Hartford's fiscal year ended July 1, 2015. Since we keep hearing the Segarra rhetoric that Hartford is in good financial state , isn't it time for some legitimate numbers?
So what are the budget numbers Pedro? What did the city budget look like at the end of the year? What assets will we have to sell next year to stay afloat and still be able to pay the 4.5 million owed to the debt service for the Yard Goats?
Simple question Pedro, could we maybe get an honest answer? Oh, and don't look to Governor Malloy for financial help, I think he is fed up with you misinformation. Read more about that herehttp://www.courant.com/politics/capitol-watch/hc-malloy-says-hartford-has-received-more-than-1-billion-20150828-story.html
Maybe Pedro's landscaper can give us some budget ideas.
Friday, August 28, 2015
PEDRO AND THE ADMITTED PEDOPHILE
Admitted Pedophile, former priest Lou Paturzo supports Pedro Segarra
As the old saying goes, we are judged by the company we keep. Imagine my surprise a couple weeks ago when I saw Pedro Segarra proudly tweeting out a picture of one of his supporters. I recognized the person in the picture as Lou Paturzo, a former Catholic priest who was accused of molesting young boys while he was a Catholic priest. Paturzo was apparently removed from the priesthood by the Archdiocese of Hartford after he admitted to his deviant acts and to molesting the boys while he was assigned to a parish in Waterbury and acting as a basketball coach for boys.
Paturzo, who admitted to the claims made by the two men, was stripped of his priestly faculties by the archdiocese,
News articles related to the molestation and Paturzo's removal as a priest are below from at least 3 different newspaper articles at the time. Paturzo's actions , as well as those of other priests sexually molesting boys resulted in a Civil judgement against the Archdiocese of Hartford in excess of $22 million dollars.
In campaign filings released this week, he Segarra campaign also lists Paturzo as a consultant that they have paid at least $2400.00 . Is this the best we can do ? What's next? A Segarra appointment to the City's Youth Services Department?
The full campaign filing reports for Segarra can be viewed here, http://wethepeoplehartford.blogspot.com/2015/09/hartford-mayoral-campaign-filings-for-9.html the Paturzo listing is on page 98
From the Hartford Courant
An Arizona
man is suing the Hartford archdiocese for sexual abuse he says was
committed in the 1970s by the Rev. Louis Paturzo, a well-known activist
priest who worked with the city's troubled youth until the first
accusations against him surfaced in 2002.Edward Cerninka was a seventh-grade student at The Reverend Daniel Barry Junior High School
in Hamden when he met Paturzo in 1976.
According
to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New Haven Superior Court, Paturzo was
assigned to the Blessed Sacrament Church in Hamden, which was next door
to the school, and helped coach the basketball team, which is how he met Cerninka.
In late 1976, Paturzo befriended Cerninka's parents and then asked Cerninka to play on the travel team.
According the lawsuit, Paturzo first molested Cerninka in late 1976 and the abuse continued through August 1978. Cerninka's attorney, Thomas McNamara, declined to describe the alleged abuse.
Two men who accused Paturzo in 2002 said he fondled them in the early 1970s, when he was working as a deacon but had not yet been ordained
.
Paturzo, who admitted to the claims made by the two men, was stripped of his priestly faculties by the archdiocese, and he resigned from his part-time job
as a peer mediator consultant at Quirk Middle School in Hartford. The
archdiocese paid out $22 million in 2005 to settle claims against 14 of
its priests, including Paturzo.
Most recently, Paturzo was known to be working as the director of the New Day transitional program for criminal offenders in Hartford. Attempts to reach Paturzo Wednesday were unsuccessful.
The lawsuit claims that church officials failed to report complaints about Paturzo's sexually abusing at least one other minor to the proper authorities. According to McNamara, the church knew Paturzo was molesting boys before he befriended Cerninka.
McNamara said he interviewed the parents
of one of Paturzo's earlier victims, who told him they reported the
priest's behavior to his superior at Blessed Sacrament Church in the
fall of 1976. The priest then promised the boy's parents it would not
happen again, McNamara said.
The Rev. John Gatzak, spokesman for the Hartford archdiocese, said Wednesday that the archdiocese has a policy of not commenting publicly on ongoing litigation. He also said Paturzo, while not officially defrocked by the Vatican, can no longer present himself or function as a priest.
"He cannot claim to be a priest, and he cannot dress like a priest," Gatzak said.
Paturzo, who was ordained in 1973, was sent for evaluation and treatment at two psychiatric institutions in the 1990s after the archdiocese received an anonymous complaint by a mother
who accused him of fondling her son while he was serving as a deacon in
Hamden. Although that complaint was investigated by state police, it
was not proven.
The second allegation against Paturzo was filed in February of 2002 by a man who said he was groped by Paturzo in a Waterbury rectory in 1972.
When that complaint became public, so did the other, and Paturzo was removed from active ministry.
Contact Elizabeth Hamilton at ehamilton@courant.com.
The suit, filed in Superior Court in New Haven by attorney Thomas M. McNamara of the New Haven firm of McNamara & Goodman, claims that the former priest, Louis Paturzo, sexually abused the plaintiff from 1976 to 1978 when he was a student at the former Rev. Daniel J. Barry Junior High School in Hamden.
