New Haven Independent

posted by: The Count on February 23, 2010  12:52pm

C’mon, folks: Don’t tell me ya didn’t see THIS ONE coming…

posted by: Suburbanite on February 23, 2010  1:10pm

Why should suburban communities have to pay for incompetence in New Haven?

posted by: Westville Mom on February 23, 2010  1:11pm

FYI ...

There are precedents for Afr. Am. inner-city Republican movements:

http://www.harlemrepublicanclub.org/

One-party rule in New Haven is the cause of, not the solution to our fiscal problems.  The over-taxed citizens of New Haven might wish to take note.

posted by: Art Perlo on February 23, 2010  1:15pm

In Oregon, voters just approved a referendum to raise the income tax on the portion of incomes over $250,000. If CT did the same, we could solve the state budget problems and fully fund PILOT. Why aren’t we talking about taxing the rich here?

posted by: Harry on February 23, 2010  1:15pm

When ordinary households and families suffer loss of income as a result of job losses or business downturns they are forced to do the obvious—reduce expenses, dip into prior savings and live within their means.

Not so with the public purse. Good economic times are a win-win with our public spirited leaders rushing to propose new and increased spending for what they believe will be popular initiatives.

When times get tough and income from real estate transfer taxes, building permits and other sources revert back to the norm our leaders spring into action— to look for new ways to maintain their prior levels of spending, either by raising City fees and taxes or proposing innovative ways to extract more taxes from the State. Of course City residents will never figure out that all taxes—Corporate, Commercial, City, STate or Federal are paid entirely by households and individuals.

Rational voters will support City spending if there is consensus that the spending is effective and gets results that could not otherwise be obtained without City providing such services. This has not been the case for some time, yet the spending momentum continues to follow Newton’s first law of motion.

It is high time our City fathers recognize that continued spending that redirects revenues that individuals could use more effectively themselves is not a good way to maximize total utility.

I must admit that we are all culpable in this paradigm. We demand government intervention and additional services and reward, at the polls,  those legislative leaders that promise to give us what we ask for.  When the tax bill comes due we balk, but still reward, and re-elect,  those who would continue to increase spending our own money in ways less effective than we could do ourselves.

posted by: City Hall Watch on February 23, 2010  1:22pm

Observations:
1. The alders again suggested they be consulted more and were again told to go pound sand. It’s the mayor’s legislative agenda, not yours. Step and fetch.

2. The take away headline for Roland Lemar is that he supports a massive tax increase on Connecticut citizens calling it a good progressive tax plan. There is nothing progressive about taxes. They are regressive. In the end, families will have less money to pay their mortgage, their property taxes, food and rent.

3. PILOT was set up to shovel money mainly to the larger cities in CT. We are one of a very few states who have such a PILOT and our PILOT already pays more than any other state. When combined with the gambling revenue split, which is doled out according to PILOT formulas, the state pays nearly 100% of the mandated PILOT amount. DeStefano and Adam Joseph both know this yet they continue to perpetuate their dishonest version of PILOT payments.

4. 13 bills - seven are about creating new taxes; 5 curtain freedoms and create useless databases; and one promotes Big Brother even as we have the largest police force in the state and 30% larger than comparable, Democrat controlled cities around the country. NONE talk about getting rid of state mandates that add cost to local taxpayers and wreak havoc on budgets; none talk about moving the legislative session earlier so that cities know earlier what state funds they can count on and not one of these proposals offers up an idea on how the state can balance its books which in turn can jeopardize dependents like New Haven.

5. Is there no shame at City Hall, with unemployment pushing 20%; with foreclosures at record numbers; with rising poverty and suffering on so many levels in New Haven and in the region around New Haven, that the primary driver in your legislative mission is how can you wring more money out of thread bare pockets of working families and the middle class?

posted by: Ben Berkowitz on February 23, 2010  1:26pm

Suburbanite,

Your suburb would not exist without New Haven. You should be taxed just for contribution to air quality alone.

posted by: Suburbanite on February 23, 2010  2:06pm

Mr. Berkowitz:

I lived in New Haven for over a decade and finally got fed up. Same mayor entering and leaving. Higher taxes. New Haven is becoming a home for the very rich and the very poor. There’s no more middle class. Is that the fault of the suburbs?

posted by: Elm Cris on February 23, 2010  2:11pm

So, we have recently released offenders who forget to register with this new system instantly re-offend? Then their parole / probation is taken away, then they have a whole new charge to explain? First the city bans the box, then creates a whole new charge for the person to explain?

Law enforcement already knows who is being released in the city, and where they are being released to. They can’t be serious with this one.

posted by: Tom on February 23, 2010  2:46pm

Surbanite,

Short-sighted provincially-minded individuals like yourself are one of the reasons that Connecticut is struggling to create and retain jobs. Our towns and cities are too busy having pissing contests with one another instead of working together to promote economic growth.

Companies and investors don’t see individual towns or cities when looking at Southern Connecticut or even the state as a whole. They see the region and what it has to offer in terms of workforce, housing and infrastructure. In other words, the cities and towns in our region fail or succeed together and right now most people would agree that we’re failing.

Of course people like yourself could care less about that as long you got yours and don’t have to pay too much for property tax.

posted by: Harry on February 23, 2010  3:13pm

Count the “red light cameras” not as a contribution to traffic calming/pedestrian safety but as just another euphemism for a new tax/fine.

In those cities where this has been implemented, they have found that if the time threshold between when the light turns red and the camera takes a snapshot is increased by even one second then the whole system becomes unprofitable since the majority of red light traffic tickets depend on this fraction of a second to generate revenues.

Some cities have removed these cameras when forced to change the time intervals before a ticket is generated.

Harry

posted by: Threefifths on February 23, 2010  3:17pm

Westville Mom

FYI ...

There are precedents for Afr. Am. inner-city Republican movements:

http://www.harlemrepublicanclub.org/

One-party rule in New Haven is the cause of, not the solution to our fiscal problems.  The over-taxed citizens of New Haven might wish to take note.

