Discussions Get Ugly On Milford's 2011 Budget

Budget season has to be the most challenging and stressful time of year for everyone in Milford. Some in town just do not understand why the budget cannot be the same every year. One would think that the cost of goods and services in a depressed economy would not fluctuate much. Unfortunately that is not the case.

The onset of budget season has begun with our Mayor Jim Richetelli being concerned that the year is "starting off with many unanswered questions." Former RTC Member, and insurance Guru, Tom Byrne has been in contact with Aldematic Chairman Greg Smith. The nature of their discussion is marked by disagreement from the onset regarding the creation of an efficiency committee as suggested by Hartford.

Every year the austerity measures aimed at city services and municipal employees are of serious concern, especially to those individuals whose jobs are on the cutting block. None have decried the protection of city jobs more than James Whittaker who is frequently seen at City Hall protesting cuts that affect his staff.

The balance of services, and responsible government rests in the hands of our leaders and Tom Byrne feels our leaders have fell short of their responsibility. He points out in several local newspapers that city spending has increased in tandem with the Bond Debt. Such a combination without a meaningful or serious approach in the coming budget year is a recipe for disaster.

The increase in our public debt raises our debt service payments, these are also going up with health insurance costs, building and maintenance costs, and  routine contractual raises that virtually every local labor union expects to get. Last budget season many concessions were made by some labor unions including reductions in COLA's and reductions in infrastructure.

This year is marked by a 1.5 Million reduction in Federal education funding. This reduction was one Rep. Rosa Delauro failed to fight for. The propensity for balancing our budget is further complicated by the fact that nearly 20% of all homes listed for sale in Milford are in foreclosure. Driving up taxes to pay our bills will be an exercise in futility and will not work. This hard lesson was demonstrated in Hartford, Bridgeport, and many other cities who, in my opinion mismanaged their budgets in favor of tax exempt 501C3's and inefficient government jobs.

It's my opinion that Milford cannot tax its way out of this problem come 2011. Attempting to tax our way out of this problem will not work, especially if inflation is low, local unemployment is high, COLA's are suspended by pension recipients and Local Real Estate continues to stagnate.

The showdown is going to be between the Paid elected city leaders and City Union employees who have been funding and supporting local elections with entitlement motives. Crossing the city unions, who have doled out Tens of Thousands of dollars to local municipal races could mean significant losses of votes come the 2012 election.

Placating the Labor Unions in Milford will be a very delicate issue that has to be gingerly handled by the Mayor himself during the upcoming contract negotiations. Bad contracts will reflect poorly on the value of every one's real estate and create further pressure to force those individuals living "paycheck to paycheck" to seek out government assistance and sustenance to avoid going into default on their homes and their new taxes.

Every person out there this budget season, especially those who cannot afford to pay an additional $500.00 to $1,500.00 every year should speak out at city hall when the time comes. Without your voice being heard this year, the Mayor and his staff may end up going along with the proposed demands of the towns labor unions instead of looking out for you. Greg Smith and the board of Alderman also needs to hear your thoughts, because they finalize and approve the budget in conjunction with the Board of Finance.

The year 2011 may seem a long way off, but assure you the time goes fast. Start thinking about you and your families financial needs now before your new tax bill arrives and you are in a bind you cannot get out of. Best of luck this Holiday season and wishing all my friends, readers and supporters a very happy holiday.

Milfords Educational Crisis Can Be Solved

The city of Milford has an ugly little secret when it comes to education, or in other words the iconic "third rail" that few dare to address. That rail is what I aptly call the 100 Million Dollar Dilemma or the the cost of repairing the failing energy wasting infrastructure of our educational system.

For the last twenty years the city of Milford and the Milford Board of Education have adopted a triage policy where-by only catastrophic mechanical failures are addressed, but the issues with our crumbling schools go beyond just those simple repairs. Milford has not had a new school built in many decades, and the thought of education improvements is always a bitter battle against those who do not want taxes, and those with kids who just want their kids educated.

