Donovan said that Rell's decision to close the courthouse and technical school in Bristol -- along with slashing the family resource centers at its schools, upping bus fares and reducing Dial-a-Ride funding -- show her lack of concern for the Mum City.
Donovan said that shutting down the technical school "doesn't make any sense" in an economy where so many are struggling already.
Before blasting the governor's decision to shutter the Department of Motor Vehicles office in New Britain, which is used by most Bristol residents, Donovan told a handful of New Britain lawmakers it could be worse.
"It's not like Bristol, where they're closing the whole town down," Donovan said.
I've asked the governor's press office for a response. When I get it, I'll post it here.
Update at 2:45 Saturday --
One of Gov. Jodi Rell's spokesmen, Chris Cooper, said that the proposed spending cuts are spread across the state.
"There's no singling out of anybody," Cooper said. "The governor is trying to spread the pain as evenly as possible."
Putting aside the merits of closing the courthouse and the technical school, it's really quite breathtaking to consider how much the state has abandoned Bristol over the past couple of decades.
Help me out with this folks, but off the top of my head I know the state closed the labor office in Bristol, shut down the social services office in Bristol, locked the doors on the Armory and shuttered Bristol's DMV office,
It has cut back on the use of the courthouse, but it remains open, for now.
The federal government has sought, so far without success, to shut down the Social Security office, too.
And don't be surprised if the looming cuts in the U.S. Postal Service have an impact in Bristol as well. The Forestville post office could easily wind up on the hit list.
*******
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
16 comments:
It's sad because we don't have much to start with in Bristol. Now she wants to take away Life Star. Life Star is a heavily used service, called to Bristol alone about 5+ times per year. Life Star is especially important to those rural towns with poor EMS coverage. Not very smart.
Wow
All under a democrat controlled legislature.
Aren't hey going to do anyting but raise our taxes?
Real responsible comment Donovan.
Nothing like putting politics before good government.
But then, I would expect no different from him.
When was the last time any politician in Hartford acknowledged what's been done to Bristol.
And people on here actually think it's Donovan's fault.
Bristol has been a whipping boy for Rowland and now one for Rell.
Rowland closed the labor and social services offices.
Rell's been trying to close the courthouse for years. And she succeeded with the Armory.
What's next?
Frank Nicastro will save us.
He said so!
Our Senator, and 3 of our 4 representatives are democrat.
Guess they aren't getting the job done for Bristol are they?
Frank loves him self its sickning.
12:52, Life Star comes to Bristol WAY more than 5X's per year dude. And it's not only rural towns that have poor EMS services!! Bristol does to...in my opinion.
They are slow to respond to MANY calls and not trained to the levels they should be. I know of many examples,(i.e.- 12 minute response time to Redstone Hill Rd), (Two female EMT's on the same truck that were unable to lift a guy into the ambulance and his Wife had to help),(Having to try 3 or 4 times to get an IV in)... luckily these patients weren't having a stroke or heart attack!! Did you ever notice that a lot of the folks that get brought in by Bristol EMS from Motor Vehicle Accidents, seem to die a lot of the time? Don't take my word for it, just read the newspaper and you'll see for yourself. I can't help but wonder why this seems to happen so often? Are they not trained well? Is the equipment out of date? Or maybe it's the Hospital staff that doesn't respond promptly and properly upon the patients arrival (which wouldn't surprise me one bit!). Not to mention the EMS has to come howling all the way across town from upper Terryville Ave (HQ) every time a call comes in. It's dangerous for them to come flying down from one end of Rt 6 to the other, 25 freakin times a day! I'm sick of hearing the sirens...and I live over a mile off of Rt 6 and still hear it. They are putting the public in danger everytime they race from one end of town to the other. The drivers don't stop properly at intersections like they should. I see some of the alert lights are not all working on the ambulances. Mark my words that there will be an ambulance involved in an accident someday because of this. I just hope nobody gets hurt or dies from it. I don't understand why they can't have one or two trucks on standby at various points in town so response time can be quicker and safer for everyone? Most towns do this. In my humble opinion, Bristol EMT's are careless and don't pay attention to details...i.e when you tell them what medications you are taking or other health related info they don't pay attention. Maybe the were rookies?, I don't know. Bristol Hospital is known for these kind of errors so it should be no surprise really that their EMS does the same. I have quite a few personal and word of mouth stories that I could share about Bristol Hosp EMS, but I will refrain for now. I just truly hope that I never need any actual life saving measure while living in Bristol. And to be honest, the Police and Fire Dept personnel seem to provide better medical response and First Aid than Bristol EMS does. Sad but true...in my opinion.
To 3:26 Where have you been you biased jerk? Rell is a Republican and so was Rowland. Both made these proposals not the Democrats. I shoulda known you were going to try to blame the Dems , but we know it's the Republican's proposing all these cuts to Bristol.
12:13 had better hope that they don't have any medical conditions requiring EMS assistance and the need for a tourniquet.
IN TWO YEARS BRISTOL WILL BE FINISHED. THIS HAS ALL THE MAKING OF A WELLFARE CITY. P-OOR MANAGEMENT WE NEED KEN COCAYNE TO TAKE OVER HE COULD SEE PAST THE UNION BULL SHIT.
Unfortunately, Bristol is a slow bleed, loosing all it's good people and gaining all the bad. It is pretty obvious to me that not only is Bristol turning into the bluest of blue collar towns in central Connecticut, it is now pretty obvious that the State and all our high level politicians have also written us off, having no faith in Bristol as a community ever turning itself around. Let real estate values continue to plummit. Let Barnes and Theis board up their buildings. Close the court, close the tech school and don't fund anymore programs for Bristol, who cares. No one is to blame, but everyone is to blame. We are dead, dead, dead. Will the last one out of Bristol please close the gate and shut off all the traffic lights. See you all in Farmington in the near future.
8:08
But the democtrat went along, did nothing to stop them.
Why are they there at all?
Or are they the epitome of "go along, get along"?
the issue is, without it being any type of political slam, that bristol has had a notoriously weak legislative delegation for years and they don't got the juice - plain and simple. In the 80s, there were four local men who had cabinet level commissioner slots in O'Neill's administration and a tough delegation that no one messed with. Those days are gone and for as long as people elect people like Betty Boukas, who may be nice but is completely incompetent, way ahead of Frank and even Tom, then this is what we will get.
Up and coming: Bristol = Waterbury
One does not have to look to Hartford to see who is destroying Bristol, our current mayor is doing a good job of that all by himself.
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