New Haven Independent

posted by: streever on May 17, 2010  4:52pm

Monetization:
What happens if we default/pay late/can’t pay the full amount one year? Do the aldermen know yet? I can almost guarantee you we cede control of our parking meters & go into enormous levels of debt.

Still a bad deal. Take the 5 million for next year out of rainy day fund while you figure out how to budget.

So wrong.

—

For the budget:
John, citizens gave you 360 suggestions and you cut TAG? Come on. You’re playing a political game which annoys insiders and makes you look like a crank to outsiders. I know you feel like you have to make a point but instead why don’t you just effectively manage our city?

posted by: Steve on May 17, 2010  5:01pm

Bye Bye Mayor Johnnie, hope you make the right call on the Statewide Elections because you will be looking for job after this display of arrogance!

You just confirmed the worst of my fears that you would approach this problem with defiance rather than wisdom and leadership!

posted by: Threefifths on May 17, 2010  5:27pm

Again king john selling the people Three Card Monte. Remember taxpayers,the name of the game is always the same follow the ace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caz9hel_Q1I

posted by: Ed on May 17, 2010  5:28pm

A fair start but we still have to pay more and get less. How about trimming all the dead weigh from the Board of Education, kill the Illegal Alien ID card program, cut salaries for all the pencil pushers that work at city hall, kill the city owned pools that we pay for (and can’t use) and don’t sell off the parking meters as doing so only shows off the short-sightedness that seems to be the norm for all politicians these days.

posted by: David on May 17, 2010  5:31pm

Streever,

Which of the 360 suggestions would you implement to save the $800,000 from cutting TAG? 

David

posted by: streever on May 17, 2010  5:54pm

I can’t open the excel file from here, or I’d check & let you know. (No Excel on this machine)

posted by: New to New Haven on May 17, 2010  6:09pm

Here we go…scare people with end of world scenarios. Less safe, school cuts. No fireworks? No tree lighting? Maybe we should return the BRAND NEW HONDA INSIGHT that the parking enforcement office has just purchased. My car is a 2003, and I count myself lucky. What’s it like to be driving a new car, huh, Mr. Mayor?

posted by: New Havener on May 17, 2010  6:10pm

one step forward, two back.  DeStefano finally realizes he’s not a god, but police cuts?  When the economy gets worse crime is up, you can’t cut police.  Next on his chopping block libraries and shelters, give me a break.

Trim the fat in the school budget, they get guaranteed increases, no improvement in test scores, kids dropping out, failing schools, why do they have so much guaranteed money?  The school is the problem, stop throwing more money at it.  Anyone who says “you don’t support the kids” when you question education doesn’t get it or is ignorant, education in New Haven, and much of the US is unsustainable in its current form.  School reform is a must, start from scratch.

posted by: NewHavenerToo on May 17, 2010  6:16pm

Jeez…..When are we going to get rid of DeStefano?....This man’s seat is so hot, NO one else wants to get burned after he leaves.  At least he got rid of some of the double dippers.  Why not all???....

Cable TV in City Hall?....what the heck for?...I mean really.  Who’s watching All My Children during lunchtime?

Some cuts were obvious and others, well…I’ll reserve my thoughts on that for another time.

posted by: East Rocker on May 17, 2010  6:30pm

Thomas/NHI-

Great article.  Thank you.

Could you do a follow up with details about the creation of a Storm Water Authority?  This is the first time I’ve heard about this and I’m wondering what this entails.  Is this another one-time selling off of City assets?  Is this a completely separate system from the sewer system, which is controlled by the Water Pollution Control Authority?  If the city spins off a separate authority to process storm water, who is going to finance it?  Will citizens start receiving bills for storm water services?

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

posted by: working(too hard) mom on May 17, 2010  6:49pm

Sorry, not nearly enough to appease me.

Mayor DeStefano-Your spitefulness is showing. How stupid do you think we are.

Alderman-PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR CONSTITUENTS.  We are not happy with this.

posted by: Bill Saunders on May 17, 2010  6:53pm

If we are nixing the Fourth of July Fireworks and the Tree Lighting, I think we can safely eliminate the Office of Cultural Affairs as well, as they administer both of those two programs, and do little else.

posted by: cedarhillresident on May 17, 2010  7:20pm

sad attempt of tyranny, or is this real all the leader of our city has? There has to be more…what about cuts at the top??? Redundant jobs?? Positions we can live with out? I am confused??

