PLEASE TAKE THE POLL

The Mouth for Hartford Baseball, I. Charles Matthews

At the top of the blog, you will see a poll about the Hartford Stadium Authority, please take a moment to cast your vote.

The poll is by no means scientific, but I think it is a pretty good gauge of what people are thinking. As of the time that I am writing this, approximately 55 votes have been cast against continuing with the current members, and only 2 votes are supportive.  I think that could be called an overwhelming lack of confidence in I. Charles Matthews and the Hartford Stadium Authority.

I am not sure why Mayor Bronin has continued to support the leadership (or  lack of leadership) of I. Charles Matthews and the other members who appear to have been a complete failure. I am told by some insiders that it may involve election promises made to deliver votes during the recent mayoral  election. I don't think Mattherw has been correct on any of his public comments so far on completions or schedules. Matthews is a loose cannon, made worse by the presence of television cameras or microphones.

 In case Mayor Bronin doesn't realize it, this stadium mess has the potential to derail any future political aspirations, and continuing on the current path does not bring confidence to Bronin's management style or decision making skills. If he "stays the course", the last thing he will have to worry about will be any future votes or any greater political aspirations.

I think probably the only thing that could have eroded public confidence in the Hartford Stadium Authority more is if Bronin appointed Pedro Segarra to a vacancy on the Authority.

LUKE, THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE AND SAVE US A FEW MILLION DOLLARS IN LEGAL FEES

Here are some of the Change Orders, err excuse me, the Construction Change Directives issued by the City for the Stadium. Take a look and see if you think they are realistic and timely for the completion. Was the addition of 70 some odd televisions necessary for the opening of the ballpark. Who designed the original plans that they didn't have the necessary "exit" signs. And was it really the developers fault to add them weeks before the completion date and then expect the project to be code compliant?

I think the City hired the architect and it was their responsibility to be code compliant. Now I know things happen, a vent in an elevator shaft additional electrical connections for signage, these things happen, but not weeks before a scheduled opening if your timetable makes sense.

Yet, the Hartford Stadium Authority continued to say they were on schedule and on time for a May 17, 2016 opening  , anyone looking at the extensive Construction Change Directives would have to realize that.

I think the City is going to have a hard time proving their "innocence" with the delays before this mess gets before a Judge and we will pay.

Fix it and get the Stadium open, stop the nonsense, Luke

Construction Change Directives-May 2016

ONCE AGAIN, YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST

UPDATE; MY APOLOGIES FOR THE DELAY TO ANYONE WHO TRIED TO VIEW THE WEBSITE, "FINISHTHEBALLPARK.COM"  MENTIONED BELOW, YESTERDAY, IT WAS APPARENTLY DELAYED, BUT AS OF 4:40pm TODAY IT IS UP AND RUNNING AND HAS SOME INTERESTING INFORMATION THERE

The Hartford Yardgoat's stadium mess is about to heat up more. But this time the mess is going to hopefully offer explanations and related , relevant documents.

Bob Landino, of Centerplan, the developer for the Stadium will be announcing the launching of a website this afternoon to present Centerplan's side of the story.


According to a source, the website will be launched shortly after 5:00PM at http://finishthe ballpark.com. The site is promised to furnish documents including correspondence between the City and Centerplan that might actually explain the delays and difficulties in the Construction of the Stadium

Hopefully it will provide some much needed answers as to who is telling the truth in this drama. Bob Landino has been relatively silent up to this point, but as charges regarding his business continue to be hurled, he seems to have come out swinging this week to defend his reputation.

May the best man win. Once again, the site should be live, this evening, check it out here http://finishthe ballpark.com

 No one is going to come out ahead with prolonged litigation. We will have huge legal bills at the same time as we are paying the debt service for the next 25 years on an unfinished stadium until it is done.

Smarter heads need to prevail here. The entire Hartford Stadium Authority needs to be replaced  immediately and a competent group needs to be put in place to oversee the completion of thew ball park.

Centerplan, Bodb Landino, Luke Bronin and anyone else involved need to put the ego's aside and admit they screwed up.n  The completion dates and the construction schedule were not realistic and no one really knew what to expect in the timetable because they were never involved in a project of this scope.

I think most people will accept that the project has been a mess, but we also realize that it will be a beautiful facility when it is complete. Again, shut down the ego's, end the animosity and sniping at each other. Issue a statement that the City , Centerplan, and the Yardgoats are talking and regrouping to get the Stadium done. It will be completed and a realistic date of opening for the 2017 baseball season is the goal, and all parties will work together to get that goal met under the guidance and direction of a Stadium Authority that gets it.

The back and forth and a prolonged legal battle will benefit no one except the attorneys.

Smarten up, act like adults and get the ballpark done

HARTFORD INTERNAL AUDIT COMMISSION , STADIUM INSURANCE LAPSE DISCUSSION

The audio isn't the best, but listen closely and you can hear the Hartford Internal Audit Commission discuss the lapse of Property insurance on the Yardgoat's stadium.

