The Common Council is considering selling two acres of undeveloped land to a homeowner on Rockwood Lane.

Resident Paul DeFabritis is offering $20,000 for the land, which is next to his home. He is not planning to develop the land, according to his attorney, Peter Hunt.

"It's an unimproved road and it doesn't have access," Hunt said. "It's basically landlocked."

DeFabritis, who owns about nine acres next to the city's two acres, said he wants to buy the land to protect him from any development that could take place around his property, which is close to the New York State border.

"I want the buffer," DeFabritis said. "It's basically a cliff. I couldn't develop it if I wanted to."

Kenneth Gucker, a politically active city Democrat, is questioning why the Common Council is selling the land -- especially when voters recently approved spending $6.6 million to purchase open space.

"The mayor stated when he was running for office he wanted to get, I believe 12,000 acres by 2012," Gucker said. "I can't see how that can happen when you're selling off city property."

While there may be no plans to develop the land at the moment, no one knows what will happen in the future, Gucker said.

"Rather than selling off property we should be acquiring property," said Gucker, who also questioned the proposed purchase price for the land. Gucker said the city owns a few other parcels on Rockwood Lane and should be drafting a long-term plan to manage its properties. Doing so would help address over development, which Gucker said is the city's number one problem.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said the land deal gets the property back onto the tax rolls.

"The land can't be developed. You can't get a building lot out of there," Boughton said. "There's a benefit here. We'll be able to collect taxes, it won't be developed and it still remains as open space. If the city can get a chance to develop some revenue, clearly we are going to do that.

While Councilman Saadi understood the desire to purchase land to act as a buffer, he expressed concern with combining lets and future development. He inquired about Deed restrictions. Mr Pinter suggested that if Common Council decided to sell the parcel of land in question to the petitioner, negotiations could be made whereby the Common Council authorized the sale subject to a clause in the Deed which would require some form of restriction for conservation purposes.

A motion to amend was made by Councilman Saadi and seconded by Councilman Visconti to authorize and direct Corporation Counsel to draft an appropriate Deed restriction/conservation easement to prevent the 2-acre parcel (Lot #B09001) from being developed by the current petitioner or subsequent owners.

[...]

The motion to amend carried unanimously.

At fifty, Pippa Lee positively glows with female serenity, the devoted wife of a brilliant publisher thirty years her senior, proud mother of successful twins and a lovely and adored friend and neighbor. But, when her husband spontaneously decides that they should leave New York for a retirement home as a "pre-emptive strike against decrepitude," and has an affair with someone even younger than she is, Pippa finds her beatific persona unraveling in alarming ways. The truth is, the gracious woman of the present day has seen more than her fair share of the wild side. She has finally found love and security in a family of her own. And now, that cozy world, too, is in danger.

Murphy’s proposal intends to:

· make home invasion a federal crime;

· improve the FBI’s tracking of home invasions across the country;

· improve federal resources for parole and probation activities, including federal funds for the use of GPS monitoring devices and the hiring of additional parole and probation officers;

· And create a national training center for parole and probation officials.

“Connecticut has been through enough this year. These senseless crimes have hurt so much more than our homes and families – they have shattered our sense of safety and security in our communities. It’s time for the federal government to provide more assistance to the states to keep us safe,” said Murphy.

The first part of Murphy’s proposal will make home invasion a federal crime, allowing it to be prosecuted in the federal courts and subject to stiff penalties. By making these heinous crimes a federal offense, the Murphy legislation will ensure that all arms of the law, both state and federal, can act to prosecute and deter these terrible acts. And in order to better monitor the frequency of home invasions across the country, Murphy is proposing that the FBI separately report the frequency of this particular crime. Currently, the FBI tracks home invasions in the same category of residential robberies; that category of crimes has increased 13% nationwide in 2006 from 2002.

The second bill being crafted by Murphy makes GPS monitoring technology and the hiring of additional parole and probation officers eligible for funding under the existing Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Grant Program (Byrne Program). The Byrne Program is a partnership among federal, state, and local governments to create safer communities by awarding grants to states to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system—with emphasis on violent crime and serious offenders.

Murphy’s bill also creates a National Training and Policy Center for Parole and Probation Officials. Housed in the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance, the training center will act to provide parole board members and parole officers with technical assistance and training, as well as act as a clearing house for best practices in parole and probation policy.

“The safety of our citizens is a mandate on all levels of government - local, state and national. By better leveraging federal resources, we can create a real, working partnership to return a sense of security to the citizens of Connecticut,” said Murphy.

• If you're pissed off about Richter House, now is the time to speak up.

• If you're pissed off about the problems within the sex offender ordinance, now is the time to speak up.

• If you're pissed off about the city selling off land, now is the time to speak up.

• If you're just pissed in general, grab something that won't break your television screen and watch the circus on Channel 24 at 7:30 PM.

Best of the State Politics Blogs

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After two days of culling through the various nominees for the best of state politics blogs, we now have -41- 45 out of the 50 states represented...

Without further ado here is our official list of new -- and improved -- best state politics blogs!

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Connecticut

* My Left Nutmeg

Police are looking for a man who held up the Peoples Bank branch at Greenwood Avenue and Grassy Plain Street on Monday.

Just about noon, a black male wearing a black hooded coat walked into the bank and demanded cash from a teller. The robber didn't display a weapon, and no one was hurt, Capt. Robert Cedergren said.

The description of the robber is similar to that of a suspect in two Danbury bank robberies over the past two weeks, and Bethel detectives are working with Danbury police to see if the heists are connected, he said.