posted by: roomforaview on May 17, 2010  7:31pm

It’s a good start. And it was very encouraging to see the Unions and the Aldermen come together to address the fiscal crisis. My sense is that in these very difficult times increasing people’s taxes at all isn’t going to fly. Everyone’s hurting and tightening their belts and they’re demanding that of their government too.  Any more cuts will mean elimination of crossing guards? Gut community policing? Come on. It’s this kind of talk that leads to loss of credibility by our elected officials. It’s like top school officials when faced with a cut who say it will mean a loss of paras and classroom teachers. The obvious waste that they have fostered in their high paid inner circle is always a sacred cow.  All through the hiring freeze and budget tightening, the Mayor kept hiring and awarding raises to the favored. When you’re doing that you can’t come back and say any further cuts will bring on a doomsday scenario. Times are too tough to keep playing these old games.

posted by: East Shore Guy on May 17, 2010  7:48pm

Cutting cops are you crazy!!!! No way.  I my not be politically savvy but if the guy is holding a press conference that tells me that not only does he have the votes to pass the budget he describes, but that these cuts will happen.

Look I want cops and dont mind paying 4 or 5 percent for them.  DONT CUT COPS!!!

posted by: cedarhillresident on May 17, 2010  8:06pm

WE WANT CHANGE!! WE WANT CHANGE!

nhcan.org
email is on the sight would love the help

our online petition is
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?NewHaven&1 ”

posted by: Unknown fact on May 17, 2010  8:07pm

If Johnnie really wanted to do something he would do a real hiring freeze, suspend the school construction. Taxpayers are you aware that this weekend the BOE spent thousand of dollars on overtime for clean-up of Barnard School because Rosa DeLauro was visiting.  You don’t care if the school are clean for the kids but if a politican is visiting overtime is plentiful. 
...

posted by: cedarhillresident on May 17, 2010  8:12pm

Have to…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGRN39oifsE

posted by: Hartford on May 17, 2010  8:18pm

Someone need to check into the monetization.  This is the same company and system Hartford uses.  This whole program has been a waste of money. Hartford has taken a big loss. Please someone needs to compare the facts before New Haven wakes up and realizes this is way for someone else to own the meters and charge whatever they want for parking.  This is not the answer ...

posted by: sjbj on May 17, 2010  9:12pm

“A reduction of $300,000 in police overtime. District Managers would no longer attend Community Management Team meetings”
How about they volunteer 1 hour a month, like the rest of the citizens do, to attend these meetings?

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on May 17, 2010  9:13pm

East Shore guy,
I might have misread, but it sounds like the cut is coming from new recruits, not the actual existing police force. We will have the same number of officers we have right now, and had this past year, but no new ones.
These cuts are from the proposed budget, which represents an increase in spending over last year.
I’m not sure what I think about this. I have a sense that there must be some bigger budget items that can be trimmed and cut first, then the cuts mentioned in this article would be part of a second round where officials are really diggin’ deep for savings. To offer these up first, though, makes me think that the Mayor is just trying to protect something or conceal something from the public.

posted by: MM on May 17, 2010  9:51pm

Yep. That’s this years federal deficit. Now for my take on this.

The parking meters are still being sold so its obvious this is still a smoke and mirrors budget.

I seem to remember what I paid in property tax did not increase much last year. Unusual that should happen just before the mayoral election.

Inflation is running at 2 to 3% excluding food and fuel. Add these and about 4 to 5% would be more accurate. My standard of living has tanked already. If you take 4% inflation over 2 years a tax hike of 8% looks about right just to keep up with inflation.

The zealots who want a 10% across the board cut are really asking for an 18% tax cut. Interesting that they all live in rich areas. Wooster Square, East Rock and Westville. This is not possible and is just a subsidy to the rich.

My answer is give the Mayor an 8% tax hike without selling the parking meters and let him work it out from their. If he cant do it he should be impeached.

posted by: Math, anyone? on May 17, 2010  10:24pm

Wow, why not take a lesson from Yale, which detailed across-the-board cuts as a first step as soon as they had budget problems.  Cutting a program here and a program there, when a 10% across-the-board cut would yield a $47 million savings?  Yes, some liabilities cannot be cut, so if just a third of our budget could get a 10% cut across the board, it’s still over $15 million saved.  And just eliminate overtime for cops if you’re cutting them.  Wow, do you think they won’t go home if they’re not getting paid?

posted by: citysavor on May 17, 2010  10:56pm

hope chief limon signed a one year lease by the time his second year is out, he’ll be gone. Cutting cops is a big mistake the mayor is making .In a year and six months 17 officers hit 20 years and can retire. two months later another 25 will hit twenty years. That’s 45 not 30. The chances of the officers retiring or loose this pension provision are great. The city can’t keep up with crime issues now and what will be the fall out? prediction 14 murders in the city as of today will be 24 by the end of the year. back to the days of crime running rampant in the city. thanks a lot mayor. why don’t you just move on to your bank job already.

posted by: Seriously? on May 17, 2010  11:51pm

How about cutting out the cable in other city buildings - such as the Parks Department??

posted by: anon on May 18, 2010  12:17am

SJBJ: the police won’t volunteer because almost none live in the city.

