But not only did the City of Danbury turn down Mr. Kariamu’s request for emergency financial assistance, Mayor Mark D. Boughton seemed anything but sympathetic.
Danbury incurred about $100,000 in overtime charges for police and fire personnel, Mr. Boughton said, adding that he was most concerned about the cost to local businesses. A stretch of Padanaram Road — a main thoroughfare through this city — was blocked off, sometimes for days at a time, as work at the contaminated property proceeded.
A pizza parlor nearly went out of business because of financial losses brought on by the road closing, Mr. Boughton said, suggesting that some local establishments might sue Mr. Kariamu to recoup lost revenue. “He certainly does bear responsibility,” the mayor said.
Looking like a complete jerk, "Mr. People over Politics" dials down the rhetoric for the local media...
"My feeling is that this is a humanitarian issue," Levitt said. "They are still a family in need."
Even Mayor Mark Boughton -- whose administration has had to spend a lot of time, energy and city money to deal with the cleanup -- agrees.
"I'm very sympathetic to the family," Boughton said. "It was an accident. Is he responsible for it? Yes. Did he do it intentionally? No, he did not."
At the same time, Boughton said, the cleanup closed down Padanaram Road for several days. When that happened, business owners along the road lost almost all their customers. They deserve some sympathy as well, the mayor said.
"In some ways, this was like a fire," Boughton said. "Only it lasted four months."
Now, which quote do you believe? The compassionate one in today's News-Times or the one that echoes the poison in the News-Times message boards in the New York Times piece.
Regarding the anthrax mess: After a long summer of not getting the job done, the mayor made an irreversible error.
The company doing the job, Sabre Technical Services, had two weeks available to complete the job: election week or Christmas week. Mayor Boughton chose Christmas week (the busiest shopping week of the year) for his personal greed, over the merchants and restaurants on Padanaram Road.
The hundreds of thousands of dollars lost can in no way be made up.
I feel the only holiday gift that Mayor Boughton can give these people is for him to step down.
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.
Seems like the last honest man in Danbury is in damage control mode again.
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.
