March 8, 2010

Rosenthal under fire, again

The city’s economic development director is under fire again.
Spurred in part by a recent flap between city Councilor Kate Matthews and Jonathan Rosenthal, the city’s economic development chief, councilors are eyeing ways to light a fire under Rosenthal.
While it isn’t clear what might happen at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, councilors have been talking privately among themselves for a couple of weeks about what they can do about Rosenthal, whom some of them regard as an obstacle to the city’s growth
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's About time somebody did something about this man. He's clearly not helping out the city and is collecting a paycheck without earning it. A lot of talk from him and nothing to show for it. it's time to stand up to someone who has held this city hostage with his reappointments for quite some time. I actually was hoping he wouldn't be appointed again last time by the previous administration but he made all kind of promises because he knew his job was on the line. So much for the promises. Finally the mayor and the council see the light. Amen to that!

Anonymous said...

Get rid of him!
When Wards predecessor tried to do it in a gentlemanly fashion he was rebuffed (and you know who orchestrated that).
Matthews is on the right track!

Anonymous said...

Is his term up again?

Anonymous said...

When we get a group of politicans with a set of balls we will move forward but these guys only looking to keep votes there afraid of the unions and lawyers.Look at cockyane he started making noise last election he needed votes and became a union puppy. We need to start firing a lot of people who arent doing there job and set a example and we wont have problems again.

getting old said...

maybe it should be matthews and the council who should be gone.

Anonymous said...

heard thru the grapevine that the whole council is trying to do something about rosenthal. apparently the mayor is not on board for whatever reason. apparently people think rosenthal is union. he is not union which makes him harder to get rid of. good luck to the council. you're gonna need it. gee, getting old, you must be a ward lackey otherwise you wouldn't be wanting to get rid of someone who is actually trying to hold rosenthal accountable for his "inactions." perhaps your name should be "good 'ol boy"

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Stortz was right after all.

Anonymous said...

This council is made up with a bunch of cowards. Nothing will get done. They will probably give him a raise.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like Matthews behaving like a baby because she was out of line in the email exchange and now wants revenge.

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a personnel matter.

Shouldn't the council be more focused on the budget crisis and how Bristol will navigate through this bad economy?

I am curious on how they are spending there time?

Anonymous said...

"I don't think handling this through the council is a good idea." That's the stupidest comment I ever heard! Why wouldn't the council discuss it? Is it because you're not doing your job in monitoring this man who has repeatedly not done his job? Why are you protecting him, Mr. Mayor? Well, in my view you are not doing YOUR job!! Perhaps you should be investigated, because there is something fishing going on in the mayor's office.

Also, Steve, I was wondering why you didn't ask Ms. Matthews her take on it. Printing her e-mails, in my view, doesn't allow her to make personal comments on the issue. I would have liked to get her take on the issue and not through her e-mails. If the mayor was given that courtesy, I believe it should have been extended to Ms. Matthews.

Anonymous said...

Is this Wards idea of leadership?

Steve Collins said...

I can't begin to talk to everyone involved for every story, unfortunately. We write two stories a day & try to squeeze out some time for longer pieces for the weekend, too.
Rest assured, if Matthews wants to say anything, she'll have plenty of opportunity tonight. And I'll be right there to record it.
I certainly don't want to exclude her in any way.

Anonymous said...

i cannot understand for the life of me why matthews is being attacked when it is rosenthal that is clearly not doing his job. from reading the e-mails it is clear that rosenthal has no respect for anyone and should not be addressing matthews in the way he has been addressing her not to mention the fact he is being evasive in what information he is giving to matthews. your arrogance is showing, mr. rosenthal!
as for the mayor, he had an opportunity to get rid of this loser and chose not to which was a huge mistake on his part. he claims to make decisions that will benefit the citizens but his actions do nothing of the sort. i also find it interesting that he says that this should be handled by the personnel director. it is obvious that she has not done a darn thing with regard to this man since I never read in the paper that he was ever disciplined for his behavior.
as far as the council going to see the mayor, that seems to be a waste of time since the mayor seems to have known about what was going on and he also didn't do anything to discipline rosenthal. so much for strong leadership.
i never cared for stortz, but i remember vividly during ward's time as a councilor while stortz was mayor he did nothing but criticize stortz's inaction during council meetings. he is actually doing the exact same thing and even worse, we as citizens are paying dearly to have this clown continue to be employed by the city. it's time to move for-ward and get rid of him.