The solution to crime isn’t to hire more cops or cut overtime, it is to incentivize police to actually live in our neighborhoods. And to clean up those neighborhoods so people will invest their time & money in monitoring and fixing it up. Nobody will invest in a neighborhood filled with broken glass, speeding Yale construction subcontractor trucks, and ear shattering motorcycles.

The only solution to the budget crisis is a massive union contract negotiation. Shut down city hall until you have 25% concessions and reserve some of the savings to change policies (eg homebuyer program) that will encourage a few of our public employees to actually live here.

If you cut staff salaries and benefits across the board, you can even use some of the savings to hire more staff (city residents under 30 desperately need good jobs) and contractors to do things like clean up Whalley Avenue or go on rookie walking beats (cutting police beats would be a bad idea if the force actually lived here and the money expended went back into the city instead of being drained out to the ‘burbs).  This city needs more jobs and lower taxes—not more highly paid suburban union members who have no connection to the city’s long term success.

Finally, don’t forget to lobby state and Feds. If NHCAN expended as much energy organizing state residents to fix our completely broken federal/state systems (in which Warren Buffett pays less in taxes than a janitor) as they did on local lobbying, we might even see some change from Dodd & Rosa’s offices, currently preoccupied with things like preserving tax benefits for wealthy owners of second homes and construction ofe hundreds of millions of dollars worth of suburban highway bridges and helicopters (useless but lucrative to rich contractors).

posted by: Bill Saunders on May 18, 2010  5:27am

WOW, MM!

1) Give JD an 8% tax hike
2) He will not work out any further details.
3) He will not be impeached upon his failure.

posted by: Harry on May 18, 2010  7:25am

Citysavor.  I don’t think the city is looking to go after existing cops pensions but rather all new hires.  That being said I think this Limon is off to a rocky start.

posted by: Bruce on May 18, 2010  9:00am

Great start, now keep cutting!  If it doesn’t hurt really really bad, you are not cutting deep enough.  Another 1% cut could mean closing the libraries…or it could mean a number of other things.  He’s just trying to scare people.

Cable TV in city hall????  Are you kidding me???  Welcome to the age of FREE digital broadcasting.  You are taking MY money out of MY bank account to pay for something that you can get for free.  I can guarantee there are many other examples of wasteful spending like this.

posted by: new haven on May 18, 2010  9:14am

Hope we do not need a Police Officer in a hurry in Fair Haven how stupid is this no new Police Officers and no overtime and would have to wait longer for them to arrive they do that now 3 hours later well maybe we will get an Officer the next day   ok Chief this is your call step up to the plate and speak your mind.

posted by: no kutz on May 18, 2010  9:22am

No cuts from one of the most wasteful departments in the city? What about the fire service? Jobs in the fire marshals bureau have been consolidated, and more could be eliminated, proof is in the pudding, several jobs have been vacant for years and the sky hasn’t fallen. Arson captain, deputy fire marshal, compliance officer, data control. What is a security analyst anyway? Too much waste. The head of training has been vacant going on 2 years, work load must have been redistributed elsewhere. I say Cut, cut cut!

posted by: curious on May 18, 2010  9:39am

...and still no mention of cuts to the Mayor’s office staff:  A chief of staff, deputy chiefs of staff, 2 executive assistants, 2 receptionists, policy analysts, legislative liaisons, lobbyists, full time public information officer.  Someone needs to remind the mayor that he’s not the governor. And by the way, the backdrop with his name plastered all over it, that he uses for his press conferences, who paid for that?  What is this, the “red carpet”. Those kinds of b.s. expenditures that just feed his delusions of grandeur, also need to stop, along with cable tv, cell phones and cars for department heads.

posted by: robn on May 18, 2010  9:50am

Not Enough…

Too Bad Corey Booker left New Haven.

