September 2, 2009

Alford calls for city to back off on house deal

The city should abandon plans to buy a Dutton Avenue house at the entrance to Rockwell Park, Republican mayoral candidate Mary Alford said Wednesday.

“This purchase is suspect in good economic times,” Alford said.

“However, in today’s economy, the taxpayers of Bristol can no longer afford the pipe dreams of our local elected officials,” she said.

City leaders plan to consider the purchase of the 15 Dutton Ave. house for $218,000 at Tuesday’s City Council session, a proposal that’s been on the table for a couple of years.

Mayor Art Ward said the city hasn’t made a decision to buy the property. The purchase is “not cast in stone” and will be looked at carefully.

Ward said he trusts the three-person Real Estate Committee, headed by veteran Democratic city Councilor Frank Nicastro, to recommend the right course for the city.

Though Alford said the city should “rescind its offer to purchase” the house, Ward said the city hasn’t made an offer. It is merely considering the possibility, he said.

‘There’s never been a vote to buy it,” Nicastro said.

The issue grew more complicated with the recent revelation that an appraiser this year pegged the property’s value at $175,000, some 20 percent less than the price a judge told the Bevivino family to sell it to the city for.

“Would you pay $43,000 more for a piece of property that your ultimate goal was to tear down in the end?” Alford said.

Ward said that city officials are reviewing the price and the judicial order.

Nicastro said the new appraisal was never brought to his committee’s attention. He said the family needs to work out what it wants to do next.

Nicastro said his committee has, with full support from Republican city Councilor Mike Rimcoski, pursued the property because it’s needed for a long-term effort to beautify the historic West End park.

“This has been in the planning stage for years,” Nicastro said.

Alford said that in general, the city “should not be in the real estate business.”

She said the city needs to sell property it owns that’s not in use in order to replenish the rainy day fund “and put these properties back on the tax rolls where they belong.”

Nicastro said that Alford “doesn’t pay much attention to what we’ve done” in recent years.

He said the city has sold more than $700,000 in surplus property in the past two years and is having a hard time finding anything else it can sell.

“We’re running out of surplus property because we’ve sold so much of it,” Nicastro said, adding that Rimcoski has been a strong supporter of the effort.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

70 comments:

NOT mine said...

Trying to use common sense and save taxpayers $$ ..... Of course the ruling 'elite' is going to have a HUGE problem with that .

Keep the Alford doctrine going .

It's a good thing .

Anonymous said...

Nicastro is the same person who voted to increase taxes on people statewide and sold folks out to make himself look good. The last thing we need is him spending more.

Anonymous said...

Gee Mary,

You're kinda jumping the gun here. They're only discussing the deal. There's really no need for you to call for the city to do anything really, but hey, nice try!

Anonymous said...

Hey Frank why not tell everyone about the "Zoppo building" which the city put in over a million dollars for. Oh yeah you have a handle on it.
Ward wanted to buy the dutton property years ago.

Anonymous said...

Is this what we waited a whole week for??

Open mouth, insert pretty foot.

Mary, talk to Krawiecki before you speak, not TJ, ArtM, Gary.

You just gave Ward a chance to look good.

Anonymous said...

Her comments are a good example of why the Republicans should have gotten Stortz to run!

Rick said...

The price tag for a Dutton Avenue house that city councilors aim to buy next month may be more than $40,000 too high, according to an appraisal done this year.
The city’s Real Estate Committee, which has been eyeing the property for almost two years, recently recommended the city buy the 15 Dutton Ave. house for $218,000, a price set by a state judge in 2007.


Maybe Ward should read his own words before stating they are looking at the option. Seems to me Ward and Nicastro are going to back pedal on this. Mary has the right idea - now is not the time to be buying property when the city is in hard times, along with many, many tax payers.

Time for change in November. I really tired of lies from this Mayor and Council.

Anonymous said...

Nicastro states a vote was never taken - its all word play. His committee made the recommendation to the council to purchase the property, so that tells us the 3 panel committee agrees to buy it. I am sure once it gets before the council it will be voted yes, after all 3 of the committee memebers sit on the council and Ward wants the house too.

Okay Frank feed us some more bull@#!*!

Anonymous said...

Barnes, get a backbone and get Stortz to run!

Anonymous said...

ART, STILL DOESN`T LOOK GOOD WE WILL SEE IN NOV.

Anonymous said...

Stop Crying Bill you had your chance.

You will never be the 2009 Republican nominee for Mayor, period

Anonymous said...

ART'S LOOKING BETTER AND BETTER EVERY DAY!!!

Anonymous said...

I wasn't aware that the Alford Doctrine had anything to do with spinning your wheels in the dark. You learn something new every day on this blog!

Anonymous said...

4:28

He may not be, but it will then be the Republican's and Bristol's loss!

Anonymous said...

4:28

Guess you are one of the ones that are satisfied with continually losing.

Not surprising.

Anonymous said...

