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Saturday, May 2, 2015

KILLING HARTFORD'S BUSINESSES ONE STEP AT A TIME

 
It is hard enough for businesses to survive in Hartford, and even harder to make it with the roadblocks put in front of them by City Hall. Does anyone at City Hall understand what it takes to operate in a city that I far from business friendly? Hartford's extremely high mill rate places  a difficult burden on any business owner that decides to set up shop here.
 
Then, what I can only call City Hall stupidity, makes it even tougher . The "No Parking" placard above is  what most visitors to downtown Saturday night found when they tried to park . The placards were put up in advance of a Sunday event, but many people trying to park downtown to visit Hartford restaurants were afraid to park thinking the regulations would be enforced Saturday night and many just drove off, probably to head to West Hartford Center or elsewhere.
 
The placards were not put up by HPD, who would hopefully use a little more common sense. According to sources, these placards were the work of Hartford's Department of Public Works. Why couldn't they be put up later, at least after the dinner and bar crowd subsides so as not to kill the downtown business?
 
I guess common sense  and  intelligence are not the hallmark of the current administration. With the amount of empty storefronts, do we really want to try hard to create more?

Friday, May 1, 2015

HELP REPRESENTATIVE ARCE

From Angel Arce's Facebook Page: State Representative Angel Arce

Please Help me Help this family .
 
This morning there was a fire on Brownell Ave a Asian Family lost everything they had, and they have no family here at all. They have not gotten any help at all from anyone or agency. The Red Cross put them in a motel for two days after that they have no where to go or place to stay. ( I won't let that happen ) I will find a way to house them no matter what. This an elderly women her daughter and her 8 year old grandson. If anyone has any clothe, Shoes, they can donate please contact me I appreciated.


Please contact Angel through his facebook page if you can help. Angel really cares about his constituents and is not a "typical" politician.  It seems like our Mayor or Councilpeople should be spearheading these efforts for one of their neighbors

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

SHOW ME THE MONEY

This is just the start , but here is the beginning of the filings for Hartford's Mayoral candidates, starting off with Pedro Segarra

Monday, April 27, 2015

ANOTHER BLACK EYE FOR HPD? NOT...

 
Some things on their face value look bad. Such is the case of the Internal Audit Report below if you didn't know the back story .

The Audit report was actually requested by Hartford Police Chief James Rovella after officers went to him with their concerns regarding the operation of the Hartford Police Firing range.  Rovella immediately requested the City Auditors begin an internal review and eventually an HPD Internal Affairs Investigation was launched. The results of that IAD have not been released yet but , it will probably be far worse than the details outlined below.

There are more questions raised than answered as you read this, but also keep in mind that this has gone on for years at the range. Chief Rovella has implemented recent changes to add additional oversight and controls to the range. The "range Officer" who was not identified in the audit is reportedly Lou Crabtree who basically ran the firing range unsupervised for years. He abruptly retired once the audit and IAD investigation began. Although the audit doesn't mention criminal charges, after reading the report it would seem hard not to be some.

If the numbers are accurate, there seems to be over $400,000 in ammunition unaccounted for. It also seems like there would probably be some federal violations , especially for an ammo dealer transporting such large quantities of bullets over state lines with no paper trail or record to review.

 One high ranking HPD source recently told me "if we had a Ferguson type incident, we have no extra ammunition on the building to give out to officers" Even though by the invoices it would seem there is plenty, especially since HPD normally spend on average $115,000 a year for ammo, and last year according to the books spent over $400,000.

Crabtree  apparently told auditors that he bartered much of the ammo to other agencies, including Windsor Locks PD, the Connecticut State Police and East Hartford PD. I am waiting for the IAD report to be released before I start FOI'ing documents from those agencies to verify Crabtree's claims. I can't imagine the Connecticut State Police "bartering " for ammo, or that "bartering" ammo is even legal.

 This might actually be the type of thing that needs to go before a Grand Jury to get to the truth or even the Federal Corruption team. The large amounts of ammunition unaacounted for is disheartening . HPD has anobligation to account for that ammo and to make sure it has not fallen into the wrong hands. With that much ammo missing, HPD could potentially be supplying evrry gang member in the Greater Hartford area with 9mm and 40cal shells for the next several years.

Officer Crabtree, you have some explaining to do and your retirement to save your pension doesn't cut it.


Friday, April 24, 2015

THEY JUST CAN'T CATCH A BREAK

Word out of HPD this afternoon is that an off duty Hartford Firefighter is under investigation for shooting a home improvement contractor on Hebron Street. Firefighter Donald Brown apparently called 911 this afternoon to report he just shot the contractor in the Blue Hills neighborhood.

There has been no comment from HPD and HFD Captain Helene Lynch seemed stunned when I initially called asking for a comment on the firefighter shooting, She stated she would have to call me back, no response yet.


The case remains under investigation by HPD Major Crimes.


