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Thursday, September 27, 2012

HEAD TO THE RIVER THIS WEEKEND

 This should be a great weekend at Hartford's Riverfront as two days of entertainment are about to take place. The Pipes in the Valley Irish festival will take place from 11am until 10PM  at the Riverfront Plaza with bagpipers and Irish Music that everyone can enjoy. Year after year this is a great event that brings large crowds toi Hartford's Riverfront showplace.
 
The fun begins at 11 am, with the massed pipe bands parading over the Founders Bridge at noon, and doesn’t stop til 10:30pm when “Celtica” closes the show with an unforgettable performance of bagrock, fire and brimstone! Earlier we build up the Celtic fever with the thunderous tribal pipes and drums of Scotland’s “Albannach!” Check out the entire music schedule here including Ontario, Canada’s all-sister band, Searson; Northampton’s Dicey Riley; and three Irish bands all hailing from Connecticut, The Mighty Ploughboys, The Jolly Beggars and The Rising.

The event is made possible throught the sponsorship of SBM Charitable Foundation, Inc, Ahern Funeral Homes, United Technologies, Highland Park Markets, East Hartford Dept of Parks & Recreation, Harp Mechanical and The Rock 106.9 WCCC

On Sunday, be sure to check out the Riverfront for the:

Head of the Riverfront Rowing Regatta


The 14th Annual Head of the Riverfront is scheduled for Sunday, September 30, 2012.
Come enjoy the spectacle of New England’s 3rd largest rowing event as you cheer on your favorite collegiate, high school, club, individual and masters rowers.

Riverfront Recapture is a 30+year-old non-profit in Hartford, CT that was created to restore access to the city’s riverfront. Each year, beginning in 1998, we host a head style regatta offering competition on the Connecticut River for high school, collegiate, and masters rowers.
In 2012, the main launch/return site for the Head of the Riverfront will be Riverside Park (the location of the Riverfront Recapture Boathouse). This will now be the central area for registration, launch & return, and trailer parking. The start line is located approximately three miles downstream from the boat launching area. The approximately 2.8-mile racecourse runs North (up river). The finish line viewing area is approximately a 15 minute walk from Riverside park, easily accessible by way of the Riverwalk paved pathways leading to the Mortensen Riverfront Plaza.

for more info go to riverfront.org

MURPHY CAMPAIGN HIRES A SURGEON

The lackluster campaign for the US Senate in Hartford may be taking a turn now due to the new Surgeon on the Murphy team. No , it is not a heart transplant surgeon, it is Hartford resident and community activist Shirley Surgeon.

Shirley is a great choice for the Murphy campaign and will hopefully bring the same skills she put to work organizing campaign efforts for Governor Malloy's campaign  in Hartford.

Shirley is the former Democratic Registrar  of Voters in Hartford and a resident of the Upper Albany Neighborhood.  Shirley is someone I am proud to consider a friend and her integrity and love for her City and community is endless. Her energy for the political campaign is something any candidate would be fortunate to harness for a winning campaign effort.

Shirley has taken a temporary leave of absence from her position with the State of Connecticut to organize the Murphy campaign efforts in North Hartford.

IS PARTY LOYALTY FOREIGN TO HARTFORD'S DEMOCRATS

I fully understand that we live in a democracy and individuals are free to support the candidates of their choice, but what is the price .

Several of Hartford's supposedly loyal Democrats seem to have no problem being auctioned off to the highest bidder, even though they have made very good livings off of the Democratic Party. Several disturbing stories have come to me lately regarding Hartford's Politicos who are capable of following the money to apparently  benefit themselves.

One supposedly loyal Democrat who also was a former member of the Hartford Democratic Town Committee, although the voters defeated him in his last attempt for re-election ,has apparently accepted a 13 passenger Ford van for his nonprofit from Linda McMahon. Andrew Wood, who has made a very good living capitalizing on Hartford's poverty problems has apparently accepted the van for "Hartford Communities That Care" from a charitable arm of Linda McMahon's wrestling empire.McMahon was also offered the opportunity to be the guest speaker at the Commencement of the summer program for "Hartford Communities that Care" an event attended by a large number of Hartford parents that also are voters presumably.

