Fundraiser tonight

Saturday, February 23, 2008
Time: 2:11 PM



Tonight at 6:00 PM, if you don't have anything to do (like shoveling snow), come out to the the The William J. Knight Foundation A Faith-in-Action Fundraiser.

Entitled "“Bridging And Accepting The Different Cultures Through Music and Dance”, the fundraiser is to benefit the New Hope Baptist Church Building fund and feature the following:
• The New Hope Baptist Church Mass Choir
• The All Nations Worship Team
• Grace-N-Motion Praise Dancers
• Speeches from Ase’ Amenra Kariamu and The Reverend Phyllis J. Leopold

Admission is free but a donation of 10.00 dollars would be nice.

Come down and enjoy in the celebration:

6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the All Nations Baptist Church
234 Main Street
Danbury, Ct 06810


View Larger Map

For more information on all the wonderful work the William J Knight Foundation is doing in the area, check out the website.

HatCityBLOG-TV update


Time: 12:38 PM

In honor of the spew of lies and misinformation from the Friday-night cable access pro-ICE ACCESS/anti-immigrant talking heads, I wanted to give everyone an update on the latest expansion of this site, HatCityBLOG-TV.

The project is coming along smoothly as I met with the local access coordinator last month and filled out the necessary paperwork to get the show on the air. Right now, I'm in the process of completing four episodes and as soon as I send my pilot into Comcast, I'll make the final arrangements to secure a timeslot.

I'm planning on having HatCityBLOG-TV broadcast on as many cable stations across Connecticut as well as in New York and I'm planning on the first show to hit the airwaves some time in late March-early April with a sneek preview set for mid-March online.

The days of the Friday-night pro-immigrant spin machine is about to come to a dramatic end.

Stay tuned...

HatCityBLOG EXCLUSIVE: Sex offender Ad-hoc committee

Friday, February 22, 2008
Time: 4:26 PM

Before I continue my critique of the sex offender ordinance, I want to share with you this complete raw video footage from the ONE AND ONLY MEETING OF THE SEX OFFENDER AD-HOC COMMITTEE FROM AUGUST 2007.

NOTE: The following file is provided in TV-quality and in order to view this file, you need to download the VEOH-TV player. After downloading the program (which can be used to view YouTube and Google videos), you can download the file eith by clicking here, or clicking on the download symbol in the viewer window. For more info on the partnership between HatCityBLOG and VEOH, click here.



A lower-quality Google video of the ad-hoc committee will be provided at a later date.

Residents speak out against transfer station


Time: 4:10 PM

The latest battle between war against irresponsible development centers around Joe Putnam's transfer station proposal at Plumtrees Road.

Since I'm in the middle of re-designing this site and expanding HatCityBLOG, I've been a bit behind in updating everyone on the latest developments and for that, I apologize.

Soon, I'll have a special section of this site devoted to the transfer station proposal but until then, from the January 30 Planning Commission public hearing, here's video footage of the public's opposition to the project.


Community Forum: February 20 2008 broadcast


Time: 9:34 AM

Host: John Gogliettino
Guest: State Rep. Bob Godfrey (110th Dist.)

MAJOR PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULED FOR 5 P.M.

Thursday, February 21, 2008
Time: 4:16 PM

Details to come...

You know times are tough for Mayor Boughton...


Time: 2:10 PM

...when anti-immigrant politician like New York State Assemblyman from Brewster Greg Ball criticizes his decision to use local police as immigration agents.
State Assemblyman Greg Ball believes that correctional officers should receive immigration law enforcement training.

[...]

Last week, the Danbury City government gave its police chief authorization to enroll officers in the ICE training while Brewster Village officials have also expressed a desire to have village cops enrolled.

Ball criticized both decisions: "This is really not the way to go because most local police agencies don't have the resources or the time to dedicate themselves to immigration law enforcement."


For those who don't know Ball, here's my report on him and his anti-immigrant political antics from last year.


Origins of a flawed ordinance


Time: 1:28 PM

As a follow-up to my re-posting on the sex offender debate, here's highlights of the Democrats attempting to fix the zone-hopping loophole int he ordinance only to be blocked by the Republicans.

