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DEMOCRATIC DISTRICT ~B~ COMMITTEE SOUTH NORWALK OFFICIAL SITE Robert Burgess, Chairman Sylvester Maultsby, Vice-Chair Al Ayme, Secretary Phaedrel (Faye) L. Bowman, Corresponding Secretary Yvonne Rodriguez, Treasurer We appreciate your contributions. Please send contributions payable to: DEMOCRATIC DISTRICT ~B~ COMMITTEE ~click here~ STATE OF THE CITY | '2005 - '2007 STATE OF THE CITY | '2007 - Present CT. STATE NEWS | ISSUES NATIONAL NEWS | ISSUES MAILING LIST EVENTS | PICTURES VIEW | POST - BLOG STREET MAP OF SOUTH NORWALK |
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PRESS RELEASES VOLUNTEER to join our team of members and government officials. You can make a difference. We are glad to hear from Norwalk residents with their ideas, suggestions and/or concerns, and those who recognize the importance of engaging dynamic participation in the political process. |
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Commuters are
now forced to take a long walk from the northbound side of the train station (trains arriving from New York City) and through a tunnel in order to grab a
cab. The southbound side of the station has always been used mostly as a drop-off point for commuters, as acknowledged by Art Scialabba, Republican Town Chairman in the
following (below) writing. Furthermore, we now have more traffic on State Street. (a short one block street) This is what we have right now; -all traffic of the South Norwalk Electric Works (including all emergency vehicles making short stops) -All incoming taxi cabs to drop-off commuters and -all outgoing taxi cabs driving commuters to all parts of the city. LAME EXCUSE FOR A MAJOR BLUNDER. This is what Art Scialabba, Norwalk Republican Town Chairman, wrote recently. (Republican officials won't take the high road if their lives depended on it) But, how do you explain incompetence when they have nothing else to say? "Swift-boating" the opposition seems to be the Republican way. DIST. B - DEMOCRATS LAUNCHING ATTACKS, NOT SOLUTIONS. by Art Scialabba Norwalk Republican Town Chairman 6/18/2008 With regards to the change in the taxi stand at the SoNo RR, it seems that Dist. B Democrats are working overtime to exploit this as a MAJOR issue. District B Democrat Chairman, Bobby Burgess is clearly taking the lead on this but what “hat” is he wearing, what are his motives? One cannot be sure if this issue is close to his heart or closer to his wallet. It has been reported that is representing a cab company in this dispute with the city. Does that now make him an unregistered lobbyist? Does he also have a “conflict of interest” as he may now have a financial motive? We continue to read about his complaints, but have read nothing of about any solutions. And are all of these real issues or factious ones, designed only to inflame people who only hear one side of the story. The other day, I happened to take a co-worker of my wife down to train station. I was interested to see the new configuration that I had read so much about and wanted to decide for myself if the change was reasonable. I had also heard people complaining at a meeting that “not even a fire truck could get through” with the new taxi line in place. So I was interested to see for myself. As I turned into the SONO RR driveway, I took a good look around and witnessed that we were able to drop off my wife’s co-worker without any problems whatsoever and that the statements made about “not enough space for a fire truck or ambulance to get by” was totally false. The only truth is that a false allegation immediately puts the other party on the defense. That is clearly what Mr. Burgess is striving to do by attacking Mayor Moccia for trying to bring positive change to the SONO RR. Change was not done for the sake of change; it was done because of the complaints raised by citizens and users of the RR station. Other claims Mr. Burgess has recently made about what the city “ruled” are so outlandish, it has now become clear to me what hat Mr. Burgess is wearing. END CONSIDER THIS: During the 2007 political campaign Repbublican Dick Moccia received hefty contributions from at least 12 developers (including Andy Kyriakides, brother of Republican Councliman Nicholas Kydes* -see below-) some of whom are currently doing business with the city and others who want to do business with the city of Norwalk. Moccia happily accepted their contributions, but contributions from business require payback. Moccia have shown little interest for the well-being of the People and for running an efficient government. After all the construction projects are realized, traffic which is