“The government “can no longer do it all … We can’t do what we used to do,” he said. “Resources are shrinking … Personnel costs are skyrocketing, [along with] health-care costs, pension costs. So revenues are not meeting expenses and it’s getting worse every day, which is going to force us to shrink the size of government because we just can’t afford it. And we definitely can’t tax our way out of this problem.” So the future, as he see it, lies in creating “new paradigms, for not only service delivery but for community success.”“ Mayor Corey Booker, Newark

http://www.newsweek.com/id/238118

posted by: sandstorm on May 18, 2010  10:06am

King Solomon or King Johnnie?
The practice of threatening the most vulnerable to make a point is not new. The suggested cuts outlined in these proposals are
nonsensical and counterproductive.

There does seem to be a recurring theme of top heavy administration. Why not consider utilizing the non profit sector (i.e. Arts Council) to perform the role of the Office of Cultural Affairs, and avert redundancies the same way with youth group leaders forming their own councils as they have. We can empower many other agencies with responsibility while eliminating some expensive personnel. Merchants will obviously want to be part of a solution for Holiday decorations to encourage shopping, etc.
Cutting support for economic drivers like Shubert and Pilot Pen is foolish, but given the lack of success that New Haven airport has had with either corporate aircraft service or commercial flights, that should be evaluated.

After the lengthy and thoughtful discussions and debates ,in which so many participated, this should not be seen as the best that can be done. New Haven deserves a more respectful budget review and revision.

posted by: Jeffrey Fletcher on May 18, 2010  10:43am

Yes. It is so good to see and read where the citizens of New Haven are finally fed up with this mayors, arrogance, narcissism and contempt for the lives of tax paying citizens of the elm city. I am not sure where I want to start so I will start by asking this. With all of the white collar crimes, municipal corruption why has every mayor or selectman in the state in our communities have either gone to prison or are being investigated by the federal authorities for illegal improprieties? What makes this mayor any different from having his various financial departments with having an audit conducted? Could it be that he has insulated himself with “The Town Gown” protection? Or is it that he is the cash cow for the major conglomerates who have undertaken the building projects in the city. Like kickbacks!!!

Mayor John if you really would like to reduce the tax burden on the residents of the community lets explore ventures like, The Pilot Pen Tennis Building which has not paid taxes in well over 15 or more years in lieu of 17 to 20 million dollars, or the 5.3 million dollars that was given out as a mortgage to an individual by the Board of Education. I would beg to differ with you and your smoking mirrors of cutting board of education programs as well as trivia cuts as the Mounted Unit of The New Haven Police Department, the Fourth of July Festivities or the lighting of the New Haven Green Christmas Tree.

This is not old New Haven this is the new New Haven with more educated and aware people of color as well as non minorities who are tired of your using them to fill in the holes of your corrupt buildings of schools, and protecting the haves veversus-eshe have nots!The jig is up and it is only a matter of time where the pressure will be put on those people who are your weak links in your regime.

By the way for all of those who would like to know more about the aforementioned issues of the Pilot Pen, the gate receipts as well as the 5.3 million dollar Board of Education mortgage contact your alderpersons and demand for them to put on the floor an audit to follow the paper trail.

A friend…..

posted by: NH Parent on May 18, 2010  11:20am

No big cuts to managerial dead weight yet they want to slash TAG teachers? Sooo, how does this new budget “keep kids at its center?”

Hope the $200k in athletics dept. cuts are administrational, we already have to buy equipment for our school.

As Gary Doyen’s said: “Why not make significant cuts in non-service areas of this budget first? Mayor’s staff? Travel? Memberships? Tweed? LCI? Economic Development? Building? Planning? Cars? Lobbyists? New positions?”
Some suggestions from Citizens:
http://www.nhcan.org/docs/spreadsheets/citywidebrainstorm.pdf

Some suggestions from Management:
http://www.nhcan.org/docs/budgets/ibb-brainstorm-handout.pdf

Some suggestions from Employees:
http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Mayor/budgetSuggestions.asp

posted by: Top Down on May 18, 2010  11:58am

Don’t cut the teachers, start at the top; BOE and administration, for example, why do we need SEVEN “Assistant Principals” at Wilbur Cross HS?

“Administrative Team and Responsibilites

Rose B. Coggins: Principal
Guidance, Custodians & Freshmen Seminar Departments

Carl Babb: Principal on Special Assignment
11th Grade Administrator
World Language Department
Eric Barbarito: Assistant Principal
9th Grade Administrator
Physical Education Department
 
Myrta Bonilla: Assistant Principal
9th Grade Administrator
Career Center & Business Technology Departments
Steve Ciarcia: Assistant Principal
10th Grade Administrator
ELL & Student Services Departments
 