BROWN WORKED AT ENGINE 10 ON FRANKLIN AVENUE UNTIL RECENTLY 

HE WAS TRANSFERRED TO ENGINE 14 AT BLUE HILLS/ALBANY AVENUE, BUT HAD NOT REPORTED THERE YET BECAUSE HE IS ON WORKMAN’S COMP

Thursday, April 23, 2015

CHARLIE: THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

 
Several people have commented lately after the Nolan Administrative Suspension to "wait until the truth comes out". Well , the truth is coming out and it is not Dan Nolan that needs to be worried. 
 
 HFD is not great with FOI. It took me almost two months to get an FOI request I submitted on March 1, 2015, but it was well worth the wait.
 
I had originally requested repair documents for HFD Ladder 6. Ladder 6 is a brand new piece of apparatus purchased about a year ago for close to 3/4 of a million dollars. It had been at City Yard, the HFD repair garage for months. I was wondering why a  3/4 of a million dollar piece of equipment that was almost brand new would be out of service for so long.
 
I went about submitting an FOI request for documents related to Ladder 6, including maintenance and repair records.
 
Well FOI is a wonderful thing. Sometimes you get what you are looking for and sometimes you get things you never expected. The two months turned out to be well worth the wait (although probably illegal also on the part of HFD for the delay)
 
It turns out that the reason for Ladder 6 being off the line for so long is due to mismanagement of the HFD and possibly Hartford City Hall also.
 
Ladder 6 was brought to City Yard for repair work on the rear bucket that raises and lowers firefighters possibly hundreds of feet in the air. Because of the heights and weigh involve, the yoke and attachments must be tested each time the bucket is worked on. The testing is apparently conducted by American Test Center of  River Falls, Wisconsin. Apparently  American Test Center is a "for profit" business and frowns upon providing services when there bills aren't paid.
 
After planning work was performed on Ladder 6, American Test Center did not wish to perform the required testing until their past due bills were paid by HFD. According to invoices obtained under the FOI request, it appears that American Test Center charged HFD in the range of $450.00 per test, so we aren't talking huge dollar amounts. But none the less, the apparatus was kept off of Hartford's streets because of the unpaid bill. A couple servings of Segarra caviar  would have gotten Ladder 6 back on the street much quicker.
 
 Shortly after I made my FOI request, the bills  to American Test Center that had been unpaid for months , were suddenly paid and Ladder 6 is back on the line today.
 
 But even more important are statements made in an e-mail that was also part of  the FOI request and should be raising serious questions related to the death of Firefighter Kevin Bell and the mismanagement of the Hartford Fire Department.
 
Questions were raised about the condition of the "FIT" testing machine. FIT testing apparently is the process named for checking the air mask used by firefighters and the masks suitability for use. According to the email HFD's  "FIT" testing machine is broken. Parts are no longer available for the machine. (FIT testing is required by OSHA and was also an issue in the Bell investigation.)
 
When asked why HFD wasn't doing "FIT" testing , according to the e-mail, technicians were told that HFD was planning on buying all new masks, the AV3000, and everyone would need to be refitted at that time so hold off. According to HFD sources, those new masks have never been purchased and the FIT tests are still an issue. 
 
The e-mail obtained through the FOI request was addressed to FIER R001@ Hartford. gov.  FIERR 001 is Rocco Fierevante, the Hartford Firefighters Union Vice President. Why are Hartford Firefighters paying Union dues if their Vice President doesn't raise issues when their lives are possibly being endangered by  dangerous conditions?
 
One of the common themes addressed by Chief Nolan prior to his "insubordination" is also highlighted in the e-mail "There has been a total lack of Communication" The issue of expired "air bottles" is mentioned and nothing being done to correct the problem. "We currently have an unacceptable number that need to be removed from service". Then why aren't they? Does Chief Huertas  feel as though it is acceptable to send firefighters into burning buildings with less than desirable equipment? The author mentions trying to work within the requirements of "political budget cuts". Politics has no place in determining the safety of out firefighters. Unless of course our politicians like being on TV at firefighters funerals giving their kind words to the families of deceased firefighters.
 
The e-mail also mentions that the Hartford Fire Department "has an epidemic amount of vendors that have been calling us on past due invoices". Many of those vendors have also now put the Hartford Fire Department on a COD basis. The email states that many vendors including NAPA, Fleetpride, FirestoneTire all now require cash up front before supplying parts to the Hartford Fire Department. At least two vendors , Chips Auto Electric and International Radiator only allow HFD to pick up parts after they are repaired only if they are paid for .
 
The e-mail also mentions "the  matter of ladder 6 aerial test that sat out of service for 3plus months... due to past due invoices. I detailed that issue above.
 
It seems as though Chief Huertas has no problem putting the residents of Hartford and more importantly his own firefighters in harms way though his lack of management and accountability The sad part is that many of these issues seem very easy to change with just a small amount of leadership or even management., which Huertas clearly lacks.