The suit says that Paturzo, who was a priest at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Hamden, befriended the plaintiff's parents and in late 1976 asked the boy -- then in seventh grade -- to play on a traveling basketball team that he coached.
The New Haven Register is withholding the plaintiff's name because it does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
The suit claims Paturzo "had the proclivity to sexually abuse, sexually exploit and sexually assault minor children," and that the archdiocese and its employees failed to supervise his interaction with minors, failed to investigate and report his suspicious conduct, and failed to inform or warn others of his conduct, among other allegations.
Paturzo has been accused of sexual abuse before and is no longer working as a priest, according to the Rev. John P. Gatzak, spokesman for the archdiocese. Gatzak on Wednesday didn't have any information about where Paturzo is now.
McNamara said the abuse had a "deleterious effect" on the plaintiff's life and that now, at 43, he has "finally realized it was time to stand up for himself and take back what was taken from him."
The fact that the incidents went unreported to authorities at the time was another example of the "we protect our own" mentality, McNamara said. "I've been doing these cases since 1992, and I've never had knowledge of any priest or bishop complying with the mandate of reporting" to police.
But Gatzak said things have changed since the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops passed the charter for the protection of children and young people in 2002. The penalty for being accused of sexual abuse is that one can no longer function as a priest, he said. Priests are mandated to immediately report alleged sexual abuse on the part of other priests to the authorities and the archbishop, he said.
"The church has made remarkable progress" in the protection of young people against such crimes, and is committed to making sure history doesn't repeat itself, Gatzak said.
The archdiocese several years ago paid $22 million to settle sexual abuse claim
Priest's Past Overtakes Him
By Matt Burgard and Maurice Timothy Reidy
Hartford Courant [Connecticut]
May 18, 2002
For almost 30 years, the Rev. Louis Paturzo's secret stayed hidden from the world, driving him, he said, to find redemption in his work in Hartford's poorest neighborhoods.
On Friday, Paturzo resigned from his job at a Hartford middle school after acknowledging two complaints that he fondled adolescent boys in the early 1970s.
Paturzo, best known for his work with troubled youths in the city — a ministry that included mediating between violent street gangs during the lethal drug wars of the early 1990s — said he could not discuss specifics of the allegations.
But he said he has carried with him the guilt and embarrassment of the acts of a sexually confused young man, and the hope that 21 years of working with the city's poor residents will lead to forgiveness.
"When people tell me what a great person I am, I can't help but recoil and shake my head," Paturzo, 54, said in an interview with The Courant. "In many ways, I do these things to seek atonement."
In two separate but similar complaints, Paturzo is accused of groping two adolescent boys in the 1970s when he was serving as a deacon, before his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest.
One complaint was filed anonymously in 1993 by a mother who accused Paturzo of fondling her son in Hamden 17 years earlier. Although the complaint was investigated by state police, it was not proven. However, the Hartford archdiocese sent Paturzo to two institutions for psychiatric evaluation and therapy.
The second allegation was filed in February by a man, now in his 40s, who said he was groped by Paturzo in a Waterbury rectory in 1972. The complainant, a Washington state businessman, has requested a $208,000 settlement from the archdiocese.
Paturzo and a lawyer for the archdiocese both said Friday that the psychiatrists who evaluated Paturzo concluded that he did not pose a threat to young people or the rest of the community.
Paturzo resigned from his part-time job as a peer mediator consultant at Quirk Middle School Friday after two interviews with The Courant about the complaints. The school system accepted his resignation and the Hartford archdiocese is investigating the latest complaint.
John W. Sitarz, an archdiocese lawyer, defended the achdiocese's actions in the mid-1990s."I think it's fair to say that responsible action was taken in response to that anonymous complaint. I can't get into details, but in my experience, it was a very appropriate response," he said.
Sitarz said the archdiocese was not aware from the outset that Paturzo was working at Quirk. When officials learned about it, they were assured he was primarily working with adult interns and was supervised when talking to children.
"The only thing that I heard is that in a given case that might be particularly complex, he will sit down with the intern and the student. It's uncommon, but it does happen," Sitarz said.
Paturzo did not deny the allegations made in the complaints, including the most recent one made by a former choirboy in a Waterbury parish. Instead, he spoke of an "immature" 24-year-old deacon whose "stunted" sexual development led to inappropriate acts.
Paturzo's background focuses attention on yet another long-concealed issue within the Catholic church — namely, how to handle priests whose sexual and emotional immaturity makes them a potential threat to young people.
In the most recent complaint, Paturzo is accused of sneaking the victim, who was then 13 or 14, into his room at the rectory at Sacred Heart Church in Waterbury. Paturzo threw the boy onto his bed and licked and nuzzled his face while reaching for his groin, according to the victim's complaint sent to the archdiocese.
When the victim, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Robert, resisted, Paturzo seemed confused and told the boy to relax, saying they could have fun wrestling and playing, according to the victim's complaint.
In several letters to the Hartford archdiocese, Robert said he felt ashamed for waiting almost 30 years to bring the allegations to light, but felt compelled to act in the midst of the ongoing national church sexual abuse scandal.