If this is stopped, because of her, or for any other reason. what is Mary going to do about the supposed 8 million shortfall?

Does she have a clue?
Does any of the Republican leadership have a clue?

Anonymous said...

Did Alford ever talk to Rimcoski? Doesn't seem like it.
Seems like she is listening to Cockayne, who is not Rimcoski's biggest fan, and Cockayne has got her doing his dirty work.

Th Republican team at work.

Anonymous said...

Yeah Frank you've done alot.

1) $17M Bugryn Land grab worthless project

2) Robert's property waste of tax payer money

3) Site on High Street empty lot waste of tax payer money

4) 51 High Street (The Zoppo Buiding) questionable purchase (over-paid at $400,000).

5) But you got a big pension and your kids have nice blue-collar city jobs.

Anonymous said...

I am a city employee, a democrat, and I wish Stortz would run.
As I see it, he is the only chance to get rid of Ward and do right for the city.

If his party won't support him it is a shame.

Mary may be nice, but it appears she is a babe in the woods, and we need much more at this time.

Anonymous said...

The $218K valuation is 16 or so months old? What about the 40K LOSS the owners will eat since our elected officials took so long to try and shove this down our throats? Good thing there wasn't a contract, or was there...

Anonymous said...

Ok, so what if the house values when up.. would you all be in favor of paying the higher appraised value! I think not. Does a contract mean anything anymore?

Anonymous said...

4:29

Nice to have all that power in one person.

Now why not get off your rear and put it to good use!

Anonymous said...

If Stortz wants to run why doesn't he say so. Or announce his intention to run. Until he does that he doesn't have a seat at the table. Hats off to Alford for stepping in and running to give Bristol another choice. So Bill if you are interested speak up....

Anonymous said...

Cockayne was the only one to vote against this when it came to the council.

Anonymous said...

In support of Bill, did Alford announce her interest before Barns asked her to run?

Who else did he talk to?

Anonymous said...

Bill has been around politics for how long? If HE wants to run for something, then he should stand up and say " I want to run for Mayor?" Why didn't he call members of the RTC and get them to nominate him? Why can't he take action if he wants something to happen? I know for a fact that many people on the RTC asked him if he would like to run and everytime he said well nobody has asked him, but they were all asking him at that moment.

Bill if you want to run then why don't you just say so? Grow up Bill and take action for yourself and stop looking for people to take action for you!!!

Anonymous said...

I spoke with Bill, suggest you call him if you want to get HIS side of the story.
Yes, he has been around for over 30 years, knows the process. I served on the TC with him.

Keep in mind that the RTC recruited someone to challenge him when he was an incumbent. They, a few of them, did not want him then, don't want him now.

Would you offer yourself up, only to get slapped down again?


He is the most, maybe only, qualified one to run, perhaps the only one that could win.

Obviously the RTC leadership does not want any part of him, they did not even want him on the TC.

As far as being asked, I do not think that that has been the case. Certainly not by the leadership.

But, call him and find out for yourself.
I did.

Anonymous said...

I was also part of the RTC and the problem Bill has is that he can not just say yes he is going to run or no he is not going to run. Two years ago Bill would not tell people if he was going to run or not so Ken Johnson stepped up and said he wanted to run and off he went. Bill I know for a fact that Henry Raymond asked you if you would run and he is part of the leadership. So stop this nobody has asked me BS and take action for yourself!!!

Anonymous said...

No one recruited Ken Johnson to run Bill, and you know for a fact that if you had told him by May of 07 that you were running he wouldn't have.

He sat down with you on more than one occasion and asked if you were running.

Knock it off Bill, than again, you did get an overwhelming vote of no confidence when you were Mayor.

Anonymous said...

Bill got a vote of no confidence from the democrats: I consider that a plus.

I know for a fact that Johnson WAS RECRUITED: a few people wanted to embarass Stortz.

Obviously one of the bloggers is one of those that were close to and recruited Ken.

Keep in mind that Stortz did not say No, but the word was out that Ken would primary him.

I do not fault Stortz at all: he was and is treated very shabbily by the party that he served for so long.

Again, i suggest you call stortz to get his version, DIRECTLY.

Anonymous said...

Enough of the hassling of the former mayor.

I know where HE stands on most issues.
You have nominated a candidate: where does SHE, and your other candidates, stand on the issues?

Anonymous said...

Hey, poster one. Do you realize what the "real" Alford doctrine is? It means someone is not admitting guilt, but there's enough evidence to convict them so they're going to go with a plea deal. She doesn't have a clue what she's saying. I'm not saying that buying the house for more than it's worth is right and I don't agree with that. What I have a problem with is the same old republican rhetoric of "the city's not in the real estate business." Of course it's in the real estate business! Get a grip! It owns lots of real estate and what they're doing is trying to get rid of run down, useless properties to benefit the city and its citizens. The house should have been bought a long time ago and then we wouldn't be having this conversation. Many buildings have been bought and sold by the city and the citizens have benefited greatly. Keep on doing what you're doing, city leaders, because I believe you're doing the right thing. By the way, Mary, you had better bone up on how the city does business, because you're way out of your league!

