Mayoral Hopefuls Debate Local Environmental Issues

The (Environmental Concerns Coalition) ECC Debate kicked off as scheduled at 6:P.M. all candidates in the running were present and questions were prepared in advance by the ECC moderator.

Candidates had 2 minutes to answer each question, and a rebuttal of their opponents of one Minute. This was the protocol for the first few questions, the next four questions were drawn randomly from a hat and were pre-written by the ECC and selected by each candidate. The audience was also permitted to openly ask questions at the end of the debate.

Of the initial questions asked, the issue of purchasing open land was agreed upon as a good idea by all candidates. The next question regarding Milford's deplorable record on Recycling sparked the most debate.

While the question formulated by the ECC corresponded with the 6% figure as reported in the CT Post Jim Richetelly took issue with the numbers as inaccurate. Richetelly alledged that the number was "under-reported... an error" and held up a copy of the DEP report that he claimed indicated Milford was recycling 12% of its renewable waste not 6%. Richetelli said that Milford is not "last in the state, but doing much better than people believed."

One public question came in regarding the funds to purchase open space, Richetelli exhausted nearly all the money in the open space fund in his latest Naugatuck land deal purchase. The issue of how to pay for this was best addressed by Peter Spalthoff who indicated he would make it a "budget item," and purchase land as part of the routine operations of the town. There was little disagreement to this, since all the candidates agreed that purchasing open space saves Miford's taxpayers money.

There was also debate on adding a paid commissioner to go out and manage the land purchases. Tim Chaucer said that the best candidate for this job would be an "outdoor enthusiast who really knows the town and its land very well."

Each candidate Praised, and addressed, the Clean Energy Roadmap approved by the Board of Aldermen last month. The plan lays out steps the city should take to become environmentally sound. The Roadmap was authored by a community task force and is a step by step plan for city officials to follow.

When it came time for the audience to ask questions, the first question was regarding public transportation. All candidates vowed to improve public transportation and do their part to make certain Milford has more bus stops and convenient locations to get people to and from their local destinations.

The next question from the audience got interesting because I do not think the moderator expected an off topic attack of Richetelli. The man who asked the question specifically addressed it to Jim. He started by saying he made several unanswered telephone calls to Jim, then followed up with more unanswered e-mails. Than after contacting his aide was able to get to talk to him.

Expressing disgust over his experience, he then charged that he did not get the tax decrease that Jim advertised in his "mail piece" that he held up to the audience. He said "I am an engineer, and I am very good with numbers. I looked at my old bill and compared it to my new one... where is my savings!" The moderator told the gentleman that this was an environmental forum not to get "off topic." she said that perhaps "the candidates could answer those types of questions after the debate."

The candidates nonetheless did answer the gentleman's question, and Richetelli stood up and told the gentleman "everyone in Milford received a 2.6% tax decrease plain and simple." Geneveve Salvatore reminded the man that the tax decrease was courtesy of the Democratic led Board of Alderman and that Richetelli's rejected budged actually would have raised his taxes.

The event lasted over an hour, and all the Candidates for Mayor remained long after the meeting and respectfully spoke to the public. However it is important to note, that what is mentioned above are just some notable highlights. MGAT Channel 79 on Cablevision did videotape the event and it will be made available to the public in its entirety in the next week or so and I recommend we all watch it. The more informed you are the better choice you will make come election day.

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Environmental Concerns Coalition Hosts Mayoral Debate

Milford's local recycling group, The Environmental Concerns Coalition, will be hosting a Mayoral debate this evening at 6:00 P.M. The meeting will be held at the Milford Library located at 57 New Haven Ave. For anyone who wishes to call for directions their telephone number is (203) 783-3304.

The debate will arrive on the news that Milford's statewide recycling record is purported to be the worst in the state of Connecticut. The ECC set out some years ago to try and bring reform to our city and introduce innovative programs like single stream recycling to our community.

Currently Milford recycles about 6% of its renewable waste as compared to other towns that recycle as much as 35%. Milford is also met with environmental challenges from our current contractors such as RESCO, and Recycling Inc.

Recycling Inc. currently had Zoning and Planning deny their application to expand their recycling facility on Oronoque Road. Their permit became the subject of controversy when Recycling Inc. intended to import renewable waste by barge, train, truck along the Housatonic River.

Local residents in the area especially those living at Caswell Cove objected to the hardship the added commercial traffic would bring through their neighborhood. Caswell Cove residents also saw their taxes double in recent years and are already having difficulty maintaining their property values.

Residents in the area said "We have a power plant to our right, a sewage treatment center to our left, high voltage power lines over our heads and freight trains that produce seismic tremors in our homes behind us. But the tax assessor says we are Direct waterfront and that is true we have a beautiful view on one side, however expansion of a recycling facility may be the ad-infinitum to this development it would just firm up the belief that there is no place for homes in the middle of heavy industry. I am looking forward to this debate this evening to see where we end up on renewable waste management."

