Afternoon Update
(Or as Tommy Roe put it:)
Round and round and round she goes where she stops does anyone know?
Tonight, in the Carousel Building on the grounds of Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo, a public hearing will take place on Governor Jodi Rell’s plan to place a juvenile detention center for girls on Virgina Avenue smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood in the Upper East Side. I’m calling it Jodi’s plan because she got out in front of this issue a few weeks ago calling a press conference to crow about this wonderful new $15 million (tax exempt) center to serve the entire state. Something happened on the way to the press conference, neighbors and pols freaked out. No one’s questioning the need. Plenty question the location.
The public hearing will be conducted by the state Department of Children of Families and Department of Public Works. A large crowd is expected including a bunch of city pols who want to make clear (translation: create cover) that the state-owned location is not the most efficient use. You know, of course, what I say: put it in Brookfield!
Can’t ya just hear the carousel organ music during the public hearing? Yeah baby, ride ’em cowboy! Maybe it’ll be a regular rodeo. OIB friend Tom Kelly is one of the greatest natural-born horserace announcers on the planet. Hey TK, how you calling this one … And … they’re off …
Statement from Mayor Bill Finch:
We’re very happy that the state has called a public hearing on this controversial site proposal on Virginia Avenue. I urge all neighborhood residents to attend the hearing at the Carousel building at the Beardsley Zoo and make their voices and their concerns heard.
Early on in the process, I suggested that the state do aggressive community outreach to gauge potential interest and community support. I am glad that they will be taking the opportunity to listen to our concerns as a city and state delegation about their plans for this facility.
As I’ve previously stated, while we’re supportive of the endeavor, we have said all along that this would not be the right site for this detention facility. I look forward to attending the meeting, and working together with our state delegation and DCF toward a better solution for the community and the state.
The mayor has also scheduled a meeting for Friday afternoon with representatives from the Board of Education, Fire Department, Housing Authority, American Red Cross and elected officials to discuss next steps to promote fire safety throughout the City, and specifically at the P.T. Barnum housing project.
New release from Congressional candidate Rob Russo:
Are New Mammogram Recommendations a Preview of What to Expect Under Government-Run Healthcare?
New Guidelines First Step Toward Rationing
Fairfield – Today Rob Russo, candidate for Congress in CT-4, called on Congress to protect women’s healthcare after a government report was released by the United States Preventive Services Task Force.
The report’s new guidelines recommend women not to receive mammograms before age 50 citing the cost of mammograms and the potential for unneeded biopsies. These new recommendations are opposed by the American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology, and the American Society of Breast Surgeons.
Rob Russo’s family has been practicing medicine in Fairfield County for over 60 years. His father is a radiologist who daily performs mammograms. Dr. Robert D. Russo said, “Over a dozen of my patients under age 49 would be dead today if they followed these new guidelines. These new guidelines will cost lives.”
These new guidelines provide a stark preview of what to expect under a government-run healthcare system being proposed as part of the health reform bill currently being debated in Congress.
“Any reform must allow a woman to make her health care choices with the advice of her doctor, instead of having them dictated to her by a government bureaucrat.”
“A woman must be able to make her healthcare choices with the advice of her doctor, instead of having them dictated to her by a government bureaucrat,” said Rob Russo. “The government-run system will ration care because of cost, instead of focusing on proper care for women.”
News release from AARP
Survey Finds Connecticut AARP Members Back Critical Provisions of Health Care Reform Legislation
New Poll Indicates 2 to 1 Margin in Support of Health Reform
Hartford, CT—A new poll of Connecticut AARP members released today finds strong support across party and ideological lines for elements of health care reform included in the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which recently passed the House of Representatives. The bill, which strictly limits how much more insurance companies can charge based on age and closes the Medicare prescription drug doughnut hole, was endorsed by AARP.
Among AARP members, strong majorities reported that many of the bill’s key provisions were convincing reasons to support the legislation. These include improving coverage for routine checkups and critical preventive services like cancer screenings (78%); preventing insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions (77%) and lowering the cost of pharmaceutical drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices (74%) and closing the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap – known as the doughnut hole (68%).
“This survey demonstrates what we’ve been hearing from our members for a long time,” said AARP Connecticut State Director Brenda Kelley. “Despite an inflammatory debate on a very personal and important issue, our members—across party and ideological lines—support health care reform that protects Medicare, lowers the price of prescription drugs, increases their access to coverage and protects their choice of doctors.”
While a partisan divide was evident when respondents were asked about the current plan in Congress, Connecticut AARP members supported the legislation by a margin of roughly 2 to 1. Fifty-six percent of self-described independents indicated support for the plan.
