segarra.
One of the recommendations the Commission made was to hire a “highly qualified Parks Director” within FY 2011-2012.
Now here is the ethical challenge, let me know what you think.
The commission made the recommendation to hire "a highly qualified Parks Director". That recommendation essentially created a new job position. If you were serving on that Commission and made a recommendation to create the new position, could you then ethically accept that new position that you essentially created? It seems like a large conflict of interest to me.
Well, that is exactly what happened last Friday at the entrance to Bushnell Park. Mayor Pedro Segarra announced the appointment of Jack Hale, a GRTF (Green Ribbon Task Force) Member as the Parks Operation Manager for the City of Hartford.
The other issue is the position being created at the same time that Public Works has been decimated by staff layoff and cutbacks. I'm not sure if the hiring freeze still exists, but shouldn't this position have gone before the City Council for approval ?
After the press event announcing the appointment, I asked Mayor Segarra if he thought it was a conflict of interest and his response is on the video below. The audio announcing the appointment has a lot of background noise (a lunch truck with a noisy generator was running in the background), my questions to the Mayor are much clearer.
I also asked numerous people a "hypothetical" question using the circumstances I laid out above, and everyone thought it was a conflict of interest to serve on a commission and then accept a position created by that commission's recommendations.
The Maple Avenue Revitalization Group NRZ will meet Thursday night at 6:00PM in the basement of Saint Augustine's Church at 10 Campfield Avenue in Hartford.
Mayor Pedro Segarra is expected to attend.
All are welcome to attend. MARG is one of the most vibrant community groups in the city empowering neighbors to work together for a better Hartford.
I'm not sure about you, but I am getting quite tired of the headlines.
"Segarra Raises $100,000" , "Wooden Raises More than $100,000 in Second Quarter"....blah, blah blah blah blah. But does anyone know what are they about and what they bring to the table ? Is the Mayor's Office really for sale?
Segarra claims he will make changes in City Hall if he is re-elected. Why not start now? Wooden claims his experience in the Perry Administration as a benefit to the people of Hartford. People in Hartford that lived through the Perry years might disagree.
And Kelvin Roldan, oh Kelvin, Kelvin, Kelvin what more can we say. Roldan, who has apparently had his moral compass adjusted to point in the right direction in the last couple weeks now will lead us out of the land of corruption. I think Roldan would actually take a pay cut if he became Mayor, and he would also have to start doing some work. And if anyone knows, Kelvin surely knows, that the side deals cut in the Mayor's office definitely aren't worth it.
It is still early, but I'm not hearing much substance. The conversations of substance seem to be coming from the candidates that apparently have already been written off because they are out in the community having real conversations rather than talking to the moviemaker donors in Beverly Hills, CA or wealthy attorneys in Washington D.C. who can write out a $1,000 check and think nothing of it.
News flash...many Hartford residents can hardly even afford a $10.00 contribution because of the mess our politicians have put us into. Our politicians seem to understand fundraising and arm twisting better than they do public policy and what is needed in our community.
I'd much rather see a headline that the candidates are putting forth ideas and showing some vision as to how they are going to turn things around from our previous professional fundraisers able to get elected and satisfy the donors who put them there.
Does anyone else have a problem with the campaign filings that show Shawn Wooden's donors are from outside Hartford by a margin of almost 5 to 1 ? They show only 46 donors from Hartford as opposed to 269 from outside Hartford.
And Mayor Segarra isn't much different. He's a little more balanced than Wooden with 124 donations from within Hartford, but the majority came from outside the city, 176.
And while I'm at it lets not forget Kelvin Roldan's fundraising efforts so he can pay off his buddies, over $15,000 to Matt Hennessy and $5,500 to his FOI scribe Derek Donnelley. Any bets as to whether or not we will see Eddie Perez as a "consultant" on his next filing? Nothing would surprise me.
We all will know how much money they can raise, but unfortunately little will most likely be revealed about what they stand for. What about jobs? What about supporting Hartford's small businesses? What about health care? What about reducing motor vehicle insurance rates equal to our suburban neighbors? What about the looming tax disaster threatening to double every property and vehicle owners tax bill?
Too bad that the only other candidates are actually focusing on the issues and talking to people and answering their questions when they probably should be ignoring the problems and raising money instead if they really want to be taken seriously. Do we really want the issues and some vision to interfere with selecting our next Mayor?
