It’s been quite a few months for Board of Education member Chris Taylor balancing allegations of an illegal residence with the recent tragic news of his father James Taylor who was found dead inside a container in the rear of a Fairfield property while awaiting trial accused of shooting his former wife to death and attacking his stepson in February.
CT Post reporter Brian Lockhart provides an update about Chris Taylor’s residency issue while a state investigation determines his bonafide address when he was elected to the school board.
The School Board’s Chris Taylor can call his formerly illegal apartment home, though whether the East End space is his primary residence remains a question for state investigators to settle.
The Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday night granted Taylor’s request to allow a “caretaker”–him–to reside in the business offices of his recycling operation, A.C.G. Contracting, at 155 Davenport St.
The property is zoned industrial and Taylor, who has insisted the site–rather than his mother’s house in Fairfield–is his primary address, never received the proper permits to allow him to live in the building.
Full story here.
Ridiculous!!
However it’s expected….. It is Bridgeport!!!
Frank Cuccarro,
Can you please text me?
Thank you
It doesn’t matter. Remember that every member of the ZBA is handpicked by Mario Testa, nominated by Mayor Ganim, and approved by the mostly corrupt, rubber stamp City Council.
He doesn’t reside there and never has.
He was not a bonfide resident residing in a dwelling in Bridgeport when he ran for the BOE in 2017, the night he took his oath, and for the 20 months he has served on the BOE.
I have had discussions with those investigating my complaint and they have agreed that what he does with 155 Davenport Street NOW is irrelevant.
What does the ‘Caretaker’ designation mean legally? Are there time spent requirements? Limitations? Is it open-ended?
Frankenstein’s Daughter eats crow! Again!
It looks like his office/ residence is sparsely furnished. He can go to see the Mario’s bartender/landscaper and council person Michael DeFilippo to get some free furniture. Mikey’s emptying out his now 4 year dormant Sanford & Son liquor store across the street from DTC H.Q. and getting it ready for the GRAND re-opening. He received his provisional license (pending inspection) by the liquor authority. Congrats Mikey!! Skillful use of corrupt ways and means using the unindicted co-conspirator (JG1 case) attorney Chuck Willinger, partner with Mario’s famiglia (Bucci) et al. Equally corrupt use of OPED’ s Lynn Haig et al, and the totally subservient zoning members including fired Burger King manager Mel Riley. Parking at Mario’s will be difficult when the liquor store opens because Mike will order Mario to tell his restaurant customers that they can’t park across the street anymore. Except maybe on the nights Mikey bartends. Not sure how that will work out?? In the meantime: bartender….pour me another…… and…… that’s right…….. no tip for you!!!!!!
Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lol…. I always enjoy your posts Rich!!
Lol, thanks! And I always enjoy writing them and facetiously but truthfully denigrating these corrupt, unethical, slimey and suck ass people. It’s easy when the truth is on ones side.
There will me a sale on Night Train, MD/2020, muscatel and various brands of malt liquor.
Does this surprise anyone? The mayor lives in Easton, after all.
And Mario lives on the third floor of the Testo’s Restaurant on Madison Ave.
… And Little Stevie Auerbach went “Wee wee wee!” all the way home.
I am hopeful that the State Investigation will do what Bridgeport’s elected and appointed individuals are reluctant to do! THE RIGHT THING
This is how it’s done in Bpt,if you do what you’re told,there are no ordinances,regulations or laws that can’t be “gotten around”…
Yes and many told me that there was nothing I could about it. I knew the inevitable would eventually happen but it took that asshole 4 years to do it. Figure out the dollars lost in the HUGE business that would have been had, (BIG LOL), then figure out costs involved if he actually had to pay Willinger etc. then figure how long the make up period will take. Etc etc etc.
If it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make cents. ….. And….he still hasn’t opened. The coalition I started comprised many members so our individual costs were small.
The mission which was accomplished???
Exposing this idiot and AGAiN shining a spotlight on how these scum operate in Bridgeport.
I had fun, how about you?!!!
Now watch what happens to that residential neighborhood after he gets done buying up more properties there.
We’ll see…..Cheers!!!!
AND…..Mikey, good luck
Competing against the conglomerate that bought my store, Bev Max Wood Ave.
I would have torn you up with pricing as I did with everyone but these guys will eviserate you. Besides the huge space that the store has that’s needed to buy right so you can price low and still make a profit, they have endless cash. You don’t have the space or the money to compete. Not to mention parking. Good luck selling 6 packs and giving away at cost the better items you have to order for you know who!!! Don’t give up the bartending gig. Lol.