now a nightmare at rush hours along Connecticut Avenue, West Avenue, Martin Luther King Drive, East Avenue, Wesport Avenue, the downtown area and other parts of the city will be at its worst. A perfect example is the traffic chaos that Moccia has created along State Street. (a short one block street) This is what we have right now; -all traffic of the South Norwalk Electric Works (including all emergency vehicles making short stops) -All incoming taxi cabs to drop-off commuters and -all outgoing taxi cabs driving commuters to all parts of the city. *Kydes allegedly failed to disclose his brother owned property relevant to the Wall Street Development Plan when he discussed the item at meetings. The Globe Theatre property; which lies within the 6.3 acre redevelopment area, is co-owned by Mary Kyriakides, wife of Kydes' brother Andy Kyriakides. |
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continued from page 2... (UPDATE) DEMOCRATIC COUNCIL MEMBERS STOP REPUBLICAN ATTEMPT TO IGNORE RESIDENTS and REPUBLICAN MAYOR MOCCIA RETRACTS IN THE FACE OF PUBLIC OPPOSITION. (Tuesday, July 1, 2008) MEETING OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE (DPW) OF THE COMMON COUNCIL SOUTH NORWALK COMMUNITIES JOIN FORCES FOR A COMMON PURPOSE; FIGHTING THE REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION's DISREGARD FOR THE WELL BEING OF RESIDENTS and FOR QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES. (the following recollection of events is not intended to represent "minutes" of this meeting, but a writing in general terms) In a crowded City Hall meeting room #101, and immediately after Chairman Bill Krummel called the meeting to order, (1.) members of the public were invited to speak their minds. Bobby Burgess, Al Ayme, Joe Newell, Nate Sumpter and Ernie Dumas of the Democratic District -B- Committee; Diane Lauricella of the Neighborhood Coalition for Open Government and many others (just too many to list here by name) expressed their views and opinions within the 3 minutes limitation imposed by Chairman Krummel for each speaker. Members of the DPW Committee were showered with an abundance of issues reflecting the reasons as to why the CITY OF NORWALK PLAN TO EXPAND A TRASH TRANSFER STATION ON MEADOW STREET IN SOUTH NORWALK is a bad idea with detrimental consequences for the residents of these communities, their way of life and to the community in general. Verbal accounts supported by photographic evidence were produced showing garbage/trash, parked 18 wheel trucks, current heavy traffic, lack of public services, lack of cleaning services in the area and other "quality of life" issues, citing specific cases as well. At the end of the public participation session, it became crystal clear that a powerful coalition had developed and a meeting of the minds was achieved by all groups and residents, each representing their own communities. Democratic District `B` Committee working with several community organizations, Harbor View Association, Village Creek, Wilson Point, Meadow Gardens, Neighborhood Coalition for Open Government, Shorefront Park and residents of South Norwalk joined forces towards one goal (i.e.) STOP THE CITY OF NORWALK PLANS TO DUMP MORE TRASH IN SOUTH NORWALK. Chair Krummel then called the next order of business on the agenda after the (2.) approval of the minutes as follows, 3. "Authorize the Mayor, Richard A. Moccia, to execute an agreement with City Carting, Inc. for the operation of the Crescent Street transfer station and the transportation and disposal of solid waste for a term of 5 years, commencing on January 1, 2009, and for a sum not to exceed $13,668,605.00 (based on an estimated 23,000 tons per year) Account No. 01402 5298" Councilman Douglas Hempstead requested more information from DPW Director Harold F. Alvord, like an Environmental Impact Study on Crescent Street. Mr. Alvord said he didn't have one, but that he would get such report as soon as feasible. Councilman Carvin Hilliard, Councilwoman Phyllis Bolden, Councilwoman Amanda Brown, Councilman Douglas Sutton and Councilman Steven Serasis spoke in support of the community and residents. Members of the public expressed that City Carting, Inc. has been operating in Stamford without a permit and that City Carting, Inc. did not have a permit to operate in Norwalk, therefore, the Mayor could not be authorized to execute the agreement until the necessary permit is obtained. Motion was made to TABLE this item, motion passed by a majority of the members. Chair Krummel called for the next item of business as follows, 4. "Schedule a public hearing on the proposed solid waste plan (Meadow Street). Public hearing to be conducted at the Meadow Gardens Community Center at an agreed time and date" Members of the DPW Committee Kelly Straniti and Fred Bondi favored the measure and spoke in terms of savings of $1,500,000.00 if the Meadows Street facility is approved to play an important role in the handling of trash. Fred Bondi dismissed many items expressed by the public saying that traffic is heavy almost anywhere continued next column..... |
