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Wednesday, April 20, 2011
EDDIE...PLEASE JUST GO AWAY
I was hopeful. The house was on the market and word was that Eddie Perez was moving out of the City to prepare for the prison stay and we might just be over the worst of the Perez era.
But no, Eddie Perez has once again proven that he knows no shame. Jeff Cohen at WNPR and Kevin Rennie at dailyructions.com, have both reported that Perez is once again surfacing to fleece the people of Hartford.
Apparently future inmate Perez has made a demand upon the City of Hartford to be paid for unused sick time and vacation pay totaling $131,590.32. If Perez really needs the money that bad, might I suggest filling out a job application for the Roldan for (fill in the blank office name here)Campaign. It seems to be working out well for Perez's former Chief of Staff who has been paid over $15,000 by Roldan already.
If Eddie pushes the issue, maybe the Council and Mayor will instruct the Corporation Counsel to file suit to recover all of the Attorney fees it cost the City for employees going before the Grand Jury to testify against Perez, those resulted from his criminal activity. That will more than cover the amount of his vacation and sick time.
AN ETHICAL CHALLENGE OR AN ETHICALLY CHALLENGED DECISION?
In March, Hartford's Green Ribbon Task Force on Hartford's parks completed its work and presented their recommendations to Mayor Pedro Segarra.
One of the recommendations the Commission made was to hire a “highly qualified Parks Director” within FY 2011-2012.
Now here is the ethical challenge, let me know what you think.
The commission made the recommendation to hire "a highly qualified Parks Director". That recommendation essentially created a new job position. If you were serving on that Commission and made a recommendation to create the new position, could you then ethically accept that new position that you essentially created? It seems like a large conflict of interest to me.
Well, that is exactly what happened last Friday at the entrance to Bushnell Park. Mayor Pedro Segarra announced the appointment of Jack Hale, a GRTF (Green Ribbon Task Force) Member as the Parks Operation Manager for the City of Hartford.
The other issue is the position being created at the same time that Public Works has been decimated by staff layoff and cutbacks. I'm not sure if the hiring freeze still exists, but shouldn't this position have gone before the City Council for approval ?
After the press event announcing the appointment, I asked Mayor Segarra if he thought it was a conflict of interest and his response is on the video below. The audio announcing the appointment has a lot of background noise (a lunch truck with a noisy generator was running in the background), my questions to the Mayor are much clearer.
I also asked numerous people a "hypothetical" question using the circumstances I laid out above, and everyone thought it was a conflict of interest to serve on a commission and then accept a position created by that commission's recommendations.
One of the recommendations the Commission made was to hire a “highly qualified Parks Director” within FY 2011-2012.
Now here is the ethical challenge, let me know what you think.
The commission made the recommendation to hire "a highly qualified Parks Director". That recommendation essentially created a new job position. If you were serving on that Commission and made a recommendation to create the new position, could you then ethically accept that new position that you essentially created? It seems like a large conflict of interest to me.
Well, that is exactly what happened last Friday at the entrance to Bushnell Park. Mayor Pedro Segarra announced the appointment of Jack Hale, a GRTF (Green Ribbon Task Force) Member as the Parks Operation Manager for the City of Hartford.
The other issue is the position being created at the same time that Public Works has been decimated by staff layoff and cutbacks. I'm not sure if the hiring freeze still exists, but shouldn't this position have gone before the City Council for approval ?
After the press event announcing the appointment, I asked Mayor Segarra if he thought it was a conflict of interest and his response is on the video below. The audio announcing the appointment has a lot of background noise (
I also asked numerous people a "hypothetical" question using the circumstances I laid out above, and everyone thought it was a conflict of interest to serve on a commission and then accept a position created by that commission's recommendations.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
M.A.R.G. MEETS THURSDAY NIGHT
The Maple Avenue Revitalization Group NRZ will meet Thursday night at 6:00PM in the basement of Saint Augustine's Church at 10 Campfield Avenue in Hartford.
Mayor Pedro Segarra is expected to attend.
All are welcome to attend. MARG is one of the most vibrant community groups in the city empowering neighbors to work together for a better Hartford.
