Hamden Daily News - Your hometown cyberpaper
Hamden Weather
WXPort
What We Are | Inside Hamden | Letters to the Editor | HDN Contact Info | Archives | Send Us Money
Google
Search the HDN
Click here for
2007 Municipal Election Results

Inside the HDN
Home
General News
Town Government
In Your 'hood
Schools
A Chat in Hamden
Sports
Arts
Miscellaneous
Kids' News
Mark Your Calendar
Press Releases

Highville Charter School Story
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Columnists
At Least Think About This New
The Dunbar Hill Report
Guest Column
HHS Newsroom
I'M GONNA SAY IT ANYWAY
My Word
Ron Responds
Tony Talks Sports
Victual Reality New
Whitneyville Before Elvis

Neighborhood News
Mount Carmel Buzz
Wanna be a neighborhood columnist? Please click here.

Special Sections
Hamden Milestones
Hamden Landmark Tales
Hamden's 70th Memorial Day Parade
Scenes from Summer Camp
The Angels of Martyrdom,
a novella by Hamden High senior David Amrani

The 7th Annual Brooksvale Fall Festival
Maple Sugaring at Brooksvale
Inside Hamden's Farmers Market
Hamden Snapshots, 2007

Town Stats
Local Obits
Bad Boys, Bad Girls 2008
Red Hot Calls 2008

Local Politics
Legislative Council '07-'09
LC Committees '07-'09
Board of Education '07-'09
BOE Committees '07-'09
Hamden Democratic Town Committee '08-'10
Hamden Republican Town Committee '08-'10
Hamden Green Party


Local Sports Links
Hamden High Cheerleaders
Hamden Hurricanes
Hamden Fathers' Baseball/Softball

Hamden Fathers' Basketball
Hamden Youth Lacrosse
Hamden Youth Hockey Assoc.
Hamden Figure Skating Assoc.
Hamden Soccer Assoc.
Greater Hamden Baseball Assoc.
Hamden Heronettes Synchronized Swimming


Town Links
The Mayor
Town Clerk
Town Hall Departments
School Superintendent
School Department

Hamden Police Department
Hamden Professional Firefighters
Hamden Arts Commission
Hamden Public Library
Hamden Dog Park
Elections & Registrars

Department

Hamden State Reps.
Peter Villano
Brendan Sharkey
Cameron Staples
Alfred Adinolfi

Hamden State Senators
Martin Looney
Joseph Crisco



Interesting Links
Vision Appraisal, Hamden
Concerned Citizens for Hamden Neighborhoods
Hamden Alliance for Responsible Taxation
Hamden Tax Relief
Hamden: Nobody Gets Out Alive
Hamden High Student Web Site
DEP Newhall Community Blog
Newhall Project Remediation
The Cheshire Town Post
Underground Town Hall
New Haven Independent
ctnewsjunkie
ConnecticutBLOG
My Left Nutmeg
Connecticut Local Politics
Colin McEnroe, To Wit
westportnow
Kent Tribune
cnn.com
Moveon.org
The Huffington Post
Drudge Report
NewsTrust
pittsburghdish
barista

craigslist
Yale Rep
Long Wharf Theatre
Shubert Theater

U.S. Veterans Affairs

Ron's Rap

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
May 23, 2007

My Visit to the Blue Dump

By Ron Gambardella

Yesterday, at the urging of several officers, I toured the Hamden Police Department facility. I wanted to judge for myself the working conditions of the men and women in blue. Chief Tom Wydra met me there and guided me through the building. He did not need to say much; all I had to do was to look. What I saw made me ashamed.

Ashamed at the conditions we have asked the police to endure. I felt I had to apologize for the people of Hamden to allow such conditions to be neglected for so long.

The first thing that hits you is the stifling air in the building. There is no fresh air circulation. Any pathogen released into the air from a contagious person would more than likely spread throughout the building. The place smelled musty and was suffocating. In the few minutes it took to tour the building, I felt my sinus passages closing.

There was open wiring everywhere. The ceilings, walls and floors are water stained. Periodically, raw sewage leaked into the locker room. The carpeting was tattered and torn. The showers disgusting. The floors filthy. The cells are inhuman, not even fit for an animal. In short, the place is beyond salvaging and should be leveled.

What has the Henrici administration done? Nothing. Not only has nothing been done, there isn’t a plan on the table to do something.

I propose an immediate resolution to the problem. Talking about it doesn’t get it done. I propose we replace the police facility. The logistical problems arising from rehabbing the existing facility while the department is operating are daunting, rendering this option an unlikely solution. This means constructing another police facility. The recently acquired town property on Putnam Avenue would make an ideal location to build a state-of-the-art police facility as well as a new fire facility, or perhaps renovate the old Town Hall into such a facility. Whichever location is best and most cost effective, action must be taken immediately.

There is no reason plans cannot begin immediately toward construction. I urge the mayor to put a proposal before the Council so we can take action to move this project forward. The police have waited long enough. This project is way, way over due. The time to act is now. The police deserve better.

Raw and uncensored, Republican Councilman Ron Gambardella opines on the latest goings-on from behind the legislative bench. He can be reached at r.gambardella@snet.net. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)


May 21, 2007

I Told You So

By Ron Gambardella

A few weeks ago, I pointed out that in order to prevent yet another tax increase the Council needed to remove $8M from the mayor’s recommended budget. I further suggested that the Council, at best, would remove about $4M. It seems even my best guess was woefully overestimated. It turns out that a scant $28,000 was cut from the budget.

