Everyone you talk to these days has an idea or a solution for Hartford's budget mess. Where have they been for the last 15 or 20 years?
It just seems sad that we finally have a Mayor ( and maybe a City Council) with the ability to lead , only to see them being sucked into the City Hall quicksand pit. It must seem like an almost impossible task for Mayor Luke Bronin to grab that branch at the edge of the pit to pull himself out.
The unions won't throw him a lifeline, the Connecticut legislature is counting the minutes until he goes under, even Bronin's former boss and mentor Governor Dannel Malloy is grasping for a branch at the edge of a much larger quicksand pit of his own.
So if Mayor Bronin is lucky enough to grab that branch and pull himself out, where do we go? Back to the beginning is probably a good start. The legislative solution should be the last resort. We all know that politicians, especially on the State level , get elected through Union support. They provide donors and money. They provide free labor in the form of volunteers for phone banking, door knocking and getting out the election day vote. No politician in their right mind will take on a bill to chop the Unions off at the knees.
I think that was more hype and propaganda , rather than reality, but the Union's stormed the Capitol I'm force this week and sent a clear message to legislators. "If you like your jobs, then don't mess with ours". Misinformation can do wonders when you have an agenda to move forward..
But on the flip side of that coin, Hartford's Unions can not and should not be made out to be the bad guys. Hartford's Unions , whether it be Police, Fire or City Hall workers through HMEA ,or DPW through 1716 can not set their own collective bargaining agreements. They are negotiated by the both the Unions and the City and ultimately approved by a vote of the City Council.
The benefits and pensions being paid out now were approved by those same politicians that now seem to have been caught off guard by the liabilities and wonder how this ever happened.
Hartford's Unions definitely need to be part of the potential solution, but can not be the entire solution. Do we need to look at benefits and bring them into line with both the City's sustainable future budget requirements. Absolutely. But there is so much more that we need to look at. Bringing fiscal responsibility back to Hartford Government is a necessity for our survival . I think Luke Bronin has the capacity to make that happen, along with the team he is surrounding himself with, but I think he needs to invite a few more players to the table.
Say what you want about our City Treasurer , but I think he has a vital role to play in getting us back on a sustainable foundation. Some of the suggestions on behalf of Hartford's Pension Commission can really mean the difference between turning this ship around or continuing toward the iceberg, full steam ahead.
As an example, Hartford's Batterson Park, located in Farmington, is a non-producing asset which could be developed into a constant revenue generator with potential money returned to both the Pension fund and the General Fund. Apparently there are no deed restrictions that prohibit a development use for the parcel.
No one solution is going to be the magic bullet for Hartford's problem, but by keeping an open mind and listening to all ideas, the fiscal fix might just be in reach and not require the Legislatures help or approval.
But all ideas need to be treated with respect and the attention to run them down and find options that just might work. Time is critical, but we shouldn't rush into options that just bog us down in more criticism and unproductive rhetoric. Sit Hartford's Unions down and close the door and hammer out productive arrangements. We don't need the legislature to mandate that..Put out an RFP for developers for Batterson Park and start moving on that. The list could go on and on, but we need to start and be willing to trust ourselves to get it done
The voters trusted in Hartford's elected officials when they filled in the bubbles on their ballots on Election Day and now Hartford's elected officials need to show that they are worthy of that trust by rising to the occasion and making the difficult decisions we know they can make to return Hartford to a solid footing.
Educate the public as to what is going on and what the desired results are that we hope for. Put an end to the misinformation and rumors. Reassure retirees that served the City of Hartford faithfully over the years that their pensions are safe. We must reassure current employees that the steps that are being taken now are to ensure that their pensions will still be viable after they complete their service to our City.
If Hartford's Union's are treated with respect and are valued as part of the solution , the thoughts of "Union busting" should be laid to rest. History has shown that level of respect has not always been there. Remember a few short years ago when all of the bargaining units were called in to be part of a budget solution. They gave back with furlough days and concessions, only to see a $20,000 raise given to Mayor Segarra's Chief of Staff at the time. That hardly built any confidence in City Hall and that is still remembered by many at this time.
