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Friday, March 23, 2012

IS HARTFORD'S MORAL COMPASS BROKEN?

Many days I wonder what the message is that we are sending to young people and children in our community. In a City wracked with senseless violence, it seems pretty clear that the message we are sending is not being heard.

This becomes even more evident depending on how the Hartford City Council votes on item number 31 on Monday nights agenda. The item introduced by Councilperson Cynthia Jennings proposes "Abraham Giles Way" as the designation of the corner of Windsor and Main Streets as Abraham Giles Way. Am I missing something here? Since when do we memorialize people convicted of corruption and stealing from the people they are supposed to represent?

No disrespect to the dead, but I think you forfeit your naming rights when you plead guilty to corruption charges against the very same community naming a corner for you. This sends a terrible message to our young people when essentially we are telling them that they don't have to worry about how they live their life, the law means nothing, even when you get caught and plead guilty.

Giles may have done good things for his community, at what cost his constituents paid probably will never be known, but no one can dispute he was convicted of corruption charges.

What is next? Maybe a granite statue of Eddie Perez in front of City Hall

HARTFORD CHARTER REVISION COMMISSION NOMINEES

The Hartford City Council will vote on the appointment of members to the Charter Revision Commission on Monday night. The proposed members are as follows:

Jeremy Baver, 36 Whitney Street, Hartford, 06105 (D)
Corey Brinson, 22 Charter Oak Place, Apt. 1S, Hartford, 06106 (R)
Doreth Flowers, 264 Whitney Street, Hartford, 06105 (R)
Richard Gordon 451 Cornwall Street, Hartford, 06112 (U)
Kenneth Green , 223 Granby Street, Hartford, 06112 (D)
Kevin Henry, 487 Main Street, Unit 2, Hartford, 06103 (D)
John Kennelly, 95 Scarborough Street, Hartford, 06105 (D)
Brendan Mahoney, 160 Fairfield Avenue, Hartford, 06104 (U)
Thea Montanez, 1 Linden Place #306, Hartford, 06103 (D)
Sharon Patterson-Stallings, 40 Clark Street, Hartford, 06120 (D)
Bruce Rubenstein, 80 Goodwin Circle 17D, Hartford, 06105 (U)

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

CITY TO PAY ESTATE OF JASHON BRYANT $1,625,000

The City of Hartford has reached a tentative agreement with the estate of Jashon Bryant for a one time settlement payment of $1.625 million. Although the City of Hartford Corporation Counsel has refused to release any information pursuant to an FOI request, I was able to view documents today that detailed the proposed payment to the estate.

The claim results from the fatal shooting of Jashon Bryant in 2005 by Hartford Police Deytective Robert Lawlor. Lawler reported that as he approched the vehicle in which Bryant was a passsenger he sw a gun and fired his weapon as he feared for his life from the occupants and the moving vehicle. Although no weapon was found later when the vehicle crashed, the operator of the vehicle has been serving prison time for gun and armed robbery charges unrelated to the 2005 incident.

If the City ever releases the entire documents, it should be interesting to see why they chose to pay rather than fight the claim. Although the City claims that the settlement is "sealed" and confidential, a spokesperson at the FOI Commission has a different take on the legality of that.

The State of Connecticut also has a claim on a portion of the settlement apparently for close to $200,000 for money Brant owed to the State for support payments and other items.

Detective Lawlor, who was arrested for the shooting, was eventually acquitted of any criminal charges by a Superior Court jury in 2009.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

IS THE FLU SEASON ABOUT TO HIT HARTFORD?

The "Blue Flu" that is.

It doesn't seem to du much for morale at HPD when the Mayor's Chief of Staff gets a $20,000 a year raise and a Ford Explorer SUV City vehicle and the Hartford Police Department has working without a contract for almost two years now. For more on the "shared sacrifice" and the Chief of Staff's raise, check out the link to Jeff Cohen's blog in the right column

Members of the Hartford Police Union are apparently starting to raise their voices over the fact that they have been without a contract for over 22 months. Several members of the union have called me over the last few days, most talking about the initial planning of "efforts" to get the City administrations attention. According to several sources, a planning meeting is going to be held this week to discuss and "organize" these efforts.

