Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Town Council & Town Government
I have to say that I'm very pleased that I've gotten at least a few people engaged in a debate about Blue Back Square. My enjoyment comes because on no other forum has a free flowing debate occurred. Not in the paper, not in our town government and not on any visual media. At no point in this process did the town council or town government give credence to the views and suggestions of opponents of this project. That's the number one reason citizens are angry. That's the number one reason residents close to the project asked Westfarms for their help in trying to stop this monstrous, no-bid project. (and there was no lie in what I just said...it is monstrous and it is a no-bid project).
If the town needs to build a school, do we put it out to bid? YES. If the town needs to build an addition on to the Senior Center, do we put it out to bid? YES. Then for what reason can we look to are we building two parking garages, an addition to the main library and a bunch of traffic light and road widening without any sort of bidding process? The reason I suggest is that money is being funneled back into the coffers of one or more of the people who are guiding this project.
Sure, this is a harsh suggestion and one that will probably get me railroaded right out of town by Mr. Feldman and his town elite, but what other explanation can be made to give some kind of reason to what has gone on in the last couple of years.
I can tell you right here and now why the No vote did not win...our side didn't spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get people out to vote. Once again the cash machine that is BBS, LLC pulled out all the stops. They set up a booth at Celebrate West Hartford, one of the very events that will be completely blown away by this project. No, they say, Celebrate will go on, but I'd like to see how that will work when the Town Green is paved over and a NO-BID parking garage is built on top.
The thing that saddens me the most as I talk with "Vote Yes" people is that they have no idea what the project really is. They say, "they aren't paving over the town green," that's been in this town for a couple of hundred years. I say yes they are, send them a link to the map of the project, and they say...."I can't believe it." THEN WHY DID YOU VOTE YES?
Anyway, we lost...and I see no reason in losing when a fair fight is fought, but this town is being over run by people who care nothing for the future of the town.
Have a great day.
Mark
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3 comments:
Mark,
1. I don't understand your focus on the "no bid" aspect of the development. It seems that you are opposed to any sale of town land to a private developer so wouldn't you be opposed to all bids that were similar to BBS? Would you be opposed if Taubman was the developer? BBS are developers. Won't BBS put the construction of the garages out to bid? If not, who is going to build them and the other buildings? The way I understand it is that BBS came to the town and said they plan on buying the old car dealership behind the library, but they pitched a complete re development of the area, including the sale of town owned property. Did you want the town to put Street works development plan out to bid? How could the town do that if Street works already owns the big chunk of land behind the library? Your "no-bid" argument seems like a red herring to me since you would not seem to support a request for proposals put out by the town which included the sale of the old town hall and the land behind town hall in any circumstances. Selling town property to a developer is a different transaction than building a school and therefore municipal contract laws are applied differently. Finally, if the Master Agreement between the town and BBS actually violates laws, then why do the anti-BBS people keep failing in court? The Master Agreement was drafted by two of the largest law firms in CT. Are they also part of the fraud? Do you think they would risk their reputation so that TC and TM can have money funneled to their "coffers"?
2. The strip of land behind town hall is not the town green. The town green is Goodman Green at the corner of South Main Street and Farmington Ave. As for Celebrate West Hartford, why can't they put the rides in that new park across from the police station? Doesn't the group that runs CWH support BBS?
3. The anti-BBS people lost not because BBS out spent them, they lost because most people in WH think the development is a good idea. I think the plans on www.bluebacksquare.com look great. I also think the development will be an asset to the town and will ensure the continued vibrancy of the center. I moved to WH because I like to be able to walk to places. I dislike strip malls and enclosed malls and believe this country needs more development like BBS. You obviously feel otherwise, but I do not understand why you automatically assume there is fraud involved. Can't people just see things differently then you do?
Dear Anonymous,
Ok – well for starters we have a Town Charter – it directs the Planning department to come up with plans for development..(chapter XIII) Did YOU see any prior to 2001 when Heapes showed up? They testified in the hearings that the Town spoke with 30 developers, who wanted eminent domain or tax abatement. How come the Town was not made aware of those plans or conversations? Why wasn’t the citizenry invited into the conversation at all at that time? All we heard about is who they ultimately picked and what we were gonna get back in 2003. In the Town Charter a plan (or multiple plans) is/are drawn up and presented to the public (section 5 ). The plans are then put out to bid. So in following the rules – the Town should have had a plan for development and put it out for bid – not have a bunch of developers come in with their own plans and decide how to carve up our 16 acres.
Alair testified on 6/17/04 that this was a no-bid process because no one else could engage in this transaction. That is, no one could engage in the transaction exactly as THIS developer presented it, not because this was what WE (as a Town) wanted in the beginning. In fact, the plan was never to use the Town Hall green until Heapes convinced Barry to do that (page 146, 6/30/04, public hearing), by telling him they needed a street with a north and south face, and that Memorial Road was crucial. They needed a place for the parking garage. They have even been trying to take the road all the way up to LaSalle, but the Post Office and other landowners won’t co-operate (although now I suppose they’ll just take it. ) Then, even before any plan for Blue Back was presented to the public they go an install the Memorial Road extension expressly for the egress for Blue Back. The public wasn't told about this, at least not in the sense that this road was to be for Blue Back, they gave some lame excuse that it was for KO. (oh please) So don’t tell me this project wasn’t going to be crammed down our throats! And this doesn’t bother you as a taxpayer? This doesn’t follow anything in our Charter with regard to how projects are supposed to be brought about in this town.