More to come.
Hahahahahaha…
Another example of TestaGanim/DTC acolytes/perverse selection of members of Boards. This absolutely proves that the ZBA wined lock,stock and barrel by TestaGanim and the CC acolytes who approved such callow and unethical people to sit on the ZBA.
OFF SUBJECT… but what is the story about LT. Manuel Cotto being “reassigned?” The CT Post article gave NO reason. Will Manny Cotto be the fall guy for the bad apples/sexual assault/ etc members of the BPT? Did Police Chief A.J. Perez(nice guy,good buddy of Mayor Joe Ganim and Conqueror) know about the handful of BPT Police Officers facing such serious charges. Do I even dare ask if the Bridgeport Police Commision know anything about this? Lt. Manny Cotto also attended the Bridgeport Gun Violence Task Force organized by State Senator/ BPT mayoral candidate Marilyn Moore. There have been a lot of positive remarks about LT. Manny Cotto on social media including statements from City Council members. This bears investigations. Any BPD whistle-blowers out there???
Bridgeport Police Chief Perez’s aide reassigned
Brian Lockhart Aug. 13, 2019
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2Bridgeport Police Lieutenant Manuel Cotto introduces the city’s new police body cameras during the program’s announcement at the Margaret Morton Government Center in Bridgeport, Conn. on Tuesday, February 20, 2018.Photo: Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media
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2Bridgeport Police Captain Mark Straubel, left, and Lieutenant Manuel Cotto display the two types of body cameras being tested in the department’s new program during the announcement at the Margaret Morton Government Center in Bridgeport, Conn. on Tuesday, February 20, 2018.Photo: Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media
BRIDGEPORT — Chief of Police Armando Perez has lost another right hand man.
Lt. Manuel “Manny” Cotto, the son of a retired officer and a well known member of the Hispanic community, has been reassigned from his job as Perez’s aide to the patrol division.
Perez, who is out of town, declined comment and there was no formal explanation for the change in Cotto’s status as of Tuesday evening.
Cotto began working closely with Perez about a year ago after the latter’s prior assistant, Capt. Mark Straubel, retired last August while under investigation for allegedly sending racist texts to a friend who also worked for the chief.
Straubel was white. The texts targeted African Americans and, in particular, Police Capt. Rodrick Porter, who recently filed a federal lawsuit over how Perez and the city handled the Straubel controversy.
Cotto often accompanied Perez to various meetings including with the City Council and the Police Commission. He also was involved in a reorganization of personnel, crafting the budget and helping to launch a new uniform camera program.
“He succeeded in a lot of areas that were failing with the police department,” Councilwoman Eneida Martinez said Tuesday.
Martinez was shocked to learn from Hearst Connecticut Media that Cotto had been moved.
“He did a whole turnaround,” Martinez said. “I don’t know what happened. … He was definitely trying to get the department accredited, working on policies and procedures and making changes that were overly needed in the department.”
And he was well-compensated for it. Cotto in 2018 earned a base salary of $90,475 but took home $183,417, much of that extra cash in overtime, making him the seventh highest paid member of the department and the tenth highest paid municipal employee.
Cotto could not immediately be reached for comment.
The change in the chief’s office comes as Perez and the department try to make Bridgeport safe while dealing with ongoing controversies.
Making the news recently was an officer, Steven Figueroa, who has been arrested six times, and the arrest of 11 protestors in May at a memorial for a 15-year-old killed two years ago by a rookie patrolman.
Meanwhile Perez’s close friend, Mayor Joe Ganim, hired an outside consultant, Charles Ramsey, to help improve the department. Ramsey’s work is ongoing.
Councilwoman Jeanette Herron said Cotto “was doing a great job.”
“Manny is passionate about his community. He’s supportive of this community,” Herron said. “It’s going to be a loss to the chief not to have him by his side.”
Cotto is the son of retired policeman Manny Cotto, who currently volunteers to adjudicate parking ticket appeals for the city.
The younger Cotto a few years ago had been seeking promotion to captain, an upgrade successfully blocked by nine of his colleagues in the department who had filed a lawsuit claiming Cotto was ineligible.
Staff writer Tara O’Neill contributed to this story.
I am sorry but it is getting increasingly difficult to post links to the CT. Post.
American is reaching the point where corruption is openly displayed. It’s either the beginning of a reckoning or the beginning of a fully autocratic society.
None of this is surprising. Nor is it surprising people are right well fed up with the corruption, the skirting of rules to benefit a few at the expense of the many.