John Marshall Lee, resilient community watchdog, has spent oodles of time attending City Council, Board of Education, Planning & Zoning Commission hearings and more to fill up OIB readers about the city’s decision-making process. He shares in a commentary below observations about Acting Superintendent of Schools Paul Vallas’ presentation to close a budget deficit and reposition a challenging school system.
Trying to keep an eye on multiple City issues across a range of areas like educational change, City finances, City Council representation, NRZ activity and currently important Charter Review Commission is a stretch, for certain. So, one by one, I’d like to share some impressions, and get feedback from OIB readership. Lennie, perhaps if you post, someone will comment?
Let’s start with education where six members of the BOE slew the elected Board and delivered its near future into the hands of the State. Legal actions working their way to a decision by the Supreme Court are patiently awaited by the various parties including Bob Walsh, Maria Pereira et al. of the Board who did not vote for termination, and the voting public at large who take exception to the frustration of voter results.
In the meantime, former Superintendent Ramos rode off into the sunset and the new sheriff, Paul Vallas entered the scene with an experienced, energetic, and empowered team of educational management professionals. They have been talking with local, State and Federal ‘players’ as well as private foundation funders. At the same time they have been determinedly drilling down into the foundation and subsoil of our educational establishment processes and practices to understand the conditions that have failed to produce success for thousands of Bridgeport youth, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars expended in the past decade with mostly State money.
OIB has posted info on State education plans with very little comment. What’s up? Last night Paul Vallas addressed the Education and Social Service Committee City Council persons, with more than 50% of the entire Council present, listening, asking questions and getting enthused by what they heard. Vallas pointed to the release of their plan to close the current year budget gap on Monday, February 13. This will be followed closely by a five-year financial plan and a matching educational plan that will count on minimum guaranteed funds from both State and City to create stability for the entire system. He then rolled out a dazzling menu of common sense ‘reforms’ for Bridgeport (that are actually currently practiced in more than one surrounding community though that was not said) and plans for rapidly staging multiple capital plans for schools where money has been made available already rather than waiting for whatever. Partnerships with local universities granting degrees in education for their students to get time in the classroom providing better and continuing instruction time. Partnerships with foundations for special programs that deal with inner city, poor and disadvantaged youth populations are being lined up bringing new non-taxpayer funds to the process. Accountability for results provided by data at all levels with a Vallas guarantee that scores will rise, and educational choices will excite, was shared. Finally students currently leaving the system may stay or return because of other initiatives. Wow!!!
Good questions from many Council members with specific unsatisfactory experiences with our system flowed. They received good answers that further enlightened them. Many were happy to hear the Superintendent highlighting the important role for City Council to play as a CHECK AND BALANCE in the governance process.
It made me wonder what the concept of “checks and balance” means in Bridgeport. What do checks and balance relevant to oversight, reporting, watchdogging, etc. mean to you? Where is it working? Where not? What might you recommend, within or without the education system? The Charter Review committee may be interested to read the gathered wisdom from your readers. Time will tell.
John Marshall Lee
203-259-9642
*** There haven’t been “real” checks and balances in the Bpt school system for years! *** FORGETABOUTIT ***
So what’s the deal with John Marshall Lee? He’s a smart guy, spends a lot of time covering real City issues and talking/writing about them, seems truly concerned about the future of our city. I know he offered his expertise to Finch/Wood and was ignored (expertise is a four-letter word to this administration). So what’s the deal? Is he planing on running for public office? We could sure use him.
How’s this for ‘Checks and Balances?’
Russo got us $250,000 for an audit of the Bridgeport BOE a few years ago. They gave it to Paul Timpanelli. That’s right, PAUL TIMPANELLI!!!
No report, no nada. Not a word spoken about it either.
Check this balance.
What’s the deal? I got fed up a few years ago with the Bridgeport status quo and started asking questions, looking for answers, and making connections. What you have read on OIB from me; what you have seen and heard about Budget Oversight Bridgeport-2011, Andy Fardy and I and a handful of other taxpayers watched the Budget and Appropriation budget meeting review process last year (and will do again this year with more assistance); what you may have seen or heard at recent PowerPoint presentations of Bridgeport Finances 101 or 102, next showing at Black Rock Library February 21 at 6:00 PM and Main Library February 25 at 2:00 PM; all of this effort is to stimulate the body politic in Bridgeport to become informed participants in the governance process. You pay your taxes. You have a right to know, a right to comment, a respected right to be heard.
