And yes, at his point it is Bronin's Stadium Authority, he owns it, he can no longer blame it on the Segarra Administration. Mayor Bronin has refused to make any changes or hold the Hartford Stadium Authority or others at City Hall accountable. Even one of his catch words throughout the campaign was "accountability", which he promised to bring to City Hall if elected.
Last week the big issue was the lack of insurance on the property. Now it appears that insurance may actually be irrelevant for losses.
According to sources, there is no fire protection operating at the stadium. The sprinklers are not operational and there is no monitored fire alarm functioning for the property. Again, according to sources , there was no notification of this made to Traveler's Insurance and no rider was obtained to cover the City from the lack of fire protection .
The "builders risk policy "would have covered the City during construction, but once Mayor Bronin threw Centerplan and DONO,LLC off the project, that policy was no longer in effect and the City had to scramble to obtain conventional property insurance.
Now you would think Darryl Hill, who is currently the City's Chief Operating Officer (COO) and also a member of the Stadium Authority would have set up a check list of things that needed to be done to protect the City's interests in this $63 million dollar plus project.
But, this being Hartford , and accountability in very low demand insurance and fire protection were never thought of.
At least not thought of by the brain trust at City Hall and the HSA. But at least someone is thinking about protecting Hartford and its residents on this investment.
The Hartford Fire Department and the Hartford Fire Marshall has mandated that a "fire watch" be conducted 24/7 until the Life Safety Fire Alarm systems are operational and on line. This would be done to any private business owner or property owner required to have a fire alarm, so the City of Hartford and the HSA is not, and should not, be exempted.
The fire watch consists of three Hartford firefighters on overtime , a supervisor and two firefighters, around the clock at the Stadium. The cost of the coverage will rise into the thousands of dollars, and it is unclear at this point who will foot the bill. I would think it will eventually be the City of Hartford, since the fire watch was not required while Centerplan was actively involved in construction and the builders risk policy covered them. It was a result of the City's actions (Mayor Bronin's termination of Centerplan ) that created the issue.
Once again, it is inexcusable and unconscionable that such a body (the HSA)of failed members be allowed to remain in place and jeopardize this project even more. What else is there to still come out?
Below is the Hartford Fire Department overtime or Private Duty listing for this week showing the required hours and we are coming up on a holiday period which will increase the hourly rate even more.
Thank you I. Charles Matthews for your continued leadership
44 comments:
Can't pin this one on prior administration. Based on how Bronin touted new development director you'd think the 1st thing Fitzpatrick would have done was pull files on largest projects and make sure all was in order. Including insurance.
Mayor Bronin, tell us how you and your administration are doing on accountability so far. Because not looking so good right now. When might we see it?
Ditto - With all the fumbles at DD it seems Mr. Fitzpatrick won't last a full year.
One would expect there to be files, but maybe there weren't.....
Donna, the only files this crew worries about are the metal ones to break out of their cells when they eventually get indicted
A Sad day for Fitz- His African American DD staff, Chapman and Geathers can't only cover and porch so much....
When supervisors in public safety screw up a fraction of what these clowns do theyu are quickly fired!!
And for his involvement with this mess, Hill is getting promoted! Only in Hartford!
I think at this point--six months into the current administration--we can all assume that all Bronin appointees have only one agenda: To do what the mayor wants done by any means necessary. To hell with integrity, transparency, and accountability. Lie, if necessary. Cover up, if necessary. Bend the rules, if necessary. This why you were chosen; you knew that going in. You collect your 6-figure salaries courtesy of the mayor. You are allowed to live in any city or town you wish, courtesy of the mayor. The same goes for some on the City Council: If a resolution comes before you from the mayor, you must pass it--by any means necessary. Remember, he is the reason you occupy your seat in chambers today. You attorneys who work for the city--you know you all took at least one course in Ethics in law school. Well, forget it now; ethics have no place in the Bronin administration.
Luke's kingdom come; Luke's will be done...
I think at this point--six months into the current administration--we can all assume that all Bronin appointees have only one agenda: To do what the mayor wants done by any means necessary. To hell with integrity, transparency, and accountability. Lie, if necessary. Cover up, if necessary. Bend the rules, if necessary. This is why you were chosen; you knew that going in. You collect your 6-figure salaries courtesy of the mayor. You are allowed to live in any city or town you wish, courtesy of the mayor. The same goes for some on the City Council: If a resolution comes before you from the mayor, you must pass it--by any means necessary. Remember, he is the reason you occupy your seat in chambers today. You attorneys who work for the city--you know you all took at least one course in Ethics in law school. Well, forget it now; ethics have no place in the Bronin administration.