In the meantime, if you want to talk to candidates without writing a check, you just might want to find Stan McCauley riding a city bus with the people who can't write the $1,000 checks, or walk a few blocks with Ed Vargas and listen to what he has to say as they both talk to the real people of Hartford.
And by the way,to the other "professional fundraising" candidates, the real people on the bus and walking to work actually vote in Hartford, the Beverly Hills donors don't.And if you recall, Eddie Perez raised almost $750,000.00 in 2007, look where that got him.
Wooden campaign filing provided by Wooden Campaign
The City of Hartford recorded its eleventh homicide today in the area of 67 Oakland Terrace.It is the city's third homicide in less than 2 weeks.The shooting took place a little after 3:30 this afternoon.
A little after 6:00PM I drove by the area and was surprised that the crime scene was already clear, no yellow tape, no police, back to usual. Oakland Terrace is a one way street that runs south between Albany Avenue and Homestead Avenue.
I was cruising down the street pretty slow to see house numbers and see which one was number 67, where I was told the shooting occurred. I know I was out of place, but I knew that most likely a large police presence had just left the neighborhood. As I came up on 67 Oakland Terrace, I was approached by two young males.
They wanted to know what I wanted to "buy. It just struck me as odd that they probably had just witnessed someone they knew murdered in the same spot less than 3 hours earlier and now they were trying to sell me drugs. Had they just moved up in the chain and were taking over the "business opening", or is this the way it always is on the streets.
Are they potentially number 12 and 13 waiting to happen over the other "War on drugs"?
I don't know what the solution is, but I do know it won't be a quick fix. In the meantime the bloodshed needs to be stopped. Eleven homicides so far this year is unacceptable. Not to mention the bodies laying in Hartford and Saint Francis Hospital on life support that are only one breath away from becoming a homicide number, and there are a few of them.
In the meantime, Chief Roberts, it is not a sign of failure to ask for help.Whether that help comes in the form of extra money for increased police patrols and attention or if it comes from outside agencies, it is definitely needed. The State Police are not the answer, but DEA, ATF, FBI and any other alphabet soup agency that can send strong messages need to be asked to come into Hartford as soon as possible in much greater numbers than they are already here.
A long hot summer can spiral out of control quickly and we are way too far into the homicide stats for this early in the year. Mayor Segarra announced this afternoon that we may actually have a surplus. If that's the case, put it to use and start the enforcement today. Don't play politics with Public Safety, send a strong message to the gun toting thugs ruining our City.
The Mayoral campaign is heating up, and everyone is weighing in.
Kevin Rennie, a columnist from the Hartford Courant and also a blogger at "the Daily Ruction", dailyructions.com, posted his review of mayoral candidate Shawn Wooden's performance on WFSB's "Face the State".
Here are Kevin Rennie's comments:
WOODEN BY NAME, WOODEN BY NATURE
Many people possess high hopes for Hartford Democrat Shawn Wooden’s campaign for mayor of Hartford this year. They may adjust them after Wooden’s embarrassing debut on Sunday’s Face the State.
Wooden should not have been surprised by the first question. It was the classic, “Why do you want to be [insert office here]? Mercy, the Day Pitney lawyer seemed stumped. He rambled like he was trying to pad his billable hours. It got worse. Wooden, who has done well with early fundraising, offered a river of generalities in what ails Hartford and how he’d fix them.
The lowest moment came when Wooden tried to dance around the conviction of disgraced former Hartford mayor Eddie Perez. He would not say if he believed the Perez verdict was fair because, after all, he was never in the courtroom during the trial.
During his halting performance, Wooden promised to provide “serious, meaningful” leadership. His potential to do that was not on display during 12 1/2 painful minutes with Dennis House.
If you are really judged by the company you keep, political judgement day for Kelvin Roldan may be as close as the Hartford City Clerks office.
After the grenades launched by Roldan in his "anti-corruption" campaign this past weekend, I decided to look at all of the Mayoral candidates filings that were due Monday.
Shawn Wooden's weren't received yet, but as long as they are postmarked by yesterday, that's legal. Ed Vargas's didn't show too much other than he kicked in $10,100 of his own money. Vargas's largest expense so far was $48.73 for printer cartridges.
Stan McCauley's also weren't available yet and by phone he acknowledged that they will be hand delivered to the Clerk's Office today, and he was aware of the $100.00 fine for late filing.
