What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate: Rock Cats Owners Didn't Even Bother To Tell The Big Club

One of the biggest complaints coming out of the pending deal by the Rock Cats and the City of Hartford is that key "stakeholders" were not let in on the talks nor intentions of the team's ownership to vacate New Britain Stadium in 2016 for the proposed I-84 linked Parcel 12B in downtown Hartford.

Neither New Britain's Mayor Stewart nor State Senator Eric Coleman nor even the team's big corporate sponsor, The Stanley Works, among others, were consulted or given as much as a courtesy call.

Well move over Erin and Eric. As it turns out local officials and sponsors were not the only ones left out of the loop. The ownership group led by Boston real estate mogul Josh Solomon didn't even bother to inform the big club in Minnesota.

A news blog out of Minneapolis reports that the MLB Twins of which the Rock Cats are a Double A affiliate in the Eastern League were also blindsided by the New Britain to Hartford project. And we're not talking about the busway here.

"The Twins were not consulted about the plans of their Class AA affiliate, the New Britain Rock Cats, to move into a $60 million stadium in Hartford, Conn., for the 2016 season, a deal announced in the state’s capital Wednesday. But Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony said the Twins understand why owner Josh Solomon is making the move, and will likely support him," wrote Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune on June 5th

Hartford city officials are giving the Rock Cats owners a pass about their insistence on cloak and dagger negotiations. Hartford's Development Director told Connecticut Public Radio  that development proposals, if they are to come to fruition, need to be  under wraps before moving into the public domain.

So much for planning the use of taxpayer money with transparency. And the Twins -- a long way away from New Britain anyway -- are excusing the Solomons for their pursuit of a new park in secrecy.

The Rock Cats owners, however, may be in for a rude awakening now that the $60 million plan is subject to oversight and the full involvement of stakeholders in the process.

They want to walk away from New Britain's sweetheart deal of a $120,000 or so annual lease because they want even more public subsidies from their current local government.

They see dollar signs and corporate sky boxes at their proposed band box of a publically financed park in downtown Hartford. But if it can't be built, if the project won't survive a legitimate public vetting, they -- the fans and corporate sponsors --will not come.

Mr. Solomon may think he has a back up in Springfield but there are no guarantees there.

In the end the Rock Cats owners may have to come crawling back to hard hittin' New Britain just for a place to play two years hence. If that occurs let's negotiate the deal in the open with the involvement of all stakeholders.

Stewart Veto Puts HUD Funds For Community Services In Jeopardy: Does Administration Want Money For Political Appointee Malinowski?

In a June 6th letter Mayor Erin Stewart vetoed and returned to the Common Council a plan for use of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds in the new fiscal year.

On May 28th the Common Council on a 7 to 5 voted restored funds to several community agencies that had been reduced by the Mayor's Commission on Community and Neighborhood Development (CCND).

According to The New Britain Herald story several organizations that had been zeroed out by Stewart and the CCND, including the Prudence Crandall Center,  the Opportunities Industrialization Center and HRA's Polish Outreach Center, among others, had grant funds put back into the plan by the Council.

At issue is the allocation for community services in the $1.5 million the city receives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The Council reduced the percentage this year to $371,000 or 24.7 percent of the CDBG money while the Administration and acting Municipal Development Director Ken Malinowski wants to allocate $319,000 (21.2 percent) -- an 8.4 percent cut in funds that have been relied on by various community agencies for more than 30 years.

Stewart and Malinowski, citing HUD's recommended allocation percentage of 15% for community and social services, want to re-direct funds under the federal program.  This is not a matter of reducing appropriations to save the cash-strapped city but federal funds that are available for a range of neighborhood , housing and community services.  Mayor Stewart and Malinowski want the money for something else, but the specifics have not been given to justify immediate cuts to direct service programs.