No one says we are opposed to selling Town land ever.. we are opposed to the deal that was made before it was presented to us all. Heck I would like to see the Board of Ed building made into a visitor’s center and Town of West Hartford Historical Museum before it is turned into a cinema and steak house!
So what if the BBS folks put out their structures to bid? The developer could use imported Chinese coolies for all I care. That doesn’t affect me as a taxpayer - it only affects the developer's bottom line – We are still on the hook for the 48 million.
Yes – I wanted the Street-Works plan and any other plans to have been compared to each other and looked at by the citizens, not just be Town Management. The fact of the matter is BBS, LLC may have had an option on the Grody lot but they still don’t own it, not even today. So you are mistaken to say they own that big chunk of land behind the library. They only had plans of buying it if the deal was shepherded through by our TC. I am sure now they will cut the deal to buy it and give Rachel Grody her equity position in the project, and probably a condo to boot.
The no-bid argument is very valid, because there were other creative ideas and uses which we will never be able to take advantage of now. It was completely one sided and biased. I disagree that contract laws should be applied differently in this situation. We did not have to sell the land – we could have had much more community input from the start, and I resent being presented with a bill for a plan I had no input into, except at the very end when Heapes showed his model to the town. Thats like someone building you a house, asking you what color you want it painted, and presenting you with a bill and telling you that you have to live there now.
BBS does violate the law – or at least the spirit of the law – as well as ethical behavior. The opposition is failing in court because the judges are not interpreting the statutes properly, are not allowing for discovery and probably because there is a lot of political influence on them. Because this agreement was crafted by two of the largest law firms in CT they have all kinds of political and financial ties. And yes they are part of the fraud. Tell me it is ok for Harris to have been employed by a law firm that represents Healthtrax and JDA Development. Tell me how this no-bid deal is no different then the types of shenanigans that put Rowland behind bars. Tell me it is perfectly ok for the developer to have hired a past Traffic Commissioner, complete with his influence, to get the approvals in the speed lane.
As far as risking their reputations, please spare me – the corruption in this state is
beyond disgust. The rules are broken everywhere and no one can do anything about it because of the money and influence behind those perpetrating the violations. That is precisely why 50% of the population didn’t even come out to vote. Because they feel they cannot make change and they feel that their voice doesn’t matter anyway. That is why we lost the vote. Only the people who cared came out to vote. And the big Democratic money machine was in full swing to contact the elderly in nursing homes and others who had no clue about the project to help them get it through. The Courant would not even publish an adequate opposing opinion. The slick advertising is what this Town understood, not the ethics or truth behind this project. The civic organizations were bought one by one and that you can’t deny.
You may like your “lifestyle center” – I actually don’t have much against the overall design of this plan – I just am totally appalled at the process, and cannot see any difference between the multimillionaire in Belgium controlling our town or the suits in Michigan. Same church different pew.. It all amounts to how they can control and manipulate the public, and we see that BBS did a better job. I think we should have gotten those garages for free, I think they could have put a better buffer between Burr Street and the project by putting some residential condos on the North Side of Burr, and they could have kicked in more money so we wouldn’t have to take out so much in debt. They can afford it and they will be making millions on this in the end. We got screwed and I am angry that the TC gave away so much.
Mr. Anonymous, as I'll call you because you clearly don't understand what debate is all about. Before I end this debate, let me tell you a couple of things.
1. If you read through my blog, I don't wholly focus on the no-bid aspect of this argument, but I think it's a fundamental one. Town government and officials, just before the vote, said, this project will provide a nice expansion to the library, a consolidation of town services and some well needed traffic upgrades and improvements. True, a no vote would have killed those in relation to this project, but my question is, if we need to expand the town library, we have the ability to bond the money to do that. We don't need an outside investor to come in and plunk down a huge development on top of it. The argument by Mr. Slifka that we wouldn't get all these great amenities is the red herring here. The fact that we are building on a public building on public property says to me that to do this in a process which doesn't include bidding out the work is absolutely sickening.
2. If Goodman Green is the town green, how is it that it's owned by the church on the corner. Trust me, if the town owned that piece of land it would have been paved over years ago. The only piece of property that can be called the town green is the piece behind the town hall. Sure, Celebrate could put the rides across Raymond Rd, but a sensible developer would have put the garage across Raymond Rd and left the open space where it is. I guess Mr. Heapes wants his precious BBS grand entrance on that side of the development, so what better way than to move the "park" to the other side. How exactly does that keep the two sides of the Center as equal pieces, as stated by every person on the project? The fact of the matter is, BBS wants no connection to the current center. Mr Heapes wants his grand entrance off of Trout Brook to keep people from even seeing the West portion of the Center.
Lastly, in the name of open debate, I'd appreciate it if you would identify yourself. I will not respond to any further responses without your name. A debate is not a debate without an even playing field.
Thanks,
Mark Quigley
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