Both parties are the same.We need to get rid of both of them and go to a system of proportional representation were every one has a voice and say.

http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/globalrights/democracy/abcs.html

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/polit/damy/BeginnningReading/howprwor.htm

This is the best way. Rember the Republican Party is the Box Spring and The Democratic Party Is the mattress both go hand and hand.

posted by: Reason Able on February 23, 2010  3:18pm

“East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker (second from right in photo) suggested the mayor’s office should have come to aldermen earlier to talk over the agenda.

‘It makes sense for the administration to reach out to aldermen,’ he said, since the mayor will be asking for lobbying support from the Board of Aldermen.

‘If you need backing, you want to inspire people,’ Elicker said after the meeting. He said it would have been good to have a “collaborative conversation” further in advance of the agenda’s unveiling.”

Mr. Elicker’s points sound reasonable to me.

posted by: Reason Able2 on February 23, 2010  3:33pm

“This is going up there without any input from us,” Goldson complained. He said he wants to support the mayor, “but how do we support the mayor without saying we support more taxes?”

The agenda-making process should have happened differently, with more input from aldermen, he said. “If we don’t support it we look like obstructionists.”

Mr. Elicker’s and Mr. Goldson’s points both sound reasonable to me.

posted by: Stop BEFORE red. on February 23, 2010  3:50pm

Harry wrote: “Count the ‘red light cameras’ not as a contribution to traffic calming/pedestrian safety but as just another euphemism for a new tax/fine.”

Or one could look at the ‘red light camera’ issue in terms of signal compliance/safer streets, in that people typically get injured or killed by red-light-runners in those fractions of a second after the light turns red.

posted by: Westville Mom on February 23, 2010  5:05pm

Three-Fifths—I often agree with you, but not on this one.  The two parties are NOT the same.  The left-lurching Dems appear to be on a self-imposed death march toward totalitarianism right now (certain to be saved from themselves in the next election) and the Republicans have strayed too far from their conservative foundations.

My point is that I am seeing a surge of authentically conservative Afr. Am. Republican leadership right now—people who may actually be able to help the party rediscover its roots.  New Haveners really should sit up and take notice of what is happening in other states. 

I am not prepared (as you apparently are) to jettison the finely-tuned, elegantly balanced republic we have just because it’s currently slightly out of kilter due to the intellectual laziness and indoctrination of its electorate. BTW, simply getting rid of gerrymandering would do a lot to repair the “representation” problem.

Two candidates to watch:

http://allenwestforcongress.com/

http://princellasmith.com/

and a more complete list:

http://www.nationalblackrepublicans.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=pages.Black GOP Candidates&tp_preview=true&x=8834879

The oligarchic govt. of New Haven needs an EFFECTIVE conservative opposition.  Could Afr. Am. Republicans eventually be that group?  I hope so and believe it’s an interesting proposition to mull.

posted by: cedarhillresident on February 23, 2010  5:49pm

Quote of the day:
from City Hill Watch

“Is there no shame at City Hall, with unemployment pushing 20%; with foreclosures at record numbers; with rising poverty and suffering on so many levels in New Haven and in the region around New Haven, that the primary driver in your legislative mission is how can you wring more money out of thread bare pockets of working families and the middle class? “

Said plain and simple
Much of this is the same stuff as last time… did not come close to making anything happen. We need to come up with an agenda that is going to get votes…not make it look like the mayor gave it a shot to fight for the people, but it was voted down…((not his fault)

posted by: Threefifths on February 23, 2010  6:56pm

Westville Mom

Three-Fifths—I often agree with you, but not on this one.  The two parties are NOT the same.  The left-lurching Dems appear to be on a self-imposed death march toward totalitarianism right now (certain to be saved from themselves in the next election) and the Republicans have strayed too far from their conservative foundations.

Show me were they are not. check out the history.

The Republican Party was founded in 1854 by a group of renegade Democrats, Whigs, and political independents who opposed the expansion of SLAVERY into new U.S. territories and states. What began as a single-issue, independent party became a major political force in the United States. Six years after the new party was formed, Republican nominee ABRAHAM LINCOLN won the U.S. presidential election. The Republican Party and its counterpart, the DEMOCRATIC PARTY, became the mainstays of the nation’s de facto two-party system.

Notice renegade Democrats.You see a moderate Democrat is nothing more then a Liberal Republican. Both Democrat and Republican voted for the bail out’s,Both vote to keep the war going on.What makes them the same is both parties are beholden to outside interests. You saw the picture of President Obama with clinton on one side and bush on the other side.Both parties believe that any law or policy made in the USA must protect or enhance the profits of big corporations.Again this is why Both Democrat and Republican vote for the bail out,Both voted to keep the war going on.

My point is that I am seeing a surge of authentically conservative Afr. Am. Republican leadership right now—people who may actually be able to help the party rediscover its roots.  New Haveners really should sit up and take notice of what is happening in other states. 

Look at what david duke thinks about Michael Steele

To Hell with the Republican Party!

GOP traitors appoint Obama Junior as Chairman of the Republican Party

By David Duke

former Republican member of the House of Representatives in Louisiana, and former Chairman of the Largest Republican District in the state.

The Republican Party leadership, in its latest act of self-immolation appointed Michael Steele, a radical Black racist as the leader of the Party.

Steele is a passionate supporter of affirmative action programs that racially discriminate against tens of millions of White Americans. He also supports increased discrimination against White owned businesses in the awarding of non-merit and non-bid minority contracts. He is opposed to the death penalty and thinks that it is disproportionately applied to Blacks even though it is applied to White murderers at 500 percent higher than it is to Black murderers. He is also an advocate of more gun control legislation as well as a draconian, massively increased enforcement of the current laws. He is a servile dog of Israel and has condemned Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorists and yet said not a word of compassion for the 5,000 (half of them women and children) who have been maimed and murdered in Gaza by Israel’s weapons of mass destruction. He says that he would still support the Iraq War and the loss of 50,000 maimed Americans, 4500 killed and trillions in cost, even though the reason for the war (Weapons of Mass Destruction) was proven to be a lie.

