Joe Ganim’s newest mail piece expected to hit mailboxes within the next few days features a two-sided message of an image of him with the Webster Bank Arena built during his tenure and the flip side railing against high taxes and high crime.
If Ganim’s to make history and return to office following his 2003 conviction on federal corruption charges, he’s banking on voters firing incumbent Bill Finch because they believe taxes are too high and the city is unsafe, two key issues Ganim is trying to hammer into the consciousness of voters. The mailer takes a lot of latitude in declaring Bridgeport with the “highest property taxes” in the country. In fact, several cities in Connecticut alone have higher mil rates than Bridgeport. See the list here.
So this evening we converted quite a few Ganim supporters to vote for Finch at Ola Restaurant on Brooklawn Av. Was a great one-hour detour and packed, heading to an amazing Columbian hole in the wall on lower Park Avenue. El Latino had a great menu for a little place but I was recommended to get the Columbian Hot Dog, which had everything but the kitchen sink. Directly across the street from the newer Famous restaurant. This hotdog was just amazing, coleslaw, cheese, mayo, potato chips, etc etc etc. What sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen was orgasmic! Everyone knows the Merritt Canteen is my place for hotdogs, but El Latino had the best Columbian dog ever, met some great folks there who happen to be friends with Ganim’s right hand Danny, they called to say hi and let them know I was breaking into Ganim territory. Great little hole in the wall and wonderful people, only in Bridgeport. Thank you Juan for your support, great conversation and the two Coronas.
This isn’t Facebook, we don’t have any interest in what sort of food you shove into your cake hole.
🙂
Perhaps declaring the city bankrupt again and putting a state control board in control of our budget and city tax dollars is the only way to hold the line on taxes.
Well said, Jennifer! And for those around during that time, the Administration used the Financial Review Board as a crutch all the time. To be fair though, Joe did not lead Bridgeport towards bankruptcy. Rather, he worked Bridgeport away from it. That’s when he was on the right side of history.
Jennifer, I’m in total agreement with you, I’ve been suggesting this on OIB for years. As firefighters we received zero pay raises during that timeframe but we understood it would put the City in a much better financial position after the five-year term of the financial review board. They had to review our contract and with the study that was performed on how to improve the City the fire department made some great changes that have made the department much better. No mayor wants to say they failed at fixing the financial crisis but that review board along with Gov. Lowell Weicker’s help Bridgeport was bailed out.
It will certainly be interesting to see who wins the hotdog-eating contest on September 16!
Crime and taxes are perfect anti-Ganim topics. Here’s why: The only time he raised taxes was to hire additional cops. What’s worse: crime or taxes? Answer: ask Joe Ganim. But don’t ask Ed Adams. Not until he repudiates 100% of his 2003 testimony will his words have meaning in 2015.
In a related matter, beware the edifice complex. Just because Ganim stands in front of a building built during his term doesn’t mean he can take credit for it. Joe Ganim has proved it to me: if you govern under ideal conditions, you can have an ideal time in office. But he took a perfectly fine city and made it worse by waving wine bottles over his head and saying: “think of the future.” We know how that ended. Don’t be fooled again.
Joe Ganim promised a negative campaign, so let’s get nasty.
What does Joe Ganim have in common with the average limo driver?
Answer: they both look great in an expensive suit.
p.s. Ganim never raised taxes because he didn’t have to. Hartford rearranged Bridgeport’s finances for him. No brilliant management techniques on his part–just gift-wrapped surpluses from a kindly Governor who dropped HCC and Troop F (state police) in Bridgeport’s lap.
The mudslinging should be left to the candidates. Neither of the DTC candidates is a perfect specimen. Arguing the merits or weaknesses here is not going to win any converts. Most of the people here have made up their minds.
It should be pointed out there’s a difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is a lack of awareness. Stupidity is a willful disregard of issues. Bill Finch is stupid because he can’t be bothered to address them; that’s why Adam Wood, Tom Sherwood and others were brought in. The city of Bridgeport is beset by a multitude of social and economic ills. The DTC cabal running the show can’t be bothered. They’ve allowed police department staffing to fall to dangerous levels. The professional firefighters have seen their wages stagnate over the past eight years. Cops and firemen are the finest and bravest, respectively, employees of the city. They save lives, serve the public trust and uphold the law. The Finch administration has milked their unions for financial concessions. Great way to treat the men and women who serve, protect and keep the city from burning to the ground.
The development going on is great, improves the city’s skyline. If the unemployment rate is still over 8% and middle class taxpayers are still bearing the financial burden of supporting Bill Finch’s political favors, I have to ask: what good is all this development?
If the school system is failing, why build more schools? The problem is still there. Why build another high school, not enough dropouts already?
So far the “discussions” here have been about Joe Ganim and Bill Finch and, to a lesser extent, Mary-Jane Foster. There are seven candidates running for mayor. None of the other four have been heard from, not loud enough to draw attention to them. Taxes and crime are important issues to the people of the city of Bridgeport. The first debate with the full cast of characters, sponsored by FaithActs, will be held at Cathedral of Praise, 45 Gregory Street, on 9/3/2015. Public education will be the topic. Given Bill Finch’s snarky performance at the Holiday Inn it wouldn’t be surprising if he played the asshole again.
Education is an important issue for anyone with children in the Bridgeport public school system. Building another high school only benefits the developers who bought the contracts with “donations” to a lame-duck mayor’s re-election bid. The school district is still badly mismanaged. The needs of special-education students are continually neglected. The 48% dropout rate speaks for itself.
The Finch administration chose to not make an effort to repair it because there are no quick and easy fixes available. It will take patience, diligence and focus but remaking Bridgeport’s public education system into a first-rate source of knowledge and academic advancement can be done.
On September 12, 1962, President Kennedy delivered his speech before a crowd of 35,000 people in Rice University’s football stadium. He spoke of the nation’s program to land a man on the moon but part of his speech ought to be a source of inspiration for the people of the city of Bridgeport:
“[We choose to do these things] not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win …”
I’m not talking about manipulating absentee ballots.
“It wouldn’t be surprising if he played the asshole again.” Actually, Ken Dixon did a fine job of that. Hopefully the next debate has a moderator interested in fairness and impartiality. Save your opinions for Op Ed pieces, Ken. The only time you notice the referees are when they truly mess up.
Ken Dixon was more than a little biased against Hizzoner Bill Finch. You’ll get no argument from me about that. The latter’s reaction was telling. Instead of admonishing Mr. Dixon for lacking objectivity, Tax Bill became snarky and snappy. Not surprising, really. His relationship with Zio Mario has soured, the local newspaper is critical, and a growing number of voters are disenchanted with his administration.
Maybe he’ll do better at the education debate this week at Cathedral of Praise but it is doubtful. Public education is one of many issues the mayor doesn’t care about.
The problem is not a lack of school buildings. Build another school, go right ahead. Just piss away tax revenues instead of putting money back into a public education system that is egregiously underfunded. Name the new high school after President Barack Obama. We are all aware doing so in an election year is merely a cheap, cynical move to improve the incumbent’s standing with the black community. Obama High School will not address the failings of Bridgeport’s public schools. There will still be 21-year-olds struggling to make it through to graduation. There will still be graduates lacking the language, mathematics and reasoning skills necessary to make it through life in today’s world.