Other reform elements with high levels of support among AARP members included ensuring Americans can see the doctor of their choice (77%), strictly limiting how much more insurance companies can charge someone because of their age (67%); and ensuring Americans can keep their current coverage (73%). Majorities of self-identified Republicans supported a number of the reform elements presented, including stopping discrimination because of pre-existing conditions (54%); allowing you to keep your current health coverage if you are happy with it (51%) and allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices (50%).
AARP Connecticut State President Don Ciosek said, “The bill recently passed by the House incorporates the reforms that our members care most about. We’ll continue the fight for these critical elements as the Senate takes up its own legislation in the coming weeks. Our members, and all older Americans, are counting on lawmakers to reform the health care system this year.”
Starting on Tuesday, November 17th, AARP will launch a new national television ad on a mix of news, lifestyle, cable and sports channels. The ad, entitled “HELP,” demonstrates that people from all walks of life are feeling stranded by the current health care system. It calls attention to the need for the kind of health care reform AARP has been fighting for: reform that will put patients first, protect Medicare, bring down drug costs and ensure that no one can be denied affordable health care because of their age or health history.
AARP Connecticut surveyed its members on key health care reform provisions supported by AARP, as well as other contentious issues being discussed in the debate between November 7 and November 12, 2009. This survey of 453 members is representative of AARP members in the state of Connecticut and has a margin of sampling error of ±4.6%.
Free zoo admission Sunday. Yes, It’s Free Admission Day
Come See What’s New at the Zoo
FREE ADMISSION
On Sunday, November 22 bring the family and enjoy the sights and sounds at Connecticut’s only Zoo.
Come see Tigers, Bears, Otters and Owls, take a walk through our tropical rainforest, Wolf Cabin and Aviary and get face to face with a prairie dog, ocelot and monkey.
The fun is right around the corner!
Easy to get to!
Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo is located at 1875 Noble Avenue off exit 5 off the 8/25 connector. Just follow the signs.
Take the bus
From Bridgeport Bus Terminal take bus #9 to East Main Street & Noble Ave. Follow Noble Ave to the Park and Zoo entrance.
Hours: Open daily from 9 am to 4 pm
The New World Tropics Building is open from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm daily
The Carousel Building is open seasonally from 10:30 am to 4:00 pm
Closed: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day
Barnum Gift Drop
The Barnum Museum participates as a drop off location for the 20th Annual St. Luke’s LifeWorks Holiday Gift Collection
Gifts are collected and distributed to more than1,700 children in need.
(Bridgeport, CT – November 17, 2009)—Drop your holiday toys and gifts at The Barnum Museum, 820 Main Street in Bridgeport from now until December 3 for the 20th Annual St. Lukes LifeWorks Holiday Gift Collection. St. Luke’s volunteers will wrap and distribute the donated gifts to more than 1,700 children affected by poverty, homeless and Aids. These gifts are often the only presents these children will receive during the holidays. Visit www.learnaliving.org for other drop off locations, a complete list of the types of toys and gifts accepted for this drive, and other ways you may be able to contribute. Giving from the heart ties us all together in this worthwhile cause. For more information contact Takeia McAlister at 203-388-0103 or TMcAlister@StLukesLifeworks.org.
Holiday Gift Collection Sponsors are Ed McGettigan, the News 96.7 The Coast radio, UBS, Two Men and a Truck, Friends and Children, Downtown Special Services District (DSSD), and Purdue Pharma
Engineering Students
Fairfield University’s pre-engineering academy for high school students fueling a love of science
Fairfield, Conn., November 17, 2009 – The High School Engineering Academy (HSEA), an innovative Saturday morning program at Fairfield University’s School of Engineering, is working to create a pipeline of young science and engineering talent. It’s an important mission considering that fewer American college students are choosing to study math, science, technology and engineering in comparison with the needs of the nation. For the United States to continue to be competitive within the global economy, according to E. Vagos Hadjimichael, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering, it is vital that young people pursue careers in the sciences and engineering.
The HSEA program recently began its second year. It had gained overwhelming popularity among area high school students and their parents during the first year of its operation, in 2008-2009. This year, approximately 40 students from the five Catholic high schools of the Diocese of Bridgeport participate in HSEA. Members of the School of Engineering faculty teach in the Academy.
The curriculum is from the nationally recognized Project Lead the Way, a science/technology/engineering/mathematics (STEM) curriculum. It aims to prepare high school students for higher education science and engineering studies. Organizers hope the pre-engineering curriculum will spark a love of these subjects among the participating students, especially among females and minority students, two segments of the population that are underrepresented in engineering.
