This is going to be a busy week for meetings starting with the Housing Authority on Monday and running through the ZBA on Thursday. You can check the Town website for the agendas for the various meetings. The 2 most interesting meetings are the School Building Committee on Tuesday and the Board of Finance on Wednesday. The School Building Committee will be interviewing architects for the roof work. I hope to have the entire meeting on tape for ETV Ch. 20 later in the week. The Board of Finance is always entertaining if you like a certain outraged pomposity in your public meetings. I have no idea what is on the agenda yet but I am sure it will be entertaining, even if it is not particularly enlightening.
Monday
Housing Authority 7:30PM Town Hall ***Canceled***
Tuesday
School Building Committee 7:00 PM East Haven High School
Wednesday
Board of Finance 7:30PM Town Hall
Thursday
Zoning Board of Appeals 7:30PM Senior Center
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Town Council Meeting - 11/12/2008
The Town Council had their November meeting last night. The meeting had been originally scheduled for Monday. However, an administrative problem with posting the agenda in the Town Clerk's office caused the meeting to be moved to Wednesday. The meeting last night had a lot of items that were non-controversial, such as setting hearing dates. The odd thing about the meeting was the lack of any Republican Town Council members. None of the 4 Republicans showed up for the meeting. I originally thought it might be due to an someone announcing for next year's mayoral race but that did not seem to be the case. In any event you can watch the meeting here or below:
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Civil Service Meeting - 11/10/2008
The Civil Service Commission held their monthly meeting on Monday the 10th. As Civil Service Commission meetings go there was not a lot of action. There was some discussion concerning the request of the newly promoted Sargent in the Police Department to return to patrolman status. He, apparently, did not like the duties involved in being a Sgt. There was also some discussion of the testing for the open Patrolman's position. Here is the link to the video or watch it below:
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Town Meetings This Week
Due to the elections last week several meetings have been rescheduled for this week. The Monday meetings include the Town Council, Civil Service Commission and the Rec Commission. The Town Council meeting seems to be a fairly pedestrian affair with updates from the Mayor and Paul Hongo plus setting some hearing dates for various ordinances.
The Civil Service Commission will be discussing a custodian position at the Board of Education, a couple of Police and Fire Deparmtent vacancies and Town Hall position upgrades.
Monday
Town Council 7:00 PM Senior Center (agenda)
Civil Service Commission 7:00 PM Town Hall (agenda)
Recreation and Athletic Complex Commission 7:30PM Senior Center (agenda)
Counseling and Community Services Commission 7:00 PM 595 Thompson Avenue (agenda)
Wednesday
Inland Wetlands Commission 7:00 PM Senior Center
Youth Services Commission 7:00 PM Beach House (agenda)
Thursday
Americans With Disabilities Act Commission 7:00 PM Town Hall
The Civil Service Commission will be discussing a custodian position at the Board of Education, a couple of Police and Fire Deparmtent vacancies and Town Hall position upgrades.
Monday
Town Council 7:00 PM Senior Center (agenda)
Civil Service Commission 7:00 PM Town Hall (agenda)
Recreation and Athletic Complex Commission 7:30PM Senior Center (agenda)
Counseling and Community Services Commission 7:00 PM 595 Thompson Avenue (agenda)
Wednesday
Inland Wetlands Commission 7:00 PM Senior Center
Youth Services Commission 7:00 PM Beach House (agenda)
Thursday
Americans With Disabilities Act Commission 7:00 PM Town Hall
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Quarry at the PZC - Updated
The Planning and Zoning Commission is having their November Regular meeting tonight at 7PM at the Senior Center. The issue of the quarry is back on the agenda. If I am not mistaken the final vote on granting the extension of the special exception to continue rock crushing on the quarry site will be held tonight.
***
The PZC held their meeting on Wednesday night and, predictably, caved into Lenny Fasano and his client. The Maturo appointed PZC members were joined, inexplicably, by a member appointed by Mayor Capone Almon, to pass the extension of the special exception that allows rock crushing at the site. The Commission attached a series of conditions to the extension. These conditions, supposedly, have to be fulfilled by January 2009 or the extension will not be effective. However, as we have seen from all the previous "conditions" attached to applications by the PZC, the chance that the developer and his attorneys are going to do anything is miniscule. In the past the conditions have been ignored and no one has done anything about enforcing them.
