New Haven Independent

Posted by: on whalley | November 30, 2007 10:17 AM

Welcome to the "the city took my money and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it club."

Class action suit anyone? Not to milk the taxpayers but to get the money taken from us back.

As a side not I got my tax bill yesterday. Nothing I love more at Christmas time than that 42 mil rate. Except maybe the threat at the bottom of the bill stating that if it weren't for the current wealth redistribution policies forced upon us at the state level the mil would be 92. Am I the only one who looks at that as a threat? Am I the only one who wonders how exactly my life is made better by paying that obscene bill? And if you don't pay you get two choices: jail, death. That seems fair.

I wonder why your street was "swept" so late in the season. Did the city just need a little income last minute or something?

Street sweeping in this city is more like an ATF raid or like a SWAT team "sweeping" a building. Not for crime but for profit.

We're all "tangos" in New Haven. Get on the ground face down, open your wallets, all at gun point.

Posted by: Yair | November 30, 2007 1:45 PM

Paul, I'm amused that in the same breath you expressed support for a "zero tolerance" policy and then criticism of "three strikes you're out" laws.

I recommend we adopt ONLY laws with stupid mindless slogans from now on: Let's have zero tolerance in the work place, zero mercy on death row, zero empathy in medical insurance, throw the bums out election laws, and of course a damn the consequences defense policy.

Posted by: Paul Bass | December 1, 2007 6:38 PM

Good point Yair -- I think the better (and more consistent) way to have made my point would have been to say: Either we have such a policy on violence in the workplace, or we don't. We need to be consistent. And if aside from the slogans, if the city wants to make a statement that it's protecting workers from violence in the workplace, it should back that up. This seemed like a pretty obvious example.

Posted by: on whalley | December 3, 2007 8:06 AM

This Monday my are is getting a "surprise" street sweeping. So the question popped up in my head. What if you were out of town for the holiday? What if I was out of town the month of December? What if we took the bus to a train to a plane and were gone for any number of days?

It's not like the sweeping is its regular April to October schedule so if the city decided to arbitrarily sweep a street while I or you were gone would we come back to a ticket and weeks of impound fees?

A week or two of accumulated impound fees is enough to to send a person to the poor house. Through no fault of his own he could lose his car and over a months pay.

Now that hardly seems like a fair and decent policy. Does it?

Posted by: eli | December 3, 2007 5:00 PM

You know Paul, you DO live in the 25th ward, and YOUR paper broke the Silverman/ Mcgrath/ Vito story. Perhaps you have been chosen to suffer the wrath of mcgrath.
By the way, thank you for your effort to help the mayor's raise cost us $127 less. I'm sure i'll be putting in my $127 the next time it snows 1/4 of an inch, a parking ban is called and all i get is a phone call telling me about free streetcar rides (assuming i've never taken one). I promise you i will not be as kind as mr. bass was.

Posted by: doug | December 3, 2007 6:31 PM

If they decided to adopt a 3 strikes policy, I'm hoping it's much modified from the Calif. law - maybe they need to qualify what makes a "strike." Three violent crimes, rather than just three crimes, would obviously work better. Bottom line on crime is, parents need to do a better job instilling the value of living within the law (notice the shameful re-election of Eddie Perez in Hartford), and also the need to value life and respect for others more than a buck. Poverty can lead to desperation, yes, but it is not an excuse for violent crime - ever. Call me crazy.

Posted by: -fairhavener- | December 3, 2007 9:08 PM

Regarding street sweeping:

I TOLD YOU SO.

"Street sweeping in this city is more like an ATF raid or like a SWAT team "sweeping" a building. Not for crime but for profit." (on whalley)

This hits the nail on the head. I asked for an article about this months ago. No one ever cares until their car gets towed. Then, they agree with me 100%.

Posted by: Chris Gray | December 4, 2007 2:05 AM

Let us have a conflict resolution process; that, it would seem to be, is what we need.

As it is we have a media that thrives on conflict promotion, which is, perhaps, why we have allowed ourselves to get in this situation.

Repetitive reports on murders impel us to reflexively enact legislation that will not only fail to solve the problems we face but, also, make them worse, such as the spate of "zero tolerance" policies after Columbine or the proposed "three strikes" laws.

Meanwhile, reports on overcrowded prisons inflame another constituency in the conflict.

Is anyone actually trying to solve the problems here?

As far as the traveling New Haven car owner goes, those folk are supposed to avail themselves of the lovely commercial parking lots in their absence, don't you know?

Otherwise, your car is just a revenue source for the city.

Posted by: on whalley | December 4, 2007 11:02 AM

Commercial lots? Screw that.

Should I find myself out of town leaving my vehicle behind I'll pick up a wench and haul my vehicle up onto the front porch of my house. Maybe hang it vertically from the roof.

Let the city tow that.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | December 4, 2007 5:37 PM

on whalley ya got a laugh out of me! I can see it now, the new holiday decoration for new haven. Everyones out of town at family's and the cars hanging from the house with a golden star twinkling at the top

Posted by: John J | December 5, 2007 12:42 AM

Paul you're working too hard! When you come home at night and you're the only car on one side of the street it's time to get a clue and realize the hammer is coming down in the morning.

I've been there on the tow, but why isn't anyone talking about the fact that when you call the cops they have NO IDEA where your car is for a couple of hours?

My wife got towed at 4:004 pm on Trumbull awhile back. Because she was leaving at 4:00pm and missed it by a smidge, we spent the next 2 hours waiting for the cops to figure out where the car was.

BWT this is the first time I've watched the compost pile whine. I cracked up when I realized you were filming yourself!

Rock on!

Posted by: Chris Gray | December 5, 2007 3:48 AM

So long as you aren't selling cars out of your backyard, it might well even be legal.

Does anyone remember when the city made the dentist on whalley remove the dentine structure in front of his office? I wonder what he really did that ticked them off?