Mayor Pedro Segarra is expected to attend.
All are welcome to attend. MARG is one of the most vibrant community groups in the city empowering neighbors to work together for a better Hartford.
IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT....COME ON DOWN
I'm not sure about you, but I am getting quite tired of the headlines.
"Segarra Raises $100,000" , "Wooden Raises More than $100,000 in Second Quarter"....blah, blah blah blah blah. But does anyone know what are they about and what they bring to the table ? Is the Mayor's Office really for sale?
Segarra claims he will make changes in City Hall if he is re-elected. Why not start now? Wooden claims his experience in the Perry Administration as a benefit to the people of Hartford. People in Hartford that lived through the Perry years might disagree.
And Kelvin Roldan, oh Kelvin, Kelvin, Kelvin what more can we say. Roldan, who has apparently had his moral compass adjusted to point in the right direction in the last couple weeks now will lead us out of the land of corruption. I think Roldan would actually take a pay cut if he became Mayor, and he would also have to start doing some work. And if anyone knows, Kelvin surely knows, that the side deals cut in the Mayor's office definitely aren't worth it.
It is still early, but I'm not hearing much substance. The conversations of substance seem to be coming from the candidates that apparently have already been written off because they are out in the community having real conversations rather than talking to the moviemaker donors in Beverly Hills, CA or wealthy attorneys in Washington D.C. who can write out a $1,000 check and think nothing of it.
News flash...many Hartford residents can hardly even afford a $10.00 contribution because of the mess our politicians have put us into. Our politicians seem to understand fundraising and arm twisting better than they do public policy and what is needed in our community.
I'd much rather see a headline that the candidates are putting forth ideas and showing some vision as to how they are going to turn things around from our previous professional fundraisers able to get elected and satisfy the donors who put them there.
Does anyone else have a problem with the campaign filings that show Shawn Wooden's donors are from outside Hartford by a margin of almost 5 to 1 ? They show only 46 donors from Hartford as opposed to 269 from outside Hartford.
And Mayor Segarra isn't much different. He's a little more balanced than Wooden with 124 donations from within Hartford, but the majority came from outside the city, 176.
And while I'm at it lets not forget Kelvin Roldan's fundraising efforts so he can pay off his buddies, over $15,000 to Matt Hennessy and $5,500 to his FOI scribe Derek Donnelley. Any bets as to whether or not we will see Eddie Perez as a "consultant" on his next filing? Nothing would surprise me.
We all will know how much money they can raise, but unfortunately little will most likely be revealed about what they stand for. What about jobs? What about supporting Hartford's small businesses? What about health care? What about reducing motor vehicle insurance rates equal to our suburban neighbors? What about the looming tax disaster threatening to double every property and vehicle owners tax bill?
Too bad that the only other candidates are actually focusing on the issues and talking to people and answering their questions when they probably should be ignoring the problems and raising money instead if they really want to be taken seriously. Do we really want the issues and some vision to interfere with selecting our next Mayor?
In the meantime, if you want to talk to candidates without writing a check, you just might want to find Stan McCauley riding a city bus with the people who can't write the $1,000 checks, or walk a few blocks with Ed Vargas and listen to what he has to say as they both talk to the real people of Hartford.
And by the way,to the other "professional fundraising" candidates, the real people on the bus and walking to work actually vote in Hartford, the Beverly Hills donors don't.And if you recall, Eddie Perez raised almost $750,000.00 in 2007, look where that got him.
Wooden campaign filing provided by Wooden Campaign
Wooden for Mayor - April 10 Report
BUSINESS AS USUAL AFTER A BRIEF INTERRUPTION FOR A HOMICIDE
The City of Hartford recorded its eleventh homicide today in the area of 67 Oakland Terrace.It is the city's third homicide in less than 2 weeks.The shooting took place a little after 3:30 this afternoon.
A little after 6:00PM I drove by the area and was surprised that the crime scene was already clear, no yellow tape, no police, back to usual. Oakland Terrace is a one way street that runs south between Albany Avenue and Homestead Avenue.
