Fardy: Bridgeport And Detroit Sister Cities

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A claim Bridgeport has a lot in common with troubled Detroit has city officials firing back. OIB commentator Andy Fardy, a retired city firefighter, declares Bridgeport is flaming out just like Detroit. Is the comparison fair? What say you? Fardy’s commentary follows:

Bridgeport and Detroit, what do they have in common? Well let’s see:

1. They are large urban areas.
2. They have a large, poor, working-class population.
3. Both are struggling under pension contracts for municipal unions.
4. Both have ineffective leadership.
5. Both offer citizens the bare minimum of quality of life breaks and conditions.
6. Both have been basically ignored by the Federal Government but GM has received hundreds of millions in bailout money.

I have lived in Bridgeport for 71 years and I have watched this city fight to survive. Many people blame the influx of minorities and the influx of illegals for its downfall.

I lived here when the WWII veterans bought all the houses. I lived here when the cops and firefighters bought the houses. I lived here as my neighbors grew old and died and their kids sold the houses for peanuts. I lived here when minorities started to buy the houses here and actually became the majority.

It was the best thing that happened to my neighborhood. The old houses they bought, they fixed up. My neighborhood is like it was when I was growing up.

What has not improved is city government, we keep electing these people who say I know your pain and I know what you went through. Well that is so much baloney.

Our economic development is a joke. We hire a guy who’s an elected official from Stamford, Connecticut. What has he done here in Bridgeport for the past 18 months? What has been developed in Stamford in the past 18 months?

The residents of Bridgeport have been told to get ready for Bass Pro, well we have been waiting for Bass Pro for 27 years and that’s all we have is Bass Pro.

Someone tell me why we still have the developer of Steel Point still in charge. What has he done? A Bass Pro shop in the inner city.

Have we gone to the Federal Government through our senators and congress people and have them put pressure on US companies to build in our country and in our cities?

GE just opened a $7 billion plant in France; yes that’s right, $7 Billion. They donated 37 acres of contaminated land. Why couldn’t they develop something in Bridgeport?

General Motors took millions and millions of our tax dollars to bail themselves out and what do they do, they are building four assembly plants in China and getting tax breaks.

Year after year we send politicians to Washington to work for us and make our lives in Connecticut better. Year after year the politicians come to Bridgeport with promises to our people who are poor and need help, they give us nothing.

I defy anyone to tell me the last time the Feds helped induce a company to move to Bridgeport. It’s not just the politicians we have today it’s all we have sent to Washington.

Our state delegation is an absolute joke and has been for years. What have they done to bring economic development to Bridgeport? Nothing, maybe Tennis Courts, a baseball field and a park no one goes to.

Detroit has the same greedy do-nothing politicians we do so that’s another thing we have in common.

We have council people using legislative budget monies to donate to their favorite charities, which is illegal. We have council people who paid their Stop & Shop grocery bill 50 times with a city debit card. Another council person did the same thing but I don’t know the number of charges made to Stop & Shop. We also paid their cable bills.

The local newspaper knows this and says or writes nothing.

They are complicit in this rape of Bridgeport.

So yes, Detroit and Bridgeport are sister cities.

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137 comments

    1. Salon made a flip and gratuitous remark about Detroit–like Bridgeport. It wasn’t a cheap shot so much as a lazy shot. Problem is, we bring it on–we’re an easy target. Ganim goes to jail, Fabrizi can’t control either himself or his response to himself thereby embarrassing the city again (and again) and now Finch has become a vindictive autocrat who rules by temper, threats and intimidation so there is no democracy, no transparency and additionally the guy has produced nothing of measurable value. Annual tax increases, no growth in the tax base and total chaos in education. He’s done nothing to fundamentally restructure the city’s finances and long-term debt which is where bankruptcy breeds and he has steadfastly obscured budget processes and numbers. So like Detroit, we are on perilous ground with utterly ludicrous leadership whose idea of productivity is feeding itself. Unlike Detroit who is bringing in new friends and industry, Bridgeport’s mayor rides water taxis whose operations will further tax Bridgeport residents and declares victory on shifting sand. No wonder Bridgeport remains a cheap shot–it’s so inviting.

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  2. Detroit and Bridgeport are very different. Here’s why:
    Detroit is 138 square miles while Bridgeport is 19.4 square miles.
    Detroit’s population has been declining for decades while Bridgeport’s population has never been higher.
    Detroit’s pensioners await an upcoming decision that could be bad while Bridgeport pensioners have enjoyed generous and uninterrupted benefits.
    Detroit’s municipal services are poor; Bridgeport’s are much better.
    Detroit’s GM has received a huge bailout while Bridgeport’s federal aid has been limited to things like water taxis.

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    1. You really are a fucking idiot. What did you think, you take a map of Bridgeport and it looks like Detroit?
      Lennie, do they run classes for stupid because if they do I will pay for Local Eyes to go. What a moron.

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      2. Ya can’t teach stupid. Bridgeport is a microcosm of Detroit and Cleveland. The similarities are glaring to anyone with a brain.
        Poor management
        High taxes
        Poor representation in Hartford and Washington
        Brownfields galore
        A storied industrial past
        Loss of population (Bridgeport went from about 250,000 to about 130,000. Cleveland went from almost 1 Million to under 400,000).
        Almost total Democratic Party control for the past 50 years.
        High crime rates … add in Chicago on this.

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    2. That is not good. Detroit was bigger, hence more taxable property. BPT’s population only grew by 2.3% last census. That is less than you would expect from the birth rate alone. That would mean for every four babies born one person moved out. A newborn is not a good replacement for a working adult.
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeport,_Connecticut

      1970	  156,542	−0.1%
1980	  142,546	−8.9%
1990	  141,686	−0.6%
2000	  139,529	−1.5%
2010	  144,229	 3.4%
Est. 2013 147,216	 2.1%

      According to this the BPT population has not been this low since 1970. Then you have to ask who is moving out? I am going to guess, people who can afford it, people who have jobs and were renting. Who does that leave? People who are ‘stuck’ in their houses and those who have no money. So you end up with people who are on relief and people who want to move out.

      As far as ‘Detroit’s pensioners await an upcoming decision that could be bad while Bridgeport pensioners have enjoyed generous and uninterrupted benefits. Detroit’s municipal services are poor; Bridgeport’s are much better.’ You should qualify that statement by ending it with ‘for now.’ Those things are subject to change. The city is asking for furloughs. If all the unions choose layoffs or refuse to give back, city services will suffer or taxes have to go up.

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        1. Really? Name one. There is a list to pick from at the bottom of the page.

          Wait a minute. You are right. Let’s trade houses and you can be among the winners and I will resign myself to be happy with the property values in Trumbull. Think of all the pluses for you. Your kids get to go to BPS, pay for an alarm company, pay higher car insurance, higher property tax rate. It only takes three days to clear snow from your street. You’ll love it.

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  3. Master of the obvious, let’s add to that list.

    Bridgeport starts with B and Detroit starts with D.
    Bridgeport is on Long Island Sound and Detroit is not.
    Bridgeport is in Connecticut but not Detroit.
    Bridgeport is closer to NY and Boston.

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  4. DETROIT: Major league baseball, NFL, NBA and NHL teams.

    BRIDGEPORT: No pro basketball, no pro football, the minor-league affiliate of one of the worst teams in the NHL, and a independent-league baseball team that can’t draw flies unless they do stupid gimmicks like bringing in Pete Rose to manage.

    Also, I’m willing to bet Detroit’s mayor isn’t so stupid as to pretend a university within its borders does not exist.

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  7. Once Bass Pro opens, all our trouble will be gone!!! … aaah, let’s face it, our city is doomed, have you seen “downtown” recently??? It’s boarded-up building after boarded-up building. Finch handing out jobs to supporters, Finch building driveways for supporters, Finch signing one-sided deals with corporations who support him (the solar field debacle).
    What we need is the feds to help us, and clean up the corruption first. Then perhaps developers will take a chance here. Right now, they know the score, “pay to play.”

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  8. fairfield.dailyvoice.com/politics/experts-visit-homes-fairfield-property-tax-appraisals-begin-monday

    What? Fairfield did not need to put off their reval for two years? Is this what we can hope for in years after the election and everything is great again? Do we get a credit for the partial reval? Will they be going house to house in Bridgeport too?

    “Property values fluctuate over time and by neighborhood. To maintain accurate appraisal records, Fairfield, in accordance with state statute, conducts a townwide appraisal every five years.

    “The data collector’s responsibilities include visiting every property to document physical characteristics, noting a building’s location, size, age, quality of construction, and improvements; and a property’s topography, utilities and zoning restrictions, if any, as well as numerous other characteristics both inside and out.”

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  9. Well, Detroit gave us the Jackson 5 and was home to all the car manufacturing. Bridgeport gave us P.T. Barnum and the Frisbee and GE. It is true, life has changed drastically in this city since Thursday Nights in Downtown Bridgeport was the place to be. What we do have is our proximity to New York City, a transportation hub that is excellent. We are in Fairfield county, once if not still the wealthiest county in the United States. What we also have is tired leadership in the BRBC. Honestly Paul T. You were just the ringleader for the Barnum Festival. Isn’t it time to bring in youthful visionaries? The city lacks the proper leadership to entice New York developers to invest in Bridgeport. Bridgeport missed its opportunity under Mayor Moran to be the beacon of light for Urban America and addressing the contracts that have brought the City to its knees. More, the only avenue we have is Steelepointe and major development in every corner of the City. Without it, taxes will continues to rise. Taxpayers will forever pay for unnecessary jobs. People will continue to lose their homes and people will walk away from their properties. The homes will be purchased by the City and turned into low-income housing and then people will demand grocery stores because there apparently is a need.

