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Friday, June 10, 2016

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

From HFD Chief Reginald Freeman:

"The Hartford Fire Department is pleased to announce the appointment of LT Raul Ortiz to the position of Executive Officer/Public Information Officer. LT Ortiz comes to Headquarters from Engine 8 located at 721 Park St. in the Frog Hollow neighborhood. "

Lt Ortiz was previously the Executive Officer for former Chief Huertas and was abruptly removed from that position last year, partially, according to sources familiar with the removal because he was communicating with me.You can rerad more on that saga here.

 Lt Ortiz was also responsible for organizing a friendly competition among Hartford's Fire Companies this past Christmas season. You can read more about that here.

Best of luck and success in your new assignment Lt. Ortiz.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

COULD THIS EXPLAIN HPD'S MISSING AMMUNITION?

 For over a year now I have been trying to get the answers to a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of missing ammunition from HPD. I have been told that it was under IAD investigation, but I would think that a resolution would have come to the investigation by now. Murder investigations are usually done muck quicker. It is also interesting the officer suspected in the thefts has retired and moved out of state, abandoning his Connecticut home.

The link below was sent to me as a possible explanation as to how guns and ammunitions are getting onto our streets. Could it apply to Hartford? And the link may not be the most credible source, but it is a theory worth looking at


A NOTE TO DPW

The lawn at 134 Affleck needs mowing again.  The Hartford Police Substation is looking a little shabby in the neighborhood since the last time you mowed it almost a month ago.

Your efforts to contribute a positive impact on the quality of life in this neighborhood would be appreciated.

Thank you

TIME FOR A THURSDAY AFTERNOON SING-A-LONG



Sing along as you call for your 2017 or maybe even 2018 season tickets. I'm not sure it will still be called Dunkin Donut's Park by then. I mean seriously, who would want their huge logo as the backdrop for countless negative stories. ( probably many more still to come).

As the jingle says, just "eat it up"

MORE SEGARRA DEFICIT'S

 
 
I think we all know by now that former Mayor Pedro Segarra was a financial disaster, both personally and for the City of Hartford. Between his personal bankruptcies and the "dire" financial situation he left our City in, nothing should surprise us.

But there is a strange surprise to another Segarra deficit. This deficit was for his recent Mayoral campaign that he left behind after the November election. What is really surprising is a donation from one person to offset that deficit. A $1500.00 "contribution toward deficit" was recorded on 11-16-15 from Mayor Luke  Bronin's Capital City PAC to "Segarra 2015", Pedro Segarra's re-election committee..

Although the initial disclosure filings showed almost $100,000 sitting in the PAC ( at least almost four years away from any upcoming election) Segarra's  $1500.00 "deficit contribution" was only one of the expenses Another large expense of $5,000.00 was made to a  Diana Tomeszko, of West Hartford. Tomeszko is now listed on Hartford.gov's website as the "Director of Strategic Partnerships". The expense was only listed as "consulting" and it is unclear of her relationship between Bronin or the actual detail of the expense.

Several donors for the Bronin campaign that I contacted were somewhat surprised that their donations were eventually funneled through Bronin's PAC to support Segarra's campaign efforts.  Those I spoke with were extrememly opposed to Segarra's re-election and were somewhat upset that in the end, their donations were used to support Segarra's campaign efforts

This PAC and other campaign filings can be found on the State of Connecticut's website for the State Elections Enforcement Commission's (SEEC) "e-cris" filing section.

This is one to keep an eye on to see how Hartford's politics really operate behind the scenes.

Bronin Segarra Deficit Payment
expense has been recorded in filings from a PAC (Political Action Committee) formed by Hartford's current Mayor Luke Bronin



GAMES ARE ALREADY BEING PLAYED AT THE STADIUM

And no, not baseball games, we probably won't see those baseball games for a year or longer with the mess at the Dunkin Donuts Park project.

The games being played are those by the City of Hartford and the Hartford Stadium Authority.

 On May31, 2016 I made a formal Freedom of Information request to the City of Hartford, specifically to Sean Fitzpatrick of Development Services. In that request I asked for "any and all change orders submitted to Centerplan or DONO, LLC for the Stadium Construction during May 2016"

In numerous media reports and TV interviews I had heard the "change orders " referred to by both City Officials and representatives  for the developers.

Fitzpatrick apparently referred my FOI request to Cynthia Lauture in the Corporation Counsel's Office. A week later I had heard nothing nor did I receive any documents ,and I emailed Lauture for an update.

 The following day I received an e-mail from Attorney Lauture claiming that "there are no responsive records to the request below". I replied back that I wasn't interested in playing her games. Within an hour I received the appropriate documents through an alternative source. The City did eventually provide the requested documents when they realized I already had them.

WHAT? I knew there were documents because I had heard numerous references to them by many individuals. I spoke to a City Hall source and was told that  what are normally known as "change orders" in the Construction industry had been renamed something else by the Stadium Authority and Development Services, possibly to avoid anyone being to ask for them. Try asking for the "CCD's" I was advised, in the City's terms the "Construction Change Directives"

Ok, I guess that is that "transparency" we keep hearing so much about. Maybe the City could have been a little more creative and called them  "Stadium Heirarchy  Intermediate Transmittals" or more appropriately "S.H.I.T." orders. I think that would be more appropriate  to the transparency they are trying to feed us.