By popular demand, here is Mayor Boughton's State of the City speech in full.

Sorry but due to YouTube restrictions, I had to break the video into two parts.

Part 1:



Part 2:



Text of speech

Honorable Mark D. Boughton
State of the City 2006
Danbury Connecticut

December 15, 2006

"Danbury leads the way!"


Thank you and I would like to thank each of you for being here today.

Congratulations are in order for Waterworks and to Robert Sallick and his team for their hard work and dedication!

Let me also take a moment to acknowledge all of our dedicated elected officials who are here today. Danbury works because we all work together regardless of party affiliation for the betterment of our city and our community.

Joining us here today are:

City Treasurer Dan Jowdy
City Clerk Jean Natale
Town Clerk Lori Kaback

We are also joined by members of the Common Council:

Council President Joe Cavo
Councilwoman Mary Teicholz
Councilwoman Mary Saracino
Councilwoman Colleen Stanley
Councilman Ted Cutsumpas
Councilman Ben Chianese

I would also like to recognize our Judge of Probate Dianne Yamin.

In addition, I would also like to recognize members of our state delegation that are here today.

I would also like to thank and recognize our team of dedicated city administrators and department heads for their work in making Danbury a better place.

Thank you Steve Bull and Harry Carey and the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce for putting this event together.

I am honored to be joined today by Police Chief Alan Baker and interim Fire Chief Phil Curran. Both have taken bold steps to ensure that our streets are the safest in Connecticut.

This year, thanks to the hard work of the Police Department, Danbury was rated as the safest City in Connecticut and the 28th safest city in the United States of America.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to report to you today that City of Danbury is in strong financial shape, maintaining the highest credit rating and bond rating in the history of our City for the 5th consecutive year of my administration.

Our taxes continue to be some of the lowest in the state and our sewer and water rates continue to be 100 percent below the state average.

As I speak to you here today, Danbury is experiencing strong economic growth and has the lowest unemployment rate in the State of Connecticut.

This year we have broken ground on a 200 million dollar expansion at MannKind Pharmaceuticals that will provide over 400 new jobs in the heart of our city. Cartus has completed its expansion and Boehringer-Ingleheim has added a significant of number of jobs as well. In addition, many of our small and medium sized businesses are experiencing strong economic growth.

Another success story is Fuel Cell Energy. Fuel Cell Energy is a national leader in the development and manufacturing of fuel cells.

Today, I am excited to announce a proposal for a strategic partnership between Fuel Cell Energy and the Elemental Power Group which will locate the largest power generating fuel cell complex in the world in Danbury. This 30 Megawatt facility will generate clean, efficient energy, with no emissions and no harm to the environment.

If approved, the complex will be a model for prospective customers of Fuel Cell Energy's technology and would generate a significant amount of clean energy for the State of Connecticut under the Clean Energy Fund.


Our housing market continues to be strong, and we see a strengthening with new home ownership opportunities for those who only dreamed of owning a piece of America and a piece of the American dream.

Specifically, the old High Ridge Gardens complex is moving forward with 16 units already sold to people that are using section 8 vouchers to pay for a part of their mortgage.

Imagine this, one of the worst public housing projects in the city, is now turned into one of the most attractive home ownership opportunities available to low income residents of our city.

Congratulations are in order to the Danbury Housing Authority Board of Directors and to Executive Director Carolyn Sistrunk.

Our public improvement projects are marching forward, highlights include:

The new Police Station which is set for a ground breaking in the spring of 2007,

The Westside fire station which will be completed in the spring of 2007,

The completion of Kaplanis Field which will be done in the spring of 2007,

The Bardo Parking Garage which will be open in the fall of 2007,

The redesign of Rogers Park Middle School which will be completed later this month,

With the aid of the State of Connecticut, our City, and many private donors we have renovated the Boughton Street YMCA.

