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Sunday, March 13, 2011
HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY
Sometimes it seems that Saint Patrick's Day is a holiday to celebrate crazy green wigs, outrageous headgear and of course alcohol. Anyone who has experienced Irish hospitality or has had the opportunity to actually visit Ireland realizes that there is so much more to the Irish warmth.
One of the things I remember most about growing up with an Irish grandmother was when you would walk into her house to aroma of fresh baked Irish soda bread. The first few years after I was born, I actually lived next door to her and my grandfather, in the same house my father grew up in.
After we eventually moved to a new home I looked forward to the overnight stays at their home since it almost always meant fresh baked "Irish bread". After "Grammy" passed away in 1974, the Irish bread became a thing of the past except for the occasions when my mother would make it.
A few years ago, my mother gave me my grandmother's "Irish Cookbook" after she found it out at a tag sale that my sister was having at her house. Inside the back cover was the handwritten recipe for "Grammy's" Irish Soda Bread.
It wasn't half bad the first time I made it, but something wasn't the same when I took it out of the pyrex cooking dish. I eventually found out that the only way to cook "authentic" Irish bread is to bake it in a cast iron frying pan. That made a huge difference in the texture and crust.
I bake the Irish bread regularly, especially this time of year, and I have quite a few people that begin asking about the beginning of March when the Irish bread will be ready.
Recently I had a conversation with Governor Malloy and we somehow got on the subject of Irish soda bread. He asked if I made it with or without caraway seeds? When I told him with, he asked me to be sure I saved some for him. I have a few in the oven now, if I can get by his security detail I may share my Grandmother's Irish heritage with our new Governor, that would surely make Grammy's day if she knew that.
I don't believe in "secret" family recipes. What good it is if you can't share it. So here is my grandmothers Irish Soda Bread recipe. If you want to be real authentic, the easiest place that I have found cast iron frying pans have been at Target, in case you don't already have one.
Enjoy fresh out of the oven with butter
IRISH BREAD RECIPE
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour in a greased cast iron frying pan or glass if you don't have a frying pan.
A CLASSIC CASE OF "DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO"
This is a posting that needs to be filed under "you can't make this stuff up!".
I picked up the Hartford Courant this morning and after reading one of the columns, I had to go back to the video I recorded at the Legislative Office Building recently. That meeting was called by Representative Kirkley-Bey regarding the bonuses handed out by Hartford's Board of Education.
During that meeting, 3rd District Representative Guillermina "Minnie" Gonzalez made some sharply worded comments toward the Board of Education that were critical of their hiring process and spending money "like it is Christmas". The clip of Gonzalez's remarks can be seen below.The interesting part really comes at about 0:40 seconds into the clip.
Gonzalez questions the appointments to the Board and members of the Board "are they putting family members to work at the Board of Education? We have to be very careful of that". She went on to say that if they are doing that "they are not for the kids, they are for themselves".
Video is a wonderful thing when it comes to preserving peoples comments. Second only to the Freedom of Information Act which provides the paper trail to many of our elected officials less than stellar actions.
Although it is pretty common knowledge of Representative Gonzalez's employment efforts on behalf of her family members, Courant columnist Kevin Rennie did the legwork and dug into the hiring of Gonzalez's son, Ivan Maldonado, at both the Legislature and at the MDC. Rennie also points out the blatant lies and omissions on Maldonado's employment application.
One glaring omission was Maldonado's arrest on charges of sexually assaulting a twelve, yes you are reading that correctly, a twelve year old girl. Those charges are currently pending. You can view those charges on the Judicial website by clicking here
You can read Kevin Rennie's column by clicking here
In the meantime, if we were to follow the reasoning behind Gonzalez's remarks directed at the Board, elected officials who get jobs for family members may need to be questioned as to whether they are there for the people who elected them, or are they there for themselves. Especially when those family members are hired under very questionable circumstances.
And if this is the way the MDC typically hires, you might want to think twice before you let an MDC worker into your home, ask them if they have ever been accused of a felony, like sexually assaulting and threatening a 12 year old girl. Somehow I think this might be an isolated incident resulting from a political favor.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
DO WE NEED ANOTHER VACANT LOT ?