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    1. Steve–you can’t really demand a grocery. You can demand a library, a school, a police station but not a grocery. The government does not provide groceries. A company that runs groceries has to be able to see a need, a profit potential and a place. The only thing BPT has is the place. The only advice you can give to anyone who demands a grocery is: go ahead and open a grocery. Here you go, Steve. You and some friends get together, raise $1.3 mil and open a grocery.
      save-a-lot.com/own/opening-a-save-a-lot
      I am sure you will do well. Between property tax, $10/hr. minimum wage, theft, shoplifting and being in a part of town where no one has any money. How could you not?

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      1. B0E SPY, tell that to Ron Mackey and Donald Day. I agree with you. You cannot demand a grocery store. Unless of course you live in China where the Government owns and runs everything. My comment was of course sarcastic. It was referencing another post regarding David Kooris and the Jewish Lobby, which I still don’t get. 🙂

        I’d like Mayor Finch to bring in a kosher Jewish Deli, it is so inconvenient driving to Fairfield, New Haven or New York. The type of places like the old Tastees Delicatesson on Madison Ave. Or Zouderers for bagels and hard rolls. I have to go to New York to get real belly lox (smoked salmon), not nova. Where do I get my smoked whitefish and sturgeons? No place for knishes, Kugels, stuffed cabbage, chopped liver, etc. etc. etc. It’s not like all the Jews left town. Many are coming back. The grandchildren of the people who moved to Trumbull and Fairfield during the ’60s. But alas, I suppose the City will not satisfy that need. Maybe a private investor will recognize the need for real pastrami sandwiches with barrels of pickles on every table. A real corned beef sandwich with potato or kasha knish. OMG, where do you go for real homemade blintzes, pierogies and potato kugel?

        Growing up in Bridgeport, Sunday breakfast at my house was typical bacon and eggs, smoked whitefish, sturgeon and smoked salmon piled high on a bagel with cream cheese, onion, capers, lettuce and tomato. The lox and whitefish from Sunshine Market. The bagels and hard rolls from Zouderers and everything else from Pathmark. Just thought I’d share a happier time in Bridgeport.

        No, I do not expect Mayor Finch or Mr. Kooris to lure that delicatessen to the North End here. Maybe Trumbull or Fairfield will get one. A 5-minute drive. 🙂

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        2. Steve,
          Is there a reason Wood’s End Deli is not on your list of active food establishments? It might limit some of your NY travel? Has Fred Kasowitz done anything to disturb your digestive processes in the past? His daily rotation of tasty specials, the selection of soups all year ’round, as well as his pan-Bridgeport list of special sandwiches draws equally well from City public safety personnel, employees of the Catholic Center, well recognized lawyers from downtown, and “commoners” (thank you, Ms. P.) like myself, from all over. What say you? Time will tell.

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        4. Yes Steven, I’m with you on that! A nice full-selection deli would be marvelous, but I’m not sure it would have a big following because the cultural makeup of Bridgeport doesn’t encompass a lot of Jews. Mind you, one does not have to be Jewish to enjoy! And my father was friends with Saul and Sam Abromowitz who owned Sunshine Market in Fairfield and in Bridgeport in the late ’60s. And you had bacon for breakfast, oh I am in awe, I love it! BTW–I’ve been to a deli on Wood Ave a couple of times and it was quite good.

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          1. I worked for Sam Abromowitz on Madison. And yes Pacelli’s by the Jail, we all went there from Central. I do appreciate all of the new ethnic places in the area. The Portuguese bakery, the Brazilian and Mexican bakery. Bridgeport really does have a great selection if people are willing to venture into another culture. I have been Vietnamese the past few months.

            I really do not expect a Jewish Deli to open in the area. I was born and bred in Brooklyn New York and they have every delicacy you can imagine. My Russian Jewish friends take orders weekly as they are always heading to Brooklyn.

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      1. Jennifer, you are 100 percent correct, the Jacksons were from Gary Indiana. It was Diana Ross, now a Connecticut resident, who was from Detroit. Always confused Diana Ross with the Jacksons … Loved them both!

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  10. Clearly, ‘Local Eyes’ goal is to annoy Andy Fardy and others who are willing to state the obvious.
    How, for example, can you suggest a smaller decline in population correlates to a stronger economy? There are other measurements such as home ownership or the percentage of Bridgeport residents who work for a Bridgeport employer.

    We can all agree urban centers such as Bridgeport, Detroit, Camden and hundreds of others have much in common that has caused their decline.

    I suggest we watch how the Detroit bankruptcy proceeds and the measures taken to address the problems. It could provide something of a blueprint for urban centers to use.

    Then the question will be whether the next mayor of Bridgeport will have the courage to push for similar approaches in Bridgeport.

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  13. Detroit can ship all their car factories here and their sports team and they can make Detroit a huge prison like in Escape from New York, all that is needed is a 50ft-high electric fence.

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  14. Steve, I can see how you would confuse Diana Ross with the Jackson 5, we all look alike. You need to talk to all your black friends and black neighbors and they could have helped you differentiate between the two. Just when I think you can’t say anything more asinine and stupid, you prove me wrong.

    BOE SPY, I’m surprised at you because your posts are usually cogent and well thought out, but your response was not only demeaning and derogatory to blacks, it was one of the most bigoted statements I have ever read on OIB. You say “The government does not provide groceries,” but do they provide camping material? That’s just what the City of Bridgeport did. If you just remove the word grocery and leave the STORE then Bass Pro Shops, a STORE, got tax incentives, tax breaks, tax enticements and millions of dollars to bring a STORE into Bridgeport. Did they have to pay for the land? They didn’t stop there, they went to the State of Connecticut and said we want to bring a STORE into Bridgeport and they in turn gave this STORE tax incentive, tax breaks, tax inducements and millions of dollars to bring a STORE into Bridgeport. They paid for the infrastructure, the roads, the sewer system and the sidewalks for a STORE to be located in Bridgeport, all the while this STORE hasn’t put one damned shovel in the ground, yet we don’t do stores!

    Fellas, here is the capper, they took the property of black and Puerto Rican homeowners and residents of the East Side under eminent domain so they could build a STORE those same blacks and Puerto Ricans will not for the most part go to nor spend one dime. Why would they build this store in an area where, like you said SPY, no one has any money? They took the land of blacks and Puerto Ricans to build a store that will benefit white suburbanites in general and white suburban males specifically. This is alright but God forbid you use that same energy and enthusiasm to build a grocery store in the East End that you used to build the white suburban people’s STORE. A grocery store in the East End will benefit taxpaying residents of the City of Bridgeport, how many taxpaying residents of Bridgeport will shop at your STORE?

    SPY, how the hell would you know what’s in the wallets of the residents of the East End? (Between property tax, $10/hr. minimum wage, theft, shoplifting and being in a part of town where no one has any money.) It seems you are insinuating and intimating all the residents of the East End are broke as hell and don’t have jobs and/or money. What a bigoted statement! The East End is a little over one and a half square miles and has 7,396 residents and you’re saying all those 7,396 residents don’t have any money?

    Don’t the grocery stores in the North End have to pay property taxes, minimum wage, theft and shoplifting? Is shoplifting and theft now just the domain of the poor-ass black people of the East End or would you concede even the store you shop at has problems with shoplifting and theft? One other thing, after taking the homes of blacks and Puerto Ricans to build this store, they brought in a STORE that has a proven record of discriminating against people of color. So not only did they take their homes to build a store we have no interest in shopping at, they built a store that isn’t going to hire us once it’s built. Ain’t that a bitch?

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    1. Donald Day, I’ll stop you when you’re wrong. Donald, don’t expect a reply anytime soon from BOE because he was like a fish out of water when he got caught up with Steven Auerbach’s know-nothing comment. BOE is being paid to kiss Mayor Finch’s ass and to defend the old BOE and to attack the current BOE. Anytime he goes outside what he’s being paid for he makes an ass out of him or herself. Steve is not smart enough to understand what you said but he has to say something because you made an ass out of him and in fact he’s still trying to understand my comment about petitioning the government and the Jewish lobby so he will not understand anything you said.

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      1. Ron Mackey, here is how stupid I am. I can honestly admit I have many black friends. I am positive both you and Donald Day have no Jewish friends. Your constant ranting about black black black is fucking nauseating. I am sure I am the only poster here who thinks so. My neighbors are from Stamford. They are mortified with the Ernie Newtons of the world and what they haven’t done for Stratford Avenue. Finch is our Mayor, his job is not about getting a grocery store to an area that is high crime.
        What’s more, Ron Mackey and Donald Day, you are both the recipients of the gross benefits being paid that have crippled this city. You think anyone on this blog who is not a member of the fire dept or police department would support your unions. They are as passe as your defending a black neighborhood as though it were 1964. Why not move our all black group Barnum Ave. To Stratford Ave? You and Donald Day are total racists. It does not mean you aren’t intelligent, it means your ideology is out of sync with the rest of the country. I will state it again, members of that district could open a grocery store with the plethora of grants and loans available. Get of your ass and educate the community . Don’t hate me because like all of my neighbors, we are disgusted with the unions and their contracts. To think retired personnel are making $30,000 a year more than those working today.

        I’ll tell you what Ron and Donald, I will introduce you to my friends who are of African American extraction as well as those who are black but have absolutely a zero connection to Africa and you can introduce me to your Jewish friends and all of the Bar Mitzvahs you have attended. I’d comfortably say I’d win hands down.