Dr. Hadjimichael said, “The students, as well as their parents, very much wanted to continue with this program. Our mission is to inspire this talented group of young people to pursue careers in engineering and science. In HSEA, the students are immersed in the culture of innovation, creativity and problem solving. It is hoped that they will remain in this path later on in their life, as college students and as professionals.”
The current HSEA students attend Notre Dame High School in Fairfield, St. Joseph High School in Trumbull, Kolbe-Cathedral in Bridgeport, Immaculate High School in Danbury, and Trinity Catholic in Stamford.
On Saturdays, they begin classes at 10:00 a.m. They break at noon for lunch, and continue their activities until 2:30 p.m. They utilize facilities in Fairfield’s manufacturing, electrical and computer engineering laboratories. The School of Engineering and the five high schools are contributing assets and money to fund HSEA this year, covering costs such as student transportation and meals
STEM is an example of the School of Engineering’s continued efforts to do outreach in K-12 schools, and in community colleges, to help inspire the next generation of much needed engineers and scientists.
How about Greenwich Avenue? How about Main Street Westport?
Bill Finch appears to be trying out for the lead role at the Carousel? He has already hit too many sour notes on this one. Finch is no Billy Bigelow! Chris Caruso is the “Barker” in this road show.
Since Kelly has been outed to be CHS by yahooy, he appears not to be able to call this race. I guess he is no longer a handicapper.
This news from the Connecticut Post today. Look at the huge level of state assistance that is being provided to this company. Bravo to Mayor Malloy and Mike Freimuth. Bridgeport on the other hand is dealing with a public hearing in the Carousel for state assistance for a juvenile detention center. Go figure.
Similar to the deal that was made with Diageo to move 3 exits up to Merritt 7, 5 years ago, coupled with $43 million in tax credits.
I am all for luring companies to Connecticut. Other states are trying to steal our companies. So the State must play in that game. The move of Blue Sky from White Plains to Greenwich with the film and entertainment tax credits et al. is another great accomplishment for Connecticut. I know that an increasing number of those employees commute from Bridgeport to those jobs and come back here to live and spend their disposable income. Eventually they will contribute to encouraging their employers to relocate to Bridgeport because they will see it is safe, smart, funky, with gorgeous waterfront and all of its superb transportation connections.
What I can’t accept is the totally uneven assistance from the State. Bridgeport needs to grow its tax base. It has a plan to do that. It’s development community has had proposals into the State for many years to fix the key aspects of the downtown; to separate the storm and sewer infrastructure; to fill the gaps on the downtown private-sector deals. What do we get? Another juvenile detention center from precious and limited bond commission resources. We need the help to grow our tax base and attract the jobs and mixed-use developments that started the Stamford transformation. Stamford transformed in the ’70s and ’80s. It started with mixed-use developments and a 100-acre preselected developer that caused the ghastly relocation of hundreds of residents and businesses, many to Bridgeport. Bridgeport is now prepared to do that transformation because our ghastly relocation of hundreds of residents and businesses from a 52-acre peninsula and Main Street in the downtown is done. Bridgeport cannot do that without strong and consistent state support. The gap between the cost of construction and the market rents is too big without state help. Put the girls on the top floor of the existing juvenile detention center and court or add a floor, and apply the balance of the $15 million to help Bridgeport grow its tax base. That should be the message for tonight.
No one in the state wants Bridgeport to improve. If Bridgeport starts to move forward they are afraid that we will take companies and more importantly mid-range employees away from the gold coast cities such as Greenwich & Stamford.
We have no concerted effort to attract companies to Bridgeport. We have a city administration that is actually doing very little to attract companies here. We have an economic director that lives in New York City and is more worried about the train schedule than anything else.
We have large parcels of land with large vacant structures on them such as Remington Arms and Bridgeport Machines. When touring Bridgeport seeing this does not present a positive image. We have those old movie houses on Congress and Main another eyesore that if I hear how beautiful they are 1 more time I will scream. We have Main Street from Congress to Fairfield Ave which is another dump that was supposed to be developed and still sits fallow. The list goes on and on.
May I suggest that we rent the 52 acres for Steel Point to the Greenwich Polo Club and let them hold matches there after all the grass is well mowed and there is a pretty fence around the property.
I am surprised that the state did not volunteer Bridgeport as a place to house the Gitmo detainees or is that what is next for us?
Thank you, Countdown! Now we know how economic development in the state of Connecticut is supposed to work. The knuckleheads in the Bridgeport development office feel that their job is to give away Bridgeport taxpayers’ dollars so that they can claim credit for attracting business. At least Dan Malloy uses state money and not his own.
