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Saturday, January 1, 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR AS 2011 STARTS


It has been an interesting year and definitely a year of constant growth and readership of the blog. The "hit" counter continues to steadily rise and is over 180,000 now.

Not everyone agrees with what is posted here, but at least they are reading and getting information. And with that delivery of information, it has helped bring about change in Hartford.

Look for that to continue this year and thanks again to everyone for their comments and their information. Without that, this blog wouldn't exist.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

IS HARTFORD CITY HALL STILL A "REVOLVING DOOR" OF CORRUPTION ?


Myself, and I'm sure many others, had hopes that with the demise of the Perez Administration a new era of honesty and integrity would take hold at Hartford City Hall. Promises were made of a new day of transparency and integrity that were going to sweep through Hartford government.It seems that very little has changed at City Hall, except the countertops aren't being installed as far as I can tell.

I posted on December 17th about the arrest warrant that was rejected by Hartford Superior Court for a city DPW employee who was clearly stealing from the City. It goes deeper though. I have filed FOI requests with the City regarding documents involving a DPW supervisor, Gennaro Sepulveda, who was responsible for overseeing the employee accused of the theft, Hiriam Martinez. Sepulveda was Martinez's immediate supervisor at DPW. If you didn't read the police report and the arrest warrant application, here it is again.
DPW Tool Theft

Sepulveda is apparently the subject of numerous internal complaints, including one that was made after an altercation between Gennaro Sepulveda and DPW Director Kevin Burnham and several witnesses, where Sepulveda has been alleged to have thrown a chair in the Director's Office. So much for Hartford's "Zero Tolerance" policy for workplace violence. The City Personnel Director has not complied with the FOI request for Sepulveda's records.

In the meantime , Sepulveda is on paid administrative leave, courtesy of the taxpayers of Hartford. According to one city source, Sepulveda recently was trying to get his paycheck ahead of time because he was going to "spend some time in Puerto Rico". Nice work if you can get it, I guess.

Sepulveda is only a small part of the problems at City Hall though. It seems that very little has changed.

For regular readers here, you are very familiar with John Rose and his antics as Corporation Counsel. I had hoped that with Mayor Segarra and his quick termination of Rose, that would be the end of the Rosie era. Nope, not the case at all. Shortly after being terminated by Segarra, Rose landed a job with the Crumbie Law Group. The Crumbie Law Group is a law firm that Rose paid several hundred thousand dollars to as an outside law firm used by the City while he was Corporation Counsel.



Most people would immediately question the ethics and the "revolving door" implications of such a move, most people that is except Rose and the Crumbie Law Group. Only one member of the City Council has taken the time to question the move and the potential violations of Hartford's Ethics code. Councilman Deutsch has filed complaints with the Ethics Commission requesting they look into the Rose matter, as well as others.

Ok, I'll take a break for a moment to allow those of you in a fit of laughter to calm down. Hartford and ethics in the same sentence, it is laughable it seems.

Just to change track for a moment, I would caution Councilman Deutsch not to hold out much hope for a decision based on any integrity by Hartford's Ethics Commission. The members were all appointed by the corrupt, now convicted felon, Eddie A., Perez. This same commission has not once addressed the issues of corruption, double dipping or even the ethical issue of a corrupt Councilwoman taking advantage of a "retirement incentive" moved forward by the very body she served on to benefit herself.

But now Rose seems to be even more obnoxious than usual. Apparently Rose is taking on a case that proves to be allowing himself to line his pockets even more at the taxpayers expense.

The updated Connecticut Judicial website now lists John Rose and the Crumbie Law Group as the law firm representing the City of Hartford in their appeal of the Labor Board decision in favor of Hartford Police Officer Matthew Secore. As Corporation Counsel, Rose was able to stall and delay the case for almost two years in motion after motion and delay after delay. The listing of the activity is attached below. Judicial Crumbie Update

If Rose continues the gamesmanship as he did at City Hall, this could prove a huge windfall for the Crumbie Law Group as they bill the taxpayers for hundreds of dollars per hour. All for what most attorneys I have spoke with agree will be an eventual loss for the City and a win for the Hartford Police Union and Secore.

The only one who will come out ahead in this one will be Rose and Crumbie, and probably Secore when he eventually sues the City. There should have been a simple solution to this two years ago: abide by the Labor Board decision and hire Secore back with his agreement not to sue the City and everyone walks away.

