HARTFORD'S NEWEST DRIVE THRU

An elderly driver was instrumental in trying to add a new drive-thru window to Damon;s Tavern on Prospect Avenue Saturday evening.

A BREAK IN THE SILENCE, HOMICIDE NUMBER 6

The statistics for shootings and homicides on the HPD website are a month behind, but we are close to 50 percent less homicides this year than we were last year at this time. Much of that can be attributed to efforts of the Shooting Task Force efforts combined with HPD's overall efforts. Unfortunately another homicide victim was added to this years numbers when a 38 year old man was shot at least 7 times in broad daylight on Brook Street near the intersection with Mather Street. The man was shot by a suspect riding a bicycle who let loose with at least 11 rounds in a very busy neighborhood. The neighborhood has a notorious reputation for its violence, but it is a striking contrast when you actually view the neighborhood in the daylight.

 I visited the scene shortly after the crime scene tape went up and I had to park about a half block away due to streets blocked by police cruisers with their lights flashing. What really struck me though were two things as I walked to the taped off intersection. The first were the voices of probably a couple hundred children celebrating an event on the playground area of the Albany Avenue Branch of the YMCA, complete with music and a DJ. It was a sharp contrast to the crime scene playing out its deadly results a couple hundred feet away. The other were the modest, well kept single family homes on the block of Mather Street where I parked. Several of the homes had mothers on the porches with very young children either on the porches or playing in the front yards.

 Before the crime scene taped area was actually expanded, the pedestrian traffic was heavy with people walking, including women with young children in strollers. I have never really been able to figure out what would be going through someones mind as they commit a homicide. What kind of rage would cause someone on a bicycle to ride up to another human being and unload a 9mm slug into their forehead and continue shooting, hitting them at least another six more times as they drop to the ground. The other four slugs went somewhere, just not into the victim.

 What kind of person could fire deadly rounds without any regard for children on a playground, mothers pushing strollers or even a young child playing innocently in the safety and security of their fenced in yard? The biggest problem though the more I think about it is that there probably isn't any rage that goes into these shootings. It is more about the "business" of the streets and a life is taken over a couple hundred dollars lost in a drug transaction or giving someone the wrong "look". No regard is given to the innocent potential victims or the psychological damage done to the residents, young and old who may be on the streets and see someone shot point blank between the eyes.

 How do we break this cycle where human lives seem to be worthless to these young shooters. They are far from being marksmen and today was by luck that there was only one victim, although I am sure his family feels less than lucky tonight as they plan to bury him. There will also be another "victim" in this shooting most likely as the shooter will most likely be caught and realizes too late that his life and what he could have been will be spent inside a prison. By a great combined effort between the Shooting Task Force and HPD's Major Crimes Unit, 4 of this years 5 previous homicides have already been solved. I am told that #5 is close to being cleared by an arrest and today's most likely will be cleared pretty fast also.

 That average seems to be much more in favor of HPD than the shooters. Do the shooters think they will escape discovery or does that even figure into the decision making? I don't want to seem like I am condoning violence, but what ever happened to fistfights? At least then you had to calculate your odds ahead of time and make a decision who would prevail. It just seems cowardly to me to settle a difference with a handgun, it seems like any coward can do that. And even worse is some coward who thinks nothing of his missed rounds going into a child in a stroller.

GOING...GOING...WILL THEY BE GONE?

Hartford is not business friendly when it comes to taxes for companies already in Hartford or companies considering relocating to Hartford. We also know that we have lost more small businesses and jobs than have been created for years. But what is being done to retain businesses that are already here?

Although no one at City hall seems to be available to comment, at least one case is showing that very little is being done to keep Pitney Bowes Mail Services in Hartford.Pitney Bowes has a rather large facility located at 101 Locust Street in Hartford. They have apparently put the word out to their employees to expect the operation to move to Windsor in the next few months.

One source ,that wished to remain anonymous, claims that in a conversation with Pitney-Bowes management they were told that the decision was being based almost entirely on the property tax savings by a move to Windsor.Windsor's mill rate is almost half of Hartford's.

Nothing may be able to be done at this point to change that decision, but how many companies are we going to let go without a fight? Several unrelated sources have spoke with me expressing their frustration as to how the matter is being handled. Apparently the Mayor's Office is well aware of the move. The frustration level rises with what appears to be little movement to keep the company here.

Mayor Segarra's Chief of Staff Jared Kupiec was made aware of the situation through an e-mail from what I am told. The response from Kupiec was that "I forwarded your e-mail to COO David Panagore". That e-mail was forwarded to me third hand but it appears to be legit.

In a City that was serious about retaining businesses and economic development, I would have moved for a much different response. If I were in that position and knew that 130 jobs, primarily local residents, were on the line I would have been in the Mayors Office in a heartbeat. I would have told him "Come on , we need to go for a ride" and would have headed directly for Pitney-Bowes. They should have immediately met with the management and begin working up the chain of command to find the decision maker that could reconsider the move and do what was needed to try to reverse the move.

But no... in true Hartford style "I forwarded your e-mail to COO David Panagore".

If there was truly a relationship between Mayor Segarra and Governor Malloy, a successful conclusion for Hartford seems like it could be worked out. For anyone who has witnessed the interaction between the two lately, I am not sure where that relationship actually stands. Although on the positive side for Governor Malloy, the company is staying in Connecticut from what sources tell me. But if no one is making the moves to save those Hartford jobs, nothing will change.

One community leader I spoke with explained to me the fight they had to get sidewalks along Airport Road because so many of the jobs in the South Meadows and Locust Street area are held by local residents, many of them who walk to work. Many of those people will not be able to commute to Windsor due to various reasons. Bottom line is that good paying jobs for local residents are being allowed to move, with what appears to be no fight at all.