Larry Conaway: Assistant Principal
12th Grade Administrator
Fine Arts & Music Departments
Michele Sherban-Kline: Assistant Principal
Math & Science Departments
Sheila Williams: Assistant Principal
English & Social Studies Departments”

http://schools.nhps.net/wcross/ACadministrativeduties.html

posted by: Where is the outrage? on May 18, 2010  12:35pm

The NHPD just lost what makes it unique and effective: decentralized district managers and close coordination with community leaders. There should be protests in the street—all the police chief’s ambitious plans just went up in smoke, and crime reductions along with them. This cannot be tolerated! Crime affects everybody and the city needs to have backbone and stand up for what it knows at heart to be right: public safety for all.

posted by: Scare Tactics and Dirty Politics on May 18, 2010  1:01pm

This is scary. Middle-class taxpayers say they’re taxed too much for their property. The Mayor’s response is to cut mostly programs that don’t effect middle-class taxpayers thereby indirectly instigating a mild yet potentially damaging scenario of class warfare in New Haven. What do you think will happen in the near future everytime the police or schools or any other service is criticized? The blame will be laid upon NHCAN who called for all these cuts, even though their #1 idea has been to cut salaries and not programs. No fireworks? No x-mas tree? What group of communist grinches decided that? Nice spin, John. And what’s with taking away district managers from CMT meetings? Why is that so expensive? They can’t meet with the community where they work for 1 hour a month?! What will they be doing instead during that hour?

BTW, if the Cross HS webpage is any indication of how hard city employees are working, we’re in deep trouble. That thing looks like it was created 10 years ago. Time for an update.

posted by: James on May 18, 2010  1:57pm

This is just silly.

They mayor is obviously cutting all the non essential things that make the city awesome in an attempt for people to stand up and yell “we can’t do that!!”.

There is blood in the water for the first time in recent history here. The mayor is vulnerable in the next election… we just need a real opponent to step up.

posted by: Alphonse Credenza on May 18, 2010  2:09pm

$6 million out of 471.  A mere 1.2%—clearly insufficient.  A target of 10% is attainable—with a good deal of suffering.  But not doing so only postpones the pain.

posted by: Moira on May 18, 2010  2:21pm

MM, not everyone in favor of the 10% cut lives in “rich” areas. And not everyone in Wooster Sq., East Rock and Westville is “rich”, either. Please don’t generalize. I live in the Cove, where many families work a minimum of three jobs just to own a house in our little piece of the world.

The mayor’s choice to threaten us with cutting TAG, fireworks and the Christmas tree totally skirts the real issue (no pun intended): He’s still not cutting redundant, high-paying positions. And he’s not taking 10% from every dept. across the board. That’s not innovative. That’s pandering—to his buddies. He owes too many “favors”. 

Go ahead, John. Take away our Christmas tree. Christmas will still come for the people of Whoville.

posted by: JB on May 18, 2010  2:21pm

why do we need SEVEN “Assistant Principals” at Wilbur Cross HS?

^^Holy cow!  If you hadn’t posted the list, I wouldn’t have believed it.  What’s the point of having 7 assistant pricipals at once school?

posted by: Boristt on May 18, 2010  2:48pm

We already have more cops per cap then any other city in the country,adding more cops aint going to solve any thing, you could bring in the national guard and it still wont stop the shooting.Kids having kids thats the problem, no parenting skills

posted by: r. kane on May 18, 2010  2:49pm

A 1.2% reduction says that the Mayor wants us to believe that things will get better, soon. Understandable, but its not going to happen.

New Haven has been moving towards a financial cliff for several years now, and merely tapping the brakes will not prevent it from going over. The city needs to live within its means, like responsible individuals and families. This does not mean resorting to financial chicanery (a too-good-to-be-true parking meter monetization contract or second mortgage), or eliminating the low-cost but high visibility symbolic items (such as the tree lighting, or wearing your older clothes to appear to be frugal). It means, as a group, systematically reviewing the need, value and outcome of every significant expense, and making difficult decisions. My household did it 18 months ago, and we are now better off for it. That’s a good thing, too, because I’m being laid off from Yale next month. We’ll have to make even more changes, but we can do it.

posted by: "Special" Assignments on May 18, 2010  3:40pm

The K-8 Worthington Hooker School does NOT need two principals either. The two school buildings, one K-2 & one 3-8, are only two blocks away from each other. Yes, keep the teachers and paras but cut the fat, especially the redundant fat.

Which other New Haven public schools have these expensive ‘Principals on Special Assignment’?

