The Bristol Blog came up during last night's Bristol Downtown Development Corp. meeting, giving the otherwise dismal session at least a short moment of sunshine.
The chairman of the nonprofit formed to revamp downtown, Frank Johnson, said that everybody claims they don't read the Bristol Blog, yet they all know what's in it.
Johnson said it reminds him of former Mayor Frank Longo, a real character who won the city's top job twice in the 1970s even though nobody would admit voting for him.
So, dear readers, it's OK to come on here, eyeball what you will as often as you like, and then pretend you never see anything on this little blog. Your secret is safe with me.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Showing posts with label Bristol Blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bristol Blog. Show all posts
December 15, 2009
February 13, 2008
Want to comment on this blog?
All you have to do is click on the comment line at the end of any of my postings, then write what you like. I have to approve anything that gets published, though it doesn't mean I actually approve of the comment's content (usually, I don't).
Better still, register with Blogger or one of the other blogging ID services so that when you post, your "name" (which can be most anything, like the old CB radio "handles," for those of us who have been around too long) appears with your comments. That's helpful so that everybody's not just "anonymous," which is ultimately sort of boring. And I think that having some kind of identity also helps keep people in check. At some point, I might require it, so if you like leaving comments, register!
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Better still, register with Blogger or one of the other blogging ID services so that when you post, your "name" (which can be most anything, like the old CB radio "handles," for those of us who have been around too long) appears with your comments. That's helpful so that everybody's not just "anonymous," which is ultimately sort of boring. And I think that having some kind of identity also helps keep people in check. At some point, I might require it, so if you like leaving comments, register!
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
December 11, 2007
Huckaby doesn't like me
Elbert Huckaby doesn't much like me.
Instead of ripping into some hapless public official, as he tried to do during last month's City Council meeting, the former mayoral candidate turned on me instead.
That's OK, really, because I'm tougher than any city councilor.
Huckaby this evening took the podium in part to denounce me as "liberal and biased" and condemned me for supposedly writing a dishonest account of his appearance at the November council meeting.
Odd that nobody else saw any particular bias in my account, given that scores of people were at the session and hundreds of others watched it on Nutmeg TV.
Huckaby said he's not going to talk to me anymore.
I can't say that I'm sad about that, but I will promise to keep speaking to him as necessary in order to keep the public informed. He may not answer, but, as he pointed out, he has free speech, too.
And that includes the right not to talk to me.
God knows I can live with silence from Huckaby.
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Instead of ripping into some hapless public official, as he tried to do during last month's City Council meeting, the former mayoral candidate turned on me instead.
That's OK, really, because I'm tougher than any city councilor.
Huckaby this evening took the podium in part to denounce me as "liberal and biased" and condemned me for supposedly writing a dishonest account of his appearance at the November council meeting.
Odd that nobody else saw any particular bias in my account, given that scores of people were at the session and hundreds of others watched it on Nutmeg TV.
Huckaby said he's not going to talk to me anymore.
I can't say that I'm sad about that, but I will promise to keep speaking to him as necessary in order to keep the public informed. He may not answer, but, as he pointed out, he has free speech, too.
And that includes the right not to talk to me.
God knows I can live with silence from Huckaby.
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
City Council tonight
There's a City Council meeting at 7:30 this evening at City Hall.
The hot topic -- though it may not be debated much given the personnel issues involved -- is whether Jonathan Rosenthal, the city's longtime economic development director, will get reappointed. As far as I know, Vegas hasn't set official odds.
Beyond that, there's not too much. But that doesn't mean a whole lot since these meetings have a way of spinning first this way and then that. There's no telling what might happen.
I'll be there with my laptop and may file a few tidbits from the session. We'll see.
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
The hot topic -- though it may not be debated much given the personnel issues involved -- is whether Jonathan Rosenthal, the city's longtime economic development director, will get reappointed. As far as I know, Vegas hasn't set official odds.
Beyond that, there's not too much. But that doesn't mean a whole lot since these meetings have a way of spinning first this way and then that. There's no telling what might happen.
I'll be there with my laptop and may file a few tidbits from the session. We'll see.
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
November 8, 2007
Why city is blocking websites
While urging me to call the city's personnel director for "the real story," Mayor William Stortz nonetheless told me quite a bit today about the reason for the crackdown on internet use by city workers.
"Simply put, there's a legitimate use of the internet," the mayor said, but there's also a misuse of the web.
Stortz said there's "a subtle impact" on the entire municipal network when employees are using the web to check on purely personal matters, shoving up the volume of overall use and forcing the city to pay for extra bandwith.
He said that workers have used the web in recent months to access such sites as eBay, PayPal, and Stop and Shop.