Mayor Segarra's filings were extensive, but very few surprises. He has raised a large amount of money, with the majority of the donors coming from outside Hartford and as far away as Seattle, Washington. Only 124 contributors listed Hartford addresses, 176 outside of Hartford.
Segarra's largest expense appears to be web design and web setup with $8250.00 being paid to a company called "Trilogy" for the design and $2860.00 to "NGP Van, INC." from Washington , D.C. for web setup. Segarra's campaign manager appears to work for cheap with only $5825.00 being claimed for his services. A refund of $1,000 was paid back to the Mayor's partner Charlie Ortiz and was listed as a "refund-contribution".
The interesting filing though was from a candidate who seems to have appointed himself as Hartford's version of the famed corruption fighter Elliot Ness.
If you look at many of Kelvin Roldan's contributors, they appear to have come from the same list of supporters of convicted felon and Roldan's former boss, Eddie A. Perez. You can see the list below, but see how many you can identify. I'll start you off, Susan McMullen, David Medina, John Rose, Christopher Wolf, and the list goes on.
The interesting part is who Roldan is paying with the campaign funds.
I would think that someone who would lob grenades at his opponent for corruption, would try to make sure he would distance himself from the slightest suggestion of impropriety or connections to corruption.
***NOTE*** - Roldan still has not decided what he wants to be when he grows up, so at this time he is still "exploring" his options and hasn't officially announced his intentions. This might make some wonder why he is doing what he is doing and what his real motive is.
Anyway, I digress. If "clean hands" are a prerequisite to lobbing the accusations Roldan did this week, then he might want to stock up on some Purel.
It appears that Roldan's largest expenses so far for his campaign are to individuals who played key roles in Hartford's most corrupt administration that resulted in Mayor Eddie A. Perez getting ready to pack for 3 years in prison. Perez's former Chief of Staff, Matthew Hennessy's business "Tremont Public Advisors" has been paid $15,750 so far according to the recent filings. Perez's former Legislative Liason, Derek Donnelly, has also received three payments totaling $5,000 from the Roldan campaign.
Hennessy resigned from the Perez Administration during the Grand Jury investigation that led to Perez's conviction. He had previously resigned from the Hartford County Sheriff's Office after an investigation into his activities there.
To view Roldans payments to Tremont and Donnelly, click below: ROLDAN 3-10-11 FILING
I have tried to repeatedly confirm this information through "official" Hartford Fire Department channels and even through the Mayor. Those requests have gone unanswered. Several sources in the HFD have also showed me text messages sent out and have confirmed that department members have been warned that if they are caught talking to "the media" they face immediate termination. You would think they would have learned something about wrongful termination after the Nolan decision, but I won't beat a dead horse here.
Anyway, a few months ago I received information from sources that that the standards for hiring for the upcoming recruit class were being lowered. The academy time was planned on being cut from fourteen weeks to eight, certification was to only be for Firefighter 1, rather than the normal Firefighter 2 from previous training classes.
The most disturbing part arrived in my e-mail today. Apparently six Fire Department Cadets took the written test. One passed after he had previously failed out of the last academy class. The other five failed the written exam. Apparently plans were in the works to hire the five who couldn't pass the written exam anyways. Once "the media" started asking questions, those plans were apparently scrapped.
Now the disturbing part. Councilwoman rJo Winch and Mayor Segarra have slid an item onto tonight's agenda entitled "Replacement Item #48, AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A FIRE CADET TRAINING ACADEMY PROGRAM AND CURRICULUM.
Interestingly enough, under Winch's ordinance the Cadets who couldn't pass the test, now won't even have to take it. What is the sense of the Cadet program if they can't even pass the test? In theory, shouldn't people receiving special training in the Cadet program be the ones at the top of the list as far as test scores?
According to the Winch/Segarra ordinance :
(1)Fire Cadets must also successfully complete the following components of the Firefighter Civil Service Examination Process:
(i) The Oral Examination
(ii) Physical Agility
(iii)Background Check
(iv)Medical Examination
In case you didn't notice , the written exam requirement has been removed from the ordinance.
For anyone who has never seen a police or firefighters funeral, take my advice, you don't want to. They will send a chill down your spine and have a definite impact on you. I don't want to be viewing any firefighter funerals in Hartford because we have lowered our standards.
And again, anyone who read the Nolan decision can pretty much see as the hearing officer did, that the termination was politically motivated as a result of Nolan refusing to lower the standards. Councilwoman Winch played a role in that when she championed the cause of a recruit, now actually a Firefighter, Felicia Graves. Winch even went so far as to have private meetings in her office with Graves and intervened on her behalf with the Fire Chief at the time.