 

MORE AMATEUR MOVES, THE STADIUM AUTHORITY NEEDS TO BE REPLACED...IMMEDIATELY

 

"DONE DEAL" Not even close Pedro

 

Just when you thought you had heard the worst of the Dunkin Donuts Park stadium mess, it gets worse.

Apparently DONO,LLC, the developer of the Stadium that was thrown off the job last week had a "Builder Risk Policy " for insurance during the construction of the stadium. Apparently that policy remained in effect while the builder was operating on the site. A Builders Risk policy, according to sources, needs to be renewed annually and the policy terminates when construction is complete or the builder stops building.

Apparently when DONO and Centerplan were thrown off the stadium project, the Insurance policy lapsed. There is presently no Property and Casualty Insurance in effect on the property insurance. The liability insurance on the property is questionable as to whether that would be honored if a claim were to be made.

This the height of incompetence that no one on the Mayor's appointed Hartford Stadium Authority, not even Development Services or the Chief Operating Officer or the City's Risk Manager, or even the Mayor himself ever thought about letting the insurance coverage on a $65 million dollar project lapse. And before you say "what could happen at the stadium?", imagine the cost of a dirt bike or ATV getting inside and tearing up the field or a broken pipe flooding the locker rooms or luxury suites

At the very least, the entire Stadium Authority needs to step aside and new members that know something about construction and  why they are there need to be found. If the Authority members won't step aside. they need to be replaced by the Mayor and the Hartford City Council.

Enough is enough or do we enjoy being the laughing stock of the region and the State because of a Stadium project being run by fools. In my  June 3rd posting, I raised a couple of points that were critical to a construction project. I wrote "Typically on a construction project someone is monitoring, and enforcing all relevant requirements. Is your licensing up to date and current? Do they have copies of you current license? Is your liability insurance up to date and current? Do they have copies of your current insurance certificates? Is any required letter of credit or bond up to date? Do they have current copies?" You can read that complete posting here

I guess the crystal ball was working that day, but this a basic concept and someone on the Stadium Authority or at City Hall should have known better. At the risk of saying "I told you so", shouldn't the City's COO have been ahead of the curve on this and have followed up as to what relevant steps needed to be taken before the drastic step of throwing the developer off the project?

This is just lunacy considering once again the huge amount of salaries we expend on incompetence at Hartford City Hall, and get very little in return. If I Charles Matthews and the rest of the Hartford Stadium Authority had one shred of decency, they would be tendering their resignations immediately.

A complete recording of the Insurance lapse discussion will be posted to the blog shortly so you can hear the discussion for yourselves.

IT IS TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT HPD BODYCAMS

There is an ominous thundercloud on the horizon forming over HPD. I am not going to get into a lot of the details as the investigation is ongoing, but suffice it to say it is probably going to be bad.

The incident involves allegations being made of a handcuffed prisoner allegedly being assaulted while in HPD custody. Some of the actions can be explained , others caught on dashcam video have no possibility of being explained.

The incident is currently in the hands apparently of the Litchfield County States Attorney and may eventually be investigated by the Connecticut State Police to get to the truth. Our trust in our Police Department demands that and I expect nothing less from Chief Rovella and the West Hartford Police Department. The incident actually happened after a chase of a stolen car that had reportedly struck a Police officer on Park Street. The stolen car was eventually stopped by the use of stop sticks when the car was involved in a crash near Flatbush Avenue in West Hartford.

Although there are numerous different angles of dash cam video available, it still shows the need for body cameras, and if there was the inclination for "bad " behavior, maybe officers wearing body cameras would think twice about any improper behavior, no matter how much adrenaline was flowing after a long chase.

This is going to be a bumpy road for HPD to navigate, but the public trust demands transparency. Not everything is at it seems or is rumored, but the video and a professional investigation will expose the truth, both good and bad. With that being said, it is fortunate that a Police Chief that has a good relationship with the residents is in a position to explain the actions of his officers .

More on this as details develop, but please keep an open mind  and wait for the facts, not the gossip

UPDATE FROM HPD AT 6:06pm

On Saturday, June 4, 2016 Officers of the Hartford and West Hartford Police Departments and Connecticut State Troopers engaged in a motor vehicle pursuit that began in Hartford and ended with the arrest of the driver and his passenger in West Hartford. The pursuit began when a Hartford Police Officer determined that the car in question was stolen. When officers attempted to stop the car the driver sped away and led police on a chase through several residential streets in Hartford. When the pursuit reached West Hartford, police deployed “stop sticks,” which brought the car to a halt.

In the course of arresting both occupants of the stolen vehicle, officers used force-including the use to TASER-to affect the arrests. Both arrestees appear to have suffered apparent facial injuries at some point. The exact circumstances of each arrest are as yet unknown, but a West Hartford Police cruiser camera appears to show a police officer kicking or stomping one of the arrestees after that person was handcuffed.

Upon preliminary review of the incident and available evidence, it appears there is a question of excessive force used by the officers. As a result, the Hartford Police Department launched and immediate internal investigation on Sunday June 5, 2016. Contact has been made between HPD, West Hartford Police, Connecticut State Police and the Connecticut State’s Attorney’s office. This incident will be reviewed and investigated by the Connecticut State’s Attorney’s office to determine if criminal charges are warranted.