(Before Mayor Boughton attempts to spin the story surrounding his action in regarding the parade ordinance (in an effort to do damage control), this post has been bumped to the top).

The Mayor claims to have done his homework but looks more like his dog ate his homework than anything else.

I mean, you gotta be kidding me right? At this point, one has to question anything that Mayor Boughton states in regards to the proposed parade ordinance which is up for a re-vote again at tonight's Common Council meeting.

Boughton said the ordinance wasn't only created to stop spontaneous parades. He said it won't stop them entirely, but it will give police more power to step in, for instance, ticketing everyone who blocks an intersection or blasts their car horn.

1. This ordinance will NOT stop ANY spontaneous parade and Mayor Boughton knows this because his CORPORATION COUNCIL STATED THIS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

2. In the run-up for the ordinance back in late April-early May 2006, the only thing Mayor Boughton and supporters of this ordinance talked about was THE WORLD CUP GAMES and the IMMIGRANTS THAT CAUSED TRAFFIC PROBLEMS. There was NO TALK about making sure everyone was paying the same amount of money for their parades and marches...although it's part of the ordinance, THE ONLY CARD being played was the drumbeat against immigrants and the excuses being stated NOW is basically a line of B.S. I was there, I videotaped the meetings back in 2006, and I (and those who attended the meetings and kept an eye on this ordinance from day one) KNOW BETTER and are not fooled.

3. As for this giving the police more power to ticket people...THEY'RE ALREADY LAWS ON THE BOOKS FOR THIS. The ordinance has NOTHING to do with ticketing people "who blocks an intersection or blasts their car horn."

Anyone who has watch this story from the beginning knows that the Mayor is changing his tune because he's caught by people who are now actually paying close attention to what he's saying and holding him accountable.

Case in point, watch this exchange where the mayor's "slight-of-hand" is caught by a reporter who knows better.

Okay, go over the lies from the mayor in that small exchange.

LIE number 1: The Mayor says that the World Cup games were NOT spontaneous because he and the chief had "prior planning."

FACT: What the Mayor and police chief do in terms of addressing traffic concerns has NOTHING to do with the legal definition of prior planning as outlined by the ordinance.

JUST READ THE ORDINANCE!

Sec 11-15 (a):

Parade means any march, demonstration, procession, or motorcade, which the parade permit applicant believes will consist of more than twenty-five (25) persons, animals, or vehicles or a combination thereof upon the streets, sidewalks, parks or other public property owned by or under the control of the City of Danbury, for a common purpose as a result of prior planning that interferes with the normal flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic upon said streets, sidewalks, parks, or other public property.

The term "parade permit applicant" MEANS A PLANNING COMMITTEE and NOT AN INDIVIDUAL and definitely NOT THE MAYOR OR POLICE CHIEF.

In other words, PRIOR PLANNING does not mean the following:

The Mets are one game away from winning the World Series. I'm at a bar and tell my buddies that if they win, we'll run up and down the street and celebrate with the other Mets fans.

NOR does it mean this...

I'm at my house watching the World Cup games and decide to jump into my car and drive up and down the street because my team won

NOR does it mean this...

I just graduated from high school and I drive my car up and down the road with my friends, which I'll probably see for the last time, because I finished High School.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's called SPONTANEOUS CELEBRATION and I don't care how much you hate immigrants, there is nothing you can do to stop this type of expression because it's called FREE SPEECH and is protected by the first amendment (yes, even those who are not citizens of this country are protected by the constitution). Corporation Council KNOWS this because they stated at THE VERY FIRST AD-HOC COMMITTEE PROCESS that the city IN NO WAY can stop this form of expression. PERIOD!

THIS is prior planning.

The local AOH plans to hold a St. Partick Day's parade. a planning committee is formed to organize the event.

OR

The police union plans on holding a demonstration in front of City Hall against the Mayor over the lack of a contract. A planning committee is formed to organize the event.

OR

A group of immigrant rights organizations plan on holding a rally down Main Street to protest Mayor Boughton and the fact that he uses the immigration issue for political purposes. They get together and plan the event.

Listen to Common Councilman Paul Rotello explain why this ordinance WILL NOT ADDRESS "spontaneous celebrations" in my interview with him.



LIE number 2: When called out on LIE number 1 by an alert Elizabeth Putman, the mayor fumbled and stated that the celebrants had prior planning because they knew that they were going to go out in the streets after the game.

FACT: Look at my prior fact statement.

LIE number 3: The ordinance is another "tool in the toolbox" to help the police.

FACT: This so-called "tool" was not needed in the "toolbox" to address traffic concerns that stemmed from spontaneous parades (a.k.a. those pesky immigrant parades). They are already LAWS on the books to address the problems that stemmed from the World Cup games.

Here is Minority Leader Tom Saadi outlining EVERY POINT I just raised at last month's Common Council meeting.


The real problem that is being ignored is that, just like with the Elmer's Diner disaster, Mayor Boughton (a.k.a the person who does his homework) didn't have the proper foresight to address the situation properly choosing instead to shamelessly use the topic of "immigration" as a vehicle to rally up both his low-information (i.e. those whose only source of local news is the News-Times) and his anti-immigration bigoted base (headed by Elise "deer in the headlights" Marciano) to support for his policy (I'll deal with Ms. Marciano in a later post as she deserves special treatment).

Let's go back to the video tape and watch the mayor in action again...

Now, if Mayor Boughton handled the situation in 2002 with people going to the green and ice rink to celebrate there, it begs the question WHAT HAPPENED IN 2006? Also, for the mayor claiming that the World Cup games only happened on the championship level and that he didn't anticipate that there would be a parade after "every single game" (and even that is stretching it a bit).

To drive my point home, from the HatCityBLOG archives, I present to you Margret Mitchell from May 2006 when the immigration card was being used when the parade ordinance was first introduced.

MITCHELL: This is something that I wanted for years and I written various Council people, Council Presidents and the Mayor about this. Ever since the World Cup soccer game in 1994, which was a terrible disruption to our neighborhood...

See what happens when you VIDEOTAPE LOCAL GOVERNMENT MEETINGS!

Did you hear Mitchell say "1994"...did you hear Ms. Mitchell use the term "disruption on Main Street." Unfortunately, Ms. Mitchell is out of state right now but trust me, if there is any thorn in the side of the Council, it's Ms. Mitchell and when she said that she addressed the problem of the World Cup games with the Mayor and Common Council, SHE DID.

Also, ANY person who has been a resident of Danbury KNOWS about the World Cup games because, as Ms. Mitchell clearly stated, it's been an area of concern for at least 13 years if not more. For Mayor Boughton to state that he didn't anticipate that there would be a parade after "every single game (again this is a stretch) is completely and without question DISHONEST as people who are fans of soccer celebrate whenever their team wins (whether it's Equador, Protugal, or Italy ALL OF WHOM celebrated up and down Main Street in 2006).

This is just nonsense and the people of Danbury deserve better than a mayor who's more of an expert of double-talk and passing the buck to the "previous administration" than someone who claims to have done his homework.