When a reporter for the Washington Post interviewed me on the appointment, this is what I said:

I am glad these traitorous leaders of the Republican Party appointed this Black racist, affirmative action advocate to the head of the Republican party because this will lead to a huge revolt among the Republican base. As a former Republican official, I can tell you that millions of rank-and-file Republicans are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore! We will either take the Republican Party back over the next four years or we will say, “To Hell With the Republican Party!” And we will take 90 percent of Republicans with us into a New Party that will take its current place!

I think the insanity of nominating “Mr. Amnesty” John McCain and now this Black racist — will lead to insurgency in the Republican ranks, and a lot of dissidents getting elected in Republican Party primaries around the country. This will result over the next four years in a real move by millions of Republicans to take the party back to the populist issues that are not only right but can win for the Republican Party. We must end affirmative action, protect our gun rights and all our constitutional rights, have a moratorium on immigration, we must have protectionism, yes I said protect American businesses and their workers from NAFTA and GATT and the lie of free trade, and we must have America First, not foreign interventionism. Our boys should be home protecting the American borders and not being murdered on the borders of Iraq or Afghanistan. The time has come for the Republican Party to stand up to Obama and defend American heritage, rights, and freedom!

Who knows if they will print a word of my comments, but millions will read them here on http://www.Davidduke.com — As our Internet numbers grow, soon we will be able to also say “To hell with the controlled media.”

The Republican leadership is not going to get away with this one. Obama is bad enough as President, we will not stand for Obama junior to be head of the Republican Party

I have compiled here some direct quotes from the new Black racist, Republican Chairman, complete with unimpeachable sources, mostly from his own campaign websites and press releases. Also here are some media excerpts about how happy we should be about our new Republican Chairman.

Let’s make this abomination in the Republican Party the last major party of White redoubt, as a rallying cry of resistance!

-david duke

So what makes ou think that they are going to let authentically conservative Afr. Am. Republican’s help the party rediscover its roots if they think like this.

I am not prepared (as you apparently are) to jettison the finely-tuned, elegantly balanced republic we have just because it’s currently slightly out of kilter due to the intellectual laziness and indoctrination of its electorate. BTW, simply getting rid of gerrymandering would do a lot to repair the “representation” problem.

I all ready have jettison.I write my vote in.Remeber which Poison pill you want RED or BLUE.Last Rember this the Elephant sit’ on you to keep you down,The Donkey kick’s you in the a.Power is in number’s and that’s why proportional representation will give us more
representation and power, Something this crooked two party political patronage beholden to outside interests does.

P.S. The group you talk about from harlem I know them,In fact I come from harlem and I know mr. Leroy Owens who was at one time head of this group. And you forgot to post this group.

http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21Index.html

posted by: City Hall Watch on February 23, 2010  7:30pm

I met a woman at Walgreens today. She’s a cashier. That’s just one of four jobs she works weekly to make ends meet. She’ll get home around midnight. There’s a family in Westville with four children all at home. Mom’s unemployed, Dad works but times are tight. They’re enrolled in the Husky program. A guy came to fix my garage door last week. When he got done, he asked if there was anything else he could do for me, unrelated to the expertise for which I’d retained his company. He’s had to lay off his daughter, his son and is barely hanging on to two other long term employees. He’s barely making it. There’s a family very close to me - two children and a lovely wife. He’s working part time; her income was just cut by more than 40%.

These people all live in New Haven. These are the families John DeStefano and Roland Lemar want to tax even more than they do already. They want to create another whole layer of madusa like taxes that will drain the pockets of these decent, hard working families. They don’t have time to go to Hartford to hold back City Hall’s relentless pursuit of more money - money none of these people have.

Is there no shame?

posted by: Tim on February 23, 2010  8:20pm

@Westville Mom,

“The left-lurching Dems appear to be on a self-imposed death march toward totalitarianism right now (certain to be saved from themselves in the next election) and the Republicans have strayed too far from their conservative foundations”.

You are kidding with this “Republicans have strayed too far from their conservative foundations”?  The Dems have problems but the Republicans have a death-spiral between the old economic guard who’s busy shoveling wealth from the lower and middle classes to the obscenely wealthy and the tea-baggers wrapped in the flag with a cross, who spout the president is “stealing” freedom while they sat on their hands for 8 years while Bush spent Trillions on a war of choice and loaded our rights into a burlap bag and threw it in the Potomac River with an anchor tied around it. 

Both partys have plenty of hypocrisy to go around but please don’t sit there with a straight face saying the Republican’s haven’t driven the country into the ground.

posted by: FacChec on February 23, 2010  8:46pm

While Adam Joseph lamented about the state of CT.‘s deficit… and deficits for years to come… He makes no mention of the city’s deficit built during DeStefano’s 18 year rein….A staggerings 750MM deficit and climbing.

This figure does not include the city’s un-funded employee pension fund.

Two independent citizen’s groups, including the BOA approved Blue Ribbon Commission appealed to the BOA’s finance committee to reduce spending. But no, their appeals fell on deaf ears. Lemar was on that finance committee.

“If we can use hotel fees and some of these other financing tools to offset our over-reliance on property taxes, this could be good progressive tax policy that actually benefits almost everyone in the region, so I think we might see state legislators jump on board with some of this,” Lemar said later.

Since coming to the BOA Lemar has not seen a budget or fee increase he didn’t like. He supported and voted for all increases proposed by the administration without even a wink!
He even supported a proposal for rubber side walks.

Lemar now wants to run for state representative, he’s wants the support of the DeStefano crowd in exchange for his unbridled support.

He should get that support and get off the BOA before taxpayers are “fleshed out”

posted by: j on February 23, 2010  10:03pm

Pretty sad what local government is coming too…

What union bosses think
Comments: 13

Last Updated: 11:59 AM, February 16, 2010

Posted: February 16, 2010

Oops. An Albany cop-union boss just let the protect-and-serve mask slip.

Albany Police Officers Union President Chris Mesley says that, regardless of the faltering economy, a no-raise new contract is unacceptable.

And to hell with the public.

“I’m not running a popularity contest here,” Mesley said. “If I’m the bad guy to the average citizen . . . and their taxes have go up to cover my raise, I’m very sorry about that, but I have to look out for myself and my membership.”

Mesley added: “As the president of the local, I will not accept ‘zeroes.’ If that means . . . ticking off some taxpayers, then so be it.”