The following projects have been completed since last time we spoke,

The Auditorium and improvements at Broadview Middle School opened this past spring,

The Western Ct. Academy for International Studies opened this past September,

Sprayscape Parks at Rogers Park and at Highland Ave opened this past fall,

A new playground for the Blind Brook Neighborhood opened in October,

Paving of Main Street was completed this past summer,

We also repaired and replaced over 57 sidewalks in the heart of our city,

We have installed over 2700' of new drainage and over 5 dozen new catch basins,

We’ve deployed traffic calming with signs and speed humps, and a camera system to keep traffic moving,

Rebuilt and replaced playground equipment at all of our elementary schools.

We have enacted landmark legislation to protect our children from sexual predators by creating Child Safety Zones- the first City in the State of Connecticut to enact such a tough law, I believe in the value of this law, I believe that we can save a child from the horrors of being abused at the hands of a predator. I believe that it is worth it if we protect only one child.

We have embarked on a new strategic plan to end homelessness in Danbury and deployed a new point of service program called Dreamhomes that has already successfully placed several challenged residents in home ownership.

In addition, we have successfully deployed a Livable Neighborhoods Plan by creating the Office of Neighborhood Assistance which works on neighborhood planning and enforcement issues with a special task force called the Unified Neighborhood Inspection Team.

For the first time in our history we have created a historic district in our city.

We have deployed a new messaging system to provide public information to residents and businesses about city issues or in the event of emergency, critical information.

Let me just say that my administration has been the most open in the history of our city and I am proud of it.

We have put Common Council agenda's and minutes online available in several different languages, our meetings are being broadcast on TV by a dedicated group of volunteers, we have created a public notice registry, and I have held countless Town Hall Meetings for our residents to attend and have already scheduled our meetings for next year.

The Danbury Fair Mall is in the process of undergoing a top to bottom renovation.

Western Connecticut State University under the direction of Dr. James Schmotter, continues to evolve and expand in new and exciting ways.

Danbury Hospital is expanding and continues to be the leading care provider to the residents of our city.

Yes, it has been an interesting and busy year.

But as many of you know, I also believe that there is always more to do.

It was John F. Kennedy who said that "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present, are certain to miss the future."

Indeed it is Danbury's future that I am working on.

Many of you here in the room know that our city personnel work very hard to serve the residents of Danbury. In some ways, I believe our employees work too hard. For example, a call to fill a pothole may make several stops. A resident may look in the phone book and call the highway department, the public works dept., and when they are done calling there they will call my office. That complaint will generate a boatload of e-mails, several calls among department heads, and most likely a call from me. Eventually the pothole will get filled, but it takes an awful lot of work and an awful lot effort.

The sad part is that those most in need of city services, such as the elderly, those living at or below the poverty line, and new arrivals to Danbury, are least likely to find their way through this confusing bureaucratic maze.

In addition, as Mayor of the city, I have no ability to measure our metrics to know how many potholes we have filled or how fast are we capable of filling them. I don't know and could not tell you how much hot patch we used, or where we see the most potholes develop. We have no program to establish benchmarks, track performance, and assess customer satisfaction with city services.

Consequently, over the last several months we have worked hard in City government to change our culture and change the way that we deliver services to our residents. Out of those discussions and working with our staff we have determined that we need a single point of contact, a place where a resident can call and file a complaint, get a pothole filled, or find out about a community event.

That is why today I am proud to announce that effective Monday Dec. 18th the City of Danbury will launch a new initiative called CityLine 311.

Danbury will join only 25 other cities in the United States of America that have 311 service.

Residents will be able to dial 311 on their telephones and be greeted by a live customer service representative for the City of Danbury. Our representative is located in a call center that we have built in City Hall.

So:

Want a pothole filled? Call 311

Want to know what time the Fireworks start? Call 311

Want to now what time City Hall closes? Call 311

Want to know who is playing at the Ives Center this weekend? Call 311.

We will start modestly; the call center will be available from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM for the first two months. In the early spring, we will expand Cityline311 hours to 11:00 pm.

There are other benefits to CityLine 311. It will improve productivity in our departments as our employees will not be answering phone calls with questions that are not relevant to their core mission.

