Search This Blog

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

DON'T FORGET THE HYDRANTS


As you dig out from today's snow storm, don't forget to clear out any fire hydrants on or adjacent to your property.

The time it takes firefighters to locate and dig out fire hydrants in an emergency can mean the difference between life and death.

And once you are done, enjoy this great New England ambiance.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

COUNCILMAN APONTE DONE? NOW WHAT?

This is another one from the "You can't make this stuff up file".

Apparently according to the resolution passed on August 23, 2010 by the Hartford Court of Common Council, Councilman Alexander Aponte was appointed only until January 1, 2011. According to legal sources , even though it most likely was a typographical error, once the resolution is certified by the City Clerk, the exact wording becomes official.

The document was certified and Aponte's term is now done as of January 1, 2011 according to the official certified resolution. A copy of the resolution is attached below. It seems that legally the only way to correct the mistake will be to "re-vote" Aponte back onto the Council.

That could prove to be an interesting task though since a lot has changed since the original Council vote and Aponte's appointment. First up is the matter of how Aponte got his five votes.

If you recall from other posts here, Aponte got the fifth vote he needed from some old fashioned "horse trading". The night before the vote, Councilwoman rJo Winch had stated that she would never vote for Aponte to be appointed. Less than 24 hours later, Winch changed her opinion, voted for Aponte to join the Council and the Aponte in turn voted for Winch to become Council President.

Winch would have never become Council President without Aponte's vote. Nowthat she has her position, it will be interesting how she proceeds now that all bets are off and she is not obligated to Aponte.

Another critical piece is that at least three of the Council members at the time of the vote felt deceived by Aponte. At the time of the vote, myself and others had raised the issue of a Federal Investigation involving Aponte for Food Stamp fraud as well as other issues. Aponte denied any knowledge or involvement in the investigation when asked by Council members prior to the vote. That turned out not to be truthful when documents released and an article in the Hartford Courant showed a rather deceptive case against Aponte.


This could all be very interesting to watch as this plays out for Aponte's next shot at getting voted onto the Council.

UPDATE 4:40pm:

I had originally called City Clerk John Bazzano to see how this matter was being handled. He called back at 4:35PM and said that the matter was "being corrected". I asked how and he stated that his staff had told him that "Certified Resolutions" had been corrected in the past. I asked for a specific instance and the legality of doing that. Bazzano said that he was told by "people in his office" that it had been done before and he didn't think it was a big deal. He also stated that the previous corrections were done before his time so he couldn't give me any specifics.

He further stated that he believes the mistake was noticed at the time of the meeting, but for whatever reason it was never corrected. Bazzano stated that he was waitng for a video copy of the meeting from Public Access to verify what happened. I asked if that meant the matter was corrected and he replied "not yet, not until we get the tape".

Requests for comment from Corporation Counsel Saundra Kee-Borges and Aponte will be posted if and when they are recieved.

Aponte Resolution

TO READ THE OFFICIAL COMPLAINT REGARDING APONTE'S FRAUD AND MALPRACTICE ALLEGATIONS, CLICK BELOW

APONTE MALPRACTICE -FRAUD COMPLAINT

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

CAPITAL FELONY MURDER CHARGES IN NEW YEAR'S HOMICIDES

Hartford Police have obtained arrest warrants for Capital Felony Murder charges related to the New Years Day homicides.

The wanted flyer for Angel Rivera is attached below.

Wanted Info Flyer 2009 1

Saturday, January 1, 2011

COUNCILMAN RITTER'S FINAL PRESS RELEASE

I received the following press release from Councilman Ritter's office:

HARTFORD COUNCILMAN BIDS CITY COUNCIL FAREWELL

Newly Elected Legislator To Be Sworn In Next Week





HARTFORD - Less than a week before he is to be sworn-in as a state legislator, Councilman Matthew Ritter submitted his letter of resignation to Hartford Town Clerk John Bazzano and sent an email to all City employees thanking them for their support and dedication during his three years on the Council. "Serving on the City Council has been an extremely rewarding experience, as it has given me the chance to help our families, neighbors and business owners with their issues and concerns. I would not have been able to accomplish that without you." Ritter , whose resignation is effective on January 3rd at 4:30 PM, also wrote to city employees: "As I enter this new chapter as State Representative for our city, your words and deeds will guide me in doing what is best for Hartford."

One of the youngest people ever elected to the Hartford City Council, Ritter was elected State Representative for the 1st Assembly District in November. Ritter learned yesterday that he will serve on the Connecticut General Assembly's Banks, Planning and Development and Executive and Legislative Nominations Committees. The Banks Committee reviews all legislation dealing with secured and unsecured lending. The Planning and Development Committee has oversight of housing, urban renewal and economic development programs impacting local governments. The Executive and Legislation Nominations Committee will review all executive and legislative nominations requiring action of either or both Houses, except judicial and workers' compensation commissioner appointments.

"I am honored to serve the residents of the 1st District, and excited to serve on committees that will impact issues that affect them," Ritter said. "I want to thank Speaker Donovan for these important assignments which will allow me to work on issues such as foreclosures, property tax reform and revenue diversification for municipalities."

While on the Council, Ritter chaired the Legislative Affairs and Planning and Economic Development Committees. He will be sworn in at the Legislative Office Building at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011.



Now the games can officially begin to fill his vacant seat on the Council. This should be very interesting to watch, I'm sure I will have plenty of information to post on the maneuvering for this, keep the phone calls coming

A VIOLENT START TO 2011 IN HARTFORD

As the sun rose on Hartford for the first morning of 2011, one body lay dead in the street on Francis Avenue, another lay dead in the morgue at the hospital and two more victims were recovering from gunshot wounds at Saint Francis Hospital.

Hopefully this isn't an indicator of things to come, but it is troubling to see the New Year starting in such a manner.

The first shootings came in shortly after 1:00am when a victim was shot in the chest inside the ballroom of the West Indian Social Club. He was transported to Saint Francis Hospital, and according to police sources he was immediately taken into surgery and is in critical but stable condition. The second shooting victim was actually the DJ at the club and he was grazed by a bullet and received superficial wounds.



The first and second homicides of 2011 occurred a little after 4:00am in front of 49 Francis Avenue. Two men were shot at what initially was thought to be a car jacking. A 24 year old male and a 30 year old male both received fatal gun shot wounds during the event. A female and her 14 year old daughter were also in the vehicle but were not injured. One victim was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:21am, the other was pronounced dead at St. Francis at 4:46am.

A suspect vehicle believed to be involved was found later in the morning in a neighboring town.

Due to limited staffing, many other calls for service went unanswered for hours as police resources were stripped to cover the two crime scenes, once again pointing to the need for increased numbers of officers for HPD.

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.