10 Veterans Affairs Commission Minutes
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10 Veterans Affairs Commission Agenda
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Democrats Perform Well on EH BOE Budget
I like to give credit where it is due, despite my political affiliation. I generally give a review of the budget process after the meetings, hearings and approval. Watching tonight’s BOE review some things really stood out.
For the last two budgets I have given the best composure awards to Democrats Rich Kehoe and Bill Horan. It looks like I am going to need to add Linda Russo to that list. She presented herself very intelligently, which shouldn’t be a surprise, asking some good questions.
What I have found most interesting so far is how absolutely fearful the BOE and school administration are of the CREC schools. To be open, I (like Marcia, as I learned tonight) am a proponent of parent directed school choice. I may take it further than Marcia in that I believe we should have open choice with the ability to send our children to any school, public or private, of our choice.
What better way to give ou
East Hartford Legislative Delegation Responds
I received a letter yesterday dated March 9th from our Reps. Larson, Genga & Rojas and Senator LeBeau in response to the letter I sent them on Feb. 25th requesting emergency legislation providing an exemption for East Hartford from Minimum Budget Requirements and binding arbitration awards.
According to the letter they are working on it but can’t gt it done in time. I disagree, if they wanted to do it it would be introduced by now. Incidentally the MORE commission presentation on the first round of recommendations does not indicate at all that there is any intention of suspending binding arbitration or Minimum Budget Requirements now or in the future. There is however plenty of reference to the commission being significantly behind new and increased taxes at the state level. They call them “revenue streams”. See for yourself. http://housedems.ct.gov/more/More3_3_10.pdf
Make no mistake, because of inaction by our legislative delegation our taxes in this newly adopted budget are almost $200 per year higher than they would otherwise be if we were free to set our Board of Education budget at reasonable levels.
If they continue to not act on these issues our taxes will increase another $400 next year.
If your Web browser is not configured to display PDF files click here to download the PDF file.
The Election is over…. back to the blogosphere with a new address. http://www.brainflation.com
The election is over. Congratulations to the winners!
I am now in the process of writing a new book titled “The Campaign Diet”. It will teach you how to get the strongest legs and knuckles you’ve ever had. j/k
This blog will be changing web hosting from wordpress.com to the domain I purchased for it back in the beginning of the year. This will give me greater ability to host videos, documents and generally utilize technology to keep you updated on the happenings in East Hartford Government.
Find the new site here:
Daley Court – Compatibility… phooeey
It’s come to my attention that the new version of Adobe creates documents which aren’t fully backwards compatible and as such the FOI complaint I posted may not be readable for everyone. Here is the complaint set to compatibility all the way back to Acrobat 4.X.
Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee FOI Appeal
A Tour of Daley Court
Follow me on a journey through Daley Court, AKA 582 Burnside Ave., AKA 590 Burnside Ave. I will show you that Daley Court is not some falling down slum development but instead a structurally sound, if in need of modernization, development. Our town officials are lying to us and it’s going to cost the taxpayers of East Hartford millions.
This past Tuesday the town council held a public hearing at which point it became apparent that the council and development department had not done their homework. In response they have scheduled a second hearing for June 16th at 7PM in the town council chambers. Please come and voice your opposition to selling a 2.2 million viable commercial residential development to a non-profit developer of subsidized housing projects for a mere $50,000. Tell them you aren’t willing to give up millions on this property so they can have an election issue. It will take a minimum of 10 years for the new development to offset the loss on the property alone that this deal would create.
Shame on the East Hartford development department and shame on East Hartford Mayor Melody Currey for recommending this transfer to the Town Council.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PwtgP7v9uU]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc2SBABneG8]
East Hartford Memorial Day Parade Route
From the Hartford Courant:
Starting Spot For Parade Has Changed To Middle School
EAST HARTFORD — – In order to avoid potential construction work, organizers have moved the starting location for the annual Memorial Day parade to the East Hartford Middle School.
The parade will leave from the school at 10:30 a.m. turn onto Burnside Avenue before traveling along Hillside Street and ending at Hillside Cemetery, where a memorial service will take place.
This year’s parade is dedicated to the late Leo J. Cordier, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant and World War Two veteran.
Rebellious Stripes
Tim Larson, lobbyist and legislator
The New Haven Independent reported Wednesday that Tweed Airport is seeking 6.5 million from the state for operating costs and removal of “obstacles to planes”.
Guess who Tweed’s lobbyist in Hartford is… Tim Larson, newly elected State Representative in the 11th Assembly District. I warned about the conflict of interest before and now it will come home to roost.
From the article:
Tim Larson (pictured above) told about two dozen people at the East Shore Management Team meeting Tuesday night at the local fire station that he’s asking the state for $1.5 million for operating costs and $5 million in bond funds for obstruction removal. He wants to remove trees, satellite dishes and poles over 18 feet tall that are in the flight path and could impede the take-off and landing of planes in what he hopes will be an ever-busier airport.
Mr. Larson receives a generous salary to lobby for Tweed and has baseline support in the 11th district that requires almost no voter loyalty for him to get re-elected. This is the reason I was in favor of the Democrats forcing a primary against Larson. It’s embarrassing not to have a candidate to run, as my district didn’t, but it’s shameful to endorse a lobbyist on your ticket and not put up a fight.
It’ll be interesting to see his rhetoric on the budget when he has to call for fiscal conservatism at the same time as money for his employer.
