Amidst signs that the Democratic administration at City Hall is in danger of splintering, both a former mayor and the Republican Party chairman say they’re eager to help officials patch things up.
The problem that cropped up between Mayor Art Ward and a majority of the Democrats on the City Council “needs to be nipped in the bud right away,” said Art Mocabee, the GOP chairman.
Both Mocabee and city Councilor Frank Nicastro, a former mayor, said that Bristol’s residents want to see progress from their public officials, not more feuding.
“The voters want to see the council go forward. They don’t want to see outright bickering,” Nicastro said. “They want to see action.”
Nicastro said he intends “to try to work with the council individually” and to continue talking with Ward about the nature of the mayor’s role, which requires a willingness to compromise.
Mocabee said that relying on Nicastro to serve as a mediator between Ward and the council “is like expecting Joe Lieberman to endorse Sen. Dodd for president.”
Lieberman, elected last year as an independent from Connecticut, recently threw his support behind the presidential ambitions of U.S. Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican. Chris Dodd, Connecticut’s senior senator, is vying for the Democratic presidential nod.
Mocabee said he speaks with Ward and other officials regularly.
“We’re all on the same page when we talk with one another, Mocabee said, “but not in the real world.”
The split came to the public’s attention at the last council meeting when three Democratic councilors and freshman Councilor Ken Cockayne, a Republican, refused the mayor’s request to reappoint three park commissioners because Ward hadn’t created a new Park Revitalization Committee.
Cockayne changed his vote later after receiving assurances from Ward that the new panel would be created in January.
Mocabee said the four councilors “sort of blindsided” Ward so it’s understandable that the mayor “got miffed.”
He said, though, that Cockayne “made all the right decisions” in the flap.
Moreover, Mocabee said, Ward created some of the problem by saying he wanted to bring in new blood at City Hall and then moving to reappoint three veteran park commissioners who were Ward supporters during the campaign.
Nicastro said that flare-ups are inevitable, but officials have to put the common good first.
Nicastro said that during his decade as mayor, “we weren’t hugging and kissing every day,” but both he and the councilors he worked with understood they had to pull together to find a common agenda that would benefit Bristol.Everyone involved, he said, recognized he couldn’t get everything he wanted.Nicastro said that Ward has to realize he can’t always get his way and the council today has to recognize that it needs to work with the mayor, not quarrel with him in public.He said that a mayor “can’t hold grudges” and can’t let disagreements derail his administration from larger goals.Nicastro said that the city expects its leaders to pull together, no matter which party they’re from, and to seek the common good.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
24 comments:
Let me ask a basic question on the reappointments of the 3 park commissioners. They were on the Park Board prior to Ward becoming Mayor, served their duties and fulfilled their obligations. So why would Ward not reappoint them?
What did the 3 commissioners do that should prevent them from being reappointed?
Should they be let go because of the political games being played?
They are volunteers who want to make a difference in their community and they should be punished even when all 3 informed the Mayor they would like to continue to serve?
I just don't get it - good people who are willing to serve their city and they get used as politcial
balls.
I don't think Nelligan, Ragaini & Defilippi deserved beng treated so disrespectfully by a few councilmen who felt using them was justified. Shame on the so called "men" on the council who feel this is acceptable behavior!
Artie, watch your back!
Those 3 park board members were appointed by Couture, so it's only natural Ward would reappoint them. But it's not entirely about them.
The point is that Ward is talking out of both sides of the mouth, making him a hypocrite.
On one hand he is saying he wants new people on the Park Revitalization Board, then he is saying he wants to reappoint 3 long time members of the Park Board, people who happen to be among Ward's biggest campaign supporters.
There is something wrong with that picture.
Let's all call for unity! We should demand nothing less...
Mr. Mayor & Councilmen -- it is
time for everyone to work together and put politics aside.
That is what we the taxpayers are paying for. So enough already and get to work!