Some observers claim the transfer of funds is sought to pay for Malinowski's $102,000 annual salary as acting head of the department that handles the federal money, a job he left when the previous administration took office in 2011. As is, the Council approved money for management and administration totalling $300,236 or 20 percent of the CDBG budget.

In re-appointing Malinowski to lead municipal development at a six figure salary Mayor Stewart  said she wanted to "get the federal money flowing again." It also helped that Malinowski was a primary fundraiser for the Mayor's 2013 campaign after he openly flirted with a mayoral run himself. But Malinowski's record as a dispenser of HUD funds took at least one serious hit late in the administration of former Mayor Tim Stewart.  HUD ordered the city to return $100,000 for a "non-recourse" loan made to Arete Development Group because the loan was ineligible.  HUD  found violations on the loan given to Arete on Malinowski's watch related to the application process, environmental standards and accounting for the money.

In her June 6th veto letter Mayor Stewart cited a letter from a HUD official who said most cities have "an annual limit of 15% that can be spent on public services."  But the same letter affirmed that New Britain has used an allowable "exception" granted in 1984 that may exceed the 15% goal for human and social services. "The statute and regulations have allowed New Britain and similarly situated cities to continue to use that exception ever since," wrote  Gary Reisine, director of community planning and development in Connecticut's HUD office.  At the very least HUD is not mandating New Britain's move to 15 percent this year,  contrary to what Stewart and Malinowski are implying.

The veto is little more than a power play to circumvent the shared governance process that has long been established in the allocation of federal funds. Unfortunately, it may be a pretext by the administration to take money away from direct services for unspecified uses by the Mayor and her political appointee, Ken Malinowski.

See related August 2, 2008 post:  Salvio's Latest Salvo: Putting His Pet Projects and Partisanship Ahead of the Public Interest    

Real Hartford » A Strikeout for Transparency in City Hall

Real Hartford » A Strikeout for Transparency in City Hall

NB Holds Its Own With Population at 72,939: Counting Heads Key To Amount of Funds City Can Receive

New Britain's population is holding steady according to US Census data estimates reported by the Courant May 22nd.

The city's estimated population in 2010 was 73,202 and was 72,939 in 2013, a drop of 263 residents.

The census counts are a key to funding formulas for a wide variety of state and federal funding programs that support cities and towns.

A Brookings Institution brief points to the importance of population numbers in terms of public investments and economic aid. Billions of federal dollars flow into communities based on the results of the census that is taken every 10 years.  The latest numbers show New Britain -- an economically distresses city -- is faring no better or worse in the way state and federal funds are disbursed.

The count also figures in the way Congressional districts and political boundaries are drawn.

For example, New Britain was once part of the 6th Congressional district prior to 2000 but population drops reduced the number of Congressional districts to five.

Whatever Happened To the CPOA? Taxpayer Group Goes Silent And Partisan

Whenever even a rumor of a property tax increase came out of City Hall over the last generation you could count on one group of citizens to make noise and try to mobilize residents against any change in the mill rate.

The New Britain Citizens’ Property Owners Association (CPOA) had a reputation as a group of outspoken conservatives who never saw a tax rate or tax hike they liked. It didn't matter who held office or what the revenue needs were for the city in a particular year. CPOA leaders rose up as citizen gadflies to challenge taxes and spending. 

Flashback to former six-term Mayor William "Billy Mac" McNamara in the 1980s, who upon hearing the group's complaints once too often, took to referring to the acronym CPOA as the "Communist Party Of America" --  a slap in the face to the right-leaning CPOA membership. 

In 2014 the prospect of a 4.88 mill rate increase is more than a rumor. City government is looking to cut spending by the millions and is even contemplating a nuclear option of borrowing money from banks to pay for operations. 

Nary a word has been heard from these self-appointed guardians of the public purse about a tax increase and  cutting the "frills" out of local government.  The last update on the CPOA's website for its members was six months ago. And you can bet there'll be continued silence about the current Stewart Administration's spending during a "spending freeze." 

