Yet another new twist to the ongoing saga: As The Sludge Turns.
Word is that the town of Trumbull is on the verge of issuing a request for proposals for potential construction of its very own sewage treatment plant, as Bridgeport and Monroe continue discussions for creation of a regional waste water authority that would pump effluent from sewerless Monroe through Trumbull and finally into the sewage treatment mothership in Bridgeport.
Trumbull has sewers tied into Bridgeport, but no treatment plant. Trumbull town officials are reluctant to join the regional authority because they do not see a like-wise financial and development benefit that officials in Bridgeport and Monroe envision for their respective communities. For example, Trumbull’s sewers are modern, Bridgeport’s antiquated so Trumbull does not want to be part of a regional authority that would subsidize the cost of modernizing Bridgeport’s system.
Trumbull’s sludge has been processed through the city since creation of the Trumbull shopping park in the 1960s. The pipeline opened up all sorts of new development opportunities and revenue sources for the town, something Monroe wants to enjoy. But some Trumbull officials believe it’s time to look at a sewage treatment system of its own because, in part, it doesn’t want to be at the mercy of the city as it approaches its contractual capacity flow with Bridgeport that would spark a new sludge-for-fee negotiation. A treatment plant in Trumbull would also help the town dictate its own development destiny.
How serious is Trumbull? Will it really go through with it? Sewage treatment systems are not cheap to build so the town is weighing the benefits of building its own treatment system against a continued partnership with the city. In a Pol Pod interview last week, Paul Timpanelli, chief executive of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, who has been trying to broker the regional deal between the towns, said Trumbull would not likely be part of the initial regional authority but could join later.
OIB learned about Trumbull’s interest to build its own plant on Tuesday.
The genesis for the regional authority is Shelton-based developer Robert Scinto’s proposal to build a new Jewish Home for the Elderly (located in Fairfield) on property he owns in Monroe. The property is not large enough to build a stand-alone sewage treatment system. Monroe wants to do the regional deal to open up other development opportunities as well. Bridgeport wants the deal to create a separate authority that would inherit the debt service on the associated treatment plant infrastructure while generating fresh money.
Playhouse On The Green
If you’ve not checked out this jewel of a theater on State Street directly across from McLevy Green, it’s a must see. And you have lots of reasons to enjoy it starting with the upcoming musical The Wiz.
A contemporary version of the Tony Award winning musical eases on down the road to Bridgeport for 10 performances only, April 24-May 10, featuring a cast of 30 singing and dancing to r&b and gospel hits such as “Home” and “Brand New Day.”
Just imagine the cast of Bridgeport political characters you could incorporate into the show. Yeah, baby, let’s hear some names!
The new team managing and coordinating the shows are first rate, including Producing Artistic Director Matt Schicker, the creative voice behind each of the eight shows that have opened since his arrival. Matt was the Executive Director/President of The Gallery Players in Park Slope, Brooklyn , and Membership Director of National Alliance for Musical Theatre. His directing highlights include: The Full Monty, Side Show, Victor/Victoria, Twelve Angry Jurors, Charlie Brown, The Music of David Kirshenbaum, and Then and Now. His producing highlights include: The Rocky Horror Show, Barnum, Hair, and Yank! A New Musical (winner of the 2008 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical; Nominee, 2008 GLAAD Media Award for Best Off-Off Broadway Musical).
Producing quality community theater using a small budget, Matt has garnered a following of creative, dedicated artists, eager to make theater accessible to the greater Bridgeport community.
The Playhouse is an an absolute gem, cozy, every seat perfect. I guarantee when you walk in you’ll shout holy shit, what have I missed!
The Managing Director Chris Teskey is a talented musician and buddy from my Fairfield County Advocate days 100 years ago.
Check out www.playhouseonthegreen.org and buy a bunch of tix to The Wiz. The Playhouse on the Green … the Best of Bridgeport.
Walk The Walk, news release
CENTER FOR WOMEN & FAMILIES BREAKS THE SILENCE
Sexual Assault Walk Raises Money to Benefit and Prevent Sexual Assault
On Sunday April 19that 2:00 p.m. Sacred Heart University will serve as the site of a fundraising walk coordinated by The Center for Women And Families of Eastern Fairfield County, Jane Doe No More, Inc. and Delta Tau Delta to raise awareness about sexual assault. To participate in the walk, registration begins at 1:00 p.m. or participants are encouraged to pre-register at www.cwfefc.org. Cost to participate is $15 per person, $5 for students with student ID and free for children 12 and under. Corporate teams are also invited to join at $250 per group.
