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Thursday, June 2, 2011

ALBANY AVENUE'S OWN CAPITOL WEST BUILDING

The Hartford Police Albany Avenue Substation, pictured above, is a prime example of the negative impact blighted properties have on Hartford's image

I still don't agree, and I probably never will agree, with the City's efforts to spend millions of dollars to take the Capitol West building by emminent domain. The argument that it will spur economic development carries no weight with me and I think it is less than genuine for politicians to use that as an argument for another photo op at campaign time.

Tonight I attended yet another vigil by the Reverend Henry Brown for what would normally be the City's latest homicide victim, Unfortunately now though that they are happening so often, Reverend Brown has a backlog on the vigils.

While I was standing there at the vigil, two things struck me. First off was the question, where were all the people that should be outraged? Outraged that an elderly 74 year old man was shot in the chest and murdered after he was innocently leaving a store after buying a Lipton Ice tea. Murdered by a couple of young thugs upset that they couldn't buy beer. There was maybe 20 or so people that joined Reverend Brown on the corner during his vigil.



Yet three nights before this homicide, on the opposite corner of Albany and Vine, over 200 people congregated after two people were shot in the ankles on Friday night.

I have been to enough of Rev. Brown's vigils to know that the low turnout is usually due to fear. The majority of the people that would attend from the neighborhood have to still live in the neighborhood so I understand their fear.

But as symbolic as our Mayor and other politicians claim that the Capitol West building is to blight and Hartford's image, I kept staring at the abandoned, boarded up Hartford Police substation. What message does that send?

What once was an image of Public Safety and a police presence in one of Hartford's most crime ridden neighborhoods, now seems like another abandoned property left behind similar to many others. Properties left behind by those that seem willing to write the area off. Even those that drive Albany Avenue regularly must question how the City could just walk away and let a symbol of Police presence just become another blighted property.

Another vacant lot would be better than what is there now. And as we all know, Hartford has a proud tradition of creating more vacant lots in the name of economic development.

Could we at least mow the grass? And I think former Councilman McGarry had an ordinance passed that the plywood used to board up an abandoned property should be painted to match the color of the building. That might make it less noticeable to the public that Hartford has abandoned its commitment to Public Safety and Community Policing on Albany Avenue

4TH HOMICIDE IN 4 DAYS, NUMBER 17 IS ON THE BOOKS


Hartford's 17th homicide victim for the year was just pronounced dead at Hartford Hospital. The victim was shot earlier in the evening in the Southend.

That now sets the pace for 4 homicides in four days and really draws into question what is being done to quell the violence. We aren't even into the heat of the summer and we are setting a record pace for homicides so far this year.

I really have to question the cut of $500,000 from the Police Departments overtime budget by the City Council.It seems like all resources should be brought to the table at this point to start controlling the crime "hot spots".

If the Council was really looking to cut expenses to reduce the mill rate the half a mill that they did, there is plenty of waste in other areas.

Eliminating the City's "Energy Czar", Capitol Projects Manager, Parks Operation Manager and an "undefined" position created in the Health Department for a Perez croney, would more than cover the cuts made to the HPD budget for overtime.

I'd much prefer knowing that Police Officers are being put on the streets to control violence rather than continuing to fund the Light Bulb inspector Energy Czar.Over half of the money cut from the HPD overtime budget could be recovered by the cost of salary and benefits and City car paid out for the Capitol Improvements Director, James Keaney.

I guess it is a matter of priorities.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

MORE DETAILS ON "UP IN SMOKE"


Although it might be difficult to obtain documents from the City of Hartford, it is totally a different story with the State of Connecticut.

Within minutes of requesting documents from the State of Connecticut regarding the records "destroyed" recently by the Hartford Police Department, I received what I requested via e-mail. The City has not provided any documents regarding the incinerated documents or any details as to specifically what was destroyed.

HPD sources are telling me that payroll records through 2008 were incinerated along with numerous other documents. In the attached request for permission to destroy the documents, the State of Connecticut specifically denied HPD permission to do that. HPD spokesperson Nancy Mulroy could not confirm what documents were destroyed.

In addition, in the request to destroy the records, both Hartford Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts and Mayor Pedro Segarra both signed the state's forms certifying that "No records listed, in our opinion, pertain to any pending case, claim or action".

It might be possible that Mayor Segarra had no knowledge of the "impending storm" when he signed off on May 2, 2011, but I'm not sure that the Chief and his staff can say the same.

Considering that one officer is already under arrest for payroll fraud, others might be implicated, an investigation is about to commence tomorrow and who knows where that will lead, it seems somewhat less than truthful that they could certify that "No records listed, in our opinion, pertain to any pending case, claim or action".

And still, the question needs to be asked, why the rush to burn documents that might prove helpful in the outcome of an investigation that is purported to be trying to get to the truth and maintain the "integrity" of HPD. Unless maybe we can't handle the "truth".

And again, the offer still stands that if Chief Roberts or HPD would like to provide the inventory of actual documents destroyed, I will gladly post them here.

Hartford Disposals From 2001

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

HMMMM, WAS I MISTAKEN ?

How did the Hartford Police outside investigation actually get started? Well first off, I don't think any of the information was even public until it started getting posted here. Eventually attorneys began calling for outside investigations, it started with the Attorneys for Lt. Neville Brooks after he was abruptly removed from his position as Commander of Internal Affairs. It escalated after Rashim Campbell was exonerated of criminal allegations against him when a jury acquitted him. His attorney has raised allegations of improper techniques and even possibilities of false testimony by the IAD investigator, Lt. Robert Ford.

