Frustrated by rising crime, vandalism and neglect from City Hall, a downtown property owner this week lashed out at Mayor Art Ward.
Philip Vonella, who owns two North Main Street properties, said he’s witnessing ever more drug dealing, “questionable characters,” drunks, vandalism and other unsavory activities happening downtown.
“I will not accept what is going on,” Vonella said, adding that he would hold Ward responsible for failing to take action. “People are afraid.”
Vonella said that he tried three times to get Ward on the phone in the past month but the mayor “never afforded me the respect of a phone call” in return.
Ward said he would talk with top city leaders soon to see what can be done to crack down on problems along North Main Street.
The mayor said he tried to return one of Vonella’s calls but couldn’t reach him. He said, though, that he made sure that department heads called the businessman each time to address specific complaints.
Police Chief John DiVenere backed up the mayor’s version.
He said in an email that Vonella “was completely out of line” in blasting the mayor. He said he called Vonella a few weeks ago at the mayor’s direction.
Click here for the full story.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
38 comments:
Sad day in town when a property owner can't express his opinion. Since when is it out of line for a property owner to care? We should be thrilled that a LOCAL property owner cares.
Go Phil!! Thanks for caring about Bristol!!!
Phil, if you were a contractor,Ward sure would have called.
Phil, don't be surprised. Ward has let the city go down the tubes!
But then, what does he care, he is going to Hartford after the Novembet election.
Maybe we should hire a private security company to patrol North Main St.
Vonella is one of Zoppo and McCauley's buddies (hatchetmen).
Go Phil??? Thanks for caring???
What are you people smoking?
Way to go Ward, blame it on the department heads.
And you want their support abd respect?
ward never called me back either. even when he represented me in my VA claim. Good follow thru mr mayor. I fmy name were don and i owned sproty's id get a call back
Art Ward is a good mayor concerned for the taxpayers, the seniors and all who live in Bristol.
The city and the police have been doing a fine job keeping us safe. If restaurant people and the like don't want bums hanging around downtown they should talk to the liberals in Hartford who keep doling out welfare.
Why do the wardites always manage to make it about Ellen and now also McCauley? I don't get it. Does it make them feel better? Yeah, the mayor can delegate a bunch of phone calls, but when someone wants to talk to ya, you kinda shoulda take the call.
the sad day is when jerks like vonella stand up in public and lie because no one would pay attention to them otherwise.
The Mayor Chief are two useless people. The chief is a butt kisser should have been fired years ago. Chief is the only one whocan keep breaking the law and its kept quiet. Ask women in city hall.
Wardites? Well, it certainly doesn't take a detective to connect the dots. Phil is a well-know Zoppo-ite and his sudden need to whine in public about how the mean ole mayor hasn't fixed No. Main St. to his satisfaction, and didn't call him back fast enough to listen to him whine about it has Zoppo's fingerprints all over it.
And so the campaigning begins!
Bristol is in sad shape. The police dont care. To busy with cell phones and overtime. Lets give more raises out and buy more property.
"Phil, don't be surprised. Ward has let the city go down the tubes!"
Ahh yes. Before HE became mayor, Bristol was a thriving metropolis! Quaint shops and restaurants along our Main St, shopping centers and business districts bustling with activity...oops...uh...wait a sec...that was 1910...(my bad).
BTW: North Main St. looks better now than it has in decades and our crime rate is actually pretty low. Not bad for the worse recession in years!
wait 'til spring and watch the pot holes pop up.
What a legacy Ward will be leaving, and what a mes to clean up!
Talk about scary, how about the guy making the complaints? Wow!
September 17, 2010 9:55 PM:
I'm hardly what you call a "Wardite". I just call it as I see it. And due to the recemt vicious attacks from Kevn McCauley one would assume this is one of his political trick or one of his allies.
Looking at McCauley's record of misguided attacks and smears against Ward and other citizens of Bristol, one can certainly make the assumption McCauley has some thing to do with this.
But maybe I'm giving McCauley too much credit. He's not that bright, that's for sure. Let's not forget he's the one who wanted to mandate us to clean off fire hydrants. McCauley's also the one who stated "like it or not the city (of Bristol) is in the real estate business.
I mentioned a number of things to the mayor, in person, and they didn't get taken care of.
Clearly he did not follow up, IF he passed them on to the department heads.
Ward doesn't care about Bristol - he only cares about himself and getting a job for himself. Like being a commissioner for Veterans? C'mon Ward you couldn't represent them as a service officer what makes you think you can be a commissioner on that? One day you will get what is coming to you. YOur house of cards will come crashing down.
Phil thanks but mr ward should go after the dept heads of public works these guys don`t know how to use there work force it`s not about how many guys we have it`s how there used and they don`t have a clue
how come the loser "vanilla" didn't have the same concern for his customers when he ran his father's business into the ground?
Maybe Kate Matthews should appoint Bruce Suchinski to clean it up?
Aw, come on now folks. Don't pick on Phil. It's not his fault. He's just following the script.
Bristol has no leadership aii the way around .Sad but true.
When is the last time you where at city Hall? Grounds look terrible and the building is dirty!Don't go in the building if you need toilet paper.. Empty... maybe it costs extra. The bushes and grass are 6 inches high! Nice leadership Ward!! Showing city hall off for all the taxpayers!!!
10:21, And if City Hall had a manicured lawn with professional landscaping, you'd be the first one screaming about how much it was costing the tax payers. I guess some people just have a genuine need to bitch. Hope you feel better now!
See, stortz wasn't so bad after all.
12:29 PM, Unfortunately, he wasn't so good either.
2:28
But he was better than what we had, and certainly better than what we have!
Dear hearts and gentle people:
I am impressed with those who think the crime rate has gone down. The crime rate is a measure or reported crimes or incidents. If the boys in blue pass them by, they don’t get reported or logged so they don’t add to the crime rate. Got it?
I don’t care what the reported crime rate is, I care about the police passing by people who are drinking, drugging, dealing and lingering on city sidewalks all in the name of ‘accepting diversity.
I want the police to do their jobs. Moral in the department stinks because Artie, the Chief and obviously the police board don’t give a tinker’s damn because they don’t live in or near downtown and don’t see it in the evenings or the weekends.
"I don’t care what the reported crime rate is"
Yup, I guess a little thing like the TRUTH isn't going to stop you. Never has, probably never will.... Whine on!!!
4:46: Apparently, you are in the minority.
6:45
Based on what I am hearing, I don't think I am in the minority at all!
7:36 PM: Then you really need to get out more.
8;13
I anm out virtually each and very day, and my job puts me in contact with many people.
And what do you do?
4:46
I'm with you!!!
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