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        1. Steven Auerbach, my my my, you sure are mad but the truth hurts. Why would you bring into this men and women who risk their lives every single day for the residents of Bridgeport and now because you can’t hold a conversation you want to blame the people who not only risk their lives but who get lifetime injuries, some of whom are crippled from doing their job, a job you could never perform.

          Steve, our friends are mortified with the Joe Ganims of the world who were too busy stealing taxpayers’ money.

          Once again, your response is not only demeaning and derogatory to blacks, but it was one of the most bigoted statements I have ever read on OIB.

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          1. Ron Mackey–you sir are Ducked up. You sir are a racist. You sir need never respond to any of my posts. You sir do disservice to your community. Let me know when you move to Stratford Ave.
            Number two, you are neither crippled nor maimed thank G-d and you will live to see the Republicans take office and dismantle all the unions. That makes me a racist? Ron Mackey, go fuck yourself, just focus on Marilyn Moore’s campaign. You need not respond to any of my posts; good, bad or otherwise. You are a negative anti-white anti-Jew African centric individual. The next generation coming up thank G-d is color blind. You and Donald Day are so full of yourselves. You would think you were part of the civil rights movement. You were not. But I wish you well. Now again, go fuck yourself.

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      2. Bass Pro is a little more than just a store. I have been to one before. It does have exhibits and an entertainment value but I wouldn’t commonly shop there. I do not know if you have ever been to a Stew Leonard’s with the singing puppets and petting zoo, but Bass Pro is like that. We were on a trip and actually just stopped in to see the place but didn’t buy anything.
        I said from the get-go BPT would have been better off if we left Steele Point as it was. I said that before house #1 was eminent domained. BPT will never get its money back. What was the last grocery in the area and why did that one close? Even if they did lure a grocery to the area, it will not last. BPT will have to solve the problems that chased away the last grocery. The Stop & Shop in Black Rock near Wendy’s will be out of business in a few years. I like the place because it is close and you’re usually the only person in it but it will not last.
        Despite the color or ethnicity of the people in the area, that part of town is the poorest part of the poorest city in CT. You brought up the color of the residents. I only spoke about the economics of the area. Groceries do not stay away from the area for racial reasons. They stay away for economic reasons. The color of the poor people is inconsequential. Poor white areas have the same problem. It is not until you limit your research to poor people, in urban areas who rely on mass transit does access to groceries between poor whites and poor blacks become a disparity.

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  15. Donald Day, Ron Mackey and Steve Auerbach. This argument has gotten out of hand. It’s not about black, white Hispanic or Jew, it’s about people. I have had it with the black and white bullshit, okay? Blacks, we know their history here in America. The Jews, we know about WWII and so on and so forth. What we don’t seem to know is how to rationally discuss things. Steve, get off you high horse, I don’t have any Jewish friends because I don’t know any Jewish people besides you. Do I hate or resent Jews? NO, I don’t. I don’t give a shit if a person is a Jew. If that person is a good person that’s all that matters. The same goes for blacks except I have a lot of black friends and have been with blacks for years.
    Steve, to throw the firefighters’ pensions in their faces along with me is bullshit and jealousy. Steve, you needed balls to earn that pension. You are a teachers’ union member and you chose to be a substitute teacher, no one else.
    Poor people have the right to the same services the wealthy do. Nobody is blaming Finch for the lack of a grocery store in the East Side area but an effort could be made to put one in that area. What is wrong with wanting a basic service?
    Tonight before the city’s ECD committee there is a request to use city money to fund private apartments at the end of Fairfield Ave. These apartments will rent for $2200 a month. Now tell me why Whole Foods or some other grocery store could not use an incentive?
    Here is one that will piss a lot of people. Put a large chain grocery store at Steelepointe. Anyone who thinks there are going to be high-rise luxury apartments and Marinas there must have graduated from the university of Stupid.

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  16. Here is to the future of Steelepointe. May a grocery store never go up on that site until after there are 1000 units of housing on the water. May the minority community join together to investigate all the grants and opportunities available to enable a much-needed grocery store that will not just be for the black community but all residents in that district. Here’s to the future of this great city.

    Here’s to Donald Day who gave me a chuckle when he said I think all black people look alike. I was at Dunbar School, a student confused me with another white teacher and I said I understand, we all look alike. 🙂

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  17. My question is still germane to the topic, to which I haven’t received an adequate response. Is Bass Pro Shops a STORE that got tax incentives, tax breaks, tax enticements and millions of dollars to come into Bridgeport? Did Bass Pro have to pay for the land? Did the State of Connecticut give this STORE tax incentives, tax breaks, tax inducements and millions of dollars to come into Bridgeport? Did Bass Pro pay for the infrastructure, the roads, the sewer system and the sidewalks for the STORE to be located in Bridgeport?

    If all that is true and the bottom line is it’s just a damned store, then why can’t the same tax incentive, tax breaks, tax inducements and millions of dollars be used on a Stop & Shop, a Big Y or other big-box grocery store on the East End? The only difference is one sells camping equipment and guns and the other sells groceries.

    Fardy, I could care less about your opinion, it’s always about black and white as long as this is the USA. You want to think we live in a post-racial society, but I can assure you it’s still hard damned work to be black in America. I know you don’t give a shit, but 12 million black folks in America do and those are the ones whom I am the voice for.

    Finally Steve, do you think for one instant because you think you know more blacks and I know Jews that it somehow makes you more black than I am Jewish? LOL. The fact is you don’t know who I know and what I know or how I know what I know! That, I do know!

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    1. Donald Day, you notice not one time did we ever mention something should be given to us. We expect and demand the same level of respect, service and accountability as anyone else. When you are white in America you really don’t want to hear about issues involving blacks especially if you have little or no knowledge of their struggle in America because all they had to do no matter where they came from or what or whatever church they attended all they had to do was to be white and doors would open for them. Steve doesn’t know any better so we have to overlook him.

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      1. Ron–how is Bass Pro a ‘white’ store? I wouldn’t shop there. If I get meat or fish, it’d better be wrapped in plastic. It is even better when it is already cooked and plated. I see plenty of minority people fishing in town.
        I am glad it was so easy being me. Did you two get extra points to get your job because you were black? I didn’t. I actually had to pass the test. No United Negro College fund for me. No special consideration when I applied to college. When I Google black colleges I get 106 historically black colleges and universities. When I Google white colleges I get Bob Jones University. That sounds like a quality education. So who had it easier, ya loud mouth?

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    2. Donald Day–make no mistake about it. I do not think I am more black than you. Would it be racist to say thank G-d? My point was simple, you turn everything into a race issue. I have said one time too many I supported your cause. Enough already. There will be a grocery store when a chain believes there is money to be made. Steelepointe will most likely have one after they start building housing and if that doesn’t start immediately, it will not be good for the developer, the development director or the Mayor. Mr. Day, have patience, the East End will become a major hotspot for development. You and I just may not live to see it.

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  18. Donald Day, did I ask if you cared about my opinion? No I did not ask and no I don’t care. You see, you don’t want to work together, you are a professional black man. That’s all you can be. You can’t work with others and you can’t abide the white race that gets along with and works well with black people. That just pisses you off, doesn’t it. Day, there is no doubt you are a fucking racist. What have you done to help the black community and develop the black community? Nothing. You sat at home on your fat ass and wrote hateful bullshit. You say it’s hard work to be black. I suppose, if you want to make it a profession it is hard work. BTW GFY.

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  19. Steve, one more thing with respect to my pension, kiss my ass. I ran into burning buildings for this little pension I receive every month. I was promised if I did that for twenty-plus years and was lucky enough to live then I would get this little bit of money for the rest of my life. Yes I said if lucky enough because during my twenty-plus years as a BFD firefighter there were four individuals I had the unenviable task of going to their funerals. I can’t imagine their families would rather have the little-ass pension they received for their loved ones’ death or their husband, father or son. Every firefighter in the history of the BFD has a story to tell about the time when they almost lost their lives in a fire, without exception.

    You have the audacity to think retired firefighters are bringing home buckets of money, are you out of your mind? I retired as a Captain and at the time a top-step Captain was making a little over $50 grand a year and for twenty years I got 50% of that, not the thousands of dollars I made when I worked overtime, but 50% of my base pay. Even though with overtime I was making about $80 grand a year and the City of Bridgeport still took their 8% for my pension, I couldn’t use that extra $25 thousand a year the City taxed toward my pension. We were told it was extra money, not salary, even though it was taxed as salary. You do the math! Did I tell you the State of Connecticut and the Federal government are in my pension just like they are in your pay? Did I tell you I hurt my back while fighting fires and I have had one operation and my doctor told me I will need another?

    There are NO retired Bridgeport firefighters living exorbitant or extortionate lifestyles because of their pensions! None! Don’t worry about my damned pension or the pension of my brother firefighters, just be thankful that should you need us then we’ll be there and will gladly put our lives on the line to save your sorry ass, NO questions asked!

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    1. Donald Day–your pension in particular is of no interest to me. It is the union contracts that have destroyed the City. They did pay you to do your job, no? They need to get rid of the pensions and make the salaries better. When you retire, it’s social security like everyone else. It is the way it is going to be. I am not the Republican Governor supporting it. It does seem like the people do not want unions anymore. Welcome to the 21st century.
      For those already receiving pensions, I am not suggesting you lose it. For new hires, change the parameters and benefits there fair and equitable.

