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Friday, February 14, 2014

APPARENTLY YOU CAN'T TEACH COMMON SENSE


A vehicle being returned to the Burns School Parking lot after being improperly towed by Whitey's


Sometimes potential blog postings get dropped in my lap  and I just can't say no.. Hartford is a good City, with good people living here. When I see them being victimized, it is hard to sit back and say no. I was sitting by the fireplace with a nice fire going when the phone started ringing.

Apparently people who had parked in the lot of the Burns School on Putnam street to comply with the parking Ban were having their cars towed out of the lot by Whitey's Towing. Something didn't seem right. Why was Whitey's the only one towing and what was the need to tow them since there were no classes until Tuesday.

These were cars of most likely hard working residents who were trying to obey the requests of City leaders to comply with the Parking Ban. Since Burns is only a few minutes from my home, I left the warmth of the fireplace and went out to see first hand what was going on.

I expected to see a snowy mess of a parking lot which needed to be plowed, possibly explaining the need for the towing . Nope, the lot was plowed better than most City streets. I saw a police cruiser in the lot speaking to a couple women. It turned out to be the Principal and Assistant Principal of the School. From what I was told, the Principal orchestrated the towing and called Whitey's Towing to remove the cars.

I know Whitey's routinely preys on Hartford's residents with their towing operations and "trespass tows", but in this instance I think I will give them a pass. The principal called and at $100.00 per car, it was somewhat legit and business is business. They could have asked if the tow was proper after the Mayor had requested them to park there , but they didn't

I don't think the Principal understands neighborhood relations, The very cars she was towing were most likely her neighbors that live within a few hundred feet of Burn's school. Probably the parent's of some of her very students, maybe working more than one job to make ends meet. She probably takes her salary and heads out of town at the end of the day. So what if the parents have to pay $100.00 and storage fees to get their cars back.

 Plus, the Mayor's parking ban had ended at 4:00PM, what was the sense of urgency to have the cars towed less than 2 hours later.

So anyway, when I got there I started making calls . This was wrong in so many ways. Once again Sergeant Bremser, who was stellar in his passion for City residents when he escorted the Funeral last Saturday for Chantay Drake, once again stepped up to support our residents.  Bremser, as Sergeant in the Traffic Division works very closely with the City's contracted tow companies. Sergeant Cicero, who was also present, assisted in getting the cars returned from their improper journey's

Whitey's Towing was contacted and it appears that there is no contract between Whitey's  and the Burns School. There are quite a few requirements  under State Law to conduct Trespass Tows, the most basic requirement being a written contract between the property owner and the towing company. That does not exist apparently in this case.

In the end, Whitey's apparently agreed to return the vehicles they towed , at no cost to the owners to avoid any further action, Shortly after 8:00pm, the cars were towed back to the lot

Here is another story about Whitey's predatory towing practices.

I knew our Mayor, Hollywood Segarra , is handing out the key to the City to John Leguizamo tomorrrow night at Burns. Now that I think about it, the cars were probably where Segarra was planning on setting up his red carpet for his walk to hand Leguizamo the key to the City Saturday. The residents who had their cars towed were probably not even a thought. The show must go on.

Maybe we should be paying more attention to the needs of our residents first.

In the meantime, I have to ask what the Principal  was thinking and why she thought she was authorized to eneter into an agreement to tow the cars. Like I said, apparently you can't teach common sense.. The spokesperon for Hartford Schools was unavailable for comment.

Thank you to those involved for putting our residents first and getting their cars back. Maybe Whitey's should bill the Principal who allowed this to happen

HOLLYWOOD PEDRO: MAYBE A KEY TO A SNOWPLOW IS MORE APPROPRIATE

SATURDAY: MAYOR SEGARRA TO PRESENT JOHN LEGUIZAMO WITH KEY TO CITY
Comedian Comes to Burns Latino Academy to Raise Funds for Auditorium Renovation
--- NEWS AND COMMUNITY STATEMENT---
(February 14, 2014) Hartford Mayor Pedro E. Segarra will present comedian and actor John Leguizamo with the Key to the City at a comedy event to benefit the Burns Latino Studies Academy. The show,  “A Night of Comedy With John Leguizamo will be held at the Burns School’s auditorium, and proceeds from the performance will help pay for improvements at the school. Tickets are $60 per person and are only available for purchase . Seating is limited to 450, and tickets will not be available at the door.

“It’s great that John Leguizamo has chosen to invest his time in support of Hartford’s youth,” said Mayor Segarra.