Robert has also asked the church to consider offering the monetary settlement for the damages allegedly caused by Paturzo. He said he has managed to live a productive life despite the trauma of his alleged encounter with "Deacon Louie," as he calls Paturzo in his letters.
"The way I was raised as an Irish Catholic, this was a priest. You never said anything against a priest," Robert said. "I feel if I had done something, maybe I could have saved some [other] kids."
Sitarz said Hartford Archbishop Daniel Cronin, who earlier this week agreed to notify state authorities of all sexual abuse allegations against priests, has not decided what action to take if the allegations against Paturzo are confirmed.
"The sad fact is that he's been doing great work," Sitarz said, echoing comments by other city officials and community activists. "But if our policy says ABC has to happen, it will happen."
Robert's complaint came nine years after a similar complaint was lodged against Paturzo, this one in the form of an anonymous letter sent by a woman who saw the priest on the TV news. The woman, who did not identify herself, was alarmed to see that state police were donating a van to support Paturzo's Hartford youth initiatives. She accused the priest of fondling her son in the 1970s while he was assigned to a church in Hamden, according to three law enforcement sources.
State police made inquiries about the letter to Paturzo and the archdiocese, but no further action was taken because the victim could not be identified, sources said.
But the archdiocese took action anyway, sending Paturzo to the Institute of Living in Hartford for short outpatient treatment and an out-of-state institution for five months of inpatient treatment. Stan Wasilewski, a retired Hartford police officer who served on the department's gang task force, said he called the archdiocese after learning of the state police investigation. Wasilewski, who like many of his colleagues on the task force were suspicious of Paturzo's relationships with gang members, said he asked them to remove Paturzo from Hartford.
"This is a guy who should not be working with teenagers, period. The archdiocese and the school district should never have let him take this position. It's outrageous."
In the same time period, Paturzo was transferred to a new church. When Wasilewski learned Paturzo was back in Hartford about a year later, Wasilewski said he called the archdiocese to complain again but was told Paturzo was fit to remain in the city ministry.
Jacqueline Hardy, a Hartford public school spokeswoman, said the district reluctantly accepted Paturzo's resignation Friday.
"It's really a tragedy because of all the tremendous things he has accomplished and contributed to the young people of this city," she said, adding that counselors will be on hand to talk about the priest's resignation when students return to school Monday. "Everyone is really upset. These allegations are really a surprise."
Hardy said the district conducted a thorough background check on Paturzo when he was hired to work at Quirk three years ago. The priest was asked to take the job by school officials who thought he would be ideal for addressing issues of violence and anger management under a federal grant, working out of Quirk's Student and Family Assistance Center. He was brought in to deal with those issues after the school shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado.
Paturzo also works part time as a prison chaplain at three correctional centers for adults in Connecticut while participating in many Hartford community improvement agencies such as the city drug and alcohol commission.
In separate interviews, the downcast, unassuming Paturzo confessed that much of the good work he has done in his 21 years in Hartford has been done with an impulse to right the wrongs of his past.
In the dead of night, "Father Lou," as the Hartford kids call him, was known to leave his apartment to go to the home of a poor Hartford family whose son has been killed in a gang fight. Many times, Paturzo has presided over funerals of young men cut down in the city's relentless and merciless turf wars.
And throughout, whenever Paturzo won yet another accolade for his commitment to the city's youth, he said he often thought of the boys whose lives were damaged by the "boundaries" he crossed all those years ago.
At times, he said, he felt confident that his hard work and devotion to the community had earned him redemption.
"I can say with a clear conscience that in 21 years in Hartford there has never been a kid who could say I behaved immorally or inappropriately toward them," he said. "I'm not the same priest who came to Hartford 21 years ago. I've grown up."
But in recent weeks, he said he has observed with dread the black cloud that now hangs over his church. He has seen the televised images of priests such as John Geoghan of Boston being dragged into court on charges of sexually abusing young boys.
Now Paturzo said he fears the revelations of his past will destroy not only his prospects for continuing to work in the city, but also the fragile relationships he has forged with many vulnerable young people and their families.
"If this was just about me, I'd have no problem letting the secrets out because they've been with me so long, it would be like a relief," he said. "But there are a lot of kids out there who rely on me and trust me. I worry about the damage this will cause."
, which is how he met Cerninka.In late 1976, Paturzo befriended Cerninka's parents and then asked Cerninka to play on the travel
team.According the lawsuit, Paturzo first molested Cerninka in late 1976 and the abuse continued through August 1978. Cerninka's attorney, Thomas McNamara, declined to describe the alleged abuse.
Two men who accused Paturzo in 2002 said he fondled them in the early 1970s, when he was working as a deacon but had not yet been ordained
.
Paturzo, who admitted to the claims made by the two men, was stripped of his priestly faculties by the archdiocese, and he resigned from his part-time job
as a peer mediator consultant at Quirk Middle School in Hartford. The
archdiocese paid out $22 million in 2005 to settle claims against 14 of
its priests, including Paturzo.Most recently, Paturzo was known to be working as the director
of the New Day transitional program for criminal offenders in Hartford. Attempts to reach Paturzo Wednesday were unsuccessful.The lawsuit claims that church officials failed to report complaints about Paturzo's sexually abusing at least one other minor to the proper authorities. According to McNamara, the church knew Paturzo was molesting boys before he befriended Cerninka.