      Make no mistake about it. I totally hold firemen and police in high regard. That has nothing to do with retirement packages.

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      1. Yes, lower the pensions, and RAISE the pay! That’ll work for the future! The new members of the Bridgeport Fire Department already have no medical benefits after they retire, soon the pensions will be gone and IRAs will be the norm. Raise the pay, they deserve way more, being the least paid but busiest department in the state!

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  20. Fardy, let me tell you something, punk; I could care less about the ethnicity of an individual. It’s assholes like you who feel the need to try to make yourself more socially acceptable by saying how many black friends you have. Who gives a damn? The fact you some black people doesn’t make you any less an asshole or a bigot.

    I always forward your rants to my white friends and we always get a good laugh from your sorry ass. You don’t know me, you don’t know who I’m friends with or anything about me other than my name and the fact I was a Bridgeport firefighter.

    What have I done for the black community? Ask Don Clemons who brought preference points for the residents of the City of Bridgeport, go down to the fire houses and ask how many blacks, Latinos and women were in my study classes that helped them pass the exam to come on the job and finally go to the fire houses and ask how many Engineers, Lieutenants and Captains I tutored to help pass those exams. I could tell you, but you need to find out something for yourself and then you can shut the fuck up! BTW GFY2!!!

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    1. Donald, please with the tough guy talk. Am I supposed to be scared because you called me punk? It must be easy for you to call a better man than you, names. I never said I had a lot of black friends, I said I had black friends. Is that a crime? You don’t show my posts to whites because you hate whites, you have an inferiority complex. I will shut the fuck up when racists like you shut the fuck up. There is one thing you are right about, I was an asshole for trying to have a dialogue with you. BTW you had no white friends on the job.

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  21. So let’s see …we have Donald Day against myself and Andy Fardy, Andy Fardy is pissed at me, Ron Mackey is disgusted with me, I am disgusted with Ron Mackey and Donald Day. We have covered the spectrum of Black, Jew, Irish, Racism and redundant swearing.

    It’s been a pleasure. I will forget this conversation later.
    To Andy, Donald and Ron Mackey, thank you for your service and putting your lives on the line. Thank your families for always holding their breath when you went to work. Thank G-d you all survived to enjoy your pension. Now we move on to more important things … The Church of England has just approved woman Bishops … can the Catholic Church be far behind? Discuss amongst yourselves! 🙂

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    3. Steve, thank you for the morning laugh. The way you summed that up was highly entertaining. I am a big fan of gratuitous redundant swearing.

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  22. Tough talk, name calling? Really, Andy? I tried to have a respectful conversation with you and you resort to what you do, belittle people. Let me remind you; Day there is no doubt you are a fucking racist. What have you done to help the black community and develop the black community? Nothing. You sat at home on your fat ass and wrote hateful bullshit. You say its hard work to be black I suppose if you want to make it a profession, it is hard work. BTW GFY.

    I’m sorry I let myself sink to your level because I know I am a better person than that. You are still a bitter man whose better days are far behind him.

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      1. BOE SPY and Steven Auberbach, you two gals make a good team and you really showed us all your true colors. SPY, you need to stay on your talking points of kissing Finch’s ass and attacking the BOE and poor Steve is so mad and confused and he can’t even think straight.

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        1. It was good Donald Day entered the conversation so you would know what to think. Are you sure Donald wants you to vote for Pelto? You’d better check.

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          1. BOE SPY, unlike yourself I don’t have someone giving me talking points like you get and I’m not told what to say like the people who are paying you, so keep on kissing Finch’s ass.

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          2. BOE SPY, one thing. People on OIB have seen and talked to Donald Day and myself and we don’t hide or run from letting people know who we are because we give our names unlike those who are afraid. In fact even Andy Fardy gives his real name instead of the “town committee” he used some time ago but who is BOE SPY, why should anyone listen to a ghost or take him/her serious? Keep being a coward, BOE SPY.

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  23. Donald, unlike you I spent my money helping the black and Hispanic community. It wasn’t much but it was something. My wife and I started senior little league baseball at Park City field. The other league folded and we started from scratch and got 65 kids involved. We bought the equipment and we umpired the games. We bought many kids their first gloves.
    I ran Park City Little league for 20 years and for 20 years I went to every grammar school outside of the North End and Black Rock and recruited kids. My wife through inner-city scouting took kids on field trips and overnight adventures.
    Donald, you have never tried to have a conversation with me. You have always thought I was a racist. I am sorry you are so hateful and unfortunately will never really help the black community. To help the black community you need to be able to work with the white and Hispanic communities, you can’t do that. It’s a shame because you are not a dumb person.

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  24. Ron Mackey, there you go again. First, how can I think straight? I am so gay I shit rainbows. As far as you and your sorority sista I’d liken the both of you to Rev. Wright and Louis Farrakhan.

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  25. Donald Day, I was reading Steven Auerbach // Jul 15, 2014 at 2:41 pm, Wow, what a racist, this guy has been passing himself off as a person concerned about building Bridgeport but he can’t stand a black man standing up and speaking out and using the word black to reference our own people.

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    1. Honestly Ron, you just do not know when to give up. Your incessant race baiting is very strange and embarrassing. You have attempted to insult me, my religion and my sexuality and how ignorant can you possibly be? You have totally alienated me and you can continue having a personal conversation with Mr. Day. I do not think you scored and points or votes for Marilyn Moore today. You have painted a picture of yourself as an anti-white racist. You have reduced me to an anti-Bridgeport bigot. Let’s leave it like that. You have totally drained me and I am certain the observers enjoyed the diatribes. I however, did not. Continue to embrace your blackness and be proud even if it means alienating those who have fought for the same things.

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      1. Steven Auerbach, some of my best friends are white and one of the things we have in common is to be honest when we talk, that doesn’t mean we agree on everything but we are honest. Would you please show me where I insult your religion? There is no race baiting, you just hate to hear the word black and that’s okay.

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        1. I love to hear the word black. You are part of a bigger community and you alienate people with your extreme ideology. You put a wedge between communities instead of bringing them together. It is nice you have white friends. Do you get together and listen to Doris Day? Does it help you understand the plight of white people in America? 🙂

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  26. Steven Auerbach, you would be surprised how many blacks are so glad Donald Day and myself speak out on issues and we are proud we are black and we don’t run or hide. I could just as easily be “politically correct” and use the word “urban area” or “urban community,” but I choose to use the word black when talking about the East End of Bridgeport. Donald and myself have been talking about the voters of the East End being passed over for any new development. Cities, states and the federal government are always out recruiting businesses to relocate in their city, state and in America. Cities place ads all over the country recruiting business to come to their city and the voters lobby the elected officials to bring business to their district and they will use their voting power as one of the reasons the business should be in their district. Now you and BOE SPY say the “urban community” doesn’t have that right. Now that’s sad on both of you.

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    1. The urban community? Lolololololol. I did not say you and Donald Day did not have the right to fight for a grocery store, did I Ron??? I just said it was not going to happen and why it wasn’t going to happen. I said I supported Mr. Day’s desire to bring a supermarket to a grossly underserved neighborhood, as usual you turned my supportive comments into race baiting anti-black comments. It is insulting at best. I am sure many black Americans are as thrilled about your support as they are of my support. I do not believe you are any more supportive than I am. That being said, I forgive you and Donald Day. Now kiss
      Andy and make up. Without the four of us providing entertainment, these blogs would not be as interesting. 🙂

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  27. You’re right, Andy. I never tried to get to know you because you never let us forget you thought we didn’t belong on the BFD because of the lawsuit. You went out of your way to treat blacks and Puerto Ricans like shit and you made us keenly aware you didn’t like us. That was just fine by me because we weren’t buddies, boys or friends, so I didn’t care what you thought, felt or believed. There guys like you, Carfi, Haug and Sweeney who thought you were better than us and that too was cool with me because I knew better. For me to listen to that garbage for years and come out second on the captains exam was vindication, not for me but for those bigoted bastards who thought we weren’t as smart as you guys.

    You’re right about something else, I don’t have any white friends, I just have friends. I would never demean our friendships by classifying my friends as my black, my white or my Jewish friends. Call attorney Robert Pelligrino of the law firm Pelligrino & Pelligrino of New Haven and tell him I’m a racist. Not only is Bob my friend of over 30 years, but he is my 23-year-old son’s godfather. I was in his wedding as well as I was in his sister’s wedding. I tell you this to illustrate the point you don’t know a damned thing about Donald Day.

    Steve, my son’s best friend is Jewish who has been a part of our family since he was six years old. Mike had spent many a night at our house, as has my son at his house. We went to his Bar Mitzvah as well as the Bat Mitzvah for his little sister. During his little sister’s ceremony she called my wife up to light a candle and told how she stayed with us for almost two months while her mom was in the hospital. I say this to illustrate the point you don’t know a damned thing about Donald Day.

    I guess it’s hard for you two to think, feel or believe I can be a strong advocate for black people without being a racist. I guess you think, feel and believe I must not have any friends who don’t look like me because of my strong beliefs with respect to what is right, what is moral and what is just when it comes to black people. That’s your problem, not mine. I don’t hold my friendships out like a badge of courage that somehow tells a story of who I am. I gave you those two examples to illustrate the point you don’t know a damned thing about Donald Day.

    Finally Andy, you’re right, I haven’t spent my money on blacks and Hispanics, what I did do was help them come on the job and reach elevated rank once they got there better than anyone in the history of the BFD. I didn’t help them play baseball, but I didn’t get them jobs and promotions that are guaranteed to transforms their lives as well as the lives of their children. Every kid in Bridgeport who receives preference points for civil service jobs irrespective of race or ethnicity has me to thank. What have I done, I changed lives of Bridgeport residents for years to come.

