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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

MARG HOLIDAY PARTY THURSDAY NIGHT

The maple Avenue Revitilazation Group (MARG) will hold it's annual Holiday "Meet and Greet" tomorrow night, December 8th at 6:00PM in the lower level of Saint Augustine Church.

The event is open to the public and attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item for the St. Augustine Food Pantry or hygiene items that will be donated to the South Park Inn shelter.

Light refreshments will be served.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

CITY TO OCCUPY HARTFORD.....CEASE AND DESIST....TODAY

Apparently today will be eviction day at "Occupy Hartford". A "cease and desist order" has been served upon the "occupiers". Police Officers have been instructed to serve the order upon organizers this morning. Officers have been advised to inform the campers that the order issued today will be enforced at 6:00PM .

Those not vacating the park will be subject to arrest after the 6:00PM deadline. The decision was apparently made after several violent incidents have occurred at the site, including a stabbing, a sexual assault and two gun calls that occurred in in the last 24 hours

Saturday, December 3, 2011

A LIGHTER MOMENT....UNLESS YOU ARE SANTA

I'll take a break from the serious side to share this you-tube video.

No Santa's were injured in the making of this video

KIRKLEY-BEY FORCED OUT?



In the world of Hartford politics, I guess nothing really ever makes sense. It would seem that a long term State Representative would be able to exert some clout to keep their district from being dismantled from under them. Even more so if that Rep also served as Deputy Speaker.

In the case of 5th District State Representative Marie Kirkley-Bey, nothing could be further from the truth. The proposed redistricting of Legislative Districts has drastically cut the size of the 5th District and in fact has even moved Kirkley-Bey's residence (save the Old Saybrook comments) out of the 5th District all together and she will be in the 1st District if the changes go through. The 1st is currently represented by State Representative Matt Ritter.

I am not sure if a challenge to Ritter by Kirkley-Bey is in the future. I would say Kirkley-Bey would have a tough battle challenging one of the potential rising stars in the Legislature. Ritter was the driving force that capped tax increases on residential property and taxes as a result of re-val. The results would have been disastrous for single family homeowners in Hartford without Ritter's bill. Kirkley-Bey might be wise to consider "retirement" and bow out gracefully

A lot of potential changes may be on the political horizon for Hartford as the redistricting may also throw numerous Town Committee seats into play now as the lines are being redrawn. Several HDTC members from the 7th District will now be living in the 1st District. The 5th District HDTC members will be cut drastically also from 11 members to possibly only 4.

At least 3 members of the current 5th District HDTC have now been "redistricted" so their residences have become part of the 4th District. This could prove to be a very interesting battle for control of the 4th District as the current 4ht District HDTC includes former Town Chair Sean Arena. One of the 5th District current HDTC members that will be shifted to the 4th District is the current "shadow Chair" Marc Dibella. This could prove to be a very interesting match up come HDTC election time.

The 7th District also has seen some interesting borders cut for the area represented by Doug McCrory, Several longtime HDTC members have seen their district moved out from under them. Prenzina and Shawn Holloway, Shirley Surgeon, Paul Basch and others now reside outside the proposed boundaried for their current district.

The current 4th District State Representative, Kelvin Roldan survived a close election last go-round and just barely retained his seat from a challenge from a less than stellar candidate. Follow the dots here, Roldan's fiancee is the daughter of Bart Halloran. Halloran is the Attorney for the MDC (Metropolitan District Commission). Marc Dibella's father , William diBella is Chairman of the MDC.

Bart Halloran is also currently representing our convicted felon former Mayor Eddie A. Perez against action by the State Attorney to revoke Perez's pension, as well as 6th District State Representative and former Hartford Police Officer Hector Robles who was arrested on Larceny charges and fired from his job as a police officer.

I think it is probably pretty safe to assume that power in the 4th will not just be handed to Sean Arena without a fight.

Town Committee seats, both Republican and Democrat, are determined by the number or registered voters in a district. With the 5th District being carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey, it includes numerous unpopulated areas including most of Keney Park and a large part of the North Meadows which is primarily commercial area as well as the former landfill.

The 1st District HDTC will also most likely see some change as much of the District had encompassed the West End of Hartford prior to redistricting. The 1st now also has shifted to include much of the Northend/Albany Avenue area and has shifted the demographics to a larger minority representation. This could prove interesting to see if the HDTC from the 1st District shifts to include more minority members to actually represent the makeup of the District.

