Chamber is weighing who should take the reins

Attorney Tim Furey, who has the dubious pleasure of guiding the effort to hire a new president for the Bristol-based Central Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, said a board committee is going to be wading through about 50 resumes from people interested in taking the helm. The chamber is looking to replace Mike Nicastro, its energetic former president who left at the end of September to return to the corporate world. Furey said there is no set timetable for making a decision on the next president. He said there's a lot to consider in making the choice. Fortunately, Furey said, Nicastro left a strong team in place that can keep the chamber running smoothly while officials consider options for hiring a new president.
Copyright 2013 All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Nicastro: Busway 'has already failed'

Steve,

I saw your Blog posting on the Busway and despite trying to talk myself out of responding I just could not resist a short note on Jim Cameron’s article in the Ridgefield News.  To make it short I invite Mr. Cameron to call me or visit with us her at 200 Main so he can see the mountain of information we have collected over three years.  This data doesn’t just validate that the Busway will fail but it confirms that it has already failed. 

It’s only fair that Mr. Cameron see this information so he doesn’t find himself parroting back the boiler plate Busway “rah, rah” that his article contained.  As I read it I was able to close my eyes and continue it word for word, all the while hearing either Lyle Wray’s or Mike Sander’s voice.  His content was the same rote presentation that DOT & CRCOG have been making since 2009.  I wish I had a ten-spot for every time I’ve heard the “Busway is just like a train except it runs on tires and cement.”    

As a side note none of these comments should come as a surprise to Mike Sanders.  I like Mike and consider him a friend.  He’s doing what he has to do to protect his project and he has become a master at spin in doing so.  That’s contrary to the legislative proponents whose only defense on the House Floor the other day was the use of “FUD” or fear, uncertainty and doubt.  Not one word in their comments on the merits.  That about says it all.

Mike

Michael D. Nicastro

President & Chief Executive Officer

Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Mike Nicastro: Stop busway

In a straightforward op-ed piece in today's Hartford Courant, Mike Nicastro, head of the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce, lays out the case against the busway. While it's possible to disagree with him, his facts are pretty much on the money. Read the column here.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Janelle to Nicastro: Call me

Bristol Downtown Development Corp. member Jennifer Janelle's response to Mike Nicastro, the chamber's president:

Mr. Nicastro,
You really should not speak of things about which you do not know.
First, the original October meeting was scheduled for a date that I was prepared to attend. The meeting date was changed by the Executive Director due to space availability issues at City Hall to a date when the entire Board knew I was scheduled to be out of the country, despite my strong desire to be present. I made every attempt to be at that meeting, calling and emailing members several times from my travels. I did get hung up in customs in New York and did not make it back. The circumstances were well beyond my control and I resent the implication that I have somehow shirked my duties. It was a special meeting, not a regularly scheduled meeting, and one called at the last minute at that.
Additionally, we as a Board have been advised by counsel not to have direct communications with either bidder. Neither is a publicly traded company with 10-ks and other reports available for public inspection. So how exactly do you propose that I do my own due diligence?
Other internal issues exist concerning what questions would be asked and by whom and these issues have been raised by me over and over again in the 3 years I have been on the Board. I will not debate those issues with you, a non-member. If you had attended each and every Board meeting, you would know my positions have been consistent and unwavering on the appropriate process we should be following. I have been outvoted on numerous occasions and the minutes and recordings evidence that.
The Board has had proposals in hand less than 60 days. No other community that I have ever worked with (more than 2 dozen municipalities and 80 Boards of Education while in private practice advising communities on construction and development projects related to energy and other utility projects) has acted on a bid response in less than 60 days and without any due diligence whatsoever. Nashua New Hampshire did 8 months of due diligence prior to selecting a developer. However, I am unwilling to rely on someone else's process, not having seen it or knowing anything about it. Unfortunately, I am also not willing to compromise my personal or professional integrity to go along with the pack and do what I am told.
My only interest is in getting the best possible developer for the best possible downtown in the best possible procedural way to avoid problems down the road. I am not in this for votes, contributions or political favors. I am in this for the people of Bristol. It is unfortunate that so many in this town drive away volunteers trying to make the City a better place with the name-calling, demands for resignations and the like. I will not bend to threats, intimidation, name-calling and all out attempts at public embarrassment.
I'm sorry that we disagree, but I intend to do it in a professional and polite manner. If you have specific concerns you want to address with me, I invite you to pick up the phone and I would be happy to arrange a time to meet with you, rather than making a public spectacle out this.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Chamber prez responds to Janelle

A response to Jennifer Janelle from Mike Nicastro, president of the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce:

