City meeting

I went to a meeting last night.
I was free and I've wanted to see the dynamics played out between the city of some of the north Stamford residents.
This wasn't a pretty meeting, it was full of distrust and accusations and very adversarial and it really appeared to be part of David Martin's political campaign.

WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL THIS MAN WITHOUT A BRAIN HE LOST THE ELECTION AND IT IS 4 YEARS TILL THE NEXT ONE.

He has been rude an obnoxious to the interim health director, Ann Fountain, saying she hasn't done anything. Not that she hasn't done enough, but that she hasn't done anything.
Sadly, a political lie.
Maybe because she is a woman and I am also, but he was unnecessarily nasty and someone needs to put him in his place.
There were lots of overtones of "we don't trust the city", some outright and many times inferred, but it makes little sense, since by many of their own admissions, they won't share their results.
That just doesn't make sense. They are hiding information and it's the city who can't be trusted?
I do not know, but I do know, I will not go to any of these meetings again.
They really disgust me.

perspectives on Stamford

It has been a very long time since I posted anything.
I have moved out of Stamford, but i still follow the things going on and visit once in a while.
Stamford is a strange little town, that calls itself a city and that is probably its biggest problem, it is not a city, it is a town.
I have been listening to all the activity concerning the Scofield situation and have reached a conclusion.
I'm not an environmentally aware person, so I get lost in that part of the debate, but I think the debate is more economic than anything any way.
The big problem is that the people who live "North of the parkway" have homes that are valued very high.
Instead of taxation with out representation, their cry is taxation without services!
And that is what the source of all the issues are, they want some city service for all the taxes that they pay and water is a really good start.
This has been the cry of the "North of the parkway" people for some time, but they think they have more clout now.
This is the problem with this little town that supports all the big corporations on the homeowners tax dollar.
Change that and things might be different, but for now they have a rallying cry!
"It's the city's fault!"

Parlor Tricks?

Strange rumors are surfacing concerning the "cuts" of employees.
Several positions that are slated to be eliminated on July first have some kind of significant extensions given to them.
I am not talking weeks, but months.
There will be people leaving, there is no question, but what is this smoke and mirrors game?

Figure head or head of governement?

Well, the Pavia administration is entering its fifth month and there is no question who is running the show...
between Joe Tarzia and his obvious "get even" tactics on everyone he doesn't like (read the library especially) and Director of Administration Frederick Flynn and his "this town needs to be run like a business" attitude the citizens of Stamford face the following:
A new fenced in unfinished area in the downtown area - I of course talk of the ill fated Mill river park restorations which is now added to a list of empty and unusable areas in downtown Stamford.
Loss of library time or personnel, what is wrong with these people, why throw punches at a library? maybe they weren't allowed to check out books as a youngster?
The engineering department gutted - the ones who make sure that the roads are paved and that sort of thing.
The Health Department losing personnel? They can't keep up with restaurant inspections as it is! i guess there will be a lot more trips to the hospital for food poisoning!
The schools now are on the chopping block and that looks like another one of those grudge matches.
Can I throw in the do nothing attitude now concerning the Scofieldtown area?
Or the further lack of protection for tenants in the city with the gutting of the social services department?
Or still more gutting of the Operations department?

What is next?

Another raise for the mayor?

This is not a city that is working, it is old time politics at its worse!

The "New" buisness model - inaccessibility

Inaccessibility is the new motto of mayor mike.
You can not go and see the mayor any more.
The public is not going to see him as he lets them sit outside on the 10th floor and wait.
City personnel must be "buzzed" in.
I think some one got things mixed up!

Parade & Circuses

I know it's suppose to be bread and circuses, but with the St Patty's day parade going on in the rain with all the police and fire people getting over time and the inclement weather,I think it is appropriate.
Of course my power went down and I had to return to this post.
Dropping 119 positions and then having a parade does not seem to be in keeping with the idea of fiscal responsibility.
Now of course we have a weather related disaster on our hands and more OT must be paid, what is a mayor (or Joe Tarzia) to do?
It looks like politics as usual to me!

Morale

Since the 119 positions were cut from the budget and to be fair only 49 were filled full-time positions and many of the rest were unfilled position, there has been a feeling of gloom among employees at the government center.
Worse, there are now rumors (total unsubstantiated) that there will be more layoffs in April.
This is probably because most of the cutting that occurs has been traditionally done by the board of finance and their review of the budget occurs in April.
Since it is my opinion hat Joe Tarzia is behind most of this, I do not see this as an issue.
What I do think is an issue is anyone wanting services from the city show not expect much.
As morale is low, I doubt that service for complaints will be very pleasant.
As for projects, I say good luck.
One interesting note, the Democratic canidate for the last election was at the Scofield meeting the other night and was not very understanding of a new interim Health Director just getting their feet wet. Shame on you David Martin, you are still campaigning!
I will definitely go "green" next election.

So is it Joe or Mike running the show?

With 119 positions eliminated one might wonder. mayor Mike said he wanted a better business like atmosphere and Joe Tarzia said the budget constraints and that idea were incompatible.
I am sure with the power of the Board of finance, there would have been this number of positions lost no matter what administration was in office.
And if things hold true, if a Democrat had submitted a budget with those positions still intact even more would have been lost, Joe Tarzia has a reputation for vindictiveness.
So who is running the show? I think the answer is in the power of the board of finance.

politics as usual

Politics is the name of the game and Pavia plays it well, as a non player, but what does it mean?

The 10% and 5% budget cut requests where a just in case, but scared a lot of employees.
He assures us that it is a last resort, but who does run things?

he has made good choices (Ernie) and questionable ones (His campaign director?)and then there are actions that appear to be no action on his part (The health director).
He stopped capital projects (especially the Mill River one) and said let's wait and see what is really going on.

I actually think He has done some smart things in all of this, but we will see.

Now as the scofieldtown thing bumbles along, we will see how those people react. it sure does seem that only want one answer and it means that I have to pay fir it!

New Direction?

So many things, the departments are asked to lower their budgets by 10% and a significant figure (well paid I think) is leaving.
Yes the Director of health is leaving for Greener pastures. Now if they don't fill the position right away, will that save 10%? He got paid an awful lot!

Stamford Politics

I've been away a long time and Stamford's political scene has changed or has it?
We have a new mayor, Mike Pavia. He has done a few shake ups, but it may be that the real power behind the scenes is now Joe Tarzia, who has been shaking up a number of departments.
A memo from the mayor has building and zoning departments increasing their hours to accommodate the public. Accommodate the public? What a novel idea!
What till they find out the Health Department is available only 3 days a week in the morning.
I also understand that Joe threatened the Health Director if he didn't start doing something about the Scofieldtowm situation. And they did do something, they had ther DEP come down and declare it was a private property owners problem and the city didn't have to be involved.
Mean time the North Stamford residents have formed their own task force and it almost sounds like the beginning of their own government.
While I would not agree with what some of the more, how do i put this politely?, paranoid of the group believe that there is a great cover-up and conspiracy, I don't see it that way.
The reality of not wanting to take action or place it on the homeowners' shoulders isn't a cover up, it's disinterest!
Now when the lawsuits issues are settled, I predict that this administration will have put the city in a real financial hole, mostly because of disinterest.
It is too cold for me to come back at this time. I really need to go back where it is warm.
New restaurants by the dozens and i can't wait to try some of the new Indian food places; Tawa and one on Altlantic where the Italian restaurant used to be.
I see the Housing authority and Stamford Hospital are diving up the West side and there are new block the box laws with painted boxes.
Well time to get out and see what else is happening!