We will reduce 911 calls since many of the 911 calls are not emergency related.

Finally, I will be able to measure our performance and make decisions about allocating resources with monthly updates in dozens of categories that our customized database will provide.

With CityLine 311 data, I will not only be able to tell you how many potholes were filled last month, I will be able to tell where they occur the most, and what our average response time was for filling the pothole. In short I will be able to track data so we can measure performance.

I want to thank our CityLine 311 team of Dena Diorio, Mike McLachlan, Wade Anderson, Judy Baris, Antonio Iadarola, Rick Palanzo, Rich Antous and Wayne Shepperd for implementing this state of the art system in only 90 days.

We are about to embark on public education program and I will need all of your support spreading the word about CityLine 311. To kick off the grand opening of CityLine 311, on Monday, I will answer the calls for the first hour of operation. But be careful folks, we have caller id!

Danbury is becoming a center for the Arts and for culture. We continue to see our City Center summer concert series grow and just last month we announced a strategic plan to enhance the Charles Ives Center by creating a partnership between the City of Danbury and Western Ct. St. University.

The Arts tend to be last on the list for funding by cities and states. Yet a vibrant Arts community enhances our quality of life, can be a vehicle for economic development and send a message about what we value as a community. That's why today I am proposing an initiative that other progressive cities have implemented across the United States. That is a voluntary check off on all of our property tax bills of $2.00 that would go directly into a fund dedicated to improving and enhancing the Arts in our city.

As I mentioned earlier, I have also been active in reducing homelessness and increasing home ownership opportunities here in our city. Last year I appointed a Task Force to develop a plan to address this problem. Chaired by Judge Dianne Yamin, we have recently asked the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials to adopt this plan as a regional plan.

Homelessness and affordable housing are regional problems, and as such they deserve regional solutions. I also believe that we should adopt inclusionary zoning regulations across the region that will require developers to pay fees to develop affordable housing across the Housatonic Valley.

I am also concerned about the rising cost of electricity and energy. Just last year CL&P increased rates by 22 percent and this year CL&P received an 8 percent increase. Danbury residents are paying the highest electric rates in the continental United States. That is why Danbury is pooling its electricity demands with other municipalities to receive the lowest bid on electric rates.

More importantly, many of our seniors are on a fixed income and each spike in oil or electricity can literally mean the difference between choosing between heating their home or eating dinner.

It shouldn’t have to be this way. That's why today I am proposing that City of Danbury create an energy assistance program that will help our seniors pay for the cost of heating or cooling their apartment the program should have relatively high income limits and should be easy to sign up for and easy to understand.

Many of our seniors have also approached me about the need for low cost housing options for our senior population over age 62. As we continue to age the demand and need will become even more acute.

Today, I am announcing the appointment of a Task Force to be chaired by leading developer of senior housing Mark Nolan Their charge? Identify housing opportunities for our seniors and to make recommendations to the City on ways to enhance and encourage development of affordable senior housing.

As the first site to be developed, I propose that the site that our Police Station is currently located on, be used for medium to low cost senior housing. Located next to our Senior Center, and on the same side of the street as our Library, this site will be ideal for affordable senior housing.
This will be the cities in -kind contribution to jump start development of this critical need.

The Westside of Danbury continues to be the center of economic activity for our community.

Recently, a group of investors has indicated an interest in building a sports and entertainment complex on 13 acres of city owned land. I have supported this concept and the Common Council on a bipartisan basis agreed to a 15th month study period.

In order to ensure that there is full public support for this project and full transparency, today I am announcing that if a formal proposal is presented, that it be put up to a vote much like we did on the proposed baseball stadium. There will be Public Information Session, and we will have a full public discussion before we conduct the vote.

I am also proud to announce today that the WCI Group has agreed to terms with our first corporate tenant on the westside, a fortune 50 company. At 110,000 square feet, the new building will house computers and software related to data recovery for the operations of the New York Stock Exchange.

This year I have hosted a series of round table discussions with leading CEO’s of the area. These discussions have been open and straightforward. I have heard concerns about the challenge of filling positions within their organizations.