The list of jobs lost over inattention to what's happening in the business community as well as stubbornness should not be happening. Channel 3, ING, Metlife, Sunshine Laundry, Gordon Bonnetti Florist and the list goes on and on. Let's not add 130 jobs at Pitney-Bowes to the list.

Calls to Pitney Bowes and the City for comment have not been returned.

THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Relax, you have Mastercard.

That apparently seems to be the mindset around Hartford City Hall as the cash strapped City continues to spend over a million dollars a year on food, beverages and other items purchased on City credit cards and paid for by the taxpayers of Hartford.

Yesterday's posting pointed out a few purchases by one person, the principal at Kinsella Magnet School, but it doesn't appear as though she is the only one.

There is still a lot of digging to do as I go through each cardholders purchases, but if you have the time, take a look and feel free to e-mail any thoughts or questions you may have.

The list may not be entirely complete, for example the Mayor's Chief of Staff Jared Kupiec's card only shows a few weeks of purchases, which is only a partial report for some reason, even though I requested the full report.

It looks like Best Buy as well as a couple of downtown food and liquor establishments are being kept in business by the city credit cards.

FOI Hartford Card Holder Transactions 1 (5)

ANOTHER REASON DAVID MEDINA NEEDS TO BE SHOWN THE DOOR

How David Medina, the Director of Misinformation for Hartford Public School's still has a job is beyond me.

Jenna Carlesso at the Hartford Courant did a story today regarding the Principal at the Kinsella Magnet School and questionable charges on her City of Hartford credit card. The principal, Pamela Totten-Alvarado, had her city credit card (also called a p-card, short for purchasing card) suspended when some charges appeared. You can read the story here

When Carlesso asked, according to the story, for the record of charges , Medina responded by e-mail in a written statement that "We cannot respond to your request for a comment because all matters involving individual purchase card use are personnel issues and therefore outside of the public domain."

WRONG...WRONG...WRONG and just to be sure the overpaid mouthpiece understands what I am saying....WRONG! Medina is an embarrassment to anyone claiming to be working for open and transparent government. I am hoping his response is just out of ignorance, but as a former editor for the Hartford Courant I would hope he would be more familiar with Connecticut's FOI laws.

Mr. Medina, even if the records were personnel records as you stated, I am sure you know that personnel records are not exempt from disclosure except for a few specific items such as medical records, social security numbers banking information and the home addresses of police officers and firefighters.

I had already obtained the credit card records over a week ago for something I am working on, but I guess there is no time like the present to prove the mouthpiece wrong. Below are the credit card records for the subject of the Courant's article that Mr. Medina claims are exempt. Eliminating Mr. Medina's position would be a budget cut that makes sense.

Tighter controls over these credit cards would also make sense. Anyone that has ever worked in the "real" world of corporate America realizes that documentation is needed whenever a charge is made. Receipts detailing the reason for a purchase, the restaurant or store receipt and usually a note detailing the person being entertained , etc.

As you can see from the attached report, that doesn't seem to be the case in Fantasyland aka Hartford City Hall

A purchase for $140.21 at the Nightclub Belere in Morocco is approved because "per Mrs. Alvarado this purchase was made during her peace corp teacher exchange conference in Morocco 6/30/11-7/31/11". How do you get one of these jobs? A month in Morocco at the taxpayers expense?

Another purchase at Best Buy for $2059.50 on 11/02/11 was approved as "OK" because Mrs. Alvarado said "this purchase was used to reward the 7th and 8th grade students with a dance and activities for good behavior". When did Best Buy start selling high school dances?

A purchase at the Coach Store on 9/26/2011 for $150.00 was approved because Mrs. Alvarado said "this purchase was for a reward for a student at Kinsella Magnet School". A $150.00 Coach handbag for a student? Call me a skeptic, but might there be something more appropriate? And once again, where is the documentation?

Almost $13,000 dollars in purchases were made at Best Buy over several months, all approved, according to the documents, because "Mrs. Alvarado says....". These purchases could all be legit, but don't count on David Medina to shine any light on the truth.

More on the use of Hartford's city credit cards to come. In the mean time, here are the "personnel records" David Medina refused to release to the Courant.


FOI Totten-Alvarado P-card0001

DEMOCRACY AT WHAT PRICE?

The official number of Republicans voting in yesterdays GOP primary have been filed.

An impressive 158 Republicans turned out city wide, (yes, I'm being sarcastic). That averages out to 6.58333 persons per polling place. The City of Hartford paid to have 24 polling places open citywide, although I am being told that at least one polling location had no one show up. Most polling places probably had more paid GOP workers than they actually had voters.

The final dollar amount spent hasn't been tallied yet, but it will most likely be at least $400.00 to $500.00 per vote, if not greater. It would have been more cost effective to take every Republican in Hartford out to dinner and get their vote while they were dining.

ANOTHER WHEEL COMES OFF THE BUS

Hartford's political "machine", if there actually is such a thing, suffered another body blow tonight. The Hartford Charter Revision Commission had its second meeting tonight and the major item of business was the election of a permanent chairperson. The appointment and selection of the chair is important as that person, in theory, guides the direction of the Commission for its duration.

The permanent Chair is able to decide what moves forward as far as any changes to Hartford's Charter, what eventually is referred to the Council for change, and potentially to the voters of Hartford.

The choices tonight were political insider John Kennelly and former State Representative Ken Green. Kennelly was fresh from his pleading in Superior Court where he accepted probation and court imposed penalties for his recent drunk driving arrest. Ken Green was recently elected along with a "reform" slate, of which I am also a member, for the 7th Disrict Hartford Democratic Town Committee.

The votes of at least two Commission members appointed by Working Families Party
members put Green over the top in the vote count to become Chairperson as well as former Republican Councilperson Corey Brinson's vote for Green.

It was generally expected that those Commissioner's appointed by Mayor Segarra as well as Democratic Council members would have been enough to carry Kennelly, but that apparently didn't happen.