Reading the hearing officers report shows exactly what is wrong with hiring unqualified persons for apparently political reasons. Even former Assistant Chief Michael Parker testified at Nolan's hearing that he never would have hired Graves when he was the Fire Chief in West Hartford, and he questioned her being hired in Hartford.
If we continue to lower our standards just so that political cronies can get hired, is a potential disaster far off? To read about another Hartford Firefighter who had the standards lowered after he received his employment reference from former Mayor Eddie A. Perez, click here.or here for another story
The Council Meeting's public session,if you would like to comment, is tonight at 6:00PM at City Hall
Anyone reading this blog should be aware that I haven't weighed in on my choice of who I'm supporting for Mayor.
After this weekends and today's nonsense though, I need to say something or I'll hurt myself biting my tongue to remain silent.
I attended a fundraising dinner Saturday night that was much more political than I thought it would be. Mayoral Candidate Ed Vargas was there, Kelvin Roldan was there , Matt Ritter was there, the "Honorable" Art Feltman was there, Sean Arena was there and amid confusion Mayor Segarra showed up midway through dinner, even though he apparently didn't purchase a ticket. That was apparently rectified and as the saying goes "the check is in the mail.
The buzz from the moment I arrived and throughout the night was "make sure you read the Courant tomorrow, they are going after Pedro". There were all kind of comments as to the suspected content of the article. Would Pedro have to resign? Would he be forced out of the Mayoral race? Would rJo Winch have to take over as mayor? Forget about Pedro, that though alone scared the hell out of me. But then I realized, even if it was bad, Pedro could stall like Eddie did, so we were good until the new Mayor steps in January of 2012.
Throughout the Perez years, including the Veronica Airey-Wilson years, I think I have become pretty good at recognizing corruption and ethical lapses and I have to say, the Courant's article really seemed like nothing to me. I don't intend to belittle the Courant or Jon Lender.Stories like this sell papers and if the buzz Saturday night was any indication, a lot of people probably made it a point to purchase Sunday's Courant.
Even though Segarra should have probably asked the question first if there was any doubt, this amounts to nothing more than mudslinging by his opponents.
In order to be taken seriously when accusations are thrown around, I think you need to be sincere and not look like opportunists. If there was ever a glass house that someone was living in, it is probably Kelvin Roldan. And that glass house from what I understand isn't even in Roldan's district but is most likely in West Hartford, but that's another story.
Kelvin Roldan was neck deep in the corruption scandal involving his former boss Eddie A. Perez. If the Grand Jury record is correct, Roldan played a key role in facilitating some of Perez's activities. In some circles that is referred to as an "unindicted co-conspirator". Just ask "Willie Nunes" about it if you don't believe me.
Then we have Roldan in a position at the Board of Education, apparently created for him, at over $120,000 a year not to mention his bonuses.
Then we have Roldan unable to commit to what he really wants to do when he grows up. Does he want to be Mayor or does he want to be Treasurer? Who knows, but that exploratory committee he has formed is raising money . It should be interesting to see who is donating and who he is paying with the funds raised.
Whether Roldan has actually found out what integrity means is not up to me to judge, but I find it hard to trust the intent of him spoon feeding what many feel is a non-story to the media and then making it appear that he is the voice of truth and justice by calling for an investigation.
Roldan's campaign committee issued the following statement yesterday before the ink was even dry on the Courant's story:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Christopher Cooper, Cooper Communications: 860-836-7491
April 10, 2011
ROLDAN CALLS FOR ETHICS INVESTIGATION OF SEGARRA’S FAILURE TO DISCLOSE PAYMENTS
Public Records Show Segarra Deeply Involved in Spouse’s Business That Received Payments
State Representative Kelvin Roldan (D-Hartford) today called on the City of Hartford Ethics Commission and if warranted, the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office to investigate the failure of Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra to disclose over $120,000 in potentially illegal payments paid by the City to Segarra’s spouse.
The Hartford Courant has reported that since Segarra became a councilman in 2006, his spouse has received over $120,000 in payments as a landlord from the City’s Housing Choice Voucher Program, payments that were not disclosed in Segarra’s ethics filings.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is reviewing the possible violation of federal rules in response to an inquiry from the Courant to determine if payments made to Segarra’s spouse were illegal because they violated HUD’s strict conflict of interest regulations which prohibit payments under the voucher program to public officials or their relatives.
