2:30 p.m. update:
City Civil Service Commission description:
· Five members, five year terms
· Four members appointed by the Mayor
· One member elected by city employees; this elected member shall be an employee of the city of Bridgeport. This member is permitted to hold paid public office and/or position.
· In October of every year, Mayor appoints a member for a five-year term, with the exception of the member who is elected every fifth year.
· No more than two members of the same political party.
· Members serve until a successor is appointed and has qualified.
· Meet 2nd Tuesday at 4 PM at City Hall
The city employee representative Willie McBride is a resident of Trumbull. There is no doubt about this and McBride does not dispute his residency. The City Charter is clear that all appointments to boards and commissions must be residents and voters of the city. But McBride is elected by city employees.
From what I’m told unionized city workers cannot be forced to live in the city. McBride, as a union city employee, can cite that to justify his non-residence status while serving on the commission as the elected employee representative.
City Councilman Bob Troll Walsh says all Civil Service Commission members must reside in Bridgeport, and has issued a resolution he hopes will clear up ambiguity regarding the residency of the city employee representative. McBride was elected by city employees for a five-year term that ends in 2013.
Questions: does state statute allow city employee representatives to reside outside of the serving city? Lots of city employees live in the suburbs. Should they be restricted to vote only for a city employee that lives in Bridgeport? And should McBride’s union protection rights trump the charter residency provision?
Walsh resolution
Whereas, the City Charter of the city of Bridgeport, Chapter 2, Officers and Elections clearly states: “Section 13. Board and Commission Members; Residency Requirement Except as otherwise provided in this charter, no person shall be appointed to any board or commission established by this charter who is not a resident and registered voter of the city”; and
Whereas, the City Charter of the city of Bridgeport, Chapter 17, Civil Service, Sec. 203 Civil Service Commission specifically addressing the Employee Member of the Civil Service Commission clearly does not grant such an exception as required in Section 13; and
Whereas, reading both sections together it is clear that the intent of the charter is to require Bridgeport residency of the employee representative; and
Whereas the charter provides for a process which determines the proper status of individuals as city employees through the role of “the combined city employees’ committee” which is charged with “shall examine credentials of all participating in nominations to see that they are city employees” and such role can be expanded to examine the credentials of all nominees to see that they are bona fide residents of the city of Bridgeport; and
Be it ordained that Chapter 2.56 BOARDS AND COMMITTEES GENERALLY be amended to include a new section 256.070 which states:
In order to clarify and prohibit the practice of allowing city employees’ representative to the civil service commission to be non-residents of the city of Bridgeport, any city employee elected as representative to the civil service commission must be a bona fide resident and elector in the city of Bridgeport.
At the time of adoption of this ordinance, if the current employee representative is not a bona fide resident of the city of Bridgeport, the position shall be declared vacant and a new election is ordered to be held in accordance with the manner prescribed in Sec 203.
Himes 4,000 Times
News release from Rob Russo campaign
Russo Web Ad Receives Over 4000 Views
4000 views online in 30 hours
The “Great Followers in History” web ad released at noon on Tuesday by the Russo campaign has been viewed over 4000 times.
The ad, which has received attention from national media outlets, uses humor to drive home a serious point: Jim Himes votes with Nancy Pelosi 95% of the time.
“This ad shows each viewer that Jim Himes is a rubber stamp for liberal Nancy Pelosi and the more people who see this ad, the more difficulty Himes will have next November.” Rob Russo said. “We need independent leadership who will vote to put taxpayers first and vote against mortgaging our future with hundreds of billions of dollars in new debt and spending.”
Rob is going to run a different type of campaign. He is making a strong commitment to reach out to voters through social media outlets. Rob’s campaign can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. This is just the first of many web ads the campaign plans to do throughout the campaign.
To put the number of views in comparison, the Russo web ad has been viewed more times than any web ad released by the Simmons for Senate Campaign.