For a very long time there has been no way of breaking this taxpayer, parent stalemate until recently. The answer came to my desk at the Milford Independent Party after consulting with numerous experts and municipalities across Connecticut and the United States for a solution to this very problem. Finally a real solution to the Milford Education crisis was presented to me by Balfour Betty Construction. This company is a world class company and is rated one of the top companies to work for in America.

Balfour Betty delivers billions of dollars in sales annually. The project in question that has now become the national model for Leeds Certified education was delivered to the Irving Texas School District this year. Click HERE for a tour of Lady Bird Johnson Middle School the nations first "Net Zero" Middle School. According to Balfour Betty's spokesperson "Charter Builders was awarded the $29 million contract to manage construction of the new school, located in Irving, Texas.

The 150,000-square-foot facility will produce its own energy via solar panels, geothermal energy harvesting, and wind turbines. If the school produces excess energy, the district could sell energy to a local electric provider, creating a potential revenue source for the district." Should our local leaders dare embrace the vision of the future, a project like this can easily be initiated in Milford and Connecticut. Most of the delivery cost can easily be absorbed without incident or consequence to the local taxpayers.

This is because 60% of the cost of the school would be paid for by Hartford, another 10% could be covered by Federal Clean Energy grants and the rest %30 covered by bonds. The payments on those bonds would be at record low interest rates and paid for with the monthly savings from repairs, Gas, Electric, and energy. For example at current rates of 4% a loan for the difference or an est. $20,000.00 per month in un-needed electric and gas bills could be easily converted to the loan payment. This will cover the unfunded and bonded portion of the construction.

If Milford also decides to sell off and combine some failing Schools, it is even possible that a new school could be built for FREE. There may even be additional money in the bank to use for our kids currently unfunded programs. This is a project that is a "big win" for the people and city and should be seriously pursued to fix our towns 100 Million Dollar Dilemma.

We now just need to get the word out, because the lack of vision and inaction on behalf of the cities taxpayers and children is UNACCEPTABLE. We all need to put pressure on the present administration to take meaningful action to solve our educational crisis. Milford students should not be learning in hallways on carts and certainly they do not deserve to have their schools shut down. Demand Action, direct decision makers to this post and ask them to do the right thing for the sake our children.

Milford Student Expresses Concern Over Cyberbullying

The note arrived to me by e-mail. It was sent by Janet Garagliano of Jonathan Law HS and I am reposting it to this blog to help raise cyberbullying awareness information available to parents in our community. Please read the following message and, if you have kids, get familiar with the facts and solutions to this growing technological crime problem.

Ms. Gargliano states in her e-mail: "Recently a student came to me to express her concern about Cyberbullying and the potential impact bullying of any type has on her schoolmates. This student, Jennie Sharp, wanted to do something about this problem. I guided her a bit; but most of what we will be doing at Law to recognize Cyberbullying month is the direct result of Jen's initiative.

All Health as well as Drug and Alcohol Prevention classes will engage in a variety of activities including a presentation by Detective Frawley. I have posted on our website, [http://teacherweb.com/CT/JonathanLawHighSchool/schoolhomepage/sdhp1.aspx]
some documents that you might find helpful to use with your child at home. These documents will serve as a complement to the materials that our teachers will be using. It may be the case that your child is not enrolled in either of the above mentioned classes, so they will have a chance to review the materials with you.

I hope you find these materials useful. I would like to thank Jennie for all her hard work as well as her concern for her schoolmates."

The concern over Cyberbullying came "front and center" last month when Phoebe Prince was bullied into a state that rendered her life so psychologically challenged that she decided to end it.

The work that is being done here is to pre-emptively address this issue before it becomes of concern, or creates victims within our own schools. Anyone with kids that are at risk for this kind of crime should take the time to get informed.

Independents Set To Cross Endorse Sen. Slossberg

Last month at the annual caucus of the Independent Town Committee Independents selected candidates for public office. When it came to the state Senate race a vote was held to cross endorse Gail Slossberg.

Gail was considered for endorsement because of several reasons, but one of the most important was her work in keeping the Citizens Election Program viable in years past and presently where she is still working to keep it functional.

In speaking with her on the phone today, Gail was optimistic that the CEP will have a positive resolution and is hopeful minor parties like the Milford Independent Party will be afforded future opportunities to secure state funding.

