The police-involved shooting death of 15-year-old Jayson Negron took center stage in 2017. And, more than six months later, interested parties await the outcome of a State Police investigation.
Story Highlights From May and June:
Asserting the complaint lacked “any factual basis” the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities has dismissed allegations by former school chief Fran Rabinowitz that Board of Education member Maria Pereira “threatened me regarding loss of job, harassed me continuously by sending threatening emails, phone calls, derogatory statements made in public regarding my race and abilities.”
What was proposed as a “sanctuary city” to Mayor Joe Ganim was spun into a “Welcoming City” that now includes a municipal Park City identification card that can access city services, register a child for school, obtain a library card, cash a check, file a complaint with the police department “regardless of the individual’s immigration status or prior criminal history.”
Mayor Joe Ganim went to Denmark for a clean energy conference.
About 30 percent of Bridgeport’s 702 public safety officers reside in the city, according to statistics provided by the city for members of police and fire services.
With Senators Marilyn Moore and Ed Gomes voting yes, the State Senate early Wednesday morning approved development of Connecticut’s first casino off tribal land in East Windsor operated by a joint venture of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to counter MGM Resorts International’s nearly $1 billion casino operation in Springfield, Massachusetts.
State Elections Enforcement Commission has ruled Mayor Joe Ganim is ineligible for public campaign funds under Connecticut’s Citizens Election Program of publicly funded races that is expected to dole out roughly $40 million to candidates in 2018. They ruled against Ganim citing his public corruption conviction in 2003.
A teen is dead, another male wounded and three officers suffered injuries following a police-involved shooting Tuesday afternoon. State law enforcement, as is protocol, has taken over the investigation. Relatives have identified the dead teen as 15-year-old Jayson Negron, of Bridgeport.
One of the most upsetting aspects of the shooting of Jayson Negron by a police officer was the way his body was treated.
In a nearly empty chambers, the 20-member City Council Monday night unanimously approved a nearly $542 million budget that reflected the modest budget committee changes to Mayor Joe Ganim’s spending plan that calls for no tax increase for the fiscal year starting July 1.
On International Firefighters Day, city school students and neighborhood residents saluted Bridgeport’s public safety, courtesy of an event organized by the 138th Democratic Town Committee that represents the Upper East Side.
Scratchy week for Mayor Joe Ganim. His modern parking meters are a public relations nightmare, the city has suffered its 10th homicide equaling the number of murders from last year, Joe flies off to Lebanon surreptitiously leaving his communications director to helplessly shrug her shoulders with no real explanation.
Taken to task by retired Superior Court Judge Carmen Lopez who pushed back on her $40 parking meter ticket, the city is still working out kinks to implement a grace period Downtown.
Facing a Friday deadline, the school board reversed itself Wednesday with Annette Segarra-Negron casting the deciding 5-4 vote, rescuing the city’s Lighthouse after-school and summer program from the demand of a $500,000 rental fee for use of Board of Education buildings.
Following community opposition, O&G Industries has ended efforts to move its asphalt and concrete processing center to the West End, according to Vice Chairman Raymond Oneglia who writes in a letter, “Given Bridgeport’s resistance to moving the facility, O&G has decided to abandon efforts to relocate the facility to Bridgeport’s Eco-Park.”
Two kids from Bridgeport Paul Leka and Gary DeCarlo wrote an anthem that took on a life of its own. Paul Leka passed away in 2011. His former bandmate Gary DeCarlo left us this week. This song leaves an indelible mark.
On a day the city announced the Mayor’s Initiative on Re-Entry Affairs was praised by the United States Conference of Mayors, a jobs fair organized by former State Senator Ernie Newton on behalf of his employer Career Resources at the Margaret Morton Government Center attracted a steady stream of former offenders seeking a second chance.
Declaring “We don’t look at what it is, we look at what we want it to be,” the managing partner of the Manhattan-based commercial real estate firm Exact Capital Group joined Mayor Joe Ganim and other officials Monday afternoon to announce a $400 million redevelopment of the shuttered and nostalgic Poli and Majestic theaters Downtown.
Connecticut’s oldest continual family law firm Trantolo & Trantolo on Friday opened a Bridgeport regional office next to the city’s theatrical gem Klein Memorial Auditorium at 944 Fairfield Avenue, joining offices in Hartford, Waterbury and Torrington.
Mayor Joe Ganim generally does not enjoy idle time. If he can fill time running a city, working out, running for statewide office, raising money, fixing holes in fences, logging frequent flier miles overseas and anything else that floods his brain, so be it. And oh yes, teaching a weekly political science course at the University of Bridgeport.
Democratic Town Committee member Marcus Brown and middle school teacher Kyle Langan announced on Monday they are teaming up to run for City Council in the West Side 132nd District. (They won the election.)
Hearst Connecticut Media owns the Connecticut Post as well as dailies in Danbury, Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich. Add the New Haven Register and two other Connecticut dailies to the list. And Connecticut Magazine too. As former Mayor Bill Finch said often, “It’s all about the clicks.”
Church leaders are pressing Ganim and law enforcement officials for more updates and reforms following the police-involved shooting death of 15-year-old Jayson Negron who police say was driving a stolen vehicle.
Thr armchair quarterbacks and people who were not there are quick to say what should have happened. There are questions how Negron’s body was treated and could he have lived if he was taken to the hospital right away?
In time the investigation will have these answers yet there will those who will not be satisfied either way. The chain of events all started with a Negron behind the wheel of a car he should haven’t been. Let’s not forget that,that was the first domino knocked over.
How many shootings fatal or non fatal have occurred in Bridgeport since Negron was killed? Where is the outrage over those?
Where is the demand for video and autopsies in those killings? Where is the community outrage from the special interest groups,clergy and their ilk?
The last murder on Maple Street was in broad daylight. Yet there was no protest, no outrage. By the news story the victim was not armed. His killer was comfortable walking around with a gun. What had the victim done to deserve his life ended in such a way?
Do you really want to know the answer or are you just posing questions like you normally do?