State Representative Kelvin Roldan issued the following statement:
“There may be a logical explanation for these alleged violations of federal Conflict of Interest regulations and Mayor Segarra’s failure to report this information as required under City ethics law. However, if these payments have been ongoing for six years to a business being run out of his law office and the Mayor was aware of them, his failure to disclose them is a serious violation of the public trust. The people of Hartford deserve to have this matter investigated – first, by the City’s Ethics Commission and if warranted, as a criminal matter.
These apparent violations continue a disturbing pattern of behavior by Mayor Segarra during the few months he has been in office – including the approval of a $500,000 payment to the contractor at the center of the city’s recent bribery scandal and a scheme to pad the pensions of retiring elected officials. Now it appears the mayor has failed to disclose City contracts being held by his spouse.
It is time – long past time – for our city government to make hard-working families and dependable employers its first priorities, rather than the friends and relatives of those who hold political power.”
City property records show that all investment properties owned by Ortiz are registered at Segarra’s law office address and according to the Secretary of State, Segarra is the business agent for Ortiz’s real estate investment company, Casablanca Realty and Investments LLC.
I have searched, but I can't find any instance of Roldan calling for any investigations, inquiries or even any statement condemning the actions of his mentor Eddie Perez or even Councilwoman Veronica Airey-Wilson. For that matter, Roldan has not made a peep regarding his other buddy that he shared a campaign headquarters with, recently arrested Sate Representative Hector Robles.
I guess Robles felony charges aren't serious enough for Roldan compared to Segarra's terrible actions. But then again, Roldan is not planning on running against Robles for anything so he must only realize ethical lapses when they may benefit him. But on second thought, Perez's ethical lapses most likely did benefit Roldan, so I guess I can see why he kept quiet on those.
Then, as if not to be outdone by Roldan, Mayoral candidate Shawn Wooden today weighed in on the Segarra "section 8 scandal". Wooden is also someone that I have not found any comments from regarding the Perez scandal or even Robles. But then again, I'll give Wooden the benefit of the doubt since he has only arrived on the scene lately since he decided to run for Mayor.
Here are Wooden's comments below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: ANDREW GROSSMAN, WOODEN FOR MAYOR
MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2011 (860) 570-2011
Shawn Wooden's statement on Mayor Segarra’s ethical lapse
(Hartford, CT) - Shawn Wooden, Democratic candidate for Mayor, released the following statement today regarding Mayor Segarra's failure to properly disclose his relationship with city contractors and fill out his ethics statements.
"Twice in three weeks, Mayor Segarra has claimed to have forgotten to obey the law. In light of the Courant's investigation and questions raised by a spokesman at HUD, he owes the public a better explanation than that. Claiming memory loss and looking the other way isn't the leadership that Hartford deserves," said Wooden.
"There is a real leadership crisis in City Hall and we must do everything possible to restore the people's trust in our government. These are serious issues and, given the ethical cloud that City Hall has been under in recent years, HUD should investigate this matter on an expedited basis and the U.S. Attorney should investigate as well. Additionally, the City Council must be proactive and look into whether or not a HUD violation would cause the City to be liable for repaying the funds."
"The people of Hartford deserve a government that is open, transparent, honest and accountable. And we deserve leaders who understand the laws and follow the rules."
For more information about Shawn Wooden's candidacy for Mayor, please visit
***.**************.com
It took a little while to get accomplished, but tomorrow at 1:00PM "We the People" will start airing a weekly hour long program on Hartford Public Access Television.
In January, the "1 Hartford" program stopped production. That program was produced by Stan McCauley and the time commitment was extensive. Stan apparently wanted to focus on his run for Mayor and also a had a new baby on the way.
Many people called and asked when we were going to start the program again, and eventually enough people asked so myself, Hyacinth Yennie and Gerry Pleasent decided to move forward with a new program. The program will be weekly at 1:00PM and will air live on Channel 5 in Hartford. We will also have the capability to take phone calls and questions. The program will be recorded and re-aired on Saturdays at 10:00PM.
The program will also be available on the internet and once I have those details, I'll post them here.