We also discussed having the state of Connecticut assist in school funding to combine the two city high schools into one economically viable green building. This issue she said "is clearly up to the people of Milford and the Board of Education." She will "support the Board of education and the people of Milford if that is their wish" but warned state assistance for school construction dollars are a long way off.

We also spoke about the current health care bill, and asked her if she as a "Non practicing" Attorney thought the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution was being violated. Her answer was that she has "No Idea" what is in this bill, that at this point in time "No one knows" what is in the bill but she is being "Open Minded" and that she will respect the wishes of the people in her district should they demand the state reject it.

Slossberg indicated "that if the people of Connecticut or Milford, have their Constitutional liberties taken away by Obamacare I will certainly oppose it. However, we cannot pass judgement on this bill and its Unconstitutional aspects before the courts have had their opportunity to review it and make a legal determination as whether or not it violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution." Gayle said that as it stands it is too soon to tell how it is going to affect us, but in either case she does "not engage in speculation but rather likes to keep to her reputation of only addressing facts and real issues."

Gail will be confirmed for the ballot line this Wednesday March 31st. at the Milford Independent Town Committee Meeting. The meeting location will be announced at this blog within the next few days so check back. The general public is welcome to attend and thereby express their support or objections to the endorsement of Sen. Slossberg for the Independent Party Line..

Jonathan Law Addition Re-Approved, Board of Finance "Over Ruled"

Republican Alderman Raymond Vitali broke from his party and pushed through a $4 million Jonathan Law High School renovation project when the Board of Aldermen met Monday night.

Vitali had labored over the vote. He said last week that he planned to study plans and cost projections in the days leading up to the Board of Aldermen meeting, knowing that the pressure was on him to move the renovations forward, or to stop them in their track.

The aldermen needed to override a Board of Finance veto of the project by a two-thirds vote to get the project going. Democratic aldermen were united in their desire to approve the project. Republicans, except Vitali, stood beyond Mayor James Richetelli in opposing the addition now because they said the economy does not warrant such spending.

The Democrats, who hold a 9-6 majority on the board, needed one Republican to cross the line to give them the two-thirds voting power they needed.

“This is a very difficult situation,” Vitali said moments before the aldermen voted. “It seems to be the worst times and the best of times to go forward with this project.”

Vitali, a retired middle school principal, said he is sensitive to teachers who have to teach on carts because there is no classroom space for them, and he said it is the administration’s job to make sure staff is happy and that the building is adequate.

“I’ve made my mind up,” Vitali said.

Republican Alderman Scott Willey led the GOP opposition, charging that the project should not go forward in this economy.

“These are unprecedented economic times and you don’t go spending money you don’t absolutely have to spend,” Willey said. “Where’s the money going to come from to pay on what we borrow? We’re not reducing class size. We’re not increasing teachers. We’re still going to have teachers on carts even with the addition.”

Willey also criticized the process that led to approval of the $4 million bonding project. Typically, the mayor recommends bonding projects and the Board of Finance approves or denies them.

In this case, the Democratic aldermen took up the cause for teachers and parents who insisted it should move forward, approved it at last month’s Board of Aldermen’s meeting, and then forwarded it to the finance board, which rejected the plan.

“The mayor didn’t propose it; finance said ‘no don’t do it’,” Willey said. “This is wrong and it sets a terrible precedent.”

Parents and other school supporters defended the bonding request, however, arguing that bids for the addition came in $1 million lower than expected, interest rates are low and they expect state reimbursement rates to be less favorable in coming years.

“The truth is that the responsible course is to move forward now,” said Democratic mayoral candidate Genevieve Salvatore. “It’s fiscally irresponsible to delay this further.”

Jonathan Law High School Principal Janet Garagliano has said the school sorely needs more classrooms. She said 15 teachers would be working from carts next year, and the school is short two science labs.

The new addition would be a one-story, 12,000-square-foot structure consisting of nine classrooms, plus storage, according to Phil Russell, deputy supt. of operations for the Milford school system.

The school now contains 205,765 square feet. The addition would represent more than a 5% increase in square footage.

With Monday’s vote, the project is set to move forward, Russell said.