Capitol West photo from courant.com
Ask just about any Hartford resident how the demolition of the "Butt Ugly" building affected them as a Hartford resident, and most would answer it hasn't. The symbol of Hartford's corrupt former Mayor Eddie A. Perez's actions that sentenced him to prison, was quickly torn down by his successor. The result is even more symbolic of Hartford's past and future. Another vacant lot.
The area bordering the northern end of Downtown Hartford abutting I-84 sends a much clearer message than the Butt ugly building ever did. Hartford is unable to fill the large expanse of empty downtown acreage. There are a lot of reasons for this, the economy, crime, a City who has no clue what economic development means, business unfriendly tax structures and the list could go on and on.
One of those vacant lots showed a lot of promise a few years ago when WFSB Channel 3 announced plans to build a state of the art television facility and move their operations there from cramped headquarters at Constitution Plaza. That deal eventually fell apart and according to one high ranking official from Meredith Corp., the parent company of WFSB, he told me that "if it wasn't for the Mayor and his staff, we would still be in Hartford".
That was the night that Channel 3 had their reception and dinner showing off a beautiful new building a couple years ago when they left Hartford for Rocky Hill. That is a great facility that should be standing proudly on the corner of Main Street and Morgan Street in Hartford, filling one of those long vacant lots.
Today the Hartford Redevelopment Authority will be voting to branch out and create another vacant lot just west of Union Station. This vote will be an attempt to take the property known as Capitol West by emminent domain. This effort will most likely cost the taxpayers of Hartford upwards of $5 million dollars. The environmental cleanup alone has been estimated at $2.5 million from what sources have told me.
The sad part is that there is no plan for this property, other than to create another surface parking lot. I had thought that after the New London debacle, Kelo vs New London, the emminent domain laws had changed. That was a case where New London forced people out of their homes by grabbing the proerties through the emminent domain process. As it turned out after the property owners were forced out and the land cleared, the proposed project, an office park for Pfizer, never took place and the land sat empty.
I had thought Governor Rell had the emminent domain laws changed so that any taking of property by the government could only be done when an actual plan and project for the use of the land was in place, and I don't think creating a vacant lot counts as a project.
Similar to the "Butt Ugly" building, I doubt you could find anyone that can give you a solid reason as to how spending $5 million to create another vacant lot will affect their quality of life in Hartford. The Hartford Insurance has agreed to kick in to pay for the property, and I am not disputing that the Hartford has been a great Corporate neighbor to Hartford's neighborhoods. The Hartford though could afford the entire project and develop something on that property. The residents of the City of Hartford can not afford to fund this project at all.
It may be a feel good thing for the Mayor and City Hall to say they took away another eyesore, but it is not money well spent. That $5 million dollars could fund quite a few new police officers or at least prevent any from getting laid off at budget time. It could fund programs to revitalize our parks and re-hire some of the laid off workers from DPW. It could even fund the Adamowski bonuses for at least the next two years.
Creating a vacant lot at the taxpayers expense is nonsense. Maybe it would make more sense to leave the building there as a constant reminder that we need to do better to attract new business and celebrate when something useful actually goes there.The only plan that may possibly take place in that area is the eventual development of the high speed rail system from what I have been told
The Hartford Redevelopment Agency will meet tonight to hold a Public Hearing and Meeting in the Plaza Level Conference Room located at 260 Constitution Plaza, Hartford, Connecticut 06103. The meeting will be held at 6:00PM
Ask just about any Hartford resident how the demolition of the "Butt Ugly" building affected them as a Hartford resident, and most would answer it hasn't. The symbol of Hartford's corrupt former Mayor Eddie A. Perez's actions that sentenced him to prison, was quickly torn down by his successor. The result is even more symbolic of Hartford's past and future. Another vacant lot.
The area bordering the northern end of Downtown Hartford abutting I-84 sends a much clearer message than the Butt ugly building ever did. Hartford is unable to fill the large expanse of empty downtown acreage. There are a lot of reasons for this, the economy, crime, a City who has no clue what economic development means, business unfriendly tax structures and the list could go on and on.
One of those vacant lots showed a lot of promise a few years ago when WFSB Channel 3 announced plans to build a state of the art television facility and move their operations there from cramped headquarters at Constitution Plaza. That deal eventually fell apart and according to one high ranking official from Meredith Corp., the parent company of WFSB, he told me that "if it wasn't for the Mayor and his staff, we would still be in Hartford".
