And, finally, the 3rd District debate

And now for the district with no incumbents.
Please forgive me for using DC for Derek Czenczelewski. That's a tough name to type quickly!
All four candidates are here: DC, David Mills, Kate Matthews and Terry Parker.
It's noteworthy that Matthews is the first woman to sit up there for the debates the whole evening (though Bishop would have been here, too, save for a poorly timed flu).
There hasn't been a woman on the council since Ellen Zoppo departed two years ago after her mayoral bid fell short. I'm not sure how long, if ever, there's been more than one woman councilor among the six.
Bristol remains a little behind the times on such things.

Q - INdustrial park...
Matthews said the city has four options to accelerate the sale of lots in the new business park off Middle Street -- to give BDA more money to advertise more effectively, possibly hiring a professional broker "to push those lots," perhaps dropping the price or working out other financial arrangements, and the city could offer increased tax abatements.
Mills said there is an opportunity "to determine what we want to go in there."
The city should "make a list" of which companies are wanted and then go out and recruit them.
Parker said it is about marketing and tax breaks.
"We also have a great opportunity and we also have a great site," Parker said. Because Bristol is halfway between Boston and New York, it's attractive.
DC said he agrees marketing is crucial. He urged local, regional and national advertising. He said Bristol "lags behind" in information technology and ought to try to cluster firms in the park.
Clustering can "create a snowball" and can be a success, DC said.

Q -- Forestville... and 72...

Mills said the city should follow the recommendations of the study five years ago. Improving the pedestrian flow in the village center is important. He said that the old Sessions building could perhaps house condos.
The Forestville Village Association should play a role. The new road will make the area more viable than it is today.
Parker said that ROute 72 creates "a great opportunity."
He said the city should investigate removing the island in the center. It is imperative that whatever is done be "the people's development" and not a City Council one " so we can have development that is in the character of Forestville."
DC said condos are a good idea.
He said the new road is going to be a tremendous boost for Forestville by "opening up the entire area."
Matthews said she read the Route 72 corridor study, which is "a comprehensive, forward-looking" report that she endorses. I'll link to it later.
She said she is a lifelong Forestville resident "and a lot of people in my part of town" are concerned about what changing traffic patterns may mean. "This issue needs to be handled with care," Matthews said.
Matthews called for a holistic approach that deals with the wide range of issues that Route 72 will create.

Q -- marketing...

Mills said that until Bristol identies what it wants to be, attracting people to town will be hard. He said the city needs to tackle blight and "sell cleanup to everyone," improve the city's gateways.
He said he would like to get local landscapers to agree to care for one of the gateways.
"It's critical that we market the city the way we should," Mills said, including improving the city's website.
Parker said the city is unique in that it borders six other towns. Each has unique gateways to Bristol. Landscaing idea is "great," he said.
Parker said the BDA needs the tools to market the city.
DC said that Bristol's economy is now 20 percent in digital information, due to ESPN. A lot of people want to work there and we should encourage other jobs in the same sector to grow the IT cluster.
"We have a lot of other opportunities" beyond ESPN in the same business, DC said.
Matthews said the city need to make sure that zoning is business friendly and making a place where companies want to come, providing quality schools, safe streets and more.
"We have to make Bristol a worthwhile place to live and I believe we do," she said, and to keep pushing forward to preserve quality of life.
"We also have a highly qualifed workforce," she said.

Q -- marketing...

DC said the first step is to get the BDA, BDDC and chamber to get on the same page. THey need to meet montly to improve communications.
The city needs to revamp its website and to utilize social media.
The bedrock of any community are its working families, Matthews said, where excellent schools are crucial.
Matthews said she would continue the grants and incentives the BDA has used successfully to lure business to town.
Mills said bringing people to Bristol "is just like recruiting." First you need to analyze the need, then where do you find it. You have "go out and do your homework." Then list them and contact them. Follow up with those that show interest. "Invite them to the city," Mills said.
Ties in to cleaning up city and improving gateways. It ties into downtown where you don't want "a desolated, vacant lot," Mills said. The mall site "is crucial."
Parker said all of the suggestions "are great ideas."
"We are a great community," Parker said, and "this is an economic force to be reckoned with."

Q - higher ed...

Parker said this community has long sent students to all of the state universities. The president of the state university system is someone Parker has known for two decades. He said the city can talk to him. He's a visionary, he said.
"We can probably work something out," Parker said.
Mills said the city should approach nearby schools. It could also potentially partner with Bristol Hospital to help train people it needs. It could be "a great marriage," Mills said.
He said that developing Depot Square into a destination offers the hope of attracting more.
"Depot Square is the catalyst that's going to turn our city around," Mills said.
Matthews said she echoes some of Mills' comments. She said the site is a great site for a college branch.
"We may have some difficulty marketing that," Matthews said. She said the Tunxis satellite in town is underutilized and needs to "do what it should be doing."
Others will wonder if it's a good place to be if Tunxis isn't fully utilized downtown.
Matthews said that education is key.
DC said that with the struggling economy "a lot of people have been going back to school."
Tunxis may want to expand in Bristol.
It might also be able to attract a training school, too, DC said.
He said that a rich nightlife would help attract youths to Bristol.

Closing statements...

