From Keila Torres Ocasio, CT Post:
A $6,330 travel bill for a mayor’s conference in a $517 million budget may not seem controversial at first glance.
But throw in accommodations at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Great Room in Sin City and Mayor Bill Finch knows plenty of people will be questioning the expense.
“This would be fodder for the people who don’t like me on any given day,” the mayor said this week, of his June trip to the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Las Vegas.
Read full story here.
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If Wood is out of town, who is running Bridgeport?
Las Vegas has the top-rated slogan: “What Happens Here, Stays Here,” so what’s the problem? A $6,330 travel bill to the U.S. Conference of Mayors for Bill Finch.
I’ve said it before. If only what goes to Vegas would stay there.
Wonder which PAC is paying for Sonya Finch? Wonder how Finch was able to sell his city and change perception of Bridgeport when there has been no economic development, nothing but mil rate and tax increases and an education reform effort that is a total failure. Too bad when the guy looks in the mirror, he doesn’t get the joke.
It’s a Fast World we live in.
Here’s the latest Las Vegas slogan. The old one was dropped because too many visitors were putting their thoughts and actions in the gutter.
www .8newsnow.com/story/7059822/las-vegas-gets-catchy-new-slogan
The arrogance of this man defies belief. First of all I question the need for this trip. And if he had to go, spending over $200 a night for a hotel room when he asks city employees for concessions … when streets go unpaved … when people have to move because the taxes have gone up so much. Motel 6 in Las Vegas is $60 a night Bill … Considering what he earns he could at least pay back the city for the difference.
Those trips aren’t perks; they’re missions. Many mayors attend them. Today’s posts are framed by the top narrative that misleads readers.
How does this compare to what the city council members cost taxpayers for their junkets to conferences? Why does the CT Post avoid exposing this information?
Bill Finch is a lot like many OIB poster and readers–he fails to look at the flip side of the token (a gambling token in this case).
Here is my suggestion for Mayor Bill Finch: Make time to visit a or several consistently well-performing school districts near Bridgeport. Take in everything they are doing right in achieving great success and implement that in our school district. Imagine the time, money and frustration you can save by taking such a simple step. I assure you, you will even enjoy some beautiful views from the windows of other school districts.
Joel, what do these school districts do? I have looked. The difference seems to be these ‘well-performing school districts’ have a large number of kids who care. They share a common belief system instilled by their parents and culture. These schools spend more of their available funds on actual education. BPT needs or opts (depending on your view) to spend its education budget on after-school daycare, dentists, doctors, food (to encourage parents to come to parent meetings) and other miscellaneous programs designed to engage students and the community. Look at the difference between what the two districts spend on vandalism alone. Take about a total waste of money. Nothing like painting a school just to have it ‘tagged up’ shortly afterwards. Then you get to look bad when pictures end up in the paper (or on this blog) attached to a story about how bad conditions are. Imagine someone posted a video showing poor conditions in a jail cell due to a criminal element and poor oversight. Say the cell was splattered with feces, urine, chipped paint, broken fixtures and vomit. Look at the other side of the coin. Who was it who caused the poor conditions in the cell? It wasn’t the cops or the custodian.
BOE SPY, I call that “Job Security,” as long as the maintenance staff takes care of the mess.
“Imagine someone posted a video showing poor conditions in a jail cell due to a criminal element and poor oversight. Say the cell was splattered with feces, urine, chipped paint, broken fixtures and vomit.”
Been there, done that! There are just two of us doing the maintenance at the BPD. You left out the blood. Public Works does a good job taking care of the jobs we are not capable or responsible for. The City of Bridgeport Public Works is not trying to sabotage our buildings like the Bridgeport Housing Authority has and continues to do.
You missed BOE SPY’S point. What makes those districts work is the parents and kids care, and in Bridgeport, Finch and the Bridgeport Board of ED are going to have to MAKE the the Parents and Kids care. The question is How will they do it.
Now for the rest of the OIB crowd, for years I’ve been suggesting you take a look at “the flip side of the coin.” I’ve noticed some have been doing just that. Some may even feel they are on their way to seeing things the way I do. That’s because you’ve assumed the coin I use is flat and round. Here’s the truth: The coin I flip is a cube; it has six sides.
Just because every manicurist in Bridgeport gives you a nine-finger discount doesn’t mean your six-sided coin will fit into a vending machine.
LE, that’s hysterical.
The Truth is How far are You and Bridgeport willing to go to achieve success. Is Bridgeport strong enough to do this?
news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/florida-county-throw-parents-truant-kids-jail-165408463.html
www .courant.com/community/new-britain/hc-new-britain-convocation-0827-20130826,0,370025.story
JMart, did you notice anybody of color in that picture?
What I should have said was this:
Many mayors attend those conferences but only Bridgeport made three pro-Park City presentations at the most recent one.
I am no supporter of the mayor or the current administration but I think this is a non-issue and just gets us away from the much larger issues at hand.
My job often requires me to attended industry conferences for my employer. Without question every conference I have attended my employer has benefited from the presentations, face time, relationships cultivated and general information-sharing among peers. My organization has always benefited more than the tangible $ shelled out on the trip expenses.
It is hard to relate this to people who have not attended industry-specific conferences/trade shows. I have heard from co-workers, friends and family who all have a perception these are gloried vacations. More times that not I often work more hours on these trips than I do when I am in the office.
I can’t say what the mayor and staff did and did not do on their trip but I do not want people to think these conferences can’t be beneficial to the city.
I think Finch and Wood could have saved the City a lot of money and learned a great deal more about WPCA.
Just by working at Bridgeport’s WPCA for a day, removing the used rubbers, corn and tomato seeds from Bridgeport digesters. After all, they’ve been feeding the taxpayers this stuff for years.
Finch takes a lot of trips. There’s supposed to be a cost-benefit considered each time funds are expended for this purpose. Supposedly Finch becomes a better Mayor whenever he attends these types of sessions. Remember folks, this is Bridgeport; you can’t make a purse out of a sow’s ear.
*** Promote the city with lies and make contacts who will drop their support once they find out the truth, no? *** WELCOME TO ZOMBIELAND ***
The Mayor should not take more than one staff person at taxpayer expense on these trips. He should feel free to take his wife if he pays for all incremental costs personally. He should also stay in cheaper hotels. I have given many speeches in Vegas. I don’t spend my own money staying there and he should not spend taxpayer money staying there.