Luke's kingdom come; Luke's will be done...
As a supporter of Luke Bronin, I am wobbling with my support for Luke. And Luke, if you are reading this, I have been a big and strong supporter. But much of that support has diminished. I thought you were really a take charge playing no politics kind of guy. You seem to be just like the rest of them. And on top of all else, you have retreated to a defensive position -- which is a position of the loosing side. Not too late to change and step on toes when needed. And do what you said you would do while running for your new profession, being a publicly elected dude. No, I am afraid that you will be a one timer and you will return to your law firm -- a safe abode.
Move out of the way and let someone like Bob Killian take over. Get out of my town.
Signed; A Former Supporter and Former Dear Friend
Let it burn. Burn, baby burn.
We still have to pay for it , regardless
Is anyone surprised at Mayor Luke Bronins administration? Uproar is what it is! There is absolutely no integrity, transparency or accountability among Bronin and his so call team. Bronin makes the calls and his appointees do as they are told. Hartford city hall appontees have no ETHICS. I Charles Mathews and the Stadium Authority need to go. The state should shut Hartford down and take it over. Luke Bronin is the worst thing that ever happened to the capitol city. I question Bronins leadership ability.
Bob Killian would have not lead Hartford down the dirty road. He will have been productive. He has shown leadership for many years in the Probate Court. Luke Bronin should have had Killian in his administration. What on earth was Bronin thinking? Linda Bayor is still in the Mayor administration. What is that all about? She sure is greedy. Bronin get your act together before you are pushed out. I am so sorry I ever supported you Luke.
Boy, it did not take long to see the daylight for Hartford taxpayers about Mayor Luke Bronin. He really dose not get it. The rich kid dose not fit the bill for our very poor city. That is exactly what Hartford is - A Very Poor City. I Charles Mathews and the Stadium Authority are dangerous. They live in another day and time. What happen to all these folks who were suppose to have jobs Charlie? Gone with the wind. You were so adamant about this stadium. I Charlie you and former Mayor Pedro Segarra and gang should have listened to the Hartford taxpayers and voters. They said NO STADIUM. Guess who lost. We all did because I Charles you and Pedro thought you knew it all.
Kinda ironic that there are dwellings big and small throughout the city that are known by the fire dept and city hall to have numerous code violations that in no doubt pose a threat to lives and property,AND THE EMPTY YARDGOAT STADIUM IS WHERE THE CITY AND FIRE DEPT HEADS MANDATE A FIREWATCH! I hope all you big time operators sleep well tonight NOT thinking about all those babies and children going to bed in dangerous buildings. I THINK THE WORD SHAME SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE DICTIONARY SINCE IT HAS NO MEANING ANYMORE
8:46pm
You are incorrect, SHAME is still in the dictionary along side the pictures of I. Charles Matthews, DArryl Hil and the members of the Hartford Stadium Authority
Kevin, I agree SHAME on Mayor Luke Bronin, I Charles Mathews, Darryl Hill, former Mayor Pedro Segarra and his phoney administration including Saundra Kee Borges and I could go on and on. This is disgusting and dirty Hartford politics. I do not blame people who will never come to Hartford. It is a nasty, dangerous and dirty place to visit. If everyone did not abandon Hartford for the mighty suburbs it would be a beautiful place to live and play. The Dunkin Donut Baseball Stadium is a joke. New Britain's Mayor Erin Stewart is laughing at Hartford for being so stupid. I do not blame her.
Mayor luke i know you read kevins column -please please please lead us and stop doing same old same old -so distressing to watch -we do not want hill -we want the stadium authority fired for screwing up -start fresh -bonnie malley cant do much with a broken system !!we are sinking ! And please an update about the stadium would be nice -so far you have an f in transparency !
What's wrong with you Mayor Bronin?
I. Charles Mathews and the entire Stadium Authority, Darryl Hill and Linda Bayer must be fired. Get them out as rapidly as you can. OUT. Enough with the games already. Get them O-U-T.
Do you want me to explain to you in any other way? What's wrong with you, Luke?
I do not blame people who will never come to Hartford. It is a nasty, dangerous and dirty place to visit.
=========================
I don't blame the people who used to live here, and I don't blame the people who can't move in. I do blame the people whose laws and programs are the disincentives for people to be live in Hartford (or any of many U.S. "inner" cities). First among those repulsive programs would be the Connecticut Hartford School District. You can build a science center and you can imagine building a baseball stadium, but you can't expect people to live in town if they have to put their kids in Hartford High. For fifty years the State has driven people out of town leaving us with what is by definition a less attractive populace.
@7:42
Will you and others use spell check and learn how to spell "does." It's a simple word. DOES DOES DOES DOES -- NOT DOSE
"Dose' is the measurement of medication or quantity of anything.