McNamara said he interviewed the parents
of one of Paturzo's earlier victims, who told him they reported the
priest's behavior to his superior at Blessed Sacrament Church in the
fall of 1976. The priest then promised the boy's parents it would not
happen again, McNamara said.The Rev. John Gatzak, spokesman for the Hartford archdiocese, said Wednesday that the archdiocese has a policy of not commenting publicly on ongoing litigation. He also said Paturzo, while not officially defrocked by the Vatican, can no longer present himself or function as a priest.
"He cannot claim to be a priest, and he cannot dress
like a priest," Gatzak said.Paturzo, who was ordained in 1973, was sent for evaluation and treatment at two psychiatric institutions in the 1990s after the archdiocese received an anonymous complaint by a mother
who accused him of fondling her son while he was serving as a deacon in
Hamden. Although that complaint was investigated by state police, it
was not proven.The second allegation against Paturzo was filed in February of 2002 by a man who said he was groped by Paturzo in a Waterbury rectory in 1972.
When that complaint became public, so did the other, and Paturzo was removed from active ministry.
Contact Elizabeth Hamilton at ehamilton@courant.com.
Former Hamden priest named in abuse suit
(New Haven Register (New Haven, CT) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 7--A former Hamden man now living in Arizona has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Hartford, claiming he was sexually abused by a priest 30 years ago.The suit, filed in Superior Court in New Haven by attorney Thomas M. McNamara of the New Haven firm of McNamara & Goodman, claims that the former priest, Louis Paturzo, sexually abused the plaintiff from 1976 to 1978 when he was a student at the former Rev. Daniel J. Barry Junior High School in Hamden.
The suit says that Paturzo, who was a priest at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Hamden, befriended the plaintiff's parents and in late 1976 asked the boy -- then in seventh grade -- to play on a traveling basketball team that he coached.
The New Haven Register is withholding the plaintiff's name because it does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
The suit claims Paturzo "had the proclivity to sexually abuse, sexually exploit and sexually assault minor children," and that the archdiocese and its employees failed to supervise his interaction with minors, failed to investigate and report his suspicious conduct, and failed to inform or warn others of his conduct, among other allegations.
Paturzo has been accused of sexual abuse before and is no longer working as a priest, according to the Rev. John P. Gatzak, spokesman for the archdiocese. Gatzak on Wednesday didn't have any information about where Paturzo is now.
McNamara said the abuse had a "deleterious effect" on the plaintiff's life and that now, at 43, he has "finally realized it was time to stand up for himself and take back what was taken from him."
The fact that the incidents went unreported to authorities at the time was another example of the "we protect our own" mentality, McNamara said. "I've been doing these cases since 1992, and I've never had knowledge of any priest or bishop complying with the mandate of reporting" to police.
But Gatzak said things have changed since the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops passed the charter for the protection of children and young people in 2002. The penalty for being accused of sexual abuse is that one can no longer function as a priest, he said. Priests are mandated to immediately report alleged sexual abuse on the part of other priests to the authorities and the archbishop, he said.
"The church has made remarkable progress" in the protection of young people against such crimes, and is committed to making sure history doesn't repeat itself, Gatzak said.
The archdiocese several years ago paid $22 million to settle sexual abuse claim
Priest's Past Overtakes Him
By Matt Burgard and Maurice Timothy Reidy
Hartford Courant [Connecticut]
May 18, 2002
For almost 30 years, the Rev. Louis Paturzo's secret stayed hidden from the world, driving him, he said, to find redemption in his work in Hartford's poorest neighborhoods.
On Friday, Paturzo resigned from his job at a Hartford middle school after acknowledging two complaints that he fondled adolescent boys in the early 1970s.
Paturzo, best known for his work with troubled youths in the city — a ministry that included mediating between violent street gangs during the lethal drug wars of the early 1990s — said he could not discuss specifics of the allegations.
But he said he has carried with him the guilt and embarrassment of the acts of a sexually confused young man, and the hope that 21 years of working with the city's poor residents will lead to forgiveness.
"When people tell me what a great person I am, I can't help but recoil and shake my head," Paturzo, 54, said in an interview with The Courant. "In many ways, I do these things to seek atonement."
In two separate but similar complaints, Paturzo is accused of groping two adolescent boys in the 1970s when he was serving as a deacon, before his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest.
One complaint was filed anonymously in 1993 by a mother who accused Paturzo of fondling her son in Hamden 17 years earlier. Although the complaint was investigated by state police, it was not proven. However, the Hartford archdiocese sent Paturzo to two institutions for psychiatric evaluation and therapy.
The second allegation was filed in February by a man, now in his 40s, who said he was groped by Paturzo in a Waterbury rectory in 1972. The complainant, a Washington state businessman, has requested a $208,000 settlement from the archdiocese.
Paturzo and a lawyer for the archdiocese both said Friday that the psychiatrists who evaluated Paturzo concluded that he did not pose a threat to young people or the rest of the community.
Paturzo resigned from his part-time job as a peer mediator consultant at Quirk Middle School Friday after two interviews with The Courant about the complaints. The school system accepted his resignation and the Hartford archdiocese is investigating the latest complaint.
