The new arrangement of Alderpersons has been announced, you can see the full line up here. The finance committee members are below:
Shah (Chair)
Silverman (Vice-Chair)
Perez
Goldfield
Jackson-Brooks
Clark
Castro
Rhodeen
Sandman
Archive for the ‘BOA’ Category
New Aldermanic Committees Announced
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008Sergio Rodriguez Leaves HANH
Friday, November 9th, 2007Read the NHI story announcing Alderman Rodriguez left his job at Housing Authority of New Haven. Read our Press Release regarding open questions on his departure.
You can also read our old press release about opening the Hatch Act Inquiry and view Alderman Rodriguez’s own ethics disclosure document, and the legal opinion the city obtained months ago.
Voter Coercion
Thursday, November 8th, 2007We at NHCAN are deeply concerned about apparent voter coercion on Tuesday during elections. Please see the NHI article on this issue.
If you want to do something about it, please contact the State Elections Enforcement Commission. To do so, you need to complete this form and have it notarized (at a bank or the City Clerk’s office) and mail it here:
Attorney Joan M. Andrews
Director of Legal Affairs and Enforcement
State Elections Enforcement Commission
20 Trinity Street, Suite 101
Hartford, CT 06106
You might also consider contacting:
Michelle Duprey, City of New Haven, Director of Disability Services [email protected]
Allan Atherton, President of CT National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), [email protected]
Edward Preneta, Director, CT Council on Developmental Disabilities [email protected]
Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, [email protected]
State Election Enforcement Commission, [email protected]
Aldermanic Debate This Thursday
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007Know Who’s Representing You. Meet Your Aldermanic Candidates!
Two Democratic aldermen face off against their Green Party challengers
in a candidates’ debate.
Place: Institute Library, 847 Chapel St. (near Church Street)
Time: Thursday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m.
Hosted by La Voz Hispana, your Spanish newspaper and the New Haven Independent, your source for local news at www.newhavenindependent.org .
The debate includes:
Ward 7 candidates Democrat Frances “Bitsie” Clark and Green Daniel Sumrall
Ward 10 candidates Democrat Ed Mattison and Green Allan Brison
Questions will be posed by reporters from the New Haven Register, New Haven Advocate and the New Haven Independent. Debate will be moderated by Paul Bass.
The debate is free and open to the public. Hope to see you there!
NHCAN Supports Tom Malone (R) – Ward 25
Monday, October 29th, 2007NHCAN is a nonpartisan organization interested in Financial Responsibility and Transparent Government here in New Haven. We are interested in the best candidates and independent voices in the BOA. We are supporting Tom Malone’s run for Alderman of Ward 25 over incumbent Ina Silverman as we belive he best represents our mission of Transparent Government and Financial Responsibility.
Here is some of his campaign literature:
NEW HAVEN CAN BE BETTER!
Saturday, October 6th, 2007New Haven Citizens Action Network (NH CAN) was created last summer by a group of New Haven citizens who wished to participate in the deliberations of the Board of Aldermen during the 2007-8 budget process. Our objectives were to ensure that the proposed budget fiscally sound and would not create a tax burden on future taxpayers. We were also interested in keeping city government open to participation from the general public.
Summer has come and gone. The BOA has not welcomed citizen inputs and had prevented public comments on items before the Board. There is a solid majority of the BOA that votes as a block to approve the Mayor’s wishes without too much challenge. Consequently, New Haven CAN has shifted it’s focus – from working with the Alders to working to elect more independent minded Aldermen willing to check the Mayor’s propensity to tax and spend.
The New Haven 2007-8 budget totals $445 million, with Special Funds and Capital expenses adding another $272 million. This is equal to over $14,000 per New Haven household. Of this amount, about 30% is paid directly by City taxpayers, another 50% comes from State taxpayers with the remaining 20% being borrowed. The City has commitments of over $1,100,000,000 – about $22,000 per household — for pension liabilities, debt and retiree health care. Future taxpayers must pay for this.
The budget process is seriously flawed. There is no culture of cost control, of eliminating unnecessary activities to pay for new initiatives. Transparency is lacking. Education spending accounts for 38% of the General Fund. Yet one has to estimate the additional costs for employee benefits, pensions, debt service, the Capital and Special Fund accounts to get a better estimate of total education costs which are closer to 61% of total spending of $717 million.
The budget process is not integrated with the cost drivers that dominate the budget. Contract negotiations commit taxpayers for a good part of the budget, yet occur independently of the budget process. Pension plans still use the more expensive Defined Benefits approach rather than the more widely used Defined Contribution approach.
The budget process does not relate expenditures to any measures of anticipated outcomes. What should we expect for the $17,000 spent per school student each year? How effectively can we expect Police and Fire personnel to respond to incidents? For Public Works to repair sidewalks and roads?? Etc.. There is no reference to such benchmarks in the 400 plus pages of the budget.
Another Budget Increase Coming Your Way
Monday, October 1st, 2007See the NH Register article reporting a budget deficit and how the BOA may be voting in another increase tonight.
Hatch Act Inquiry
Saturday, September 8th, 2007NHCAN Steering Committee Members submitted a request for an opinion on whether BOA member Sergio Rodriguez is in violation of the Hatch Act. You can read our press release or the letter we submitted to the Hatch Act Unit, U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
Help Wanted
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007Several voters interested in the Democratic primaries have asked us to identify the primary candidates NH CAN feels best meets the objectives of fiscal responsibility and open government. IN response, we have prepared a list of candidates whom we feel best represents our objectives. Some are incumbents, others are new faces.
Democratic Primary:
Ward 2 Challenger Frank Douglas over Gina Calder
Ward 3 Incumbent Jacqueline James over Ira Johnson
Ward 11 Incumbent Robert Lee over Virginia Ginger McHugh
Ward 12 Incumbent Gerald Antunes over Bernadette Barbour
Ward 19 Challenger Cleven Johnson over Alfreda Edwards & challenger Lamont Moye
Ward 21 Challenger Patricia Brooks over Katrina Jones
Ward 22 Challenger Lisa Hopkins over Gregory Moorhead & challenger Cordelia Thorpe
Ward 23 Challenger Barbara Fair over Yusuf Shah
Ward 26 Challenger Alan Felder over Sergio Rodriguez
Ward 30 Challenger Tilda Morrison over Michelle- Edmonds Sepulva
Democratic Primary Election TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2007
(Municipal Election: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2007)
Future Indebtedness
Monday, August 20th, 2007Its a bad financial picture for the city. And the BOA just passed a back door raise for the city executives that should have been a part of the budget discussions. We need to begin discussing measures of success. What are we getting for the money we spend? Should we not reward executives based on the money saved or actual services delivered, rather than the money spent? See the numbers on where we stand and ask your alderperson and the mayor how they plan to address this financial picture?
