Could this be the final City Council act of Bob “Troll” Walsh? His council tenure officially expires at the end of November following 16 years as the resident curmudgeon watchdog. Whether Joe Ganim, John Fabrizi or Bill Finch, the Troll was never bashful about plunging a sharply worded resolution into a mayoral initiative. Council members Andre Baker and Carlos Silva joined him in presenting three resolutions at Monday night’s meeting, two (subject matter WalMart and RCI Marine) that were referred to committee while one other was rejected regarding Tate George, former UConn basketball star turned developer, who’s in the crosshairs of a federal investigation. The resolution sought answers to questions regarding the future of the Seaview Plaza development project in the East End. George had joined forces with Simon Konover Development for a mixed-use development.
The resolutions follow:
Resolution concerning Steel Point development
Whereas, rumors persist that a Walmart will be located at Steel Point as part of the RCI Marine development project; and
Whereas, the developers had steadfastly denied that big box retailers such as Walmart would be located on the site as part of the project; and
Whereas, Walmart has a history of stunting the development of smaller local retailers in the area in which they locate which is contrary to statements made by the developers regarding their intention to include and assist local merchants in any development proposal; and
Whereas, Walmart is in direct conflict with the proposed destination shopping concept that has been put forward on several occasions; and
Whereas, there were no Walmart stores located on the property that was twice shown to members of the City Council as the prototype of development RCI Marine would build in Bridgeport,
Be it resolved that the city the City Council remains steadfastly opposed to the location of a Walmart on the property to be developed by RCI Marine and maintains that such a development would be a material breach of the proposals previously presented to the council.
Resolution concerning free goods and services given to RCI Marine.
Whereas, the city of Bridgeport recently announced plans to provide for the relocation of topsoil from excavation work being performed at the site of its new regional high school to Steel Point to the benefit of a private developer; and
Whereas, such an accommodation was not included as part of the city’s responsibilities in the Land Disposition Agreement with the developers RCI Marine; and
Whereas, such actions represent a significant economic savings to the private developer and a real economic cost to the taxpayers of the city of Bridgeport and / or the state of Connecticut; and
Whereas, under normal operations these costs would be solely borne by the developer,
Be it resolved that the city of Bridgeport invoice and take all actions necessary to collect the fair market value for the fill to be relocated along with the market value of the cost to transport the fill to the Steel Point site.
Tate George Resolution
Whereas, one of the key and prominent developers in the city’s Seaview Plaza development project has been charged by the federal government with wire fraud in conjunction with running a Ponzi scheme which once again gives the city’s economical development efforts another black eye; and
Whereas, the city has continuously made public statements in support of the project and in using the individual’s name and company name in these declarations thereby lending credibility to the individual; and
Whereas, the city through its CAO who is Director of the port Authority should have conducted thorough research in the finances of the entities involved in this project; and
Whereas, such due diligence might have discovered at least one of the development partners was severely underfinanced and should have discovered at least one law suit filed against the individual and the company that bears his name back in 2008 for which judgment was awarded against the developer in August 2009; and
Whereas, a US Judge order the developers arrest in January of this year for failing to comply with such judgment,
Be it resolved that the city of Bridgeport through the Mayor’s Office, the Planning and Economic Development Office or the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer provide the City Council with complete documentation as to what due diligence was performed on both partners in this project prior to awarding the development rights and what monitoring has taken place since the award.
Due diligence … Andy Nunn?
Carolanne
To our posting:
Due diligence … Andy Nunn?
I think that was a Nunn-Sequitur!
Why the “resolution” route and not FOI, or both? Again, “it’s not a plan if you don’t have a back-up plan.”
Bob Walsh, kick them in the balls before you leave. Give them something to remember you by. It’s as if they don’t care they are being watched. As I said in my previous post, it’s worth $250,000 just in trucking they are paying the site contractor. The materials are being screened and crushed which is another $15.00 per cy times 50k cys equals $750,000. That equals $1,000,000 which RCI Marine enriches itself out of citizens of Bpt and Connecticut’s pockets.
The other day everyone was ranting and raving about this exchange of soils from one project to another but it don’t look so good now. No one is watching the cash register.
bpt guy,
Thanks for the facts and figures covering the soil transfer from one site to another, along with the historical note about how the excavating contractor would advantage himself with the sale of topsoil. That means folks on the City side were not aware of all of the values involved in the equation. Sad when you think about it.
“It’s as if they don’t care they are being watched.” My guess is they do not feel they are being watched with enough specificity. They, whoever “they” are in a given case, don’t even feel the need to make a declaration about how smart they are, get a positive news release or put up a sign. So when the trucking of soil was contracted for, where was the info posted? Was there special bidding? And who is doing the necessary screening, etc.? Is this Capital Budget item or operating budget through a department, or something special from a BOE contract?
Bridgeport financial operations are like a patchwork quilt in the making. However, no one gets to see the whole design before the quilting bee, and all the quilters do their thing but also are unable to comment on the pattern. The only thing the citizen taxpayer gets is to pay for it. “Watching” is not the same as comprehending the entire picture or understanding how things add up, unfortunately. And my fear is there is no Bridgeport taxpayer who knows and understands (because the managers are from out of town).
Native Soil? How??? Ugh!!!