This should be an interesting 16 months under Ken Green's leadership and may result in substantive change to Hartford's Charter.

Maybe there is hope yet.

A VISION UPDATE

BEFORE PICTURE, JANUARY 2012


TODAY'S PICTURE APRIL 2012

In January, I wrote a post that was very difficult to write, not knowing what the future had in store and facing a possible prognosis of losing eyesight. You can read that original post here. Before I go much further, I just want to thank everyone for their support, words of kindness and the prayers that I know were being said, I never knew how many people have "prayer lists" until they began telling me I was added to theirs.

Two people in particular played a key role in helping me maintain my sanity during this difficult time, first is my mother who naturally did what mothers do by supporting me and even insisting on making sure she accompanied me to the office visits with the opthamologist and the laser surgery. She claimed it was because I shouldn't drive after having my eyes dilated or after the laser, but I think it was more to be there if the news got much worse than the first day I was given the diagnosis. I know she had many sleepless nights worrying about what could happen.

The other is my closest friend, who will remain nameless, but anyone close to me knows who he is, and he knows it also. We have known each other for over 25 years and his daily phone calls to make sure everything was OK shows what a friend is all about. The first night I was given the possible prognosis of going blind, he insisted on dragging me out for dinner and get me out of the house and my sulking that night. He is a great husband and father to his family and the best friend someone could ask for.

OK, so enough of the sappy stuff.

For all the original details , read the post above, but today was three months since the laser surgery on my left eye. I was on edge, not knowing what the "verdict" was going to be. The large smile on the opthamologist's face when he came into the exam room, was the first indication I had that it was going to be a good day. My right eye has some issues, but is holding its own compared to what the left looked like

Before he came in, they had tested eye pressures done a few other tests and then took color images of the retina and macula in the back of my eyes. I'm not a doctor so much of it meant nothing, but the images he showed me told me the story. I think the doctor thought he was given the wrong "after" photos, and he said even he couldn't believe the results, using words like "impressive" and "remarkable" to describe the outcome of the laser surgery.

The surgery was done in January, and because of the swelling and condition of the retina I was told at the time it would take three months to determine the results.

Today was the day and you can see from the pictures above the difference. The "before" picture was taken on January 6th, 2012. The yellow and green colors are relatively normal. I guess the green is the preferred shade, but some yellow can be expected for someone with diabetes and my age. The red is not good, white is bad and black is the worst. As you can see from the before pic, the upper half of my left eye was definitely in trouble.

On January 26, 2012 I had laser surgery to try to stop the swelling, or macular edema, in the macula and the retina which had the potential of causing blindness within a year if left untreated and at the time, even the laser wasn't a sure fire fix. My vision had deteriorated so much in less than two months, I was scared of the outcome. I was already being prepped mentally for the next possible step which were steroid injections directly into the eye. I had enough trouble getting used to putting contacts into my eyes, never mind watching a needle coming toward my eye.

The after picture above shows the results after three months. It is not perfect, but the whites and black are gone and just a tinge of red is left. It is still something that needs to be monitored closely for both eyes , but I feel much better than I did on January 6th. And whoever perfected the laser for this surgery is amazing. Prior to the laser this would have been definite blindness.

Thank you again for all of your support.

WFSB'S HALLIE JACKSON MOVING ON

WFSB's Hallie Jackson will be leaving the Hartford area to accept a new position with the Hearst Television Group in Washington D.C.. Her assignment will be covering Federal government and political stories for almost 30 Hearst stations.

Hallie's last day in Hartford will be May 13th. Good luck to Hallie and her husband Doug

HPD UNION OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVES PROPOSED CONTRACT

In a vote held today by the Hartford Police Union membership, their tentative new contract was approved with over 300 voting in favor and 11 against according to sources.

The contract will now go before the Hartford City Council at Monday's meeting for their approval.

The new agreement is the result of negotiations conducted over the last 22 months since the previous contract expired

MORE OF THAT "SHARED SACRIFICE"

Last Friday, Jeff cohen at WNPR reported on more raises that were being given out to top level employees at Hartford city Hall. Those raises were in addition to the Mayor's own raise as well as the $20,000 raise given to his Chief of Staff Jared Kupiec. Click on the link in the right column to go to Jeff Cohen's blog to read his articles

According to Jeff's article, Hartford's Chief Operating Officer David Panagore stated "As a management philosophy, it's within the confines of the budget to be able to keep management and upper level staff focused and be able to keep them happy at their work because certainly the demands and the stress during these financial times just continues to build."

I can understand the stress though. Luckily only upper management feels the stress, imagine if our police officers, firefighters or even teachers had to deal with stress on a daily basis, imagine how much that could potentially cost us.

Newsflash Mayor, you might want to consider the stress levels of the taxpayers of Hartford who have to pay for the raises for these unfortunate, over-stressed city employees , most of them making over $100,000 a year in salary. It must be tough, I certainly can feel for them.

I guess those other residents that don't have the luxury of over inflated city salaries will just have to continue to decide whether to pay their steadily increasing tax bills or pay for their medications or put food on the table.

I guess it is just part of the shared sacrifice we all must buy into for the good of the Mayor.

But now, at the same time that the Mayor is trying to sell Hartford's unions on carrying their weight and being part of the solution,the Mayor actually calls it "shared sacrifice", the latest list of bonuses from City Hall is available. The largest bonus issued, $15,000 was given to one of the Mayor's "cabinet advisers" Jose Colon-Rivas, who also receives a six figure salary already as the City's health director.

In good times, I might actually be able to support the bonuses, but in a cash strapped city facing a $56 million dollar deficit next year and the potential for an estimated budget gap exceeding $150 million in 2017, there is no other term that applies other than "reckless spending".