The 3rd District hasn't changed much except that it now looks to encompass the old Charter Oak Housing project area, where HDTC Secretary, the honorable Angel Morales lives with his mother on Margarita Drive. Since Morales does not have to be an actual member of the HDTC to serve on the Executive Committee, his position seems to be safe. Besides, with all the time he spends at the Hartford Public Library downtown, he has plenty of time to research the legalities.

The 6th District also remains pretty much intact.

It could all play out very interesting come HDTC election time in 2012. Most of the HDTC districts are not cohesive and are potentially ripe for change. In the mean time, maybe Marie Kirkley-Bey can land a job with the MDC and she and Bill can commute together.

Friday, December 2, 2011

MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT THE TREASURER'S RAISE

The recent action trying to approve a raise for Hartford's Treasurer Adam Cloud just stinks, pure and simple. Did Cloud not understand the dollar sign and the zero's that listed his salary before he ran?

I have to wonder how this action was on the agenda and moved forward so quickly when our previous Treasurer, Kathleen Palm-Divine, had to fight for years to get her raise put forward. But then again, Kathleen wasn't a political operative pushing the ethical limits.

And it confuses me why the Council President would introduce the resolution authorizing the raise. Does rJo Winch not realize that Cloud and a couple of her Council counterparts were instrumental in her political demise? Cloud was right there, front and center at the Democratic nominating convention cutting the deals that forced Winch as well as Sean Arena off the slate.

In true Hartford political style, I would not have been surprised to see Winch landing a job in the Treasurer's Office when the new term starts if the Treasurer got his raise, but that wouldn't happen in Hartford, would it? Maybe she could get the job the Treasurer's wife had, now that he was forced to realize having his wife work with him was a conflict.

Maybe rJo could handle Clouds "community giving and outreach" plan so that he wouldn't have to strong arm City vendors to benefit his campaign worker's non-profits.

But the larger question is why the public had to be the first to identify the Council's actions as illegal. Does the Mayor have a staff to review things first. Do we not have a Corporation Counsel that should have enough legal experience by this time in her career to question improper actions by the Council.

Even more importantly, the Corporation Counsel sat on the dais as the pay raise was raised and very little debate took place. Would it have been that difficult for the Corporation Counsel to raise a point of order? "Madame President, I have concerns regarding the legality of this matter and recommend it be tabled for further research"

I'm not sure that anyone cared about the legality. If the illegal nature had not been pointed out here by a commenter more than 24 hours prior to the Mayor's veto, would it have just gone through unquestioned? How could four attorneys sit there, 3 Council members and the Corporation Counsel, and not realize the actions they were voting on might be illegal?

How is it that the "dangerous" lefto Councilman Luis Cotto, as GOP Town Chair Mike McGarry describes him, and the other WFP Councilman Larry Deutsch, were the only ones to question the actions. Forget the legality, what about the moral and ethical issues of the raise? Hartford has the highest unemployment in the state and many residents would love a $10,000 salary, never mind a $10,000 raise.

Who is the "dangerous" lefto now Mike? Cotto and Deutsch said no, but your own Republican fully supported it. One of those things that makes you go "hmmmm" and shake your head in disbelief.

And Cloud was already elected and knew the salary. It is not like we are saying we need the raise to a salary to be competitive and attract the best possible Police Chief or Tax Collector or any hired position. Cloud was elected, and if the salary wasn't enough, then don't run.

I miss Kathleen Palm-Devine.

PEREZ FLEECES US AGAIN....NO GRANITE THIS TIME THOUGH


It's old news by now that an arbitrator awarded our disgraced and corrupt convicted felon former Mayor Eddie Perez almost $71,000 in vacation time and sick pay. Jeff Cohen from WNPR has more here

I guess it is a small price to pay to get Perez to just go away, but what about everything he has cost us? How much has been spent repairing Park Street which is falling apart after Perez's deal and now stands as Hartford's tribute to corruption and payoffs.

What was the total the City of Hartford spent on attorney fees representing city employees that were called to testify before the Grand Jury? The answer is several hundred thousand dollars, who is going to reimburse us for that?

And who makes the decision when litigation is done and what is the criteria? In this case it seems as though it is Mayor Segarra, the beneficiary of Perez's dirty deeds that paved the way for Segarra to move into the Mayor's Office.

Why is Perez given the luxury of benefiting from an arbitrators decision when just about anyone else has had to fight for compliance with a decision? Secore, Nolan, Murtha and others come to mind.

Why are some decisions fought to the death yet Eddie gets a check cut, no questions asked? Hopefully the Department of Corrections will attach the payment to pay for his prison stay.