Not Rose though, he needs to be generating revenue to secure his job and the cash cow known as the City of Hartford is job security for Rosie. If Rose were a stockbroker, I think his actions might be called insider trading. He is benefitting from information he developed as an employee of the City of Hartford.

It seems as though decisions like this would not be made without the consent of Mayor Segarra. But surprisingly that apparently is not the case.
When I contacted Mayor Segarra tonight for his comment, he stated he "was not aware of it and I will look into it and discuss it with Sandy and see where we go".

I believe the Mayor, but I also find it very troubling the constant decisions that are being made day in and day out by people that are supposed to be supportive of Segarra. Decisions that are a regular source of embarassment for Segarra. Do you remember the electrocuted birds and squirrels press release, just as an example.

For anyone to make a decision to turn this case over to Rose is inexcusable. To do it without running it by the Mayor first is at the very least incompetence.

Another big problem under Perez was the constant abuses of the Freedom of Information statutes and the lack of transparency when it came to the release of public documents. I had honestly hoped that under Mayor Segarra that would all change. Apparently the Mayor's "transparency" message hasn't trickled down through City Hall though.

As I mentioned above, the Sepulveda FOI request has gone unfulfilled. I can see why they are reluctant to release the info. If what my sources are telling me is contained in those documents is accurate, they will most definitely prove to be embarrassing,but there is no exemption in FOI for denying release of embarrassing records.

I recently had another source tell me that the Human Resources Director, Santiago Malave, had documents relating to furlough days that were supposed to have been taken by City employees to help balance the budget. Apparently there is some interesting information contained in those documents, especially the names on the list who have not complied with the order to take the furlough days.

Malave started the City Hall e-mail dance with me this week to avoid the release of the list. Malave started off by saying the list was a work in progress and he wouldn't release it.In his e-mail he wrote"The list is a working document that contains numerous inaccuracies that we are in the process of flushing out....".

I told Malave he was free to forward me any corrections as they came about, but I still wanted the original list. Once a document is created it becomes a public document, with very limited exemptions, whether it is accurate or not. The greater question is who are we paying at City Hall to generate "inaccurate" documents? Maybe that could be a position for a budget cut.

Santiago Malave is not a newcomer to City Hall and FOI and almost definitely knows better. If he doesn't know better he should not be in that position, he is also one of the employees who has taken the early retirement incenctive. Malave has been kept on after the December 31, 2010 retirement date though since his "expertise" is needed at City Hall.

I'm not quite sure why the Mayor accepts these performances since in the end, it all rests in his lap. But at least his competitors for the Mayor's Office next November must be watching with interest.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

CELEBRATE 2011 IN HARTFORD


I've been a little slow with posts trying to stay caught up with Christmas, but now New Years is almost upon us.

Although the Festival of Light was somewhat of a dud, one event that hasn't been tinkered with promises to satisfy those that make the trek to downtown Hartford Friday.First Night Hartford is ready to kick off Friday with numerous events planned, including two fireworks displays.

For more information and a full listing of the scheduled events, click here

Monday, December 20, 2010

"FLASH MOBS"

For some reason I am very intrigued by the "Flash Mobs", and no it doesn't involve Hartford gangs. For those not familiar with the concept, I guess large groups show up at a specified public place and break out in a performance. This year several locations in Connecticut have received a Holiday treat as the "Mobs" have belted out a rendition of "Hallelujah".

The reaction of the unsuspecting public is interesting as the performance begins. To be a part or watch a "Mob" performance, you can apparently catch one at Westfarms Mall Center Court this Thursday, December 23 at 7:00pm.

Maybe it is not too early to try to organize one for next years "Festival of Light" opening ceremony. And maybe hot chocolate and Christmas cookies prepared by the Lincoln Culinary Institute would work also for the crowd.. And maybe a snow sculpture contest in the park, just some thoughts.

Here is a "flash mob" from a couple weeks ago .

THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, KEEP THEM IN YOUR THOUGHTS



I'm not sure why it is cutting off the right side of the video, but the thought remains the same

Saturday, December 18, 2010

TIME TO BRAG A LITTLE


My nephew Andrew last week in Breckenridge, Colorado pictured above

This isn't the type of thing I usually post, but it is Christmas time and I guess it is putting me in a "jolly" mood.

For those that have been regular readers, this was a year of challenges for me on a couple of medical issues. I realize that comes with age for all of us, but my sister, who also played a big role in getting me through my medical issues, sent out an e-mail today that I wanted to share.

