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Thursday, July 7, 2016

WE HAVE UPSET THE KING


Hartford's Mayor Luke Bronin " the Grinch who stole Riverfest". Will he strike again at Christmastime and steal Winterfest also, what about next years St. Patrick's Day Parade?
 
I understand the need to get our financial house in order. No one is going to agree with all of the decisions being made, but I seriously have to question the rationale behind some of the cuts.
 
It almost seems like we as loyal servants are now going to feel the wrath of the King for not following the lead as royal subjects must do.
 
Especially in light of some of the decisions and the associated  hidden costs that those decisions are going to place on us.
 
Take for example the Stadium. We haven't even begun to see the litigation costs, and eventual settlements associated with the decision to throw the developer off the project. And we know there is going to be litigation that threatens to tie the project up potentially for years as cases wind their way through our courts.
 
The only ones to benefit from that litigation will be the attorneys, and since the Office of the Corporation seems unable to function in real Courts, it will most likely be all outside Counsel paid for by Hartford's taxpayers
 
We have already seen the additional costs for the lapsed insurance on the Stadium as a result of Mayor Bronin terminating Centerplan from the stadium project. How much of that cost could have been applied toward Winterfest or Riverfest?
 
We have also seen the additional cost of a 24/7 round the clock "fire watch" being required at the Stadium. Probably at least a couple thousand dollars a day for the firefighters "PJ" pay. 3 firefighters per shift times 3 shifts a day times 7 days a week will add up quickly. How much of that cost could have been applied to Riverfest?
 
Putting the stadium aside, where else are we wasting money. Do we really need a full time legislative liason, especially when the Legislature is only in session for less than half the year. And did we really get our money's worth out of that position this year. I think I recall the big Bronin initiative at the legislature  this year was  Senate Bill 464. That bill is still smoldering on the North lawn of the Capitol after it crashed and burned in resounding style
 
And now a CFO and Finance Director. I would expect the CFO to at least be able to pay his car taxes to the city on time. Many of Hartford's people have had difficult times paying their car tax bills at our exorbitant mill rate, but I would hope the CFO that is going to supposedly be managing our money was able to pay his own tax bill on time. (thank you to Representative Matt Ritter and others for passing legislation that provided  much need relief for cities like Hartford and their auto tax rates)
 
Now I will be the first to admit, that with Hartford's outrageous mill rate, car tax payments for myself and probably hundreds of other Hartford residents were not always a priority. But I would expect the City's potential Finance Director, who oversees the Tax Department, would be one of the people who would pay their car taxes on time.
 
I am not in the running for the position of Chief Financial Officer, if there is even such a position in Hartford, but I would think that the Mayor would check the financial background of anyone he was considering to nominate for that position. Especially the person who would manage a half  billion dollar budget. Things like wage executions in Norfolk Virginia or delinquent taxes in Hartford might be telling and say something about their financial expertise (or lack therof)



25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't help but wonder with the cancellation of Riverfest and the rumored possible cancellations of Winterfest and the St. Patrick's Day Parade, why wasn't the Latino festival cancelled? Does it not incur the same expenses for the city that other celebrations do? I do not have anything against the Latino community. I was just wondering the reasoning behind it.







KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

It will be interesting to see what happens in August with the West Indian Day Parade, that occurs in the 2016/2017 Fiscal year, the same Fiscal Year as the upcoming March St. Patrick's day parade. What is good for one is good for all, we shall see.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

4:29PM

I don't think anyone is against the Cultural events, that is what makes a City vibrant.And that vibrancy is what gets new residents to move to Hartford. But there needs to be a common rulebook that everyone needs to play from. The rules seem to keep changing by who you are and who donates to which campaigns. There is no common thread. As an example, the Russian Lady has apparently received a letter from the Mayor that he can no longer have block parties on Ann Uccello Street, which he pays the City for their services. But on the other hand Nix's on Front Street is having a block party along with Kiss 95.7 this Sunday

Anonymous said...

I must admit, he looks like a beaver who was kicked out of the family nest for being ugly.

Anonymous said...

Senores,

I think this loco, his emieldita and money interest landed here to sink this city.

lucass is the only mayor in the Nation who preaches the sinking and damnation of his city.