Ms. Janelle let me first say that I respect your service to the community over the last few years.  You clearly made a commitment of your time.  But we are at a critical milepost in the city’s history.  This past Monday evening we (the City of Bristol) had a wonderful opportunity to begin a new future for our community and the region.  It was to be simply the first step in a long and risky process.  We cannot begin without a first step.  I have called for you resignation from the BDDC for no other reason than in my opinion you allowed that opportunity slip away from us and may have in fact raised the risk profile even higher than it was before.  Your calls for additional due diligence are correct but can be readily accomplished in the lengthy process that still lies before the BDDC and the community.  Regardless of that situation, you had a responsibility to perform your own due diligence and either you failed to do so or your absences from the two critical BDDC meetings in both September and October left you incapable of a rational decision.  In that case you should have abstained from Monday’s vote as opposed to becoming a roadblock.  The mission here was to choose between to very valid RFQ responses.  There is so much more to do.  Despite your previous efforts your action Monday evening was indecisive and smacked of the usual inertia of which this community is often accused.  When or if we move ahead we cannot continue to have you absent from critical meetings in the future.  If indeed a developer is chosen the commitment to this process will not become easier or require less time it will in fact require more.  Your claims of “cronyism” and “appeasement” make nice cover smoke but they are unfounded and your clear positioning to be able to say “I told you so” is of great concern.  It is a clear attempt to wash your hands of this decision.  No matter who is chosen the risk for this project is high. If you cannot understand that risk or continue the commitment of time you should resign.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Live with Larson, part 1

Mayor Art Ward is introducing the congressman, telling everyone here at Nuchies that U.S. Rep. John Larson has been a great friend of Bristol.
Ward is pointing out how important Larson is to Bristol and beyond.
"We all have reservations about what the final package is going to be," Ward said, "but the health care system does need to be addressed."
Now Mike Nicastro, the chamber chief, is busy introducing dignitaries, including state Reps. Bill Hamzy, Frank Nicastro and David McCluskey (of West Hartford). My boss, Mike Schroeder, even got a plug.
Sitting next to each other are T.J. Barnes and Elliott Nelson, the heads of the two local political parties. Maybe it's early, but they're getting along fine.
Now Nicastro has some kind of slide show to plug the chamber's agenda.
Depot Square was once the heart and soul of the city. "It was the pulse of the city of Bristol," Nicastro said.
Let's hope that's not true now, given that it's mostly a lot full of rubble.
But Nicastro is pointing out the value of the trains and trolleys back in the day. The automobile, of course, changed all that, Nicastro said.
"We were promised a piece of that highway future, but never really got it," Nicastro said.
Downtown was razed, he said, and Route 72 was a long-delayed promise.
"We ripped down the downtown. We built a mall," Nicastro said.
Now the mall is gone "and the future lies before us," he said.
Route 72 is 55 years late and won't get us where we want to be, Nicastro said. Now it's necessary to get the old rail line again, with a transit hub and an ability to move people.
It's worked elsewhere, Nicastro said.
He's pointing out the success of Portland, Oregon and Portland, Maine in using rail transit to grow and prosper. They've built their stations and are seeing great success, he said.
What's in the way of success here?
"We have a busway proposed. We're not anti-busway, but it is in the way. It is a monolothic, one single-minded approach," he said, and will take five years or more.
"We're at a tipping point in our community and we need to make changes," he said. "We haven't got 55 years and we haven't got 10 years."
We have a partner with Pan-Am Railways and Norfolk Southern.
"It's time to move forward," Nicastro said. "We've got schedules already in place and ready to go."
It would be cheaper to rely on rails instead of the busway.
Nicastro said a healthy Bristol is important to New Britain and vice versa. He said there's money to use for improvements.
Help state and regional officials to make it work.
"What was old can be new again," Nicasto said.




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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Rell taps Mike Nicastro for state post

Press release from Gov. Jodi Rell's office:

Governor Rell Appoints Bristol Resident

To State Panel

Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced she has appointed Michael Nicastro of Bristol as a member of the Board of State Academic Awards. The Board grants degrees through Charter Oak State College. As a nontraditional college, Charter Oak is designed to provide adults with an alternate means to earn degrees that are of equivalent quality and rigor to those earned at other accredited institutions of higher learning.

Nicastro is the president and CEO of the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce serving Bristol, Burlington,Farmington, Plainville, Plymouth and Wolcott. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer forGlastonbury-based Open Solutions, Inc. Nicastro holds a bachelors degree from Central Connecticut State University and a law degree from Western New England College School of Law.

“Mike’s business background and his passion for improving the quality of life in our state will make him an asset to the Board,” Governor Rell said. “I thank him for his willingness to serve the State of Connecticut.”

Nicastro will serve until the sixth Wednesday of the next regular session of the General Assembly, or until a successor has been appointed and has qualified, whichever is longer.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Downtown obsolete, yet vital

Downtown’s headed for the scrap heap.

Not the place, just the word.

“Downtown is an obsolete word. It’s a passé word,” said Mike Nicastro, the president of the Greater Bristol Chamber of Commerce.

Instead of calling the traditional downtown what it’s always been known as, Nicastro said he would prefer people refer to it as the “city center” or the “municipal center.”