Today I am proud to announce a strategic partnership between the Macerich Group, the new owners of the Danbury Fair Mall, and the City of Danbury, to help match willing employers with willing employees. We will do this through the use of a kiosk at the Mall through a new Citizen Service Center. The Center will focus on three core areas:

1. Market Danbury to the region.

2. Serve as a resource for both employers looking to fill key positions, and people looking for employment.

3. Serve as a point of contact for those looking to find out about city services.



I want to thank our Director of Economic Development Wayne Shepperd and Senior Property Manager of the Danbury Fair Mall Maura Ruby, for their hard work on this initiative.

While we are excited about these new initiatives, Danbury does face challenges;

The sale of Lake Candlewood has caused some concern among our residents. We are monitoring the situation closely and we are having discussions with the new owners to ensure that the lake continues to be the beautiful asset that we all know.

Over the last 10 months all of us have been watching the ongoing investigation into the waste hauling industry in western Connecticut.

We should be prepared to act if the Federal Government is successful in seizing the Transfer Station located at White Street in Danbury.

If forfeiture should happen, it is my recommendation that the Housatonic Resources and Recovery Authority purchase the assets of the transfer station. HRRA is best positioned to run the facility, and would provide the necessary oversight to ensure that all haulers who are licensed have access to the station.

Last month I announced a program to ensure that motor vehicles are registered here in Danbury and in the State by conducting an audit.

Today I want to share with you a concern regarding people who are driving without licenses.

In one three month period, our Police Officers found over 800 people who were driving without a license. This is unacceptable, unlicensed drivers threaten public safety and the public good.

With the new revenue generated by the taxes collected from our car registration program, I have asked Chief Baker to increase our safety inspections throughout the 44 square miles of the city. Our Police Officers will ensure that all drivers on our roads are wearing their seatbelts and that they are legally licensed to operate a motor vehicle on our city streets.


I have also been a national leader in the public discussion regarding illegal immigration. In 2007 I will continue to press our Congress and our Federal government for enforcement of our immigration laws and for immigration reform.

I have often said that it is bad public policy to have laws on the books that are not enforced, but I also agree that Congress must look at this issue strategically and pragmatically.

We must be a welcoming society and we must be a lawful community, those two ideals can and should work together.

In the meantime, it is all of our jobs to spread the word about our American spirit and our American purpose to all those who come to our great land. It is our ideals that unite us. That is what makes America the greatest nation on earth. The ideals of democracy, freedom, equality, justice, are universal ideals that unite people across ethic, religious and racial boundaries. Our ideals are what drive our purpose as a nation. They lift up our spirit and bring us together.

Ladies and Gentlemen, today, I have discussed with you bold and creative proposals to improve our city and to improve delivery of important city services.

Harry Truman once said that "a pessimist is one who makes difficulties of opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties"

Each day when I wake up, I am optimistic about the future of our city. I believe in the goodness that rests within each of us. I am proud to lead Danbury and share a vision of our community that each of you can be proud of. Indeed, I believe that Danbury’s best days lie yet ahead.

My friends, this is the State of our City for the year 2006. I ask for your continued support and good wishes as we enter into 2007.

In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season let us pause from time to time to remember the young men and women who are overseas answering America’s call to defend freedom. Let us pray that we find a path through the challenges that face our great nation, let us hope that our leaders have courage and the wisdom to take it.

On behalf of my wife Phyllis and the great City of Danbury, I wish each and everyone one of you a happy and healthy holiday season and a happy New Year.

May God bless our City, may God bless you, and may God bless America.

Thank you.

and CTLauryn sleeps with her hand to her head just like dad does when he passes out on the couch (click on image to enlarge).

Daddy's girl indeed!

Okay, where do I begin.

While at the State of the City event, I was told that the mayor is on board to broadcast local government meetings on public access. I was told by an old wise politician one day that EVERY move a public figure such as a mayor or governor does is usually politically timed or politically motivated so when I heard this, these things came to mind:

1.) This announcement is in someway combined with his speech which is basically a kick-off for his re-election campaign.