Such gloves-off thuggery is unlikely to come from, say, United Federation of Teachers President Mike Mulgrew.

His first concern is always “the children,” don’t you know. Just ask him.

But make no mistake: Mulgrew and his union-boss colleagues hold the people who pay the bills in the same contempt expressed by Mesley.

Their behavior proves it.

Witness the transit workers’ recent arbitration-approved 11.5 percent wage and benefits hike—even as the state and the MTA are practically broke.

Or the howls that came last summer from the police and firefighters unions when Gov. Paterson vetoed the annual reauthorization of higher pension benefits for new employees.

The message? Sacrifice is for suckers—not unionized government employees.

Thus do taxpayers end up working longer and harder to pay for the guaranteed salaries and plush benefits of union members.

Mesley admits that he understands that. He just doesn’t care.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/what_union

posted by: harry on February 23, 2010  10:14pm

Stop Before Red:  This is a bit off topic so I shall be brief. When cities install red light cameras they trade on the presumption that they do this for altruistic/safety reasons.  However, because of the fine revenue generated, the traffic engineers soon realize that by cutting down the time the light is amber/yellow it forces more drivers to either speed up or make a sudden stop with rear end collisions.

If there is a high level of red light scofflaws then this could be due to aggressive driving or an amber light time that is deliberately set too low.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/reports/rlcreport.asp

My earlier post was not clear on this point—actually it was quite confusing.
Harry

posted by: roomforaview on February 23, 2010  11:00pm

Good for Elicker, who is showing alot of common sense and respect for process. That the aldermen were taken by surprise by the Mayor’s legislative agenda and not even consulted doesn’t speak well for how it will fare in Hartford. Since when did the city’s legislative agenda become the mayor’s legislative agenda?!It’s a very troubling approach.

posted by: Walt on February 24, 2010  1:30am

Shocking that the NY Post - owned by Rupert Murdoch, partner of Fox News - has nothing good to say about unions.

It’s always amusing that the heads of powerful corporations are “leaders” or “CEOs” and treated with respect and deference by right-wingers.

But union leaders are “bosses” and “thugs.”

The modern Republican Party seems to love the idea of corporations and bigshots running our lives, and goes out of its way to stomp on regular people and voters when it gets the chance.

Can you think of a Republican who’s ever said anything - *anything* - bad about a major company?

These are people who support companies that pollute our water, then turn around and call people who worry about the pollution all kinds of names, deny that it has any effect on the environment, and try to deny care to people who get sick. They think lawsuits arising from pollution are “frivolous” and that the science is “unclear” about obvious facts.

I always loved that John McCain was the son of an admiral and owns his own jet and can’t remember how many houses he has, while and Barack Obama was raised by a single mom, was on food stamps as a kid, and worked his tail off to get to where he is.

Yet somehow Obama is the one who was supposedly out of touch.

I voted Republican in the past. The Democrats aren’t perfect, but at least they’re not evil.

posted by: Bruce on February 24, 2010  10:46am

Ahh, new taxes.  This is going to go over great with the legislature!  One thing worth considering is that if the state is having financial troubles, that means that the taxpayers are having troubles.  Increased sales taxes are going to drive people away from retailers here.  The hotel tax may not be such a bad idea since the guests are mostly business travelers or Yalie parents.

I would love to see those red light cameras, though.

Suburbanite, you do not speak for all of us.  I grew up in the suburbs, lived in New haven for a decade and then moved back to the burbs.  The city supports a disproportionate amount of the region’s burden.  This includes not only non-taxable properties (universities, state buildings, churches, etc., but also homeless,  drug addicts and mentally impaired people—many of whom came from the suburbs.

posted by: William Kurtz on February 24, 2010  10:48am

Harry,

The red-light camera debate has been extensive—some might suggest exhaustive—in other stories, so I won’t rehash it all here, but three summary points:

1.  Cities do not reduce yellow-light durations to increase revenue.  Traffic signal timings are set according to standards and best practices as outlined by professional traffic engineers, not politicians looking to raise money.  There’s no evidence to the contrary.

2. You could argue that the timing is too short; if you were a professional traffic engineer, that would mean something.  Personally, driving at the posted speed limits on city streets, I don’t find the timings a problem. 

3.  thenewspaper.com is, despite its URL, not a newspaper of any substance but rather some kind of mouthpiece for anti-RLC propaganda.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but some deeper digging into some of their claims reveals that many of them are specious.  For example, read the followup in the Chattanooga Free Press about the activist judge who threw out a pile of traffic tickets after deciding that the light timings were too short.  You’ll have to search for it; thenewspaper.com only links to the original story.

posted by: William Kurtz on February 24, 2010  10:55am

On another note, I’m not sure how some insensitive remarks by a police officer in Albany relate to anything happening in southern Connecticut, but what would you expect a union president to say?  Of course he will look out for his membership; it’s his sole mandate.  Walt make an interesting point about (among other things) how CEOs and highly-paid upper management are deified as leaders while those charged with protecting the interest of workers are vilified as thugs. 

The statistics on the wildly increasing disparity between the pay of the highest and lowest paid workers in American corporations are readily available; it occurs to me that what American workers need are moreunions, not fewer.  Unions and union management are human institutions and therefore flawed and fallible, but the typical union president is a lot more on the side of the typical worker than the typical CEO.

posted by: Chris Gray on February 24, 2010  11:09am

What Tim and Walt said is close to my analysis of the national political situation but it does not deal with the entrenched Democratic stranglehold on even dissent within its ranks in the last 30 years or more, here in the city. 

Someone mentioned gerrymandering reform.  It wouldn’t have any effect on New Haven’s politics.  We routinely allow the Democrats to run unqualified, easily corrupted candidates without raising any opposition.  My ward had a refreshing change in that regard, but it is a rarity and took an independent, not the party mechanism, to overturn its poor choice.

If they’re not incompetent, they’re careerists such as Harp and Staples, who springboard off the board to lifetime jobs in Hartford.  So where’s the profit in anything more than token opposition to the sitting administration which has the power to crush your aspirations?  Once in Hartford, well it is the people at home that assure re-election.