A contract is expected to be awarded the week of Aug. 17, following a 10-day appeal period. Construction will start in early September and will take about nine months to complete.

“Work will take place in an exterior courtyard,” said Bill Silver, of Silver Petrucelli and Associates, the main architects on the project. “So it won’t affect any classrooms.”

Original Post By Jill Dion

Alderman Raymond Vitali R5, May Hold Jonathan Law's Future In His Hands

The future of a $4 million addition to Jonathan Law High School rests in the hands of Alderman Raymond Vitali, R-5, after the Board of Finance rejected authorizing funds for the work Monday night.

The Finance Board’s 3-2 rejection means the request will be sent back to the Board of Aldermen. The aldermen will need a supermajority to approve the addition, and reverse the Finance Board’s decision.

Earlier this month, the aldermen voted 10-5 to approve creating a draft bond authorization, which was a critical first step toward allocating the $4 million for the work.

All nine Democrats and Vitali, a retired longtime school principal, approved creating the draft bond allocation, while the board’s remaining five Republicans voted against the project, saying a recession is not the right time to be borrowing funds.

In order for the aldermen to get a supermajority vote, Vitali would again need to break from his party and vote with the Democrats.

Vitali, who is aware of his role, stood up during the Finance Board meeting held at the Parsons Government Center Monday, and said, “I am the two-thirds vote.” He said the entire process has been “purely political,” but did not elaborate.

After the meeting Vitali declined to say how he’d vote, saying he needed to learn more about the city’s finances and “do some thinking.”

Before the Finance Board’s vote, Republican Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. again reiterated his strong objection to borrowing any money, while the nation is in a historic recession.

He also said it sends a terrible message to borrow funds many residents are suffering financially.

Finance Board Chairman Jack Skudlarek said he had concerns that the aldermen, and not Richetelli, placed the project on the agenda calling it an “extraordinary” measure. Skudlarek said the mayor as the city’s chief executive officer places items on the agenda, and Richetelli said, while unprecedented, the move was legal according to the bond counsel.

Skudlarek also said he was not convinced there were any immediate health and safety concerns warranting that the project be approved now.

Proponents of the Law addition say the bids came in $1 million less than anticipated, and waiting would likely mean the city would receive less state reimbursement.

Jonathan Law Principal Janet Garagliano said the addition is needed because next year 15 teachers are projected to be using carts, which means they do not have their own classroom.

She said the school is short two science labs, and is looking to convert storage space into reading classrooms. Four classrooms have been converted from storage spaces in the school.

The work includes construction of a 12,234-square-foot addition including seven regular classrooms and two science laboratories in a ninth-grade wing.

Finance Board member Joseph Agro said the project should move forward because it’s likely costs will only increase in the future, but board member Joseph Fitzpatrick argued the bids are too high, and it’s likely the costs will drop.

Aldermanic Chairman Ben Blake, D-5, defended the aldermen’s actions saying typically the city spends $15 million annually on bond projects and by approving only $4 million for the Law addition it’s still “reining back considerably” the amount of money that is borrowed.

ORIGINAL BRIAN MCREADY POST CLICK HERE

Jonathan Law High School Renovations Boast Student Healthy Environment

With Construction and Asbestos abatement nearing completion, parents of the incoming freshman class at Jonathan Law have endured orientation cancellations and delays. These encumbrances, however annoying are welcomed and praised by many who now are excited that Milford's school is being upgraded and abated of its 60's era asbestos toxins.

With that said this years incoming students will enjoy not only a safe school but also a fully updated and upgraded computer program. This monumental IT task was achieved in tandem with the help and support of the Milford Board of Education employees and the tireless work of the ComputerFox on New Haven Avenue in Milford.

Paul Wydra, a 2008 Foran graduate and ComputerFox Employee during the this renovation, said that the "task was monumental, messy and not surprised there were delays. There was serious concerns over the cleanup and abatement of the asbestos particles and every precaution had to be taken to ensure the absolute safety and cleanup of any residual particles."