But first and foremost, we need to appreciate the efforts of our Mayor and his team he has assembled and the impossible task they accepted. If nothing else, they have had the courage to tackle the issues that previous administrations have ignored for years. We may not agree , or even support everything they are doing, but at least they are doing it. This needs to be a total team effort, and we need to have confidence that good will prevail and the egos will be set aside for the betterment of our City.
There is also quite a bit of useful information at Hartford.gov on the Treasurer's page that I just found tonight, scroll down to the bottom of the page to "Our latest News" there are some interesting documents and information there http://treasurer.hartford.gov/
To read Treasurer's Cloud testimony before the Legislature's Finance Committee , click here:
Well said, Bronin can not play executioner. He needs to get the unions involved and negotiate in good faith, otherwise we all can end up with a nasty Mexican stand off.
ReplyDeleteThe esteemed city treasurer has always had a keen interest in developing that site. The state has provided brownfield funds and an RFQ was put out for real estate development services in 2013. What ever happened?
ReplyDeleteHere is the RFQ:https://www.cedas.org/Customer-Content/WWW/News/PDFs/RFQ_LandinFarmington.pdf
I applaude the time you spent composing this thoughtful position. I was a voice of concern back in the1990s when I once asked Pat Mathews why Hartford was producing so many school bonds to rebuild schools. We have spent about 1 billion in rebuilds and the question is often repeated why the test scores have not risen. Her response was that these bonds were not stressful on the economics and operations of government and I am afraid she was mistaken with her cavaliers response. In my opinion, the problem was never correctly addressed. It is not the schools or quality of teachers. Leadership will always use the quest for more money spent on schools because it sells with the voter. And so repeating generations of council shoved more school bonds down our gullets as a way to get reelected. And the test scores never improved.
ReplyDeleteI am 100% behind Bronin's efforts to address the fiscal problems. And I agree that the solution will be multi pronged. One point that I would also like to stress is for Mayor Bronin to live up to his call to end business as usual. New ways of planning and thinking must be considered. I hope his department heads have taken this to task especially Public Works. I won't yap about the thousands of dollars wasted on projects that were ill planned and now need to be reversed. I have spoken here about them and the mayor knows about them and soon, the city of Hartford will know. The point I am making is that we can't only give lip service to how projects are conceived and implemented. I am fearful however, that business as usual will continue and there will continue to be waste in government.
Hartford bleeding? Dump Linda Bayer, get rid of her, send her back to where she came from. Not only Linda Bayer is a waste of money, but Linda and her fantasies cost Hartford lots of money that we simply don't have.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anonymous at 7:15AM. All we hear is that Hartford is bleeding, that the boat is sinking. If this is true, stop talking, take action. Saying goodbye to Linda "headaches" Bayer will be the right remedy. Saying goodbye to six of the nine council members' assistants will be another good remedy. We need action, immediate action please.
ReplyDeleteIs the Hartford Inmates Help Decide How City Spends $1.25 Million another Linda Bayer "project"?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of boats.....why don't we cut the marine unit of the HPD? Why do they need a boat? Is there that much crime on the river? It seems to me we could save a considerable amount of money AND put those officers back on the streets where they belong. I've suggested this before. You never let the post go through. Why is that?
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that the Marine Units equipment has come from military surplus or through some good grant writing, even for the vehicles acquired to pull the boats. For the size of the river that runs through our City , it would be foolish to not be prepared for rescues and events that occur on the river. Everything should be on the table, but there are plenty of other cuts that should come first.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that the Marine Units equipment has come from military surplus or through some good grant writing, even for the vehicles acquired to pull the boats. For the size of the river that runs through our City , it would be foolish to not be prepared for rescues and events that occur on the river. Everything should be on the table, but there are plenty of other cuts that should come first.
ReplyDeleteThey're riding up and down using gas for nothing. Waste
DeleteWe have spent about 1 billion in rebuilds and the question is often repeated why the test scores have not risen.