Donna Palomba, founder of Jane Doe No More, Inc. and sexual assault survivor, will be the featured guest speaker. The JDNM team is comprised of law enforcement, medical, legal and business executives as well as victims’ service professionals dedicated to ensure the proper treatment of victims, which will shorten the time to their healing and allow for the best possible chance of recovery. To learn more about the organization and its mission, please visit: www.janedoenomore.org.
The White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) is the largest effort in the world of men working to end violence against women. In 1991, a handful of men in Canada decided they had a responsibility to urge men to speak out about violence against women. CWF started the first WRC in Connecticut in December 2008 in order to engage men in our community about ending violence against women. CWF is collaborating with SHU Delta Tau Delta fraternity whose mission is to prevent sexual assault against women. Members will volunteer their efforts at the walk to raise awareness about the campaign.
Paul Timpanelli to star in BRBC Playhouse Folly called Funny Boy!
His big hit will be “Don’t Shit On My Parade!” The Times gave his performance FOUR FLUSHES!!!
So much for regionalism. It’s time to call Roto Rooter on Timpanelli. “And away go troubles down the drain!”
And remember, this regional sewage authority a.k.a Regionalism, doesn’t exist yet. Nothing from Monroe comes into Bridgeport pipes. Nothing’s been signed thanks to Mayor Finch who still ponders the situation while Scinto waits.
I’m sure former Monroe First Selectman and current Bridgeport Chief Operating Officer Andy Nunn will work out the best deal for the city …
… of Monroe.
I only have Local Eyes for you.
The shit may not have hit the fan yet in Monroe. However, in your bucolic town of Trumbull, the shit runs downhill to Bridgeport.
Bridgeport’s new slogan should be “Don’t Shit On Me!!!”
Furthermore, one argument that is being presented is why should Bridgeport increase its capacity to Monroe and enable Monroe to grow its tax base? Thus encouraging more companies to leave or not come to Bridgeport and settle in Monroe or surrounding towns with lower mil rates. As one astute friend said to me yesterday at lunch: “We are cannibalizing ourselves with this deal.”
Joel,
You need a gender reclarification; however, let’s look on the bright side: you spelled and used “bucolic” correctly, your blogging skills improve with each post and you stand the same chance I do of becoming America’s next late night talk show host.
You’ll be my first guest!
You need glasses.
Will your new show be called “The Sludge Report”?
You can be Bazooka Joe and I can be Sluggo. A couple of bubble-gum comics.
Sounds like Trumbull First Selectman Ray Baldwin is playing hardball here to try to get a sweeter deal. Given that he’s in serious danger of losing his bid for re-election in November, he’s pulling out all the stops to show that he can keep taxes down.
Will Finch be playing the Scarecrow? Maybe Adam Wood could be the Tin Man …
“If they only had a brain, a heart …”
Dorothy would be played by any of the fifteen or so smart competent people that have left the Finch administration since Adam Wood became Mayor.
And who plays the cowardly lion? Bridgeport does have its lion’s share of those … I’d say that the lion could be played by any of the city employee DTC members who had their jobs and family’s livelihoods threatened by Wood and Finch in lieu of political support.
… The Wizard of Oz hid behind his green curtain, smoky illusions and displays of splendor because he was not really a wizard, but a wayward passenger in a hot-air balloon who landed in Emerald City in the Land of Oz. He was a sham and a quack, peddling things that were always freely available and within reach of unwitting but very desperate and needy consumers …
From a report on Professional Integrity (or lack thereof).
I could think of a few of our politicians and Department Heads who fill that role daily …
Sounds like “Defecation of Character” to me.
Trumbull must build their own, self-contained sewage treatment facilities, and they must not be allowed to locate these facilities on any of their neighbors’ borders–as is their blatantly exploitative, contemptuous practice. They should be put on notice in the very near future that they have no more than 18 months to disconnect from Bridgeport’s system before their access is physically blocked. (The 18-month window will coincide with the beginning of the end of the current depression, just in time to accommodate resurgent, stimulus-inspired development in Bridgeport.)
To reiterate my take on the “regionalization” (read: “suburban hijacking”) of Bridgeport’s sewage-processing resources:
There cannot be a sewer deal with Monroe and/or Trumbull that is good for Bridgeport. The present sewer deal with Trumbull (in conjunction with the 25-8 Corridor state/federal mandate), struck in the 1960s by traitorous Bridgeport politicians in league with treacherous regional politicians, sounded the death knell for Bridgeport’s tax base. The sewer deal was a reverse flush–Bridgeport’s thriving Downtown and much of its thriving Main Street and East Main Street retail sectors were ejected into the Trumbull Mall through a subsidized sewer connection to Bridgeport–in return we received sewer debt and Trumbull’s shit, which currently backs up into many Bridgeport basements when it rains …
When 25-8 was built, much of Bridgeport’s manufacturing went north, as it still continues to go–into the Trumbull Industrial Park and Shelton.