2.) After two years of very hard stonewalling, there is no way the mayor is completely on board to do this.

3.) The mayor is probably throwing a few bones to calm his Republican supporters and the News-Times down. Remember, we're now in re-election mode and Boughton is no idiot...why should he give any Democratic challenger a gift like accusing him of blocking the public from what's going on at City Hall.

Now, take everything I mentioned into consideration and come back later when I have Boughton's state of the city speech posted. Don't get me wrong, I'm psyched that Boughton is doing SOMETHING, I just question the timing of the whole matter as well as the details behind what he's actually proposing to do.

In any regard, hats off to all those who pushed this issue from day one. From Democrats such as Lynn Taborsak and the DTC who pushed the broadcast petition, to Republicans like Lynn Waller (although it really killed her to criticize the administration until Cavo got under her skin) and Ivon Alcime (who basically said "the hell with it," brought a camera to city hall, and placed his video footage on public access), it was good to see that this issue went beyond party lines and that everyone in there own way (including myself...and trust me, I have many more videos on this subject that I was ready to unload) to keep this issue on the hot burner.

I can't forget the News-Times who really went out of their way to whack the mayor upside the head with their hard-hitting editorials...and people think I'm harsh on the mayor at times.


Okay, enough of the congrats...I'll come back later and explain why everyone should not do a HUGE happydance yet. A small dance yes, just not a HUGE dance quite yet.

Oh, this just stinks.

I'm now so backed up in projects for this site, that I've ran out of room on my harddrive.

Okay, this is what I'm going to do.

I'm going to stop everything right now since I simply do not have any space on my server. I'll need to burn about 30 DVDs worth of video and if you know anything about burning DVDs, that takes a great deal of time.

When I return tomorrow, I'm going to post the Mayor's State of the City address tomorrow in full and follow that with the video footage from the December Common Council meeting. I also have video footage from Wednesday night's EIC meeting which was rather interesting to say the least...I mean really, with all the traffic on North Street, how can ANY developer even think about building more units over in that area.

Finally, I have several interviews to post that should be of interest as well as my year in review where I'm going to recap several things that happened in Danbury as well as post never-before video footage from this summer's Taste of Danbury. I'm going to also talk about 2007 and the race for mayor (which actually kicked off this week with the mayor's flip-flop on broadcasting local government meetings (I'll get into that later) as well as his remarks during his state of the city speech).

The questions people ask me the most around town are 1.) what's the name of the Democrat who's going to run against Boughton 2.) Do I think the Mayor is beatable 3.) Will the Democrats be as split as they were in 2005 and 4.) What role will blogs have in covering all the mayoral races across the state. I'll try to answer each of those questions before the New Year’s Day as I don't want to give away too much at this point. The year's not over and everyone is starting to jockey for position as Mayor Boughton's re-election machine is definitely coming to life (as you'll see by the speech he gave today).

In closing, I'd like to personally thank all those who visited this site. Regardless of your political views, my ultimate purpose of this site is to bring you information that you normally wouldn't get in other sources of media in the area. Now, after almost two and a half years, the readership on this site alone is rising at a very fast rate and with a new PR campaign in place, new reporters joining the crew offering different stories from the different wards, and hopefully a completely re-designed site and a possible public access show, expect this site to grow very fast, and very soon.

If you think this site is good now, you haven't seen anything yet. I haven't even tapped into the video/audio archives yet. In 2007, words will come back to bite some people in the butt while old issues will be re-visited to see if any progress has been made. With the Senate and Congressional races over, also expect to see more video interviews from your State and Federal Reps and Senators as well as a chance for you to directly ask your elected leaders questions (we'll get into that later).

Okay, that's enough for now...I'm showing my hand too much right now and too many politicians read this site and the last thing I need is Democrats and Republicans who are running for office asking to be interviewed (DON'T EVEN ASK AS I'M CLOSING THE INTERVIEW SHOP TILL JANUARY).

