In 2018, the State of Connecticut bailed out the City of Hartford to the apparent amount of $550,000,000 to avoid Hartford falling into Bankruptcy after years of poor management
If Hartford is to stand any chance of rebounding or rebuilding, Hartford needs to get its violent crime problem under control. Shootings and gun violence are running wild in Hartford. Just in the last 24 hours there have been 3 shooting incidents, totaling at least 4 victims . There have been 12 shotspotter activations with over 58 rounds fired.
This violence does not instill confidence in business owners to remain in Hartford or to even consider a move to Hartford. It doesn't sit well with people considering moving to Hartford either to be in such a violent environment. They could move to Chicago if they truly wanted to experience the illegal gun culture
In the meantime, it seems as though Hartford's Mayor Luke Bronin and Police Chief Jason Thody have no plan and are unsure how to deal with the spike. Bronin even went so far as to blame the shootings on Covid-19 this past weekend after he was facing pressure to say something. I doubt very much that he has any evidence or studies at all to back that up, if so, I would love to read them
His comments came Saturday after a hastily called meeting with HPD Commanders.( Sources tell me that Chief Thody was not in attendance at the meeting) Bronin's comments were most likely to make it look like he was doing something rather than any actual plan to curb the shootings. Most likely because neither Bronin or Thody have a plan. If they did it should have been implemented in early summer, not now after things are already out of control
Governor Lamont, you have the resources at your fingertips to start changing this. Your Public Safety Commissioner Jim Rovella did it once and he has the expertise to do it again. Rovella understands Hartford. Rovella understands the gun culture and violence in Hartford. And the good thing about Rovella he knows how to put egos aside and do what needs to be done. He may not have all the answers , but he is willing to ask others to be part of the effort and get it done.
Rovella did that initially when he was the Chief Inspector for the States Attorneys Office and he was tasked by former Governor Malloy and Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane to "do something about the violence in Hartford". And Rovella did it. He put together a task force comprised of State and Federal Agencies to target Hartford's gun problems several years ago with laser like precision . The results were huge and hundreds of illegal guns as well as criminals were taken off Hartford's streets.
Please give the order again Governor Lamont, do something about the violence in Hartford. People are dying