In the Interdepartmental memo below detailing the justification for the bonus for Colon-Rivas it is stated that he has " improved the quality of service rendered by his department...generated savings of revenue for the City, improved service to the public in a manner not achievable by established procedures and processes". Isn't that what a department head is actually paid a salary to do? Do we really need to pay someone a $15,000 bonus for doing the job they are expected to do?

I still am unable to comprehend how you can possibly explain "shared sacrifice" to any City employee when they see raises and bonuses being paid out while they are asked to give back.

It just isn't right or honest and definitely doesn't show good faith.

Colon Rivas ESI Letter 0001

2012 ESI spreadsheet0001

HARDLY AN IMPRESSIVE START

The recently formed Hartford Charter Revision Commission held its first meeting, or at least something that was supposed to look like a meeting, tonight.

It just seems like a bad start when at least three of the appointed Commissioner's are a half hour late for the 6:00PM start. City Clerk John Bazzano eventually started the meeting after waiting for the tardy Commissioner's to arrive, When they didn't show up a roll call was held, they had a quorum and the meeting began. Commissioner's John Kennelly, Corey Brinson and Sharon Patterson-Stahlings eventually all strode in to the meeting.

The "political" wrangling then began and the majority of the meeting was comprised of debate over whether to elect a chair or just select a temporary chair. This debate kind of surprised me since I would think that they would have appointed a permanent chair and then get down to business. I know, it is Hartford.

The next step surprised me even more. John Kennelly, who has made it known that he wants to be the Commission Chair, but apparently doesn't have the votes, nominated Corporation Counsel Saundra Kee-Borges as temporary chair. Now I'm not an attorney, but Kee-Borges sat alongside Bazzano and made it clear that she was there to answer legal questions as the Commission gets rolling.

Like I said, I'm not an attorney, but that would appear to me to be a clear conflict of interest. How can you both advise as the City's legal counsel and serve as Chair. Is she able to overrule herself on legal issues? (Kee-Borges is not an appointed member of the Commission)

It was also interesting that someone who stopped in to the meeting asked me "where are the community people?". I was asking myself the same question , but I'm just skeptical of the process anyway.

Hopefully the next meeting will be a little more productive, and maybe the Commissioner's appointed will at least take their role seriously and at least arrive on time.

A BUSY NIGHT FOR HARTFORD'S DEMOCRATS

This posting is probably not something that will interest a lot of people, but I think it is significant.

The entire political process starts on the local level with the Town committee's, both Democrat and Republican. The importance of the local town committee members becomes even more apparent when contested elections are on the horizon, like they are now. The conventions are taking place at this time with the "delegates". mostly elected town committee members with a few others thrown in,meeting to select endorsed candidates for everything from State Central representatives to Registrar of Voters to US Senators.

It's interesting when you are walking through the grocery store or pumping gas and the cellphone rings and Susan Bysiewicz or Congressman Chris Murphy are on the other end asking for your support. If you really think about it, the people that the "delegates" eventually support will most likely be our elected officials for some time. It is not a decision to be taken lightly and I think we owe it to our fellow residents to make these decisions based on some intelligent reasoning.

Tough questions need to be asked and I don't think we can shirk our responsibility by being shy or just playing political gamesmanship. Character matters, and we have more than enough "characters" in politics, we need to start finding people of character.

Tonight history was made when three of Hartford's Democratic Town Committee's worked together. The 1st District, the 5th District (which now includes all of Windsor) and the 7th District( Asylum Hill and Blue Hills areas) actually worked together for the benefit of Hartford. (** Windsor was also instrumental as well as a vote from the 3rd District allocated due to redistricting)

State Central representatives are selected by State Senatorial districts. Each district has two representatives, one female and one male. Well over a decade ago, some have told me 16 years ago,north Hartford lost both of its state central seats. The 2nd Senatorial District, which encompasses North Hartford, Bloomfield and Windsor, was represented by one rep from Bloomfield and one from Windsor.

Tonight, both of those seats were returned to Hartford. It may not seem to mean a lot, but to me it is significant that three groups of people were able to work together, putting personalities, agendas and even grudges aside to do what we promised the voters that actually turned out and voted for us. I hope it continues in the spirit of doing what is best for Hartford and making sure our neighbors actually have a unified voice speaking for them.

The female representative is a person that I am very proud to work alongside as co-spokesperson for the 7th District. Vicki Fennell is a relative newcomer to the political process, but she is quickly finding her stride, is extremely organized and truly seems to understand that she has an obligation to work to make Hartford a better place.

The entire 7th District group seems to be energetic and ready to work together and bring about change, as we all promised when we were campaigning. It is a good feeling to see the entire group interacting like adults and seeing the consensus building and common goals being moved forward by such a diverse group.

The male rep elected is not a newcomer to Hartford politics but most likely is not a "familiar" political face. Jay Mullarkey is the spokesperson for the 1st District, (primarily Hartford's West end area). Jay has served the Hartford Democratic Town Committee as Treasurer for years. He stepped aside this year but still serves as the assistant treasurer. Jay strikes me as the type that prefers to be more low key, behind the scenes making things happen than being out in front. His efforts were instrumental in Hartford winning both seats tonight and his subtle "bridge building" can only benefit Hartford.

Like I said in the beginning, it may seem insignificant, but the little steps are the things that are going to restore integrity and respect to Hartford as a city and its political process after the stains of corruption start to wash away.

Next week the South end districts will be going through the same process we went through tonight. Can those two state central seats also come back to Hartford? Currently only one is filled by Hartford.They will have a few more challenges though as they will also be tested in their choices for State representative in the 4th District and the 6th District. (More on that in a later posting)

We are fortunate in the 7th District in the fact that we have a very capable incumbent who, as far as I know, is not being challenged. State Representative Doug McCrory is also a member of our 7th District town committee. I don't think there will be any challenge in the 1st District either, where freshman legislator Matt Ritter will be running for his second term.