Maybe with four fresh voices (ha, found a way around the sexist trap!), who actually seem to be speaking up, the Kabuki theater that are the cablecasts of BOA meetings might actually amount to something but I’m imagining that any real debate or criticism will be kept to committee meetings, which we will depend on NHI to report, unless we attend.

By the way, Cederhillresident drew me into this discussion from Facebook with her quote from Cityhallwatch.

posted by: asdf on February 24, 2010  11:16am

Tim—thank you for responding to Westville Mom.  I think its important that these things don’t go unchallenged and I don’t have the time or energy to do it myself.

I do want to add one thing—I find the “slow march toward totalitarianism” claim at the same time laughable, sad and scary.  Did we not just live through a republican administration that brought us the patriot act; extraordinary rendition; “free speech zones” sequestered away from the precious presidente; illegal wiretapping, sanctioning of torture…etc?  And somehow, she claims the democrats are marching toward totalitarianism.  It would be funny, if so many deceived people didn’t believe it.

To paraphrase from the princess bride:  I don’t think that word means what she thinks it means.

posted by: Morris Cove Mom on February 24, 2010  11:49am

Is he kidding?  I can’t afford this city anymore.  I’ve lived here since 2000, bought my house in 2006.  And then my property taxes doubled, overnight.  And I can barely afford my house now, much less sell it and move to another town.

Why do we have so many money problems here in New Haven?  Is it because all the property taxes that normally would be paid by the land the Yale and Southern own are exempt?

I grew up in Stamford.  My parents still live there.  Their house ios smaller than mine here, but they have FOUR times the land.  And a dump to dump things in, not like here.  They only pay $3200, compared to my $7200!

Run this city better, or you will lose all of us younger people.  And quickly.

posted by: Westville Mom on February 24, 2010  12:30pm

Three-Fifths, I admit I had trouble following your post without quotation marks.  However, bringing David Duke (about whom I haven’t read in years) into the discussion is sort of like me bringing up Joe Kennedy’s pro-Nazi, anti-Jewish past.  From George Mason University:

Joseph Kennedy and the Jews
http://hnn.us/articles/697.html

In other words, is this really relevant?

Tim, your assertion about, “shoveling wealth from the lower and middle classes to the obscenely wealthy” doesn’t mesh well with the fact that for 2009, the bottom 47% (as in FORTY-SEVEN PERCENT) of the US population will pay zero—ZERO—income tax.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/30/pf/taxes/who_pays_taxes/index.htm

Unless, of course, you assume that if taxes on soda, fast food, cigarettes, etc. (things that are purchased disproportionately by lower-income people) go way up, then the poor really WILL be subsidizing the rich.  It would appear to anyone who respects numbers (which would exclude all global-warming zealots) that it is exactly the OPPOSITE.  Money is being shoveled from the middle and upper “classes” to the poor—which might actually be okay on a temporary basis IF IT WORKED, but after decades of social engineering, it hasn’t worked, isn’t working, and isn’t GOING to work.  They are still poor.

As I have stated before in this publication, I grew up in a housing project as the daughter of a single parent and was the first in my family to earn a college degree (s)—mostly financed by loans.  What I observed in the project up close and personal, was that families that had CONSERVATIVE values and standards (and I’m talking about Afr. Am. here, who were the “majority”) were able to do well in school and move up and out of the project.  Period. End of story.

Liberals (mostly Dem) have been throwing money at theoretical poverty solutions with little-to-no results for decades with little accountability for it.  This bespeaks a very insidious kind of racism .... the racism of low expectations, low standards, pandering promises, and “buying” votes.

What I find incredibly refreshing about this new crop of Republican Afr. Americans is that they appear to be rooted in traditional family values, religious values, and high moral and work-ethics standards.  Speaking as one who knows, THESE are the things that lift people out of poverty.

Cannot the Afr. Am. community in New Haven find ONE—- JUST ONE—- conservative (!) to run against our moribund “tax, spend, and tax again” mayor in the next election ???

The huge “red” areas of the US are about make their voices heard ....

2008 Pres. Election Results [BY COUNTY]
repeat ... by COUNTY (!)
http://walk-onlegislator.blogspot.com/2008/12/2008-presidential-election-map-by.html

and it’s time to recognize that total Dem control is simply not the Nirvana it was cracked up to be—neither at the municipal level nor the national level.  Competition works best, not only for the marketplace, but also in government.

posted by: anon on February 24, 2010  2:26pm

“Currently 90 percent of speeding fines go to the state.”

I think it is actually 100% of all traffic tickets going to the state, not just speeding, minus a $10 admin fee.

posted by: asdf on February 24, 2010  2:57pm

wow!!!

Where to start?  Westville mom—I guess I’ll start by saying that I agree with one thing, that one party rule is a problem regardless of party and having a healthy 2nd party in this city would help.  My preference would not be for it to be republican, but republican is better than no opposition party.

As for the rest of it.  I’ll start with “Global warming zealots” who don’t respect numbers.  If you really think that Senator Inhofe and Glenn Beck have the real numbers and the National Academy of Sciences and the vast majority of atmospheric scientists world wide don’t know what they are talking about, then you really need to reevaluate where you get your information.  Honestly, I find it extremely arrogant for someone to think they know more than the scientists who study global warming for a living and collect actual data.

Second, are you honestly claiming that people in sparsely populated areas somehow carry more importance than those in densely populated areas?  That is essentially what you are saying by citing a map that shows voting by county favoring republicans.  That is intellectually dishonest, at best.

Lastly, I find it personally offensive that you equate “conservative values” with work ethic.  That is ridiculous—I’d stack my work ethic and those of my liberal friends up against the average conservative any day.

