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Friday, July 1, 2011

LET ME CORRECT THE TITLE FOR THAT LAST POST...."WOODEN DOESN'T JUST QUIT, WOODEN IMPLODES"

In what seems to be more and more common each election we face in Hartford, a new Academy Award should be established for best Actor in the "Theatre of the Political Bizarre".

Flanked by the current Mayor, who candidate Wooden had labeled as "pretending to be fiscally responsible" and that Segarra had "forgotten to obey the law" and along side Governor Malloy, Shawn Wooden today gave up and quit the Mayor's race.

But have no fear though, since he gave up running for Mayor, he now wants to throw his full support behind an individual that until about 24 hours ago he wanted us to believe was unfit to lead the City of Hartford. And to further reassure us of his integrity , he wants to be "in a leadership role" and has decided to run for City Council.

Unfortunately for Wooden though, I didn't receive one call from anyone that supported Wooden's decision. Many of the calls were from, up until noon time today, die-hard Wooden supporters. Several of them were also financial supporters who had donated the maximum of $1,000 to Woodens campaign.

The rumors of dirty deals being cut were, and are, running rampant. Many people, myself included, are having a hard time figuring out how you tear someone down for months and try to convince us that Segarra is unfit to be Mayor, and in less than a day you have a sudden epiphany and next thing are standing side by side with your new found love for each other.

How many people would take me seriously if I announced tomorrow that I think Eddie Perez should come back and run for Mayor? I would say very few, and most would think I had lost my mind. That was the feeling I was getting today is that very few people are holding Shawn Wooden real high on the integrity and trust meter.

I am trying to understand Governor Malloy's involvement in this mess though. The Governor explained his long term friendship with Wooden, and I understand the loyalty of friends, it's sometimes hard to find. But I also have to wonder the last time a sitting Governor stepped into a municipal political dogfight. And if anything, Governor Malloy I would think understands the benefit of a hard fought political campaign. He's come through a few himself and I would hope is stronger for it.

Isn't democracy all about letting the voters decide who comes out ahead in the political fight? Holding politicians accountable by forcing them to fight for what they believe in is not a negative thing. Instead, Wooden is like the boxer headed for the ring, afraid to climb over the ropes and get the fight started because he may get a black eye or a bloody nose.

Luckily for Wooden, his big brother Dannel pulled him off the ropes and allowed him a graceful exit from a fight, apparently according to Wooden's polling data, a fight that he couldn't win. But Malloy has been in the ring and realizes the value of the fights, so I don't understand the need to rescue Wooden from one of lifes hard taught lessons.

And why should we now think that Wooden will make a decent Councilperson. Especially if he wasn't willing to fight to save us from the unfit leaders like Pedro Segarra. Is Wooden just a bad judge of character and now realizes he misjudged Segarra? And what reassurance do we have that Wooden just won't roll over and give up when the tough battles need to be waged for what is right for Hartford and its people?

Will he still be afraid of the black eye or the bloody nose from the Council fights and be waiting for Governor Malloy to pull him off the ropes and rescue him from the ring?

I guess it isn't a bad thing to have a friend like the Governor watching your back, but do we want the wimp on the playground to be the one watching out for us as residents of a city in distress? I think we need a few people on the Council that aren't looking for someone to rescue them when the going gets tough, but rather people that are willing to fight to the end for what they believe in.

The video of Wooden's retreat is below for your viewing pleasure, "and the Academy Award for the most bizarre political performance in a less than leading role goes to........Shawn Wooden"



Thursday, June 30, 2011

WOODEN QUITS !


Numerous sources are confirming that Mayoral candidate Shawn Wooden has given up and is calling it quits in his run for Mayor. Wooden apparently began making calls earlier today to Hartford Democratic Town Committee members and spokespeople to advise them of his decision.

The decision apparently isn't sitting well with some Wooden supporters and donors to Wooden's campaign who thought he was a serious candidate. One donor stated to me that he would have never given a large donation to the Wooden campaign if he thought Wooden wasn't serious about going the distance.