To recap:

Several attempts by Democrats to offer amendments, which would have addressed several problems with the proposal, were dismissed by the Republican majority at the ad-hoc committee (which was noted by 5th Ward Council member Duane Perkins). During the Common Council meeting, in an attempt re-visit several problems with the ordinance, Tom Saadi offered an amendment to fix one of the various loopholes in the ordinance (note the portion in bold):
Mr. Saadi moved to amend the main motion to change the language in Section (3) Enforcement Procedure, that reads “If the person refuses to leave or is later found to be in the same Child Safety Zone....” to “If the person refuses to leave or is later found to be in “a” or “any” Child Safety Zone....”. Seconded by Mr. Chianese. Mr. Saadi stated that the current language would allow offenders to “zone hop”.
Zone Hop basically means the following:
As the ordinance is written, if a sex offender is in a Child Safety Zone, the police will give one warning; if that person is caught in the same Child Safety Zone a second time, then he'll gets a slap on the wrist by the police.

In other words, under the current language, the offender is only slapped on the wrist if he's found in the same Saftey Zone two times.

Here's the smaller video file focusing on the highlights of the debate surrounding the zone-hopping loophole.



You can watch the entire debate on the sex offender ordinance by clicking here. Later, I'll show you what happened AFTER this flawed ordinance was approved.

Bad moon rising


Time: 1:24 PM

Lunar eclipse, Feb 20 2008
Photo by ctblogger

Taking pictures of the moon is probably one of the hardest things to do when you only have a 400 MM zoom lens, no tripod and only a couple of minutes to capture the moment.

If you missed the nightshow, you'll have to wait till the next eclipse in 2010.

CT Supreme Court rules against local municpalities

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Time: 1:44 PM

Oh my. This decision stating that towns bordering Candlewood Lake can't enforce zoning or building regulations will definitely irritate City Hall.
The state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the five towns bordering Candlewood Lake lack the power to enforce zoning or building regulations in the narrow band of land that circles the lake.

[...]

The court's decision -- Thomas Hackett v. J.L.G. Properties LLC -- stems from a 2004 zoning dispute in New Milford.

That year, Gerard's Marina began building a 16-foot by 50-foot deck along the edge of the lake for its customers. It never applied for a building permit or a zoning variance to build the deck. The town issued a cease-and-desist order to stop construction, and Gerard's initially obeyed that order and applied for a zoning variance for the work. But when the town denied Gerard's request, the marina proceeded to finish the deck without town permits.

It did so because it had a construction permit from the owner of the thin ribbon of land that circles Candlewood Lake -- the hydroelectric utility which was then Northeast Generation Co. and is now First Light Power Resources Inc.

That ribbon of land is commonly referred to as the 440, because it extends from the edge of the lake to 440 feet above sea level. The utility owns and administers it under the aegis of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Candlewood, Lillinonah and Zoar are created by hydroelectric power plants, which FERC regulates under the Federal Power Act of 1935.

Gerard's attorney, Peter Hunt of Danbury, successfully argued in state Superior Court in 2006 and at the state Supreme Court in 2007 that in such cases federal law and power always trump local regulations. Therefore, Gerard's, having obtained permission from the utility, was not required to get local zoning or building approval.

In its decision, the Supreme Court did acknowledge that towns can enforce health and sanitation regulations in the 440 zone. Marsicano, of Candlewood Lake Authority, said people will also have to obey state wetlands regulations.

But the concluding paragraph of the decision says plainly that because of FERC's federal jurisdiction, First Light or people building on its land do not have to obtain local zoning and building permits "for the development of recreational resources."


It's budget time!


Time: 12:21 PM

With the Governor Rell presenting her budget proposal tot he general assembly, mayors and first selectmen are making the rounds on the media outlets and expressing their concerns.

On WVIT, Mansfied Mayor Elizabeth Paterson and Jim Finley: Executive Director of Connecticut Conference of Municipalities talk about their problems with Rell's proposal while on WFSB, Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman and Old Lyme First Selectmen Tim Griswold talk about the impact Rell's proposed budget will have in their communities.





Why is this important to Danbury? It's simple, when it comes to funds, towns and cities are the last on the food chain. If the money doesn't come from the feds, or from the state, it will come out of YOUR pocket in the form of property taxes (remember bitching about the property assessments...)

Some of the taxes you pay (i.e., sales tax) goes directly towards the state so you want to do everything you can to see some of that funding come back to your community so you won't get whacked with higher property taxes of a decrease in city services. Danbury's budget is connected to the state's budget so whatever happens on the state level, will effect you on the local level.

HatCityBLOG FLASHBACK: Sex offender debate

Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Time: 8:37 AM

(As we go back to do follow-ups on previous topics, it's necessary to bring new readers up-to-speed on other items of irritation at City Hall. Here’s a post I did on the ongoing problems with the sex offender ordinance. Originally posted March 9 2007).