On its face value the deal seems shady, but apparently it all is legal. Most people I have spoke with come to the conclusion that it appears that McMahon is attempting to buy votes through the back doors of Hartford's nonprofits. But that has been the McMahon campaign effort , the best money can buy.

The more troubling calls came this week and informed me that 3rd District State Representative Minnie Gonzalez was organizing a walking tour of the Park Street area on behalf of Republican Linda McMahon. One business owner I spoke with confirmed that Gonzalez had scheduled a visit for Tuesday but that McMahon was a "no show". I have a strange feeling that Hartford would have a lot of "no shows" if McMahon were ever elected.

Requests for comment or clarification from Gonzalez were met with a voice message that her phone was not accepting incoming calls. Calls to Andrew Wood for comment were not returned. Calls to the McMahon campaign requesting comment were also not returned.

I can understand part of Minnie working for McMahon after the stunning defeat of her husband in his effort to become Hartford's Registrar of Voters. I didn't vote to endorse him and neither did the voters of Hartford. I guess "cavorting with whores" is not a value that Hartford voter's choose to embrace.
Arroyo was arrested in an undercover police sting for attempting to solicit a prostitute while he was a city of Hartford employee.

Arroyo has been very vocal lately on his face book page on what he perceives as his betrayal by the Hartford Democratic Town Committee and Hartford's voters in not electing him. In one posting Arroyo urged his followers to only vote for his wife Minnie and President Obama in November  and ignore the other Democratic Candidate's. Arroyo is also a member of the Executive Board of the Hartford Democratic Town Committee.

 Minnie Gonzalez and Ramon Arroyo , both longtime Hartford Democrats also apparently attended the recent Republican National Convention in Tampa

ARE WE REALLY PAYING FOR THIS? SUPERINTENDENT KISHIMOTO'S ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW

The annual performance review for Hartford's Superintendent of Schools is out and it is not a pretty picture. Issues of poor management, lack of planning and the large number of principals that have walked away from Hartford all appear to be major concerns related to Kishimoto's performance as the Board of Education sees it. As you read the report, ask yourself what other profession would be proud of their results if they were failing two-thirds of their clients.

 In Hartford's Schools, roughly one- third of the high school students actually make it to graduation. Those numbers have increased in recent years but primarily because Magnet Schools have been thrown into the average. It would be interesting to know the percentage of students from Weaver, Bulkeley and Hartford High that actually make it to graduation. Here is the report:
Superintendent Kishimoto evaluation In reponse to her review, Kishimoto fired off the following letter to Board Chair Matt Poland:
Ltr+to+BOE+Chair Kishimotos letter was met with the following e-mail response by Board Chair Poland.

Dear Dr. Kishimoto: Thank you for your response to your performance evaluation. I want to point out that the Board is not interested in engaging in a “political debate” that does not exist. However, we are interested in engaging you in the work that we must do together to ensure academic and career success for all of our students. Thank you for the initial steps that you and your administration will take to begin the journey to build a confident and trusting relationship with the Board. While frameworks for communicating with the Board are important, alone or unilaterally, they will not solve the problems we face. The Leadership Committee of the Board will work with you to build a more substantive approach that is sustainable. And finally, since we are all student-centered, fortunately we have a foundation upon which we can move forward. Best regards, Matthew K. Poland Board Chairman Hartford Board of Education

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

A GREAT DAY FOR HARTFORD

The sign above says it all. but today was a proud day for the City of Hartford as James C. Rovella was officially sworn in as Hartford's permanent Police Chief. With Rovellas energy and vison for the Hartford Police Department, great things seem to be on the horizon to benefit the City and its residents. It has been a long day and I will post more on this, especially regarding the Faith based initiative that is one of Chief Rovella's priorities in the near future.

Monday, September 10, 2012

THE WHOLE TRUTH, THE UNSCRUBBED REPORT

Here is the unredacted, unscrubbed original report on the LSNI Program, I'm not sure why the second report had to be created, but maybe it should have a disclaimer that names mentioned in the report are innocent until proven guilty. Both reports are public documents and should be available to the public regardless. If you actually want to read the report with the names of the obstructions to forward momentum, this is the report to read. Maybe Mayor Segarra should be using this report to compile the layoff list he mentioned last week. Why would we continue to employ those who clearly don't believe in what Mayor Segarra is trying to accomplish? LSNI- ORIGINAL REPORT