If you have any suggestions for guests or for topics you would like covered, feel free to let me know
Regarding your response to Anon 9:12, you realize that there's little to nothing that you can do as a council member for education. You have to be on the Board for that. But it's a politically popular thing to run on.
also
Given the shrinkage of the Republican Party in the City, and with Cory Brinson running to actually get voted on by the people, do you think there's room for another conservative person on Council? I think you're registered Dem but we all know better. At the end of the day, you're a conservative (Safety, Controlling Taxes, Reducing Spending, Business Retention & Development)
Lastly, what would be your strategy? Go after Cory and take the one Conservative spot (provided the WFP keeps 2) or go after the lowest vote getter of the last election which was Deutch?
but my two cents, Run!! You got my vote!
It seems that many people are under the misconception that when we went through Charter change to a strong Mayor form of government, we also accepted a "weak" Council form of government. That is the furthest thing from the truth.
Because this Council has chosen to neuter themselves and give all power to the Mayor is their fault, not the Charter of the City of Hartford. Under the Perez Administration, and even now, the Council has been referred to as bobble heads, puppets and even the rubber stamp Council, which they are.
The Hartford City Council has a huge amount of power that they have chosen not to use. The fact of the matter is that no money can be spent without their approval. No Department head can be appointed without their approval. They have the power as a Council to remove any Department head appointed by the Mayor.
As far as the Council not having any control over the Board of Education, that is also untrue. The Board of Education would have a very hard time operating with their budget funds which are appropriated and allocated by the Council. The Board has no money to build schools without the Council. They might not be able to dictate how day to day operations are conducted but I would imagine a Superintendent wanting to renovate or build a new school might want to listen or react to the Council's concerns if the Council actually exercised some of their authority.
As far as the comments "liberal vs. conservative", I prefer to call it right versus wrong and what is in the best interests of the City of Hartford and its people. And I'll even go out on a limb and say that after the November election, there most likely will not be a Republican on the Hartford City Council. Corey Brinson did not arrive at the Council after some overwhelming groundswell of support for him.
There was a lot of behind the scenes arm twisting and deals cut to appoint Brinson after his aunt vacated her seat after the corruption scandal. In my mind that doesn't automatically translate to votes and support in the community. The five votes it took for his appointment is a far way from the 2,500 hundred or so he will need to get elected on his own.
Further complicating that even more is the state of the Republican Party in Hartford. The Republicans in Hartford missed an opportunity to display what they stood for when they virtually remained silent throughout the whole Perez corruption scandal. Although it is difficult to speak out on an issue when your own highest elected Republican was also neck deep in the scandal and was arrested also.
As you mentioned, I am a registered Democrat now. I was a former Republican and also a member of the Republican Town Committee. The reality is that I left the GOP after I reached a level of frustration with the lack of direction and incompetence of the party leadership and their failure to address issues and adapt to a changing political climate. You can only bang your head against the wall for so long until you realize you need to make a change if you truly want to make a difference.
And it wasn't the issue of corruption that finally "broke the camels back". At a Republican Town Committee meeting, the majority was downplaying the role of the Working Families Party. I had warned that anyone that ignored the efforts of the WFP would be doing it at their own peril. There was no WFP presence at Hartford City Hall at that point. That same year, two WFP members took 2 of the 3 minority seats on the Council and the following year a WFP member ran a campaign for Registrar of Voters and won.
Although the Working Families Party is probably even more liberal than the average Democrat, they "have their eye on the prize". They are focused, they are organized and they know how to get their candidates elected. That is something that the Republicans can't even come close to or claim that they know how to accomplish.
Unfortunately, as I said before, I predict that there will not be a Republican on the Council after the November election. The working Families Party will work hard to take all three minority seats, and I think they have the resources and the organization and probably most importantly the political will to make it happen.
With probably about 700 active Republican voters in Hartford, that is a long cry from the number necessary to win a Council seat.
As far as my strategy, it's probably quite simple. I intend to run a campaign based on facts and vision. Not a campaign based in the gutter as we see going on already in the Mayor's race. I have a history of what I believe in for Hartford and identifying waste and problems in our city government as well as responding to and working with people who have felt excluded. I receive phone calls, e-mails and even people approaching me in public with problems that they need help with.
Helping someone is not a Republican or Democratic issue or even "conservative vs. liberal. It is a matter of decency and realizing that we are all pretty much in the same boat.Not to get on a soap box here, but the old saying "united we stand, divided we fall" is something we need to focus on as a city, as neighbors. Downtown is no better or doing more for the City than Upper Albany. The Westend is no better off or facing different problems than Barry Square or Frog Hollow. We are a small city that needs to get away from the divide and conquer politics that were perfected onder the Perez years.
