Search This Blog

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

IS THIS THE BEST WE CAN DO ?

The newest resident at 253 High Street, in the HPD lobby

I think we have become pretty immune to the political rhetoric that spews from Hartford City Hall and the lips of "our" politicians. They all want to talk about homelessness and how they need more money to correct the problem, some of them even make good money for their organizations by benefiting off the homeless problem.

According to sources, a homeless female has taken up residence in the lobby of the Hartford Police Department for the last couple weeks.

She has apparently moved in with several pieces of luggage and has pizza delivered for her meals.

We need to do better than this. Now I know, that some homeless people don't want to accept any help, but the lobby of a public building is not an acceptable alternative , especially when we have so many buildings sitting empty that could be used.

As an example , the Hartford YMCA still sits empty to this day after we fell for a grand proposal for the property that never happened.

There needs to be an effort for  more dignity for all of our citizens.

Monday, November 25, 2019

LONG OVERDUE

Hartford County States Attorney Gail Hardy


This mornings special meeting by the Criminal Justice Commission  into the performance, or more accurately the lack of performance , by Hartford County States Attorney Gail Hardy is long overdue. 

Gail Hardy's failure to perform her job points out several problems. The main one being that even though there is a Chief States Attorney, the individual States Attorney's for the Geographical Areas, really don't answer to the Chief States Attorney, and the Chief SA has no direct supervisory accountability or responsibility for them. 

Gail Hardy's failure to complete mandated Police Use of Force investigations brought this issue to light. Some of the cases that have been sitting on Gail Hardy's desk collecting dust for almost a decade, according to documents received from the Connecticut State Police pursuant to an FOI request.

There is no excuse for that. 

The system to have State's attorneys investigate Use of Force allegations was created to build the Public's trust in the credibility of these incidents. Gail Hardy's actions have done the total opposite.

Instead of people having confidence in the reports, whether good or bad, they must now be suspect. 

Most of these incidents appear to be justified, but the delay will only raise more questions. Officers involved in these incidents, as well as the families of  the "victims" deserve a timely conclusion.

To conduct an investigation and then potentially conclude that the actions of an officer were unjustified but the statute of limitations for any accountability has expired will not lead to any greater trust of a system that is often called into question.

It is not fair to the public or the officer's and agencies involved for that cloud of question to remain over the incident for potentially years without Hardy's reports being completed.

Gail Hardy has shown for years that she is out of touch with the communities she serves and continually refuses to accept invitations to community meetings  to interact with the public.

The Legislature needs to look at correcting this antiquated, broken system of States Attorneys  and bring us into the current day Judicial processes that work much better in other states and provide better accountability to the system of Prosecutor's in Connecticut

Sunday, November 3, 2019

TIME TO THINK ABOUT A QUOTE FROM PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

It is widely acknowledged that one question from Candidate Ronald Reagan turned the course of Jimmy Carter's re-election bid in 1980.

The Presidential campaign was capped by only one debate between the two candidates. Many polls showed a dead heat between the two Presidential candidates. During that debate, Republican Ronald Reagan sealed the fate of that election and the future of Jimmy Carter with one simple question to voters.

Reagan asked "are you better off than you were four years ago?" That was all it took.

Hopefully this Tuesday as Registered voters in Hartford prepare to vote, they can ask themselves the same question.

Are our streets any better than four years ago as Luke Bronin promised they would be? Definitely not. Hartford repair garages and body shops are still reaping the benefits of our streets every
time they re-align another front end victimized by our canyon sized potholes.

Resurfacing City streets this summer was almost nonexistent with the exceptions of a handful of streets, far short of the milling and paving we usually see every summer-

Is trash on our streets and bulky waste piled at the curbs any better, as Candidate Bronin had promised in 2015? Nope. The rats love the furniture and mattresses thrown at the curbs, they make for some great rat harborages. The overflowing dumpsters that are never inspected or cited at many apartment complexes and businesses are loved by the rats also, it grows their families big and strong.

And I think the rat inspectors and additional housing inspectors we keep hearing are coming must have gotten lost or are broken down after hitting a pothole.

Do you feel safer in your neighborhoods than you were four years ago when Pedro Segarra was leaving Office and as Candidate Bronin promised? The reality is you are not any safer.  As of today, Hartford's homicide rate is 67% ahead of 2017, and the year still has a ways to go, so we can add more.  Shootings are almost an every day occurrence. Shots fired from illegal gun activity are almost an hourly occurrence and two more people were shot on the streets of Hartford  last night.

Our schools are still a mess, even though the Mayor appoints the Majority of the Board of Education , He often ducks the issue of failing schools by saying he has no control over the BOE. Isn't that convenient.

Hartford's finances are still a mess despite the State of Connecticut bailout. Actually, Bronin tries to make it sound like he did a great job of arm twisting at the Capitol to get the bailout. What he should be calling it is the first installment on the past due bill the State owes us for underpaid P.I.L.O.T. funds.  But chances are good we will be revisiting this issue in a couple years, probably before the term of the next Mayor ends.

And that basaball stadium deal? Yes, it opened but it is still a drain of $5 to 6 Million dollars a year on the City budget for debt service payments.

Is the toxic environment of City employment gotten any better in the last four years? Definitely not. Instances of attempted suicides, actual suicides , numerous CHRO complaints filed against the Police Department and other City Departments are keeping some politically connected law firms profitable at the taxpayers expense. All due to mismanagement and lack of leadership or accountability by Bronin Department heads.. So no, that is no better than it was four years ago.

Those are probably enough examples to get you to honestly answer President Reagan's question as it pertains to Hartford.

