And in black and white:
October 29, 2014
Mailings turn negative in Senate race's final days (Updated at 11 a.m.)
October 28, 2014
Is the mall site's future coming into focus?
2. The city will spend about $2 million on infrastructure work on the site that includes streets, lights, water and sewer pipes and such. It would also include the much-discussed public piazza behind the building on Main Street.October 16, 2014
Marketing panel set up for Bristol
Replacing the ad hoc panel that led the effort to create the "Bristol - All Heart" campaign will make it possible for the city to ensure that somebody's keeping close tabs on marketing opportunities.Democrats: Republicans should stick to facts
DEMOCRATS RESPOND TO REPUBLICAN LEADERS
There they go again – the Republican Town Committee leaders
are on the blog with negative attacks on our Democratic elected officials and
candidates. What would be more
beneficial to the readers and to the voters are actual ideas and plans. Answers that include: what would you do, and
how would you accomplish your goals.
Voters on all levels, local, state and federal are tired of
partisan politics. Stop the bickering and
the negative campaigning and put a plan into action.
If the Republican leaders are not able to put forth their plans
for the City, then, at the very least, they have an obligation to write with
some semblance of a factual basis.
First, as to Rob Michalik – let’s look at the facts:
From 1999 to 2009, Plainville had the 11th lowest
annualized effective tax increase in the state (out of 169 towns). Rob was on the council for six of those
years. Also, while on the town council,
Rob spearheaded various efforts to save the town money. For instance, Rob pushed the town to purchase
its streetlights from CL&P, thereby saving the town approximately $50,000 per
year in maintenance costs. He advocated
that an Ebay-like auction procedure be implemented for the sale of bonds, which
saved thousands of dollars in interest costs.
In addition, Rob championed an aggressive delinquent tax program, which
has led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes being collected and
reduced the tax burden on those who pay their taxes on time. At DEDC, Rob worked primarily on efforts to
help small businesses. He worked on the
Small Business Express program, which assisted more than 1,000 small businesses
in Connecticut (including several in Bristol) and created or retained thousands
of jobs across the state. Rob proudly
worked extensively in helping to establish a new Manufacturing Innovation Fund
in the state, which will assist small manufacturers in making the investments
in equipment, technology and job training to remain competitive, win new
businesses and grow jobs.
Rather than focus on the upcoming election of our state
candidates, the Republican leaders attack our three Democratic Council members
who all have taken a stand on some very difficult issues; slinging mud and
calling them hypocrites. In particular,
they politicize the downtown/
Renaissance issue.
Ellen Zoppo-Sassu has offered a compromise agreement that
does not involve handing over city money to a private entity, but still gives
the City a stakeholder position in the development. Council member Zoppo-Sassu has moved a
substantial amount of business forward for the City in her eleven months back
on the City Council.
They twist Mary Fortier’s statement about Renaissance being
the preferred developer and point out that there is now new proposals at Ten
Main Street and other sites. These
proposals are not on the seventeen acres and Renaissance is not the preferred
developer of those new projects, yet it proves Council member Fortier’s point
that private development may stimulate what is being proposed on the seventeen
acres.
Lastly they criticize Calvin Brown for describing this as an
emotional issue for the City and characterize his stance as absurd. Calvin is 22 years old. He was the highest vote getter in Council
District 1 and city-wide. Voters
identified with his idealism. It is
Calvin’s generation that we need to retain and attract in order to maintain our
middle class with young families choosing to live here, buy homes here, and put
their children in our schools.
The Republican leaders conclude by stating that we cannot
afford more of this “leadership.” That
is the key word – leadership. Our
elected officials and candidates take a stand on the issues. They make their positions known. We welcome and encourage public participation
and input. We are willing to engage in
meaningful debate. There is too much at
stake for negative politics and sitting idle.
It’s time to put words into action!