Concerned Constructive Conservative said...

Ward is right again. Rosenthal is a really nice guy and he deserves better than having his name dragged through the mud.

As cute as Matthews is, one must wonder whom her advisors are. This is just plain mean-spirited. If the guy's doing a bad job, terminate him or negotiate a buy-out (what ever is the case in bureaucrat land). Again, Ward is right. This personnel matter does not belong at the Council meeting.

Anonymous said...

Nothing will get done. This group only talks no action and no guts.

loser said...

1:23 - Stop showing your ignorance and read the whole dam article - ward disciplined rosenthal twice, once for a day and once for 5 days. sorry that it wasn't written in " spot is jane's dog" style.

Anonymous said...

1:26

The Council cannot fire Rosenthal, only the mayor can. The council can vote not to reappoint him when his term is up, whenever that is.
They can, under the right conditions, discuss performance, but even then, they are somewhat limited.
Too bad the Zoppo led dems did not support Stortz a few years back. This would all be moot now.

Anonymous said...

2:20

And has he learned anything?

Anonymous said...

1:26

A quorum of the council CANNOT get together to discuss Rosenthal,or anything without posting etc.
This is the proper way to do it and is long overdue.

FOI said...

steve, when did the council and ward meet on this?

Anonymous said...

2:20 no wonder your name is loser ... if the shoe fits! yes, I read the articles and let's just say three strikes and you're out. How many times does this guy have to inadequately do his job and continue to not be held accountable for his poor performance? i can't believe that with the way the economy is that anyone in this city would want to keep paying the hefty salary that we pay him when the job is not being done properly.
He's clearly protected but the law must be changed because to me it's unconscionable that someone can thumb their nose at the city and do a mediocre job and not be held accountable for their actions let alone be relieved of their job.

to positively right: you keep on remarking about how cute matthews is which in my view is extremely inappropriate. it doesn't matter how nice a guy rosenthal is. if he's not doing his job, he shouldn't be keeping it. in my view it's a personnel matter until the head of personnel refuses to do anything about it and that includes the mayor.
and as far as his so called open door policy, that's a farce! why not sit down with the council and discuss it? how can anything be accomplished if council people are going in one at a time? they need to all get together and i don't think you'll see that anytime soon.

Anonymous said...

Why is Mr. Rosenthal not being financially penalized if he is not doing his job? Can anyone go in and look at his file? There must be a problem otherwise Mrs. Matthews would not be looking into what he's been up to. I say if there's just cause for discipline, then he should be disciplined. from reading other writers, it seems to me that the mayor and Ms. Ferguson are protecting Mr. Rosenthal which makes no sense especially if he has a history of poor performance.

kate's not too great said...

This Kate Matthews appears to be vindictive. Although terminating Rosenthal is probably a good idea. Having a public meeting about it sounds like Matthews trying to show off, blow her horn or what-have-you.
this with Rosenthal to "create
This is clearly a way to get rid of her new enemy. And she started smoke" to cover up her idiotic recommended appointment of Bruce Suchinski to the Charter Revision Board.

yawn said...

4:26 - where was it posted? I work next door to the board that they post on and I didn't see anything - guess that they think that they can do whatever they want - politics as usual.

Anonymous said...

We have a bunch of amateurs on the council who think that they know everything.

They are just seeking publicity and more power; wait until youhear their recomendations for Charter Revision.

Anonymous said...

This is all about Kate Matthews' knee jerk reaction to her e-mails exposing her as a petulent child. The whole thing is a farce. Uhnfortunately, it's the behavior of women like Ms. Matthews that makes it difficult for other women to be taken seriously.

Anonymous said...

Ms. Matthews is a cute little political wanna-be political animal. She needs to realize she's dealing with adults now, not her peers from Law School. Her little games might fool some but not everyone.

Anonymous said...

1:03 PM: The council still would be stupid and foolish, no matter what happened to Rosenthal.

FOI said...

4:26 - but it sure seems that they did.