NOT SO QUICK ON CLOSING THAT BUDGET GAP

The chart above is directly from Mayor Segarra's budget book distributed today. Can you see a problem here? Yet there seems to be no talk of cutting spending. A PDF version of the chart is also below for easier viewing

Mayor Segarra rolled out his budget proposal for fiscal year 2012-2013 today at City Hall. One of the major points outlined to close next years budget gap of at least $54 million dollars might be somewhat questionable though.

Both COO David Panagore and Mayor Segarra explained that at least $45 million dollars in money owed to the City by the State of Connecticut will ease the city's budget woes. The money is apparently from school building projects, according to Panagore and Segarra, and is going to be paid up by the State of Connecticut and spread out at the rate of $9 million dollars per year over the next five years.

The only problem is, according to sources, that high level staffers in the Malloy Administration tonight are saying that this is news to them. I asked David Panagore this afternoon if anyone had contacted the State of Connecticut and if they were in agreement that the money was owed to Hartford. I never really got an answer, but according to my sources, it doesn't seem that Governor Malloy is going to be cutting a check anytime soon.

So a word of advice to Hartford's taxpayer's, don't start celebrating the "only" 3.5 mill tax increase just yet, it might get worse.

And be sure to check back tomorrow for more examples of how your tax dollars are being spent by Hartford City Hall.

Budget Gap Graph

WHY IS HARTFORD SO DIFFERENT?

I constantly wonder why the values and sense of morality are so different from the city where I live and other communities mere miles away from me. I ask this question in all seriousness.

This past week the ink was hardly even dry on the Florida arrest report for a member of the Windsor Board of Education. Almost immediately, actually within hours, the leadership of the Windsor Board of Education were calling a special meeting to discuss his removal. They eventually voted to request his resignation. I'm not sure the message has even been heard by the Board member since he is apparently still behind bars in Florida.

A Deputy Commissioner from the State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection made an inappropriate phone call caught on the recipients voice mail and within hours, Governor Malloy was accepting his resignation.

The bottom line though is that there was swift and decisive action against someone who clearly, according to the accusations, has shown poor judgement and has violated the trust placed in him by the people he is supposed to represent. It is not about "innocent until proven guilty", it is about violating the trust and confidence placed in them by their constituents.

West Hartford did the same thing last year when a Councilperson apparently violated the public trust by his actions. In no time public pressure was placed upon him to resign. isn't that the message that should be sent? Public positions have a higher level of responsibility to make the correct decisions when confronted with taking the right path or the wrong path.

Yet Hartford doesn't seem to get that. I had a long discussion with Councilwoman Cynthia Jennings this week about her resolution for "Abe Giles Way". She defended her actions by essentially telling me that the African American community needs their role models and they should be allowed to pick their own "role models". I asked her if Abe Giles was the best she could find? An individual who was convicted in a corruption scandal that cost the City of Hartford hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, when all is said and done.

I threw out a few more names that I thought might be more appropriate. If you are selecting role models,how about Thurman Milner, Frank Borges, Helen Nixon or even Trude Mero. Maybe even Clark King, Hyacinth Yennie, Daryl Roberts, Debbie Barrows, John Stewart, Henry Fuqua, Henry Brown... and I'm only touching the tip of the iceberg. But Abe Giles?

I'm getting a little off track from my original reason for this post, but here goes. Why does Windsor, West Hartford and so many others, including Governor Malloy, have such a different view of right and wrong and accepting responsibility for ones actions?

It became very evident during the Perez corruption investigation and only after his conviction and sentencing did he actually resign. One of his co-conspirators, Veronica Airey-Wilson actually eventually "retired" and collects her pension now from the City of Hartford and one of the other co-conspirators is now headed to having a city intersection named after him, even though he plead guilty. There was no outcry for their resignations, except maybe on this blog, and even when they were surrendering themselves to arrest on criminal charges, not a peep.

A Hartford Police officer, who happens to also be a member of the Connecticut legislature representing Hartford's 6th District, admits to stealing overtime payments from the City of Hartford during an Internal Affairs investigation. Hector Robles was eventually arrested and terminated from his job as a police officer, yet he still serves in the legislature. No demands for his resignation, no pressure placed on him for violating the public trust placed in him, ....nothing.

In fact Robles hasn't announced whether he will seek renomination for his position, but the odds seem pretty good. The convention to re-nominate him may even coincide with his next court date, May 23, 2012, where the felony charges against him are moving forward. This will prove interesting since the 6th District Town Committee which was recently elected proclaiming "change" will be the same group that may be the ones to endorse an alleged criminal.

Then we go to the recently appointed Charter Revision Commission. One individual appointed, and seeking the Chairmanship of the Commission is former Councilman John Kennelly. Kennelly is currently winding his way through Connecticut's court system on his own drunken driving charges. Kennelly was actually appointed to the commission by Councilman Alexander Aponte, someone else who has issues with public trust, as his handpicked choice. Kennelly, by his own admission apparently has alcohol issues he is dealing with. The question needs to be asked as to whether the people of Hartford are properly served while he deals with those issues and his criminal court appearances.

The list goes on and on. Individuals convicted of violations of the public trust and convicted of "selling" community service time and committing fraud through their position in the Hartford Court now serves, and has served for some time, on the Hartford Democratic Town Committee.

One of our local State Representatives was instrumental in filing allegations that a member of an opposing Town Committee slate wasn't a Hartford resident while at the same time it is pretty common knowledge that he hasn't lived in his district in some time.

An individual who has several well documented instances of being an alleged sexual predator until recently served on the Executive Committee of the Hartford Democratic Town Committee, yet it was one of the "dirty little secrets" that everyone talked about, but choose to ignore. The same individual was a paid "political operative", the filings call him a consultant, yet he is also a delegate to just about every upcoming political convention.