The event is being presented in partnership with the COMPASS Youth Collaborative Inc., a not-for-profit child and youth service organization that provides after-school enrichment, academic and recreational programs to Hartford school children.

ARE ANY OF THE MANAGERS AT CITY HALL CAPABLE OF MANAGING?

I would really like to see an internal audit occasionally that says things are going well and people are doing their jobs. Unfortunately , I don't anticipate that until there is a full clean sweep of City Hall, from the Mayor right on down.

Today another Internal Audit report was released detailing the deficiencies of collecting the funds due the City from special events. If the invoices are ever even billed, the collection rate seems to be very poor, yet we continue to allow the same groups to hold events without their previous bills ever being paid.

The report below speaks for itself. How many vehicle repairs could be completed if the money was collected or how many years could we fund the mounted patrol on $100,000.00.

This is the height of incompetence by the Mayor, his COO and others at City Hall.

What will be next for the Auditors to uncover?


Thursday, February 13, 2014

WORD OF THE DAY AT HARTFORD DPW...CURB TO CURB

React, React, React.

That is one of the big problems with the Segarra Administration. Everything is a reaction rather than any proactive approach or any vision

Today the catch phrase at DPW, and even with Segarra at his press conference , is "curb to curb"

My posting last night and the attached picture showed that it was apparently was a foreign concept to those entrusted to plowing our streets curb to curd. Here is last night's posting

Asked how the city was responding to complaints of roads still covered in snow from previous storms, Segarra said: "We are doing the best we can with what are successive snow storms. ... We're getting better at doing curb-to-curb [plowing]."

I sure hope we are getting better at it. If not we will all be driving down the double yellow line if we get much more snow.

PENNY WISE POUND FOOLISH



I understand that Hartford has tough budget issues, many are self imposed by the current Administration. The latest one may be the results of DPW Budget cuts. For years there as an attendant at "City Yard" the name for the DPW Facility on Jennings Road. That is where DPW vehicles are garaged as well as City vehicles repaired and maintained.

For many years the attendant fueled the police vehicles and checked fluid levels such as oil and engine coolant. Police Vehicles were regularly scheduled for service and oil changes. Now the e-mail above details that there is apparently no money available for repair of certain police vehicles, including one who "blew" the engine for lack of oil.

Before you start screaming that is the cops fault who drove it, engines don't lose that much oil in a day or two, if these vehicles were checked regularly, it would have been noticed long before it went dry. In many cases ,officers are immediately dispatched to calls when they begin their shift and may not even have time to go to service for fuel.

The prisoner van was a vehicle that was purchased with a 6 cylinder engine , over the opposition of those knowledgeable of the manner of use of the vehicle. The van is immediately outfitted with metal caging with almost jail cell type accessories to be able to securely carry persons arrested and then transported to jail. Add to the 2000 or so pounds of additional equipment the weight of 5 or 6 male prisoners and the van is well over it's recommended weight usage.

These are the type of crazy decisions that are made by City Hall everyday by people that are strictly bureaucrats and know nothing about what they are doing.

In the meantime, maybe some of the snow tow money from today could be allocated  to the "Cars that City Yard has no Money to Repair" Account.. Or maybe a few layoff notices to unnecessary staff members in the Mayor's Office could rectify the problem.

HARTFORD CITY COUNCIL PICKS NEW DEPUTY CHIEFS

Well, at least one of them. Three new Deputy Chiefs for HPD were picked today by Chief Rovella. According to sources, the Council approval and funding for the three slots were contingent upon strings placed on the approval by at least one Councilperson. Again, according to sources, the Councilperson provided HPD with three names that had to be promoted if the money was going to be approved without a fight..

Two of the names on the Councilpersons list though were ineligible for promotion based upon their current rank. Apparently to be promoted to Deputy Chief, you must be at least a lieutenant or higher. The one name on the list that was eligible  to be promoted  was actually promoted.

The announcement that was released today by Chief Rovella. He apparently stated that "after discussions with Assistant Chief Heavren" he was appointing Lieutenant's Brian Foley, Dustin Rendock and Rob Ford to the position of Deputy Chief.. Don't ask who Heavren is, it is a long story.

Foley will continue in the Detective Division as Deputy Chief of the Investigative Services Bureau (ISB). Foley also serves as the Department spokesperson and is expected to continue in that position. Ford will apparently assume responsibility for the North District. That area is currently supervised by Deputy Chief Neville Brooks. Brooks has recently been doing double duty supervising the Central and North Districts. Lt.Rendock will assume the Professional Standards Division  which is currently working on accreditation standards for HPD.

All three promotions are expected to take effect as of Sunday.