ReplyDelete---------------------------------
The schools are not the City's fault. There is nothing the City can do to fix them. The State, if it had any concern for the City or the kids herein would operate "education" the way they handle the food for many Hartfordite; vouchers. Can we imagine how crumby our food stores would be, and how much of a burden on the public fisc if the government ran them? And, if the government required you to live in a particular district to attend the Public Nutritional System's "local" market there?
Linda bayer probably did the tax paperwork on bronins pad. She is impossible to talk with and just an angry mean person. Ask anyone at city hall.
ReplyDeleteShe is not on anyones xmas card list.
Why is the Mayor still hiring people in his department. And leftover political hacks from New Haven no less
ReplyDeleteHartford Shenanigans, pay your friends, your wife"s friends and campaign contributors has sunk many politicians seeking higher office, using Hartford Tax Payers & the lowest paid city employees, who actually work, as their steps. Luke is NO better, look at the "key appointments... Entitlement & Greed WILL SINK HIM TOO!
ReplyDeleteNo Governor for you Bronin, go back to Greenich & play polo at your Country Club, your done. You lied, decieved and faked Hartford Voters out.
Bronin stared out by waving the white flag and running to Daddy Govenor, help us, help us... Weak, Weak, Weak.
6:17PM
ReplyDeleteWho now?
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? HOPEFULLY NOT GOING TO HELL. EVERYTHING SAME OLD SAME OLD. SAME CORRUPT POLITICIANS JUST WEARING DIFFERENT CLOTHES. NOTHING CHANGED.
ReplyDelete@6:45
ReplyDeleteUnion Troll #57. We heard it already. And your opinion lacks intelligent comment.
Kevin,Why don't you ,Malloy ,Bronin and every other politician address the REAL ISSUE that's taking every city down in this state. OUR DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES DISHES OUT A LITTLE UNDER "3 BILLION ". DOLLARS A YEAR TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO INTENTION OF BEING INDEPENDENT OF OTHER PEOPLES MONEY.......ALMOST 3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!!!!!! WHY ARE YOU NOT TALKING ABOUT IT ????? Kevin ,I know and you know there is at least 30% abuse by "free loaders" in this state,why don't you advise Bronin to tell Malloy to go retrieve it???? That would amount to the 900 million Malloy says he needs next year,wouldn't it??? Enough is enough ,Prime minister Margaret Thatcher said it best, "eventually you run out of other people's money". Kevin,I can't believe your blind to this states real problem. I SEE IT EVERY TIME I DRIVE BY HARTFORDS PARKS FILLED WITH ABLE BODIED PEOPLE WHO MADE POOR CHOICES,,,I PAY FOR THEIR RENT,DEBIT CARDS,LOTTO,SMOKES,DRUGS AND BOOZE,,YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO ASK FOR MORE!!!!! BEFORE YOU GIVE ME SOME BLEEDING HEART LIBERAL EXCUSE,,,THINK ABOUT WHAT ALL THOSE IMMIGRANTS WHO WENT WITHOUT SOCIAL SERVICES LESS THAN HUNDRED YEARS DID.......THEY WORKED AND TOOK CARE OF THEIR OWN!!!!!!
