Real or wax figure?
Mayor Segarra likes to quote one of Hartford's real leaders frequently. He thought so much of one of Mark Twain's famous quotes that he had a copy of it framed to present to Hartford Police Chief James Rovella on the day he was officially sworn in as Chief.
Twain had said that "if you always tell the truth, you never have to remember the lies". That might prove true for Segarra quite soon as we see if the truth or the lies are actually reality.
Segarra's credibility definitely took a hit as many residents were vocal about the less than transparent negotiations conducted on the Rock Cats deal. More than one person at community meetings stated publicly that they no longer trusted Segarra.
During those same meetings Segarra and his Development Director stated that the City Hall phones were apparently ringing off the hook with developers clamoring to be part of the deal. Segarra would state, with Deller's backup, that they were getting at least 10 to 12 calls a day from people wanting to be part of the deal. If that was actually true, and I will say I am skeptical, it is now time for Segarra to put up or shut up.
Let's just say that in the first few days after the announcement that they were getting 10 to 12 calls a day, my math says that adds up to at least 50 to 60 calls in the first week alone. By the Mayor's own press release earlier, only four proposals were submitted by the Friday August1st deadline. And one of those four is for a separate parcel and not the baseball stadium per se. So again, by my math, that makes 3 legit proposals, and since we have no idea what they contain, we aren't even sure those are actually legit.
So now Pedro, it is time to "SHOW US THE MONEY". Were you actually getting the numerous calls you claim or was this just another adventure into Rock Cats fantasy land. Just 3 Proposals actually submitted with all those calls makes me have to question the effectiveness of your team. Or is it just that developers question your credibility as much as your own residents?
Could it be that private investors are as cautious about putting there own money on the line much more than our politicians when it comes to gambling with taxpayers dollars. If it is such a great idea, shouldn't there be a stack of proposals waiting to be reviewed for the resurrection of NoDo or DoNo or DoDo, whatever it is called today.
And after the dust settles, let's see if the truth comes out. Any good salesperson keeps detailed records of their leads and conversations and I would expect nothing less of Mr. Deller and his highly paid staff. Let's see who actually called and when and see what that adds up to. My gut is saying a lot less than 10 or 12 calls a day.
If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember the lies.