Don't miss these two stories by reporter Jackie Majerus in today's Bristol Press:
Zoning chair: Scalia school site bad idea
and
City planner not consulted
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
28 comments:
What was the Zoning Chair thinking?! He has more than intimated his opinion on the site and confirmed he cannot be partial when required to rule on the site as a member of the Zoning Commission.
If I were a proponent of the school site, which I am not, I would immediately ask him to recuse himself from sitting on the commission during any meeting regarding this site. He has proven to be predjucial regarding the site. If he did not recuse himself any ruling given while he sat on the board would most likely lend itself to legal problems that would end up in court.
That makes no sense to me at all.
In this case, the applicant would be the city, not a private person. On a government application, the logic of being impartial completely evaporates. What you want is for everyone involved to speak their mind at every step of the process. Otherwise, the people are shortchanged.
Frank Johnson is trying to save the city time and money by pointing out problems that could prove very costly in the future.
I believe it would be helpful if all city officials, elected, appointed, about to be elected, think they are going to be elected categorically state which of the 12 available sites they prefer. Each time a site is floated for discussion, many will say why it's the worst idea they have ever heard. Give us your # 1 choice and defend it.
Finance chairman Mize has already weighed in as has the vice-chairman, Roald Erling. If you read in between the lines, it appears that the City Planner, Alan Weiner prefers the Park/Divinity Street properties (he favors neighborhood schools).
I suspect it's not politically correct to state the obvious. BOE Commissioner Tom O'Brien (who has been blistered publicly) is the only person who has had enough courage to give his opinions that other officials say privately, (paraphrase) "if you want the West End cleaned up, you need to tear portions of it down."
A new school is a good start.
Frank Johnson is a hypocrite, he selectively applies standards to cases. When they applied to build the new Walgreens he totally dismissed the complaint about traffic, not to mention that he let them break the zoning rules and bend other rules.
The Walgreen’s site has sewer and water. The Walgreen’s site is surrounded by streets that have sidewalks. In my opinion the new store is a huge improvement over what preceded it, even the windows look good. If you prefer rat infested burned out buildings and failing flop houses, I guess that’s you choice.
No rules were broken or laws violated the Walgreen’s project, unless you can cite one.
The Scalia site is one that I know well after twenty years of volunteering my time on the zoning commission. It is NOT a safe site for a school in my opinion.
At the Scalia site we are talking about bussing in 900 students a day plus generating traffic from faculty, staff and parents. There is no comparison between the two projects you mention.
The only hypocrites on this blog are those who demonstrate their ignorance by not knowing or learning all of the facts before they shoot their mouth off, and then they do it anonymously so that no one will know from where the venom flowed.
Get a grip. Make a positive suggestion or a constructive argument. Bile does not enhance the dialogue.
Yeah, Frank, those windows look terrific. ;)
I think we need to separate the debate over K-8 from the debate over 900-student schools. I happen to agree with the BOE that K-8 schools provide kids with a better environment because they stay in that school longer. Their siblings are more likely to be in the same school; the parents are more likely to get involved; the staff gets to know each kid better; etc.
I am not convinced, however, that we need to build 900-student schools to do this. I understand that it is a lot cheaper to build two 900-student schools than say three 600-student schools, but there are lots of benefits. For one: a small school needs less land, which expands the universe of potential sites way beyond the ten or so that the BOE has identified.
Frank Johnson, I trust the City Planner and others more than you. You have no credibility on this issue, just like you have no credibility on Walgreens. You put the interests of developers above the interests of Bristol Citizens.
The Walgreens evidence tells us everything we need to know. This is just a sample.
From the Bristol Press:
10/20/05
Weiner said the project is construed to get around the regulations by putting the building on the lot now occupied by the house and putting the parking on the rest of the property.
"They’ve created a fiction, a legal fiction," said Weiner, by putting the building on one lot to make the project meet the zoning regulations for floor-to-area ratios for development.
from 11/17/05:
City Planner Alan Weiner argued that allowing patrons to take a left turn in leaving the Walgreens parking lot onto South Street might pose safety or traffic hazards. He said the project shouldn’t be approved until independent traffic experts reviewed it.
Weiner pleaded with commissioners to seek an outside expert’s advice before making a decision. He said that developers offered only "vague, general statements" about traffic rather than clear numbers.
"None of this has been looked at by a professional traffic engineer," Weiner said. "It’s a problem."
Zoning Commission Chairman Frank Johnson said a city engineer, Ray Rogozinski, called him to express his reservations about the plan. He said it is "very, very rare" in his experience to get such a direct plea from an engineer worried about the safety of the proposed traffic pattern.
Johnson voted for the plan anyway.
from the Bristol Press on 1/26/07:
After city regulations forced Walgreens to put big display windows along Main Street for its new store, developer John Senese started bricking them up to create shadow boxes instead of real windows - and despite a cease-and-desist order, Senese and his lawyer quietly cut a deal with zoning officials to go along with the fake windows.