Street Life Art
The Gallery at Black Rock is proud to present Off the Grid a show featuring local graffiti and street artists. In keeping with The Gallery at Black Rock’s mission to bring art to everyone in Bridgeport, we have decided to produce a show that celebrates Street artists. Like it or not street artists are here amongst us and have survived and flourished in the withering economy.
Bridgeport has long had a street art culture under the radar of many. There are talented artists who prefer to share the work they do for free most of the time. The gallery is working with local artist to give a voice to these artists in a more appreciative environment, and to provide options for them to show work.
The shows will be hung in a visual assault style and will seek to speak to the environment that these artists often work in.
Off the Grid will feature the work of Equip, Sketch, Greg Brown, and Snook among others. Special thanks for curation assistance goes to Keith Rodgerson and Liz Squillace.
The shows Opening is Friday October 16th with an artist reception from 6pm until 9pm.
The show runs through November 19th
*** Bridgeport Folks Win a piece of original art from the show, Virtual Scavenger Hunt at Blackrockarts blog. How Many Bridgeport sights do you know??
One has to wonder about the Walsh Ordinance. If the city employees are allowed to live outside the city, and they can, why can’t their elected representative live outside the city?
Ask that obstructionist prick Walsh.
Lennie you still need a vacation.
TC, where do you want to send me? I’m thinking Tuscany. I hear Siberia is also nice.
How ’bout Amsterdam? I hear good things about the coffee shops there.
Black Rock Art Center, Little Liberia, Crown St, Target at Steel Point or a continuous ride on the PJ Ferry.
Black Rock Art Center est mort.
Have you considered a REALLY exotic locale? Think about New Jersey. The possibilities …
Tuscany has some very nice grilled baby polipo.
Wherever you go, take Yahooy with you. Leave him there.
Right on, Bob Walsh. Willie “no balls” McBride should be removed from the CS commission but not because of where he lives. He was elected by the employees to represent the EMPLOYEES not to be a puppet for the administration. He voted against Ralph Jacobs knowing full well that the City would put in David Dunn and all semblance of fairness would go out the window. What was he thinking?
Kudos to Judge Carmen Lopez. Finally the employees have a guardian angel.
Shortly after Don Calamari announced that it might be suitable to return convicted thief, abuser of the public trust and general Philistine Joe Ganim to public office, his popinjay Phinch endorsed that opinion.
People of Bridgeport … YOU HAVE GOT TO BE PHUCKING KIDDING ME!!!
Oh, Don Mario “El Calamaro Grande” Testa is gleeful at the return of his Anointed One. Mayor Finch is not all that happy at the prospect, however. He’ll be poised and ready to rip the hair shirt from ol’ Joe’s body should he decide to re-enter the incestuous world of Bridgeport politics.
Hey, maybe Joe got born again in prison. Maybe he’ll bring a sense of honesty, integrity and decency that we haven’t had in awhile. Joe Ganim in 2011. C’mon, wouldn’t you love to see Mario dump Finch and Adam Peckerwood and back Joe? I would pay good money to see that. I’ll even kiss the Calamarian ring.
CHS: McBride has to protect his family members who have been given city jobs thus he is the mayor’s yes man. The city employees that voted for him should get their collective heads out of their collective asses and realize who they are voting for. Are they voting for someone that actually cares about them or are they voting for an administration yes man. Well they voted for an administration yes man and are stuck with him for the next 4 years.
I must say that former mayor John Fabrizi was a very good city employee representative for the Civil Service Commission during his terms in that position.
Interesting quotes from Mayor Finch in today’s Post. “As a mayor, I work closely with the re-entry community,” he sez. “Anyone who has paid their dues and wishes to get involved with the party should be allowed to do so as long as they continue to be good citizens.”
Oh, really?! The only person Mr. Finch appears to work closely with is Adam “Pecker” Wood, the source of information and useless advice that the Mayor took into consideration before making some of the decisions that are going to cost the city some big bucks in court costs, legal fees and fines.
