Interesting Phenomenon Occurring

On the front page of West Hartford News was a headline referencing low turn out for the WH Budget public hearings. Is anyone surprised? How many times do the residents of this town have to speak their minds only to be shut out by a town manager and town council that just stare blankly at them and then patronize them as they try to argue why they did the right thing when, in fact, they are doing the wrong thing. This is the same problem with Blue Back Square. Not one person who lives in the vicinity of Blue Back spoke out in favor of the project. Each person who lives on Burr St who spoke at the public hearing denounced the project as a sham and some are now suing over it. The town's people don't want to talk to a brick wall, and here's why the low turn out at the public hearings. We are tired of speaking passionately about issue after issue only to be shut down and ridiculed. Several members of the town council continually speak at the public as if they don't know what they are talking about. Trust me, West Hartford government, when I say we know what we are talking about and we are tired of your pompous demeanor towards your citizens. Thanks, quigleywh@gmail.com

Zoning Board Appeal Hearing Today in Hartford Superior Court

I took the day off to watch the Appeal filed by several West Hartford residents who live directly across the street from the developer (one of which is my sister). I think everyone is doing a great job in getting everything in front of the judge to make a decision here. One thing to note is that no one from the town was at the meeting. Only Mr. Allaire, the town's deputy counsel who was arguing the case. I guess the mayor doesn't care about the case enough to make an appearance. Again, I commend the residents who have the guts to stand up to this monstrous development. The folks who took the stand today did a great job and sounded very credible. Have a great weekend! Quig

Steroid Hearing on Capitol Hill

Did anyone out there watch some of the hearings today? First off, I believe that steroid use in baseball should be removed. They can do it, but with the huge numbers of fans returning since the '94 strike, they wanted the long ball and have looked the other way for a long time. The teammates of players who juiced aren't to blame in this, because, let's face it if they said anything they would be blackballed just as Conseco has been. One thing I saw that made me a little sick of the entire process on Capitol Hill was the antagonistic stance most of the committee members displayed towards everyone in question. They were acting as if they were personally attacked by the "rampant" use of steroids in baseball. What I also don't understand is how the House Government Reform Committee provides any relevant standing in this area. Is baseball part of our system of Government? Do they feel like baseball is such a part of the fabric of America that they somehow have some jurisdiction? Seemed like a lot of grandstanding by none Please, let's rid sports in general of the use of these drugs so when my young children want to play sports at more than a middle school level, they don't have to compete against someone who's using. Have a great day... Mark

Connors Stepping Down

I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate Kevin Connors on a job well done. While I've only been in West Hartford for 5 years, there has been no more of a steady backbone to the town council as Mr. Connors. I think it's unfortunate that he was up against the current mayor when challenging for the State Senate, but I think that run was a long shot with West Hartford leaning towards the left. One thing to note was the 9-0 approval of Blue Back. I believe and have discussed this with others in the town that had Connors taken a stand against Blue Back, he would have garnered more votes, generated a higher turn out and eventually taken the Senate seat. That being said, speculation is speculation. All-in-all, I think this gives the republican party an opportunity to regroup, find a couple of fresh faces and get to the job of working the issues from a little farther right of center than the past few months. Good luck, Mr. Connors. Mark

Letter in West Hartford News

A version of the following letter was printed in the West Hartford News on March 10, 2005 ----------------------------------------------------------- Residents using their rights to challenge blue back Anyone else who stood at the meeting tonight in room 422 of Town Hall in West Hartford heard Mr. Weinner dodge question after question saying that basically most of the questions that were asked were more questions for the town. Wow, there's a surprise! I was wondering when we'd get to the "Oh, you'll have to ask the other partner in this partnership to get the answer." The bottom line on Blue Back is that Mr. Heapes and Mr. Weinner obviously have the town council and town manager on a string. The fact that several of our town's residents' lawsuit contain "Language in the lawsuit bears a close resemblance to arguments that the same attorneys filed on behalf of Westfarms..." as an editorial in today'd Courant writes, is absolutely irrelevant. The citizens who are standing up to not only the town and this monstrosity of a development, but basically half the state should be applauded by all of us. Finally we have citizens taking the action they have a right to take against the town that has done so many things in the wrong way. My next topic is the the fire on Raymond Road a month or so ago. Hmmm, let's think about this for a minute...a building burns completely through at a time when it's guaranteed that no one will be inside, in an area ripe for "fresh" development. Who could have guessed that the cause of the fire would be undetermined? I'm no fire investigator, but I can't think of an area of town where I'd be more suspicious of an intentionally set fire.

Proposed 6% increase in town budget

The new budget was proposed last night by Mr. Feldman and it contains an increase of over $10 million from the previous year. That equates to an increase of 6.1% which will once again fall on the taxpayers. This is very close to the amount voted down by a referendum last year. We can do better than this and you can be assured that there will be people in town who will make sure management works harder to make ends meet and also allow us to keep more of our hard earned dollar. Not all of the residents in this town make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and can absorb huge increases in property taxes year in and year out. It's time town management recognizes this. Have a great Thursday! Mark

Start of blog

Hi, and welcome to my daily posting on quigleywh.blogspot.com. Come back each day to see what I have in relation to local, state, and national politics. I may even stray into other areas including sports, news and parenting (I might talk about my 2 kids). Anyway, check back often as I'll attempt to post here every day. Thanks, Mark