John W. Sitarz, an archdiocese lawyer, defended the achdiocese's actions in the mid-1990s."I think it's fair to say that responsible action was taken in response to that anonymous complaint. I can't get into details, but in my experience, it was a very appropriate response," he said.
Sitarz said the archdiocese was not aware from the outset that Paturzo was working at Quirk. When officials learned about it, they were assured he was primarily working with adult interns and was supervised when talking to children.
"The only thing that I heard is that in a given case that might be particularly complex, he will sit down with the intern and the student. It's uncommon, but it does happen," Sitarz said.
Paturzo did not deny the allegations made in the complaints, including the most recent one made by a former choirboy in a Waterbury parish. Instead, he spoke of an "immature" 24-year-old deacon whose "stunted" sexual development led to inappropriate acts.
Paturzo's background focuses attention on yet another long-concealed issue within the Catholic church — namely, how to handle priests whose sexual and emotional immaturity makes them a potential threat to young people.
In the most recent complaint, Paturzo is accused of sneaking the victim, who was then 13 or 14, into his room at the rectory at Sacred Heart Church in Waterbury. Paturzo threw the boy onto his bed and licked and nuzzled his face while reaching for his groin, according to the victim's complaint sent to the archdiocese.
When the victim, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Robert, resisted, Paturzo seemed confused and told the boy to relax, saying they could have fun wrestling and playing, according to the victim's complaint.
In several letters to the Hartford archdiocese, Robert said he felt ashamed for waiting almost 30 years to bring the allegations to light, but felt compelled to act in the midst of the ongoing national church sexual abuse scandal.
Robert has also asked the church to consider offering the monetary settlement for the damages allegedly caused by Paturzo. He said he has managed to live a productive life despite the trauma of his alleged encounter with "Deacon Louie," as he calls Paturzo in his letters.
"The way I was raised as an Irish Catholic, this was a priest. You never said anything against a priest," Robert said. "I feel if I had done something, maybe I could have saved some [other] kids."
Sitarz said Hartford Archbishop Daniel Cronin, who earlier this week agreed to notify state authorities of all sexual abuse allegations against priests, has not decided what action to take if the allegations against Paturzo are confirmed.
"The sad fact is that he's been doing great work," Sitarz said, echoing comments by other city officials and community activists. "But if our policy says ABC has to happen, it will happen."
Robert's complaint came nine years after a similar complaint was lodged against Paturzo, this one in the form of an anonymous letter sent by a woman who saw the priest on the TV news. The woman, who did not identify herself, was alarmed to see that state police were donating a van to support Paturzo's Hartford youth initiatives. She accused the priest of fondling her son in the 1970s while he was assigned to a church in Hamden, according to three law enforcement sources.
State police made inquiries about the letter to Paturzo and the archdiocese, but no further action was taken because the victim could not be identified, sources said.
But the archdiocese took action anyway, sending Paturzo to the Institute of Living in Hartford for short outpatient treatment and an out-of-state institution for five months of inpatient treatment. Stan Wasilewski, a retired Hartford police officer who served on the department's gang task force, said he called the archdiocese after learning of the state police investigation. Wasilewski, who like many of his colleagues on the task force were suspicious of Paturzo's relationships with gang members, said he asked them to remove Paturzo from Hartford.
"This is a guy who should not be working with teenagers, period. The archdiocese and the school district should never have let him take this position. It's outrageous."
In the same time period, Paturzo was transferred to a new church. When Wasilewski learned Paturzo was back in Hartford about a year later, Wasilewski said he called the archdiocese to complain again but was told Paturzo was fit to remain in the city ministry.
Jacqueline Hardy, a Hartford public school spokeswoman, said the district reluctantly accepted Paturzo's resignation Friday.
"It's really a tragedy because of all the tremendous things he has accomplished and contributed to the young people of this city," she said, adding that counselors will be on hand to talk about the priest's resignation when students return to school Monday. "Everyone is really upset. These allegations are really a surprise."
Hardy said the district conducted a thorough background check on Paturzo when he was hired to work at Quirk three years ago. The priest was asked to take the job by school officials who thought he would be ideal for addressing issues of violence and anger management under a federal grant, working out of Quirk's Student and Family Assistance Center. He was brought in to deal with those issues after the school shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado.
Paturzo also works part time as a prison chaplain at three correctional centers for adults in Connecticut while participating in many Hartford community improvement agencies such as the city drug and alcohol commission.
In separate interviews, the downcast, unassuming Paturzo confessed that much of the good work he has done in his 21 years in Hartford has been done with an impulse to right the wrongs of his past.
In the dead of night, "Father Lou," as the Hartford kids call him, was known to leave his apartment to go to the home of a poor Hartford family whose son has been killed in a gang fight. Many times, Paturzo has presided over funerals of young men cut down in the city's relentless and merciless turf wars.
And throughout, whenever Paturzo won yet another accolade for his commitment to the city's youth, he said he often thought of the boys whose lives were damaged by the "boundaries" he crossed all those years ago.
At times, he said, he felt confident that his hard work and devotion to the community had earned him redemption.
"I can say with a clear conscience that in 21 years in Hartford there has never been a kid who could say I behaved immorally or inappropriately toward them," he said. "I'm not the same priest who came to Hartford 21 years ago. I've grown up."