While I'm getting ready for tonight's meeting(s) at City Hall, I wanted to fulfill a recent request from several readers who wanted to see the sex offender ordinance debate from December.

Many people I talked to after the meetings were left with the impression that the proposal was rushed to a vote without any regards to addressing several legitimate issues Democrats brought to the council's attention. Now that's not to say that Democrats don't care about kids, but rather the opposite since it was the Democrats who attempted several times fix various problems with this proposal, which makes the ordinance as a whole, rather weak and why people should be concerned.

Here's a PERFECT example of a LARGE problem:

Several attempts by Democrats to offer amendments, which would have addressed several problems with the proposal, were dismissed by the Republican majority at the ad-hoc committee (which was noted by 5th Ward Council member Duane Perkins). During the Common Council meeting, in an attempt re-visit several problems with the ordinance, Tom Saadi offered an amendment to fix one of the various loopholes in the ordinance (note the portion in bold):
Mr. Saadi moved to amend the main motion to change the language in Section (3) Enforcement Procedure, that reads “If the person refuses to leave or is later found to be in the same Child Safety Zone....” to “If the person refuses to leave or is later found to be in “a” or “any” Child Safety Zone....”. Seconded by Mr. Chianese. Mr. Saadi stated that the current language would allow offenders to “zone hop”.
Zone Hop basically means the following:
As the ordinance is written, if a sex offender is in a Child Safety Zone, the police will give one warning; if that person is caught in the same Child Safety Zone a second time, then he'll gets a slap on the wrist by the police.

In other words, under the current language, the offender is only slapped on the wrist if he's found in the same Saftey Zone two times.

Seems silly right? Seems like this should be fix rather easily right?

Saadi's amendment would have changes the language in such a way so if a sex offender is found in ANY child Safety zone a second time, he'd get a slap on the wrist by the police. In other words, if an offender is in a Child Safety Zone, he'll be in violation of the ordinance and be fined if he's found in ANY Safety Zone as opposed to the same Safety Zone.

Republican At-Large Council member Mary Saracino joined the Democrats in approving the amendment but once again the Republican-majority rejected a Democratic-sponsored amendment in an effort to rush the entire proposal though the process. In the video, you'll notice the frustration among many Democrats (most notably Duane Perkins and Ben Chianese) who wanted to pass the ordinance free of any loopholes that allows any offender to get around the ordinance.

In the end, all but one council member approved the ordinance and in conversations with several Democrats who approved the ordinance, planning to address loopholes in the ordinance in the future. If one is concerned about the welfare of children, then every step should be taken by the common council to fix the loopholes so this ordinance has the real enforcement capability it needs.

Many critics of the mayor called this proposal nothing more than an election-year gimmick to at on his resume at the last minute along with the 311 system, the new concern over open space/over development, and the mayor's sudden "flip-flop" on broadcasting local government meetings. In any case, here's the requested video from December 2006.


Light postings

Monday, February 18, 2008
Time: 3:22 PM

If you haven't noticed, the site is going through several cosmetic changes. Since dealing with HTML code can be a real pain, postings on the site will be light for a while.

Hopefully, this ordeal with be over soon...

Part one of the HatCityBLOG transition is complete

Sunday, February 17, 2008
Time: 2:16 PM


It's what great pleasure that I announce that one of the major upgrades on this site is now complete.

One of my major problems with YouTube is the degrading of uploaded videos on it's service. Because of the YouTube's limitations, I've been unable to show my videos in it's original TV format...but now that's change with VeohTV.

VeohTV is a new video service that's allows users to upload high resolution videos without degrading the file. In other words, with VeosTV, you'll be able to view my videos that way they were meant to be seen, without a loss of video or audio quality. What's even better is that unlike YouTube, you'l be able to actually download the files straight to your computer for later viewing on your monitor or television. Even better, you can VeohTV allows you to watch videos from other services such as Google and YouTube.

Miss a episode of Danbury Live, Community Forum, or Ideas at Work and Beyond or HatCityBLOG-TV (which is coming soon to cable)? Now, you'll be able to view them whenever you want.

To start, go to Veoh.com and download VeohTV (or Veoh player if you own a Macintosh). After installing the program, downloading videos is a snap.



To download a video, while running a video, click on the download button on the upper right hand portion of the viewer.

There is one drawback...

