In an interesting move, Mayor Pedro Segarra has vetoed the raise for the City Treasurer that was approved by the Hartford City Council Monday night. Segarra makes the claim that the raise was a violation of Connecticut's Constitution and cites his reasons in the letter below.
The same reason used for the veto was also posted here on the blog as a comment at least one day prior to the veto being submitted to Town Clerk John Bazzano.The "anonymous" commenter had posted "One problem, the state Constitution prohibits a raise until 2015
"The compensation of an elected official of a political subdivision of the state whose term of office is four years or more may be increased once after such official has completed two years of his term by the legislative body of such political subdivision"
I guess my readers know what they are talking about.
Several sources in the Hartford Police Department and at Hartford City Hall are confirming that Mayor Segarra has picked, and made a job offer to, who he hopes will be the next leader of the Hartford Police Department. The choice will have many of you asking James "WHO?".
Segarra has apparently made an offer for the "interim" Chief of Police position to veteran Hartford Police Officer and current Chief Inspector of the Chief State's Attorney's Office James Rovella. Talks have been in the works and according to sources, the offer was made to Rovella after a lengthy meeting this morning at City Hall. The "interim" title is apparently a matter of semantics as the final details and contract are worked out.
Rovella was chosen to run the Hartford Shooting Task Force earlier this year after it was created at the direction of Governor Malloy under the guidance of Connecticut's Chief States Attorney's Kevin Kane. Rovella and his task force have produced some very noticeable results and has impressed many with the ongoing efforts of his team.
Rovella retired from the Hartford Police Department after building a reputation as an outstanding investigator and then moved on to eventually the Chief Inspector in the State's Attorneys Office.
Rovella also has a very strong working knowledge of the Hartford Police Department and its "players", which should prove interesting as the transition from the Roberts administration begins. Rovella apparently is known as a no nonsense supervisor with a strong work ethic and commitment to professionalism. One source told me that it is common to see Rovella in his office at 7:00am when others are arriving and still be there at 7:00 or 8:00PM at night after others have left.
Rovella also was raised in Hartford from what I am told and has a keen interest in the City.
This wasn't the Segarra choice I would have predicted, but it seems like it could be a win-win situation for the HPD as well as the people of Hartford with the right support for Rovella. This potentially could also be a huge morale booster for HPD, a department that has been racked lately by labor battles and lawsuits and what has been perceived by many as vindictive management by HPD Command Staff.
Homicide number 25 for the year was recorded last night after a 19 year old man was shot and killed on the 2000 block of Main Street. That is the third homicide this week after what had been a quiet period.
A perfect time for the Mayor and Council to continue those HPD budget cuts, we still have time to catch up with New Haven, they are at 30 for the year.
Today's "Occupy Hartford" actions turned out to be more of a union media stunt than a protest to effect social change from what I saw. That was more evident than ever when the press releases began rolling out from Union organizers. Signs and banners were front and center from the Teamsters and SEIU.
And for anyone that has ever watched a flash mob video, the element of surprise and spontanaiety happens because the people just show up and get started. No telegraphing your intentions to the media, the property owners and more importantly the police or security agencies. That is why they have an impact.
Today's event was probably the biggest "non-event" Hartford has seen in a while. Do they not understand that HPD has people that live just to develop "Op-plans" to minimize the impact of such events. I think in all honesty many commuters would welcome this as a daily event. It seems that traffic ran smoother nthan just about any day I have seen.
The bottleneck at the intersection of Farmington, Broad and Asylum Streets was non-existent. Traffic was flowing smoothly both east and westbound on Farmington Avenue which is usually bumper to bumper at this time of day. Fortunately the gridlock and disruption of traffic never happened. That's probably a good thing since I think many of the "99%" (translated as us commoners) would have a hard time supporting something that was disrupting our daily lives.
The HPD "Ops plan" diluted the impact so much that unless you were on Broad Street near the Courant and I-84 you would be hard pressed to even know anything was going on. No tasers were unholstered, no pepperspray cloud over the area, no riot helmets,just a street full of cops who politely announced to the 12 human speed bumps that each one was about to be arrested and were they sure they wanted that.
A sergeant and two officers approached each of the 12 people on the entrance ramp and advised them they were about to be arrested. And probably even more politely than a hostess at a restaurant, they were led to the prisoner transport by two police officers.
I'm still not sure what the message is and what "Occupy Hartford" is trying to accomplish, but letting the union's hijack their message and ride their coat tails isn't a good direction to take.
The officer's present from HPD did a great job handling the event, but it is another unnecessary burden being placed on a Department which should be focusing on keeping our City safe, not being used as extra's in a stage production orchestrated by Union organizers.
Apparently the "occupiers" are planning a protest today to send a message to those nasty Corporate neighbors of ours. From what I understand, they plan to lay down at the entrance ramps to I-84 at Broad Street.
Who is that going to hurt or inconvenience other than hard working people trying to get home after a day at work?
Why not lay down at the driveways at the Corporate locations where the limousines leave at the end of the day returning Corporate executives to their homes? That might have more impact than disrupting everyone. But I'm not sure what the message the "Occupiers" have been trying to get out anyway, other than one of chaos and confusion.
So make today's rush hour a little easier and stay in Hartford at one of our restaurants and relax until the mess clears.
THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ON THIS BLOG ARE STRICTLY THAT, MY OPINIONS.After getting fed up with the lack of openness in Hartford City Hall, I decided to begin a program on Hartford Public Access Television called "WE THE PEOPLE". Through tips received we have been able to expose numerous issues that the Perez Administration would prefer to keep quiet.
Any information received is kept in strict confidence, feel free to e-mail me at krbrookman@earthlink.net or call me at 860-883-2297 with any information.