ReplyDelete9:07PM
ReplyDeleteI am not saying your points are not valid, but many of the people helped by those programs really do need them, I am not about to judge someone addicted to alcohol or drugs or persons with mental health issues or actual medical impairments nor would I want to be the person that is the deciding factor on who sinks and who is kept afloat. As I have said here before, I do have a real problem with the dollars we designate for foreign aid, taking money away from our own Country where it should be spent first. The sad part is that much of the money that we send outside of our country goes to governments and people that would jut as soon see us all dead. We can let American seniors and veterans who built this country go without food, housing and proper healthcare, but we can send Billions of dollars to Iraq and other countries? It just sounds immoral to me
8:15PM
ReplyDeleteI hope you are wrong but only time will tell. As long as there are still 9 Council assistants, I am not convinced that anything will change. It is a relatively small item, but overall very symbolic if things are going to change. The comments earlier today about the job bank for politically connected Council people is also very disheartening , if true. These things seem to expose themselves very quickly when good people are paying attention and willing to speak up. So please keep an open mind, but keep paying attention also. Time will tell the real story if our trust was well placed or abused
8:15PM
ReplyDeleteI hope you are wrong but only time will tell. As long as there are still 9 Council assistants, I am not convinced that anything will change. It is a relatively small item, but overall very symbolic if things are going to change. The comments earlier today about the job bank for politically connected Council people is also very disheartening , if true. These things seem to expose themselves very quickly when good people are paying attention and willing to speak up. So please keep an open mind, but keep paying attention also. Time will tell the real story if our trust was well placed or abused
Peter Brush...no amount of rebuilding schools will help raise the test scores or the graduation rate. The answer lies in the famous book called The Bell Curve by Charles Murray. 80% of who we are is genetic and the rest is environmental.The kids in Hartford seem to be genetically inferior and you cannot make a kid with a bus driverIQ a college professor by building new schools.The parents of Hartford's kids would be better off trying to mate their kids with high IQ kids elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteLuke I. Know you read this blog every day. Wake up and smell the coffee,SB464 is DOA. Ask Rifkin to draft an amended bill to put in place a real oversight board bereft of politicians.
ReplyDeleteAsk about the dormitory debacle that has the West End in an uproar. Luke"s wife the zoning commission, worked on this fake out zoning with the developer, yes who happens to be Luke & Sara's wife"s friend. There will be no dorms, just a nicely deveveloped apartment complex. Yes the West End, you got bamboozled as well.
ReplyDeleteLuke & Sara are Pedro & Charlie all over again. The spouse is in charge; Little people with BIG egos & bigger lies, didn't work last time and will be catastrophic this time.
This Bronin duo has state political corrupt machine in their cabinent.
@6:49
ReplyDeleteUnion Troll Number 58
Good morning, did you pay your dues yet?
I support Mayor Luke Bronin. He has a very difficult road to drive. However, if you listen to what he says he is on the correct interstate. It takes a dedicated Mayor to travel on bumpy roads, streets, avenues, courts and boulevards in the Capitol City. Sara Bronin is nationally recognized for her work in Plaining and Zoning. Read the Hartford Planning and Zoning document that she prepared. It is an outstanding document.
ReplyDeleteRead the Hartford Planning and Zoning document that she prepared. It is an outstanding document.
ReplyDelete----------------------
They both strike me as smart and decent folks. It is "planning" and district education that has ruined all of our urban centers; that, and mass immigration of slow-to-assimilate masses. You may know that Hartford, Ct. was one of the first areas in the nation to implement the now ubiquitous (segregation) land-use control technique known as zoning.
I wish the Mayor well in trying to control/reduce the spending side of the budget ledger as he is going to have to deal with decreasing revenue from the State. Any improvement in land-use regulation will be strictly marginal as the City adjusts to long-term penury.
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In the early 1900s, leaders of West Hartford sought to implement zoning restrictions. West Hartford was a farming town with nearly as many cows as people and was hopeful of becoming a larger residential suburb for workers from the city of Hartford to escape to. (Butterworth 23). Intended or not, there were repercussions that occurred due to the Zoning Act of 1924. Today, we still see similar statistics, which leads us to believe there could be a correlation between zoning and racial segregation. - See more at: http://commons.trincoll.edu/cssp/2013/10/15/zoning/#sthash.0cbYHkCM.dpuf
12;26am
ReplyDeleteGenetically inferior? I would like to see the evidence to support that. I do think it is much more likely the home and parenting environment plays a much more critical role. When was the last time you heard a child, whether in Hartford or elsewhere, talk about their "flash cards" for studying their multiplication tables or the latest book they read from the "book of the month club", These are the things our parents did for us as children. That is part of the obligation parents assume when they make a decision to bring a human life into the world. I was also lucky to be raised with a strong mother in the house who was there everyday when we got home from school to make sure the focus was on our schoolwork and homework before we ran outside to play. I was also very fortunate to have a father that worked many nights until 10 or 11 o"clock to provide for a stable home environment for us to grow up in. We also functioned as a family, dinner was on the table every evening at 5PM and we sat as a family, our grandparents played a huge role in defining our respect and personalities. And our neighbors were always ready to step in to provide corrections or keep us on track. And yes we did have the obligatory picket fence in the front yard surrounding my mothers rose garden. I don't apologize or make excuses for any of that, but genetically superior or inferior, I don't buy it. It comes down to upbringing and raising children properly with strong positive influences in their lives to make a major difference and that is what we need to get back to if we are going to change our destiny.