All they (lucass, la jefe and friends of la jefe) is to sink this city.

Anonymous said...

Is Bronin related to a beaver?

Anonymous said...

6:05PM

He may very well be related, I think the Beaver is technically part of the rodent family

Anonymous said...

Mayor Luke Bronin cannot get out of his own way. He has no leadership skills. He raised one million dollars to become Mayor of dumpy Hartford. Every neighborhood is a mess. Let's spend more money on duplicating services provided by non-profits. After all CRT and many others thrive on city money.

Anonymous said...

Scary days ahead the police are no longer trusted by the public all across America just watched the Purge part 3 that's a warning

We need an adult for mayor said...

And I thought Eddie and Pedro Peter Maria Segarra were bad.......

US Patriot said...

R Joe brought up a bank foreclosure on the prior residence of, I will not say.

Bill Katz said...

@8:23

You are ranting and the end result is that you loose all credibility with your confused points. Raising a million is unfortunately part of the political process that corrupts. If you don't play the game, you don't win. So don't single him out for succeeding as the top fund raiser. But it still is corrupting.

Mayor Bronin does have leadership skills and these skills have been smartly directed at fiscal reform. What he lacks is understand the quagmire of local politics in Hartford. He also doesn't undstand that his position can be used to try and find private funding for public events formerly city-funded. There are only so many events that one can cancel before his distractors use it against him. PR skills seem lacking in his administration. He made a big mistake not first going to the unions. If he didn't find sufficient progress, the next step is to up the ante but that should only happen after trying to reach an accord. It is clear in my mind that Hartford will be u fer state co troll within the year. Bronin has tried his best but costs are unsustainable even with the draconian measures already in place. The Stadium is a no-win no matter were it leads. At this point, I agree the city should take on the role of developer and finish the job.

Which brings me to my (really "our") program of resident activism. We can improve the streetscape signs of blight by painting over grafittied signs. We can go out in front of our homes and our neighbor's homes and pick up litter and not wait for a city sweeper to come around. We can take our lawn mowers and mow city-owned greens instead of waiting for a reduced Public Works crew to come out one during the summer. And we can mow that fro t lawn next door of an unoccupied home. Just do it instead of complaining. I walked up my street the morning of trash pick up with my receprical picking up trash and debris. My only mistake is that I didn't do this in early evening when neighbor's might watch and maybe get the message that we all should go out and clean up. There will always be some recalcitrant slobs that will litter. But most folks will understand. Doing good public deeds is infectious.

There are a number of things we all can do to incrementally improve our immediate surroundings. And Jim Ford from Public Works has promised to replace defaced stop signs and have them placed high enough to prevent further desecration. Our voices have been heard. But we still need to do the grunt work and not wait for city services. They are under staffed and frankly, I don't want higher taxes to pay for more employees. The choice is to do it ourselves.

Let's do what we can. If we complain, then it is our responsibility to make improvements to the extent that we are able. So please, get your paint roller and tray, and adopt a grafittied box and paint it and repaint if necessary. ReardonPaints on Maple Avenue will give a discount on paints used for this. You need only ask. He will sell silver aluminum oil-based paint at cost. Support your local businesses.

Kevin, if not posting hinges on mentioning a local business who has offered to help by giving discounts on paint supplies, please delete that portion of my remarks. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

All I hear is the complaints of outrageous taxes in Hartford.
Commercial properties aside because that is a different story, house owners have it made and its time the truth is told.
Sure you have a high mill rate, just under 75 however you are only paying on 30 percent of the value of your property. Every other property owner state wide pays on 70 percent of the value of their property. When you compare and take into consideration the services the city provides you are getting a hell of a deal and comparably paying much less in tax than your suburban neighbors.
Next time you talk to your family or friends in out lying towns compare taxes and you will find your doing good and that is a large part of Hartfords money woes. For years they lived off the backs of business owners while giving the voters a large break, now the businesses have left after being gouged for decades and you don't want to pay your share. More entitlement mentality.
When the flea sucks all the blood out of the dog the dog dies. But what will the flea do now, easy he looks for a new dog. Pretty soon all the dogs will be gone and so will the flea.

Anonymous said...