Capici?
Peter Brush ,,Believe or not THINGS ARE GOING TO GET WORSE! So there have always been small territories in the city that were solid ,i.e. Avery Heights,The West End,The South End etc...What no one has exposed or talking about is the new generation slumlords,these a$&holes are snatching up good deals in these solid neighborhoods and turning them into SECTION 8 S#%THOLES while at the same time collecting easy $ from MINE AND YOUR POCKET. Brookman and Peter Brush,what do you think the fine people on either side of these "uncivilized" vermin are going to do?
Honestly, if anyone is to be honest, Hartfod has been an away station for decades. Meaning that as soon as anyone or any family makes good, they leave for greener pastures. The problem is that many but not all migratory replacements have more needs. Many are Americans from the worst of the worst urban communities where they come from. And so why live in an extremely impoverished place when comparatively this town has so much more to offer in terms of services. And when the population of extremely needy people begins to exceed the limits, it pushes out stable middle income people even more than before.
This is the story of modern Hartford. This change has exasperated and now, the end result is blight from one end of town to the other. New home owners either not equipped or oblivious to upkeep of their homes. I notice that many think that they have no need to engage in upkeep. Then you get an urban baby bubble that grow up poorly parentally instructed and the process and the problem reproduces out of control. So many more young people think nothing of tossing used food containers out the windows as they drive down the street. Instead of focusing on educating children, I suggest remedial education for inner city parents.
Add to this that heroin becomes the new alcohol with the result in many more auto accidents some massive and you have an environment very out of control. So when you listen to departmental leadership or above speak of how much better things are about to get, you realize that they too, become part of the problem. The few solutions that those who remain in Hartford is to increasingly take control of our neighborhoods to the extent we can. Get rid of the grafitti boxes by repaint groups them. Pick up liter in the streets. If the city doesn't mow the lawn do it yoursel and stop complaining. We need an effective anti blight program and up until now, it has been an embarrassment. Let's see if we can offer assistance to the truely needy at the same time, apply ordinances with teeth to force home owners to upkeep their homes.
Look, I am not exhibiting hateful feelings toward anyone - at least not here and now. And the reality is that there is no grand solution. There are only a series of patches that can be instituted to hold back the rising tide. And I am in favor of working on these patches.
Bronin is an idiot.... If he had just been reasonable with Centerplan the job would be almost complete by now. Nothing left but a punchlist and bill adjustments. But oh no the big tough guy wannabe from Greenwich had to get his way and messed everything up. Now what are we left with? An increasingly expensive mess. Bronin is an idiot.
As far as the fire watch I think Fire Marshall Martin may have evceeded his authority. There are many buildings throughout the region, not just hartford that are in various states of completion without fire monitoring or fire protection and it is a non issue.in construction it is largely a building dept. Issue.
Fire code is largely based on life safety issues.if it were open to the public then a fire watch would be required, no people no hazard. Now being uninsured is a large risk for property loss but the expense of a HFD fire watch could be greatly reduced using private security guards with basic training and communications , cell phone. This has been done many times before.
This is nothing more than Martin grand standing and drumming up an overtime bill. Lowest level at FMO is LT. mid 30s per hour.
What does a security guard cost?
Again likely out of HFD authority given absence of life safety issue, unless Luke told him to do it.
It was good that Luke canned Do No and Centerplan but he should have had a firm ready to imediately step in.
Well said and very eloquent my friend seems the the people that run the city like building up a debt an billing it to the tax payers smh
@2:45
First, you might try try using your imagination with your use of nouns. It's so tired to repeat the same words. Second, he did the correct thing by firing Centerplan. He should have done it earlier. Don't blame him for creating this awful mess. Centerplan and company, unions from outside, all lobbied hard for the votes just so they could profit. This kind of lobby effort should be banned. This development was not in the interest of Hartfod. It was in the interest of those who stand to profit directly from the project. I personally want to see it burn to the ground only after the city resumes an insurance policy on it. That way, maybe the project could be bulldozed back into parking lots until a real developer comes around to buy and develop the land.
@ 10:02am
I believe it was 8:42pm, either way I've commented on that exact misspelling on multiple occasions...does NOT dose! :)
7:04pm ,spot on comment except for leaving out that on a daily basis there are numerous properties that have obvious code violations WITH people living /sleeping in them that the Fire Marshall is FULLY AWARE OF ! I get your point on "under construction" aspect,but in this case a blade of grass on a unused baseball field could hold a " FIREWATCH" ! This nonsense should be investigated.
Memo to Luke;
Instead of having one of your minions make a derogatory call to a person I serve with,have the balls to call me yourself.