The upcoming nominations for Registrar of Voters should also be interesting. At least one name being floated is an individual who has a well documented case of being arrested for soliciting a prostitute, all done while he was also a City employee. The "prostitute" happened to be an undercover Hartford Police Officer and I am told the video of the solicitation used as evidence is still in existence. Another potential candidate has had a checkered past involving drug use and other criminal charges including shoplifting. Apparently these are also well documented.

Now I know anyone can claim they have changed and "turned their lives around", and some do and some don't. But at what point do they become accountable for their actions?

A local Superintendent of Schools was forced to resign a couple years ago after the outcry over his drunken driving arrest. Judge Curtissa Cofield, an extremely popular and compassionate judge at Hartford's Community Court was swiftly removed from that position after her arrest for drunken driving a couple years ago. If we went by the Hartford way of thinking, she would have been promoted to a Justice on the State Supreme Court.

If it is true that you are judged by the company you keep, Hartford's political establishment can't possibly be thought of too highly. Is it any wonder we continue to not be taken seriously when we can't even have the guts to hold ourselves accountable? Seriously, would this be acceptable in West Hartford or Manchester or most other places in our State?

When you make the decision to board a plane to fly to Florida like Mr. Watts with the thought of having sex with a minor or put the key in your ignition and drive drunk at twice the legal limit or participate in corruption pay offs or solicit a prostitute or shoplift or do the line of coke or concoct a scheme to steal thousands from the City of Hartford, don't you somehow forfeit the right to represent the public? At the very least, how do you expect to gain the public's confidence and trust, not to mention their respect?

Maybe we can have a meeting to discuss this on the corner of Abe Giles Way and ask Eddie Perez to chair the meeting.

MR. MAYOR, HERE'S A CAMPAIGN WORTH GETTING INVOLVED WITH

Pictured above, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra campaigning recently in Orlando, Florida for Mayor Buddy Dyer's re-election campaign

Wednesday night I attended the supposedly public forum regarding the selection of Hartford's new Police Chief. I wasn't impressed with Robert Wasserman or his comments he made to me after the forum, but some things aren't worth my time, so I'm not even going to go into that conversation. The conversation that is important to me is one I had with an individual I had before the forum. That person asked not to be named, so I'll agree with that.... for now.

We had a conversation about Hartford's acting Police Chief James Rovella. That person agreed with me that Rovella has made Mayor Segarra look like a hero when it came to reducing violent crime, shootings, shooting victims and most importantly Hartford's homicides. The person I was speaking with, who I'm pretty sure has a good knowledge of HPD, also agreed that strong leadership and a new focus and direction is needed for the department, which Rovella seems to be providing.

We went back and forth on Rovella's leadership , but all of the comments seemed positive and the only negative this person mentioned was the POST certification issue. POST is essentially the Connecticut Police Academy Board,(Police Officer Standards and Training Council) POST controls the training requirements for police officers to be certified. Due to an apparent "glitch" in Connecticut law, even though Rovella is a retired Hartford Police officer and has been the Chief inspector for the Office of the Chief State's Attorney, the legislature never included inspectors in the same legislation required for police officers. The Inspector's are sworn law enforcement officers with full arrest powers and also carry firearms, the same as most police officers.

Ok, not to get sidetracked, but I told the individual that whoever was telling the Mayor that POST was a roadblock to Rovella's appointment was wrong. A perfect example is New Haven's new Chief Dean Esserman, who came back to Connecticut after several years in Providence, Rhode Island. Any certification Esserman may have had from his earlier years in Connecticut would have been long expired, unlike Rovella who has not had any break in his performance as a law enforcement officer in Connecticut.

Hartford has had a long history of non-certified Chiefs. Patrick Harnett was over ten years retired from Police work when he was hired as Chief in Hartford and was not certified in Connecticut and never had been, neither was his sidekick he brought along, Andrew Rosensweig, who was appointed as an Assistant Chief under Harnett.

Well the conversation went back and forth for a couple more minutes and the unnamed person agreed that Rovella would make a good Chief for Hartford and made an interesting suggestion. "Unnamed" suggested that someone start a campaign to "force" Mayor Segarra to choose Rovella as Chief. I replied that no one should have to "force'" Segarra to do anything. Mayor Segarra is the strong Mayor and has every power to make the decision.I said that if I was the Mayor, and someone like Rovella made me look as good as he has made Segarra look since he came back to Hartford eight months ago, it seems like it would be a no-brainer.

More people began filtering in at that point and "unnamed" stated once again "Start a campaign" before he wandered off. I officially announce "campaign season" is underway.

Hartford's homicide rate and gun violence was so severe by last May, that it even attracted the attention of Governor Malloy who was instrumental in bringing Rovella and others to the table to begin a plan to combat the violence.The Hartford Shooting Task Force was born and Rovella was appointed its leader. He hand picked some of the best and brightest people from HPD, state and federal agencies and even the Judicial branch. Immediately the team began to produce results and has attracted attention from far and wide. The City of New Haven recently enacted their own shooting task force modeled after Hartford's, and assisted in it's development by Chief Rovella.

I had never met Chief Rovella, or even heard of him, until the task force was formed and I have to honestly say that I was a little aggravated when the Task force was announced and someone from outside HPD was going to come in and take charge. I have the highest regard for Lieutenant Lance Sigersmith, Commander of the HPD Intelligence Division and I felt the leadership should have gone to him.

It is interesting though to hear Lt. Sigersmith sing the praises of Chief Rovella though and tell how much he has learned from him in such a short time. He tells how Rovella both listens and also definitely makes it known what he expects when it comes to accountability. The shooting task force seems to function like clockwork and in the few weeks that Rovella has been the acting Chief, sources at HPD are telling me those same techniques are being used to bring HPD to a higher level or performance and also accountability.

Word is that one Lieutenant was suprised recently to find Chief Rovella in his office working at 3:00am. When does this guy sleep?