Wouldn't a legitimate property taxpayer group be raising questions about: 

- GOP Republican Chair Peter Steele's $45,000 part-time job in the mayor's office with nebulous job responsibilities;
- The return of Stewart for Mayor fundraiser Ken Malinowski at $102,000  to municipal development where the misuse of federal funds administered by Malinowski under former Mayor Stewart raised concerns with federal officials and led to Malinowski's departure two years ago.
- The apparent signing of  the Republican-leaning lobbying firm, Gaffney Bennett & Associates, by Mayor Stewart at $48,000 for as yet to be announced consulting work. If correct, this inexplicable expense comes after the New Britain legislative delegation has reached out and met with the Mayor more than once to address city business in Hartford.

Such spending  would normally be juicy stuff for  the "oldest tax-payer advocacy group in the State of Connecticut" (founded in 1924) committed to  "a long tradition of fighting for the property owning tax payers of New Britain."   

Over the last decade, however,  the CPOA clearly lost its mojo and independence.  Through eight years of Tim Stewart 's mayoralty, no dents were ever made in city spending. Ominously, the elder Stewart kept counting fictitious sales of development land and ignoring pension obligations as a Democratic Common Council (made weaker by charter change) went along.  The CPOA ignored these financial mortal sins but continued to love Tim Stewart for his effectiveness at keeping dollars for education to a minimum.    

Stewart administration apologists, including those in the CPOA leadership, continue to pin all of the blame for the city's deep fiscal hole on inflated revenue projections of the one-term O'Brien administration. As noted by the New Britain City Journal, the New Britain GOP's mouthpiece:

All of New Britain's fiscal woes started 24 months ago when Tim O'Brien took office.  Up to that time the prior Stewart Administration  over eight years was the nadir of  fiscal responsibility."

Not even Mayor Stewart has had the gall to promote this lie, leaving her allies in the CPOA and the yellow journalism of the City Journal  to play the blame game. Stewart's own forensic audit found much the same as Mayor O'Brien's audit when he took office.  The city's fiscal troubles date back more than a decade and were largely created by the former Stewart administration's one-shot revenues and fiscal gimmicks that were the opposite of fiscal responsibility.

The transformation of the CPOA into a wholly-owned subsidiary of the New Britain GOP is a development that creates opportunity. The CPOA, always opposed to adequate school funding and absent from debates  about reducing tax regressivity, won't be missed by residents in need of tax equity and  fundamental change. It's taken on too much partisan baggage to be taken seriously.

At the state level House Speaker Brendan Sharkey has taken the first steps toward meaningful property tax reform in years. These reforms include relieving localities of the cost of special education and reducing the burdens of the property tax on homeowners and tenants, particularly in economically distressed cities.

The situation invites a new kind of citizens' group here that is  independent of either major political party and is  committed to tax fairness, equity in school funding and responsible budgets.

There's no better time to organize "New Britain Citizens For Tax Fairness" than now.

City Council Gives Nod To $10.10 An Hour A Year Early

Council President Mike Trueworthy's resolution on a $10.10 minimum wage for city employees not covered by labor agreements or other contracts won a 10-5 vote at the Common Council April 9th.

It came on the heels of President Obama's visit to CCSU to rally support for federal legislation that languishes in the GOP controlled U.S. House of Representatives.  The point of Obama's visit was that states and localities now need to lead and pressure Speaker Boehner & company to adjust the federal minimum which hasn't changed in a long time.

Front Page from The Recorder, CCSU's student
newspaperafter President Obama's visit.

Thinking nationally and acting locally worked.  Nine Council Democrats were joined by Ward 4 Alderman Don Naples, an unaffiliated who ran with GOP Mayor Erin Stewart last year.