In addition to losing our tax base because of the sewer link-up/25-8 conspiracy–largely hatched by the forerunner of today’s BRBC (same ship, just some different pirates)–a tremendous amount of potential tax base has been diverted (and continues to be diverted) into Trumbull and Shelton that would otherwise have gone to Bridgeport …
As Town Committee pointed out, the sewer link-up for Monroe is not intended for the new facility for the elderly–which is probably actually planned for the area next to Scinto’s property adjacent to Beardsley Park in Trumbull in what is left of Bridgeport’s decimated Fairchild Wheeler Park (the state took some for 25-8, along with part of Beardsley; the new magnet school will get some more, and now it looks as if the remainder will be sold to Scinto for the new facility for the elderly–it makes sense since it’s much closer to the two “regional” hospitals in Bridgeport and the area already has sewer access). The real reason for the Monroe sewer hook-up is, indeed, to develop the Route 25 corridor through Monroe and into Newtown …
If the sewer link-up with Monroe happens, what little remains of Bridgeport’s commercial-industrial tax base will be sucked up Route 25 and any potential desirable tax base that might relocate to Bridgeport will surely go north …
This sewer deal is a traitorous act on the part of our elected officials–at best, it is extremely short-sighted and incompetent. Bridgeport will be permanently and severely damaged by any sewer link-up with Monroe.
As far as any “smart-growth” aspect to this proposed link-up; encouraging any further development along the Route 25 Corridor spells only environmental disaster for the region, with a suburban-sprawl inductive effect that can only further skew the commercial and residential transportation/tax base dynamic that already threatens to cripple commerce throughout Connecticut and render the urban centers of Southwestern Connecticut unlivable. Smart growth, indeed!!!
Truly, Bridgeport should not only refuse to allow Monroe to link-up with our sewer system; we should also put Trumbull on notice that they are going to be disconnected at a set time in the relatively near future in order to level the economic playing field for Bridgeport and permit our recovery.
True “regionalization” without a strong form of county government is an impossibility–regionalization can only mean destructive exploitation for the urban centers, which will be prevented from realizing socioeconomic economic recovery and realizing their full potential under such an insidious system … Regionalization guarantees suburban sprawl, with all of its environmental destruction and horrific waste of human and material resources.
A series of public hearings in Bridgeport on the whole issue of the regionalization of Bridgeport’s sewer system must be held before any deal is seriously considered by our elected officials. Truly, this is a matter for referendum. This time, the people must have a chance to be informed and have a voice before they are once again sacrificed on the BRBC altar to satisfy the suburban development gods!
Never again!
Hey Lennie! If I were Trumbull looking at building my own treatment plant, I’d also be talking to my neighbors about going in with me. I know I’ve got one neighbor who wants to do something.
Who says “regionalization” has to include Bridgeport?
Any rumors that Monroe is talking to Trumbull?
OIB Rumor Mill:
Grin Ripper was recently released by Somali pirates after a 3-week stay during which time he successfully attacked
and hijacked 9 vessels. No clue was given as to the whereabouts or direction of the newly formed 5-ship, 50-member crew who remain loyal to Grin Ripper’s motto: we attack, we win, then we do it again. Get a little pirate rhythm thing going and it’ll come to ya …
Speculation arose that if Grin Ripper were too tough for the pirates maybe he was considering switching sides and promptly upending global piracy.
Each town or city is going to do what’s best for them … so even while we want Bpt to do what’s best for Bpt … I see too many people in this place trashing Trumbull for wanting to do what’s best for Trumbull.
I think Local Eyes needs some Lasik Surgery.
Better yet he needs some Lasix for the fluid that is seeping out of his Local Eyes.
*** Well said B/F, each town or city wants what’s best for themselves. However, it’s the false masquerade of hidden agendas, eventual personal gain & “$” cost to taxpayers in the end that pisses people off! *** And as far as the Wiz is concerned, I hear they’re looking for someone to oversee Oz’s “poppy” gardens, pays good but no sleeping on the job is permitted! ***
No sleeping on the job?
Well, there goes all the patronage DTC lackeys marching out the door …