If the idiots in the Bridgeport Economic Development Office had known about little things like this maybe we could have gotten Starwood on to Steal Point and gotten the project going instead of shilling for these deadbeats out of Miami.
Nancy Hardly, Dead Lavernoich, Mike Nodoze, et al. I heard Nancy was at Lenny’s get-together the other night and said that when she was director of Economic Development she thought that midtown Miami was just lazy. Now that she no longer works for the city she knows that it’s not true. Think about that. She works for the city and is praising Midtown all the while she thinks the only problem is that they have some lazy developers.
She leaves, they stay and now they are great. Stamford doesn’t get into these crazy tax scams, inter-local agreements, taxing districts, incremental financing, etc. etc. etc. They just simply go to the state of Connecticut and get the money. Go figure …
Town Committee,
The people in Greenwich don’t think B-port is even good enough for their polo ponies let alone for them to pony up some real cash.
Stamford and Bridgeport … apples and oranges … Stamford does not have the environmentally polluted properties that Bridgeport has. It was not the industrial city that Bridgeport was with companies that just left without cleaning up their mess. Yes, the South End around Yale and Town is a challenge but not nearly the problem that Bridgeport has been left with. If you are riding that hobbyhorse again about the now-relocated from Fairfield United Rentals property off Housatonic Avenue, that tax forgiveness meant that developer did $5 million in remediation using his own money to get that corporation to move less than 10 miles. The EPA brownfields money has been dripping into Bridgeport in $1 million or less chunks for years. Chrome Pacilli Trashmore’s remediation is still getting the drip drip drip of EPA money. So although I understand Stamford’s policy of not using local money now because their state delegation knows how to deliver their bacon, I know for a fact that Stamford used lots of local, state and federal resources during the ’70s and ’80s to prime their pump. Now they are fortunate to have all of their sewers and storm drains separated. They get millions of federal and state dollars to handle the railroad overpasses where Bridgeport’s Seaview Avenue underpass is waiting in the flood waters. They now have a transit corridor and transportation center that is huge where the connection of Seaview Avenue between I-95 and Boston Avenue is just a bunch of engineering drawings. The issue is Bridgeport’s state delegation, business community and city putting the pressure on the state with one finite list of must-have appropriations that will grow the tax base and attract jobs. That list must NOT have another juvenile detention center on it or any other public facility that does not directly increase our tax base.
Grin,
One of the very first tax increment financing districts with the interlocal agreements et al. was done in Stamford back in the ’80s. Stamford used all of those things and many more in the ’70s through the ’90s.
Once Bridgeport’s PZC approves the new zoning map and regs hopefully on November 30th, Bridgeport will be where Stamford was in the late ’70s and can now proceed with firm land use policies grounded in economics. Bridgeport just happens to be about 30 years behind Stamford in what it takes to make a city grow. One small but important step done is establishing those rules of the game. Now there are 100 more steps to take. The most important is believing in Bridgeport’s future and helping to convince others that investing in Bridgeport is a good thing. This negative crap doesn’t help. Is it possible for you to be positive, even a little? The victim mentality doesn’t get Bridgeport to where it needs to be.
Even getting the new zoning regs and the map for the master plan passed turned into a circus. New commissioners were appointed and all had their marching orders. We had 11 additions or better known as spot zoning things that they wanted to add to the multi-year study. Finally after a year or more they are ready to pass this thing. You wonder why nothing gets done.
Illinois voted for “Change” and Obama is delivering:
www .suntimes.com/business/1893871,employment-illinois-high-111909.article
Victim mentality???
The victims that I am concerned about are the residential homeowners who bear the brunt of the tax burden in the city of Bridgeport. Didn’t you hear what people were saying at the Black Rock Library the other day?
In your mind, the victims are the businesses and the developers who can’t make enough money. They are the ones that you believe need help. It is the Regan trickle-down mentality all over again. But in Bridgeport it is the trickled-on mentality as the well-healed and well-connected continue to get the special deals.
Countdown: It’s not easy being positive when you have been lied to as many times as the citizens of Bridgeport have. I don’t want to hear about the pollution and stuff like that. There was no bigger polluted site than where Carpenter Steel was located and yet we developed that area.
As far as United rentals the developer also owned the remediation company. You figure that one out.
Here is a simple example of the dumb asses in Bridgeport. There have been a lot of improvements downtown. The list is pretty long and what happens when you ride downtown to see the improvements? You ride on a roadway that reminds me of bombed-out roads that were filled in with dirt. You mean to tell me the city could not pave Main Street so that it presents a halfway decent appearance? Every administration is like the gang that could not shoot straight.