My youngest step daughter, who will be an incoming freshman at Jonathan Law this year, chimed in and said she "is very excited to know her high school is improved." She is also looking forward to reuniting with all her friends from last year. On a sad note she was a bit disappointed to have missed orientation but still remains upbeat and positive that so much care and hard work was given to her high school.

The School is expected to open on schedule to kick off the new year.

(Stock Photo of typical workers removing asbestos, these are not those at the school.)

Milford Faring Well Amid Tepid Times

The paper was a pleasure to read this week as the schools recieved a partial victory with one million dollars restored to the school budget. The yearly address by our town mayor indicated the city is doing well despite the difficult economy, but warned that if things did not improve there remained a chance that those problems could catch up with us.

It is always good to read great news, or as some of my friends put it news that appears to be a compromise in which the needs of the taxpayers are balanced with that of the schools system.

Schools are very important to many here in Milford and Connecticut, and funding is the "grease" that makes it all work. This victory, although it had what appears to be a positive outcome may be a pyrric victory as some local disenfranchised taxpayers feel betrayed by by the very alderman they voted to elect.

One such taxpayer indicated that "they were elected to do one thing, and now they did the opposite. I really feel bad for the teachers but I have to chose between food and medicine, I could barely pay my taxes now what do they expect me to do? Does anyone feel bad for me?"

The budget may be in order for 2008 but the reality of this situation is that absent some real economic improvement Milford only managed to "dodge the bullet."

Our Kids' Test Scores, and Local Property Taxes

Not very often do we think about things like the Federal No Child Left Behind act, or our states share of the ED or the Federal Education Disbursement funding to local states and cities.

Some believe that NCLB was one of the crowning achievements of the Bush administration back in 2001, it passed with an impressive majority in both the U.S. House of Representative and the U.S. Senate and is viewed as a bi-partisan success. But shortly after it passed we had somewhat of a local and state revolt here in Connecticut.

The first to come out against it was Connecticut Education Commissioner Betty Sternberg, she began arguing that its testing requirements are too expensive and that taxpayers “won’t learn anything new about our schools by giving these extra tests.” Many parents seem to agree.

Attorney General Blumenthal was also given the blessing of the Connecticut state legislature to actually go and sue the Federal Government so as to bring relief to the demands of many schools in CT. Some cited that this model does not work because our state schools do not represent a common demographic image of what other states have in America.

It is common knowledge that our schools perform much more poorly in the big cities where poverty is common, and incredibly above average in the wealthy suburbs. Towns like Wilton, Greenwich and Westport are able to maintain lower property taxes, and also receive the all the benefits of the NCLB program as well.

Under the NCLB law, cities receive some early benefit in funding and then the big schools soon get penalized for failing to meet the expectations of the law. This impedes poor performing schools ability to recover the ED funding. The law also works in tandem with the big city problems of tax delinquencies, low real estate values and dwindling school revenues. Ultimately big cities end up having difficulty meeting even the most basic educational objectives while the wealthy suburbs enjoy a disproportionate share of the federal funding and higher valued real estate.

This issue was recently debated in Hartford, and many municipal mayors are directly attributing the decline in ED funding to an ever growing demand on property owners to fill those education budget shortfalls. These are resulting in taxpayer protests, high foreclosure rates, and statewide teacher layoffs. Layoffs that work to create even more of a downward spiral, because cities work hard to find those teachers that qualify under the NCLB law only to later put the ED funding and students in jeopardy by contributing to the very factors that cause students to fail; their good teachers to be layed off.

NCLB was revised in 2007 and those changes are still uncertain as to whether or not anything will improve. But in the meantime Connecticut is not alone in this issue because many other states are following CT in their pursuit of a fair law that balances the education budget with taxpayers ability to pay. Education in Connecticut has also been further complicated with more legal mandates from Sheff Vs. O'Neill, and all its associated expensive educational mandates.

Advocates of NCLB have pointed out that since the inception of NCLB many student scores have improved, and these are some of the results according to Wikipedia.

Improved test scores (NAEP)

The Department of Education points to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results, released in July 2005, showing improved student achievement in reading and math:[12]

-More progress was made by nine-year-olds in reading in the last five years than in the previous 28 years combined.

-America's nine-year-olds posted the best scores in reading (since 1971) and math (since 1973) in the history of the report.