A paper trail at City Hall shows how City Building Official Guy Morin tried to enforce the downtown zoning regulations at the Walgreens property - even ordering a halt to construction in October - but gave up after zoning board Chairman Frank Johnson and Vice Chairman John Lodovico did an abrupt about-face and sided with Senese [after a private meeting].
I love the new Walgreen's. Welcome to the neighborhood and I like your windows, too.
To Craig Minor: your ideas are sensable, but you overlook the drawbacks of K-8. The BOE still hasn't proven their case, they say they have studies, but that doesn't mean it applies to Bristol.
To Frank Johnson: I think it's time for you to go. I appreciate that you volunteer, but I think the authority has gone to your head. It's obvious that you bent over backwards for Walgreens even though there were serious concerns by the city's professional staff about the rules and traffic safety. The Bristol Press articles show that you supported the developer using a loophole with the site plan, and that you essentially prevented the City Building Inspector from enforcing the rules I'm sure you will have a snappy comeback like you usually do, but that doesn't change the facts that you trusted a private developer who let the property rot in the first place, and also trusted the developer's attorney more than the city planner, city building inspector, city engineer, and good sense.
I used to live in New Britain and the new Walgreens makes me feel right at home. There was even a hobo nearby yesterday.
Councilman Minor, apparently you are at last grasping the possibility that this BOE plan issue may very well cost you your seat on the council. As Concerned pointed out the data backing the K - 8 shift is marginal at best and as has been pointed out by me and many other posters, data that refutes the K - 8 argument is easily obtained via the Net. Your point on the smaller schools allowing for more choices is a very good one. That said, I would have expected that you bring it to the forefront long before now. Instead we have committees on wild goose chases looking at properties for mega schools that the electorate does not support and an elected BOE hiding from the voters on the issue. The issue you just cited on school size and location availability is enough for you and any other council member or candidate to have said, "Sorry BOE your proposal is DOA. Rethink the plan." If we need new schools then let's build new schools within the system. If CTO is a disaster (and it is) then let's build a new CTO. A new CTO (K - 5)on the Divinity Street site might be viable. Smaller school in the same neighborhood sounds like a plan voters might support. It sure is better than the half baked plan we have right now. One last thing. Encourage the BOE candidates to speak up on this issue. Their silence is deafening and a disservice to the voters.
Bravo to Steve and Jackie for the Walgreens articles that are cited here. They are very revealing.
That is not Craig Minor talking...well he is typing what Ellen gave him! She was a huge fan of O'Brien, so she will speak through Minor who doesn't have the "jewels" to stand on his own.
R. Walter
I see that Frank Johnson challenged us to use "facts" before "shooting off" our mouths. You should have been more careful of what you wish for, Mr. Zoning Chairman, because the facts are obviously not in your favor.
WHEN are we going to hear/see something from ANY of the candidates for BOE on this extremely important issue?We should at LEAST be seeing letters to the editor with their particular views on this.To be saying/writing NOTHING AT ALL is an insult to every citizen of Bristol!
The fake Wal-GREED's windows say a lot about the zoning commission and its leaders and how sleazy lawyers and developers get away with plenty. Good point that the developer they're now hailing is the one who let another historic downtown structure rot and become a rathole. Yeah, the stories in the Press were excellent, but where was the public outcry? What good does it do for reporters to do all that digging and have it fall on deaf ears and blind eyes? If I were them, I wouldn't bother anymore.
Tim- the FHA should hold a forum for those seeing election to BOE.
This site discussion also ties in to the whole housing issue and what might save the west end. they need a school as a anchor. these people who would have to sell there houses would get good money, probably better than what they would get on the open market. Is there anyone out there who doesn't believe getting rid of housing would help that area? Ellen did and she lost, who knows what will happen to O'brien's seat but it seems to me people don't want to hear the truth.
Bristol needs another pharmacy.
Problem is, the majority of housing they are talking about getting rid of, is not the ones that should go. I know this may be a hard concept for you to understand, but some of us love our homes despite their market value. It's not alawys about money.
No witty response from Frank Johnson? Is he really at a loss for words? Wow. Too bad the facts are against you, Mr. Johnson, no way you can charm your way out of this one.
The city Planner, Planning, Zoning, Police, Fire, Public Works all wil/should be part of the evaluation process.
But they had to have a site to evaluate: that is part of the legislatively mandated process as was explained the other night.
If the Planner is so critical, why wasn't he in the forefront in making suggestions, with this, with Riverside Ave, and other key development efforts.
Even though he lives out of town, he still should be more pro-active.
And Zoning (our one man board) will have their shot as approriate as the process moves along.
I do believe that the consultants AND the city were aware of many of the issues: all sites do have them, they just made their choice.
The City Planner needs to be pro-active. If they don't ask him, he should invite himself. His boss needs to tell him this.
The City Planner can't simply volunteer, the union has made sure of that.
Your talking about the Downtown Corporation that the union told Weiner he could not help out on. They never told him he couldn't offer his assistance with the school siting. I'm sure his job description does not say "Keep your lip buttoned until someone orders you to speak"!
What are you hinting at about the city planner? That he's lazy? A troublemaker? Stubborn?
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