...stay tuned.

I attended the state of the city address today and I'll bring you video of Mayor Boughton's speech in full soon (still processing the footage).

UPDATEGrr...I just finished processing the video but my harddrive is now full so I have to archive stuff which takes forever. Oh Santa, I want a 400 gig harddrive for Christmas.

As you all know, I attended the press conference held by lawyers representing the Danbury 11 yesterday. Since the Department of Homeland Security failed adhere to a FOI request to hand over communications between Mayor Boughton, Congresswoman Nancy Johnson and DHS regarding events which resulted in the Danbury 11 sweep earlier this year, the lawyers representing the day laborers who were picked up by ICE filed suit against DHS demanding that the information be released.

In order to file a suit, one needs to have all the facts and this is where we are with this situation. Once the information is released by DHS, the lawyers representing the Danbury 11 will determine if there is any merit to a suit to be filed against the cityu and DHS. This suit is the first step in that possible direction.

Yesterday was an interesting day as media throughout the state as well as the New York Times descended on Danbury once again and placing this issue of illegal immigration and Danbury back into the spotlight. Between the press conference and statements from Mayor Boughton to the media (including his comment to NBC30 that I bet he wish he could take back), I have the feeling that not only is this case for from over, but the bad blood between the two camps will escalate as we approach 2007.

I'll update this post with the actual press release from the lawyers later. Unfortunately, I was unable to make the presser (I was told it was at another location). The video starts with the end of the presser and goes into my interview with the lawyers.



At a later point, I'm going to do a special feature on the Danbury 11 which will include all the footage I've done to this point as well as interviews and videos never seen before. I'll probably have that ready some time next week (hopefully).

Okay, I didn't scoop the media by breaking the story first...it was a long day. WTNH just did their report on the lawsuit presser from today on their 5:30 broadcast and Channel 30 just filed their report at 6.

I'm not going to go into great detail behind the complaint as I want to wait until I get my video processed before going to great detail. The real story wasn't the presser, but rather the stunning arrogance of Mayor Boughton in his interviews with the media today.

In his interview on Channel 8, Boughton made me laugh so hard, I had to catch by breath as my favorite mayor talked about how please he was with illegal-immigration buddy, Massachusetts governor and pathetic hypocrite Mitt Romney's illegal immigration political stunt that I talked about yesterday.



Simply amazing.

Instead of being honest and acknowledging that Romney's so-called crackdown on illegal immigrants is nothing more than an obvious political stunt (Romney only has a couple of weeks left in office and the incoming governor has already stated that Romney's proposal won't see the light of day), Boughton pulls a slight of hand for the camera, flashes a smile, and offers admiration for his fellow Massachusetts Republican, who talks tough about illegal immigration while hiring illegal immigrants to work on his yard.
(NOTE: No! Boughton didn't hire illegals to do his yard, Romney did. A link has been inserted and the word "Massachusetts" is now placed before the word "Republican" in the previous sentence to clear things up).

This is nonsense...complete utter nonsense.

If you think that's ridiculous, catch Boughton's arrogant (if not outright shameless) interview on Channel 30. In this interview, the real Boughton comes out as he lets his feelings known about the individuals who are launching the FOI complaint.



In typical Boughton fashion, the mayor ridicules the Yale law students who filed the complaint. Lets not talk about how those students filed a FOI against Homeland Security requesting the communications between Boughton and Department Homeland Security (DHS) when he requested help in rounding up the immigrants and how DHS refuse to comply with the FOI request by releasing the information within the 30 day period which prompted this action by the students. This case is against the DHS for not releasing public information, not a case against the city. You can't consider filing a lawsuit if you don't have all the facts and if someone is refusing to provide the facts, you go to court...it happens all the time in FOI cases (trust me, I've been involved in a few of these things).

Instead of talking about the merit of the case, Boughton just dismisses the law students as a bunch of kids who "don't have much to do with their time." It's an unnecessary and below the belt personal attack from a mayor plain and simple.

Class act.

