Rockwell Park overhaul nearly finished

Photo: Mike Orazzi/ The Bristol Press

Though it's a little hard to figure out just what's going on at the old lagoon right now, the final part of the historic park's renovation is almost complete. By mid-summer, it'll all be over, on time and within budget. Here's the story.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City to buy house on Park Street

The city plans to purchase an apartment house at 268 Park St. for $175,000 soon.

If approved by the City Council and the Board of Finance, the city would purchase it and knock it down, as it has done to several other homes along that stretch in the past decade.

The city has a long-term plan to buy all of the properties beside historic Muzzy Field, opening up the view of the park and creating opportunities for future enhancements.

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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Zydanowicz set to declare for Congress on Monday

Oops, it seems that Republican congressional hopeful Mark Zydanowicz got off on the wrong foot with the Federal Election Commission. His campaign's initial filing identified itself only as "Z For Congress" and never named the candidate himself.
As long as he corrects it, which will certainly happen, there's no penalty. It's obviously just a rookie mistake.
But it does highlight one of the hazards of pushing "Z For Congress" rather than trying to get voters to learn Zydanowicz. In fact, a Facebook page set up to attract followers to the candidate's formal announcement at 11 a.m. Monday at the state Capitol also neglects to mention his name.
And I'd be at least a little worried if I were in his shoes that Z for Congress could too easily translate into Zzzzzz for Congress if the pace of the campaign slows. You never want to make it too easy on headline writers.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Property taxes heading up

With the budget crunch time fast approaching, city officials are scrambling to figure out how to close a $12 million gap in next year’s spending plan.
A property tax hike is virtually certain, but a consensus appears to be in place to hold any increase to 1.5 mills or less. That means property taxes could rise as much as 5.8 percent.
“We can’t go any higher than that,” said John Smith, a veteran finance commissioner.
Both Mayor Art Ward and Finance Chair Rich Miecznikowski said they believe taxes will go up between 1 and 1.5 mills when the final city spending plan is adopted next month.  Click here for the story.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Republican delegates to the GOP state convention in May

Meant to get these in last week, but better late than never.... These are the delegates picked last week by the Republican Town Committee:
Wally Barnes
Barbara Franklin
Ellie Klapatch
Jan Bevivino
Sharon Krawiecki
Edward Krawieck, Jr
T.J. Barnes
Mary Alford
Ken Cockayne
Henry Raymond
Stacey Raymond
Jill Fitzgerald
Whit Betts
Brock Weber
Bob Casar
Louise Melluzzo
Here are the Democratic delegates.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Race is on to replace Badal

Democratic Registrar Bob Badal's decision to give up his post this year has at least a few Democrats eyeing the job.
Two potential successors have already filed paperwork to seek the position - Kathy Mike, who filed in January, and Elliot Nelson, who filed this morning.
Nelson, the party chair, said another contender is also likely.
I'll have more on this sometime soon.
The Democrats will endorse a candidate in May. A primary, which is almost a given, would be in August.
The Republican registrar, Sharon Krawiecki, is sticking around. She has no GOP opposition.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Colapietro: Voters too smart for GOP 'nonsense'

To Whom It May Concern:

In my eyes, some local Republicans are once again underestimating the intelligence of the people of the 31st District and I know the voters are too smart for this nonsense.  I wanted to address a few things about myself and some statements that were made.

Earlier this year, they filed a false claim against me stating that I violated election laws when I made a comment to a reporter about the upcoming election.  They took an off-the-cuff remark, grasped at straws, and tried to say that I failed to file with the State after I formally announced my intentions to run.  The only problem?  It wasn’t a formal announcement; in fact, it wasn’t an announcement at all.  The false claim filed against me cost the State to investigate, with taxpayers unfortunately responsible for paying the bill. 

I’d also love to explain to my constituents the logic presented to me, but I don’t know where to start; I expect them to be against everything I do, but why then ask me what I’ve done?  If you’ve stated that you are against my laundry list of accomplishments, surely it’s a waste of time to then ask for information you already have?  Recently I was opposed by them with regards to the issue of Sunday Sales.  The issue has been argued and discussed, one that I will not further articulate here, and I find that most people I encounter tend to agree with me.  The projected sales continue to rise with each new “push” and the unfortunate truth is that a more realistic number hardly pales in comparison. 

To keep you up to speed, they also posted my finance report in the paper.  While they were busy trying to insinuate that I’m bought, they never posted the donations I received from regular folks like teachers, subcontractors, parents, etc.  I know who contributes to my campaign; they are the people whom I've written bills for and I think I do a good job for them.  I certainly don't think people who donated toward my campaign thought they bought me.  A few weeks back they FOI’d (Freedom of Information) my emails at work; nothing was found.  Asking would have yielded the same result – I do my job proudly and I take care of my constituents.

In previous campaigns there have been tactics and great costs to the taxpayers on their behalf, not mine.  That’s not acceptable to me.  I feel strongly enough in my beliefs and the work that I do to not play petty games and create something where nothing exists. 

Senator Tom Colapietro

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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Budget battle in Hartford

A few stories I didn't get a chance to link on Friday:

Hamzy blasts Democrats, Colapietro

Hospital chief defends Bristol lawmakers

Welch lays out budget ideas

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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Fine businesses that don't file required assessment paperwork?

To figure out tax assessments on businesses, the city relies in part on the confidential income and expense information provided to it.
The Annual Income and Expense Report is especially helpful for determining the value of rental property, said Thomas DeNoto, the city assessor.
DeNoto said he would like the city to begin fining businesses that fail to file the required paperwork.  CLICK HERE FOR STORY
For those who want to know more about the form, here's a link.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

False alarms

City councilors are eyeing a possible change to the alarm ordinance that levies $90 fines for property owners who have more than three false alarms in a year.
Councilors said the fire and police chiefs want the authority to waive the fines when the property owner bears no fault for the false alarms.  CLICK HERE FOR STORY

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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Busway gathers more support, for better or worse

Many in Bristol are disappointed that House Speaker Chris Donovan of Meriden and environmental activists yesterday jumped aboard the proposed $573 million busway between Hartford and New Britain.
Donovan said the fight to block the busway is over.
Well, maybe.
Environmentalists bought the tale that a state study back in the 1990s found the busway to be the most cost-effective solution to congestion in the region.
But that's only partly true.
The study never even looked at Bristol or anywhere west of New Britain -- the very area served by the rail line.
It also laid out a fairly small price difference between rail and the busway. At the time, the busway was cheaper at $80 million or so. But the price tag has skyrocketed.
It's not clear that the price of rail has risen nearly as much. It could well be that a more environmentally friendly option -- rail -- would serve more riders in a wider region and cost less.
The truth is that nobody knows if that's so. It will take a comprehensive study to find out.
But if the busway goes ahead, the utility of rail immediately plummets. And Bristol will wind up with nothing, rail advocates insist.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Gender neutrality sought for city charter

The city charter, written a century ago, lays out the duties of the mayor with the assumption that mayors are men.In Section 16 of the charter, which details the mayor’s duties, it says, “He shall preside ... he shall have the power ... he shall exercise ... he may ... he shall sign ...” and so on a couple of dozen times.
For Jim Hopkins, a member of the Charter Revision Commission, it’s time to update the wording.
He said he doesn’t want his granddaughter to read the city government’s blueprint and come to the conclusion that the mayor “has to be a man.”  Click here for the story.

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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com