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    1. Donald Day, Mazel Tov. To be called up to light a candle is quite an honor. Can we get over this crap? You deserve a grocery store. It will happen when these people who call incessantly asking questions about Bridgeport see a need, they will build it. Donald Day, I totally agree with you. I’ve said it more than 10 times on these posts. It is sad people have to spend twice as much at corner stores. It is support of train stations and Steelepointe that will create the need. More housing, more amenities. If you intentionally misread any of my supportive comments, I am sorry. That is the problem with texting and social media. Sometimes the original intent is misinterpreted and the lack of emotion is the norm. These conversations are best made face to face.

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    1. Ron, your asking me about the Jewish lobbyist was an attempt to instigate as well as Crown Heights Jews. Let’s not be ignorant. What’s more Ron, you assume I go through my day only addressing Jewish concerns. I do not. I may be a proud Jew. I do not only socialize with Jews. I am well traveled and my friends circle is wide and varied I have best friends who are Arabs from Syria and Lebanon so I see life through many different eyes. Growing up in New York for the first 10 years of my life, Alberta lived with my family and helped raise my brother and myself. She sent her money home to Alabama. When we moved to Connecticut she worked for my Aunt and Uncle and stayed with them and they took care of her until she died. She was part of our family and we knew her entire family. My uncle put her children through college. Whenever we went to Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn to visit, Alberta would run down the walkway and grab us. We loved her. So much for our Kumbaya moment. Now we know when you get to know people you see them differently. Life used to be so beautiful. Somewhere along the way it got tough and ugly. I am an optimist. I just thought I’d share another Auerbach family moment. 🙂

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      1. Oh in case I wasn’t perfectly clear, Alberta was a black woman. A housekeeper, nanny and ultimately she was family. I remember how people treated her when she took us shopping. She was an angel. She is long gone.

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        1. Bob Walsh, just for the record. When you call me Stevie, Alberta was the only person who ever called me that. You remind me of her every time you call me that. 🙂

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  29. You know Donald, it’s you who has the complex when it comes to the job. The names you mention were top-grade firefighters. Were they better than everyone else? No, we were not. Were we going to more fires than most? Yes, there were people who were jealous when we arrived at the fire scene.
    Donald, you were the one who mentioned your “white friends,” you said “I send your blog comments to them and they laugh.” So you branded them white, not me.
    Yes, I fought the lawsuit and I am not sorry I did for you see my vindication came with the supreme court decision as it relates to New Haven.
    I will not debate this with you.
    BTW when any rookie came through my shift and was assigned to the squad, he was trained every day and night and he knew how to save himself if he got in trouble inside a building. When I trained these people, color or how they came on the job meant nothing. Donald, have a good life and stay healthy; I am done with you.

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  30. Andy, I never said those guys weren’t great firefighters. I watched those men go into fires and put their lives on the line for many a black or Latino person. I never said you weren’t a good firefighter, when I was assigned to the squad working with you, I knew I would be trained and I was going to be coming home that night because you would have put everything on the line and never let anything happen to one of your men, irrespective of their color or ethnicity. You were one of the best.

    What I said is YOU were the voice of intolerance on the BFD and you treated blacks and Latinos like shit for no other reason than because of our color. You and those firefighters I mentioned would go through hell with a pair of gasoline drawers to save someone’s life, but you were terrible people inside the firehouse to all of us. All we did was come into a profession, granted by a lawsuit, so we could make a better life for our families just like you everyone else in the department. We knew this job would be our opportunity to live the American dream. We weren’t taking anything from you, we were coming to work, going into fires, putting our lives on the line just like you and you still treated us like shit. The VOICE of intolerance! What was the reason for you to treat us like we were less than you?

    The firehouse is always said to be like a family, but you and your ilk made us feel like it was anything but a family. Those guys looked up to you and when they heard you espouse your vitriol about blacks and Latinos they would follow suit, but you knew that! They lowered the standards to bring us on the job is what I heard you say so many times, it’s engraved in my mind. We succeeded in our chosen profession, not because of, but in spite of you! You and your ilk never ever gave us the benefit of the doubt, never imagined for one second we could do the job as well as our white counterparts, always doubted we could do as well or better than you on promotional exams and tried to beat us down on a daily basis. What you didn’t know was you guys were our strength, our reason to work hard to pass promotional exams and our reason to succeed at any cost. After you and your ilk started to leave I started to feel that family vibe I had heard so much about. No one disliked you for the firefighter you were; we disliked you for the man you weren’t. Now you’re done!

    With respect to the New Haven lawsuit Ricci vs Destafano, it was not a vindication of the Bridgeport lawsuit. How do I know? Ron Mackey and I was involved with that from the beginning, so much so in the minority decision written by Justice Ruth Ginsburg, she cites Mackey two times and me three times in that Supreme Court Decision.

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  31. Donald, what you say is your perception. I never railed against the minorities on the job while in the firehouse. I spent most of my time in my office. I did lead the effort to protect civil service as we knew it. I was against lowering standards. When all is said and done, standards were not lowered and the fires got put out. Donald, you never heard me say they lowered standards to get you and others on. You talk about tough times, I saw my whole career get stalled because of a court case in which some of the participants on your side were kids I grew up with and who ate at my house. It was 19 years before I got to take a promotional test. Being provisional meant nothing. My career was over.
    Donald, in the end I don’t care who liked me or who did not like me. What I cared about were the guys who worked for me and who survived because in some small measure I trained them. They became good firefighters because they wanted to be. In my time eight guys died in the line of duty, but no one who worked for me died. The supreme court ruling did validate our position and justice Ginsberg may have mentioned you and Mackey but in the end the majority ruled against the city of New Haven. Donald, I am through with this discussion. May you live a long and healthy life.

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    1. Andrew C Fardy, Donald Day said this, “What I said is YOU were the voice of intolerance on the BFD and you treated blacks and Latinos like shit for no other reason than because of our color.” Andy, I’m in total agreement with what Don said, it was not our perception it was a fact and it was so bad the way you acted, we held a meeting to talk about you and the way you acted. We were not even an organization yet. We had our share of hotheads but we also had others who knew how to deal with issues. Andy, you were the unofficial leader of those white firefighters, they looked to you and what you said then they acted the same way you did. I’ve have in the past spoken about being a good officer on OIB.

      Andy, unlike Donald I’ve have spoken with you over the years. I have in the past spoken about you being a good officer on OIB but I’ve caught hell for doing that, I’ve had friends call me and ask me what the hell was I doing talking to you, Andy Fardy. When we came on the job all eyes were watching us, we were representing the black community and the Hispanic community and everything we did would be watched and talked about in the media. We had a plan as a group when we came on the job to help each other, we knew we would have to form our own organization, we knew we would have to study and take promotional exams and we knew we would have to run for office in the fire union. Well we completed that task but we knew from day one what we had to do and to keep it to ourselves.

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      1. You guys have taken this blog to a new low. There are some things that can be laughed off and others that are so reprehensible it pierces the heart. This is a perfect example of things that are being said, once they pass the lips they can not be retrieved. The written word is even more documentation Lennie Grimaldi can and will retrieve and throw in your face to put you in your place. 🙂 You guys need to stop immediately. You guys were coming up in the fire department in a different time. Life has moved forward. People have become more educated. Besides, you only judge people by their actions. Words are cheap. You have all retired from the fire department. You all share a common history. Are you really going to regurgitate all of the pent-up hostility of an entire career? Just agree to disagree. Ron and Donald, you guys are no better than what you accuse Andy of.
        Sometimes it is better to accept people for who and what they are and not expect too much and you will never be disappointed. You really need to stop these character assassinations. They are mean, unnecessary and extremely adolescent for intelligent accomplished individuals. Now cut it out and stop your posts before you dig yourself deeper in a hole that you will not be able to get out of. Please … for your own sakes … Breathe.

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        2. Steven Auerbach, you should be a man and reply to your post:
          Steven Auerbach // Jul 16, 2014 at 11:48 am
          “Honestly Ron, you just do not know when to give up. Your incessant race baiting is very strange and embarrassing. You have attempted to insult me, my religion and my sexuality and how ignorant can you possibly be.” Once again, what and where did I insult your religion? If I did I have no problem to apologize because a person’s religion is nothing to play with but if I didn’t insult your religion then you should be man enough to say so.

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          1. Ron, I am not sure if you’re suffering from dementia. You have insulted me on the blog with the development director where you kept bringing up the Jewish Lobby to rationalize your activity as well as then bringing up the Hasidic Jews from Crown Heights. Are you suffering from memory lapses? Well now you have it. Would you like to ask me again about the Jewish Lobby? Would you like to explain what I have to do with the Jewish Lobby? Would you like to explain why we are talking about the Jews of Crown Heights? What did that have to do with me and the David Kooris article that appeared in the paper?

            Ron, enough already. You disgust me! I will not be responding to any more of your posts until you kiss my ass in the middle of Madison Ave. If that isn’t going to happen, then save your postings. You have alienated me again and again and again and now you have bored me beyond repair. Good luck on all your future endeavors. I will not be replying to any of your posts and I will not respond if you reply to my posts. If an apology is not forthcoming then save your breath.

