City Councilor Craig Minor sheds more light on the appointments confrontation at this week's City Council meeting:
We explained to the Mayor prior to the council meeting that Park Revitalization is a major concern for us. For some reason (either he wasn't listening, or he did not take our concerns seriously) he chose to disregard the importance of this issue to us. It is unfortunate that this resulted in our having to take a stand to protect the taxpayers' investment in Rockwell Park. Hopefully in the future we can agree to disagree about what is in the best interest of Bristol and keep moving in the right direction.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
34 comments:
Why is this such an issue with the Council if the mayor said he would name Park Revitalization in January? He is not planning on changing the committee, is he? That would not be too smart since the project has already started.
I think all these guys need to learn to play nice together or God forbid they communicate a little better. The park project is millions of dollars and by the type of people Artie is appointing to Park Board, they certainly can't handle, which is probably why Cootch and Stortz both had independnent panels.
That makes no sense. Did Zoppo give Minor an incomplete script with missing sections?
Don't forget that Mayor Stortz dumped both Art Ward and Lori Defillippi off of Park Revitalization because he felt it needed more citizen representation. He appointed Zoppo as chair, a former football coach (Dave Mills) a teacher and coach (Chris Cassin) a retired teacher (Andrea Kachensky) a youth sports representative (Mike HInes) and local business owner and youth advocate (Debbie Schur). It was a good combination and the committee appeared to work well together despite having to fight tooth and nail to get it funded and started, just like the Roberts Committee.
If you read between the lines of what Minor is saying, it appears that there were might have been some conversations before the meeting about Park Revitalization and the mayor ignored their concerns. Why wouldn't he just re-establish the committee now, instead of waiting to Jan.? If he is changing them, I agree, that would be blatantly political and just a way to reward more cronies with cushy seats.
Don't underestimate both Ward and Defellippi's complete and total hatred of Zoppo. It seems anything Zoppo touched is going to be erased whether it's Roberts, Parks, or anything else. I wouldn't be surprised if the mayor names himself and Defellippi to the panel so they can continue to feed off of each other's dark side. Lori is the new Kosta.
What do the existing Park Revitalization people have to say about this? Have any of them heard from the Mayor?
No one should be complaining here. He was voted back in by folks who knew his reputation for grand standing. You get what you vote for.
In this case he held appointments up in a political move. Like the folks or not they are volunteers willing to serve. They deserve better than to be used in this manner.
This further goes to show why so many good people choose not to volunteer. It is simply not worth the hassle.
I'm not sure where "defending tax-payers" and this multi-million dollar park revitilization meet, but it's good rhetoric from Minor anyway. Defend away, my Hebrew brother.
Craig, get your nose off of zoppo's lap and start thinking for yourself - if ward decides to name new people to the Park Revitalization Committee, that is HIS choice - if you ever get to be mayor - god saves us all- oops, almost screwed up and got your wife upset referring to christian stuff, then you can make the decisions. Stop screwing everything up.
He absolutely intends to dump some of the current committee members, which is why the council revolted. He has a bunch of campaign debts and he intends to pay them off by giving his supporters plum committee appointments.
Craig give it up! Take it like a man and admit you messed up! The Mayor told you he was going to put the committee together in January - now who isn't listening? You are trying to find ways to cover your butt and all you are doing is digging a deeper hole!!!
Reason for independent committee is the fact it is CITY MONEY not PARK MONEY. So as you can see you know nothing about what you spew.
Wrong - defilip told stortz she didn't want to be on it any longer because of the chairperson.
And if you can read - he pulled Ward off just about all his committees and boards, it was called revenge.
Well, the angry Council member act worked well for Art over the last two years and I am sure Craig will benefit from taking the same stance.
The politics aside, why would the mayor change a panel in mid-stream? Of course there is no way he would keep Zoppo-Sassu, but the rest of the volunteers should not be punished and likewise, the taxpayers should not be punished by a group of political payback newbies walking into a multi-million dollar project that they know nothing about.
Most of the park boarders have full-time jobs and aren't around or available during the day for checking on the contractor, working with Swick, etc. I know that some revitalization committee members spent alot of time with the consultants and doing walk-throughs etc. And there is the local historic district issue. The city screwed up once already with the bathhouse a few years ago and got their wrist slapped when some of the hysterical preservationists complained.
love it, minor gets his instructions from "miss ego", screws it up and gets pounded trying to worm his way on to making himself look good - total comedy of errors by the clown himself!
I would love to see the e-mail or letter from 2005 or have Bill Stortz verify that "defilip" opted off of Park revitalization.
If you check it out, you will find out that Stortz made many insightful appointments and in most cases, things got done.
Ward got his share of appointments, just not what HE wanted.
Stortz did not reward political cronies, do political favors, that is why Mocabee worked so hard against him, and poisioned others.
Appointments are up to the mayor: if Artie was smart, he would keep Ellen on Park Revitalization, as Stortz did.
I do believe that Mrs DeFillippi indicated to the mayor that she was happy that the committee was going to be reinstated (Couture dissolved it), but it didn't matter to her if she was on it.
Her interest then was the Roberts Property.
Stortz went from committee of officials with other duties to a more new member/non official makeup.
was at Tuesday night's city council meeting and couldn't help but notice craig's snake-like, herky-jerky, fidgety motions when he was sitting there prior to pouncing on ward.
at least from now on, I'll be able to recognize whenever his venomous tactics are getting ready to be hissed over onto the council agenda.
I think the poster about Lori being a new Kosta is funny and WY OFF BASE! Sure sounds like a bitter Zoppo or Mccauley.
Lori is NOTHING like any of you, complaining about her.
Ms. Defilippi gave Stortz a verbal
reason as to why she did not want to be on the committee. Maybe you people should check your facts before you start defending the snakes - defilippi has stated she would like to see memebers of the current committee still be on, as well as new memebers. So try what I did - call her instead of making up lies!!
I voted for Merrick
Hey guys, how’s that unity thing working out?
and Merrick got trounced....so what is your point?
Merrick got trounced and the Mayor barely won. So what's everyone's point?
Hey Minor - DID ELLEN WRITE THIS FOR YOU! She must have because things are moving in the right direction maybe you should attend a Park Board meeting to be informed, rather then listen to lies.
Craig pulls an Ellen, it backfires and Cliff Block is left with a big Loser sticker on his forehead.
Nice going Craig. Way to show unity takes communication - not mind reading. Art told you he was putting the Park Rev. committee back together in January. YOU CHOSE NOT TO HEAR HIM.
Nice going Cliff. Way to show that following peer pressure isn't the way to be a leader.
Once again, it was apathy that won the election and we are stuck with officials who those who did vote elected. At the end of the day you get the type of leaders you elect. You can all complain all day but nothing is going to change that. Minor is the councilman and he is in a position of power because he was elected. We can only hope that he actually tries to defend the taxpayers instead of talking about it. That is what we pay him and the others for.
They heard what Ward said. Unfortunately for him, they found out that he was going to pack it with his cronies first. Oh, they were listening all right.
Minor isn't looking out for the taxpayers, he is just trying to cover his A**!
Who does everyone think will be on the newly revised Park Revitilization Committee?
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