I received a call today from Donna Daniels-Thompson who was frustrated with the condition of a small neighborhood park at the intersection of Cornwall and Lyme Streets in Hartford. Daniels-Thompson is the President of the Blue Hills Civic Association and the Blue Hills NRZ.
She said she was frustrated because the grass was so high in the park that no one could use it. She said she and others had repeatedly been calling 311, the Mayors Office as well as Council People to get the area mowed and cleaned up. The problem arose because no one wanted to lay claim to the property. Public Works apparently said it belonged to the Board of Education and guess what...the Board of Education said it belonged to DPW.
The park sits directly across from the former Mountain Laurel School which was apparently closed down last August.According to Daniels-Thompson, when the school was open the Board actually did maintain the park since it was used by students . Once the school closed, no one bothered to continue maintaining the park, and by the looks of it they forgot about the school also.
According to Daniels-Thompson, even people she spoke with in the Mayor's Office admitted how bad the park looked. Even Daniels-Thompson friend, Council President rJo Winch, admitted she knew how bad it was. Why nothing got done is a good question, but today Donna took a stand. She started making her phone calls early this morning and told anyone that would listen that she wasn't leaving the park until the grass was mowed.
I guess the bottom line is that this sounds like high school nonsense. It is all city property, get it cleaned up, end of story. In the end, as the complaint made its way up the ladder, DPW Director Kevin Burnham showed up, surveyed the problem, and the grass was mowed. Maybe one of his high priced supervisors should have seen the problem and addressed it before it rose to this level. As a side note, I am being told that almost 40 new employees will be hired over the next couple of weeks specifically to address maintenance and parks issues.
She then decided that she needed to call me. I must be getting a reputation because things progressed rapidly this afternoon after the Mayor's Representative and DPW officials were told I was on the way. It could be a coincidence but just as I arrived to take some pictures, the lawnmowers showed up, the rotted trash barrel that fell apart when they picked it up to empty it was replaced by a newly painted one and the park was getting cleaned up.
Even one resident came over from Chatham Street, somewhat surprised that anyone was paying attention to the park. She said she couldn't even walk her dog in the park because the grass was so high. She even said that she had considered coming over with her own mower if it got much worse.
She said that she believed that some of her neighbors had been repeatedly calling 311 without any success. But finally, just in time for some great weather and a holiday weekend, hopefully these neighbors will once again have a clean park to relax in and the children can enjoy the playscape.
I have a real problem with the number of high priced employees and supervisors, City Council people included, who can drive by an eyesore like this and just accept it. Unlike the Capitol West building, mowing the grass won't take $5 million dollars, but it also impacts the blight of a neighborhood. Why can't we focus on the little things that make a big difference?
And as if the condition of the park wasn't aggravating enough, as I spoke with Daniels-Thompson and the Chatham Street neighbor, my eye kept going to the vacant school right behind us. I started to wonder why we let a city school, that was usable until last August and according to Donna was in pretty decent shape, sit empty while at the same time we are renting space for millions of dollars annually for the Board of Education at 960 Main Street, rather than move them to an empty school?
I guess our present Council is too busy debating the war in Afghanistan or french fries cooked in trans-fat than to actually focus on change for Hartford.
32 comments:
how is that new Parks Operations manager working out? he should be embarrassed by this. I think he needs to get out of his office a little more.
I guess we now know why he is no longer with Knox Parks.
'F' the Parks Operations Manager....every city council member should be embarrassed with Hartford for reasons just like this one. This is only one of the reasons why everyone hates Hartford including the people that "run" it.
Where are all the rest of the Kevin Brookmans out there?? What a sad, sad city.
Kevin, it's time to revisit your previous column about too many chiefs and not enough indians. In the incoming fiscal year budget Panagore "managed" to slip in some more promotions for already overpaid managers. There are actually managers who have no staff. Start your search in these 2 city offices, though the problem exists in virtually every city office:
http://managementandbudget.hartford.gov/default.aspx
http://grants.hartford.gov/default.aspx
Most certainly Panagore will give the excuse that certain salaries are grant funded. Yes, that is true, however, NO grant requires that you spend the maximum allowable on salaries. There are other municipalities that prefer not to maximize the admin grant funds to use them instead on actual physical improvements to city owned buildings, parks, etc. In anticipation of your question, NO, most grant funds may NOT be used for ongoing maintenance such as grass cutting, plowing, changing light bulbs etc. Funds may be targeted for bonafide upgrades, improvements, ADA compliance, etc.
Ernie, I agree 100% with your comments. I have already gone on record and committed to cutting at least $25 million from the budget if I get elected to the Council. There is no reason that in less than 10 years our budget has increased over $150 million dollars and essentially city services have not gotten any better.