East Rock Magnet School (5-8) lists two principals and Wilbur Cross High lists one but actually has eight principals
http://www.nhps.net/DirectoryofPrincipals
Does New Haven public schools really need four Directors of Curriculum and Instruction? Five Curriculum Supervisors? Six Directors of Early Childhood Programs? Nine Student Services Supervisors?
http://www.nhps.net/DirectorofAdministration

posted by: rover on May 18, 2010  3:40pm

Was wondering when they light the holiday tree. Really smart move mister mayor cutting police force, New Haven leads the State in homicides. How about cutting cutting I.D. cards and benefits for the illegals?

posted by: Mary Faulkner on May 18, 2010  3:57pm

Why not have district managers come in late the one night a month their community management team meets?  Why does it have to be overtime?

posted by: Ideas... on May 18, 2010  4:51pm

How about taking a real pay cut Mr. Mayor (not just 3%). For that matter, anyone making over $75,000 / year should take a cut. How can you ask middle-class homeowners to cough up thousands of dollars extra this year but not ask the highest paid city employees to give anything up?

How about those expensive city vehicles? Literally, burning thousands of dollars in gas each day, not to mention maintenance, insurance, etc. Surely in a city this small, we can cut out some of those city cars. A lot of us manage to get by in New Haven with out any from of motorized transport. It’s not too hard, granted you’re physically able.

What about benefits for non-union employees? (Are there any non-union city employees?) Yale has already significantly cut paid time off for non-union employees, why hasn’t the city done this yet? Make them earn those fat salaries we’re paying them. Stop pampering them with so much paid time off. They don’t deserve it.

Charge a commuter tax for anyone who drives a car to work and parks it in our city, regardless of where they live. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to walk, bike, or use public transportation, unless of course they are disabled. They are contributing to the misperception that New Haven is a dirty, ugly, loud, dangerous living environment. They are literally driving away businesses and homeowners because no one wants to live or do business in a place where they’re afraid to walk.

Start fining blighted properties. There’s plenty of absentee landlords in this city that get away with making us look bad. They should be held accountable for the mess they create.

Start heavily fining all quality of life crimes (littering, speeding, illegal exhaust systems, violation of noise ordinance, polluting, loitering, disturbance of peace, intoxication, etc.) See above. These are things that people hate about New Haven, not the fireworks and Christmas tree.

posted by: I just love a Greek Salad on May 18, 2010  5:29pm

Eliminating Cultural Affairs is a start, and I think Economic Development is another - most of the new development has been Yale generated/financed/built and they can do anything they want when you think about it.

King John is starting to show his real side - now that there seems to be a concerted effort growing to confront his pie-in-the-sky vision for the city.  New Haven used to be a bigger city that managed to be a decent place to live - it has been shrinking, but City Hall is growing.  Ross Douthat had an interesting op-ed piece in the Times yesterday.  Is it happening in New Haven?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/opinion/17douthat.html

posted by: Narcissism alert! on May 18, 2010  5:41pm

How much did we spend for the fancy campaign banner with the mayor’s name plastered all over it in this photo-op?  For that matter, how much do we spend putting his name on everything from pencils to sidewalks in this city?  He should be paying us to use public space for his ego campaign. Instead, DeStefano propaganda material is part of our city budget. Aldermen, make him itemize every cent we spend bloating his ego and printing his name and picture on everything.  Send him a bill for it! ...

posted by: Boristt on May 18, 2010  5:50pm

Al Cradenza your so right,The mayor still wont make the cuts hes supposed to.Heres one for you Ever body that draws a check from the city weather you are union or not has to take a cut.Thats the only way out of this,mark my words we will be back here next year in worst condition then were in now.

posted by: anon on May 18, 2010  5:54pm

“Mayor’s office staff:  A chief of staff, deputy chiefs of staff, 2 executive assistants, 2 receptionists, policy analysts, legislative liaisons, lobbyists, full time public information officer.” 

All this staff and money spent, and still the Mayor can’t install the $10,000 worth of bike lanes he promised on Dixwell Avenue back in 2003?

posted by: anon on May 18, 2010  5:57pm

“Ideas…” is on the money. 

And correct that we’ll never solve the education, economic development, job creation and crime problems here in New Haven until we address those issues.

posted by: roomforaview on May 18, 2010  6:57pm

For starters, I would implement an ironclad hiring freeze. Work with existing staff -if someone leaves don’t fill the position. Instead, reorganize existing staff and when necessary add compensation for extra duties taken on. Adding any new personnel should be an absolute last resort. City cars should absolutely go. Compensate top city officials for mileage, but don’t hand out cars to them. Their salaries are more than ample for them to get a nice set of wheels.

posted by: E.H. Neighbor on May 18, 2010  9:14pm

John,
Do you even know what your staff are doing? Do you know your staff? Or should I said, Does your staff know what they are doing?
Why are New Haven Tax payers paying for,
A Dept. Head providing services to East Haven Resident. And you want to cut TAG!!! You really need to find out what your people are doing and let them know who she serves.

posted by: Kevin Buterbaugh on May 18, 2010  9:15pm

This budget is still not balanced and in a time of recession and with no inflation any increase in spending is unacceptable.