Hartford Police Union President Rich Holton wouldn't discuss specifics of the contract negotiations, but his frustration was clear. Holton did credit acting Police Chief James Rovella with "jumpstarting" negotiations over the last few weeks since his appointment.

Others have told me that there are still major issues to be worked out before a contract agreement can be reached. Among those issues are retiree health care benefits as well as private duty job pay. Currently police officers working private duty jobs are paid straight time for those hours, even though the city recoups and actually profits substantially from the billing for those hours worked.

Another issue being discussed is the privatization of the HPD booking/detention facility. This is apparently being discussed to get more uniformed officers onto the streets, but I'm sure many might question that decision. Booking has been a source of numerous problems, and payouts, for actions of police officers and supervisors working inside that area. I'm not sure that bringing in essentially private security guards is the best choice.

With the current staffing of HPD any slowdown or reduction in the "speed" of services and responses could cripple the already understaffed department.

Others mentioned the possibility of refusing to work "private jobs" which although being costly to the officers, would also cripple construction and road jobs as the warm weather approaches. The MDC project alone may need dozens of officers each day to work on City streets. Under Connceticut State law, Hartford Police officers are required to man those traffic positions as opposed to "flagmen".

A few of the officers I spoke with also expressed their disappointment in what they felt is the lack of a good faith effort by Mayor Pedro Segarra in the negotiations. Unofficially they felt that they stepped up during last years campaign and supported Segarra when mayoral challenger Kelvin Roldan began slinging allegations towards Segarra. The union also endorsed Segarra for Mayor during last November's election. Am potential vote of "no confidence" in Segarra and former Chief Roberts was pretty much squashed when the idea arose last year.

I am not a big union person, but the fact of the matter is that Hartford's police officers probably have some of the toughest working conditions in the state and are well below surrounding towns when it comes to their pay rates. The administration is also well aware that it is costing the City money through attrition when trained HPD officers leave for better pay and benefits in other agencies.

What's fair is fair and the games need to end, Mr. Mayor. For our benefit this contract needs to be settled now.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

THE SIDESHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED


For those hoping to be able to see democracy in action (and I'm being sarcastic) the City hall steps sideshow scheduled for 5:30PM today by Hartford's Republican Registrar Sal bramante has been cancelled.

According to a quote by Republican Michael Fryar from ctnewsjunkie.com that the registrar and the City Council had resolved the issue. Apparently though that is also not correct. There have apparently been no meetings between Bramante and the City Council. One source familiar with the situation told me "there have been nodeals reached. The only thing is that Sal has been told to deal with the finances" and the funding already approved by the Council.

The other part of the story is that apparently many other Registrars of Voters from throughout Connecticut had bought into Bramante's story and had agreed to stand by Bramante at the press conference. Once I posted the documents and the facts yesterday, apparently members of "ROVAC" an association of Registrars of Voters in Connecticut, mailed the links to my story and the documents. That caused many of the Registrars to reconsider their support for Bramante's actions when they actually saw the factual documents.

Calls to ROVAC representatives for comment have not been returned at this time.

Tor read the ctnewsjunkie.com story, click here

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

10 ARRESTED FOR SOLICITING PROSTITUTES

At least ten men were arrested in the South Green area of the City Tuesday for attempting to patronize an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute. The HPD arrest log is below. It is interesting to note the ages of those arrested as well as the fact that most of them are Hartford residents.

Luckily it was an election day so other "johns" were occupied.

3 6 12 Prostitution Arrests 0001

THE OFFICIAL NUMBERS ARE IN

Yesterday's Hartford Democratic Town Committee primaries had some interesting results, most importantly that our entire challenge slate in the 7th Distric were all elected. Also in the 6th District the challenge slate was elected there also defeating the entire "Robles" slate, including the defeat of Al MArotta, Councilman David Macdonald and Hartford Fire Chief Ed Casares in their bid for Town Committee seats.

