No one can accuse Mayor Bill Finch of running and hiding from the blizzard of criticism the city’s receiving related to the Public Works Department’s response to the historic storm last weekend. The mayor has called for an extended period of public speaking time before Tuesday’s City Council meeting so folks can vent.
The mayor’s office announced this afternoon that “In anticipation of community feedback on storm-related topics,” the public speaking time will run from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. followed by the regularly scheduled speaking time a half hour before the start of the council meeting in City Council Chambers, 45 Lyon Terrace.
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*** Brave of Mayor Finch to have an extended public speaking period for citizen comments on the overall city snow removal job. Now is the time to have your voice heard at city hall concerning your opinion “good” or “bad” about how the city handled one of CT’s biggest snowstorms on record. *** IT’S NOW OR NEVER, NO? ***
They are taking names.
I suggest everyone who goes to the meeting wears a Guy Fawkes mask like the guy in V for vendetta. And Bridgeporteur is right, they are taking names …
“The mayor is very aware that there are many residents who have concerns about the city’s response to the recent historic snowstorm. He wants to hear residents’ feedback, all of which will aid the city in its review of strategies and procedures going forward,” said Finch spokesman Elaine Ficarra.
I imagine the public will express its “concerns about the city’s response to the recent historic snowstorm” with eloquently worded phrases along the lines of “You suck!” and “You’re an asshole!” and “Get the fuck out of here!”
It would be interesting to see who actually goes to criticize the Mayor for his handling of the snowstorm. I for one believe it was a historical storm of great magnitude. I’d like to see who actually goes and goes with their real name. There are so many critics who hide behind a screen name. I do not think the Mayor needs to sweat it. The history books will speak for themselves. I think it’s pretty big of the Mayor to face the whiners. The question is whether the whiners will say something. I am more concerned with his take on the proposed zoning change for Testo’s RESTAURANT.
It was a few days ago when your street was not plowed that you were all over this blog with plowing reports.
To say people with legitimate concerns are whiners is wrong and out of line.
Was this a massive storm? Yes it was. Was it possible to get all the streets plowed the morning the storm ended? No it was not. Was it right people waited 3 and 4 days to see a snowplow? No it was not.
Finch is not totally at fault but because the buck stops at the top he takes the heat. Were the managers at public facilities at fault for many of these problems? Yes they were. Did sending plow drivers home Friday night just when the storm started to gear up a mistake? Yes it was. Did a statement from a city official the plows were off the roads because of a driving ban help matters? No it did not.
Steve if you don’t think people have legitimate gripes then you are drinking the kool-aid.
This is a desperate effort to practice spin control. The city’s contingency plans for acts of God are mediocre, at best. The cities and towns surrounding Bridgeport–Stratford, Milford, Fairfield, to name a few–all dealt with the same disastrous weather and managed to maintain infrastructure. The hurricane, the tornadoes, the blizzards, all left behind downed trees, downed power lines, flood damage, snow. The removal of storm debris has never been a priority for the Finch administration. Bridgeport has the highest property taxes on earth. As the current mayor cannot deal with natural disasters and a lousy economy, I have to wonder what everyone is paying for.
There is nothing brave about scheduling this for 5:30 when a lot of people aren’t home from work yet since thanks to Finch’s terrible economic policies people have to commute out of town because Finch chases businesses out and is uninterested in attracting anything other than low-wage retail or dishwashing jobs … he could have scheduled this for 8 pm when people have had a chance to have dinner and decompress … a lot of people who want to go to this meeting will be unable to make it. Mr. Finch forgot he is ultimately responsible for the failures of our city government.
A complaint I hear from people on the last snowstorm is lack of communication from the city. Even if saying plows were not coming until next week, people wanted to know so they could plan.
Stratford residents got various calls that someone from there showed me with voicemail messages. During the last hurricane, Westport had 24/7 emergency broadcast from the high school radio station.
This made the news in New Jersey of all places.
newjersey.news12.com/news/tri-state/call-made-for-bridgeport-mayor-bill-finch-s-resignation-over-snow-cleanup-1.4668938