Since I'm making a full transition to Veoh, you should know that videos that are over twenty minutes long will have to be downloaded for full viewing. The reason for this is because unlike Google, Veoh is a smaller service and streaming large videos take up quite a bit of bandwidth.

Again, I welcome everyone to download VeohTV (or the Veoh Player for Macintosh users), upgrade to one of the best videos services on the internet, and watch videos on this site the way they're suppose to be viewed.

HatCityBLOG VIDEO: Common Councilman Duane Perkins remarks on ICE ACCESS


Time: 1:03 PM

While I'm re-organizing the content on this site and working on a project with other media outlets, from February's Common Council meeting, here's comments from Councilman Duane Perkins who spoke truth to rhetoric in opposition to the ICE ACCESS proposal.


© 2024 Hat City Blog | READ, WATCH, AND LEARN.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.
PEOPLE-POWERED MEDIA.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

INDEPENDENT PARTY OF DANBNRY
DATABASE COMING SOON


“Facebook”“Twitter”“Email”

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CITY OF DANBURY VIDEO ARCHIVE (Dec 2012-present)

The Mercurial (RIP)
Danbury News Times
Danbury Patch
Danbury Hamlet Hub
Danbury Daily Voice
Tribuna Newspaper
CT News Junkie
CT Capitol Report

10.03.18 (PDF):
"Approval of Danbury Prospect Charter School"

10.30.20 (HatCityBLOG VID): Charter School discussion during 2020 interview with Julie Kushner

2018 (RADIO): WLAD
"State Board of Ed signs off on Danbury charter school proposal"

08.20 (VID): CT-LEAD
"Stand up for Education Justice" Rally

08.20.20 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Charter schools are not ‘magic bullet’ to improving Danbury schools"

09.13.20 (OP-ED): CHAPMAN
Candidate for state Senate supports charter school for Danbury

01.15.21 (VID): CT-LEAD
Danbury Prospect Charter School press conference

03.19.21 (OP-ED): CT MIRROR
"Danbury leaders do not want a charter school"

04.01.21 (OP-ED): CT-LEAD:
"Why did Sen. Kushner vote against us?"

05.06.21 (VID): Danbury rally to fully fund public schools

10.07.21 (VID): Danbury City-Wide PTO "Meet the Candidates" education forum

10.07.21 NEWSTIMES
Danbury candidates quarrel over charter school, education funding

01.10.22 NEWSTIMES
"New operator named for Danbury charter school: ‘I’m a huge advocate for parent choice’"

01.10.22 NEWSTIMES
"Some Danbury Democrats ‘open minded’ about charter school after new, CT operator named"

01.21.22 (OP-ED): CT MIRROR
"Lessons from Danbury: Ending the dual process for charter school approval"

02.09.22 NEWSTIMES
"Proposed Danbury charter school won’t open in 2022, governor leaves funding out of budget"

02.18.22 NEWSTIMES:
Danbury residents plead for charter school funds in 9-hour state budget hearing: ‘Just exhausted’

03.05.22 (LTE):
Time has come for Danbury charter school

03.12.22 (OP-ED): TAYLOR
"Why I am excited about the Danbury Charter School"

03.16.22 (LTE):
"Why a Danbury Charter School?"

04.02.22 CT EXAMINER:
"Crowding and a Lack of Options for Danbury Students, But No Agreement on Solutions"

04.04.22 (OP-ED): DCS
"Danbury Charter School plans debut"

04.07.22 (PODCAST): (CEA)
"SENATOR KUSHNER DISCUSSES POINTS OF OPTIMISM FOR DANBURY PUBLIC SCHOOLS"

04.18.22 (VID): CT-LEAD
Protest press conference

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"

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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.

CLICK HERE TO READ/DOWNLOAD MAYOR BOUGHTON'S DEPOSITION

CLICK HERE TO READ/DOWNLOAD MIKE McLACHLAN (then MAYOR CHIEF OF STAFF) DEPOSITION

Danbury Area Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants v.
U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security
3:06-cv-01992-RNC ( D. Conn. )

(02.25.08) Court docket

(10.24.07) Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant's Emergency Motion for Protective Order

(09.26.07) Press Release

(12.14.06) Complaint


Barrera v. Boughton, No. 07-01436
(D. Conn. filed Sept. 26, 2007)

(02.25.08) Court Docket

Amended complaint

Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Defendants' Motion to Dismiss State Law Claims