Kevin, this faux "Charles Murry' is just a racist fool. I have been very critical of historical trends in the urban community and the weakness of family child development. But I do not subscribe to racial inferiority. We went through this decades ago from a scientist who tried to draw this inference. It doesn't exist. But I will repeat that test scores will never improve until changes are made in family structure. And the hard questions or unasked questions pertain to inter-generation of adolescent girls becoming pregnant and if this is repeated within the family and multiplied by millions around the country, you get what we got. At some point, society or the dominant culture needs to stop being blamed. The blame must originate from within the community. The government pumped hundreds of millions if not, billions, to try to address the conditions but has made little progress.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the urban reverends have been particularly helpful unless and until they identify the main culprit which is that babies continue having babies. And it doesn't help to have political pro-life forces decrying family planning and abortion as alternatives to the socioeconomic mess. The conservative republican and evangelical influence has been devastating on the urban community with this misplaced moralism.
Brookman you should stop "virtue signaling" until you have done your due diligence on IQ differences among races. 12:26 is exactly right and it is backed by hard science that has been replicated. If you have the brain to study this "uncomfortable truth" it explains a lot about the epic failures of inner city education in this country over the last fifty years. We could throw any amount of money we want at this problem and it would not make a difference. Study Charles Murray if you have the guts.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
ReplyDeletePeople have been calling Charles Murray a racist for decades, yet no scientist has been able to refute his scientific, reproducible findings with any kind of sound scientific process. The people who ignore Murrays work have doomed the black community into a permanent underclass while enslaving working folks with the forced redistribution of their incomes. How's it workin for ya? Oh, now you want to know who's behind it? ZIONISTS who have forced their "cultural Marxism" on this country for almost a century. Is it just a coincidence that Zionists control the media, banking, politics, justice, and education in this country. The Zionists have the black man right where they want them, voting Democrat, permanently dependent, and a thorn in the foot of the whites.
ReplyDelete@3:13 and 2:17
ReplyDeleteI know, April Fool.
5:18--Who is the real fool? He who believes the narrative of the brainwashed masses? Or the sceptic who challenges the Zionist narrative of the evil white patricarchy and sees it for what it is. Pure evil aimed at the extinction of the white man to create a large brown underclass with low IQa who can easily be controlled by one Zionist led world government.
ReplyDeleteFor everyone e commenting on Charles Murry, he has written about the world he knows not, genetics. He is not a geneticist and anyone using him as your fall to guy must be a dumb as a doorknob. Murry is so far to he right that he falls of the right side of the grant. He is irrelevant and doesn't deserve commenting on. I'm done.
ReplyDelete"Graft" not "Grant"
ReplyDeleteLook how frightened people are of Murray's uncomfortable truth. That what you cannot speak of is what really controls you.
ReplyDelete@7:15
ReplyDeleteIt's not fear to criticize someone using facts. Murray isn't a geneticist. That's fact. You can try to dodge that fact with patronizing blather about "what controls you", but the fact remains.
So during the Dark Ages when Europeans lived like cavemen an didn't know anything an the Moors went into Italy an Spain an recivilized them were they racially an genetically superior to those Europeans?? Funny how some of you idiots come up with this BS propaganda to push your racist agendas smh!!!
ReplyDelete@7:15 At a very young age, Murry burned a cross on a nearby hill. He has always been filled with hate and he will always attract the creepy lunatic fringe. You are that person. I don't fear freaks like you. Not at all. You probably suffer from a lack of early maternal love. Go bCk to your home under a rock along with other reptiles.