But in recent weeks, he said he has observed with dread the black cloud that now hangs over his church. He has seen the televised images of priests such as John Geoghan of Boston being dragged into court on charges of sexually abusing young boys.
Now Paturzo said he fears the revelations of his past will destroy not only his prospects for continuing to work in the city, but also the fragile relationships he has forged with many vulnerable young people and their families.
"If this was just about me, I'd have no problem letting the secrets out because they've been with me so long, it would be like a relief," he said. "But there are a lot of kids out there who rely on me and trust me. I worry about the damage this will cause."
Thursday, August 27, 2015
DON'T TAKE THE BAIT, WE ARE MUCH BETTER THAN THIS
FROM THE JOURNAL INQUIRER
Some candidates think ‘race card’ is ace up their sleeve
Posted: Thursday, August 27, 2015 11:00 am
“Playing the race
card” describes a practice of exploiting prejudicial attitudes by
blaming transgressions, real or imagined, on someone of another race.
The tactic is primarily used against minority groups, but many
politicians seeking to double-down on attention often succumb to the
race card’s allure.
We are,
unfortunately, seeing the race card’s use by Republican presidential
hopeful Donald Trump, who will say almost anything to gain the
spotlight. Trump’s condemnation of Mexican immigrants is an example of
prejudice being used for what he thinks is personal benefit.
Closer to home, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra played the race card just as bluntly by threatening Gov. Dannel Malloy with repercussions from Latino communities in Connecticut cities for Malloy’s attendance at a public meeting on violence.
That meeting had been called by Luke Bronin, who
formerly worked as an aide for the governor and is the Hartford mayoral
candidate endorsed by the Democratic Town Committee. Bronin is in a
primary with Segarra for the Democratic nomination for mayor.
Segarra avoided responding to Bronin during a recent debate by blaming the governor for Hartford’s problems. And now he again avoids responding to Bronin’s critique of his term in office and tries to shift the blame for Hartford’s problems to state government.
Hartford has problems that admittedly are not solely the fault of the Segarra administration, but the failure to solve at least some of them is surely attributable to the mayor and his time in office.
Closer to home, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra played the race card just as bluntly by threatening Gov. Dannel Malloy with repercussions from Latino communities in Connecticut cities for Malloy’s attendance at a public meeting on violence.
Segarra avoided responding to Bronin during a recent debate by blaming the governor for Hartford’s problems. And now he again avoids responding to Bronin’s critique of his term in office and tries to shift the blame for Hartford’s problems to state government.
Hartford has problems that admittedly are not solely the fault of the Segarra administration, but the failure to solve at least some of them is surely attributable to the mayor and his time in office.
CIVILIANIZE: BEST ROUTE FOR SOME HPD SPOTS?
The City of Hartford is now finding that out the hard way. Approximately 5 months ago , HPD started replacing sworn officers in the HPD Evidence room with civilians. Now, according to HPD sources, at least one of the civilians is being investigated by Internal Affairs for unlawfully removing drugs from the property room.
The theft reportedly took place while drugs were being transported by the civilian employee, unsupervised, from the property room to the State lab for testing and analysis.
It is unclear at this time how many investigations or HPD arrests have been placed in danger after the chain of evidence and integrity have been compromised by the thefts.
No official comment is available from HPD at this time
NO PLACE FOR RACISM, HPD TERMINATES STACHOWITZ
According to sources within the Hartford Police Department, Kamil Stachowitz has been terminated as of today. Stachowitz was the focus of an Internal Affairs complaint after reports of his racist rants at the Foxwood's Casino surfaced earlier this year. You can read the report of that incident here:http://wethepeoplehartford.blogspot.com/2015/05/no-place-for-racist-cops-at-hpd.html.
The IAD report was reviewed by Chief James Rovella and a departmental disciplinary hearing was held. The hearing officer, Captain Achilles Rethis. then submitted his findings to Rovella for his review, Rethis's recommendation was termination for Stachowitz and his conduct.
According to one HPD source, "It was a long process, but the cancer has been removed" referring to Stachowitz and his racist behavior. Stachowitz has been the focus of numerous IAD and citizen complaints
The IAD report was reviewed by Chief James Rovella and a departmental disciplinary hearing was held. The hearing officer, Captain Achilles Rethis. then submitted his findings to Rovella for his review, Rethis's recommendation was termination for Stachowitz and his conduct.
According to one HPD source, "It was a long process, but the cancer has been removed" referring to Stachowitz and his racist behavior. Stachowitz has been the focus of numerous IAD and citizen complaints
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
HARTFORD'S ASHLEY MADISON INQUIRY EXPANDING
After word came out last week regarding the Ashley Madison Cheaters website being hacked, numerous hartford.gov email addresses were in the hacked database. I submitted an FOI request for the access to the City's servers and the e-mails associated with the hartford.gov accounts.
The results are still being researched,but the preliminary results are interesting. At least two of the users come from HPD and have been identified as a retired Lieutenant and a detective. According to sources , the detective may have exchanged as many as 1700 emails through the site. Two other cheaters are reportedly from the Board of Education Administration.