The e-mail speaks for itself, and as we try to adjust with medical issues brought on as we grow older, it is about my nephew Andrew who has had medical issues since he was about 6 months old. The surprising or inspirational part though is that sometimes I don't think he realizes that he has any medical issues. Somewhere in his first few months he contracted viral encephalitis, developed a very high fever and was taken to the hospital. He was sent home and luckily my sister persevered and wouldn't accept the explanation given by the "medical experts". I guess she is stubborn like that, I just wanted to go to bed and sleep when I was having a stroke, she forced me to go to the hospital.

Anyway, Andrew's muscle and nerve development was affected in his lower body, primarily his legs and I am not sure how the diagnosis finally came about, but I guess cerebral palsy is the general term for Andrew's development issues. Andrew is someone that has never let a "disability" keep him down. He is an excellent student, pushes himself to keep up with all the other kids and doesn't seem to look for any sympathy when he can't or when he gets tired. He is a member of the band at Enfield's Fermi High School(his freshman year now) and has also become a great skier. It took him his first few years just to be able to walk and I'm sure no one ever imagined his legs would ever be strong enough or developed enough to allow him to ski.

A couple years ago my sister got him involved in a program for disabled skiers at Mount Snow in Vermont. The program, Ability Plus, turned out to be something Andrew loved and he caught on to skiing almost immediately. Both Andrew and his parents and his younger brother Ryan all mentor other skiers now in the program. Andrew has the perfect "can-do" attitude for anyone that might be thinking that a disability will hold them back.

And speaking of his younger brother Ryan, Ryan assumed the role of "big brother" even though he is a year and a half younger. He is always there to boost his brother up when Andrew might need just a little more help to get something done. And don't even think about overlooking Andrew or trying to pretend he's not there if you think he can't accomplish something. Ryan will be the first one to yell out "hey, what about my brother?". This past Memorial Day Andrew wanted to "march" in the Enfield Parade with the rest of his band members. Ryan stepped up and pushed Andrew the entire route in his wheelchair while Andrew played the drum.

I've bragged enough, but the attached e-mail let's you know about my sister's thoughts. I guess bragging about Andrew and Ryan runs in the family. It is amazing how sometimes a 13 or 14 year old kid can bring things into perspective. (He'll be fifteen this week)

A MOTHER'S PERSPECTIVE

I have had several days to reflect on my son Andrew’s recent trip to Breckenridge, CO for The Hartford Ski Spectacular. It was an amazing and unexpected opportunity for Andrew and I was so excited for him to participate. After attending this event with my family and watching Andrew and the other athletes there, I wanted to take this time to thank all the family, friends and tremendous organizations that have gotten him to this point. When Andrew first became ill with encephalitis, we had no idea if or how much he would recover. When he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at the age of six months, we watched him struggle to crawl, stand, walk and finally run in his own special way. I never imagined that he would be playing tennis with Ivan Lendl, waterskiing on Lake Zoar, playing baseball, teaching other kids how to ski at Mount Snow and downhill racing with Paralympic Olympic athletes in Colorado. He is full of surprises and I am sure there are many more to come.
Andrew worked hard in Breckenridge and I was proud of his determination and how seriously he took the training. He may not have won a medal in the race but I saw a side of him that made my heart swell with pride. We were waiting for Andrew to come down the hill to the start of the race course. It was a cold, windy, snowy day with over fourteen inches of fresh powder on the ground which was very difficult to ski through. I saw a sit skier coming down the hill fall over and there was Andrew behind her and he stopped to help her get her ski to an upright position. They struggled together and as I watched I wondered who would help Andrew get up if he fell over helping her. Obviously that didn’t cross his mind and they were able to get her upright and continued to the race course. It made me think of how much he had matured in that week. It turned out the girls name was Sarah and she had been in the same Duplex as Andrew for the week. I would like to offer a special thank you to DSUSA and The Hartford for letting us participate in this incredible event.
To all those who work and volunteer to enrich the lives of disabled individuals, I would like to say thank you! Your hard work does pay off and Andrew is proof of it. Every contact we have made has led to another contact starting with The Springfield Shriners Hospital, NEHSA, STRIDE, CHD, Leaps of Faith, AbilityPLUS at Mount Snow, Hospital for Special Care, Ivan Lendl Wheelchair Sports Camp, DSUSA, Camp Harkness, TOPSoccer, All Out Adventures, Challenger Baseball and the Enfield School System. Our lives have been enriched by these organizations and countless others. The friendships we have made will last a lifetime.