ReplyDeleteMurray put the truth out decades ago...most have ignored his thesis...how's it workin for ya in the inner cities...blacks have lost more ground when solutions could have been implemented. To ignore the central issue with such an immense problem is childish...but what is to be expected from a group with an average IQ of 80?
ReplyDeleteMurray is a social scientist. In "The Bell Curve" he wasn't advocating a particular social policy, but attempting to describe society, to understand it. He might be wrong, in the sense of mistaken, but science, per se, isn't immoral.
ReplyDeleteThe question of group iq isn't (most) important for our purposes. Let's put Sheff v. O'Neil aside, if we can't do entirely away with it. I think we can all agree that the Hartford Public Schools are rotten. It is a crime that we run our kids through them generation after generation, and accept the results both for the kids and for society.
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Herrnstein and Murray's central argument is that human intelligence is substantially influenced by both inherited and environmental factors and is a better predictor of many personal dynamics, including financial income, job performance, birth out of wedlock, and involvement in crime than are an individual's parental socioeconomic status, or education level. They also argue that those with high intelligence, the "cognitive elite", are becoming separated from those of average and below-average intelligence.
Tell the whole truth Brush....Murray proved, and its has been scientifically replicated, that 80% of human intelligence traits are inherited.
ReplyDeleteHow could the council member who is employed at the MDC vote for the mayor's proposal?? Last time I checked the MDC had a union also. So I guess that council member is willing to screw his own pension and the pensions of fellow workers at the MDC for a slice of pie served by Bronin? Now that is what I call a real piece of s***!!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure anyone has actually voted for the proposal.
ReplyDeleteIt was voted on by the Council to refer it to the Operations Management and Budget Committee, which is standard procedure, but it is also probably a stall tactic by the Council to avoid taking a stand on the Bill. By the time it actually gets to the OMB Committee it will probably already be DOA in the Legislature gauging by the current support at the Capitol. This is politics pure and simple, which is exactly why no politician should be involved in decision making on an oversight board or Financial Sustainability Commission or whatever we choose to call it
Kevin, fair response but someone must take the lead and since the mayor is the de facto leader, why not him? He lives or dies by the decisions that are made. It is his budget. It is his to call. As far as someone working for MDC, if he has sided with the mayor, then it shows good judgement. Whether his position was obtained by deal making, that is another issue. Lastly, that who,e "Murry" junk is better left untesponded to. The person commenting only wants attention. He is not adding to the dialogue here.
ReplyDeleteYou call that good judement. You should get your head examined
DeleteI am not sure how we got onto Murray, especially on a posting about the budget. I have not allowed the majority of comments to go through because we need to work on uniting our City, not dividing along racial differences. I have not heard of Charles Murray until yesterday and have not seen any solid proof of his "theories". I know I am comparing apples to oranges, but it is like saying a dog breed is bad because of genetics. It is more about upbringing that makes the dog bad than anything else. Enough is enough already on Murray, please focus on the real problems and solutions
ReplyDeleteIt is his budget. It is his to call.
ReplyDelete------------------------------------
Sec. 2. - Powers of the council.
The council shall have the power:
(c)To adopt the capital and operating budget of the city, as provided in this Charter
https://www.municode.com/library/ct/hartford/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTICHHACO_CHIVTHCOCOCO
Mr Brush it, it is my opinion. The mayor is the top dog. It is his too lose.. If he was legally within his job description, he wouldn't need a special writ of the legislature, IN MY OPINION.
ReplyDeleteAnd Kevin, you need only to delete crap comments. Take control stop yappin about it.
Budget crisis? What budget crisis? I haven't seen the mayor and city council telling any of the salaried assistants around to go.
ReplyDeleteWas having dinner at Salute earlier and i ran into an official from city hall. I was told every city council member will get raises every year for the next 4 years? Is this true??? Bronin wants to reduce pensions and raise our health insurance cost but handing out raises at city hall. How do you explain that?? Kevin please find out exactly the amount of raises for each member. Thankyou
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen Bronin's paycheck to verify he gave back the raise like he said he'd do?