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          2. Steven Auerbach, it is very simple. Donald Day gave a number of reasons why the elected City officials needed to have new business in the East End and I added based on how they vote in that district, the East End had a right and duty to petition those elected officials to recruit new businesses like a Stop&Shop. You and BOE SPY had problem with that. I asked about the American Jewish lobby and do they have a right to petition the American government and then I asked you what would they want. You said peace and I asked you where did they want peace, was it in Crown Heights not knowing what you were talking about as far as peace. I was just trying to compare a local district in a City petitioning their elected officials that you didn’t agree with but you said it was okay for the American Jewish lobby to petition the government to help another country.

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      2. Ron and Don, this is my last post on this subject. The fact is most minorities did not hate me and the fact is I got along with most of them except for you two and Ron Morales. You did not like me then or now because I called you what you were and are, professional minorities looking for something for nothing.
        Day and Mackey, I run into minorities who came on the job during the Judge Daly era and they have nothing but nice things to say to me. They make a point of calling me out when they see me and I don’t see them.
        You guys couldn’t take a tough little white guy who stood up to you and your kind. You call me a racist, BFD.
        It’s a shame you two have never moved on. Did it bother you guys a little white guy told you both to fuck off? Good bye, Good Riddance, enjoy living in the past.

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  32. Steven Auerbach, asking you a question about the Jewish lobby is NOT an insult. You said, “You have alienated me again and again and again and now you have bored me beyond repair,” who gives a damn, you act you’re going to cry because I hurt your feelings.

    Steven, you made me an offer, “you kiss my ass in the middle of Madison Ave.” Give me a time and a place on Madison Ave, but you’re to scared and not man enough to meet me face to face. PLEASE, give me a time and place Steve, PLEASE.

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    1. Lennie, get your camera. Ron Mackey has agreed to kiss my ass on Madison Ave. I am off all summer. Tell me and I want Lennie to take the picture as you kiss my ass. Andy, you are gonna watch this Ron Mackey has agreed to kiss my ass. And when he is done we can go back to posting. I’m gonna wear my caution yellow jock strap just for you and I won’t think you are any less a man for kissing my ass. I am just not used to such a public display on Madison, but since you called me on it and you are offering, who am I to deprive you.

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  33. LOL. Andy you’re right, all the blacks and Puerto Ricans loved you. You were a wonderful man and a better person. You were a little white man who put us in our place and we couldn’t deal with that. You don’t know this but we erected a statue of you in the Firebird office. You were like a Messiah to the brothers and my life will never be the same if you don’t like me. REALLY, Andy?

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    1. Donald Day, the climate and atmosphere was so hateful at headquarters, black firefighter were scared to say anything but we had one person in the Bridgeport Fire Department when we came on the job who we all trusted, respected and liked and that was Training Chief James Navaken, a Korean War Veteran, who trained us well. He told us on our first day he didn’t want to hear about any arguments about race, well we didn’t like that and we questioned him what were we to do if someone started something. He told us to come to him and he would deal with it, we learned to trust and believe him. It was Chief Navaken who gave us a feeling of comfort.

      Don, you remember the incident that happened our second month on the job where a white firefighter said out loud he would step over a black firefighter if he saw one in a fire and this happen in the firehouse on Central Ave. Six-Eight. Well Chief Navaken had that firefighter transfered to training division the next day so he could take care of the issue. It was at that point we knew we had a friend we could trust. Fardy won’t admit he said or did anything to offend blacks but he knows he did. As for black firefighters liking him, well they were either telling him a lie or telling us and Chief Navaken a lie. Black firefighters had to tolerate Fardy in order to survive working at headquarters.

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  34. Ron, yes I do remember and I also remember who was the chief architect of the hateful climate that permeated the BFD at the time. Fardy is a self-aggrandizing moron who thinks after all the vitriol, all the hurtful things he said, he is beloved by those of us who were around then. There were some blacks then who wouldn’t have said a thing if they found a cross burning in front of their locker, but I was never one of those. I always stood up to the Fardys, the Haugs, the Carfis and the Shevlins. I would never let them talk about my people unabated. That’s why you never liked me, Fardy.

    About 15 years ago Dominick Carfi and I were talking and he apologized for everything he said or did back then and said he isn’t the same person today he was then. We laughed, I told him I understood and I appreciated his candor. Carfi didn’t have to do or say that. Fardy, that’s what a man does. Fardy, you need some man lessons.

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  35. Gee, I am a moron. Wow, this coming from a stone-cold racist. I am impressed. The thing that pisses you two assholes off is I am and I was more of a man than either of you will ever be. You two can KMA.

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    1. Andy Fardy, we didn’t give a damn about you but we were a part of a group. I have no reason to lie about any of this. Words were one thing but when someone said they would step over a black firefighter in a fire, that was too much, we are talking about life and safety because of someone’s race. A number of our members wanted to fight and they didn’t care if they got fired, there were others who wanted to take it to our attorney and tell Judge Daly but Navahen was the key but you were the number one person who made it easy and gave the other firefighters the comfort zone and courage to ACT the same way you did towards blacks. Hey, you said you were finish talking so we moved on.

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  36. I just noticed Day and Mackey have a Nit and Wit dialogue going amongst themselves and it involves ME. Isn’t that great? I did not realize I was the tyrannical leader of the white firefighters. Wow.
    You guys keep this up. I like the Nit and Wit blogging.

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  37. Andy Fardy, are you saying you didn’t act or talk to make things real hard on blacks and you treated us with open arms and welcome brother firefighter?

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  38. That question is like asking the question are you still beating you wife. I am saying that for sure. I remember you as a rookie but not your sidekick Wit. I remember you accusing me of racism because I had you and Grimes put up the flag in the morning and take it down at night. It wasn’t about the flag it was two black men had to keep doing it. We went into my office and we talked about it and I told you it was the rookie’s job and when I was a rookie I did it for three years. I also told you to ask any of the other firefighters if I was prejudiced and they would tell you no because I don’t like anyone.
    You guys did not like me because I was an originator of BFFME. With things in court did it make sense to rail against minorities and not fear a lawsuit, that aside I NEVER did that period. If I were against minorities on the job why did I spend all that time training both minority and white firefighters when I really did not have to? You know there were officers who did not train you. If you are looking for an apology it will not come; if anything you and Day aka Nit and Wit owe me an apology.

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  39. Andy, that’s your fairytale because it is far from the truth. You didn’t train anyone, you always had the senior firefighters train us. While it’s true some officers wouldn’t do that, don’t think for one second what you did enhanced our job experience. There were officers like Joey White and Charlie Revere who were stern but fair, fair to a fault. Thank God for officers like Capt. Al Meehan who wouldn’t tolerate unfair treatment in his firehouse. Remember the meetings you chaired prior to us coming on the job where you told the whites to make as many of us as possible leave the job and the ones who didn’t leave to make our time on the job a living hell.

    Was it just a coincidence headquarters was one of the most racist places to work and it was like that because you worked there? There were those white firefighters who didn’t subscribe to those tenets of racism and discrimination who made us feel like we were wanted. Pinky, Roundball, Phil Defalco God bless his soul, Benedetto and others wouldn’t be a part of that bullshit and welcomed us into the fire service even though they were labeled as N lovers.

    Blacks and Puerto Ricans weren’t allowed to go into the book room to check the overtime sheets or vacation sheets. When we asked for a vacation day we were routinely told there were none available and we would go to a white firefighter who wasn’t a part of your planned harassment and they would tell us there are indeed vacation days available. When we came to work and we would hear there was overtime worked and we would ask a white officer why we weren’t called we were told they called us when we knew you hadn’t even tried. All that was done under your direction because those whites who weren’t a part of your racist tenets told us that is what you were doing.

    You complained we were on the job and did nothing to deserve to be there yet when you went to the fire marshals division were you just given that job without the benefit of an exam? See, that was alright because you were white and it was just fine whites were given positions and raises they didn’t deserve.

    Make no mistake about it, you were the voice of intolerance, the architect of divisiveness and the facilitator of hate on the BFD. There’s nothing you can say to change that. What made it even worse was when we were able to take promotional exams and you couldn’t compete with those blacks and Puerto Ricans who were college educated and highly motivated. That’s why you took the easy way out by going to the fire Marshall division. Had you stayed on the fire ground you would have retired a lieutenant. Separate and unequal is what you tried to make the BFD. Thank God there were guys on the job who didn’t buy into your bullshit and truly judged people by the content of their character.

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    1. Donald Day, I will be short with my comment. Fardy is dead wrong with his timeframe, he was my officer in August 1982, that was our second month on the job and we all were finished rotating through the six different fire houses and Fardy was still on the line. You mention some real nice guys but Capt. All Day and Capt. All Meehan were unbelievable, they were great because they had rank and they made us feel wanted but made it known we had a job to do. I passed and became a pumper engineer because of two white guys, the late Franklin Jones and Anthony Longo and I loved Longo like he was my brother. What Fardy doesn’t know is after we got all of the names of those BFME members, which was every white firefighter, we started to ask different white firefighters why they were members and we asked a lot of them about Fardy, they told us not to pay attention to him and he was a lot of hot air and they didn’t pay attention to him.

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      1. Mackey, I am glad to see you two racists are continuing your Nit & Wit conversations. Now for you, Mackie. It took six months to finish your rotation. You idiot, you worked for me for maybe two tours. You had to go on truck 5, engine 5 and engine 1. Your time with me was limited. You got all the names is complete bullshit. By the way dumbass, when you started studying for engineer I was in the FM office.
        You know what is amazing? It took you guys 30 years and a computer to get the balls to write all this bullshit and made-up lies. You both have seen me on the outside and away from the job and never said anything to me directly. Why?
        Afraid of that tough little white guy now you come trying to screw with me when I am in my 70s? Bring it on, I will keep showing how you lie and make stuff up. It’s a shame you two think you represent all the black firefighters. You don’t, you only represent the lazy.