That was the night that Channel 3 had their reception and dinner showing off a beautiful new building a couple years ago when they left Hartford for Rocky Hill. That is a great facility that should be standing proudly on the corner of Main Street and Morgan Street in Hartford, filling one of those long vacant lots.
Today the Hartford Redevelopment Authority will be voting to branch out and create another vacant lot just west of Union Station. This vote will be an attempt to take the property known as Capitol West by emminent domain. This effort will most likely cost the taxpayers of Hartford upwards of $5 million dollars. The environmental cleanup alone has been estimated at $2.5 million from what sources have told me.
The sad part is that there is no plan for this property, other than to create another surface parking lot. I had thought that after the New London debacle, Kelo vs New London, the emminent domain laws had changed. That was a case where New London forced people out of their homes by grabbing the proerties through the emminent domain process. As it turned out after the property owners were forced out and the land cleared, the proposed project, an office park for Pfizer, never took place and the land sat empty.
I had thought Governor Rell had the emminent domain laws changed so that any taking of property by the government could only be done when an actual plan and project for the use of the land was in place, and I don't think creating a vacant lot counts as a project.
Similar to the "Butt Ugly" building, I doubt you could find anyone that can give you a solid reason as to how spending $5 million to create another vacant lot will affect their quality of life in Hartford. The Hartford Insurance has agreed to kick in to pay for the property, and I am not disputing that the Hartford has been a great Corporate neighbor to Hartford's neighborhoods. The Hartford though could afford the entire project and develop something on that property. The residents of the City of Hartford can not afford to fund this project at all.
It may be a feel good thing for the Mayor and City Hall to say they took away another eyesore, but it is not money well spent. That $5 million dollars could fund quite a few new police officers or at least prevent any from getting laid off at budget time. It could fund programs to revitalize our parks and re-hire some of the laid off workers from DPW. It could even fund the Adamowski bonuses for at least the next two years.
Creating a vacant lot at the taxpayers expense is nonsense. Maybe it would make more sense to leave the building there as a constant reminder that we need to do better to attract new business and celebrate when something useful actually goes there.The only plan that may possibly take place in that area is the eventual development of the high speed rail system from what I have been told
The Hartford Redevelopment Agency will meet tonight to hold a Public Hearing and Meeting in the Plaza Level Conference Room located at 260 Constitution Plaza, Hartford, Connecticut 06103. The meeting will be held at 6:00PM
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
KIRKLEY-BEY ABOUT BONUSES - "I'M PISSED"
Last week the Council and Board of Education members were summoned to the Capitol regarding the $2.7 million in bonuses handed out. 5th District Representative Marie Kirkley-Bey was asked what she thought about the bonuses, her response was quite clear "I'm pissed".
The videos below will give you an idea of some of the other responses. Some were political, some were quite candid. In the future I'm going to try to incorporate more video into the blog, let me know what you think.
Not all of the comments were recorded, but Councilman Corey Brinson actually made some comments at the end of the meeting that were interesting. It actually sounded like we may have a real Republican on the Council for the first time in a long time. He spoke about fiscal responsibility which may prove interesting this year at budget time. I doubt we will se him "abstaining" on tough budget votes.
The only Councilperson not present was Dr. Painter and the only Board member that was present was Robert Cotto. State Senator Fonfara came in midway through the meeting but seemed to make it clear that he did not want to be there.
BOARD MEMBER ROBERT COTTO'S REMARKS
MAYOR SEGARRA'S REMARKS
4TH DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE MINNIE GONZALEZ'S COMMENTS
5TH DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE MARIE KIRKLEY-BEY'S COMMENTS
The videos below will give you an idea of some of the other responses. Some were political, some were quite candid. In the future I'm going to try to incorporate more video into the blog, let me know what you think.
Not all of the comments were recorded, but Councilman Corey Brinson actually made some comments at the end of the meeting that were interesting. It actually sounded like we may have a real Republican on the Council for the first time in a long time. He spoke about fiscal responsibility which may prove interesting this year at budget time. I doubt we will se him "abstaining" on tough budget votes.
The only Councilperson not present was Dr. Painter and the only Board member that was present was Robert Cotto. State Senator Fonfara came in midway through the meeting but seemed to make it clear that he did not want to be there.