I have to say, I only recently actually met Chief Rovella and had a very interesting conversation with him one night at City Hall. He is an intense individual and you get the feeling you are almost connected to a polygraph as you talk to him. He makes intense eye contact and maintains that as he speaks with you. He is more than willing to talk about his vision for Hartford and his love for the City.

For anyone that knows me, I do not trust people quickly, I am skeptical of many things, especially when someone is making a sales pitch. Rovella actually seemed genuine and I began to get a feeling why the shooting task force was successful. His vison and confidence comes through loud and clear and you just want to say "where do I sign up to help?"

Last night I had a second opportunity to spend some unexpected time with Chief Rovella. I though it would be a few minutes, and even though I didn't actually time it, I think it was close to 2 hours we spoke. I'm not sure if this will make sense, but spending time with Chief Rovella is like being in third gear while at the same time Rovella is constantly in overdrive and speeding ahead.

His vision, and I don't say this lightly,is overwhelming. It's not rocket science or even re-inventing the process. I think it is more about being able to listen, filtering through ideas and practices to see what works and most importantly knowing what it will take to achieve that vision. The thing I think that sets him apart though seems to be an uncanny knack to motivate people and get them to rise to their maximum potential.

I don't know how he has been able to do it in such a short time, but it seems that he has been able to turn around even some of what were the worst attitudes at HPD and make them believers in his plan. I jokingly asked a couple officers singing Rovella's praises where the altar was and where they lit their candles. I don't know if it is a "fatherly " demeanor or just the realization that Rovella isn't out to prove himself or just the fact that he is in this for all the right reasons, but to me, his love for Hartford is amazing.

I observed a traffic stop by members of the shooting task Thursday night and I spoke with one of the supervisors afterward. I asked why it was so low key, and why they were so friendly with the individual they arrested. I was told that was Chief Rovella's way, treat everyone with respect because you never know when you will be dealing with that person again or maybe need their help.

Isn't that the meaning of community-police relations? Treat everyone with respect, right there with that one goal alone, Rovella has my vote for Chief.

At Chief Rovella's request, our two hour conversation was not recorded , shot on video and was off the record. I wish it wasn't because anyone who hears this guys plans for Hartford would ask Mayor Segarra why he hasn't been appointed permanent Chief yet so he can really begin implementing some serious change. Even though Rovella has the title of acting Chief, I think he has been handcuffed by City Hall to implement any extensive change yet. With the summer and the high crime months coming, he should be let loose to begin rebuilding immediately.

Even though Rovella's adult career was in law enforcement, you get the impression immediately that he is a "big picture" guy. He talks about the correlation between HPD and their performance and Hartford's potential for economic growth. He talks about programs for youth and his plans for the PAL program, the Explorer program and how he plans to attain those goals.

He walked me around what had been a mothballed school, now home to the shooting task force and a few other police functions and detailed how he envisions the building being a hub for police/community relations. The pools being used for youth programs. the gym being used for basketball games to build relations between cops and kids, the auditorium as a place for community gatherings, this office here, that division over there and on and on and on.

Like I said before, I readily admit I am a skeptic, I am used to hearing baseless plans from our city officials, but with Rovella you can't help but buy into his vision and I began thinking what the building is going to look like when he is done. Not if it is done, but if he pulls resources together and gets results like he has done with the shooting task force, when it is done. And with that mind of his in overdrive, I am pretty confident it will be sooner than later.

I actually think the "unnamed" person has a lot more influence with the Mayor than I do, but it seems like the time that a decision is made based upon what is best for Hartford. Conducting a national search is good when it comes to providing cover yourself as a politician to say "hey, we crossed our t's and dotted our i's by doing a search" but when the solution is right in your midst, why waste the time. Tell Mr. Wasserman "thanks, here is your payment for your contract, we're all set, we have the perfect fit tight here".

Mr. Mayor, the campaign has begun, but let's do what is right for Hartford. Forget the agendas of others and do what I'm pretty sure you realize is the right thing. Appoint Chief Rovella as permanent Chief and let him make us proud.

You might just have more free time to spend in Orlando as he gets things under control.

CITY AND HPD UNION REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT

Last night the HPD Union and mayor segarra reached a tentative contract agreement, ending an almost two year impasse.Specific details of the agreement aren't available , but one source said it is an agreement they feel comfortable taking back to the membership.

It's interesting the speed with which the final agreement actually came about since most sources familiar with the negotiation's said they broke down last week. I wonder where the pressure actually came from to reach an agreement?

More on this as details become available.

DADDY TOOK THE T-BIRD AWAY

Well, actually the black Ford Explorer. According to City hall sources, Mayor Pedro Segarra has ordered his Chief of Staff to turn in his city issued vehicle. This capped off a rough week for Segarra in dealing with wide spread criticism of his giving a $20,000 raise to his Chief of Staff Jared Kupiec as well as the use of the city vehicle.

We probably haven't heard the end of this yet, but a word of advice... those red and blue lights you see in your rear view mirror now may actually be a police officer and not a member of the Mayor's Cabinet on a "Happy Hour" run, so pull over.

No comment was available on this due to City Hall being closed for the holiday.

MORE "SHARED SACRIFICE"

City Hall sources are telling me that city employee Union's leadership have been summoned to the "Green Room" in Mayor Segarra's office tomorrow afternoon. The purpose of the meeting is apparently to discuss potential "givebacks" and furlough days from the Unions to help close Hartford's budget gap for the next two years.

It should be interesting to see how that goes. The term "good faith" just keeps jumping into my mind as I wonder if the Union's will buy into this, especially after the raises given out in the Mayor's office.

It seems like only a couple of years ago that several of the Unions bought into the "shared sacrifice" plea, only to find out a few weeks later that the Mayor at the time, Eddie Perez,gave his Chief of Staff Matt Hennessey an almost $15,000 bonus for all of his hard work.