The burden on the residential property owners is awful. I agree completely but look at the numbers. When you knock out all of the tax exempt properties due to the courthouses, hospitals and the various religious and educational institutions, you are left with about 60% of the property having to cough up all of the tax revenue needed for the cops, teachers and the like. Of that 60% that is taxable, 85 percent is residential and 15 percent is commercial. So who is going to build the high-density uses that can generate the most tax revenue in the downtown and the major transit corridors? It is the developers and investors. A single-family residential strategy will do nothing to bring down that high and uncompetitive 37 mil rate. All I am saying is that if we all don’t coalesce around a positive set of beliefs and talk up the positive future of Bridgeport, it will be a long hard road to travel. We need to do more to be positive despite all that has gone wrong. I was sick a lot when I was a kid, in and out of hospitals for weeks on end. My Mom used to say ‘Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Go for it.’ Once that new zoning map and regs become effective (Jan 1, 2010 I hope), it will be Bridgeport’s first day of the rest of its life. I beg all of you to get on a positive road to travel.
Grin,
Since you weren’t at the Black Rock Library, I will restate what I said to the question about Steelpointe. When I joined the Fabrizi administration in Feb 2004, it was my perception that it was the developer who was dragging his/her feet. So I thought OPED needed to do more to hold the developer’s feet to the timetable in the Land Disposition Agreement that was signed years before I arrived. What totally surprised me is the City had not concluded its negotiations with the United Illuminating Company, the Pequonnock Yacht Club, the Oyster Company and the MOVE Yacht Club. Of the 50 acres, there were approximately half that weren’t in the city’s control. So how do you hold the developer accountable if the City hadn’t gained control over all of the property on the peninsula? That started an intensive two-plus year period of condemnation/eminent domain proceedings by Mayor Fabrizi through the Court and DPUC. Then the city passed a new Land Disposition Agreement in November of 2007. New Finch Administration arrives on Dec 1, 2007. I left OPED in Jan/Feb 2008. New OPED director arrived in August 2008. Economy goes in the tank in the fall 2008. New Land Disposition Agreement was signed last week and now the timetable is real with enforceable milestones. I didn’t say anything about lazy. I didn’t say anything about good or bad. I just know that all the pieces are finally in place. The LDA spells out the rules and the timetables. Next up is getting the zoning in place for the Planned Design District designation. The frustration of the public is understandable but two important points. The City had to gain control of the entire peninsula in order that the timetable and milestones became enforceable. Second, Steel Pointe is not the silver bullet for Bridgeport. That development plus the development of the downtown and major transit corridors is the blueprint for Bridgeport.
One more thing to TC’s comment about the awful condition of Main Street. UI is down here again tearing up streets to put in new manhole covers. ATT is down here doing something which I hope is the new fibre optic cable so we can get ATT Cable as well as Cable Vision. Then there is the matter of separating the sewer and storm drains. WPCA has been designing that major construction project and told the Downtown Task Force that they were doing Black Rock and Railroad south before they are doing the Downtown. The downtown streets are going to be ripped up for that sewer separation project. So one has to ask how do you repave the downtown when it may be a continual construction zone? I was pleading with all that would listen to open the streets once, do everything, pave it over and get out of dodge once and for all. As there are full or partial street closures, post the information on
www .infobridgeport.com
so we all know what is happening. The logic of what the utilities are doing and the WPCA in the downtown makes no sense to me. I shudder to think what the snowplows are going to encounter this winter.
You and I will be long gone before the WPCA comes downtown and separates the sewers. That’s a pipe dream. As far as the utilities they are required to put the street back into a proper condition. Are you telling me that we have to wait another couple of years before that road is properly paved? Only in Bridgeport!
Been busy lately but Rell and Musto lost respect from me on this issue. Why don’t we build one in Brookfield or why don’t we build one in Trumbull at the back of his house? Those 2 I would never vote for again. Thank god Rell is going out I’m voting for Sue B!!! And we need a Dem to run against Musto … I want Moore to run!!!
Go to this link!
www .youtube.com/watch?v=3vSDLCU2Pj4
There is a lot of open space adjacent to the Women’s prison in Niantic. Far more space then is available on Virginia Avenue. To the argument that the facility must be located so as to be convenient to the social workers who deal with the errant teens; I say what better site then one already served by a staff of highly skilled social workers.
To the people who made the decision to place the facility in Bridgeport, I say … THBBBBBBBBBT. Especially to you, Musto.