I sincerely wish that it wasn't necessary to run affiliated with a party and candidates would only be on a ballot as an individual with no party designation after their name.
I intend to run for what I stand for and not because I'm willing to pledge some sort of crazy blind allegiance to the Party line. If it works, fine, if not I'll still be around doing what I have been doing and trying to make a difference. There are plenty of other people out there doing the same thing, and that is what will change the City for the better, not whether we have enough conservatives or liberals on the council. Lets find people that make decisions based on what is best for Hartford, not what the party tells them to do.
And your comment as to what I stand for "Safety, Controlling Taxes, Reducing Spending, Business Retention & Development", are those bad things?
I realize those are goals usually associated with the Republican mantra, but they might not be a bad thing for the entire Council to focus on whether you have an "R", a "D", a "WFP" or any other combination after your name.
I'm not going to over dramatize this, but I value the comments posted here and I respect your opinions.
A few months ago, several people approached me asking me to run for Hartford City Council. My first reaction was hell no. I attend Council meetings, I watch what they do, I see the nonsense that goes on and I couldn't sit there and be part of that.
I've seen ordinances that attempted to tie the hands of our Police Department but no discussion about crime or the perception of crime that keeps people from moving to or visiting Hartford. I've watched the discussions about condemning the War in Afghanistan, but hardly any discussion about the looming tax disaster facing every Hartford property owner.
I've watched a Council that supported a corrupt Mayor despite overwhelming evidence that will eventually send him to prison. I like many people feel that the majority of the members on the Council are all about preserving votes and taking care of themselves and family members while the condition of our City spirals out of control.
I am surprised when I have raised issues that this Council replies back with blank stares and no action. When I raised the issue about the misuse and abuse of City credit cards the Council did nothing. In fact at least one Council member continued to spend on hers and initially denied expenses for a trip to San Antonio Texas. A City Hall source eventually told me that after I raised the issue, they figure that the City saved at least $1.5 million dollars in the first year that the card misuse was exposed.
I don't need to go on, but anyone who reads this blog should know pretty well what I stand for and the issues that I have raised. With that being said, I want your opinions on a simple question...should I move forward on running for Hartford City Council. I have spent the past couple weeks meeting and speaking with people to gauge their opinions and I would appreciate yours.
The more I see first hand the violence in Hartford, the more aggravated I get by the entire system.
I spent a good part of the day Wednesday at the intersection of Thomaston and Ridgefield Street in the Blue Hills neighborhood, the site of Hartford's latest homicide. Mid afternoon a man approached me and a reporter standing there and asked us what happened. He was told a shooting had taken place and the victim was dead. He told us he thought that it might be his cousin, Gregory Parker, were we sure he was dead. The reporter told him that was what the police were saying.
At about that time the homicide victims car was towed out of the driveway where he was shot. The man kind of let out an "oh no" and said that was his cousins car. Right about then his cell phone rang, and although I only heard one side of the conversation, it was a conversation no one wants to have. He kept repeating "no Gramma, he's dead, I said ,Gramma he's DEAD". What a way to break the news to a young mans grandmother that her grandson was now a statistic, Hartford's 10th homicide for 2011.
I try to go to as many community meetings as I can and I am a supporter of Reverend Henry Brown. People ask me if I am out of my mind when I go stand on Edgewood Street or Albany Avenue when Rev. Brown holds a vigil. Lately, they seem to be used as campaign stops by those running for political office.
Since I'm not usually shy about calling people out, last nights vigil on Thomaston Street was very well attended by community people and family members of the victim, 24 year old Anthony Parker. It was also attended by Hartford's politicos who I don't recall seeing at any other vigils on a regular basis. Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra in a political battle for re-election was there, one of his challengers Sean Wooden was there. Andrew Wood, who has been funded very well by the City to prevent violence was there. He also attended Tuesdays vigil on Edgewood Street.
For the Mayor and Andrew Wood to show up at the vigil might be nice to show respect for the family, but I would have preferred to see them touting Anthony Parker heading off to college rather than a cemetery.
It was even more disturbing this morning when I spoke with Chief Roberts and he told the story of meeting with Anthony Parker's mother about four years ago. He explained how Parker and his younger brother were identified as being on the fast track to trouble. Chief Robert's said that after meeting with Parker's mother and offering help to try to get them on the right track he was surprised by the mothers response.