Is it really a loss if Hartford doesn't have the St. Patrick's Day parade? The city can survive without every suburban drunk making a mess out of the place for a day.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

those "suburban drunks" as you call them, provide a very large economic benefit to Hartford businesses from that parade, not food trucks that head out of town after the event, but businesses that are here and create jobs here and pay taxes here

Anonymous said...

On the day of the St. Patrick's Day parade it's a safe bet that the restaurants and bars in Hartford pull in on a single day what they usually pull in in a month in revenues or more. Vaughan's and MacKinnon's as well as the other watering holes pack people in like sardines on parade day and that is no exageration. If Luke cancels the St. Patrick's Day parade, he will make a lot of small business owners very unhappy.

Anonymous said...

I'D RATHER HAVE DRUNK SUBURBANITES SPENDING MONEY AND LEAVING A MESS THAN HAVING RESIDENTS (SOME LIVING ON TAXPAYER MONEY) ,,NOT SPENDING MONEY,,LEAVING A MESS AND SHOOTING INNOCENT PARADE GOERS ,,,THATS RIGHT I'M TALKING ABOUT THE WEST INDIAN DAY PARADE,,,WHICH HAS NOT BEEN CANCELED YET!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Awwwwww you sound butt hurt tell ya what throw a Irish parade in ya own town an invite whoever you want the West Indian parade is going forward an it's gonna be a great time lol hahahahaah

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

I hate to burst your little bubble, but there are still plenty of Irish that live in Hartford as well as people that are supportive of the Irish community as well as all cultures that make Hartford vibrant

Anonymous said...

Kevin,Please stop with your deceptive/false cheerleading ,,,,even my friend Vinny is packing his bags and leaving ,,,Carbone's Restaurant is moving to Rocky Hill. Am I supposed to believe the South End is "PREDOMINATELY " Italian ?????? The city is going to S#%T and unfortunately YOU CANT SMELL IT!!!!! Kevin,"plenty of Irish still live in Hartford" ???? Can you back that up??? Where???

Nickel Bag said...

There are more drug dealers living in Hartford then there are Irish living in Hartford.

Beat of Hartford said...

Nickel Bag:

And there are more sex perverts (felony convicted) living in Hartford than drug dealers which make Itishmen way down the list.

Anonymous said...

Exactly where are all the Irish residents living in Hartford ??

The Shooting Star said...

Once living in Frog Hollow.

Anonymous said...

Let's move the St. Patricks Day parade to the suburbs along with the businesses like McKinnons and leave Hartford to survive on the revenues generated by events such as the West Indian Day parade. Hartford did once have a large presence of Polish, Italain, French, and Irish as well as many others but that day is long gone and only very few of these peoples are still within the city. It seems the dominant groups of the day do not value events such as St. Patricks Day so maybe it is time to move it.
Now transversely I would like to say I can appreciate the sentiment of the residents , I have experienced quite a bit of the dominant ethnic cultures of Hartford today, not saying good or bad but part of experiencing cultural diversity is being able to say some things are just not for me.
That being said Hartford has undergone quite a change over the last 30 years and I will say I have come to the conclusion I am done with the City and events there in as I feel when I come to the city I am viewed as and outsider, that I don't belong and I for one will not spend my money where I am not welcome.
That feeling of being looked at funny, or being an outsider, or feeling unwelcome, where have I heard that before, seems vaguely familiar?
Also I cannot enjoy myself nor will I bring family and friends to an area that is not safe. I am no choir boy but just don't need the hassle. How can you enjoy events throughout the city when the first thing that is in your mind is safety. You go to an event but is your car safe, will I get mugged or jacked on the way home? And at any minute will the gun fire break out? How do you really enjoy dinner, a play, a concert in that environment. Wonder why the city is dead, I suspect a lot more people , although they may not voice it, share my sentiment.
So Grinch Bronin, keep cancelling events and shutting down attractions, some truly smart promoters and municipalities make a lot of money when opportunity knocks
and for many it is pounding on the door, other areas will gladly scoop these events up and reap the benefits both culturally and economically.

P.S. Luke
before you can all the DPW guys have them fix your crummy cobbled
streets, Hartford can't afford the law suits of someone breaking a
leg falling in a crater while marching in a parade, And no HFD to
treat them because you cut them as well.