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in the city and other remarks in favor of the Meadows Street facility inclusion in the Plan. (posted at Ms. Lindstrom's request) "Laurel Lindstrom spoke in favor of the Meadow Street community and the Norwalk community as a whole. She said that it was clear after listening to the Meadow Street area residents that there were many issues that needed to be fixed. These existing problems need solutions. Councilwoman Lindstrom indicated that the transfer station on Meadow Street currently allows 250 tons of garbage a day (plus 250 tons of construction material) and that if the city uses it as a transfer station it would still allow only 250 tons of each a day. There would be no change in use. Yet the city would save money that would result in additional funds being available for projects to benefit the community and the use by the city of the Meadow Street transfer station would be the human-friendly as well as the economically friendly option. LINDSTROM Under questioning by members of the DPW Committee, Harold F. Alvord, DPW Director expressed himself with phrases like, "DPW doesn't have enough people to do the work", "DPW does not have the capacity at this time" and "lack of efficiency" (posted at Mr. Bill Krummel's request) "I offer the following additional comments to your report on the Public Works Committee meeting of July 1. The motion to Table the Crescent Ave proposal was made with the understanding to table to a Special Meeting to be held before the July 22 Council meeting. The committees unanimous intent was to bring the matter to the Council by July 22. However Alvord was asked to prepare comparison information on all 3 bids, comparison between the Crescent St. base proposal and the Meadow St alternative, as well as environmental impact studies for both, traffic studies for both and an executive summary of the Malcolm-Pirnie analysis of the bids. 2. At the end of the meeting the Committee unanimously passed a resolution calling upon City and State agencies and legislators to act to eliminate health and safety violations on Meadow St. (I don't remember exact wording). 3. I held a short discussion with Alvord and Corp. Counsel Maslan on "flow control". We have to understand that about half of Norwalk's solid waste is collected by commercial haulers and after Jan 1 they will be free to go to the least expensive transfer station which is likely to be Meadow St. with either proposal. However it may be possible to use flow control, requiring by contract or permit that the haulers in Norwalk bring their loads only to the Norwalk transfer station at Crescent St. There is a legal problem here that has already been in the courts and my purpose was to get Corp Counsel to study this" KRUMMEL Councilman at-Large Michael Geake, member of the DPW Committee was notably absent from the proceedings, he'd previously mentioned a prior commitment in Bridgeport. Councilman Steven Serasis spoke at length in support of the community and residents and his opposition to the Meadow Street facility handling any more trash, speaking in favor of residents' rights and saying that the well being of residents is more important than money. Councilman Carvin Hilliard, Councilwoman Phyllis Bolden, Councilman Douglas Sutton and Councilwoman Amanda Brown expressed themselves along the same lines in support of the community and residents and their opposition to the Meadow Street facility handling of the trash. Councilman Douglas Hempstead expressed many doubts about a questionable positive impact of the Plan to expand the Meadow Gardens facility and requested more information from DPW Director Harold F. Alvord, like an impact study and hearing. Motion was made to TABLE this item, motion passed by a majority of the members. Meeting continued to other topics on the agenda. We left at this point. Democratic District -B- Committee is considering a "next" step in view of overwhelming community support for ENDING THE PROPOSED EXPANSION OF THE TRASH TRANSFER STATION ON MEADOW STREET. COMMENT: Fred Bondi seems to side with Republicans at "the drop of a hat" and against the best interest of the Democratic Town Committee. (continued page 4)  «««PREVIOUS NEXT»»» |