Matthews said she is a mother, wife, homeowner and lawyer who has lived her whole life in Bristol. She said she's looking forward to sending her young daughter to the new k-8 school on Pine Street.
"In these trying times," she said, the city needs to be fiscally conservative.
She said she is "an ethicak, fair and independent-minded" person.
Mills said that over the last two months he's had "so many people come up to me and ask what are you doing?"
"I'm excited about Bristol's future," Mills said. He said he's tired of people saying, "This is Bristol. What do you expect?"
With two new schools, tranforming Forestville "into a quaint, welcoming village" and more, Bristol will be the city we all want.
Parker said he's lived in Bristol for 40 years. He said he's been an election moderator for more than 20 years, raised a family "and I do love this city."
"This community is a community in transition" and Depot Square will help define what kind of community it becomes, Parker said.
He said he is committed to getting the input of as many residents as possible on key issues.
"The people have a right to be heard," Parker said.
DC said he is "relentless" and "will keep hammering away" to accomplish his goals.
He said he has a solid education and leadership skills. He said he decided to run "nearly five years ago."
Bristol has "done nothing" with the mall site. Now is the time to do something, he said.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Parker aims to solicit ideas from the public

A long-time Democratic Party activist, Terry Parker, is taking aim at capturing one of two open City Council seats in this fall’s municipal election.

“From the time I was in high school, I’ve wanted to serve the city,” said the 53-year-old file room manager for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Both of the 3^rd District’s incumbents, Democrats Frank Nicastro and Craig Minor, have said they won’t seek another term. That leaves the race wide open for the first time in years.

One other Democrat is in the race already, 29-year-old lawyer Kate Matthews. The Republicans have one contender as well, Derek Czenczelewski, a political newcomer.

But other candidates are expected to enter the contest before the July 27 nominating conventions for both parties, perhaps setting up primary fights for the part-time, $10,000-a-year jobs.

Parker sia the economy is clearly the biggest issue facing the district.

He said that more needs to be done to figure out how to take advantage of the soon-to-be-completed Route 72 extension, to use it to help downtown and to bring growth along its length.

That’s something, Parker said, the city should do in party by soliciting ideas from residents.

“I’m going to be the guy who says, ‘OK, what does everybody else think?’” Park said, rather than trying to impose his own policies.

Parker said the city should hold more public hearings so that it can actively solicit suggestions from residents.

Parker said he thinks that Mayor Art Ward “has done a very fine job of trying to direct this community in a very tough time” and he plans to help the mayor succeed.

He said that residents do have to understand the city can’t do everything, particularly in hard times.

“We’re not Santa Claus,” Parker said.

Parker said he would like to see more happening in Forestville’s center. “It’s silly not to see what we can do to make that a more viable area,” he said.

He said he’s ready to go along with both of the new schools sought by the Board of Education, especially the one proposed for the former Crowley site on Pine Street.

Parker graduated from Bristol Central High School in 1974 and earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy and government from Eastern Connecticut State University.

He has worked for the state government for 26 years, half of them at the DEP, where he in charge of the department’s records.

Married to the former Susie Pierce of Bristol for 25 years, they have one daughter, Amanda, who is a student at Boston University.

Parker has been a Democratic Town Committee member for 31 years and has played a role in many political campaigns beginning with former state Sen. Steve Casey’s 1978 run.

Parker has talked about running for office on occasion, but has only run once, in an unsuccessful Board of Education bid in 1991’s chaotic race to serve on the first elected school board.

The 3^rd District spans the southern third of Bristol. It is one of three council districts in town, each with two representatives. They serve two-year terms. The election is Nov. 3.

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

Armington bows out, Ward wary

The mayoral race just got a little more clear.
Financial planner Rich Armington said Tuesday that after weighing his options, he's decided that “I’m not going to run."
Armington had been eyeing the Democratic primary that may pit the party's endorsed candidate, Ellen Zoppo, against longtime city Councilor Art Ward.
If Ward is running, he needs to file the papers on Wednesday.
But with two candidates who hoped to force City Council primaries -- Tom Ragaini and Terry Parker - struggling to get enough signatures, there's a growing possibility that Ward will forgo the primary and run, as he put it, as "a petitioning Democrat" on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.
Ward said he hasn't made a decision yet. But, he said, if he's the only person seeking a primary, he might give it up in order to save taxpayers the cost of holding the Sept. 11 primary.
Armington said he believed "I had at least a shot" of winning the primary, but after thinking about his many elderly clients, he decided that he owed it to them to keep looking after their money instead of seeking elected office.
"It was gutwrenching to me," Armington said, but "I just can't leave my people."

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Nicastro eyeing another council term

BRISTOL – Democrat Frank Nicastro, a former mayor and current state representative, may seek another term on the City Council.
Nicastro, who won a council seat in 2005, said Monday he’s “more than capable” of holding part-time political positions in both Bristol and Hartford for another two years.
But, he said, if the Democratic Town Committee members in the 3rd District prefer a candidate who would offer voters “new blood,” he won’t challenge them.
There are two announced Democratic candidates in the district, incumbent Craig Minor and newcomer Terry Parker, a longtime party activist. If committee members back Nicastro, Parker would almost certainly be the one to lose out on the endorsement.
The Democrats will endorse a slate of candidates for city office on Monday. The Republicans are picking their standard bearers Tuesday night at the Franco-American Club.
The only GOP contender in the district, so far, is Robert Merrick, a former Democrat who switched his political affiliation in February to sign on with the Republicans.

Nicastro may run for council again

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com