You can look at it however you want: they were pawns, they were disrespected, they were ill-used, whatever. The fact is they were a small part of a bigger picture. If some of them (only one, actually) is not savvy enough to understand that, or so full of herself that she thinks this was about her, then she has some growing up to do.
Frank needs to stop talking about Mayor Ward like he's a newbie on the street that needs to be trained.
Frank did what Frank wanted to do and nothing more during his 10 years. That's why Bristol looks like crap, has a high poverty rate because of section 8 housing investors, and we are struggling to make up for Frank not raising taxes for 10 years even though the cost of everything else went up, including his pay and his pension.
Frank needs to sit down, be quiet and pay attention to what the new Mayor has planned for the next two years. Minor needs to either jump on the cooperative band wagon or jump off the bridge.
Cockayne needs to stop listening to outside sources instead of listening to the Mayor.
Block needs to strap on a pair and learn how to think for himself.
Sure, it's all Frank's fault. What about Ward? He was there for 14 years, including 2 years as Deputy Mayor when the biggest fiascos took place.
Nice how people try to change the subject. Back to reality, Ward has been in office for 2 months and already showed he is a hypocrite with double standards. Ward is doing to others what he complained Stortz did to him.
Ward has one set of rules for his supporters, and another set of rules for everyone else. His friends like Ragainni and Defillippi get to stay on appointed boards because they are "selfless volunteers" but others need to be replaced in favor of "new blood".
If Ward was going to "move forward" and mend fences and be the bigger person, he probably would have found a place for Zoppo-sassu somewhere, just to get her supporters off his back. Instead, he is the king, dealing out punishments and rewards since the election, which is fine to a point - he won, but he is ignoring the fact that both his opponents had wide bases of support and should be dealt with.
Back to reality people - Its not about the three commissioners, its about the three councilmen acting like babies! Lets grow up and work together, if you can't then you should resign from your positions as councilmen.
Art looked really petty on the West end school issue and I am disappointed in him. To take apart the special parks committee that is doing the renovations is not a great idea either. I bet when the dust settles and the new committee is named only the people who have had relationships with Art will remain standing, if any, from the existing committee. Its not a good way to start, and definitely why the "honeymoon" is over. Pick your battles Art.
Poster at 4:45pm - what is your problem with one of the commissioners? Its obvious you hate her. Get over it, and get over yourself.
What have you contributed to this city besides sitting on your computer all day and posting as "anonymous" - My gosh get a life.
Park Board has always been a prestige thing like Fire and Police boards. They make policy. Big projects should have special committees. Its not about the Park Board names - its about the scorched earth policy the mayor is enacting relevant to everything else. And for the 18th time, the council has said that they did tell him how they felt. He chose to roll the diece and lost.
what's taking Frank so long? Its been over a week and he is still talking about what he is going to do and not doing it
BRISTOL — - Poor families and people who are facing Christmas morning alone are invited to breakfast at the American Legion, courtesy of a group of city veterans.
More than two dozen veterans and friends will spend Christmas morning cooking meals for visitors at the American Legion hall on Hooker Court.
"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first-ever Christmas Breakfast and definitely a first for the Bristol Veterans Council," council Chairman Patrick Nelligan said in a statement. "In addition to a warm meal, each adult will receive a pair of gloves, wool hat and accessories, and the children will have a toy and candy cane to accompany them when they leave."
The goal is to provide some happiness to the less fortunate at a time of Christmas Day when not much else is available.
"There are a lot of places with [Christmas] dinners and lunches, but at this point nobody else puts on a breakfast," said Mayor Art Ward, a founding member of the council and a former chairman of the American Legion Seicheprey Post 2.
"There are people who are alone at this time. We understand that we all have a responsibility to do what we can to make the day better for those who don't have support of a family," Ward said.
The Veterans Council, an organization of representatives from numerous veterans organizations in the city, is hoping the breakfast attracts some veterans who want a cheerful place to spend Christmas morning. Nelligan encourages veterans who need any type of assistance to show up so the council can help them register for city or other aid.