But as you prepare to fill in that little bubble on your ballot, also keep in mind the general version of "insanity". Insanity is doing the same old thing and expecting a different result. I know Tuesday I am unwilling to settle for insanity, if we are honest with ourselves and really do care about the City many of us claim to love.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

WHEN DO WE SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

He wasn't "unavailable" then



This week has been an extremely violent week, but actually there have been plenty of violent weeks since Luke Bronin has been Mayor, and plenty of violent weeks during the tenure of Interim Chief Jason Thody.

Lets do a quick flashback for a second to 2015. That is the year Luke Bronin showed up on the scene to challenge Mayor Pedro Segarra. Most people in Hartford had never heard of Luke Bronin and most would never recognize him, but Bronin proved you could buy an awful lot with a million dollars. You could buy both name recognition and the Hartford Mayor's Office.

Now Pedro Segarra was a nice guy, but a terrible Mayor. I think many people, A/K/A Hartford's political insiders figured out quickly Segarra was more of a Social worker than a solid leader and they were able to steamroll him for their own needs and Segarra produced lackluster results.

Bronin's arrival on the political scene coincided with a very violent pre-election summer. Bronin quickly capitalized on that violence and made political hay from the dead bodies piling up due to gunfire and violence.Segarra was slow to make changes, especially in the Hartford Police Department. HPD was without a permanent Chief at the time. Segarra wasted months selecting a Chief and at one point he conducted an expensive national search spending upwards of $75,000 only to appoint Chief Jim Rovella as the right choice for Hartford's Police Chief.( Not only the right choice, but a great choice)

Bronin capitalized on all of that, especially the dead bodies of homicide victims, making it point to have the Television cameras in tow as he went to vigils and visited the survivors homes of the homicide victims. It worked, he promised to make Hartford a safer City and he was elected as Mayor. And it only cost a little over a million dollars.

I remember the day Bronin showed at at a playground on Cornwall street to use  the prop of a deadbody lying on a basketball court, the man shot in the head during a basketball tournament, to capitalize on the corpse 50 yards away to convince us why we needed change and oust Segarra. What has changed except the Mayors ?   Let me answer my own question...nothing

But, as Eddie Perez's corruption trial revealed the "Gospel of Perez", the felonious Mayor's staff had put together a PowerPoint display to build Eddie's little corrupt empire, or so he hoped. One of the slides stated "Voters in Hartford have very short memories". That is never truer than right now.

I was disgusted yesterday by media accounts that when they tried to approach Luke Bronin for comment on Thursdays street shootout and the killing of 71 year old Grandmother Yvonne Smith, Bronin was conveniently "unavailable" Of course he was unavailable he doesn't want to have to answer for his "efforts" or more appropriately his failures and broken promises.

He doesn't want to have to answer for his revolving door of Department Heads at City Hall and the lack of stability in his Administration. The only Department head who has remained I believe is Fire Chief Reggie Freeman. All other Departments have numerous turnover in Department Heads, including HPD. DPW went without a permanent head for months, actually well over a year, because Bronin was able to use the Fire Chief as an acting DPW Director Luckily Freeman was able to do both , and surprisingly both Departments functioned well, no thanks to Bronin. MHIS, the City's IT Department has been without a permanent director for years.  It is only the City's computers and technology, why should we be concerned about that being managed properly by a permanent Department head?

I think Luke Bronin has a higher turnover rate in his Administration than the Trump Administration, seriously.

It is only the City's computers and technology, why should we be concerned about that being managed properly?

And while Bronin was "unavailable" for comment on the violence this week, his Police Chief was lounging in Chicago at a conference. As the Mayor of a violent City that just experienced a tragedy and several shootings in a 24 hour period, I would think if I was in Bronin's position I would see the value in telling my Police Chief, his presence in the City to maintain calm and hopefully instill confidence and leadership was more important than hobnobbing in Chicago with other Police Chiefs.

But that would take leadership on Bronin's part,

And I am not sure anyone  should believe Bronin's promises that if elected he will serve out the full 4 years of his second term. This is the same guy that was willing to take almost a year off from his full time job as Hartford's elected Mayor to zig-zag across the State in his failed bid to be Connecticut's Governor. How much could have been accomplished during that year if actually focused on the job the taxpayers were paying him to perform. Did he ever offer to give back the salary for the time he was being paid to run Hartford and he wasn't? I never heard that offer being mad.
Bronin

Does anyone really believe that if John Larson  or (oh please God please) Richard Blumenthal announced  their retirements next spring that Luke Bronin wouldn't be the first one in line to get those positions., despite his promise to the people of Hartford.

Hell, Luke Bronin can't even tell us  the truth about where he is living now, why should we believe anything he says.

Enough is enough, as a City we deserve so much better and not be accepting  the highest bidder for our voting rights.


Friday, October 25, 2019

VIGIL FOR YVONNE SMITH TOMORROW

YVONNE SMITH

 I normally don't do this, but this vigil is of special importane  due to the nature of this senseless act and the purely innocent victim who died. Please attend if you can to shpw support for Yvonne's family and as a community to let our Mayor and Councilpeople that we are fed up with the nonsense on our streets

Mothers United Against Violence will conduct a Candlelight Vigil on Saturday, October 26th, at 4:00 pm, at Garden & Nelson Streets, Hartford, where the life of Yvonne Smith, 71, was taken by being hit by a car driven by a youth fleeing a gun fight in the streets.
For the family, this is a loss like the loss of the life of any family member.
Yvonne has been recognized by many as "a guardian of the neighborhood" and spent most of her life in Hartford and never wanted to be anywhere else. So for her, the family is asking for help to make the streets safer.
All who want to do that should feel welcomed to be part of the human presence trying to bring calm to the community and be strengthened by taking part in this vigil.
--