One of the steps that Norwalk’s municipal budget needs to go through is a review of all capital budget requests by the planning commission. That’s what’s on tap this week, from the Advocate:
In two meetings that will kick off the budget season, capital project wish lists for the 2008-09 fiscal year will be presented by the Fire Department, Health Department, Parks and Recreation, and Board of Education tomorrow and by the library, Police Department, Historical Commission, Redevelopment Agency, Public Works, Water Pollution Control Authority and Parking Authority on Wednesday.
Watching the historical commission wrangle with issues is much like a classic Irwin Allen disaster flick. All the elements are there and the plot is painfully obvious. The 1972 classic, Poseidon Adventure, gave us a 90 foot tidal wave natural disaster, an upturned cruise ship and a reason for rooting for the eventual survival of the passengers who navigated the usual assortment of death defying traps in order to be rescued.
The historical commission gets the natural disaster of a curator who never makes a meeting, byzantine political meddling and a reason for rooting for the eventual enlightenment of the commissioners who should navigate the unusual assortment of operation stultifying death traps in order to rescue Norwalk’s history.
While the recent decision by the DPUC trimmed the rate increases requested by CL&P, the rates are still going up. Which means that its very much in vogue to look at all the things that can help stem energy costs. Next Wednesday, the Building & Land Use committee is hosting a public forum on saving money on electric bills.
“We’re hoping to provide the public and commercial users an opportunity not only as a way to reduce their energy usage, but also at the same time find out what incentives are in place to help them reduce the cost of putting (energy saving measures) in place,” said Douglas E. Hempstead, committee chairman. “My intention is to have a series of these public information sessions as a way of basically reducing our carbon footprint and making Norwalk a green city.”
Okay, some of you will just want to jump to the original legal mumbo jumbo, but I’ll whittle this down to my between the lines interpretation:
The Norwalk Democratic Party proceeds at its own peril if it doesn’t immediately ask for Galen Well’s resignation, stop conducting witch hunts and stop operating as if it is intent on driving out its entire membership. The state party would have tossed the caucus elections but because it would have placed a significant burden on Norwalk by doing so, the panel chose to allow the results to stand, however the way that they were held was undemocratic and not in the spirit of how the state party operates. Lastly, they note this is the second time Wells (Mme. Defarge) was censured.
Apparently the Historical Commission reached for new levels of incompetency with the latest retrenchment to protect errant curator Sue Gunn. Rather than looking at the operation of both the Museum and the commission as a business, the politics of stupidity have joined forces to further kill off any hope of normal business decisions.
I will be writing more on this subject, but business stuff rules my time today, and it would take too long to deliver my rant about our local Island of Misfit toys. I hope that the political flunkies are happy with this there decisions these days ….
Whether real or imagined, there is a perception here of secrecy and exclusion when it came to letting the Democratic voters in East Norwalk know there was going to be a caucus held where the people representing their point of view were going to be elected.
By not noticing the caucus other than in the Legal Notices in the HOUR the more than 1,200 Democratic voters in East Norwalk were unable to vote for names of their choice on the ballot.
Oh the irony of this Bruce Morris statement; “My challenge whenever we talk about criminal justice reform is that we need to understand that it’s very likely that these people were undereducated or uneducated and, at the time of their offense, they were either unemployed or underemployed.” Morris, who does not hold a college degree, was speaking about why he voted against the criminal reform bill that focused on home-invasions and burglaries.
From the Hour:
“There are a number of proposals in this bill that I know that, long term, will help to keep our state safe and that will work toward a more efficient government,” said state Sen. Bob Duff, D-25, majority whip.
A public hearing was held at NCC yesterday by the Commission on the Status of Women.
For almost two hours, women from the area detailed their personal lives to the panel, asking for policy changes that would make it easier to survive in Fairfield County.
State Reps. Toni Boucher, R-143, and Christopher Perone, D-137, state Sen. Bob Duff, D-25, majority whip, and six Norwalk Common councilmen joined members of the commission on the panel.
It was one of three public hearings the commission plans to transcribe and send to state policymakers. A previous hearing was held in Enfield, and another one is scheduled at the University of Connecticut in February.