The American Legion donated use of its hall, and the council used donations to buy warm clothing for parents and toys for youngsters.
Volunteers will serve meals from 6 to 10 a.m. on Tuesday and will hand out small toys and warm clothing.
"The council wanted to give something that was functional for the adults and fun for the kids," Ward said. "This is just a bunch of people who want to do something for veterans and for people in the community in need."
GEE - SOUNDS LIKE THE MEMBERS OF THE PARK BOARD THAT WERE BEING BASHED BY MOST POSTERS ON THIS BLOG CONTRIBUTE MORE TO THE NEEDS OF OTHERS AND TO THIS CITY.MAYBE MINOR, BLOCK AND MCCAULEY SHOULD TRY BEING SELFISH AND TAKE A LESSON FROM NELLIGAN, DEFILLIPPI, AND THE REST OF THE GOOD HEARTED VETERANS AND VOLUNTEERS DOING THIS BREAKFAST.
Frankie is doing what he does best, talk.
Why can't the republicans get someone good to run against him??
"Back to reality people - Its not about the three commissioners, its about the three councilmen acting like babies! Lets grow up and work together, if you can't then you should resign from your positions as councilmen."
The key phrase in this little rant is "work together". Ward has shown that he will not work with people who supported his former opponent. He insulted them every chance he got all through the campaign. He doesn't deserve the degree of cooperation that he has gotten so far (and don't think you know how much there has or hasn't been just because you read this blog).
Who was it that said "politics makes strange bedfellows"?
I would say that Mocabee and Nicastro are incomptible, but then, they do blow their own horns, and are in love with themselves.
Peter Lynch or whoever you are, you are obviously a shill for the American Legion posse, and you are a jerk for trashing others to try making your idols Nelligan and Defillippi look better. People you attack, like Cliff Block, do a lot for the community, but they don't feel the need to throw it in everyone's face every chance they get, like what you just did by copying the newspaper story.
People like Block and others help the community because it's the right thing to do, and don't crave the attention. Maybe people like Nelligan and DEfillippi do what they do because they want the attention, which fools like "Lynch" and others happily give them.
And a fool like you who post "Anonymous" with lack of anything positive. I feel sorry for you with such a lonely, awful life you have - muster enough pride to get away from your computer for once in your life and make a difference rather then spread hate. Say all you want about people you don't know. I happen to know these people, no I am not a Legion member (I am not a veteran), but I I do know the good they both do and its not for attention. Yes my name is Peter Lynch and I live on cedar lake! I am not afraid to use my name, sorry you can't do the same. Most losers don't use their names anyway.
Try and have a nice Xmas with that TV dinner of yours!
Lynch, when you can't defend the position you just go ahead and attack the messenger, which seems to be the method a lot of these Ward supporters seem to do, because some of the stuff they have done is indefensible.
By the way, I've been in Bristol a very long time and so has my family, and none of us have ever heard of Peter Lynch, so you can't be very important. Who did you sue to afford your Cedar lake home?
since when do you have to be somebody to post here .Everyone has a right to an opion and if they so chose to post it here so be it.
Mocabe can't even create unity within his own party.
If he could, the r's would be in better shape than they are.
It's easy to say work together, but when our current mayor is starting to behave like Stortz, it's a tough pill to swallow. Yes, he won, but he needs to stop acting like a spoiled child. There will be times when the council doesn't agree with him and that's their job. They were voted in to represent their constituents and the best interests of the city ... not to go along with the mayor at every turn just to "get along." That would be totally wrong and is not the way I want to see my city run. Yes, people are tired of the bickering, but they would be even more angered if they just kowtowed to the mayor with nary a complaint. Then they would cry corruption! Cooperation is a two-way street so, Mr. Mayor, open up your office and start communicating with your council. Your cronies can spout all day long about how they feel you've been wronged, but at the end of the day he needs to show some good faith instead of strong arming!
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