-America's 13-year-olds earned the highest math scores the test ever recorded.

-Reading and math scores for African American and Hispanic nine-year-olds reached an all-time high.

-Achievement gaps in reading and math between white and African American nine-year-olds and between white and Hispanic nine-year-olds are at an all-time low.

-Forty-three states and the District of Columbia either improved academically or held steady in all categories (fourth- and eighth-grade reading and fourth- and eighth-grade math).

Further reference from the American Conservative:


One last point to this article is that every parent can help our local school budget by getting involved with the school and learning how they can work with their children to improve our towns NAEP test scores. This is the best we can do since our law suit challenging NCLB has been dismissed.

Taxpayers Vs. Cost Of Education

There is a squabble going on in town over the cost of education, inflation, and the restoration of missing money from the school system that left many teachers, students, and residents, disappointed with the 2009 budget.

Last election the taxpayers, elected a board of Alderman, that promised to keep our town taxes low, while teachers were surprised when the budget fell short a couple of million dollars. The new Superintendent, Harvey Polansky said to the Board of Alderman to "restore the funds" and that he did not take the new job of superintendent to "dismantle the school system." On the other hand Edward Tamas a local Milford native, has spearheaded a taxpayer group that told the Board Of Alderman that if they give Polansky what he is demanding than he will lead a "Recall" mission to hold the Alderman at their word... keeping our property taxes affordable.

The entire situation has only become more challenging, as towns and municipalities all over connecticut are desperately seeking money to fix gaps in their budgets limiting what the state can offer in aid. New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, you name it virtually every city is struggling, unless it be lower fairfield county and then things get at the very least "Rosier" for those towns that were able to maintain quality education with a low mill rate relative to their expensive real estate.

According to the CT Post "aldermanic Leaders do not feel threatened by the potential recall, said Minority Leader Vincent Ditchkus Jr., R-3. (referring to Tamas) It's his right to seek it, but a recall is not an easy process. And a special election would cost money. Has he thought of that?"

The energy and emotions are running hot as the blog boards show a very divisive battle over the town budget, petitions with thousands of signatures have been circulating to everyone including Milford's mayor Richetelli. Our leaders, most notably Jim Amann has resigned under a cloud of suspicion citing that he wants to focus on becomming Connecticuts next governor, a job that in the wake of Rell's high approval rating is a "longshot at best."

Rocco J. Frank Jr. a candidate for Jim Amman's seat said two things about the sad situation at city hall, he said "that the alderman and Amann "painted themselves into a corner" had Jim delivered the educational funds to Milford's schools like he did for St. Mary's Catholic school, and other pet projects, we would not have this mess on our hands. I believe that Jim understood how this mess could backfire on him, I believe he resigned to spare himself any potential embarrassment."

Frank also said that at this point "Milford should learn from this horrible mistake and setup a local "rainy day fund" so no more teachers ever have to be subjected to this kind of humiliation from the town Democrats and Republicans." Frank also said that successful towns do not diminish their school systems and neither should Milford.

Photo Above, of the now resigned Amann propping up his choice of a candidate, Former Miss Ct. a 25 year old recently unemployed airline stewardess.

What Is Killing American's

Over the last several years I have taken part in watching countless documentaries on everything from Genetically engineered foods to the casualties caused by fast food and the tobacco industry. In todays blog I decided to compile some statistics for everyone to see. This is because we all know that there are greedy profiteers out there that will feed us and sell us anything for a buck regardless of the impact it has on our lives.

Most people being naive, believe the claims made by these big industries, who despite the facts have told us their products are safe, wonderful, and urged you to become part of the growing trend. As you watch every cheeseburger, cheap foreign product, medicine and widget come across your television to the tune of about 20-30 commercials per hour, your mind is being shaped for the benefit of the big corporations who care not a damm about anything other than selling you.

The way these companies sell you is by making their products as delicious, and addictive as possible. The aim is to keep you coming back again and again as a customer until eventually over a prolonged exposure to the plethora of health damaging products lands you sick in a hospital. The big corporations do not care about your health, but rather their bottom line... how much have they sold and how much money is there in profit. In summary they get rich, you get indebted, jobless, sick and then prematurely die, hopefully this helps you get the picture.