This was the best they could do after many evenings of useless deliberation over minor details. Oh, yes, they did manage to move funds around within the budget, but this was nothing more than switching seats on the Titanic. In the end, the ship still sank. The only possible conclusion one can draw from this abysmal display of pathetic politics is that the Council believes the folks in town will accept just about anything this administration and Council heap upon the taxpayers.

I have been managing and developing budgets for over 20 years. Over that entire period, there has not been a single budget I ever reviewed that was accepted as submitted. That is, of course, with the exception of Hamden’s town budget. If you believe we could not have done a better job of removing waste, mismanagement, over-inflated salaries, job creation, favoritism, cronyism and downright incompetence, then you should continue to support this band of politicians who will continue to reach deep down into your pocket to pay for it all.

Who wins? To start with, labor continues to enjoy the tremendous support by the current administration and Council. Look for labor to support the incumbents for another job well done. The money contributed to their campaigns is money well spent. This Council and administration wholeheartedly supported the recently negotiated contracts to set the stage for the current inflated budget. In Majority Leader Matt Fitch’s words, the contracts included “generous benefits” -- 35-hour workweeks, rigid work rules, excellent overtime opportunities, longevity payments and sick time accumulations that are well beyond reasonable. Department heads received their salary increases, the help desk remains intact, we still have more library branches than we need. In short, nothing changed and the status quo is as healthy as ever.

Who loses? We do. We always do. The residents in this town have been left holding the bag. The budget is up 5.9 percent -- or nearly three times the rate of inflation.

Raw and uncensored, Republican Councilman Ron Gambardella opines on the latest goings-on from behind the legislative bench. He can be reached at r.gambardella@snet.net. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)


May 7, 2007

Bad Budget News:
A $2M Faux Pas

By Ron Gambardella

The budget process thus far has been slow and tedious producing little in the way of any meaningful results. The process the Council follows is convoluted and counterproductive. For example, the Council chooses to discuss personnel after all other line items have been debated. However, it is nearly impossible to adequately address the line items without knowing how personnel will be affected.

To make matters worse, the administration dropped a bomb on the process last week when Finance Director Mike Betz said that the medical benefits may have been understated in the 2007-08 budget by as much as $2M. Currently, the line item shows $23M and evidently should be $25M.

Apparently, this information was known for a least a month, but the administration failed to notify anyone on the Council until the night we discussed this part of the budget. You can imagine the chaos this created especially as the Council likes to pride itself on the fact that it can debate endlessly over $250. The Council can be easily distracted and become lost in the minutia.

It cannot see clearly that there is an $8M elephant in the middle of the room that threatens to break the back of the taxpayer.

Before Mr. Betz's announcement concerning the understatement of employee insurance benefits, the Council needed to remove nearly $8M from the budget to avoid yet another tax increase, largely due to the mismanagement of taxpayers’ funds by this and prior administrations. If the problem wasn’t challenging enough, the administration thought it might make some sense to wait till the final stages of deliberation to drop another $2M problem on the Council.

I cannot for the life of me understand how such a problem could ever get this far without prior disclosure. The explanations offered up by the administration appear woefully inadequate. Unfortunately, at this stage of the game we do not appear to be any better off than when the prior administration went from one finance director to another taking the town deeper and deeper into a quagmire of financial mismanagement, uncertainty and fiscal irresponsibility.

Pressed further for some sort of an explanation, Mr. Betz indicated that he thought he might be able to reduce the problem from $2M to $900K by taking a projected under run (unused funds) in this year’s benefits line item and applying it to next year’s budget as well as implementing other fiscal maneuvers. Folks, I’ve got to tell you that I do not get a warm and comfortable feeling when the administration and the finance director propose a solution to a problem they created. In fact, the only solution this administration ever seems to offer the citizens of Hamden ends up costing more money.

This administration has lost all credibility. If the administration told me the time of day I would have to look at the clock on the wall to verify its accuracy. Nothing can be taken at face value anymore. This administration does not appear to possess the necessary skills to get the job done. We, as a community, can no longer support the status quo of cronyism, favoritism and poor fiscal management that this administration represents.

Raw and uncensored, Republican Councilman Ron Gambardella opines on the latest goings-on from behind the legislative bench. He can be reached at r.gambardella@snet.net. (Note: The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Hamden Daily News.)



MATTHEW J. CORCORAN, ESQ.

Auto Accidents
860 343 3443

email us



HAMDEN REPUBLICANS FOR CHANGE
Check us out!

Help support the Hamden Daily News by clicking a link below. If you purchase something at one of the advertised businesses via that click, we get a few bucks -- while you don't pay an extra cent.

21st Century Insurance
Amazon.com
Anna's Linens
Barnes & Noble
Beau Ties
Beyond Bedding
Big Mans Land
Blockbuster
Cheap Trips
Constructive Playthings
The Container Store
Cuban Crafters
Dancing Deer Baking Co.
ebay
Expedia.com
Flowers.com
GiftCertificates.com
GNC
Green Cine
Kaplan Test Prep
Lane Bryant
LensCrafters
Macy's
Match.com
National Pet Pharmacy
Nirvana Belgian Chocolates
Office Depot
PetSmart
Sears
Sierra Club
StubHub
StuffedAnimals.com
Thrifty Rent-a-Car


Talk To Us
Talk To Us
Letters to the Editor
Copyright© 2005 Hamden Daily News
Site designed by Joanne Kittredge



Tip Us Off
Send news tips