Plaintiffs' Opposition to Motion to Dismiss

Order on Motion to Dismiss

Defendants' Answer to Amended Complaint

NEW HAVEN REGISTER: Immigrant's 2006 arrest was flawed Danbury mayor testifies

(10.05.07 (VIDEO) Boughton mislead the public about Danbury's involvement in raid

(09.18.07) Yale Law Students expose Danbury involvement in raid

(12.14.06) VIDEO: Interview with Yale Law Students at FOI presser

(12.14.06) VIDEO: Danbury 11 FOI complaint media roundup

City Clerk Jean Natale standing next to skinhead sparks outrage

(10.03.06) VIDEO: Danbury 11 rally

(09.29.06) VIDEO: Danbury 11 case deepens

Word of raid spread across the country

(09/29/06) VIDEO: Danbury 11 protest news conference

(09/29/06) Immigrant newspaper "El Canillita" gives best account of ICE day labor raid at Kennedy Park


trans_button Santos Family Story
VIDEO: Tereza Pereira's ordeal with ICE agents

VIDEO: Danbury Peace Coalition Immigration Forum (April 2006)
featuring Mayor Boughton and Immigration attorney Philip Berns

VIDEO: 2007 Stop the Raids immigration forum at WCSU

2007: Community protest anti-immigration forum

A tribute to Hispanic Center Director and immigrant activist Maria Cinta Lowe

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2023 MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Results:
11.15.23 Recanvass return
(Head Moderator Return Format)

11.07.23: Election night returns
(Head Moderator Return Format)

11.07.23: Initial returns


ESPOSITO FINANCE REPORTS:
Oct 10 2022
Jan 10 2023
Apr 10 2023
Jul 10 2023
Oct 10 2023

ALVES FINANCE REPORTS:
Apr 10 2023
Jul 10 2023
Oct 10 2023

CAMPAIGN SLATE DATABASE
Dem/GOP slate/ballot position

VIDEO: DRTC convention
VIDEO: DDTC conveniton


2021 (ALVES/ESPOSITO)

TOWN COMMITTEES
(VID) DDTC nomination convention
(PDF) DDTC campaign slate flyer

(VID) DRTC nomination convention
(PDF) DRTC campaign slate flyer

FORUMS/DEBATES
(VID) 2021 Danbury City-Wide PTO educational forum

CAMPAIGN FINANCE
First quarter
Alves Apr 10th SEEC filing

Second quarter
Alves Jul 10th SEEC filing
Esposito Jul 10th SEEC filing

Third quarter
Alves Oct 12th SEEC report
Esposito Oct 12th SEEC report

CAMPAIGN MAILERS
Alves "Jan 6th" attack mailer 10.21.21
Esposito "you can't trust Alves" attack mailer 10.20.21
Alves mailer 10.20.21
Alves mailer 09.30.21
Esposito mailer 09.28.21
Alves mailer 09.27.21
Esposito mailer 09.27.21


PAST CAMPAIGN COVERAGE

2005 (BOUGHTON/ESPOSITO)
Danbury 2005 election results
Newstimes Dean Esposito profile (10.25.05)

2007 (BOUGHTON/ABRANTES)
Danbury 2007 election results
(VID) Helana Abrantes TV ad
(VID) BRT tax deferral presser
(VID) Helena Abrantes "Community Forum" interview

2009 (BOUGHTON/GONCALVES)
Danbury 2009 election results
(VID) 2009 Danbury City-Wide PTO educational forum
(VID) 2009 Danbury Chamber of Commerce mayoral debate
(VID) 2009 DDTC nomination convention

2011 (BOUGHTON/TABORSAK)
Danbury 2011 election results
(VID) Saadi/Nero campaign kickoff

2013 (BOUGHTON/NO DTC ENDORSED CANDIDATE/MCALLISTER)
Danbury 2013 election results
(VID) 2013 DDTC nominaiton convention

2015 (BOUGHTON UNCHALLENGED)
Danbury 2015 election results

2017 (BOUGHTON/ALMEIDA)
Danbury 2017 election results
(VID) Al Almeida concession speech
(VID) 2017 Danbury City-Wide PTO educational forum
(VID) Al Almeida nomination acceptance speech

2019 (BOUGHTON/SETARO)
Danbury 2019 election results
(VID) 2019 NewsTimes Editorial Board interview with Mark Boughton and Chris Setaro
(VID) 2019 Danbury City-Wide PTO educational forum
(VID) 2019 Danbury Chamber of Commerce mayoral debate
(VID) 2019 convention endorsement speeches from Mark Boughton and Chris Setaro