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        2. Andrew C Fardy, you said, “It’s a shame you two think you represent all the black firefighters. You don’t, you only represent the lazy.” Well Andy, for 16 straight years Donald and myself were elected President of the Firebird Society of Bridgeport, Donald for six years and I was President for 10 years. I was also elected to Fire Fighters union IAFF Local 834 for 4 years. I think that speaks to who we represent.

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      2. I wrote the wrong name, I was talking about Captain Al Fay, he was my first officer and he was great on the job and off. There were four of us rookies who would attend every union meeting but it was Al Fay who would stop the meeting if we missed anything and he would tell us what happened before we arrived because he didn’t want us to think something was being done behind our backs. Andy, you never reached out to our rookie class and let us know we were welcome into the family and brotherhood (there were no women at that time) of the fire service. As you know, you and I had words from the time we met and I never backed off. Things were never the same after that white firefighter said he would step over a black firefighter in a fire and not help him. We could not understand there was no leadership among the firefighters to say that was wrong not to help another firefighter who was down, now that’s deep.

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  40. Donald, I have let you rant and rave until you screwed yourself and you just did. First off, I never chaired any meetings as they related to the minority legal battle. Pay attention, liar. The president of the union chaired every one of those meetings. You see you keep making shit up and it catches you.
    Charlie Revere, a good man was not I repeat NOT an officer when I was on the line. Another lie. Here is a better one, you lying jerk I don’t think you were even on the job when I went from squad 5 to the fire marshal’s office in 1982. I checked some paperwork and made a few calls, you never worked for me as a rookie or otherwise, another lie. Donald you fucking idiot, when I went to the FM office there were no tests on the horizon. There were people like Earl Pettway and Hallbrooks who passed these tests with no help. You were a quota, how do you think you made captain? Oral exam subjective scoring. BTW I was retired when you made officer rank.
    Now I am going to tell your lying punk black ass something else, it is a complete lie you wrote about overtime and it being kept from the minorities by me. You dumb bastard, when I was on the line the minorities were coming through as rookies and were not entitles to overtime. By the time the minorities were assigned permanently to firehouses I was gone and in the arson squad. Day, you have not written one word of truth in any of your posts.
    You are a racist son of a bitch who is jealous of a tough white firefighter who would not kiss your black ass. You made up all this shit because you could not find anything wrong with me. Here is one more. In other posts I trained the minority firefighters and now it was senior firefighters and not me. Really. We did not have senior firefighters, asshole. Donald, you can keep this up if you like but you will always be a racist and second to me.

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  41. I am sorry to all of you guys and gals that I have missed your history bending dialogue for the past four days. But then, it is good that Lennie gets this on the record for the next time he puts out Only In Bridgeport at 50 Years. That is what oral histories are about. Kind of one-sided perceptions.

    Did I read this posted by Ron Mackey? “Steven, you made me an offer, “you kiss my ass in the middle of Madison Ave.” Give me a time and a place on Madison Ave. but you’re too scared and not man enough to meet me face to face. PLEASE, give me a time and place Steve, PLEASE.”

    Let’s see if I have this right, Ron. I ask you multiple times about meeting you in person, face to face, for a cup of coffee or just to know you better and give you an opportunity to know me (or not as you wish if it comes to that). Post my phone number but all I hear a couple times are health issues limit you. Isn’t that about right?

    But now Steve Auerbach, a frequent and gutsy poster who shares rainbows with readers, offers an opportunity for you to meet him on Madison Ave and kiss his what??? And you are pleading with him, like PLEASE, PLEASE? Talk about feeling like chopped liver. I am definitely put out. Why are you favoring Steve, who zealously admits his fealty to Bill Finch? Do I need to convert to Judaism, give you food reviews regularly and support everything Finch says and does to have the opportunity to meet you??? LOL Ron, that may push me too far. Is meeting with you under those terms such a good thing for the Bridgeport community?

    Please take a moment to reflect on this most serious question, and then give me a call at 203-259-9642. Time will tell.

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    1. John Marshall Lee, my father told me if someone invites you to their ass, to always take their invite and when you get finished with them make sure they never ever invite you again to their ass and don’t feel bad how bad you hurt them because they knew what they were doing. JML, I hope you understand now.

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      1. Ron,
        If I understand your father’s guidance, how you have learned it and how you practice it, you want to hurt Steve and that is your only motivation, humorously or otherwise to meet another person who posts on this site?
        Now you and I have shared some personal info in the past, so I cannot “understand now” as you hope, because you have indicated you are a follower of Christ, and what you are indicating does not follow my understanding of the New Testament. Do you find the God of Abraham and Moses, an angry and demanding God, easier to worship than one who calls on you to “love your neighbor” although what you were contemplating on Madison Avenue doesn’t mesh with the charity intended by Jesus Christ?
        Please keep explaining your viewpoint as an adult, rich in life experience and a Christian. Are some people not made in the image of the Creator? Is that it? Do some people need or deserve their brothers to rule over them, discipline them and feel no remorse? That is what it sounds like. And so perhaps I am wrong or don’t understand the full sense behind your words. Can you say this in words that are OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE and TRANSPARENT to ALL? Time will tell.

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        1. John Marshall Lee, Steven Auerbach was getting real mad and couldn’t out-talk me so it was he who brought the challenge to meet me on Madison Ave. Well it never happened, did it. Do you remember in the movie Sgt. York and the problems he had with killing because of the bible saying?

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          1. Ron it’s not about talking you. Your problem with me stems from not supporting Marlyn Moore. And now that we know what it takes for you to support anyone, it is very very disturbing. I can out-talk you any day of the week. You are the most condescending, racist, you are so impressed with your friend Donald Day. The two of you are very embarrassing. Andy made a very very very interesting point. Your whole life you had an opportunity to address with superiors any problems at work. You wait until a man is in his 70s and you attempt to diminish his entire existence because you still walk around with a chip on your shoulder. You are pathetic. You may be intelligent but you are a cruel motherfucker. Your bullying of Andy Fardy was reprehensible. Even if Andy had done any of those things to you, why wait 30 years? You pride yourself in being outspoken.

            I am glad JML brought up my offer to meet so you can kiss my ass on Madison. I wouldn’t let you kiss my ass if you were the last down-low black man in Bridgeport. I am scared to meet you? Hardly, Ron Mackey. Like you I stand behind everything I say. My number and address is listed. I may come across caustic and passionate but I am a caring person. There are some things that are forgivable, your assault on Andy Fardy would not be one of them. Even if he were the Grand Master of the Ku Klux Klan, you need to forgive him. Andy has served this city on many different levels. He is a respected individual. I forgive people who see me as the Christ Killing Faggot. I have my whole life. I have never felt like a second-class citizen. My self-esteem is way up there. I have dealt with anti-Semitic homophobes my entire life. Your benefit is you were black, people see you coming. Try sitting at parties and out of nowhere you hear anti-Semitic slurs. It does not bother me. And gay? Well, it’s in vogue. They are just all falling out of the closets. Lolololololol. I could not imagine ever reducing somebody’s life to a series of hurtful and hateful remarks that can never be taken back. Lennie Grimaldi had asked you guys to chill out and the two of you just continued spewing your racist crap. I do not think anyone gained any points with this mean-spirited dialogue.
            JML, G-d bless you, are you really that desperate to continually give your number and beg Ron Mackey to call you? Don’t you get enough of him on this blog?

            Ron, I do not have any ill feelings towards you. I just had to say your rehashing your entire work experience with Donald Day was cruel. If you were a man and I am sure you are, you would contact Andy Fardy and simply say sorry.

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          2. Steve, just what part did Andy have in all of this? Did you read his vitriolic and racist post? We never called him anything other than Andy, unlike the words he called Mackey and I. Did you think for one minute Lennie was just talking to Mackey and me or do you think he was talking to Andy as well? You’re a fool.

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          3. Steven Auerbach, what you didn’t mention was Donald Day and myself both have on OIB that Andy was a good officer and firefighter, we would never say anything against Andy and his work as a good firefighter. I have never called Andy out on his name or swear at him.

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  42. What’s Wrong With Swearing, Andy?

    Swearing Imposes a Personal Penalty
    It gives a bad impression
    It makes you unpleasant to be with
    It endangers your relationships
    It’s a tool for whiners and complainers
    It reduces respect people have for you
    It shows you don’t have control
    It’s a sign of a bad attitude
    It discloses a lack of character
    It’s immature
    It reflects ignorance
    It sets a bad example

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  43. Steven Auerbach, if readers would go back to the start of this topic, they will see it was you Steve who didn’t like the fact Donald Day brought up a grocery store being build in the East End and the elected officials shouldn’t have anything to do with it. Then you got really upset when I would give the description of the voters who live in the East End as being “black,” that’s what set everything off, it was the word black. In fact that’s what brought Andy Fardy into it deeper, the word “black.” You got so upset you called me out to kiss your ass. Below is the post that got you and Andy Fardy mad and raised the level of heat from you and Andy.

    Donald Day // Jul 15, 2014 at 5:00 pm
    My question is still germane to the topic, to which I haven’t received an adequate response. Is Bass Pro Shops a STORE that got tax incentives, tax breaks, tax enticements and millions of dollars to come into Bridgeport? Did Bass Pro have to pay for the land? Did the State of Connecticut give this STORE tax incentives, tax breaks, tax inducements and millions of dollars to come into Bridgeport? Did Bass Pro pay for the infrastructure, the roads, the sewer system and the sidewalks for the STORE to be located in Bridgeport?

