Foster: Honest Choice For Change

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Mary-Jane Foster chats with supporters Monday night at headquarters.

UPDATE: Foster statement on Trumbull Gardens shooting. Asserting “the past haunts us and the present fails us,” Mary-Jane Foster opened her campaign headquarters Downtown Monday evening telling 60 supporters she’s the “honest choice for change” against Mayor Bill Finch and former Mayor Joe Ganim.

Finch’s 2011 Democratic primary opponent discovered a bit of irony as she arrived at headquarters across from the Bijou Square redevelopment area, covered parking meters with no parking signs in anticipation of the all-star game block party organized by the Bridgeport Bluefish baseball team she co-founded in 1998 with husband Jack McGregor. Fairfield Avenue will be shut down Tuesday evening, requiring city permitting, for music, food and appearances by all-star players of the Atlantic League. Hmm, could this be a little gamesmanship from City Hall blocking parking spaces? some Foster supporters wondered.

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Red-covered no parking meters in front of Foster HQ.

Either way, Foster’s hoping her candidacy catches the same enthusiasm her baseball team enjoyed with the building of Harbor Yard more than a decade ago.

Foster told the crowd of her priorities to conduct a complete audit of city finances, balance the budget, fully fund city schools, rebuild the strength of depleted police ranks and provide property tax credits for teachers, police officers and firefighters as incentives for city residency that provides economic spending and buy-in to concerns.

She also made clear, as an executive at the University of Bridgeport, that she will embrace the brain power of the university largely ignored by Finch.

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Sign goes up fronting Foster headquarters.

Foster says she’s confident she can raise the $200,000 necessary to wage a competitive race. She’s about one third of the way there as candidates for mayor file campaign finance reports this week for the quarter ending June 30.

Foster was once again introduced by freshman State Senator Marilyn Moore who showed last summer it’s possible to defeat an incumbent when she took out Anthony Musto in a primary.

Foster statement on Trumbull Gardens shooting:

“A week ago the mayor insisted we will have community policing back in Bridgeport. Yet last night there was another shooting in the Trumbull Gardens community. This incident happened around midnight of last night, but from what I recall, the mayor and Chief Gaudett implemented regular police patrols from 6PM 2AM in the Trumbull Gardens community. Where were the police when this crime occurred?

We can do better if we create a Strategically Operated Substation in the Bridgeport Police Department and not just bring in the crime scene van when something happens. We need to establish a presence in areas where crime and the fear of crime are a growing part of the culture. This S.O.S. can better serve to create an immediate response to crime, as well as establish a presence for as long as it is needed. If we implement police activity that embraces a community and reduces the fear of crime by being there, people will feel safer and criminals will be less inclined to commit acts of violence. We deserve a police department that is proactive and not reactive.

Proactive police presence is just the first step. If our city wants to a community that is resilient in the face of crime we need to work with and in our communities every hour of the day. We must establish a credible police presence that works with the community, adequately maintain buildings and grounds and we need to give our young children and young adults more opportunities – especially during the long, hot summer. Summer programs for young children and jobs for teenagers are critical.

We have hardworking, taxpaying members of the Trumbull Gardens community and their homes deserve to be safer than what the City of Bridgeport is giving them. We need to do better for our communities, and that starts by showing that we truly care. Implementing a gun buyback program and temporary police patrols are just reactive responses to the issue of crime in this community. Would the mayor really care if it weren’t an election year?

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32 comments

  1. I was down on Fairfield Avenue this evening and was challenged with the no parking bags on meters. Phil and Russ and Russ at Two Boots had no idea what they were for. I assumed they were for Mary-Jane Foster’s VIP entourage. Two Boots had a band this evening. I thought maybe a few Foster supporters would dribble in. They did not. The pizza as always delicious when you are looking for a pizza that is as strange, creative and as interesting as the employees.

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  2. I was pleased to see the turnout for Mary-Jane, even though those NO PARKING signs were on the meters, what a sham.
    Mary-Jane and her supporters were there in full force.
    “Bridgeport Deserves Better.” Vote Mar-Jane as our next female Mayor … yeah!!!