ReplyDeleteIt is easy enough to verify. I have no reason to believe it is not true, but right about now I think he is earning every penny of his paycheck. It is too bad we can't go back to Pedro Segarra, the previous Council and the "acting" Finance Director to request refunds for the hundreds of thousands of dollars we paid them in salaries to get us into this mess.
ReplyDeleteSenior Brookman, I believe you didn't answer the question @12:29 posed. He didn't ask about Bronin. I happen to agree that the mayor is earning his keep. But the question was concerning the city council; all nine seasts and let us not forget, this is a part time gig. If in fact council will be receiving these raises, then we can draw some inferences that the search for savings becomes a bit disingenuous if it comes on the backs of the lower wage city employee. And believe me, I have been very critical of union demands but if leadership is to be excluded from this belt tightening, then it all becomes a major farce. Can you find out the anticipated salary increases that the commenter asked? Grasis.
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of talk and rumor going around about City Council raises. So far I have found no one that can confirm this. Any increase would have to go before the Council and be reflected in the budget. At this time, I think any increase would be political suicide for any politician advocating for that when the City is talking about layoffs and massive budget cuts. They do seem reluctant to touch their own budget though and push for any cuts to their staff. It will be interesting though as the Mayor is apparently calling for 30% cuts to most departments, Will the Council lead the charge and come up with 30% in cuts to their own budget if they are going to lead by example?
ReplyDeleteLet them raise salaries. Let them eat cakes. Business as usual in Hartford.
ReplyDeleteSame old, same old, nothing change
DeleteThe unions state an city employees need to all shut up an sit down you cannot get blood from a stone there is no money if they don't take this deal right now an the city files bankruptcy that means all these big pensions an benefits will be cut in half which also means police and firemen will be working for peanuts an God forbid if they ever privatize police an fire then you will really see things go to sh#t city an state employees have rode the gravy train long enough now it's time to pay the piper!!!
ReplyDeleteThere's a rumor around town that many city employees are making salaries of well over $100,000.00 a year each, in addition to some great benefits.
ReplyDeleteNot a rumor at all, very true
ReplyDeleteWhy not list all the $100k and higher earners
DeleteWhile we're waiting on the verification of Bronin's paycheck, he upped the salary of the new communications director to $95,000 from $80,000 he was paying his first one, who only lasted 3 months. Guess the sacrifices don't extend to him, only the unions and retirees. Someone tell me again, what's the difference between Bronin and his predecessors and/or City Council?
ReplyDeleteBRONIN GOES DOWN IN FLAMES!!!!!! I don't know who Luke is getting his Hartford advice from but they should be fired before they completely destroy him. Who in their right mind would take on the city employee unions without council support? Makes no sense around here, the amount of Bronins political capital already destroyed is epic, he should resign. He has doomed himself to be a figurehead only, don't worry his boss the egomanicial Malloy will never allow him to put Hartford into bankrupt status. I knew Bronin was a joke when Ms. Montanez ended up his chief of staff. That woman has a new job/scheme every couple of years around here. I bet Luke doesent know about her involvement with Shawn Eddy, a con man and once the biggest coke dealer in Hartford.
ReplyDeleteSPENDING SPENDING AND EVEN MORE SPENDING. NONSTOP SPENDING. LIKE DRUNKEN SAILORS. BOTH THE MAYOR AND THE CITY COUNCIL. THEY WILL SACRIFICE NOTHING THEMSELVES. THEY WILL DEMAND SACRIFICE FROM US THE TAXPAYERS.
ReplyDeleteIn four months into a four year gig, B&S have managed to massively debase their political capital.Their purposeful lack of inclusiveness and sneaky ways among other things has diminished whatever political integrity they have left. Having a communications Director depart company in less than four months reveals major cracks on B&S approach on doing business.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder how many Directors/Petrify Staff are getting their "to do list" from non-elected entities.