Okay, okay, Opdhal is now yesterday’s news. So what has our enterprising BOE been up to? Well, there’s a skirmish of sorts between Corda and everyone except Jodi Bishop-Pullan and Susan Hamilton over whether the internal candidates applying for Lang’s and Opdahl’s positions will ever see the light of the BOE review.  Corda naturally, wants executive privilege over who makes the final round of review. Normally I would agree with him, he’s the chief executive and its his executive team. But this is Corda, who essentially lost his executive privileges over how he handled the disaster that was Opdahl.

The Courant has a great article on the locally grown food movement that’s sweeping Connecticut. Norwalk is in a unique position to not only host many farmer’s markets but also expand the community garden concept was launched at Fodor Farm. From the Courant:

Restaurants wanting to buy their salad greens from Urban Oaks Organic Farm in New Britain are likely to end up on a waiting list.

“For us, the battle is just trying to keep up with the demand,” said Ken Zaborowski, a manager at Urban Oaks. “The last year and a half, everything started picking up.”

This appeared in the Hour:
Norwalk loses under Democrats’ budget plan

The reluctance by the Democrats to adjust next year’s budget despite a looming deficit will not only create massive fiscal problems for the state of Connecticut, but cost the City of Norwalk dearly. Republicans in the House and Senate have offered the only balanced budget before the legislature and we have identified sensible ways to fund critical programs that we all agree are worthwhile, from new criminal justice reforms to vital reading programs for our children.

NORWALK TREE FESTIVAL: Saturday May 3 from 11 AM to 3PM,
at Shady Beach Park, in Norwalk

The Second Annual Norwalk Tree Festival at Shady Beach on Long Island Sound is a free-of-charge combines outdoor recreation with interactive exhibits showing how trees enhance our urban lifestyle–plus hotdogs, hamburgers, soda and popcorn. The activities unfold under open tents from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. rain or shine. The event is jointly organized by the nonprofit Norwalk Tree Alliance and the Tree Advisory Committee of the City of Norwalk.

While the budget deficit is derailing the small business tax credit, and the rail yard debacle is being punted, the Connecticut state senators have, in a 20-16 vote, proved that they have lost touch with how small businesses really work. They of course think that they have passed a sick leave bill that protects the worker from something. The essential protection, that any Connecticut employer who employs over 50, must provide 6.5 days of paid sick days. Connecticut would be the first state enacting such a law, if it passes the House, according to the Courant.

Yep, now its official, Connecticut is in a budget deficit. Of course, if they had acknowledged factoring unfunded pension liabilities all along, Connecticut has been operating with a budget deficit for years. But details are something Hartford’s government flunkies don’t do all that well. The local impact of the red state phenom below:

The rapidly changing budget landscape has left many local lawmakers frustrated.

State Rep. Christopher Perone, D-Norwalk, had been pushing for the elimination of the annual $250 business entity tax to give small firms a break in a tough economy.

“It doesn’t look good for that,” he said.

A chart, ye gads, now I have something to rant about! And let’s start with this 1 through 6 listing of the 10 largest cities in Connecticut.

10 largest cities (2005 est.):

1. Bridgeport, 139,008

2. New Haven, 124,791

3. Hartford, 124,397

4. Stamford, 120,045

5. Waterbury, 107,902

6. Norwalk, 84,437

7. Danbury, 78,736

8. New Britain, 71,254

9. Bristol, 61,353

10. Meriden, 59,653

And now let’s look at the same list but by proposed 2009 “do nothing” budget spending from Hartford.

Fresh from the fields of finance, the operating budget. Overall a B+. The members of the BET, Common Council and BOE deserve some kudos for keeping the budget within the umbrella of inflation. That’s been no easy feat considering revenues these days are somewhat precarious. So the Hour identifies the following:

Look for several more police officers and firefighters, but otherwise restrained spending in the $273.7-million operating budget headed toward adoption by the Board of Estimate and Taxation.

On May 5, the Board of Estimate is set to adopt the city’s 2008-09 operating budget.

Tonight the ordinance committee will consider adopting some sort of path to getting the BOE to meet on a regular basis. This was the idea behind the movement last year, which resulted in … no meetings. Mostly due to Corda being unavailable. Alexandra Fenwick reports:

A Common Council committee tonight will consider whether to create a joint panel with the school board to improve communication.

Better cooperation is a perennial topic that tends to come up at the end of budget season.

Last night I attended the Republican open meeting. It was well attended by a mix of the old, ruh-roh some may take offense to that, and the new. The new people were the focus of course, since registration in the Republican party has been declining in Norwalk for a number of years. It’s not much help that the national field of Republican flavor is so inexcusable. But like Christine Todd Whitman has said, it’s my party too.