A few positions right off the bat would be all of the Assistant Directors, Parks Operation Manager and/or Parks Superintendent, Energy Czar, Capital Projects Manager and his take home car, the majority of the "spokespeople" and PIO's that probably work a total of 40 hours a week with all the positions combined and the list would go on as we listen to residents and employees who care more about Hartford and actually see their service to the City as more than just a paycheck.
After a short time, I doubt that anyone would even notice these jobs were gone, except the taxpayers who would see their tax bills getting smaller with the savings
So, wait...a call was made to the Mayor's staff and something got done? What's the story here? Just call the Mayor's staff directly next time, isn't that why they're there? I for one am pleased at the quick response.
Progress,
re-read that, numerous calls were made to 311 and the Mayor's Office and nothing got done. When Donna threatened to stay in the park until the grass was cut and after she called me, then something got done.
Kevin, good job reporting as always. Only one small correction to make...that park is on the corner of Cornwall and Lyme, not Cromwell.
It's great that they took care of the park before the holiday weekend. I hope Ms. Thompson and the community continue to put pressure on the city to maintain it.
I didn't know that school across the street has been abandoned since last year. Are there any plans to do something with it in the near future?
Cornwall it is, corrected, thanks
How long did it take to cut the grass and put in a new trash barrel, 2-3 hours? Someone had to make numerous calls and get a department head to respond to this. What a joke.
Kevin: Just to let you know as far as budgeting for salaries, even the legitimate ones, I believe that fringe benefits add approximately 46% to each salary. You could verify the exact % with either the finance dept/payroll and/or M&B. So, for someone who earns $100,000, the city must budget $146,000 to cover both salary & fringes. It starts adding up fast...
Actualy, what we have here is Hartford being Hartford.
Ernie, you need to learn a little bit about the terminology used in city contracts, which will clear up your misunderstandings about "managers" who have no staff.
The city has many positions called either project manager or senior project manager to designate their roles as functional managers. These positions manage projects or functions. This is not to confuse them with other managers that actually manage people, such as administrative operations managers (AOMs).
I am somewhat familiar with the Grants and Management and Budget areas and suggest you check your facts. The old M&B under Rick Galarza was awash in AOM's who made a ton of money and managed nothing. Some would say they accomplished nothing as well.
You can't criticize the city for being inefficient and then fault David Panagore for consolidating services between Grants and M&B to increase efficiency. While I agree that this is a good place to start, it's because the city is trying to run things more efficiently and not in silos as they have done in the past. Like we see so often in politics you seem to have pulled the "facts" that you wanted to prove a point that was frankly deceitful.
It does no one any good to have comments filled with half-truths and partial stories. Check your facts (all the facts) and write back some time.
Of course if you really want to see the model excessive government take a look at MHIS with double-dipping directors, excessive layers of management from the board and city and unable to fill the CIO job that nobody wants.
When are they going to clean up sigourney street park, it looks like a scene from the addams family's backyard....
I can't wait to hear more of the amazing tales of Chief Mc Coy violating city policy and state laws......He should not be geting any haircuts while on duty. What about his mystery car accidents. What about his mystery domestic incident with a former girlfirend....
keep up the good work lester....
Silly questions but why wouldn't one of the local residents take out their own mower and mow the grass?
It is the cities job but in the end I assume the residents goal is to have a usable park.
I agree with Kevin & Ernie. There is a "failure to communicate". The job descriptions on file in Human Resources are old, some dating back to the '60s and '70s. Read the job descriptions on file and more often than not, if the the word "manager" appears in the job title, there is mention of managing actual staff, not projects/functions in the job description. About 15 years ago there was agreement between management and the unions to update job titles/descriptions. Of course an outside consulting firm was hired to do so, but ultimately the city decided there were insufficient funds to implement the consultant's recommendations.
Hey Anon. 8:14
Are you kidding me, that's what the residence pay taxes for what next they should plow the street they live on too. Get a grip and demand more for a city that has a very, very high tax rate. Your taxes have gone up and your services have gone down, thanks to Eddie Perez.
If you don't hold your city government accountable then Hartford will never improve it will only get worse.
Anonymous 10:46am,
You said it before I could. First off, take a look at the pictures, the commercial mowers the city brought in could hardly cut throught the grass, never mind a resident trying to do that.
We pay the highest taxes in the State of Connecticut, our mill rate is almost double that of the next highest town. For taxes like that, residents and businesses should get some decent services for what they are paying. Mowing lawns and maintaining parks is not rocket science, it comes down to having appropriate staff on a seasonal basis to get the job done. The condition of this park, and most others, with maybe the exception of Elizabeth Park are horrendous. We now have a Parks Superintendent and a Parks Operations Manager, what are they doing?