Later tonight, I'll post my interview from the press conference as well as my interview with the so-called law students with too much free time on their hands. I also have a copy of the press release and the actual complaint that was filed and I'm working on converting it to .pdf as well as Microsoft Word format. After you see the interview and presser, you'll see the actual common sense behind this FOI complaint.

UPDATE: Grr, just missed the report on Channel 61 by a a few seconds. I'll catch the re-broadcast and post it tomorrow morning.

UPDATE: Here's channel 61's report.

Just came back from the Danbury 11 presser at the First Congregational Church. I was surprised with the amount of media at today's event so I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of coverage from Danbury on TV later tonight.

I'm processing my footage now and hopefully I'll scoop the media by filing my report before the evening news cycle.

...developing.

I don't know if this is laughable or just pathetic.

Gov. Mitt Romney, who is weighing a White House bid, signed an agreement Wednesday that allows Massachusetts State Police troopers to detain illegal aliens they encounter over the course of their normal duties.

Under the terms of the agreement, made with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, an initial group of 30 troopers will receive five weeks of specialized training next year, paid by the federal government.

There is only one problem...Mitty has only a couple of more weeks in office.

Yet the duration of the new policy is in doubt, because Romney leaves office Jan. 4 and his successor, Democrat Deval Patrick, has said he opposes placing the additional burden on the troopers.

"I'm going to investigate what power I have," the governor-elect told reporters last week. "You know that I think it's a bad idea for state troopers to be involved in immigration enforcement. They have enough to do as it is, and I said that consistently."

The agreement also comes at an embarrassing time for Romney, who has pledged to announce his decision about a presidential candidacy early next year.

The Boston Globe reported recently that the landscaper who maintains the governor's 2.5-acre property in Belmont has been employing illegal aliens.

That arrangement prompted criticism from the Democratic National Committee.

"Mitt Romney is showing his true colors in the waning days of his administration," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. "By using the immigration debate to pander to extremists in his party after years of taking advantage of undocumented workers, Romney is proving to be just another hypocritical political opportunist with no business running for the White House."

These types of dishonest Republicans make me sick to my stomach. Here's a man who in public talked a hard line against illegal immigrants but privately had no problem hiring illegal immigrants to do landscaping on his yard for cheap.

And don't get me started on how easily it is for someone to obtain a vehicle registration. You don't seriously think Mayor Boughton's crackdown on Danbury residents with out-of-state license plates is about collecting property taxes (did you forget about the seven year tax abatement Boughton gave BRT?) Well, I guess the only people who are still drinking that Kool-Aid are the people at the Danbury News-Times
(hats off again to Danbury's Tribuna newspaper for getting the real story regarding the out-of-plates issue).

I hope this guy gets the Republican nomination...the Republicans deserve a person of high standard like Romney.

Okay, now they're just insulting our intelligence folks.

For those who think this site is only about going after Republicans in the area (which is laughable), here's a topic that everyone should be able to agree and find common ground regardless of your political views.

When it comes to your local government at work, I can not stress to you how important it is for people to know what's happening in Danbury. It's simple...people NEED to see their the people they voted into office at work and see how things are done at City Hall. For a area the size of Danbury NOT to have their government meetings on television is downright embarrassing given that smaller surrounding towns such as Bethel and Ridgefield seem to have no problem providing their citizens with government broadcasts.

Instead of just hearing about the passing of bills and ordinances, the public would be better informed about the pros and cons surrounding any issue if the meetings were simply broadcasted. That way, the public would be allowed to see their local government at work and make a better-informed opinion on any topic. Unfortunately, because of a local newspaper that historically hasn't done a great job covering local government news, many people in the area are unaware of what's happening behind the scenes at City Hall which results in people making uninformed decisions on topics that they actually know little about.

After many months of watching this situation unfold in Danbury, it is this blogger's honest opinion that Mayor Mark Boughton and the Republican majority of the Common Council is simply stonewalling the public and offering any excuse that comes to their mind when it comes to broadcasting local government meetings on public access and enough is enough. Form day one, the Republicans in power have gone out of their way to block the ability for City Hall to simply broadcast local government meetings on public access and enough is enough.

