On the cusp of hiring its preferred downtown developer, the firm that with luck will put the pieces together to make the revival of the city center possible, Bristol's officials managed to make themselves look about as far removed from a smoothly oiled machine as one can imagine.
Consider what state officials eyeing tonight's fiasco must think.
Bristol puts the project into the hands of a seven-person nonprofit board that's supposed to steer the revitalization of the former mall site and kick start the renewal of downtown.
And what do they do? They can't even pick between two companies vying for the job.
It's as if they had to call heads or tails and wound up voting for the penny to land on its side. It's just silly, really.
So now the state folks, the ones who will decide whether to kick in Connecticut's cash, will be thinking whether it's worth pumping dollars into a city that can't make a simple decision.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
6 comments:
Where there's a will, there's a way.
And where there's a way, then there's usually a stop sign somewhere along the road.
Screeeeeeeeeeeeech! CRASH!! Thanks BDDC!!! OY!
First off, it's not the WHOLE bddc. It's three who chose to do nothing and two of those three were easily swayed by the third. In my opinion Wright, who did nothing as a state legislator and continues his unbroken "do nothing" streak, managed to drag Kallenbach and Janelle down with him. Wright was clearly for Damato from the beginning and it was a waste of time thinking he would ever vote otherwise. It didn't matter what information you put before him. He doesn't go on facts. He goes on loyalty to someone who is just too ingrained in this town and can't see the forest for the trees.
I agree, we look totally foolish! The time to strike is while the iron is hot and once again we have lost a golden opportunity to jump start our own local economy with much needed jobs and to get ahead of other towns close by who are looking to do the same thing and the opportunity was lost all for some stupid blind loyalty! I hope you're not getting your advice from your father, Chris, otherwise you'll be a "do nothing" legislator, too!
With guys like Cris and Cockyane this citys younger guys are lost. Bristol will run in reverse.
This is Bristol going backward.Get rid of the whole group.
WHAT a disappointment. Disband the group and put it in the council's hands so that we stop wasting time. Leone should be ashamed of himself for not removing himself if he felt he had a conflict. The BDDC is a waste of tax payer money and everyone's time. Thanks a lot for nothing.
It took quite an effort to get the state back in sync with us after Couture and Rosenthal.
Hope we don't fall into the pit again.
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