Watch for yourself as the PZC throws the residents of the area near the quarry under the bus:
***
The PZC held their meeting on Wednesday night and, predictably, caved into Lenny Fasano and his client. The Maturo appointed PZC members were joined, inexplicably, by a member appointed by Mayor Capone Almon, to pass the extension of the special exception that allows rock crushing at the site. The Commission attached a series of conditions to the extension. These conditions, supposedly, have to be fulfilled by January 2009 or the extension will not be effective. However, as we have seen from all the previous "conditions" attached to applications by the PZC, the chance that the developer and his attorneys are going to do anything is miniscule. In the past the conditions have been ignored and no one has done anything about enforcing them.
Watch for yourself as the PZC throws the residents of the area near the quarry under the bus:
Election Day Recap
Yesterday started for me at 5AM when I woke up and headed to the shower, got dressed, and checked my video equipment so I could be at Overbrook School by 6AM to meet Lori Musco for an ETV interview. The day ended last night at 9:30PM when I got home after taping the last segment of the day for the ETV election recap. In between I conducted interviews with a dozen people at the polls, visited the Registrars office multiple times, made runs to ETV to drop off tapes and coordinate the video schedule, and covered the vote results at Overbrook. Mike Streeto did the same thing for the voting districts in Foxon. By the time we were done, ETV had the most comprehensive coverage of any election they have ever covered. We look forward to providing even more coverage for the local elections next year.
The East Haven results are pretty much as everyone expected:
Obama wins
DeLauro destroys her opponent as usual - how they get anyone to run against her is a mystery
Lawlor wins with 63% of the vote - beating an incumbent is a hard task
Fasano wins - being unopposed pretty much guarantees a win. I am still upset with the Democratic Town Chairmen for the towns comprising the 34th Senatorial District, East Haven, Wallingford and North Haven, for not finding a Democrat to run against Fasano. With $85,000 in campaign financing available to a challenger, a tide of Democratic support in the other races and an ongoing scandal involving Fasano's law firm and the quarry on Route 80, any challenger would have had a good chance of pulling off an upset.
The East Haven results are pretty much as everyone expected:
Obama wins
DeLauro destroys her opponent as usual - how they get anyone to run against her is a mystery
Lawlor wins with 63% of the vote - beating an incumbent is a hard task
Fasano wins - being unopposed pretty much guarantees a win. I am still upset with the Democratic Town Chairmen for the towns comprising the 34th Senatorial District, East Haven, Wallingford and North Haven, for not finding a Democrat to run against Fasano. With $85,000 in campaign financing available to a challenger, a tide of Democratic support in the other races and an ongoing scandal involving Fasano's law firm and the quarry on Route 80, any challenger would have had a good chance of pulling off an upset.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election Day Voter Turnout - Updated
By 9AM in the 2004 Presidential election, 17% of the registered voters in East Haven had voted. At 9AM today, 18.5% of the registered voters have already voted. If this trend continues then we can expect around a 9% increase in the number of registered voters casting ballots today.
At 8AM this morning I interviewed Mike Lawlor, State Representative from the 99th District at his polling place at Momauguin School. Here is the interview:
At 8AM this morning I interviewed Mike Lawlor, State Representative from the 99th District at his polling place at Momauguin School. Here is the interview:
Election Day! - Update #1
I was at the Overbrook School polling place at a little before 6AM this morning. Already there was a line from the front door past the end of the gym. I have been voting at that location for over 20 years and I have never seen a line that long. After Overbrook I swung past Tuttle School and the lines looked as long there. This is going to be a day of huge turnouts. I hope the poll workers are ready.
***At 6AM we caught up with Lori Musco, Republican candidate for the District 99 State Representative seat. Musco told the viewers why she deserved to be elected and to make sure everyone comes out to vote. As you can see from the video it is still dark at 6AM and the lighting was not very good. We will try to catch up with Lori later in the day so we do not both look like we have a yellow tinge.