The 4th Dsitrict "Roldan" slate was also soundly defeated by the "Dibella" slate. This will most likely result in some changes for Hartford in the Connecticut legislature As replacements for Robles and Roldan are likely to be nominated by the new Town Committee's. It might also prove interesting for both of Hartford's State Senators, John Fonfara and Eric Coleman. Both Senators thrw their support behind losing slates which are respoinsible for a large number of votes at nomination time.

I am extremely proud of the slate that was put together to represent the people of the 7th District and look forward to working with them to improve our neighborhoods and our City.

The official numbers are below

Results+03062012+Dem+Town+Committee

COUNCIL PRESIDENT WOODEN RESPONDS TO REGISTRAR'S RHETORIC


The picture above is Council President Shawn Wooden reading to students at Milner School recently


Statement from Council President Shawn Wooden on allegations made by Republican Registrar Sal Bramante


“One of the most important jobs of the Council is to be responsible with taxpayer funds. Given the low turnout of town committee primaries and the number of registered Republicans in the City of Hartford, we believe that these elections call for the minimum staffing levels required by state law. On February 27th, the Council allocated sufficient funding to meet those requirements. The Council did its job, and did so responsibly. And while we are being accommodating and are working to find a solution that best serves the city, the Republican registrar is being wasteful, unresponsive and combative. The public deserves better.”

The above statement was received in response to the previous posting regarding the Republican Registrar's comments regarding the Council's actions for the upcoming Presidential primary.

THE REGISTRAR'S RHETORIC



If you listen to, and believe, the latest coming out of the Republican Registrar in Hartford, the GOP in Hartford is having its rights trampled on by the Hartford City Council.

Like I said, if you choose to believe it. The fact of the matter is that maybe this will make it clear that both the Republican and Democratic Registrars are the last bastion of political patronage in Hartford City Hall. It also points out that we don't look for the best or even competent individuals when filling one of the most important positions in our democratic process.

It might be that the Republicans have relegated themselves to "nothingness" when it comes to any political power or clout. Are they now are relying on any means to keep the defibrillator charged for that last chance at getting their political pulse going...even if that means lying and untruths?

The nonsense spewing forth from Republican Registrar Sal Bramante is the result of his incompetence, not Mayor Segarra and not the Hartford City Council. Because Bramante and Democratic Registrar Olga Vazquez are elected and essentially allowed to run unsupervised, doesn't relieve them of the fact that they are Department heads and need to be professional and manage their department the same as any other department Head at City Hall.

Last year at budget time the Registrars submitted their proposed budget to the Mayor and Council based on their needs and obligations to perform their duties. The budget was approved and now, bottom line, they need to live withing the budget they requested.

We are now being told by Bramante that the City Council has refused to fund the Republican Presidential Primary, and he is actually going to be shouting his message from the steps of City Hall tomorrow at 5:30PM. Hopefully someone will be there to ask the tough questions as to how less than two months before the Presidential Primary Bramante has come out of hibernation in the basement of City Hall to realize they have overspent their budget recklessly at a time when every penny counts.

The PDF file below is directly from the Budget Book submitted by Mayor Segarra to the Council last April. Under the topic on the first page Of the "Registrars of Voters" section, second paragraph in is the section "Significant Features". It states that the Registrar's operations will be impacted by "state legislature redistricting requirement and the upcoming of November General Municipal Elections, Presidential Preference Primaries and Town Committee Primaries".

It is right there in black and white in the Budget book. The Registrars knew what they had upcoming , asked for the funding that they thought was appropriate and were granted that funding. It is now their responsibility to live within that budget and barring any unforeseen obstacles, get that job done on budget.

When it became clear that the Registrars had been reckless with their budget and had not properly projected their spending, now it is the Council's fault. I don't think so, not this year, not with this budget. Their requests for additional funding essentially amount to more than 25% of their total approved budget. No other Department head would even come close to be allowed to overspend by that amount and neither should the Registrars be allowed to.

Imagine if the Police Department were to come forward and demand another $8 million dollars to be able to keep operating because they had overspent from their authorized budget and didn't keep their spending under control. The blame for this needs to be put squarely where it belongs, on Bramante and Vazquez. You may note that I haven't mentioned Working Families Party Registrar Urania Petit. It has nothing to do with Urania being a friend of mine, the fact is that the "D' and the "R" do not include her in any budget maters or spending issues so I think it is fair to give her a pass on this one.

