NOLAN VINDICATED...CLEARED 100%

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.

IS CAPEWELL HOPELESS ?

In classic Hartford economic development style, it looks like the city is ready to let the former Capewell Nail Factory collapse into the street rather than push to market its redevelopment.

Barricades have been set up on the north side of the former mill and factory and the sidewalk has been blocked, apparently to try to keep pedestrians and motorists from being in the collapse zone when the building finally gives up.

This property would have made great housing if rehabbed or even great retail style use for something creative like an outlet mall. The building featured high ceilings, hardwood floors and even some great architecture, especially the main entrance and what appears to have been the main office at one time.

If Hartford really understood what economic development was all about, this project would have been a great tie-in to the Colt's Building, the new Dutch Point housing as well as being only a couple block walk to the Connecticut Science Center, Convention Center and the still vacant and undeveloped Front Street retail.

The picture below says a lot about the Front Street development, which is still vacant. The first tenant to announce their move to the project apparently backed out and a new tenant recently announced plans to move in there, but as of today there was still no activity to be found on the property.

Next week I'll be posting about many of the "announced" projects that were hyped with press releases and photo ops and never moved forward. Was it because of corruption, incompetence, the economy or maybe a combination of all three? Plaza Mayor, WFSB's Main Street move, Northland and the YMCA building, Calos Mouta and 95-101 Pearl Street and even a little known project on Tower Avenue that received hundreds of thousands of dollars in government funding and a shovel was never put in the ground.

Is this the message being sent regarding tenants for the Front Street retail area?

PEREZ PENSION REVOCATION MOVING FORWARD

Attorneys for former Mayor Eddie A. Perez had filed a motion to dismiss the action filed by the Connecticut Attorney General and the Connecticut Chief States Attorney to revoke Perez's pension under anti-corruption laws.

That motion was dismissed by a Superior Court Judge recently and that action will now move forward. Perez is appealing his conviction and is able to avoid reporting to start his 3 year prison sentence while the appeal is pending.

For more about the motion to dismiss and its denial, read more at Jeff Cohen's report at WNPR, click on the link to the right.

FOR SALE, NEWLY RENOVATED

Sources are confirming that the Perez homestead will most likely be listed for sale as of next Tuesday.The listing for the former Mayor's home was apparently supposed to take place this past Tuesday but was put off until next week.

According to sources, ReMax of West Hartford will be handling the sale. It is unknown what the asking price will be, but according to City of Hartford records former Mayor Perez transferred ownership to his wife in July of 2010, shortly after he became a convicted felon and resigned as Mayor.

For those interested in the property, highlights include the Dark Emperor Granite counter tops featured throughout the newly renovated kitchen and after a hard day at work you can come home and relax in your own steam shower and a long soak in the jacuzzi tub. Additional revenue is a possibility by opening the property to home tours to show off the focal point of one of the darkest periods in Hartford's recent history.

Pictures of the interior of the home can be found by going to the States Attorney's website and viewing photos of evidence of the renovations that may have Perez headed to jail for three years. I would strongly recommend though that anyone considering making an offer on the property hire the best home inspector possible. Apparently much of the work was done without any permits or inspections at the time.

If you would like to read more about the neighborhood and your potential future neighbors before making an offer, click here

WHAT IS A "CONTROLLED INTERSECTION"?

This is the legal definition:Controlled intersections have traffic lights, yield signs or stop signs to control traffic.

Hopefully the Hartford Fire Department has a different definition. In a department directive issued by Hartford Fire Chief Edward Casares dated November 10, 2010 and e-mailed department wide on March 18, 2011, all Hartford Fire Department vehicles on emergency responses have been instructed
that "all emergency vehicles will stop at all controlled intersections".

The directive can be viewed below, but it seems pretty clear. There isn't any mention of stopping at intersections with a "red light" but instead says at all controlled intersections.

Hartford has seen a dramatic rise in fire fatalities since the beginning of this year. As most people are aware, seconds count in a fire situation and knowing that response times can drastically increase as fire apparatus stop at every controlled intersection is troubling to me as a Hartford resident, possibly depending on a quick response from HFD in a fire or medical situation.

Just consider this, these aren't small vehicles. A fire department driver estimated that it most likely would take a minimum of fifteen seconds, minimum, to stop a ladder or engine and start again and get up to speed when stopping at a "controlled intersection" as the directive states. That adds up, especially when apparatus is making a run on streets like Albany Avenue where you could have numerous "controlled intersections" along the main street and then turning onto a side street where every intersection with a stop sign is a "controlled intersection".

Let's just say you have six "controlled intersections on the Avenue with traffic lights then turn onto Garden Street and have five "controlled intersections" with stop signs. That is at least eleven mandatory stops according to Chief Casares's directive. Eleven stops at the estimated minimum of 15 seconds per stop adds up to almost an additional three minutes in that critical response time.

That extra three minutes could mean the difference between life or death in an emergency response.

The directive I would imagine was drafted in an effort to reduce apparatus accidents but I think it might just have the total opposite effect. Hartford is a city that is not known for drivers that adhere to motor vehicle law., I have seen drivers that pass fire apparatus because they move too slow rather than pull to the curb and stop for an emergency vehicle as required by law.

Imagine now the drivers that tailgate the fire apparatus going to an emergency call and the last thing they will expect is that vehicle to slow down and stop at an intersection with a green light. They won't understand that the driver of the apparatus is only complying with the mandatory directive, right up until the second they plow into the back of the apparatus making its mandatory stop "at all controlled intersections".

So for all those Hartford residents reading this posting, please carefully plan your escape routes and check those fire extinguishers, it might be a few minutes longer before the Hartford Fire Department will arrive when you really need them.

HERE IS THE DIRECTIVE BELOW

DD23 Department Emergency Non-Emergency & Discretionary Responses

THE REPORT IS IN THE MAIL

Apparently the Dan Nolan report is in the mail....finally.

There is no indication yet which way the decision will go but if I had to bet, I'm pretty confident the Nolan name will be cleared. The report was actually supposed to be released today, but according to sources it was only mailed today and hopefully will be arriving at Nolan's attorneys office in the next day or so.

As soon as I hear anything, it will be posted here. Much more information, such as transcripts and testimony that I think readers will find extremely interesting will also be posted here. The transcripts couldn't legally be used before the decision was released.

Also, video of a Worcester Massachusetts Fire Academy graduation will be posted here soon where recruits and Academy staff were praised for the exact actions that the Perez Administration and Chief Teale apparently terminated Deputy Chief Nolan for.

What a difference a border...and a little integrity makes.

ANOTHER YELLOW HUMMER PROBLEM

Here is an amateur video from the internet that ends with a clip involving a yellow Hummer ? What is it about yellow Hummers and people having trouble following the rules?

To read my first yellow Hummer story, unrelated to the second yellow Hummer story, click here. This is definitely an interesting video, I wonder how it was handled in the end by the parents?



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