According to sources, the City is now expanding the inquiry to search for activity by Hartford employees to other popular dating websites such as match.com
Much more to come on this, including the e-mails
The results are still being researched,but the preliminary results are interesting. At least two of the users come from HPD and have been identified as a retired Lieutenant and a detective. According to sources , the detective may have exchanged as many as 1700 emails through the site. Two other cheaters are reportedly from the Board of Education Administration.
According to sources, the City is now expanding the inquiry to search for activity by Hartford employees to other popular dating websites such as match.com
Much more to come on this, including the e-mails
HARTFORD FIRE LIEUTENANT PATTERSON ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT ON CAPTAIN
No further details are available at this point. I am awaiting a release from HPD PIO Deputy Chief Brian Foley
Hartford has a zero tolerance policy for workplace violence, which at this point to seems to mean very little when it comes to Patterson's assault. You can read more about Lt Patterson here:http://wethepeoplehartford.blogspot.com/2013/10/hartford-fire-lieutenant-arrested-for.html
HPD STATEMENT ON PATTERSON ARREST :
On August 26, 2015 at approximately 2pm, Mr. Michael Patterson a City of Hartford
Firefighter, turned himself in to the Hartford Police Department pursuant to an
arrest warrant issued for Breach of Peace in the Second Degree. The warrant issuance
resulted following a police investigation into an incident allegedly occurring at a
fire scene on August 14, 2015 at approx. 6pm near 122 West Morningside Street. During
that incident, the accused, employed as a Lieutenant with the Hartford Fire Department
and on duty at the time, is alleged to have engaged the complainant, an on duty Fire
Department Captain, in a physical and verbal altercation. The incident reportedly
occurred in the presence of citizens and Hartford Fire Department personnel. Patterson was taken to HPD Booking, was processed and released on a written promise
to appear in Court, on September 9, 2015. Arrested: Michael Patterson, 45, 253 High Street, Hartford, CT Charge: Breach of Peace in the Second Degree
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
TIME TO STEP UP FOR HARTFORD
I know that there are many of you that read this blog regularly, take the time to comment, and even provide information to expose problems throughout Hartford City Government. I have tried to be a good steward of your trust and I am now calling on your efforts once again to make Hartford a better place.
We are facing a primary for Mayor on September 16th. This will most likely be the most important decision voters will be called upon to make regarding the direction of the City of Hartford that we have had to make in many years.
This decision will not, and should not be made based on any phony assumptions. It can't be made based on ethnicity, gay or straight, or even time of residence in Hartford. It must be based on who has the best chance of moving the City we love forward.
The decision can not be based on the endorsements rolled out to fanfare in front of the cameras, many of them questionable in nature. Endorsements that have left myself and others questioning what was offered to get the words uttered in public, when we know in reality the private thoughts are much different. Endorsements that came with strings attached. Maybe a job for a niece or a spot in the Mayor's Office for a daughter.
Maybe we should be looking back in the archives for Pedro Segarra's Twitter feed to see when he really began "loving" the time he spent with Hartford's residents. When did he really begin attending the numerous community events and consoling violent crime victims. I think you will find that much of his performance began very recently when his handlers told him to start acting and looking like a Mayor.
It wasn't happening five years ago, not even 3 years ago, and not even a year ago.
When did Segarra come to the realization that as a Gay Mayor, he should probably support the gay community. For the first time in years , Segarra has spearheaded not one, but two Gay Pride Festivals in Hartford. This after several years without any annual recognition. Was it because his handlers pointed out to him that roughly 10% of the population identifies as LGBT , and that equates to a substantial voting block. Where is the shelter for gay youth who become homeless when their families throw them out after they come out publicly. Many cities, without a gay Mayor, have shown the compassion and shelter these at risk youth. When was the last time the LGBT Commission met in Hartford on a regular basis? The Mayor appoints the Commission's members, is the Commission even up to full strength?
Did he decide to console the homicide victim's families before he made the decision to cut funding for the Hartford Police Department and decimate staffing levels for several years, or was it after he was called out for a skyrocketing homicide rate, the highest to this date of any New England City.
When did Pedro Segarra realize his love and his connections to Hartford's residents and neighborhoods? Was it while he was swilling champagne and eating caviar on the taxpayers dollar at Max Downtown with his staff and confidants?. When did Segarra gain his appreciation for the people of Hartford? Was it every night he pushes the remote to open the iron gates of his private residence on Prospect Ave? Is that when he appreciates Hartford and its residents when he realizes he is not going into a violent neighborhood riddled with gunfire and violence?
Does he appreciate Hartford's resident's more when he realizes he isn't going to bed hungry for a lack of food in the refrigerator, like so many of the resident's he says he cares so much about? Does he appreciate Hartford more when he realizes he can turn on the lights in the kitchen of his gated home and not see cockroaches or rats scurrying in the sudden bright light.
I know Pedro's cronies appreciate him more when he cuts the dirty deals for them. I'm sure Saundra Kee-Borges appreciates him every time she looks at her checking account and sees the proceeds of the obnoxious retirement deal Segarra cut for her. A deal that delivered a hefty paycheck to her of probably 10 times the annual salary of many Hartford resident's.