To those who say the budget is balanced - think again.  The city is planning on selling meter revenue over 25 years so that it can get part of the money now - this is in essence a loan - a very expensive loan that will plague the city budget for years.  The city needs to stop using gimmicks to balance its finances - gimmicks make the long term financial picture of the city worse not better.  This is what Greece did to balance its budgets for years - and we all know how well Greece is doing now.

To those who say more cuts are impossible - think again as well.  It may seem like chump change that city is only now considering cutting bottled water and cable TV.  And, yes these are small amounts of money.  But the fact that these types of things were charged to tax payers to begin with shows a general lack of concern for keeping the city’s financial house in order.  A frugal and efficient city is one where every penny matters.  What other expenses have been overlooked?  Small things eventually add up to big ones.  A people who do not care about the small things generally ignore the large one’s as well.

More importantly, for the mayor to say that an additional 1% cut will lead to library closures, less police etc shows that the city is in deep financial straights - if 1% more leads to that long list of cuts - then the city has a very severe structural problem with its budget - and who caused that?  The only way to deal with structural issues is head on.  This means that how government is performed must be rethought.  Not dealing with the issue now will lead to an even bigger and more painful adjustment later.

posted by: L on May 18, 2010  9:37pm

Dear Mr. mayor and the Board of Ed.,
I didn’t grow up here, but live here now. I was a child of low income, working-class, not college-educated parents in a public school that had a wonderful Gifted and Talented program. Those classes changed my life. I went on to go to Yale, where I also now teach. I don’t know if my life would be what it is today w/o those classes full of wonder and challenges. Cutting those programs is a huge mistake, and you have no idea the positive effects those kinds of experiences have on the future of a child, and on the well-being of our society as a whole. Don’t punish the ones who will be your future doers, movers, shakers and leaders.

posted by: Unforgiven 6mil on May 18, 2010  9:42pm

J.D.
Why did the City let Pilot Pen have a
$6 million unforgiven debut as of 2010?. And just think if someone was doing their job, you would not have cut anything. People wake up check the City Charter? Can you or someone tell me who is the Chamber of Commerce?
Who sits on the Boards?

posted by: streever on May 18, 2010  9:45pm

“How can you ask middle-class homeowners to cough up thousands of dollars extra this year but not ask the highest paid city employees to give anything up?”

awesome

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on May 18, 2010  10:28pm

rover,
Hartford Homicides 2007:33, New Haven: 12
2008:32, 21
2009:32, 12

2010 has gotten off to an unusual start will 11 homicides already, which is entirely uncommon for New Haven and likely is the result of chance and circumstance rather than a clear escalation of crime and violence.

As for “illegals”-they tax every tax except federal income tax, but because they often work very low-wage under-the-table jobs, they likely wouldn’t be paying anything in income tax anyways or if they did it would be a very little amount. It can observed that illegals actually contribute more money into society than many US citizens in the same income groups, and they also contribute a higher percentage of their income into society than any other group of people. Some illegals are criminals (aside from coming to the country illegally) and should be dealt with appropriately, but rates of criminals amongst illegals as a population is lower than rates of criminals amongst US citizens. Illegals are also often part of legal immigrant communities, which flourish around small businesses and vibrant commercial retail streets, which is made possible because immigrants are 30% more likely to start a business than a US citizen:
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/nov2008/sb20081125_711355.htm
When talking about illegal immigration, there are both positives and negatives and the discourse surrounding the issue needs to be elevated if we have any hopes of addressing it at any level of government and society.

Boristt,
I would agree except that merely stopping at “Kids having kids thats the problem”, is overly simplified and does little to provide ideas for ways to address this issue.
Kids having kids is a symptom of social degradation in the urban underclass, which has its roots in the decentralization and deindustrialization that occurred rapidly after WW2 just as black migrants were moving into northeastern cities in search of low-skill, low-education jobs just like nearly a century of European immigrants had done. These problems have only worsened since, which can be observed by looking at Puerto Rican immigrant groups from the 1970s that faced the same problems black were and had been for several decades-that is: chronic unemployment, crime, segregation, poverty, etc. The poverty rate is higher now than it was in 1990, even as cities have seen somewhat of a rejuvenation from suburban-born yuppies, high-skill jobs and private economic development, which was mostly squandered by bad urban policies across the nation and resulted in simply pushing new young families out to the suburbs anyways because the underlying issues were never addressed.
The more recent immigrant groups from central and south america, however, have somewhat avoided many of the problems of previous post-war urban dwellers by essentially establishing a sub-culture within American society, which has its benefits (mentioned above), but also has its long-term problems of lack of reasons, most of which have to do with bad urban policy at every level of society, to naturalize in the way that previous groups have to the great benefit of society.
Kids having kids will most effectively be solved by rediscovering the discipline of human-scale development, the social and economic benefits of manufacturing, and the importance of defined urban centers in our society.