Ward Five Alderman Carlo Carlozzi, Jr. led the majority's argument for the city to go to $10.10 in 2015-2016 after a council committee exempted independent contractors from the increase.  Carlozzi, pretty much a fiscal conservative with a record of voting against municipal budgets, made the "moral' argument. Invoking the experiences of his labor Democratic parents Carlozzi noted that the compromise measure on $10.10 won a unanimous vote in committee and he was surprised to hear opposition on the Council floor. "Are we really telling people we can't afford paying them 50 cents more an hour?" asked Carlozzi, noting that the state minimum goes to $9.60 the year after next and won't reach  $10.10 until 2017.

City officials estimate the impact of $10.10 for eligible employees would be somewhere north of $80,000. But Carlozzi, who delivered a budget-cutting soliloquy on ways to avoid tax hikes at the start of the meeting,  insisted that even the most austere municipal budget should find room for half a buck an hour more for entry level wages in city jobs.  Approximately 160 employees, part and full time, would be covered by the new minimum.

"Democrat" Daniel Salerno, a member of the Council's Republican caucus, and Minority Leader Jamie Giantonio, led the opposition to the measure on jurisdictional and fiscal grounds.  Salerno, being a good soldier for the Stewart Administration, argued minimum and living wages are not the concern of elected officials in local government.  Giantonio, noting the precarious financial condition of the budget, indicated that the city could use the money for other things instead of upping the minimum for a limited number of city employees a year ahead of the state mandated wage policy.

The GOP Aldermen, wanting to have it both ways, quickly endorsed "living wages" that exceed $10.10 in theory but fell back on familiar arguments used whenever proposals to have minimums catch up with the cost of living: it'll kill jobs and drive costs up for consumers (taxpayers).

Alderman Salerno makes a good point: if Congress, specifically the GOP House was doing its job to adjust the $7.25 federal wage, neither city nor state would need to debate the issue.  The $10.10 an hour would already be in the calculations for the current budget let alone next year's or the year after that.

The Common Council, however, did the right thing in passing more than a  feel good resolution backing state and federal action after the Obama visit.  The need for constrained spending and austerity in municipal budgets is undeniable. But paying an additional 50 cents per hour for the least paid among city workers is a step toward fairness and away from the excuses and myths that always come from opponents.  Excuses and myths are holding the minimum to $7.25 nationally but not in Connecticut nor New Britain.

Remembering Rev. King and 4/4/68 at MLK Park Monument

New Britain's Mary McLeod Bethune Club (MMBC) observed the anniversary of the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 5th -- a memorial  event  club members have organized for most of the 46 years since the civil rights leader was killed in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

CCSU Anthropology Professor, Dr Evelyn Harris, the featured speaker at the King Monument Memorial held at the MLK city park at the corner of Stanley Street and MLK Boulevard, told a small gathering that New Britain's King monument was one of the first memorials of its kind in the country. Participating in the program were MMBC President Chery Niccolls, NBPD Officer Marcus Burris, Master of Ceremonies; Music Soloist Linda Vickers with Marzell Jackson laying the wreath at the monument. Ward 3 Alderwoman Shirley Black and NAACP President Ron Davis shared remarks at the monument.

Other speakers, including longtime Club President Janice Edwards, recalled that the city's King monument was originally located at East Main and MLK Boulevard on a traffic island, a target of frequent vandalism and even visits from local KKK adherents.  The Bethune Club organized residents to stare down the Klan nonviolently when they showed up and began the effort for a better site.

Alton Brooks, a leader in the effort to establish MLK Park, with New Britain's finest.

With leaders such as Edwards, Alton Brooks and the late former Alderwoman Connie Wilson Collins pushing city government, the little corner park for the King monument was established further up the road. Today inlaid bricks recognize donors from the community who contributed to make MLK Park possible.

Police Officer Marcus Burris and MMBC President Chery Niccolls

 Democratic District Leader Mario Santos and Board of Education member Merrill Gay participated.

Duane Hinkson with sons Dillon and Devon and MMB Club Member Janice Edwards