The list could go on and on, but I hope you can realize why Pedro Segarra is the wrong choice to move Hartford forward. More of the mismanagement and incompetence is a future Hartford can not survive.
I would ask that you watch the television advertisement below. If after watching it, you feel the same sincerity of the message Luke Bronin delivers, don't be shy about it. Tell your friends, tell your co-workers, tell your relatives, tell the people in the grocery store. Tell anyone willing to listen why Luke Bronin is the right choice for Hartford. Tell 5 people why Luke is the correct, genuine choice. And then ask them to tell 5 people more. It is time we do the right thing for the City we love.
This decision will not, and should not be made based on any phony assumptions. It can't be made based on ethnicity, gay or straight, or even time of residence in Hartford. It must be based on who has the best chance of moving the City we love forward.
The decision can not be based on the endorsements rolled out to fanfare in front of the cameras, many of them questionable in nature. Endorsements that have left myself and others questioning what was offered to get the words uttered in public, when we know in reality the private thoughts are much different. Endorsements that came with strings attached. Maybe a job for a niece or a spot in the Mayor's Office for a daughter.
Maybe we should be looking back in the archives for Pedro Segarra's Twitter feed to see when he really began "loving" the time he spent with Hartford's residents. When did he really begin attending the numerous community events and consoling violent crime victims. I think you will find that much of his performance began very recently when his handlers told him to start acting and looking like a Mayor.
It wasn't happening five years ago, not even 3 years ago, and not even a year ago.
When did Segarra come to the realization that as a Gay Mayor, he should probably support the gay community. For the first time in years , Segarra has spearheaded not one, but two Gay Pride Festivals in Hartford. This after several years without any annual recognition. Was it because his handlers pointed out to him that roughly 10% of the population identifies as LGBT , and that equates to a substantial voting block. Where is the shelter for gay youth who become homeless when their families throw them out after they come out publicly. Many cities, without a gay Mayor, have shown the compassion and shelter these at risk youth. When was the last time the LGBT Commission met in Hartford on a regular basis? The Mayor appoints the Commission's members, is the Commission even up to full strength?
Did he decide to console the homicide victim's families before he made the decision to cut funding for the Hartford Police Department and decimate staffing levels for several years, or was it after he was called out for a skyrocketing homicide rate, the highest to this date of any New England City.
When did Pedro Segarra realize his love and his connections to Hartford's residents and neighborhoods? Was it while he was swilling champagne and eating caviar on the taxpayers dollar at Max Downtown with his staff and confidants?. When did Segarra gain his appreciation for the people of Hartford? Was it every night he pushes the remote to open the iron gates of his private residence on Prospect Ave? Is that when he appreciates Hartford and its residents when he realizes he is not going into a violent neighborhood riddled with gunfire and violence?
Does he appreciate Hartford's resident's more when he realizes he isn't going to bed hungry for a lack of food in the refrigerator, like so many of the resident's he says he cares so much about? Does he appreciate Hartford more when he realizes he can turn on the lights in the kitchen of his gated home and not see cockroaches or rats scurrying in the sudden bright light.
I know Pedro's cronies appreciate him more when he cuts the dirty deals for them. I'm sure Saundra Kee-Borges appreciates him every time she looks at her checking account and sees the proceeds of the obnoxious retirement deal Segarra cut for her. A deal that delivered a hefty paycheck to her of probably 10 times the annual salary of many Hartford resident's.
The list could go on and on, but I hope you can realize why Pedro Segarra is the wrong choice to move Hartford forward. More of the mismanagement and incompetence is a future Hartford can not survive.
I would ask that you watch the television advertisement below. If after watching it, you feel the same sincerity of the message Luke Bronin delivers, don't be shy about it. Tell your friends, tell your co-workers, tell your relatives, tell the people in the grocery store. Tell anyone willing to listen why Luke Bronin is the right choice for Hartford. Tell 5 people why Luke is the correct, genuine choice. And then ask them to tell 5 people more. It is time we do the right thing for the City we love.
Monday, August 24, 2015
SEGARRA:BRONIN DOESN'T HAVE THE EXPERIENCE TO BE MAYOR
That made me wonder, what was Segarra's experience to qualify to become Mayor? If my recollection serves me, Pedro Segarra was a bankrupt lawyer who was also being investigated by the Lawyers Statewide Grievance Committee for a complaint of fleeceing his former lover and client, John Mendez of over $100,000, all documented. To see the documentation for the Segarra bankruptcy filing, click here http://wethepeoplehartford.blogspot.com/2015/08/who-is-peter-segarra.html
Is that really the experience we want from a Mayoral candidate? Does a bankruptcy, financial mismanagement and ethics violations qualify a candidate to be a good Mayor?
I personally think that Luke Bronin's work experience, including his militaryexperience, time in the Malloy Administration and time with the Obama Administration carries a lot more weight than Pedro Segarra's record of ripping people off. I am not sure how Segarra feels he has any credibility when he has to face some of the same people he saddled with debts that he walked away from his financial reponsibility and filed bankruptcy.
Yes, I guess experience does matter, and Pedro Segarra's experience is all bad, but then again it may explain an awful lot when we look at Hartford's budget deficits. Mayor Segarra is using the experience from his personal life to run Hartford the same way. Can bankruptcy be far off for our City?