Lastly, I assume that by “traditional family values”, you mean “anti-gay”—or does that euphemism mean something else these days?

posted by: NRA LIFE MEMBER on February 24, 2010  3:32pm

So the leftist new haven mayor wants to push his radical agenda on the 80 to 90 % of Connecticut residents that thankfully have a moderate leaning and are really the true makeup of the state.  You cant find gun ammo now as it is in Ct gunshops and the only way to get it for hunting and sport shooting is ONLINE and he wants to BAN that.  Thats all these liberals are good for is banning this and banning that. This is the same guy who defies and mocks federal law and willfully entices illegal aliens to come to New Haven. Get ready for a FIGHT in Hartford cause Ct sportsmen arent gonna take this lying down. Times are a changin as Mass, New Jersey and Virginia elections have shown.  We will remember come election time.

posted by: Threefifths on February 24, 2010  4:29pm

Westville Mom

Three-Fifths, I admit I had trouble following your post without quotation marks.  However, bringing David Duke (about whom I haven’t read in years) into the discussion is sort of like me bringing up Joe Kennedy’s pro-Nazi, anti-Jewish past.  From George Mason University:

Joseph Kennedy and the Jews
http://hnn.us/articles/697.html

In other words, is this really relevant?

Yes it is really relevant,I was trying to show you what they think about Black folk in the Republican party. Look at what Dick Cheney said about Colin Powell.

I’ve been waiting for this moment.

Ever since Dick Cheney essentially disowned Colin Powell on behalf of the Republican Party—mostly for his endorsement of Barack Obama during the White House race—and Rush Limbaugh said Powell should just become a Democrat already and be done with it, I’ve been wondering when Powell would emerge. Well it seems like now he has, and he isn’t stooping quite as low as Cheney or Limbaugh.

Speaking before 1,500 business leaders in Boston—as well as Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen—Tuesday night, the former Bush administration secretary of state took jabs at the other two men for trying to kick him out from under the GOP tent.

“Rush Limbaugh says, ‘Get out of the Republican Party.’ Dick Cheney says, ‘He’s already out.’ I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there’s another version of the Republican Party waiting to emerge once again,” Powell said, according to The Boston Globe.

Powell also called Obama “a transformational figure” who “has met the standard of being president.”

Not to be outdone, Lmbaugh fired back on his own show today, saying (h/t Media Matters):

“The only thing emerging here is Colin Powell’s ego. Colin Powell represents the stale, the old, the worn-out GOP that never won anything. The party of Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, Bill Scranton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and those types of people. Has anybody heard Colin Powell say a single word against Obama’s radicalism? Or Pelosi or Reid, for that matter? Maybe he has, but his fawning media sure hasn’t reported if he has said it. He supports massive debt, I guess. He supports slashing the military budget, I suppose. He supports federal funding of abortion, I guess. He supports activist judicial nominees. He supports rationalizing private industries—nationalizing them. He supports all kinds of things even so-called moderate Republicans like him used to oppose. But he’s voted for Obama, endorsed him. I just told you what Obama’s policies are. He doesn’t speak out against them, and yet he’s waiting for a GOP to emerge that will include him? They don’t like what happened in California, mark my words.”

Colin Powell Bites Back at Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh

Now, we’re not exactly sure what that “version” of the Republican Party is that’s just waiting for the right moment to present itself, as Powell mentions. Hopefully it’s one that doesn’t seem to pride itself on alienating each other—or acting as if it doesn’t need support from anyone besides the believers from the far-right wing. Hopefully it’s one that recognizes it needs to change its message tone from one of pure nasty from a bunch of crotchety older guys to one that’s more welcoming of new ideas. And here’s a concept, wait for it, wait for it ... bring on the women! There are some great women in the Republican Party (i.e. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine) who likely will be received with far less vitriol than guys like Michael Steele are, for example.

And there are moderate Republican voices out there, they’re just being drowned out by the louder, more childish ones. Powell for sure isn’t the only one waiting to hear more from them.

Check out J C WATTS.

J.C. Watts, a former Oklahoma congressman who once was part of the GOP House leadership, said he’s thinking of voting for Obama. Watts said he’s still a Republican, but he criticizes his party for neglecting the black community. Black Republicans, he said, have to concede that while they might not agree with Democrats on issues, at least that party reaches out to them.

“And Obama highlights that even more,” Watts said, adding that he expects Obama to take on issues such as poverty and urban policy. “Republicans often seem indifferent to those things.”

Feel free to read the rest.

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Jun15/0,4670,BlackConservativesObama,00.html

And as far as Joseph Kennedy and the Jews. Check out The Bush Family and the Nazis.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

What this show’s is One family is a Dem and the other family Republican. and both made there money from exploitation. Very relevant.

and it’s time to recognize that total Dem control is simply not the Nirvana it was cracked up to be—neither at the municipal level nor the national level.  Competition works best, not only for the marketplace, but also in government.

And total Republican Control is also not the the Nirvana it was cracked up to be—neither at the municipal level nor the national level.

That’s why we need proportional representation. You need to read more about it. again what it does is give every one a voice in goverment,right niow we have a see saw politics in which the Dem are on top today
and the Republican’s on the next.  Read this book it will tell you how this two party system
is the problem.

http://www.stealingdemocracy.com/

Until we get proportional representation I will write in my vote.

posted by: OMG on February 24, 2010  6:05pm

After reading some of the comments I would like to say that we have no one to blame but ourselfs for re-electing John over and over again. I think we have had choices and didn’t bite into them. Why didn’t Looney beat the pants off John? And if we thought some of the candidates were incompetant, why not vote one of them in for a one term and open the field afterwards? Daniels was completely incompetant but we gave him a chance and he did so poorly he knew not to run again. Now John. The problem with John is although smart he is over the top with spending, building schools (how can we justify 50 some schools in this small town. It also seems some of the schools (most) are so extravagant with chandeliers, spiral stair cases and no one should feel comfortable with that at all. Yes, children need a nice school enviroment, but not like this, no way. This Joseph is young and probably paid an incredible amount of money. Wonder what he did on John’s campaign to be placed in that position? Not saying he isn’t smart! So here we go again, tax, tax, tax! Common John get creative for once and stop the usual tax and spend thing. I am a democrat but getting fed up with the dems. And as far as the city will only have left the rich and the poor. Pleeeaaasee! There will be no rich left because they are moving away also, why should they put up with this. The poor will stay and the middle income are trying to get out but it is getting difficult to even do that because of the property taxes here and the horrible burden we have. I love this city but really can’t justify staying here much longer. Hey folks I think we should also look at these aldermen who seem to go along with all John wants. They want input? Why, it won’t so any good if any of them disagree with John. And these new aldermen make comments like oh gee we have to be careful because we were just elected. News flash, go along with John, be a puppet, some of you were bought from the get go. The residents are fed up, so lighten up right from the get go and do the right thing for the people not everything this mayor wants. He has no shame, no recall of promises, no one telling him he is well hated.