Ideas,
Great ideas and I mostly agree!

posted by: Morris Cove Islander on May 18, 2010  10:50pm

+ 5 indoor pools (all combined open 7 hrs. per week for the public)
+ $ 30,000 in bottled water
+ cable TV (what magazines are we paying for?)
+ cell phones and cars
+ subsidies for Tweed (landing fee $ 2,50!)
+ Office for Sustainability
+ ...
-> multiply by several years of mismanagement caused by blind and unwilling alders, DeStefano cheerleaders and department heads needing an ego-boost (the bigger my budget the more important I am)
= debts galore and a sale of the city’s family china for an interest rate of nearly 8 % (that is what kills Greece right now)

Please. This cannot be true or the solution. Wake up and start saving. True saving is where canceling the cable TV is not an afterthought but the first to go (years ago!). For beginners: watch Suze Orman.

posted by: Elm City on May 19, 2010  3:05am

Anyone else want to run for mayor, help us(New Haven resident), please someone out there challenge him you will win, he does nothing for this city.I will give him credit on one thing, he’s screwed this city up so bad maybe no one wants the job. NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL JOB SECRUITY

posted by: Boristt on May 19, 2010  12:50pm

To John Hopkins what are you talking about WWI era,The same rules apply from the beginning of time till now,you come into this country you work hard get married have a couple of kids not 13 kids from 6 different fathers etc. Be responsible make good decisions and dont try to find blame on everything but your self.You dont get rewarded for being poor>stop trying to make excuses for people.

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on May 19, 2010  8:59pm

Boristt,
You must be joking, right?
Marriage is a relatively new phenomenon in human society. Economic, social and cultural conditions are constantly changing. Economic opportunity, educational opportunity and the effectiveness of our democratic society highly influence behavior-good or bad-which over time can become great social uplifters, or horrible social degraders.

posted by: stephc on May 20, 2010  8:46am

If we believe that a proposed cut of $300,000 in police overtime can co-exist with a plan to suspend the hiring of new cops, we are deceiving ourselves.  If you listen to NHPD radios at the end of EVERY shift, you’ll hear the dispatcher issue a call for “any unit wishing to work overtime”.  That’s because in the busy spring and summer, there already aren’t enough officers to respond to calls for service.  If no unit answers the call for voluntary overtime, then mandatory overtime is imposed on the most junior officers.  The fact of the matter is that it costs less to hire the new officers than to pay overtime to veterans who are mandated to stay to maintain minimum staffing levels anyway.  This is yet another example of how the whole budget negotiation is simply an exercise in smoke and mirrors.  But I guess that’s our fault (voters), for tolerating that for so very long in our city government!

posted by: Joanne Sciulli on May 21, 2010  1:24pm

My thought for the moment: as the community very rightfully puts a focus on education reform, and makes difficult decisions about budget cuts, i caution that we not diminish the importance of “non-academic” programs, as these, if run using best practices of Positive Youth Development, are often the place young people learn skills such as problem solving, conflict resolution, communication, and a myriad of other personal and social competencies. The enormous NEED for such programs was heightened for me today as I discovered that the man who shot at another just 100 feet in front of the Solar Youth office did so because they were having an argument about a girl. Communication skills? Conflict resolution? Problem Solving? Without these, and WITH access to guns, young men kill each other.

posted by: Joanne Sciulli on May 21, 2010  2:33pm

My thought for the moment: as the community very rightfully puts a focus on education reform, and makes difficult decisions about budget cuts, I caution that we not diminish the importance of “non-academic” programs, as these, if run using best practices of Positive Youth Development, are often the place young people learn skills such as problem solving, conflict resolution, communication, and a myriad of other personal and social competencies. The enormous NEED for such programs was heightened for me as I discovered that the man who shot at another just 100 feet in front of the Solar Youth office yesterday did so because they were having an argument about a girl. Communication skills? Conflict resolution? Problem Solving? Without these, and WITH access to guns, young men kill each other.