    If all that is true and the bottom line is it’s just a damned store, then why can’t the same tax incentive, tax breaks, tax inducements and millions of dollars be used on a Stop & Shop, a Big Y or other big-box grocery store on the East End? The only difference is one sells camping equipment and guns and the other sells groceries.

    Fardy, I could care less about your opinion, it’s always about black and white as long as this is the USA. You want to think we live in a post-racial society, but I can assure you it’s still hard damned work to be black in America. I know you don’t give a shit, but 12 million black folks in America do and those are the ones whom I am the voice for.

    Finally Steve, do you think for one instant because you think you know more blacks and I know Jews that it somehow makes you more black than I am Jewish? LOL. The fact is you don’t know who I know and what I know or how I know what I know! That, I do know!

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    1. Ron Mackey,
      If this all started with Donald Day’s request for a grocery store and you were not pleased with my response as well as BOE, then how did this end up being an Andy Fardy-bashing party with you and Day going for the jugular?

      I have said again again again and again I supported Donald Day’s desire for a grocery store. I just stated the obvious, the Mayor cannot pull a developer with money to throw away out of his hat. If he can, great.

      I stated when Steelepointe takes off and a train station is built and housing goes up there will be a need for a grocery store. I mentioned the grocery store that went out of business downtown.

      As far as accusing you of your questions on the lobbyist and the Jews of Crown Heights, forget it if that is just a distraction for you. I am not black and you are not a Jew. That does not necessarily mean neither of us has the ability to empathize and appreciate the contributions of all minorities and religions. That’s all I have to say other than you Donald Day and Andy Fardy need to say sorry and move on. Me, I forgive everyone.

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  44. Might it have been more productive in addressing the needs of the East End for a bank, a major food store, a renovated library, etc. etc. to meet around a table to set out what we know, identify what we do not know, and pursue a course of action (with as little character assassination as possible)? The Mayor and the Council have created a nutrition council for the City with about 30 people connected to many projects. Meetings? Minutes? Accomplishments? Plans? Funding? Holdups? Anyone know where they stand? Are they on the City website? Meetings? Doesn’t it get back to Open, Accountable and Transparent process and governance? Pursuit of these things requires passion as well as ability and time. What’s holding up a conference of OIB participants to put the question in the public eye? Elections all over the place in the next 16 months. Time will tell.

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  45. Steve, I should say I’m sorry about being said this to; You dumb bastard. You are a racist son of a bitch who is jealous of a tough white firefighter who would not kiss your black ass. Donald, you fucking idiot. You have a better chance of walking on water then me ever telling that asshole sorry.

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    1. Donald, with all due respect, both you and Ron Mackey have been on this blog forever. Andy is Andy. He is like Archie Bunker. I do not think Andy is mean spirited, as well as you and Ron. I think you are all a product of the times you grew up and the community you came from. You, Ron and Andy are no different than others who grew up in the same timeframe. It is not just the generation, it was the news, the television and our perception of minorities. Remember when it was the norm to have jokes on TV about Mexicans, Jews, blacks etc.? Today we are all politically correct. Do you think I didn’t laugh at stereotypical Jewish jokes as well as black and POLISH etc.? I do not think Andy’s assault on you was any different than yours on him. I hope you can all just laugh it off. Those words were all hurtful. Yours, Andy’s and Ron’s. Let’s move on.

      Btw if I walked on water, would you believe it?

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  46. Steven Auerbach, when the US Supreme Court did not overturn the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to agree with Federal District Judge TF Gilroy Daly in 1982 to hire black and Hispanic candidates to be firefighters happened a few after the court ruled Bridgeport had to hire black and Hispanic police officers, there was a change in the political climate in Bridgeport. Charles Tisdale was putting together blacks to register to vote and get black candidates to run for elected office. John Mandanici was the mayor, he was not going hire any blacks or Hispanic as firefighters or as police officers so Bridgeport challenged the court decision and lost.

    In 1983, 19 members of Mandanici’s staff were indicted by the FBI. This included his son, John C. Mandanici Jr. A total of 16 members of the former mayor’s office were convicted, which included officials, employees, and associates. Mandanici Sr. was never indicted. So now the scene was set for a fight between the races. Now I’m sure if I’m wrong about something here, the person who does know Bridgeport and has written about it, Lennie, will correct me.

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    1. Ron, I cannot dispute anything you just said. I agree there have been gross inequities between the races over the years. You would be best off knowing who your enemies are and keeping them close. You would also be even wiser to know who is on your side and not go out of your way to alienate them.

      As far as Mandanici goes, I do not think he will be remembered fondly. Tisdale, another interesting character. His wife was a doll. His creating ABCD has been a godsend to many in need. His time as economic development director a total zero for Tom Bucci.

      It is late Saturday afternoon. I have wasted my entire day. Time to mow the lawn, feed the vegetables and get to the gym. Everyone, have a great weekend.

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        1. Ron, that may be true and pathetic at the same time. Do you carry Barack Obama’s picture in your wallet or Vladimir Putin? Is that an urban legend or true? Maybe Jesse Owens should have stayed in Germany. He would have joined the other blacks and Jews in the ovens. I guess Jesse Owens was just an idiot. A great gay sportsman but an ass. Check that out Ron, why would you even say that to me? Look, Hitler had some very fine characteristics I am certain. The fact he looked at Jews as subhuman was as sad as believing black people were monkeys. His ignorance is no different really than the President of Nigeria and Uganda. When your constituents are ignorant they will believe anything.

          Ron, you would be surprised, many Jews supported him way before the final solution.

          But getting back to your manufactured black history moment. Jesse Owens carrying a picture of Hitler shaking his hand is a myth as well as Owens carrying a picture of the Führer in his wallet unless he was a total freak.

          The day before, Hitler shook hands with all the German athletes, the next day when Owens won the first of his four gold medals, Hitler was so outraged a racial inferior beat the Germans he stormed out of the stadium. That was on a lovely day back in 1936. Ron, to believe Hitler would shake the hand of Jesse Owens is absurd.
          Why you bring this up is again questionable. If you are a Hitler buff, you should go to the big antique place in Stratford. The have Nazi memorabilia and propaganda postcards. They have many with blacks depicted as monkeys. Maybe they have a picture there with Adolph Hitler congratulating him. You are an ass.

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          1. Steven Auerbach, you chose that part but I was more concerned by FDR’s actions or lack thereof to a American hero.

            The 1936 Berlin Olympics was important because the world was at war and Hιtler had a point to prove. Not only did he want to promote his government, he wanted to prove his theory Aryans were superior to blacks and Jews. He even went as far as to say the two racial groups shouldn’t participate in the Olympic Games, but after other nations threatened to boycott the Olympics, he relented.

            One would think President Franklin D. Roosevelt would’ve been overjoyed seeing a fellow American winning GOLD at the Olympics–crushing the Führer’s theories and putting America back on the map as a global superpower. But was FDR upset a black man beat out an Aryan man for the Olympic gold?
            FDR didn’t do anything to honor Jesse Owens after his prolific Olympic win, nor did he acknowledge his victory. And while the media went on a tirade reporting false news that the German leader refused to shake Jesse Owens hand, it turned out the story was a lie.
            In fact, Jesse Owens wrote in his autobiography, “Hιtler didn’’ snub me–it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”

            President Franklin D. Roosevelt never invited Jesse Owens to the White House or hold a ticker tape parade in his honor which is customary for American athletes.

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          2. Ron, if you believe Hitler shook Jesse Owens’ hand then you are a fool. It was a Nazi sympathizer who started the rumor Owens carried Hitler’s picture in his wallet. What’s even more of a joke is Owens would be proud Hitler shook his hand. He is a fool and so are you to believe this. Shaking his hand would have been a real insult to the German people. Show me a picture with Adolph Hitler and a black man, you will never see one. And of course this all happened before we knew the extent of Hitler’s insanity. Oh well, what did you expect FDR to do? Civil rights and Martin Luther King were still decades away.

            I often wonder, what if Hitler won the war. There would be no blacks, Jews gays and minorities. I am certain there are many Americans who could happily live with that and I accept that.

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          3. Ron, just an FYI. In case you were not aware, there is a major A-list motion picture due out next year on the life of Jesse Owens. Did you know his real name was J.C.?

            Also, he did have a ticker tape parade in New York, but did have to ride the freight elevator.

            FDR was concerned about the southern white trash vote and that is why he did not embrace Owens. In 1955 he was acknowledged by Eisenhower and became a sports ambassador. In the 1970s he became a militant black man which is why he has become your hero. Which I totally understand.

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          4. Steven Auerbach, yes, he did have a ticker tape parade in New York but that was done by the mayor of New York City. Yes Eisenhower did acknowledged Owens 30 years later but think about what the entire world was like and Owens destroys Hitler theory but the President of the US was more concerned about the southern white vote, now how do you think blacks in America feel about America after seeing a true American hero being treated so badly? Now notice Steve, it is you who has brought in the race of voters and that’s okay because it’s real.

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          5. Ron, it is real. I have never questioned the angst black Americans feel. But is is 2014 and the world is a much different place. Race issues are still alive and well. It will be different again in the next generation.

            It is not 1936. Black athletes have been welcomed and celebrated many times. Jesse Owens definitely has earned a place in history on both the German and American fronts. I look forward to the motion picture that will bring his story to a new generation.

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