Speaking to the chamber’s Downtown Business Group – which will need a new name soon – Nicastro said that downtowns have traditionally been the retail and business center of a community.

In Bristol, however, that would clearly be Farmington Avenue these days, not the historic downtown.

Nicastro said the city certainly doesn’t want anyone thinking a state highway that carries people through town is its downtown.

“There are no more downtowns,” Nicastro said at the group’s meeting at the Main Library Thursday.

 David Fortier, a library board member, expressed some sympathy for the idea.

“Words are powerful,” Fortier said.

Nicastro said that he recognizes that words matter.

“I’m a marketing guy by profession. We like our words. I love spin,” he said.

And whatever downtown winds up being called, there’s one thing that’s certain: it will be spelled “center” rather than the fake sophisticated “centre.”

How come?

Because the demolished Bristol Centre Mall used the less conventional spelling. And nobody wants to remind anyone of the vanished mall that stood at the center of downtown for almost four decades until its demolition last winter.

Nicastro said that whatever you call the city center, it’s crucial to revitalize it.

“It’s not just the mall site” that needs attention, he said.

The surrounding areas – Main Street, the West End and beyond – also need attention to create a vibrant area that can attract a new generation that wants nice apartments, restaurants, retailers and more.

Nicastro said the chamber plans to push for just that in the coming years.

He said that as people realize the advantages a densely populated, interesting center offers, from jobs to transportation to culture, they’ll return. It’s a greener alternative to the sprawl that has characterized the state since the 1950s, Nicastro said.

But the community has to rise to the challenge and push forward with the kinds of projects that will help spur growth downtown, from the Main Street streetscape project to the completion of two new schools.

Nicastro said it is “the sizzle that sells the steak” so Bristol needs to give the appearance of a place on the move.

“We can do things to make Bristol more attractive to young people,” said Jonathan Rosenthal, the city’s economic development director, by “creating an environment where people can work, play and live.”

With a fully integrated solution, Nicastro said, “we can be very, very successful.”

Nicastro, who took the helm at the chamber at the start of the year, said that even in the current hard times, there’s work to be done.

“With a down economy comes challenge,” he said, “but also opportunity.”

Next meeting

The Downtown Business Group will meet next at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 25.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

No fees for city job seekers

A proposal to begin charging job seekers at City Hall a fee fell flat this week.
“There’s other ways we can save money,” said city Councilor Frank Nicastro, who heads the Salary Committee.
The salary panel killed the request because its members feared that imposing a fee for those seeking to take the police and fire tests – the first step toward getting a public safety position in Bristol – could potentially keep good people from coming forward.
Personnel Director Diane Ferguson said that charging about $12 an applicant would bring the city about $2,000 annually, an idea she said was spurred by Mayor Art Ward’s request that department chiefs look for ways to bring in new revenue to cover costs.
Many municipalities in the state charge fees for entry level police and fire tests, Ferguson said, including West Hartford, which imposes a $20 charge; New Britain, which asks for $35; and Waterbury, which socks residents for $75 and out-of-towners for $100.
City Councilor Mike Rimcoski suggested that if Bristol opted to begin imposing fees, it should ask for $10 from residents and $15 from those hailing from other towns. He said it would probably average out to about $12 per applicant that way.
Ferguson said there are about 100 applicants annually for firefighter jobs and usually a bit less for police positions.
Hitting them up for the expenses involved would be “a way to cover some of the costs for the testing,” Ferguson said.
City Councilor Cliff Block said that he worries that if the city begins requiring a fee, some qualified people won’t bother to apply.
“I don’t want to deter anyone,” Block said. “I’d like as many people tested as possible so we get the best and the brightest.”
Block said that the $2,000 or so the city might get from test-takers is “not going to make much of a difference in the budget.”
“Not the way you vote,” Rimcoski responded.
But Rimcoski agreed that the $2,000 the city might gain is “peanuts” in the big picture.
Nicastro said he had “mixed feelings” about the issue, but that Block had made a good argument for leaving the system the way it is.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

New chamber president: Mike Nicastro

On the Open Solutions website, there is this on the background of Mike Nicastro, a younger brother of former Mayor Frank Nicastro:

Michael D. Nicastro
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Prior to joining Open Solutions in 1994, Mike Nicastro spent 10 years with the Data Services Division of the NCR Corporation in the marketing and management of micro based financial systems, leaving NCR as the National Product Manager of Platform/Branch Automation. While with NCR, Mr. Nicastro was one of 15 employees worldwide to win the “Chairman’s Customer Satisfaction Award.” Mr. Nicastro spent the nine years prior to NCR working in the banking industry with Connecticut based Bristol Savings Bank, as well as New York based Citicorp. During his tenure with these organizations he held positions in branch management, lending, underwriting and marketing. Mr. Nicastro holds a Bachelors Degree in Marketing from Central Connecticut State University and a Juris Doctor from Western New England College, School of Law.

My understanding is that Nicastro will take John Leone's place -- as if anyone could -- at year's end.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com