The ECC also runs an environmental Blog, with public events and activities, it can be accessed by clicking HERE. The main ECC website can be accessed by clicking HERE.

Milford P&Z Says No To Recycling Facility

A bid to reopen a landfill closed by a court order as a recycling facility is headed for court.

Darlene Chapdelaine, spokesman for Recycling Inc., said Thursday the Planning and Zoning Board did not follow its own procedures in denying the application Tuesday night.

Richard J. Barrett and Joseph F. Barrett, of Stratford, are the owners of the 6.71-acre site at 990 Naugatuck Ave., next to the Housatonic River. It had been leased to Associated Carting Inc., which was closed in a settlement between that company and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal two years ago.

The attorney general had filed suit against Associated Carting Co. at the request of the state Department of Environmental Protection and the city after several large, open containers of household garbage were discovered on the site. The company had a permit to accept construction debris.

Chapdelaine said city officials treated the new application -- for a "volume reduction facility" that removes recyclable material from the waste stream -- as if it was by the same applicant for the same use that was prohibited in 2007.

"They had decided to deny this application before the public hearing, and it was not circulated to the other city departments for comment, like zoning applications always are," she said.

The PZB changed its regulations for the Housatonic Design District to ban facilities such as the one Recycling Inc. is proposing. The new regulation took effect Wednesday; the company's application was considered under the earlier rules, PZB member Frank Goodrich said.

"Upon the advice of the city planner we denied it without prejudice," Goodrich said. "It was an incomplete site plan.'' The facility has been approved by the DEP to receive 1,000 tons of material per day, some of it arriving by barge. Chapdelaine said the recycling plant conforms to the state's solid waste plan.

"Of the 51 properties in the Housatonic Design District, only seven are residential," she said. "This facility would create at least 20 new jobs. Who exactly would it hurt?"

City officials noted that one of those residential properties is the 320-unit Caswell Cove Condominiums.

"I spoke to the Planning and Zoning Board and urged them not to approve this," Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. said. "The application calls for bringing garbage in by barge and rail.

"I also spoke to Attorney General Blumenthal and we are united in this," the mayor said.

Chapdelaine, however, said the matter will be decided in court, "and we're going to win.''

Goodrich said Tuesday night's hearing already felt like a legal proceeding. "They had a court stenographer there," he said. "The last time I saw that was with [housing developer] AvalonBay."


ORIGINAL FRANK JULIANO ARTICLE

Lambasting Milford's Barbara Lambert

It has been nearly a year since our Freshman Representative has taken office in Hartford at the state capitol. Many folks have been asking me what she has been up to because there is nothing in the papers about her positions, no mention of how she is implementing her "plan" or how she is challenging "utilities" "taxes" and all the buzz she put in her mass mailed sales brochure. To be quite honest I personally have not seen or heard a thing about how she is serving Milford, not in the papers or in the news.

Today I googled her name, and I even visited her legislative website. It mentions she is on a labor committee, and some other trivial "hoopla" and the Google results just come up with a bunch of other self promoting party propaganda probably written by herself, kids, friends, and party bosses.

While she is off in space somewhere, Milford is in the process of having its school funding cut from the state, and yet I have not heard a mention that she somehow is for or against this. I and other parents, would like to know what Ms. Lambert (and our other representatives are doing)to save our school funding from the cutting board? Now that I am personally running for the board of ed I am going to voice my complaint here since she is basically MIA on all issues. Most people I speak with, especially those who voted for her along with Obama, do not even remember her or know who she is, but when I asked them how they voted they said all Democrat.

To cut to the chase on this one, I am personally very disappointed that Ms. Lambert does not seem to stand for anything, that she is making no effort to take a public stance in the papers to defend the things that are being taken from our town. The Courthouse Annex, green energy, the Boardwalk and now our schools are about to be shortchanged further. I think we need to ask Ms. Lambert "what exactly are you doing and why are you not standing up for our town?"

I am personally really disappointed that she is not fighting hard for us. Milford deserves better.

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SUMMARY OF MILFORD EDUCATIONAL CUTS
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Governor Rell's budget cuts would:

* Reduce many state education grants by 10% from their current funding level.

* Reduce special education service grants by 10% in all municipalities.

* Eliminate state funding for internet access, and filtering of "adult" content in all public libraries and K-12 schools in Connecticut.

* Eliminate or reduce by 40% the amount of state funding given to local health departments and health districts.

These cuts would come on top of other cuts in municipal aid or flat-funding of programs that our cities and towns rely on. The Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) grant, which is the largest portion of state aid for local education in Connecticut, would be flat-funded for the two year budget. In addition, other programs such as the PILOT (Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes) Grant, which helps cities and towns make up for tax losses for tax exempt properties such as state property, hospitals and universities, have been reduced as well. These cuts, along with elimination of funding for our libraries, will put a strain on our municipalities.