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    1. The red parking signs were put there by the Police department, the guys who endorsed Ganim, because there is an event there today. I wonder if they gave thought to the restaurants and bars there, let alone the MJF announcement. What? They couldn’t take 10 minutes and do it this morning?

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  3. Jim Fox. Not funny, worthy of a junior high school laugh where young boys think they “rule.” Or an early sign of dementia in old boys who think they “rule.”

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  4. Mary-Jane Foster IS what Bridgeport NEEDS.
    She is not a current or past career politician.
    She is in it for the right reasons.
    Joe Ganim could not get a good paying job without acknowledging his past criminal activity to get his law license back so he is running for mayor again.
    Bill Finch NEVER got by without a government handout.
    NOW is the time for change and change for the better.

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      1. If they are there 24/7 building a relationship with the community instead of sitting on their high horses. Finch only cares because it’s an election year.

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      2. Steve,
        Are you following this? There was another shooting last night. Where were the police? Why aren’t you asking Bill Finch what is he going to do?
        So your attitude is too bad? Shouldn’t live there?
        Bill Finch is trying his best. Give him 20 years like Steal Point and when he finally does something about it everyone should get excited?

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        1. The shooting last night was not the Mayor’s fault. Giving the police and teachers an added perk for reduced taxes won’t work because the school system sucks and they moved to make sure their children have an excellent education where charter schools aren’t necessary. Bill Finch doesn’t need 20 years, I give him four more before he looks at a run for Governor, like Ganim did before his conviction. The difference will be Finch will leave behind a transformed city. 🙂 Joe Ganim can become the Mayor of Trumbull Gardens, Marilyn Moore will be running for Mayor and MJF may consider a run for Senator, as she should have a year ago.

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  5. Voters, taxpayers and supporters of someone other than the incumbent for Mayor in 2015. Why don’t all of us start sharing the vision of what this City might be like when Bill Finch is no longer here? I have used the words Open, Accountable and Transparent for five years on this site and I can explain examples of changed process, activity and behavior in regards to each word.

    How about some of you others chiming in? What part of the Charter is missing and how would you correct it? How about a look at the ordinances? Change? City practices? City opportunity? Where do you see cuts can be made in current budgeting? Where should saved dollars be spent?

    What is likely if most of us stick to this is Steve A, having nothing more to say because Mayor Finch is not going to change and Steve likes everything about Bill, is Steve will stick to T & E, his travels and meals and wouldn’t that be just fine? Nothing to get irritated about. And an end to his prognosticating?

    Ordinarily this might seem a cruel and unusual suggestion, but don’t you see Steve has five coats of Teflon working on an average day. Will he even notice? Time will tell.

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    1. John Marshall Lee, the problem with your post is you cannot imagine a future Bridgeport without Mayor Finch. I understand it irks you I support Finch. I also find it extremely curious you had a fundraiser for Howard Gardner but never uttered his name since. It is strange, a handful of Foster supporters regularly go after Finch and a much larger group of Ganim supporters go after Finch and yet you with your long-winded posts never show support or criticism for anyone but Finch.

      Well JML, I know you are a sharp person and we both know it is strangely curious being the only Finch supporter, I happily stand alone on this blog. I have many acquaintances working on different campaigns. I know even more voters supporting Mayor Finch. The Bridgeport race is pretty much over.

      All eyes on the Presidential. Maybe John, you will come out for a candidate so we can all know where you stand. Please, whomever you grace with your support, please let it not be Mayor Finch. Please support Ganim, Foster or Coviello. Please be honest with your candidate like Jeff Kohut. I am still in shock. John, I will respect your choice.

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  6. It’s nice to see a Bridgeport resident has money to waste every four years. Stay in the race MJF as the miniscule votes you will garner will be Finch votes.

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    1. BPT REBEL, I disagree with you. I think MJF supporters imagine they are getting the anti-Finch vote but that is their first failing. Ganim and Foster will divide the anti-Finch vote, with Ganim getting the lion’s share. The money going to Ganim is anti-Finch. Very little left for Foster.

      Ganim could win! He definitely has all but kicked Foster out of the race. She forgot the first rule of politics she taught me. You first go after the disgruntled. Joe Ganim has done an excellent job with that.

      Bill Finch has a better story to tell. Sometimes the better story is clouded by noise.

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