The Common Council has finished the budget process a month early after voting 16-3 on Tuesday to approve a $191 million city budget for 2007-08.
Common Council Democrats Lynn Taborsak, Wayne Perkins and Paul Rotello voted against the plan, which includes a 7 percent spending increase over last year’s $178 million budget.
The budget also adds about $60 to property taxes on a typical $400,000 city house.
The city’s education budget rose from $100,161,196 this year to $106,270,463 next year, a 6 percent increase.
The mayor presented his budget a month earlier than in past years to include finance director Dena Diorio, who left at the end of March to start a similar job in North Carolina.
Now if you wonder why it's important why local government meetings need to be broadcasted on public access channel 24, this should do it.
Now, if you didn't know the details of Mayor Boughton's warp-speed budget or the bi-partisan criticism it received, you probably wouldn't give the budget two seconds of thought (FYI: Republican State Senator David Cappiello called Boughton's move "irresponsible" while State Rep. Bob Godfrey called the budget a "folly" and you can watch the video footage of the remarks by clicking here).
Luckily, you no longer have to rely on the News-Times or WLAD as a source of information and with the simple use of video, I can show the story that the local media chooses to ignore.
For those who are new to the site, I strongly encourage you take a look at previous post on the mayor's budget (here, here, here, and here). During the budget portion of April's Common Council meeting, several interesting things happened that should tell you all you need to know about the term "rubber-stamp" Republicans.
As I work on uploading the entire discussion portion of the budget, please keep these points in mind:
1. The mayor call for a discussion on the budget AND NO ONE SAID A WORD UNTIL COUNCILWOMAN LYNN TABORSAK RAISED HER HAND.
2. From ALL INDICATIONS, the mayor seemed to ignore Taborsak's hand in an attempt to quickly call the budget to a vote (note in the video how people look towards Taborsak's direction as she waves her hand (off-camera) and tries to get the mayor's attention, which you can hear in the video as he calls the vote (note: I recorded this with a condensed mic from the back of the room and I could hear Taborsak attempt to get the mayor's attention and clearly see her waving her hand). To even think that no one wouldn't have something to say about the budget after all the criticism it's received over the last month stretching it a bit.
3. In an attempt to shut everyone up, Common Council Republican majority leader arrogantly "moves the question," which basically brings a forced end to the discussion of the budget.
4. Not one person on the Common Council had the courage to challenge any of the points Taborsak raised in her criticism of the budget.
While I'll touch on the points I noted later, for now, from last Tuesday's inefficient Common Council meeting, here's Councilwoman Taborsak blasting Mayor Boughton and the Republican "rubber-stamp" majority over the budget, the refusal to move forward on the ad-hoc committee on public broadcasting of local meetings, the denial of funding to the Hispanic Center (which is a disgrace), and a host of other issues that's being overlook by the News-Times and the other local media outlets. Hi-res TV quality video download:71 meg (Quicktime file)
It's simple. As long as the local mainstream media turns a blind eye to what's really happening at City Hall, the public is not informed and elected officials are able to get away with anything without any sense of accountability.
...developing.
UPDATE: In another example of how much the News-Times cares about getting the story right, they couldn't even spell Councilmen Perkins name correctly. It's spelled D-U-A-N-E, not W-A-Y-N-E.
04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school
06.03.22 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Career Academy ‘a great deal for Danbury"
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