BOARD MEMBER ROBERT COTTO'S REMARKS
MAYOR SEGARRA'S REMARKS
4TH DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE MINNIE GONZALEZ'S COMMENTS
5TH DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE MARIE KIRKLEY-BEY'S COMMENTS
Thursday, March 3, 2011
LEGISLATORS CALLING FOR ANSWERS
Apparently Hartford's Legislative delegation is finally showing some unity for an important cause. 5th District Representative Marie Kirkley-Bey has scheduled a meeting for today at the Legislative Office Building to find out more regarding the selection process for the new Superintendent as well as justification for over $2.7 million in bonuese handed out by Adamowski.
Here is the text of the e-mail sent out by Kirkley-Bey's Office today:
There will be a Hartford Delegation meeting held this Thursday, March 3rd, at 4pm in Hearing Room 1A. This meeting will be with the Hartford City Council, the Hartford Board of Education and Mayor Segerra to discuss the BOE Superintendent Search and the raises given recently by the BOE to administrators and staff.
Someone might advise the Hartford City Council that they have the same authority to conduct hearings and shed some light on the situation also.
It will be interesting to see if Representative Roldan and Senator Fonfara attend the meeting since they didn't sign the delegations letter to the Board members. Roldan is also an employee of the Board of Education and served on the selection committee for Adamowski's appointment.
And can anyone spell the Mayor's name correctly? It is S-E-G-A-R-R-A.
Here is the text of the e-mail sent out by Kirkley-Bey's Office today:
There will be a Hartford Delegation meeting held this Thursday, March 3rd, at 4pm in Hearing Room 1A. This meeting will be with the Hartford City Council, the Hartford Board of Education and Mayor Segerra to discuss the BOE Superintendent Search and the raises given recently by the BOE to administrators and staff.
Someone might advise the Hartford City Council that they have the same authority to conduct hearings and shed some light on the situation also.
It will be interesting to see if Representative Roldan and Senator Fonfara attend the meeting since they didn't sign the delegations letter to the Board members. Roldan is also an employee of the Board of Education and served on the selection committee for Adamowski's appointment.
And can anyone spell the Mayor's name correctly? It is S-E-G-A-R-R-A.
COUNCILMAN DEUTSCH CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OF DAVID MEDINA AND STEPHEN ADAMOWSKI AND REVOCATION OF BONUSES
The following text was posted this morning in the comment section of another posting by Councilman Deutsch:
Below is a letter written shortly before Board meeting, distributed to press and handed to entering Board members; apparently too little and too late, after hoping many others in and outside City government would further intervene and change some Board minds:
Open letter to the Board of Education and its designated Selection Committee:
Many in Hartford are well aware by now of widespread doubts about the fairness and process in the choices made for the Selection Committee for Superintendent.
Doubts go back to October when a “Succession Policy” was launched.
Later, concerns were raised when the actual Selection Committee was formed, leaving out many representative voices. Later, there was recognition of this fact by the Board, with an poor and token attempt to add new members.
Most recently, openly as well as behind the scene, there were active, highly inappropriate, and unethical attempts by a Board official to influence the ultimate choice.
Many in the City are appalled at the slanting and bias of this process, and agree that the outcome is unacceptable. The Mayor is influential over appointments and decisions of the Board, and the City Council is responsible for accepting the Superintendent choice and the final School System budget. The Mayor rightly voiced concerns about the process as “flawed,” correctly saw the “perception in the city that the committee’s pick was ‘predetermined’, and rightly called for reconsideration -- especially after active biased lobbying by Mr. David Medina, presumably with Superintendent Adamowski’s approval.
Thereforeit is our obligation to presented this Open Letter to the Board, since it may be that the Chair will not permit the public - to whom the City Council is responsible - to express these directly:
1. The choice announced by the Board and its Chairman follows an invalid and biased process and is rejected by many citizens and several City Council members.
2. Revocation of recent bonuses for Mr. D. Medina and Dr. S. Adamowski, unless fully justified in writing for public examination, is necessary.
3. The immediate resignation of Mr. D. Medina and of Dr. S. Adamowski is demanded.
The Board and its Chairman are advised that many in the City will pursue appeals to legal and ethical authorities, and consider these items during upcoming Council budget decisions, regarding flaws and interference in what should have been a fair and transparent process in choosing for ALL the Hartford’s children the future course of the public education system in our City.
Representing views of many City residents and fellow Council members --
L. Deutsch, Hartford City Council March 3, 2011
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