From Brian Lockhart, CT Post:
Just before hanging up the phone Wednesday morning, Sikorsky Airport Manager John Ricci admitted he had business dealings with multi-millionaire developer Manuel “Manny” Moutinho.
Thanks in part to Ricci, Moutinho is enjoying a just-opened $400,000 gravel driveway to his mansion overlooking Long Island Sound in Stratford, courtesy of Bridgeport taxpayers–and he was hired to build it.
By 5 p.m. Wednesday, Ricci was suspended with pay from his $94,000-a-year job, and Mayor Bill Finch’s administration was scrambling to investigate his relationship with Moutinho, who is also the target of an FBI probe in Trumbull.
Read more here.
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Any chance the same people who told him to get it done are the same people who put him on leave???
*** Paid admin. leave sounds familiar when dealing with “deer caught in the headlights” type of issues with this admin, no? ***
Same people! T-Mac is like Sgt. Schultz! “I Know Nothing!”
Yes, we know that!!!
Tip of the iceberg.
Paid administrative leave … what a joke … make him clean garbage off the City streets. You just gave him a nice summer vacation, he can travel and let the good times roll and the check will be automatically deposited. All these paid administrative leave situations in this city are a joke. Sorry John … clean the streets. Pick up coffee for city employees. Sit in the Mayor’s office and do filing. Help paint a school. Do something with that big paycheck. It is amazing this little vignette could in fact stick to FINCH and sink him. If I were Mayor I’d fire your ass. Sorry John, this will become the albatross and demise of Finch. The taxpayers will appreciate this expense. What a job … is it difficult being the airport manager in Bridgeport with all of the air traffic? What a joke. What a nice place to drive to every day. What exactly does an airport manager do in an airport that could close tomorrow and nobody would miss it? I do not see a good outcome from this investigation. If Finch is connected to this it will not be hard to make this his last term, Steelpointe and all. This will be like getting away with murder. Now what?
Gee Steve, I always thought you were a fair-minded person. Clearly you are now judge and jury. I think Bob Walsh’s statement regarding John Ricci speaks for itself.
This airport deal completes a circle for Moutinho. First Moutinho gets the zoning director to forget about a court order forbidding commercial development of a piece of property on Huntington Turnpike. In comes Moutinho and the land is ripped up and a rockcrushing operation takes place, a mountain of crushed rock sits on the property for over a year.
Push forward to the airport and Moutinho somehow gets the city to pay for a new driveway to the tune of $400K. The crushed rock stored on Huntington Turnpike starts being moved, lo and behold it ends up as part of the new driveway.
So what do we have here? We have a zoning department that forgets to check on this property and ignores a court decision on Huntington Turnpike and the neighbors get stuck with this mess. Is the zoning director suspended or fired? NO. Now we fast forward to Ricci and he gets suspended with pay. There are two more people who should be suspended and they are the associate city attorney and the city attorney. All three should be suspended without pay.
The council voted on this $400K expenditure and didn’t even know it. If they knew it then they were complicit in this mess.
Follow the Money–I am very fair-minded and not judge and jury. I like John Ricci but not enough to let him screw the taxpayers for a friend. He is where he is for being a politician and money man. He was a staunch Republican and now a Democrat. I can relate to that 100 percent. I have no idea what Bob Walsh’s statement about John Ricci was. I am concerned about all of the city employees getting on paid administrative leave at the expense of the taxpayer. THIS DOES PUT FINCH, WOOD AND TESTA IN A VERY BAD PLACE. IF HE IS GUILTY THE TAXPAYERS WILL HEAR ABOUT IT AD NAUSEUM UNTIL THE NEXT ELECTION. IT WILL ECLIPSE ANYTHING POSITIVE HAPPENING IN THE CITY. OH, DO NOT WORRY. THEY WILL FIND ANOTHER PLACE FOR HIM. I AM WONDERING IF JOHN GARAMELLA IS PART OF THAT MIX. THE AIRPORT AND ALL OF THE CHARACTERS INVOLVED FOR THE PAST 25 YEARS HAVE HAD THEIR FINGERS IN THE COOKIE JAR TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW THEY COULD MAKE MONEY FOR THEMSELVES.
Let’s not forget the city officials who approved the no-bid contract for the road work.
Flies and leeches, one and all. Bridgeport voters want this and there’s nothing you or any complainer on this blog can or will do.
What’s interesting here is all of the political wannabes missing from the commentary. Guess they have no problem with $400,000 driveways but see red with $125 dollar tax increases. The truth is one day a leader will come and not threaten the jobs of the average worker in city hall and throughout the city. Better concentrate on the cancer that has permeated every department like a cancer eating away at the fabric of this great city and assaulting the esteem of every taxpayer. I’d be curious what former Mayors are saying. If John Fabrizi were on WICC I’d call and ask his opinion. The game is over. The problem is when these scandals happen the high and mighty sit around a bar and laugh at how they got caught. I’d love to be in a room right now listening to the conversation between “the Mayor” Bill, Eileen Ficarra and Adam Wood. If they are treating this lightly I’d urge them to think again. I’d love to hear a quote from a few Mayoral hopefuls. Let’s ask Joe Ganim what he thinks–lol. The average city worker should not fear for their job with a change in administration but the department heads should run for the hills. No Mayor should be able to hire any employee with a contract that will outlast his administration. So Mayor, we have Testo’s restaurant and the airport, I am not sure how many more buttons can be pressed. The tax increases and the snow may be forgotton. The only possible diversion will be mass economic development all over the city. Not low-income housing at the mouth of a downtown trying to change its image.
Steve, the truth is an absolute defense. Too bad you are wrong on this one. No quid pro quo. No hidden mortgage documents. No shell corporations or LLC. Follow the money and the truth shall set you free!
Not sure I follow you????????? Explain, please.
You have cast aspersions upon Mr. Ricci without offering any proof of wrongdoing on his part. It got a little hot in the kitchen and the city attorney’s office turned into the CR & L Bus Line and threw Ricci under the bus with Ralph Cramden at the wheel.
Former Bridgeport Councilman Bob Walsh, a Democrat like Finch and all 20 current council members, said neither Ricci’s dabbling in real estate nor his dealings with Moutinho should be a surprise to the powers that be.
“For the people in City Hall to say they didn’t know about it, they’ve either got to have their heads in the sand or be lying,” Walsh said. “They’re throwing John under the bus. If John says he told people, he told people.”
Read more: www .ctpost.com/local/article/Airport-boss-grounded-over-driveway-deal-4580851.php
Follow the Money, you are correct on one front. Perhaps I was a little rough in my commentary on John Ricci. He is certainly innocent until proven guilty. So for a $400,000 screw up at the taxpayers’ expense, I want to see heads roll. I am so excited to follow this drama. This will definitely stick and once again the City gets a black eye and becomes once again synonymous with corruption. Follow the Money, John Ricci is lucky to have a friend like you. I apologize for now on going after the jugular. Sorry John … if you’re innocent I will happily write a note of apology.
*** The fact the Mayor and all those involved in making this gravel driveway deal come to life and there was “no” Kodak “look what we did” picture-taking moment speaks volumes, no? *** WHAT’S NEXT? ***