You be the judge, is it happening now? Are things changing? I think so … a wee bit (OPM is putting out monthly financial reports this year and halfway through the fiscal year B&A is dedicating some unfocused time on matters fiscal–check the minutes from the past couple years. This is change!) But nowhere near enough … We have a Charter Review process ongoing. It is time to ramp up oversight on public fiscal matters. I am not a candidate and have not been, although I threw my hat in the hopper last year for the BOE position and was rejected on technical grounds. I do no business with the City and never expect to be so involved. My motivation is we can do better in getting more people to learn about how things work for which they pay hard-earned tax dollars, and to use their voice to question, to share opinions, to be a part of the body politic of Bridgeport! Time will tell.
BEACON2,
Have you given any consideration to the fact there is a significant voting population in Bridgeport that pays no taxes?
Booty,
The words “significant voting population” would seem an oxymoron when used in Bridgeport. So I would want to see the ‘population’ you are spotlighting. Are you talking about folks without income, or so low income that they pay no Federal or State Income tax? As tc says, most landlords pass through property tax increases and those are the taxes Mayor Finch has avoided changing for the most part so far. Many folks who visit the food pantry I volunteer at, drive up in later model cars than I drive (their choice and mine, also, as to how we spend our money) and property taxes are due the City on the vehicles. Sales taxes and other fees and levies along with payroll taxes like FICA make it unlikely for zero taxes, but how do you connect the voting behavior? Cite some sources please, or state that this is merely your opinion. Then we can choose to give this some consideration as you ask. Time will tell.
Booty: I am not sure who the significant number of people who are not paying taxes are.
Renters pay taxes via their rent as the landlord certainly figures that in. People who own cars pay taxes. If you purchase an item in CT you pay taxes that make their way back into the city one way or the other.
tc and BEACON2,
Sorry for being unclear. The taxes I’m talking about are those same taxes the both of you have put so much effort into monitoring and trying to educate others about, taxes paid to Bridgeport.
If, for example, I am receiving housing assistance and the property taxes go up, and therefore the rent goes up, it has no effect on me as my assistance will go up to cover it. It’s not my money. I have no skin in the game.
I’m going to vote Democratic because the Dem candidates are telling me those Republicans are going to reduce or otherwise do something to take away my aid.
So back to my question. It’s not my money. Why should I be interested in the games being played with the budget, as long as I get mine?
Booty,
You have me at a disadvantage as I have not explored the “assistance issue” in any meaningful way. With the eviction story Lennie has just run, there are three people it appears, two who are disabled in some way, all getting some Federal, State and perhaps other agency or private assistance. Yet their landlord did not get paid. And there was a story this week in the Post that told of the $10,000 UI bill customer who reordered her account in her 3-year-old son’s name. Now neither of these stories is complete, but from them I will guess “public assistance” is often inadequate, lags increases in taxes, rents, inflation and people do feel the effect of increased property taxes even though they do not write a check to the Tax Collector-Bridgeport. If you can supply some facts to support your story, I would like to read more. Time will tell.
Booty, there will come a time when your assistance will not be covering your total rent. Do you own a car? If so you pay taxes there. If not you use public transportation that you pay for.
There is a move afoot in both Washington and Hartford to reduce aide to the poor especially the healthy poor. While this movement will not take away all of the benefits it will lower them sooner or later. The other point is the money the B &A is hiding in the budget could be used for education, it could be used for health clinics for the poor and many other things. So what Beacon and I are trying to do is a worthwhile endeavor.
tc, I believe what you and BEACON2 are trying to do is eminently worthwhile and highly laudable. If we had an emoticon for a chorus of angels singing in praise, I’d use it (and I’m being sincere, not sarcastic).
My point is I believe your current message is being completely tuned out by anyone who’s not directly paying property taxes. I’m specifically including renters among those who tune out. (I do recognize even with the property taxpayers, it’s an uphill fight.)
But in our system of government, your concern is people who are not direct property taxpayers still have the vote. I don’t have access to any info that would tell me how many voters are not direct property taxpayers, or how they’ve voted, but my intuition tells me in Bridgeport there are more than a few of them, and they vote Democratic.
If you want their support, I believe you need to eventually craft a message that appeals to them. If you don’t, you’re conceding them to the people who mangle the budget for their own ends.
Booty,
We have crafted a message that is factual for the majority of those in the City who don’t know and cannot easily understand how local government operates. It is simple and visual. It points out a role for 21st Century urban dwellers to be informed, to participate by voting, by understanding how policy is made and funded, and ultimately whether the elected as well as the appointed and employed are doing their jobs.
For my part I am targeting the property tax owner who is resident first. A lot of them are not voting by my gut. Next I would target the residents who are ‘working poor’ with children, because they do not see the connection between the State and City funding of education and what is ground out of our educational system. Voices are often raised, but monitoring important data is not part of State or City programs currently. It may be part of Acting Superintendent Vallas’ actions! That might make a political difference. Time will tell.