To illustrate just how bi-partisan this topic is, I'm going to do something that will make locals in Danbury who know both of these individuals fall off their chairs: present a issue that Democrat Lynn Taborsak and Republican Lynn Waller agree on (for the most part).

Although I don't agree on many things Waller raises on her public access show, I do respect her for not drinking the kool-aid when it comes to the excuses receiving regarding the problems with putting the meetings on television. She's been doing her Friday night public access show for too long to know that broadcasting anything and placing it on cable television shouldn't be that big of a deal and definitely shouldn't cost the outrageous estimates coming from the Mayor's office (figures ranging from 60,000 to 90,000 dollars). She's been on her show for the last five months alerting the public about this issue and recently had a pretty heated exchange (for her standards) with Common Council Republican President Joe Cavo where he basically she told every ridiculous excuse in the book.

Now, Lynn Taborsak has been a political figure in Danbury for quite some time and she's another person who you can't fool. Taborsak doesn't have a hard time cutting right to the chase and calling it like she sees it and when it comes to the nonsense surrounding the Republican's excuses, she doesn't fail to disappoint. Calling the broadcasting excuses from Boughton, Cavo, and the Republican majority a classic case of stonewalling; Taborsak echoes the opinion of many including myself who have had enough of the excuses and political dishonesty.

For those of you shaking your head and saying, "CTblogger has to be kidding," here's what I'm going to do just for you.

From now until either the meetings are broadcasted or election day (whichever comes first), I'm going to devote a good chunk of my time alerting the public to the endless list of excuses the Republican-majority is putting the citizens of Danbury through regarding this silly issue.

Broadcasting meetings on public access should be a no-brainer. Shouldn't we all know exactly what's being said at City Hall?

As usual, I've created a video that will somewhat get people up to speed surrounding the nonsense those who want local government meetings on television are being put through by a Republican majority which has given every indication that they want to keep the public in the dark when it comes to their decision-making. Trust me, when you watch the video, you'll better understand why this issue is driving so many people in Danbury nuts.

Okay, if you just watched the video, please pick your mouth up off the floor and site back in your chair. Everything presented in the clip is strictly from current public access shows on the air right now. This is only the beginning in a LONG SERIES of videos exposing the hypocrisy and outright arrogance the Republican majority are displaying to the public.

To up the ante, I'm going to create a special section of my blog, which will be devoted exclusively to this topic...but I need your help. Please, send an email to Common Council President Joe Cavo (j.cavo@ci.danbury.ct.us) demanding that the stonewalling stop and broadcast local government meetings on public access. When you email him, PLEASE send a CC: or BCC: to hatcityblog@yahoo.com and I can keep an ongoing list of the public's emails to Cavo on my site for all to see (don't worry, your email address will not be posted). This way, Mr. Cavo cannot say he didn't receive any feedback from the public (which he has been stating for the last couple of months).

I know this sounds silly but Danbury is a silly city, which is controlled by a political party that has gone out of their way to insult our intelligence on so many topics that it's hard to keep count.

Enough is enough.

People-powered media to action!

Wow, this latest video project I just completed took a long time to produce but I think it might be one of my best videos to date.

It's simple, straightforward, and gets right to the point regarding broadcasting local government meetings and how the local political leaders in the city are stonewalling the public.

It's currently being uploaded to Youtube now and I'll post it as soon as it's available. Trust me, you're going to love this...

Seems like head national xenophobe and Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist backed out on speaking in Danbury.

...at least for now.

Now, PLEASE take everything you hear on Big T's laughable Friday night local access hate-feast show with a small grain of salt; however, they had Elise Marciano, head local xenophobe and founding member of U.S. Citizens for Immigration Law Enforcement, on to talk about Gilchrist blowing off his speaking engagement in Danbury this week.

Here's what she had to say.



We'll try to confirm this information but it seems that for now, he's a no-show.