I was cruising down the street pretty slow to see house numbers and see which one was number 67, where I was told the shooting occurred. I know I was out of place, but I knew that most likely a large police presence had just left the neighborhood. As I came up on 67 Oakland Terrace, I was approached by two young males.
They wanted to know what I wanted to "buy. It just struck me as odd that they probably had just witnessed someone they knew murdered in the same spot less than 3 hours earlier and now they were trying to sell me drugs. Had they just moved up in the chain and were taking over the "business opening", or is this the way it always is on the streets.
Are they potentially number 12 and 13 waiting to happen over the other "War on drugs"?
I don't know what the solution is, but I do know it won't be a quick fix. In the meantime the bloodshed needs to be stopped. Eleven homicides so far this year is unacceptable. Not to mention the bodies laying in Hartford and Saint Francis Hospital on life support that are only one breath away from becoming a homicide number, and there are a few of them.
In the meantime, Chief Roberts, it is not a sign of failure to ask for help.Whether that help comes in the form of extra money for increased police patrols and attention or if it comes from outside agencies, it is definitely needed. The State Police are not the answer, but DEA, ATF, FBI and any other alphabet soup agency that can send strong messages need to be asked to come into Hartford as soon as possible in much greater numbers than they are already here.
A long hot summer can spiral out of control quickly and we are way too far into the homicide stats for this early in the year. Mayor Segarra announced this afternoon that we may actually have a surplus. If that's the case, put it to use and start the enforcement today. Don't play politics with Public Safety, send a strong message to the gun toting thugs ruining our City.
Business as usual is not acceptable.
OUCH, THIS MUST HURT
The Mayoral campaign is heating up, and everyone is weighing in.
Kevin Rennie, a columnist from the Hartford Courant and also a blogger at "the Daily Ruction", dailyructions.com, posted his review of mayoral candidate Shawn Wooden's performance on WFSB's "Face the State".
Here are Kevin Rennie's comments:
WOODEN BY NAME, WOODEN BY NATURE
Many people possess high hopes for Hartford Democrat Shawn Wooden’s campaign for mayor of Hartford this year. They may adjust them after Wooden’s embarrassing debut on Sunday’s Face the State.
Wooden should not have been surprised by the first question. It was the classic, “Why do you want to be [insert office here]? Mercy, the Day Pitney lawyer seemed stumped. He rambled like he was trying to pad his billable hours. It got worse. Wooden, who has done well with early fundraising, offered a river of generalities in what ails Hartford and how he’d fix them.
The lowest moment came when Wooden tried to dance around the conviction of disgraced former Hartford mayor Eddie Perez. He would not say if he believed the Perez verdict was fair because, after all, he was never in the courtroom during the trial.
During his halting performance, Wooden promised to provide “serious, meaningful” leadership. His potential to do that was not on display during 12 1/2 painful minutes with Dennis House.
To check out Kevin Rennie's blog, click here
To view Wooden's segment on Face the State, click here
Kevin Rennie, a columnist from the Hartford Courant and also a blogger at "the Daily Ruction", dailyructions.com, posted his review of mayoral candidate Shawn Wooden's performance on WFSB's "Face the State".
Here are Kevin Rennie's comments:
WOODEN BY NAME, WOODEN BY NATURE
Many people possess high hopes for Hartford Democrat Shawn Wooden’s campaign for mayor of Hartford this year. They may adjust them after Wooden’s embarrassing debut on Sunday’s Face the State.
Wooden should not have been surprised by the first question. It was the classic, “Why do you want to be [insert office here]? Mercy, the Day Pitney lawyer seemed stumped. He rambled like he was trying to pad his billable hours. It got worse. Wooden, who has done well with early fundraising, offered a river of generalities in what ails Hartford and how he’d fix them.
The lowest moment came when Wooden tried to dance around the conviction of disgraced former Hartford mayor Eddie Perez. He would not say if he believed the Perez verdict was fair because, after all, he was never in the courtroom during the trial.
During his halting performance, Wooden promised to provide “serious, meaningful” leadership. His potential to do that was not on display during 12 1/2 painful minutes with Dennis House.
To check out Kevin Rennie's blog, click here
To view Wooden's segment on Face the State, click here
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