The attorney's for Lt. Brooks even went so far as to mention "the blog" in their request for an outside investigation. It appears that there was more than enough pressure brought to bear on the Chief and Mayor before they launched their "independent investigation". On Thursday, Chief Roberts, in a memo to his officers and staff, advised that the investigation was ordered after he informed the Mayor of "internal matters". I think it was more outside pressure than any move to fully investigate the matter by the Mayor or Chief that led to the outside investigation.

Here is the Chief's memo to "all personnel". The actual investigation is expected to begin on Thursday.

IAD Review Memo From Chief

Friday, May 27, 2011

WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

Yes, there is a park in there somewhere, maybe we can offset the City deficit by selling hay bales


I received a call today from Donna Daniels-Thompson who was frustrated with the condition of a small neighborhood park at the intersection of Cornwall and Lyme Streets in Hartford. Daniels-Thompson is the President of the Blue Hills Civic Association and the Blue Hills NRZ.
Sit down, relax, enjoy all that Hartford has to offer. Check yourself for ticks when you are done, and yes, that actually is a park bench being overgrown by the grass



She said she was frustrated because the grass was so high in the park that no one could use it. She said she and others had repeatedly been calling 311, the Mayors Office as well as Council People to get the area mowed and cleaned up. The problem arose because no one wanted to lay claim to the property. Public Works apparently said it belonged to the Board of Education and guess what...the Board of Education said it belonged to DPW.

The park sits directly across from the former Mountain Laurel School which was apparently closed down last August.According to Daniels-Thompson, when the school was open the Board actually did maintain the park since it was used by students . Once the school closed, no one bothered to continue maintaining the park, and by the looks of it they forgot about the school also.

According to Daniels-Thompson, even people she spoke with in the Mayor's Office admitted how bad the park looked. Even Daniels-Thompson friend, Council President rJo Winch, admitted she knew how bad it was. Why nothing got done is a good question, but today Donna took a stand. She started making her phone calls early this morning and told anyone that would listen that she wasn't leaving the park until the grass was mowed.


I guess the bottom line is that this sounds like high school nonsense. It is all city property, get it cleaned up, end of story. In the end, as the complaint made its way up the ladder, DPW Director Kevin Burnham showed up, surveyed the problem, and the grass was mowed. Maybe one of his high priced supervisors should have seen the problem and addressed it before it rose to this level. As a side note, I am being told that almost 40 new employees will be hired over the next couple of weeks specifically to address maintenance and parks issues.

She then decided that she needed to call me. I must be getting a reputation because things progressed rapidly this afternoon after the Mayor's Representative and DPW officials were told I was on the way. It could be a coincidence but just as I arrived to take some pictures, the lawnmowers showed up, the rotted trash barrel that fell apart when they picked it up to empty it was replaced by a newly painted one and the park was getting cleaned up.

Even one resident came over from Chatham Street, somewhat surprised that anyone was paying attention to the park. She said she couldn't even walk her dog in the park because the grass was so high. She even said that she had considered coming over with her own mower if it got much worse.

She said that she believed that some of her neighbors had been repeatedly calling 311 without any success. But finally, just in time for some great weather and a holiday weekend, hopefully these neighbors will once again have a clean park to relax in and the children can enjoy the playscape.

I have a real problem with the number of high priced employees and supervisors, City Council people included, who can drive by an eyesore like this and just accept it. Unlike the Capitol West building, mowing the grass won't take $5 million dollars, but it also impacts the blight of a neighborhood. Why can't we focus on the little things that make a big difference?

And as if the condition of the park wasn't aggravating enough, as I spoke with Daniels-Thompson and the Chatham Street neighbor, my eye kept going to the vacant school right behind us. I started to wonder why we let a city school, that was usable until last August and according to Donna was in pretty decent shape, sit empty while at the same time we are renting space for millions of dollars annually for the Board of Education at 960 Main Street, rather than move them to an empty school?

I guess our present Council is too busy debating the war in Afghanistan or french fries cooked in trans-fat than to actually focus on change for Hartford.

SECORE WINS....AGAIN

Last week the Hartford City Council touted their huge accomplishment, at least in their minds, of shaving about $1.7 million dollars off of a $550 million dollar budget. That comes out to roughly less than 3 tenths of one percent.

But fortunately, I have a suggestion for the Council to be able to shave a lot more than that. Hire some attorneys in the Corporation Counsel's Office who actually know what they are doing, especially in the area of Labor law.

Huge amounts of money each year are spent defending and appealing the City's stinker cases when it comes to wrongful termination of employees. Much more has been spent, I'm sure ,on defending losing cases that most likely should have never been brought in the first place. Let's see what the Dan Nolan case costs the City of Hartford taxpayers in the end just for legal costs, not to mention what I'm sure will be a rather large Jury award in Dan's favor also.

Add onto that Willie Edwards, Robert Lawlor, Robert Murtha and others that have already been silently settled behind the scenes.Hartford has a terrible track record when it comes to apparently violating employees rights and then trying to defend their actions.

The latest Court decision came today after the City of Hartford decided to ignore an arbitration award in favor of Hartford Police Officer Matthew Secore. Secore was terminated from HPD, went through the appeal process with the Labor Board and they decided in Secore's favor.

The Board agreed that Secore's actions were wrong, but that the termination was too severe and ordered a 90 day suspension instead. The City and the brain trust in the Corporation Counsels Office decided to appeal. Today Judge Satter resoundingly affirmed the Labor Boards decision and threw out the Corporation Counsels argument.

To read more about the Secore case from an earlier post, click here

That decision is below. In true Hartford fashion though, most likely egos will win out over common sense and I would bet that another appeal will be on the way. What does Judge Satter know compared to the legal geniuses in Corp Counsel?

Secore Decision 5-27-11