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Monday, January 31, 2011

NEW FEATURE ADDED: "SEARCH" WE THE PEOPLE

A regular reader suggested that I add a search button to the blog. It is a great idea and will add more flexibility to find info posted here. The search box is located above, directly below the title box.

Feel free to send me your suggestions, keep them civil though, and no, I won't go away, so save your time on that one.

And it looks like this might be the week that "We the People" passes 200,000 hits. In a 24 hour period last week I actually had a record for the blog, over 2,100 hits were recorded Wednesday from 4:45pm through 4:45pm on Thursday. The next closest day was when Eddie Perez faced his first arrest, 1,100 that day.

Thanks for all of your support, encouragement and of course information, I couldn't do this without your help.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

THE THINGS YOU WILL NEVER HEAR FROM HPD


It seems like we always hear the negative things about Hartford Police Officers and I have had numerous conversations with Chief Robert's that HPD does an awful job of public relations.

A perfect example happened this morning, and now that it is posted here it will probably be in a press release, but Hartford officers are doing things like this day in and day out and no one highlights their efforts.

On a Sunday morning when most of us are inside staying warm, drinking coffee and relaxing,others in the City have something else in mind. Two Hartford Police Officers were working a special detail this morning in response to street robberies in the Albany Avenue area.

Apparently something aroused the suspicions of Officers Stephen Pepler and Kevin O'Brien. As they attempted to investigate further, the subject, a 17 year old male took off running to get away from the officers. The officers chased the suspect and during the chase the 17 year old pulled a silver handgun from his waistband. This could have turned into a much different outcome and at one point one of the officers thought that the suspect might be preparing to fire, instead though the suspect threw the gun to get rid of it.

These officers might have ended a one man temporary crime spree through their actions, and these are the things we should be hearing about. This isn't an isolated incident by a couple of "super cops", these are the things HPD officers are doing everyday, day in and day out. Sometimes revolvers, sometimes rifles, sometimes machine guns and in at least one case a grenade launcher.

Instead, many times HPD is portrayed as a bunch of wifebeaters and goons out racially profiling innocent people in the community. Some of that is HPD's doing by not putting information out or stonewalling the media when they inquire, other times it is our polticians grandstanding.

I had a conversation with Councilman Painter about this very subject this past week. I asked him if he knew that Hartford Police Officers had collected hundreds of toys for children across the city who may have had nothing Christmas morning otherwise. It was a great effort spearheaded by police officers, but I heard nothing about it other than talking to officers I knew who told me about it.

That is the type of story that HPD should have gained tremendous mileage off of, possibly on a national level if they only handled their public relations right. Imagine a television crew riding with Hartford Officers as they play Santa, knocking on doors in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods handing out gifts.

It would also serve another purpose as many people might actually see the cops as human beings, and not people to be feared that you only have to interact with at bad times. That is how relationships are built and walls are torn down.

The 17 year old on Albany Avenue might have a different opinion, but his next unsuspecting robbery victim might actually appreciate the HPD's
efforts that we never hear about. It's very unfortunate.

UH-OH, THIS DOESN'T LOOK GOOD


Recent renovations of the Mayor's Suite at Hartford City Hall have been completed and the Corporation Counsel staff is just steps away from the Segarra complex now. One of the people displaced during the renovations was Perez spokesperson, I mean Segarra spokesperson Sarah Barr.

I don't know if her office move is symbolic, but Sara Barr has been "relocated" to the basement of City Hall, right by the rear exit doors, about as far away from the Mayor's Office as one can get without actually being in the parking lot. Could that be the next move?

Barr is now occupying office space previously used by Lillian Ruiz. Lillian Ruiz was the Human Relations Director terminated by Segarra when he assumed the Mayor's Office.

I wonder if there is a hidden meaning in there somewhere.

Best of Luck Sarah.

WHERE DID THEY GO ?


For the second Sunday in a row, the Fox61 political shows are missing. The Stan Simpson Show and the Real Story, originally started by Shelly Sindland and inherited by Laurie Perez seem to be gone and replaced by a couple of syndicated programs. They normally air at 10:00 and 10:30am

Does anyone know what happened or if they will be back.

I guess that does make it official now, Dennis House's "Face the State" is the most watched local political program. Dennis airs on WFSB 3 Sundays at 11:00am

Saturday, January 29, 2011

WHAT BUDGET DEFICIT? SUPT. ADAMOWSKI ISSUES $2.7 MILLION IN BONUSES TO HARTFORD SCHOOL EMPLOYEES

I don't think anyone knows the real numbers but some estimates for Hartford's budget hole aren't pretty. I have been given estimates on the City budget deficit anywhere from a few million up to a number I was given Friday of $40 million or more and the Board of Education's is possibly even worse than that.

With a huge budget deficit looming. Superintendent of Schools Stephen Adamowski has just compiled his most recent list of "bonuses". Some of them are contractual, some defy any reasoning , but which ever way you look at it one question looms large. Should we be paying out huge bonuses at a time when we are cutting back on the core staff in schools; teachers, para-professionals and even custodial workers.

I'm probably beating a dead horse here, but would an educator or even the "non-educators" who constantly say that "it is all about the kids" consider a giveback of the bonus to actually benefit the kids?

I know in some cases it is a tough job, especially for a Principal or teachers, but can some one explain to me why the spokesperson for the Hartford Schools David Medina received a bonus of $ 1250.00. Is his excessive salary not enough to cover the job he was hired to do?

Former Perez staffer and 4th District State Representative Kelvin Roldan received a bonus of $7961.00. How much time has Roldan spent in a classroom raising test scores? If anything, his and Adamowski's bonuses should be given back as a gesture of good will to cover the catering costs for the lunches in their offices that they rack up on the City credit cards.

Below are the bonus recipients in alphabetical order:

BONUS LIST- ABATE, ROBERT TO FAIR, LAURA

BONUS LIST -FALCONER -CRAWFORD, JANET TO MARSELL, FRED

BONUS LIST - MARTINEZ, JOSE TO ZUBRETSKY, CANDICE A.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE FUNDRAISER TOMORROW


On Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m, a fundraiser to benefit the 40th Annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade will be held at Damon's Tavern at 310 Prospect Ave., Hartford. Matt Fleury of the Connecticut Science Center will be honored as Hartford's Parade Marshal, and Catherine Blinder as Hartford's person of the year.

The parade is set for Saturday,March 12, 2011 an is sponsored by the Central Connecticut Celtic Cultural Committee.