I guess as much as some things change they still remain the same.

THE END OF THE DOWNTOWN SPECIAL ?

Every weekend a contingent of Hartford Police officers are hired on overtime to maintain order in the streets surrounding the bars near Union Place as the bars are running and for a while after they close to control the crowds. The area has been the source of quite a few shootings and gunfire as well as fights and general drunken behavior. The "Downtown Special" as the assignment of officers is called seems to do a decent job of quelling the potential violence.

Apparently this past weekend after word of raises for the Mayor and his Chief of Staff started making the rounds it didn't sit well with people. As the previous posting detailed, Hartford Police officers have been working without a contract and also without raises for nearly two years. Apparently the Mayor's handling of his raise and the $20,000 raise for his Chief of Staff made some officers sick. The "Downtown Special" assignment seems to have went home sick Saturday night.

That has now created another problem as HPD sources are telling me that the "Downtown Special" has now been cancelled indefinitely.

I have a couple problems with this. First off, it used to be that cruisers were pulled from several neighborhoods to block off streets and control traffic usually from around midnight to after 2:00am when the bars emptied out. I always felt that was done at the expense of the neighborhoods that deserved those cruisers to be patrolling the neighborhoods they were assigned to.

More importantly though is why this is allowed to be such a burden on the HPD budget. Roughly $5,000 is spent every weekend from the Police overtime budget to facilitate the "Downtown Special". That is money that should be spent elsewhere, no other neighborhood, with the exception of the "North Main detail", has the luxury of this type of coverage.

The North Main detail was instituted to patrol the area of North Main Street after many complaints of unruly behavior, traffic problems, public urination and other quality of life issues from the club patrons on North main Street.

If the bars are creating the problem, shouldn't they be paying for the solution? In cities like Springfield, MA, it seems like every club has two officers hired for the doors of the clubs to maintain order. Why aren't we doing that in Hartford? There probably aren't two many clubs in the Union Place area that couldn't be classified as a "nuisance" and be required to hire officers if they want to remain open.

I don't think this was the way to get the Mayor's attention. I would have suggested informational picketing at every stop Mayor Segarra makes until a union contract is signed. The Mayor is very image conscious and anything questioning his leadership would most likely prove embarrassing and result in some serious negotiations.

It also puts the other officers in danger anytime the HPD is short staffed. Without the downtown special, regular patrol units would have to answer any calls for service in the Union Place area and the show of force for an area with thousands of bar patrons, many highly intoxicated at 2:00am, just won't be there and it could result in officers getting injured.

I am quite confident that Mayor Segarra is aware that we routinely lose officers to other agencies, many times based purely on better pay and benefits. That cost the City of Hartford quite a bit when you consider the investment that is made in recruiting, testing , academy training and ongoing training. The raises at a time like this for the Mayor and his Chief of Staff are wrong and so is stalling the HPD Union contract.

Some true leaders need to step up and get this done before it hurts the residents of Hartford more.

A request for comment from HPD has not been received yet, if and when a comment is received, I will post it here. In the meantime, West Hartford Center might be the safer bet for your weekend entertainment

IS THE FLU SEASON ABOUT TO HIT HARTFORD?

The "Blue Flu" that is.

It doesn't seem to do much for morale at HPD when the Mayor's Chief of Staff gets a $20,000 a year raise and a Ford Explorer SUV City vehicle and the Hartford Police Department has been working without a contract for almost two years now. For more on the "shared sacrifice" and the Chief of Staff's raise, check out the link to Jeff Cohen's blog in the right column

Members of the Hartford Police Union are apparently starting to raise their voices over the fact that they have been without a contract for over 22 months. Several members of the union have called me over the last few days, most talking about the initial planning of "efforts" to get the City administrations attention. According to several sources, a planning meeting is going to be held this week to discuss and "organize" these efforts.

Hartford Police Union President Rich Holton wouldn't discuss specifics of the contract negotiations, but his frustration was clear. Holton did credit acting Police Chief James Rovella with "jumpstarting" negotiations over the last few weeks since his appointment.

Others have told me that there are still major issues to be worked out before a contract agreement can be reached. Among those issues are retiree health care benefits as well as private duty job pay. Currently police officers working private duty jobs are paid straight time for those hours, even though the city recoups and actually profits substantially from the billing for those hours worked.

Another issue being discussed is the privatization of the HPD booking/detention facility. This is apparently being discussed to get more uniformed officers onto the streets, but I'm sure many might question that decision. Booking has been a source of numerous problems, and payouts, for actions of police officers and supervisors working inside that area. I'm not sure that bringing in essentially private security guards is the best choice.

With the current staffing of HPD any slowdown or reduction in the "speed" of services and responses could cripple the already understaffed department.

Others mentioned the possibility of refusing to work "private jobs" which although being costly to the officers, would also cripple construction and road jobs as the warm weather approaches. The MDC project alone may need dozens of officers each day to work on City streets. Under Connceticut State law, Hartford Police officers are required to man those traffic positions as opposed to "flagmen".

A few of the officers I spoke with also expressed their disappointment in what they felt is the lack of a good faith effort by Mayor Pedro Segarra in the negotiations. Unofficially they felt that they stepped up during last years campaign and supported Segarra when mayoral challenger Kelvin Roldan began slinging allegations towards Segarra. The union also endorsed Segarra for Mayor during last November's election. Am potential vote of "no confidence" in Segarra and former Chief Roberts was pretty much squashed when the idea arose last year.

I am not a big union person, but the fact of the matter is that Hartford's police officers probably have some of the toughest working conditions in the state and are well below surrounding towns when it comes to their pay rates. The administration is also well aware that it is costing the City money through attrition when trained HPD officers leave for better pay and benefits in other agencies.

What's fair is fair and the games need to end, Mr. Mayor. For our benefit this contract needs to be settled now.