I always thought it was spelled DUZZ? By the way, now that no workers are at the stadium is all that nice green sod going to go to waste? Shameful situation.
Sure blame Roger Martin- Luke messed up. The ball park would have been completed a little late, not unusual in construction. Was this Bronin's first job?
Did you see that they just cancelled Riverfest fireworks.
Hartford is broke. Every small town has their own fireworks. Riverfront fireworks are spectacular. However, Hartford residents are not the majority of people attending Riverfront fireworks. The majority of people come from the towns. People only come to Hartford for the free stuff. Examples - the free events at Riverfront, Bushnell Park and the Hartford Public Library. State of CT please take over the city and the Hartford Public schools. Mayor Luke Bronon has no clue.
Nothing surprises me. Cancelling the Riverfront fireworks is the beginning of the end for Hartford. Greedy Hartford politicians and their high pensions and out of control spending. Former Mayor Mike Peters, Eddie Perez, and Pedro Segarra administrations spent way beyond Hartford's budget too. Mayor Luke Bronin you will never change things in Hartford because you do not know what you are doing. You have no leadership skills.
@9:02 It would have been completed more than "a little late", and the developer was not willing to commit to completing the job without asking for more money. So figure a lot late, and a lot more expensive. Bronin had to stop construction to call the bond, but he obviously had no idea what the side effects would be. Seriously the developer is saying the stadium is nearly done but the sprinklers aren't complete?
With 20/20 hindsight firing the developer and calling the bond may turn out to be worse than sucking up yet more delays and cost overruns, but given how things were going up to this point who knows what problems are left to be found?
Het 9:02am,YOU MISSED THE POINT! There are numerous KNOWN dwellings with serious code violations and/or alarm systems not functioning ,what's also KNOWN is that many have kids inside. FMO has periodically turned a blind eye to these dangerous scenarios either from political pressure or just plain "not giving a s#%t" .Past Mayors ,Council members,city hall employees,even chief operating officers are known slumlords or are friends with slumlords,over the years they have dialed in favors.. So 9:02 am WHO DO WE BLAME? Why is an empty baseball stadium a priority for FMO OR WHOEVER?
That makes a lot of sense Luke, cancel the River Festival / fireworks, but allow the Puerto Rican Day parade......smh.
Nationally stadiums are known to be loosers for municipalities and this one will be no different fo rHartford. And who decided to let Hooker brewing sell their beer here at a generous profit after backing out of building their brewery near the stadium like they originally agreed then backed out.I say no way boycott their products.
The sad truth is after all the millions and more millions to come, after basically stealing a neighboring cities team the city would have done better buying or seizing the vacant land and running the parking lot, it would have been up and producing income long ago with much less effort.
Start a webpage and petitions for the resignation of SaraLuke.
@7:50
If Luke makes you puke, my advice is to stay close to a toilet. You might even wash your face in the water bowl.
Oh poor Bill. Why don't you go kiss your Luke poster and wave your pop poms. He's just another political hack in a suit. He's taken the voters for a ride including you. He has no experience to run a municipality. Declaring bankruptcy ? That's his answer ? No wait, let's blame all the hard working employees and ignore all the previous corruption and mismanagement.
@6:37
first, no Pom Poms here. But ti jump on the bully wagon is the refuge of a dull wit whose only voice is to castigate while preparing for a permanent visit to the nursing home. To reply:
The criticism of less services is as loud as the new new taxes mantra. So which is it? You can't have both. I do believe that Bronin made a big mistake not calling the bond after developers missed the first due date. Granted, it's a mess but may this story of failed municipal expenditure be told for generations as a learning tool. But it won't of course. Instead, I would like to explore if "Authorities" can be curtailed so that this cannot be exploited in the future to be used to circumvent a referendum. Let's try and create a fix for future generations. Unfortunately, we can never attach personal liability to adventurist politicians.
The future of Hartford looks dismal. Not enough revenue to pay expenses. Even with more give-backs, and I believe that city departments must consolidate, Hartford needs replacement revenue from state-owned land and significant non-profit owned land. Lacking progress on these fronts, I see no alternative but to allow the state to take over Hartford on an intern bases. This will allow all or most contracts to be renegotiated. It will bring more gravitas to the idea that Hartford needs revenue to replace one being given from state owned lands.
Lastly, becoming a mayor doesn't allow a person a training period. One is thrust into this position and the first misstep becomes the snowball rolling down the mountain as it picks up debris along the way such as your comments which have no solutions. And anyone who lazily critizes without accompanying ideas to improve enjoys the bliss of ignorance.
Have a sparkling and ignorant day.
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