Council to meet on Oct. 30 about Renaissance
October 13, 2014
Bristol Rising Defense of Renaissance plan
October 10, 2014
BDDC to hold special meeting Tuesday
October 6, 2014
GOP takes aim at Democrats on issues
 |
| Derek Czenczelewski |
What's going on with Renaissance?
Monday, October 6: The
Republican majority on the City Council said this week it won’t take a stand on
Depot Square until the Bristol Downtown Development Corp. makes a
recommendation.
Mayor Ken
Cockayne and the three GOP councilors – Henri Martin, Eric Carlson and Rich
Miecznikowski – said that “in the interest of good faith negotiations and
contractual agreements” they have to follow the agreed-on process for a
decision on the project. LINK
Jennifer
Arasimowicz wrote in an Aug. 25 email to the nonprofit’s lawyer that she had “basically
laid out how I think the city stupidly set us up for a lawsuit” with its hiring
of East Hartford’s Goman + York Property Advisors.
Arasimowicz
said in the email that she had laid out the case “in a momentary lapse of all
common sense” in a secret email exchange she had in August with Frank Johnson,
a BDDC board member and former chairman.
She wrote
the email obtained by The Bristol Press to plead with attorney David DeBassio
to find a way to keep details of her exchange with Johnson confidential. LINK
Martin Kenny, a Hartford apartment
developer, has signed a purchase deal for 10 Main St. that will likely be
complete by year’s end. Construction could begin as soon as next spring, he
said Thursday
“It’s a great old historical building
with great bones, in tremendous condition,” Kenny said.
Kenny and a Bristol firm, D’Amato
Construction, pulled out of the Depot Square project in recent weeks to focus
on the prospect of creating housing in the five-story building that would not
require a city or state subsidy.
“We stepped aside,” Kenny said, calling
it “a political football there with the project” planned for the former mall
site.
“I want to do something” rather than “going
to town meetings and having everybody mad at each other,” he said. LINK
“Renaissance
has made a commitment to Bristol and Renaissance deserves renewed commitment
from us,” said city Councilor Mary Fortier. “Renaissance has taken risks in
Bristol and Bristol needs to move beyond the risk.”
After all,
she pointed out, “no one is banging down the doors of city hall for a chance to
develop this parcel.”
The three
Democratic councilors – Fortier, Ellen Zoppo-Sassu and Calvin Brown – each
issued long statements detailing their positions on Renaissance and its Depot
Square proposal to revitalize the 15-acre city center site where the mall once
stood. LINK (Note: The full statement of each of the councilors is on this blog below.)
October 2, 2014
Republicans say they'll wait to take a stand on Renaissance
Bristol, CT: On
October 2, 2014, GOP Council Caucus Official Statement on Depot
Square Project
The Depot Square project is currently
in the hands of the BDDC, as it has been over the last several years.
A project decision schedule has been outlined
and adhered to, and that process will continue to be
followed.
While we appreciate our Democratic council colleagues
offering their opinions on the project in public, we are refraining from
issuing a public position on the project until the BDDC makes their final
recommendation to the City Council, thereby placing the authority in the
City Council's hands to render a decision. In the interest of good faith
negotiations and contractual agreements, this is the process that must be
followed, has been followed, and will continue to be followed.
The beliefs we can share with the public regarding
the project are the following:
- We believe that redeveloping
downtown is a crucial part of the City's long-term financial viability,
economic growth, and image.
- We believe in fiscal
conservatism and ensuring that current and future generations are not
being saddled with unaffordable tax liabilities.
- We believe that the public
should have input in the final decision, particularly if government
or taxpayer dollars are to be used.
This is where we currently stand, and as we've said,
once every option is explored and the BDDC offers its final
recommendations, the public will be informed of the details
and options, public feedback will be requested through a variety of
means, and our opinions will be detailed for our constituents.
Sincerely,
Ken Cockayne, Mayor of Bristol
Eric Carlson, City Council - District 1
Henri Martin, City Council - District 2
Richard Miecznikowski, City Council - District 2
The NRA tries to get me to become a member
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)