posted by: Westville Mom on February 24, 2010  6:17pm

asdf—-
Wow.  I am constantly amazed by the anger on the left.  You (collectively, of course) were angry and abusive toward conservatives for 8 years under Bush and yet have had over a year now of total control of the country.  Control of the House, the Senate, the White House, most large cities, and most governorships.  And yet you are still angry(!)  Maybe it’s because you haven’t gotten your “civilian army” yet?  Maybe it’s because your electric rates haven’t gone up enough (cap and trade)?  Maybe it’s because the union people who clean up after you haven’t been strong-armed into voting on a non-secret ballot yet (card-check)?  Or maybe it’s because the government only owns GM and not Toyota (give it time.) Oh!  I know—- it’s because you haven’t seen enough riveting health care debate on C-SPAN!  No, maybe it’s that you miss ACORN?  Naw, you must be missing that discredited Dr. Phil Jones.

Which reminds me, I am not a scientist but I do read 3 or 4 AGW articles per day and they are almost all from the UK.  There happens to be an American one online today from the AP entitled:
“UN weather meeting agrees to refine climate data.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100224/ap_on_sc/climate_data
If you are not aware that the temperature data (aka “numbers”) have been exaggerated, distorted, lost, and otherwise fiddled with, you’re just not paying attention.

As for the county map, I never said it “favored” Republicans.  However, there are an awful lot of farms, factories and employers in those vast swaths of red.  It’s not all as “sparse” as you claim.  (Flyover country, maybe?  Now THAT’s arrogant.) What that map really shows is that dense urban areas tend to vote Democrat, but it gives a lot more perspective on demographic reality and is more accurate than a “state” map is (which is usually the only one you see in the media.)  With current polls of “independents” being what they are, you can expect LARGE inroads into those little blue blobs in the next election.

As for your last accusation, I find it necessary (and tedious) to have to quote myself.  I said, “...rooted in traditional family values, religious values, and high moral and work-ethics standards.”  In case you need a primer in grammar, those words are separated by COMMAS, which means they are individual items listed as a series.  Now if I HAD said, “...traditional family values SUCH AS work-ethics standards”, then you would be correct in assuming I am equating them.  But that is not what I said, now is it?  And I didn’t even use the words “conservative” or “liberal” in that sentence. And why even bring the “gay issue” into this when it isn’t there? 

I said you are angry, but what I should have said is that you are in a blind rage.  So blind that you can’t even read properly.  Again, I have to ask “why”?  You won.  Get over it.

posted by: asdf on February 24, 2010  7:37pm

westville mom…

...  I am a scientist (admittedly not a climate scientist) and originally from “flyover country”.  As for the article you cited on climate change, it does not claim that the data has been fudged, merely that more accurate and transparent data should be collected to silence the critics.  In fact, here are some quotes from the article “This effort will ensure that the datasets are completely robust and that all methods are transparent,” the Met Office said. The agency added that “any such analysis does not undermine the existing independent datasets that all reflect a warming trend.” and “A U.N. study issued Tuesday said countries will have to significantly increase their pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the catastrophic effects of climate change.”  The article does refer briefly to a previous prediction that proved incorrect (as happens in science), but that really isn’t the focus of the story.

The “exaggeration” of climate data you are referring to may be the stolen e-mails from UK scientists, which have been widely misinterpreted.  Basically, it refers to the unreliability of tree-ring data in the latter half of the century and the shifting of data sources to thermometer data—which they referred to as data manipulation—or some other inartful term.  In any event, to condemn an entire field of research because of a handful of stolen e-mails between a minuscule percentage of the world’s climate scientists, is short sighted—to say the least.

Did I say I was happy with the Dems? My problem with the dems is more that they can get anything done—and that has as much to do with the republican obstructionism as it does dems political ineffectualness. Yes, I support cap and trade, yes, I support health care reform (albeit one with a public option that will save money).  I had to look up what you meant by “civilian army” and found a lot paranoid articles from the usual sources—starting with Glenn Beck.  And ACORN…is that really a big issue for you?

As for blind rage, more exasperation. I’ll be honest, I think the right wing in this country is mostly misinformed by the Glenn Beck’s and Rush Limbaugh’s of the world and it is hard to discuss things with people who have the wrong facts.

I’m sorry that I assumed that you were equating hard work with being republican. After all, we both know that our president raised himself out of poverty using his high moral and work-ethics standards and he isn’t republican.

posted by: atr on February 25, 2010  7:35am

How many people does this mayor want to run out of town because of these taxes? Why is there no one who can beat this guy. We complain and complain but vote him back in office. He has ruined this city. Taxes are so high people don’t want to move back to this city.Wake up New Haven! Stop with the taxes, how are we supposed to live, eat, send kids to school, these are not luxuries these are necessities and very hard to keep up.

posted by: Chris Gray on February 25, 2010  8:38am

Woke up today to find that Bill O’Reilly used the phrase ‘Kabuki theater’ to describe the health care summit.  I used the phrase absolutely independently.

In fact, I studied theater history under Lloyd Lanich, then the foremost Caucasian authority on Kabuki and Noh theater, the latter of which O’Reilly’s precious Republicans have been practicing nationally.

posted by: Westville Mom on February 25, 2010  9:30am

Three-Fifths—-
I guess the mere suggestion of an Afr. Am. conservative candidate as the solution to New Haven’s woes has you in a tizzy and I certainly didn’t mean to get you upset. I’ll just go back to voting for all those Democrat white guys, if it makes you feel any better.