Stortz said that in the days leading up to the Sept. 11 primary between two Democratic mayoral contenders, the city's system registered 450 "hits" from municipal computers to this very blog.
The problem is that "a huge amount of activity" that's not necessary to do the public's work slows the system down and pushes up costs, the mayor said.
More than that, though, is that it's not reasonable to expect supervisors alone to control the problem, Stortz said.
In public works, for example, should Director Walter Veselka "walk around checking the screens" of the people who work for him?, the mayor asked.
"People should not have to be able to look over shoulders" to ensure that city employees are doing city business, Stortz said.
So blocking sites that don't appear to have any legitimate governmental use makes the process simpler.
Even on this blog, the mayor said, "not too often does the news change during the day" so workers who check it out often aren't seeing new posts, they're just reading comments left by others. Is that critical? Stortz asked.
"An occasional deviation can be tolerated," the mayor said, but when the problem gets huge, there's a real impact.
He said the computer department is unblocking sites for workers who have a need to see them, Stortz said. For instance, he said, it turned out the police need to see the NADA used car site for their work so it's been unblocked.
I think the mayor can read my blog from City Hall, so I guess it's important for at least him.
Anyway, the personnel director is in meetings all afternoon so we'll have to wait for Friday to find out what she can add to this whole story. Stay tuned -- unless you work for the city.
More information, from the mayor (who, by the way, said he doesn't read this blog at work):
Yes, the city does have an Internet policy, and no, it hadn't been enforced. The logistics of enforcement are difficult: prevention is easier with the same or better result.
My computer is no different than any other, and I do not use it for personal use or "surfing the web".
There is a policy that all employees are required to sign.
After the barrage of accesses to the web blog during the primary, the policy was again forwarded to department heads for distribution.
Subsequent analysis indicated that blocking of inappropriate sites would be more effective. A follow up memo was sent out, indicating that blocking would take place, BUT, if use of any site was justified, calling Personnel or IS would probably result in unblocking, if only for that computer or department.
So far the response has been good. Additional review will take place and I hope that this approach continues in place. Like me or not, this is just good business practise, and the taxpayers deserve no less.
William T. Stortz
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
"Simply put, there's a legitimate use of the internet," the mayor said, but there's also a misuse of the web.
Stortz said there's "a subtle impact" on the entire municipal network when employees are using the web to check on purely personal matters, shoving up the volume of overall use and forcing the city to pay for extra bandwith.
He said that workers have used the web in recent months to access such sites as eBay, PayPal, and Stop and Shop.
Stortz said that in the days leading up to the Sept. 11 primary between two Democratic mayoral contenders, the city's system registered 450 "hits" from municipal computers to this very blog.
The problem is that "a huge amount of activity" that's not necessary to do the public's work slows the system down and pushes up costs, the mayor said.
More than that, though, is that it's not reasonable to expect supervisors alone to control the problem, Stortz said.
In public works, for example, should Director Walter Veselka "walk around checking the screens" of the people who work for him?, the mayor asked.
"People should not have to be able to look over shoulders" to ensure that city employees are doing city business, Stortz said.
So blocking sites that don't appear to have any legitimate governmental use makes the process simpler.
Even on this blog, the mayor said, "not too often does the news change during the day" so workers who check it out often aren't seeing new posts, they're just reading comments left by others. Is that critical? Stortz asked.
"An occasional deviation can be tolerated," the mayor said, but when the problem gets huge, there's a real impact.
He said the computer department is unblocking sites for workers who have a need to see them, Stortz said. For instance, he said, it turned out the police need to see the NADA used car site for their work so it's been unblocked.
I think the mayor can read my blog from City Hall, so I guess it's important for at least him.
Anyway, the personnel director is in meetings all afternoon so we'll have to wait for Friday to find out what she can add to this whole story. Stay tuned -- unless you work for the city.
More information, from the mayor (who, by the way, said he doesn't read this blog at work):
Yes, the city does have an Internet policy, and no, it hadn't been enforced. The logistics of enforcement are difficult: prevention is easier with the same or better result.
My computer is no different than any other, and I do not use it for personal use or "surfing the web".
There is a policy that all employees are required to sign.
After the barrage of accesses to the web blog during the primary, the policy was again forwarded to department heads for distribution.
Subsequent analysis indicated that blocking of inappropriate sites would be more effective. A follow up memo was sent out, indicating that blocking would take place, BUT, if use of any site was justified, calling Personnel or IS would probably result in unblocking, if only for that computer or department.
So far the response has been good. Additional review will take place and I hope that this approach continues in place. Like me or not, this is just good business practise, and the taxpayers deserve no less.
William T. Stortz
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
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