Something to think about while you are at home (fat and in debt), watching a foreign made T.V. with a bag of fast food on your lap.

A: Tobacco Products Kill Apx. 500,000 people every 364 Days.

B: Obesity Related Deaths Apx. 400,000 people every 364 Days.

C: American's Owe Apx. 1,000,000,000,000.00 On their Credit cards alone.

D: There are 250,000 new cases of Diabetes each year 8 Million may have it already.

E: The average Kid watches T.V. 24 hours a week.

F: America Lost Apx. 3 Million Jobs overseas.

G: Nutrasweet Discovered To Cause Brain Cancer.

H: Apx 60% Of All Marriages Ended In Divorce.

And the biggest of them all, last year the American dream of owning a home resulted in foreclosures jumping upward to a 75% increase.

America is now in your hands, this country can only be saved from the bottom up. And in the words of a famous other. "Seek to become the change you want to see in the world."

To learn more about this epidemic, read Peter Strupp's hilarious book. Fat Dumb And Ugly

Sheff v. O'Neill CT's Being Sued Again

The NAACP has said that the state of Connecticut has been given nearly a decade to desegregate the Hartford School system, and like schools that are racially imbalanced. The imbalances according to experts are largely due to socioeconomic factors of urbanization, industry investment, real estate policy, pay inequity, and the unspoken policy and practice of race evasion by the private sector.

There is no doubt that the NAACP case has merit and Connecticut has been slow to respond. They have been so slow that as of November a sleuth of subpoenas landed our states top brass back in court.

One person in particular questioned by Ralph Urban Esq. the NAACP attorney is Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management Robert Genuario. Genuario is an attorney and state senator from Norwalk CT who was appointed to his post by Gov. Rell. Mr. Genuario was being questioned regarding the progress made by the state of CT in its construction and implementation of 7 magnet schools in the Hartford area.

Secretary Genuario indicated that he participated in meetings to address the legal mandates regarding Sheff v. O'Neill he indicated that the state legislature did not approve as much funding as he hoped but did succeed in getting almost one half of the total requirements put through. He also cited collusion of power between the competing branches of government that made the implementation of the court order an arduous task.

The secretary feels that the main problem with full compliance with the Federal Court Order is the overall cost of implementing it. School construction is very expensive and over half of our state bonding debt, now 14.5 Billion, is tied up in school construction projects. This debt is the equivalent of $15,000.00 for every man, woman, and child in CT and consumes 11 Cents of every tax dollar in interest.

His message to the NAACP is that CT, now having the third highest bonding debt in America, simply cannot afford to rapidly build the schools demanded by the court order. Under the current pressures they are doing the best they can without incurring any additional bonding debt. To do so is to potentially destroy the states credit rating making an already bad financial situation even worse.

This case is still ongoing in Hartford superior court, and as a matter of opinion I can certainly agree that education is a desperate situation not only in CT but everywhere. I spent some time reading up on this issue of race inequity and segregation and have come to the conclusion that this issue is enormous and will require the resources of every school in the state if it is to be fixed.

My personal opinion has always been that the best way to desegregate our schools, and to improve education is to get the support of our major colleges and universities. To cut the cost of education to our state, and improve the resources available to low income inner city students, state, local, and private universities should be encouraged to open their doors to state funding to build and expand their campuses to encourage magnet school integration and resource sharing.

The very merger of High School and college in poor inner cities can potentially present envious opportunities for children who are not currently being properly educated. It will also put experienced educators and business managers in charge of education funding and tax dollar allocation.

The state already spends hundreds of millions doing a job that it has yet to be successful at. My personal belief is, that an inner city high school, for example, located on the campus of Yale University would be praised and supported by the highest and brightest levels of government at all levels, including some of the brightest students in the world at the disposal of teachers. This is just one of my "out of the box" innovative thoughts. While I must admit I am no expert on this issue, it certainly is a worthy proposal and possible solution to a decade old problem.

The question remains however, do the universities want to go into the business of educating younger students with state and local tax dollars. I personally feel that this should be explored.