Even though Hartford is cash strapped now and headed for a large deficit this year and a monstrous deficit next year, the Council did approve a supplemental appropriation for the Registrars Office last week. The Registrar's (the "D" and the "R", not the "WFP"") had asked for over $200,000 dollars to close their incompetence gap...I mean their budget gap.

The Council actually asked for reasons behind the request and one of the things they found is that Hartford is actually using more than double the poll workers and election workers required by Connecticut law. In reviewing the Registrar's request for funding, the Council saw fit to approve an additional $175,000 for the Registrar's Office. In the memo below from Council President Shawn Wooden, he details the $55,000 given for activities associated with re-districting and $120,000 for the administration of BOTH the March 6th Democratic primary and the April 24th Republican Presidential Primary.

I'm not sure what Mr. Bramante is reading, but it doesn't sound like a refusal on anyone's part to fund the GOP primary. Maybe Mr. Bramanate should admit that the ROV's office has mismanaged their budget and now is potentially broke. That is more accurate of what is going on, not a sinister plot by a Democratic Council to squash the Republicans in Hartford.

And I know you can't put a price on democracy or voting, too many people have fought and died for that right for us. But look at the proposed budget below for the Republican primary. Close to $100,000 being spent on maybe 300 or 400 voters that might actually turn out seems wasteful. There has to be a better way. Maybe some changes in the Registrar of Voters system statewide would be a good start.

2012 BUDGET BOOK

Budget Book Registrar of Voters 2012

COUNCIL PRESIDENT WOODEN'S MEMO
RoV Budget Memo

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY BUDGET

Rep Pres Primary 04-24-12

Friday, March 2, 2012

MORE ON HARTFORD'S DISPATCH CENTER

I'm really not trying to beat a dead horse here, but you can't make these things up if you tried.

The City of Hartford's Emergency Dispatch Center has had its share of problems as well as criticism here on this blog and elsewhere. The recording below seems to show that things still aren't changing. The attitude of the dispatcher in the recording seems to convey the attitude that has been mentioned in numerous comments here.

Anyone listening to the recording below would have to ask yourself if you as a police officer or firefighter would be comfortable entrusting you personal safety and potentially your life to the "professional" on the other end of the radio.

The Hartford Police Officer on the recording is trying to relay information to the dispatcher regarding an individual involved in a domestic incident. Statistically, Domestic incidents are the number one incidents that police officers are injured and killed during. Listen to the recording and see if you think the dispatcher is handling the incident properly and paying attention to what should be her number one priority...the officer's safety.

Something needs to be done to restore a professional attitude to everyone in that Department because what is going on in there now is not working. Will it take a serious incident before the Mayor or City Council realize it is time to change?

The comments in question are near the beginning of the recording but I left the whole track unedited with the digital time and date stamps

Thursday, March 1, 2012

COMING UP AT THE HARTFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY

MORE ON THE VACCARO ARREST


After I posted the Vaccaro arrest report yesterday that I had obtained from the court, HPD spokesperson Nancy Mulroy asked me to post a copy with the victim's name redacted. I did that, but I also found that the PDF file sent to me also contained a "supplemental report" that was not part of the Court report.

The report was written by another Officer, other than the arresting officer. The supplemental report writer, Officer Robotham, was responsible for transporting Vaccaro to Jennings Road to be booked. Apparently Vaccaro continued his obnoxious behavior while he was being transported. According to Officer Robotham's report, at one point Vaccaro stated "I guess it is better not to even call the police... just shoot the person yourself".

The whole incident resulting in Vaccaro's arrest was actually started by Vaccaro himself when he called HPD to complain about his treatment when he was ejected from Real Art Ways for his alleged offensive behavior. I know his comments were most likely fueled by his alcohol problems, but it seems to portray a troublesome pattern.

And thanks to the reader who noticed Vaccaro's statement and called to point it out to me.