“Finch said he’s working with the Civil Service Commission to remove the question on city job applications that asks if the individual has been convicted of a crime.” Yeah, right. According to federal labor law (and confirmed by the United States Supreme Court) prospective employees can only be asked if they have been convicted of a felony.
*** Have you been convicted of a felony besides “tree jumping,” B/K? ***
Señor Mojo,
Toda persona tiene derecho a ser estúpido, pero que han estado abusando de ese privilegio.
Does this apply to the convicted sex offender that Charlie Carroll hired to work at the Parks dept, the guy who’s on the national sex offender registry? How did he get hired, did fellow brother electrician McBride vote for this too? Watch your children at the parks, people; this guy is a danger to the community.
This administration has spent so much of its time and our money covering their bad decisions. Their first 2 years have been spent extracting political revenge. When they are not extracting revenge they are getting rid of employees for made-up reasons so that they can put political shitheads in place. Let’s look at just a few of these changes.
1. Civil Service head Jacobs–he did not kiss the ring and insisted that civil service rules be followed. So far we are paying 2 outside law firms to defend the city.
2. Head of Port Authority Riccio. Got rid of him and it cost us a couple of hundred thousand for his buyout.
3. WPCA Abate–got rid of him also; we don’t have a buyout figure yet and this is also a lawsuit.
The list goes on and on and in the meantime the city is going to hell in a handbasket.
Naw, the city ain’t going to hell, but you can see it from here.
4. They fired Carol Curry because she did her job too well and they hired Anastasi’s son. I’m not saying that the kid is a shithead because I don’t know him but it’s wrong in any case.
Section of article on Steal Pointe today’s Connpost.com.
Robert Walsh, D-132, wasn’t satisfied with answers received from Carter McDowell, attorney for Bridgeport Landing LLC, the developer of Steelpointe Harbor, or Ronald Pacacha, associate city attorney, about the occupant for 135,000 square feet of the project on Stratford Avenue, nor was he happy with clauses that provide extensions if construction deadlines are not met.
“The developer’s goal is to find tenants not now in this market,” Pacacha said, and McDowell said while he won’t say such a single tenant scenario is not impossible, “it’s not what we are marketing toward.”
But Walsh said the average Home Depot or Walmart could occupy all of that retail space, and said parking lots could be included in meeting the square-footage requirements. McDowell said that is not true, that only “vertical construction” would go toward meeting those goals.
What would preclude the developer from building 250k sq ft. vertical parking garage?
This is a typical Bridgeport Horizontal Mombo deal.
Is the $10.43 per square shortfall, a one-time penalty?
This is a Land Shark deal for the developer, and a Loan Shark deal to the taxpayers.
To TC and Yahooy,
Read the language that is provided. It is clear as to what the charter says. I was not on the council when either of these sections were last adopted and/or amended.
But the way it is written, it is clear to me that the authors of these two sections wanted to make sure that the employee representative was also a resident.
Otherwise they could have inserted language that clearly states that the employee representative is not bound by the language in the charter that requires residency. But that is not the case. Some might be as cynical to suggest that the city enjoys being able to hold this over someone’s head when needed but I would never do that.
I am sure that Mark Anastasi’s legal opinion will not be based on the language that is in the charter but he will become the great defender of the constitution.
And of all of the state laws that I am aware of concerning this matter, the only one addressing anything along these lines is one that involves rights of city employees to serve on certain boards and commissions in the city in which they reside.
I take it by your new ordinance concerning the city employee representative on the CS commission you believe that the present charter is ambiguous at best thus meaning he may or may not live in the city.
Because the employee rep is elected by the union membership I see no harm in that as I believe that the employees should have a strong advocate on the civil service commission. Unfortunately they don’t now.
Limiting it to employees who reside in the city weakens their position.
TC, I’ve updated my post to share part of your argument. Unionized workers cannot be forced to live in the city. Thus a city employee representative who resides outside the city can serve on the CC.