Although it is not yet confirmed, one insider told me that a deal has apparently been cut for Wooden to now run for City Council on Segarra's slate and push for Wooden to become Council President if elected. If that were to happen, Wooden would be next in line for the Mayor's seat if Segarra were to leave for any reason.

It just makes me wonder how you suddenly throw your support behind someone you have been highly critical of for several months and then expect to be taken seriously. More Hartford Democratic politics at its best.

Both Cityline and Jeff Cohen have postings also, click on the links to the right to read their take. And Helen Ubinas had a good column today also, so show her some love and click her also

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

IS HARTFORD A CITY WITHOUT RESPECT ?

When you drive around the City, just looking at the condition of many of our neighborhoods, it seems as though we have a hard time respecting each other. To me, throwing trash down is a major sign of disrespect and you need to look no further than some of our main streets to see the abundance of litter.

Our parks have become illegal dumping grounds for not only trash but abandoned vehicles, car parts, boats and just about any other garbage you can think of.

But I'm just wondering if the tone is set and allowed by City Hall. Trash cans placed along the streets are usually overflowing with trash, city properties are poorly maintained, including school properties and parks. This past week I received a call from someone who had family members buried in the city owned Zion Hill Cemetery. They were complaining about the deplorable condition of the cemetery grounds.

I drove through the Zion Hill Cemetery Tuesday afternoon and the conditions were worse than I expected. If we can't even respect the dead, how can we respect ourselves as a City? There is no excuse for conditions like this and the people responsible should be held accountable or replaced by someone that can get the job done.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A CHALLENGE TO MY READERS

It seems that Chief Roberts didn't lose my number after all. He called yesterday and we had a long talk about various issues. It was a decent and respectful conversation. I know the sport of late has been pointing out problems at HPD and I know that much of that will eventually be documented as the independent report is completed and filed. As a sidenote, I hope the City of Hartford and Mayor Segarra really try to understand the meaning of transparency and don't play games with the release of the final report. Any attempt to avoid the release will only add to the mistrust of government and undermine the community's trust in HPD and its officers (not to mention potentially political suicide for anyone facing an election).

Ok, so here is the challenge: let me know what you think needs to be done to make HPD more effective. What programs can be changed to actually produce better results, what programs can be created or made more efficient?

Let's put the personalities aside and come up with some ideas to benefit Hartford and its neighborhoods. We all know many of the key players at HPD can, and probably will, change in the near future. The residents and business people who have made a committment to Hartford will not readily change. That is where we need to be thinking. Not about who's collecting the salaries at HPD, but who is trying to make change and do the right thing.

Most of you are well aware that the Chief, Mayor Segarra and most of City Hall and HPD read the blog. So if you have an idea or suggestion, I am asking you to post it here, but please make it a positive comment that can actually be used to better our City. Now that most of the mistakes have been pointed out, lets move forward and try to make something happen.

Let me know how creative we can be as a City. Thanks.

WHAT ARE OUR PRIORITIES?

Sometimes I just have to wonder what our priorities are as a community. I don't mean to minimize this incident because I value our trees and landscape as much as anyone else. The peeling of the bark from the cedar tree in Elizabeth Park was and is a senseless act of vandalism. The tree is not something that can be easily replaced, most likely it can't be replaced, and it has to raise the issue of what the people who did it really value or care about.

For several days now it has been in the media cycle, the names scratched in the tree are being publicized and broadcast in the hopes that the vandals will be identified. Thye television cameras and reporters have been all over this story.

Yet, Hartford is at 17 homicides for the year , we know those victims can never be replaced. There is no outcry except for maybe a couple ministers and the all too frequent vigils taking place on the street corners where they were murdered.

What does it say about our priorities when a 100 year old cedar tree receives more attention than a 74 year old innocent bystander shot in the chest and murdered on a Hartford street corner? How is it that all of a sudden numerous municipal and State resources can rally to save a tree, but it seems like no one is rallying to save Hartford's youth from the out of control gun violence.

Maybe I'm too cynical, but it just seems like our priorities are way out of whack.

ANYONE NOTICE THE NUMBERS?

"We the People" has passed the 325,000 mark on the hit counter, thanks for your support.

And thanks to a regular reader who prepared the new photo for the header, it looks great.