She said that she was placing her sons in God's hands. Well we now know how that worked out. Anthony is clearly in God's hands now and his younger brother is in the hands of the Connecticut Department of Correction, serving time in prison.
I guess my big question is what do these organizations that are funded very well by the City actually do in return for Hartford. We know under the previous administration that many of Hartford's non-profits were expected to return votes at election time in appreciation of their City funding. Organizations that knew how to play the game with our former Mayor got their funding, those that wouldn't play had their City funding cut.
Last year I requested a record from the City Treasurer of all the funding given to organizations that Andrew Woods was affiliated with or the "director" of. The result was very interesting. According to the records, from 2001 when Eddie Perez became Mayor until the time of my 2010 request, the Treasurer gave me records showing that $2.3 million had been paid out to Hartford Communities that Care, Hartford Behavioral Health, Stump the Violence and various other organizations.
What have we received for that money? We know that adults are making a very good living off of the City, but Hartford's youth are still dying. The interesting part is that we have no way of tracking most of this money. Ask for reports on how the money is spent, who is served, what are the demographics served and no one can provide the answers. It seems like a very poor system where the money is thrown around without any real accountability.
I ran into the perfect example last year when I looked at the amount of money given out by the City to the Ebony Horsewomen.Although the money was supposed to be used for youth programs, the fact of the matter is that the President of Board of Directors was channeling over a $100,000 a year back to herself through an LLC that both her and her husband ran.Click here to read the details from 2010. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprising if you realize how Hartford works, not a question arose on the part of the City Council when I raised the issue when the group was up for funding again.
I think it is a legitimate question to ask to these groups receiving funding for violence projects, how did Anthony Parker end up dead? If Chief Roberts and his staff identified Anthony Parker and his brother as "bad dudes", what was done from that point on. The Hartford Police are not meant to be social workers, but Andrew Woods and the others are.
Since there is no real follow up, I guess we will never know. What efforts were made to deal the Parker's? Not everyone can be saved from themselves, but it would be interesting to know what was done from the day Chief Roberts met with their mother to ensure that the Parker boys "got into God's hands" later than as we saw this week, far too soon.
Here is the latest Federal Tax Form 990 for Hartford Communities that Care for 2009, it shows almost $280,000 in income for the period 2007-2009 for this one group alone. Note the expenditures, the majority was paid out to "consultants", it might be interesting to know who those individuals are. Also note that one of the Board members, Patricia Kelly, is the subject of my Ebony Horsewoman post linked above
The "you tube" link below was sent to me by a regular reader of "We the People". I hadn't heard of the documentary previously or when it was produced.Unfortunately it was filmed right here in Hartford, not Detroit, not Los Angeles, but here on the streets of Hartford.
I think too many of our leaders have their heads buried in the sand when it comes to what is going on in our City. Anyone watching this video would have to question the rationale behind possibly cutting the next class for the Hartford Police Department as the number of police officers on the street continues to decrease.
We should also be questioning the dollars that are continuously dumped into programs run by Hartford's "poverty pimps" without any, or very little,results in return.
Something is wrong when a 14 year old girl has to tell her 11 year old brother that their mother was gunned down on the street in front of their home. Where are the adults in their lives, besides their dead mother? No child should have that burden on their shoulders.
A 22 year old man was shot at least eight times this morning as he sat in a car in the driveway of 13-15 Thomaston Street in Hartford's Blue Hills neighborhood. This brings to ten the city's number of homicides so far , just a little over three months into the new year.Chief Roberts commented to the media and his remarks can be seen below, turn the volume up since he was somewhat soft spoken.
The Labor decision in the termination of Hartford Fire Department Deputy Chief Dan Nolan is official now. In the hearing officers report received today, Nolan was cleared of all charges and ordered reinstated to the Hartford Fire Department with all back pay and seniority. Apparently none of the charges were substantiated.
The full report is on the way to me now and will hopefully be posted here this evening.
Nolan is out of town and unavailable for comment at this time, but something tells me he will have plenty to say.
THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS BLOG ARE STRICTLY THAT, MY OPINIONS.After getting fed up with the lack of openness in Hartford City Hall, I decided to begin a program on Hartford Public Access Television called "WE THE PEOPLE". Through tips received we have been able to expose numerous issues that the Perez Administration would prefer to keep quiet.
Any information received is kept in strict confidence, feel free to e-mail me at krbrookman@earthlink.net or call me at 860-883-2297 with any information.