But wait!  You seem awfully intent on keeping Colin Powell in the Republican party!  (I somehow knew this discussion would turn toward him.)  So—it doesn’t bother you that a Republican would endorse the MOST liberal Dem. member of the Senate?  [Would it bother you if a Democrat endorsed the MOST conservative Republican Senator?  I assume not.]  Colin Powell could have had the Presidency handed to him ON A PLATTER some years ago.  Republicans loved him and with the addition of the Afr. Am. vote, he would have won easily.  As I recall, he CHOSE not to run—the story was that his wife said “no” because she feared for his safety(!)  Well, considering that Reagan (R) was shot, Ford (R) survived assassination attempts TWICE, and G. Bush (R) had a grenade thrown at him in Tbilisi, Georgia, Powell’s fears were legitimate—- but not because he was black (!)——because he was REPUBLICAN !!!!

(And some people wonder why some of us post on this site anonymously—- sheesh!  Can’t you just feel the hate?)

Also, I am not the least bit interested in being an apologist for Rush Limbaugh (the stereotypical voice of the Rep. Party who really ISN’T), but let me quote the historian Victor Davis Hanson in his column TODAY:

“Let’s face it—racial politics are primarily a liberal-Democratic domain. A politician or jurist such as Harry Reid, Judith Ginsburg, (on abortion) or Joe Biden gets a pass on insensitive language that an entertainer and commentator like Rush Limbaugh does not. I think the unspoken rule is something like, “I am so clearly progressive that any uncouth slip must be a slip,” versus “He is so clearly not progressive, that any uncouth slip is a window into his flawed soul.” (Note again, that had a white jurist, Sotomayor-like, said “As a wise white man” he would have been disqualified from the Supreme Court, or had he prefaced a speech [30 plus times in a few minutes] with “I am a white guy,” “as a white man,” “we whites,” “I am white,” “I don’t forget that I am white,” we would have nominated him for Klan service rather than the Supreme Court.) (Yes, I know the postmodern apologies about “power imbalance” and “historical contexts,” but this is 2010, not 1965.)”

This is from “We Have Race on the Brain”:
http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/we-have-race-on-the-brain/?singlepage=true

One more comment on Powell ... he may THINK the “great women” in the Rep. Party are Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, but as a Rep. woman, I can tell you they are more like Michele Bachmann, Marsha Blackburn, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, among MANY others.

Condoleezza Rice could have also risen in the Party, but she, like Powell, demurred.  Seeing the animosity toward Afr. Am. Republicans in this thread, I am forced to conclude that they knew something the rest of us did not.

posted by: Threefifths on February 25, 2010  11:08am

Westville Mom

Three-Fifths�-
I guess the mere suggestion of an Afr. Am. conservative candidate as the solution to New Haven�s woes has you in a tizzy and I certainly didn�t mean to get you upset. I�ll just go back to voting for all those Democrat white guys, if it makes you feel any better.

... I repeat that I am not for this crooked two party system that we have now which is the Democratic party and the Republican party. The left wing right wing the bird is the same. As brother malcom said one is a wolf and the other is a fox. Both of these
parties are beholden to outside interests does
and political patronage and if you don’t think so watch the job the dodd will be geting when he leaves office,In fact look at the job Rowland got when he got out of jail and it was a democrat who gave it to him. So I will say it onemore time I am for Proportional Represention!!!!!!!!!! Even you said that
Competition works best, not only for the marketplace, but also in government.

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on February 25, 2010  2:23pm

Seriously?
The people who want to vote the mayor out, are the one’s leaving. If the suburban masses who hate the mayor so much move back in an election year, they could vote him out. The further the middle class dwindles, the higher the taxes get for the dwindling class, which happens to be the largest demographic in the country. The more middle class people paying taxes, the less each person pays, while the more the city gets in total taxes. Geeeeeez. Somebody have the balls to get all their neighbors to move with them back to the city.

posted by: Westville Mom on February 25, 2010  3:16pm

ASDF—- One final post (maybe forever) to answer your question:

Obama’s Civilian National Security Force
(which I mistakenly referred to as “army”.)

[in his own words on video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwaAVJITx1Y

Whether you hear about or see things like this depends on which sources you turn to for your news.  (A word to the wise.)

Sayonara.

posted by: OhNo on February 25, 2010  3:53pm

Jonathon,
That just isn’t gonna happen. No one from the burbs are coming back. The rich are fleeing also because they can. The poor will stay because of all the resources for them (which is not a bad thing). However, the middle income is royally screwed! Unfortunately most can’t get out. Can’t sell thier house, and if they can, can’t get a good price for them so where will we go? Very sad and all this mayor wants to do is tax and spend as the saying goes and John is the living proof of this. And for god sakes John stop building schools and trying to be known for this because you will, but not in a positive way, but as a squanderer of tax dollars because of the silly schools looking like a palace with fancy insides which are not going to fair very well and the students don’t give a hoot about winding stair cases, chandeliers and other extravagant spending. What is wrong with a nice square, clean, good lighting, decent furniture, warm in the winter, cool in the summer, leak proof buildings to learn in?

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on February 25, 2010  6:18pm

ohno,
I think you sort of answered how it will happen. The middle class can no longer afford the middle class lifestyle. Plain and simple. Other accomodations will have to be made. City living is one option, rural living another, and reworking suburbs back into small towns is a third. The current set up doesn’t work, something new has to happen. People are moving back to cities whether they like it or not, might as well try to make the best of it.

posted by: mary on February 25, 2010  7:31pm

Attention Aldermen we have been taxed enough, the answer is to tax all of those people that don’t live in the city and work in this city.

We as tax payers are loosing our homes, i’m trying to decide how much to pay on a bill so that I can feed my family.  It is hard living in this city. 

I heard that there are over 700 city employees that don’t live in New Haven or shop in New Haven, that’s sad.  Alderman/Alderwomen we voted for you so do what’s right for our city.  We Can’t Take Anymore Taxes!

posted by: asdf on February 25, 2010  7:43pm

Westville mom….

I found it—as usual you need the entire context to see that it isn’t what Glenn Beck says it is.

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908270033

Basically, from the full context, you can see that he is talking about creating opportunities for people to volunteer and help with today’s problems—things like the Peace Corps and Americorps.  He is not referring to his own personal militia.

Whether you see or hear things depends on whether you care to look for the entire story.

No response about your global warming article?  Did you read it before citing it?