Thanks Lennie. BTW Walsh and others cannot speculate as to the intent of the charter. Intent is nothing more than one person’s interpretation of the charter. The employee representative is there to protect the employees’ rights and is only 1 of 5 commissioners. If the employees voting in a proper election elect a rep who is out of town so be it, the members have spoken. To change that is wrong. Appointees to commissions by the mayor are different and those people should live in town.
Quit bullshitting and DO something, you obstructionist prick. I support what you are trying to do … JUST DO IT!!!
A Cablevision glitch prevented viewers last night from seeing a heated debate regarding the Nov 3 vote for Bridgeport Library Funding. It was on the weekly live TV show “Bridgeport Now” and featured Councilman Bob Walsh and Tom Errichetti, board of directors of the Bridgeport Public Library, who defended the funding increase.
It was a shame there were technical problems, this was a lively debate on important local issues. I have never seen such a thing on News 12. We will try to air this on Oct 21.
At issue, the Bridgeport library seems to need $2.1 million more in their budget to meet the needs of two libraries. Is this a tax increase, allocating 1 mil to the library budget? You get to vote on this Nov 3. Mr. Walsh says it is, and a 44% increase in budget over the prior year. Mr. Errichetti said funding has essentially been frozen in real dollars, for years.
On next week’s program, Oct 14, will be the PZC update with the Ungag the People folks for half the show (hearing coming up on that), then Steele Point.
We are looking for people to defend the current Steele Point development plan so we can debate current issues. Any takers?
“Bridgeport Now” LIVE
Tuesdays at 8pm on Ch 88
Ch 90 on AT&T
Soundviewtv.org
Is Finch ever gonna stop hiring and creating new positions for his friends? I see he just hired his wife’s friend Lee as an administrative assistant in his office. Doesn’t he already have 3 secretaries in there? WTF? Also new hires in Central Grants and of course Anastasi. Aren’t the employees and unions angry over this? They gave up raises and took furlough days for Finch to be able to create new jobs! This is NUTS!!!
This civil service thing is getting out of control. People want the employee rep to live in town. How about all of the high-priced people that have been hired by this mayor and other mayors who do not live in town?
These people actually make decisions that affect everyone in the city yet do not have to live with these decisions. These people spend our money raise our taxes and diminish our services yet do not have to live here. Try that one on for size.
Seems to me that the budegtary “shortfall” that caused Mr. Finch so much dismay would be covered if all of the jobs created for the benefit of the Friends of Bill (not the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous) and the Friends of Mario were eliminated.
Lennie and TC,
I beg to differ with you. There is nothing in the charter that is ambiguous. The city has simply allowed an action to take place that is not specifically allowed by the charter. When one part of the charter says you must live in the city and the other part of the charter that talks about an employee representative does not state that this board member is exempt from the residency requirement that was previously spelled out, then the explicit language in the charter stands. You must be a resident.
If a city employee wishes to RUN for employee representative (this is not a requirement to being hired or continuing employment) then he should be prepared to move into the city if he isn’t a resident and eventually wins election. Plain and simple.
If this is a way to get rid of Willie “no balls” and elect someone who will actually represent the employees, then GO FOR IT BOB. After this thing with Ralph Jacobs, I’m sure the employees will pay much more attention to this election in the future.
Another thought: There should be a way to make sure that the employee rep is protected from adverse action if he votes against the mayor.
Likewise, we should make sure that the employee doesn’t get rewarded for voting with the mayor. Of course, if we had an employee rep with some integrity, this wouldn’t be an issue.
Bob in the same breath it is not specifically stated that the union representative must live in the city. There is a difference, commissioners appointed by the mayor and approved by the council must live in the city. It seems to me you are targeting the employee representative (I am no fan) and really not addressing the Guedes issue.
Does residency entail a bed and a toilet in a building being used as an office? Is that a residence?
Maybe Willie can share the apartment with Ms. Guedes?
What do Fabrizi, Carroll and Finch have in common?
Answer is
McBride shills for all of them and screws the common working stiff. Word out of the Annex is he gets away with pure murder and the guys he represents as their union steward are tired of it. Ay dios mio, fugettaboutit.