***At 6AM we caught up with Lori Musco, Republican candidate for the District 99 State Representative seat. Musco told the viewers why she deserved to be elected and to make sure everyone comes out to vote. As you can see from the video it is still dark at 6AM and the lighting was not very good. We will try to catch up with Lori later in the day so we do not both look like we have a yellow tinge.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Election Day - Almost Here Finally!!!
Election day is almost here and everyone I know thinks it cannot come a moment too soon. There is a last minute rally planned at the Woodview Senior housing this evening at 6:00 P.M. to discuss the election. Attorney General Dick Blumenthal, Mayor April Capone Almon and Mike Lawlor will be there. All are invited.
A huge turnout is expected at the polls tomorrow. The Registrar of Voters told me that over 600 absentee ballots were mailed out and over 500 of them had been returned as of Saturday morning. That number dwarfs the number of absentee ballots normally seen in an election. If it is an indication of the turnout on Tuesday I would get to the polls early. Normally, in a presidential election year, East Haven has 70-75% turnout of registered voters. I have seen projections of a 90% turnout this year. This means 2 things. First, there will be lines at the polling places. Second, the Registrar of Voters has ordered ballots be printed for 85% of registered voters in each district. A turnout over 85% of registered voters means some voters will have to fill out copies of ballots which will need to be hand counted because the machine will not recognize the ballots. If that happens expect a long night of vote counting before results become available.
A huge turnout is expected at the polls tomorrow. The Registrar of Voters told me that over 600 absentee ballots were mailed out and over 500 of them had been returned as of Saturday morning. That number dwarfs the number of absentee ballots normally seen in an election. If it is an indication of the turnout on Tuesday I would get to the polls early. Normally, in a presidential election year, East Haven has 70-75% turnout of registered voters. I have seen projections of a 90% turnout this year. This means 2 things. First, there will be lines at the polling places. Second, the Registrar of Voters has ordered ballots be printed for 85% of registered voters in each district. A turnout over 85% of registered voters means some voters will have to fill out copies of ballots which will need to be hand counted because the machine will not recognize the ballots. If that happens expect a long night of vote counting before results become available.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Election Preparation - Part 3
The machines have been tested. All the bugs have been worked out with the memory cards. The ballots have been received from the printer. Only a few things remain to be done before East Haven voters can begin casting their ballots on November 4th.
On the Saturday before election day the Registrars of Voters and the machine mechanics started the process of getting the voting machines ready for transport to the 7 polling places. Besides the voting machines themselves, each polling place needs to have a special telephone that the vision impaired citizen can use to vote, a fax machine, headsets, ballots, lists of voters for that district, and all the various manuals, clipboards, pencils and posters that are required in order to run an election. All of these items were packed into blue transporter units about 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide. The transport units are stored in the garage behind Town Hall between elections. Yesterday they were removed from the garage by the machine mechanics and the contents for each polling place was inventoried, loaded into the transporters, sealed with 2 locks and put back into the garage. On Monday the transporters will be moved to each of the poling place by Public Works employees. Monday afternoon the transporters will be unpacked and the polling places will be set up for voting on Tuesday.
Here is a little video of some of the work that went into getting the transporters ready:
On the Saturday before election day the Registrars of Voters and the machine mechanics started the process of getting the voting machines ready for transport to the 7 polling places. Besides the voting machines themselves, each polling place needs to have a special telephone that the vision impaired citizen can use to vote, a fax machine, headsets, ballots, lists of voters for that district, and all the various manuals, clipboards, pencils and posters that are required in order to run an election. All of these items were packed into blue transporter units about 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide. The transport units are stored in the garage behind Town Hall between elections. Yesterday they were removed from the garage by the machine mechanics and the contents for each polling place was inventoried, loaded into the transporters, sealed with 2 locks and put back into the garage. On Monday the transporters will be moved to each of the poling place by Public Works employees. Monday afternoon the transporters will be unpacked and the polling places will be set up for voting on Tuesday.
Here is a little video of some of the work that went into getting the transporters ready:
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