It isn't like someone suddenly woke up and the grass was 2 feet high. We know grass grows and these high priced "managers" should have regular schedules set up for parks maintenance, end of story.
If this, and all the other parks are maintained on a regular basis, it would definitely take a lot less time than the hours it took to clean this one up because no one was paying attention.
And just one correction, Eddie Perez was behind the tax increases and the huge increase in the City's budget during his crime spree, I mean time in Office. But don't forget one major fact. Eddie Perez could not spend one penny without the Council of Puppets signing off on it. This Council, including the tenure of Pedro Segarra for several years on the Council, never once put the brakes on the spending increase and the numerous high priced positions created under Perez. They need to share in the blame also
Before this year, didn't the city have 2 years of flat budgets? Both of those years severely cutting the proposed budget of then Mayor Perez. Sooooo, you're either very ignorant of this, or you're purposely deceiving people. Either way, not a good quality for someone who wants to be in the same position to make those decisions.
Anonymous 4:35PM:
spoken like a true incumbent Councilperson trying to defend their actions. A flat budget after people finally realized that Perez was guiding us down a path to doom and people could not pay any more in taxes, except our well to do Councilpeople living in their large homes who are so out of touch with what their constituents are facing.
So I guess because we had two years of flat budgets , and I'm not completely sure on that because I think the budget and the mill rate did actually increase, then that is supposed to offset the almost 100% percent mill rate increase and the increase in the budget from about $425 million when Perez took office to the $547 million we are at now?
All of that done with this Council's approval by the majority's vote.
I would think that if the Council did such a wonderful job they would take credit for it, rather than "Anonymous" having to speak for them.
There is nothing deceptive or misleading about my comments, they are fact
"never once put the brakes on the spending increase" = false
"There is nothing deceptive or misleading about my comments, they are fact" = false
Maybe it's just me but you're not getting your point across.
"...and the increase in the budget from about $425 million when Perez took office to the $547 million we are at now?
All of that done with this Council's approval by the majority's vote."
Are you saying that the City budget was at $425mil in 2008 when this Council came in and is now at $547mil"
oh my god!
Kick them all out. That's over $100 million in less then 4 years!!
Take a look at the grass in Pope Park, Park St side, 3 feet high. Take a look at the grass in Colt Park on left when you pull in off of Wawarme Ave side. Or better yet, take a look at the grass at the south sub station on Affleck St at Ward St. Can the city get anything right? What makes the Cornwall St park any different or more important than any other park? City Hall landscape looks nicely manicured!
The DPW is a joke in Hartford. Look at how they handled the snow storms this year and how they could not even plow the main routes to the hospitals to make them clear for emergency vehicles, never mind any other main route in and out of the city.
The mowing of grass is no different they come around after it is about 2 to 3 feet tall ruin the new equipment the tax payers just bought and you font see them again until it's 2 to 3 feet again.
What is the city trying to save on gas? If that's the case take Chief McKoy's take home car away the you would be able to mow each park and around each city building weekly.
Conveniently not approving certain posts I see. Yup, you'll fit right in at city council
The employees at the Department of Public Works, are over worked and under staffed. The Administration has been holding back hiring now for many months. The D.P.W. is at present almost twenty positions under staffed.These positions would help employ HARTFORD residents. I have asked at many meetings why these positions are not being hired, I hear the same thing "they are working on it".The snow wasn't plowed properly, they are treating the grass the same way! Call City Hall and ask why these positions are not getting filled immediately.
Joe McCarthy:
Let's see your facts, back it up with some numbers if you claim mine are false.
Are you denying that from the day Mayor Mike left office and felon Perez took over that Hartford's budget increased at least $150 million. Are you denying that our mill rate went from about 42 mills to the 74 mills of today? If my numbers are true, please also explain how that could happen without the approval of this Council.
I'll be happy to post your comments provided you back them up with facts, as I do.
I think the proper facts need to be checked before postings begin. As we know, there are three sides to every story; yours, mine and the TRUTH...
Maybe Joe's issue is with your definition of "this" Council. Were all the current council people in office at the time Eddie Perez began his term?
This comment is for the friend of the corrupt former Mayor Eddie Perez. Here's a hint, "Sean Arena".
You just spew out what you think people want to hear. Take a hike, Hartford doesn't want you.
Hey Sean Arena, you must have a book full of excuses at your disposal. Remember you work for the citizens. If you have that much anger over citizens just wanting you to do your job, maybe its time.....Don't get made because kevin has made valid points.
Really,, take a ride around 50 Jennings Road the grass was cut today in the front, but around back is like a disaster. Just park in the visitors lot and look... Grass over 3ft high. If DPW cant cut the police department grass or clean up the back lot, how can they go out and manage the actually city lots.
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