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12/9 presentation to the CT Association of Regional Planning Organizations. Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency, Central Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials and South Central Regional Council of Governments already voted to support our Position paper. Copy of the position paper, supporters and embedded powerpoint presentation can be found here
Old News
Eric and Charlie have been invited to be on Dr. G's show WTIC radio Saturday Aug. 21st between 4:30 and 5:00 .. listen in if you have the time. podcast
Minutes for the Public Hearing
Comments on the public hearing: Eric and I would like to thank all of you that came to the public hearing today. Overflow crowd. And I apologize to the hundreds of folks that could not get into the auditorium because it was filled to capacity. And many thanks to all that gave public testimony. No question that this issue is just plain BIG ... Now to convince the legislature to "plug the holes" my short video inside channel 3 video outside West Hartford news
Hartford Courant article 7/20: Commission To Discuss Restricting Recreational Use Of Land
Fox News - tonight 7/19 10:00 and 11:00 news. don't know the exact time. We just did the interview at 5:00pm
Total Immunity: We are seeing this term pop up more and more. Usually as the reason for NOT fixing the immunity laws. It is a red herring. No one wants or has been asking for TOTAL immunity, just want the same safeguards that states like Massachusetts have. Total immunity means that a drunk employee could run over a bunch of people and not be held liable.. and of course, we all know that is crazy and not something that we would want or ask for or the Legislature would give is. (my rant for the day)
Dennis Barone's opinion piece in the Hartford Courant
Letter to the MDC Commissioners from savethemdctrails
REP. BARAM SEEKS LAW TO PROTECT
Examiner.com article
MDC Press Release on July 20th Public Hearing updated: includes TV coverage. available here
West Hartford Town Council Member Denise Hall wrote an opinion piece for the West Hartford News. Available online here.
T-shirts are coming: North Pole Designs created a logo and Fleet Feet has agreed to purchase and sell (to cover costs). Should be available at Fleet Feet by Saturday july 17th .. in time for the July 20th public hearing. Picture here: Just stopped by Fleet Feet, T-shirts are on display and available for purchase.
Letter from Matt Reichin (Bloomfield MDC Commissioner Al Reichin's son)
Town of Hartford passes Resolution at July 12th council meeting. If anyone has contacts with the town councils of the other 6 towns that get their water from the MDC (East Hartford, Bloomfield, Windsor, Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, and Newington), please contact them and ask if they can see their way clear to passing a similar resolution.
Meeting Friday 9th with West Hartford Mayor Scott Slifka. A group of us met with the Mayor. Great meeting! He backs our efforts 100% and believes we need to keep the MDC properties open to all recreational activities. Besides the Resolution, He will attend the public hearing and submit testimony. The Mayor spoke with State Rep. David McCluskey and he said that if the appeal does not work, he would be willing to modify the existing legislation to provide greater protection for Municipalities. All in all, it was a great day .. and we now have over 2500 names on our online petition
West Hartford Resolution: This has been submitted for the July 27 Council meeting. Mayor Scott Slifka said he fully expects that more councilors will sign on, but with vacations, etc., he has not yet heard back from everyone. He gave us the OK to post the info. It would be great to have the same thing happen in the 7 other towns that get their water from the MDC (Hartford, East Hartford, Bloomfield, Windsor, Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, and Newington)
Our Petition just passed 2300 signatures! Hoping we get a 3 or 4 thousand more before the July 20th Public Hearing.
- Public Hearing July 20th 5:30pm at the The Auditorium at
Town Hall in West Hartford: Save the date...
Location moved to the
Auditorium at Town Hall in West Hartford.
Subject: Public Meeting Notice-July 20, 2010-5:30 p.m.
By order of the Chairman of The Water Bureau, there will be a public meeting regarding the recreational land use policy. The purpose of the meeting is to receive public input on the issue and no formal action will be taken. The meeting was originally scheduled to be held at the MDC Training Center, 125 Maxim Road, Hartford on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 5:30 p.m. - MDC Board minutes from June 9th meeting: Minutes have been posted on the MDC web site and can be found here. I did a copy/paste of just the information pertaining to the discussion on closing the Res and posted it here. It is clear from the minutes that the plan is to attempt to close the Res to recreation in order to force the state legislature to plug the holes in the immunity laws.
- Contacting our Legislators
Sent an email to a few of our state legislators and the entire West Hartford Town Council. Received positive feedback from Mayor Slifka, State Senator Jonathon Harris, and West Hartford Council Member and MDC Board member Joseph Verrengia. - MDC June 11th Board Meeting and
Executive Session
As it turns out, all the business was conducted in the board meeting. There was no executive session. If anyone attended the meeting, please fill us in and we will post the information here. The information about the two public hearings ( lead story) was evidently discussed in this board meeting. -
Trial Lawyers "opinion" in the Hartford Courant
Trial lawyers association are on record as being against any legislation to close the liability loophole.