Anonymous said...

Cockayne voted against it when it was a reasonable price to buy it way back when, which is when it should have been bought. No vote has been taken on it as of yet with regard to the full council. Oh wait a minute. Wasn't he one of the councilors who wanted to go ahead with the Center Street project which the citizens of Bristol are footing? Nice try, Ken.

Anonymous said...

12:18

Be careful!
You know that Mr. Barns asked her to run, don't you?

Anonymous said...

Cockayne is playing games, again.

Typical Mocabee stooge.

Anonymous said...

Poster at 12:18

RIGHT ON!!!

Could be disastrous for the Republicans.

Anonymous said...

How can ward raise taxes the houses prices are 30% lower then when they did there study, If anything taxes should go down.

Anonymous said...

What were the Republicans thinking??

Anonymous said...

That is what happens when you pull an amateur out of the hat!

Gonna be disaster!

Anonymous said...

Is she still a candidate?

Anonymous said...

2:08 or should I say Bill" the worst Mayor in Bristol's history" Stortz:

When are you going to grow up?

Your a 75 year old man, and getting more and more stupid every day.

No one rejected you - becasue no one knew you wanted to run - you never called anyone and said "I want to run."

Gues the leaders of the GOP should have gone to a suit sayer.

Anonymous said...

Bill:
It was OK when, Ed K, Art M, Gary and TJ took time away from thier schedules to work on your 2005 campaign.

They raised money, put up your signs, did your mailings, your inauguration,
now b/c they kiss your butt, thier this evil group.

You are a very, very sick man, stortz - get some help.

Anonymous said...

Being somewhat active, people think I know everything: just today, from church thru breakfast out, 3 people asked me why the Republicans aren't running Stortz for mayor.

I had no answer, am wondering too.

They missed out on a chance to put the city back in repblican hands.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to read that Alford has business links to Ken Johnson.
That explains a lot of things; especially the continuing effort to keep Stortz out of the picture.

By the way, what will she do about the CLP/Johnson issue?

Or has Ward settled it?

Anonymous said...

Mary, maybe you might want to step back and rethink your interest in running.
Seems like you might have been been talked into something that you are not quite ready for yet!

Anonymous said...

11:36

What is a "suit sayer"

Your complete stupidy clearly comes out in all your remarks!

Anonymous said...

Did they find Alferd at a suit sayer?

Anonymous said...

11:39

Boy am I naive.
I thought that volunteers worked for candidates because they thought that that was the best person for the job.
Now I find out different.
Good thing I never got deeply involved.

Anonymous said...

We need Stortz.

Anonymous said...

8:47, Sorry Bill...you're the LAST thing we need.

Anonymous said...

8:34

I disagree!

Anonymous said...

Look, Alford is already producing results!

Anonymous said...

Prediction:
Alfords next release will be a strong suggestion that we get someone to develop the Mall Site.

Wait and see.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Bevivino a supporter of Ellen?

Isn't Ellen a supporter of Mary?

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for her ORANGE sweatshirts, A/la Johnson.

Anonymous said...

Prediction:

No more releases from Mary Alford.

Anonymous said...

Who is Mary Alford?

Anonymous said...

Mary is a nice lady who the Republicans Sacrificial Lamb.

They relly did not want to win, wouldn't know what to do if they did.

Anonymous said...

Is she still "running"???

Anonymous said...

This post originated on Sept. 2, 10 days ago,

Where has Alford been since?

Where has any Republican been since?

Or are we not having an election this year?

Anonymous said...

What is going on here?

Is there someting happening behind the scenes that will come out and surprise us all?

Or have we seen the best already?

Anonymous said...

Mary, drop out and let someone else run.

Anonymous said...

The prediction of no more releases from Mary has been born out for the last five days, anyhow.

Anonymous said...

Correction:

Let someone RUN!

Anonymous said...

8:48

Another 4 days gone by and no word from the republican candidate.

Does she exist?

Or is Art Mocabee too busy to put something out for her?

Anonymous said...

You're all done Stortz...You're all done.

Thank God from whom all blessings flow.

No one is getting out of the race to let you run.

YOur rein of terror over the Republican Party has come to an end.

Anonymous said...

I don't know about Stortz, but the Republican Party seems to have come to a sad end.
Those in charge don't seem to have a clue about the city, are all too willing to use people and have been carried away with a feeling of their own importance and ego.

I feel sorry for Alford for she is being left out to dry.

Anonymous said...

7:02

You hit the nail on the head.
It wwill be some time before I have any confidence in the local Republican Party, unless they make some drastic changes.
Thet certainly are not helping Bristol

Anonymous said...

Looks like 9-9 2:15 was right on the mark.

Anonymous said...

Next one will probably be a generic "we have to cut spending" with no realistic suggestions.

She needs different handlers.