Milford Sets Snowfall Record!

The storm news came to me, like most people it was background news. Yesterday we saw the snow start to fall and after I left work around 2:00P.M. the wife and I stopped by the Milford mall for some last minute shopping. When we arrived the shop owners already started clearing out, and after getting some lunch at the food court I was instructed by my server that the Mall was ordered closed at 5 P.M. due to the coming snow storm.

The wife and I called Stop and Shop and we headed there since they were still open, and we did some last minute shopping to shore up our supplies in the event the power went out. Fortunately, and as of today there were no reports of any power losses from my friends and family who live in different parts of town. 

We returned home, and like most people I clutched the remote control and tuned into the local weather stations to get a fix on the coming storm. By all accounts the prevailing theme was that we would have about 12-24 Inches of snow. For the most part this seemed manageable and like some of my neighbors I started shoveling snow early.

The next day when I woke up, to my amazement my entire neighborhood was buried in snow right up to the top of the mailboxes. We had over Three feet of snow, far more than what the weather channels predicted. While I hear several comments all the time about the weather I usually side with those predictions that call for rain only to deliver sunshine with a passing cloud. This time they were way off, overly conservative in their predictions and after recruiting my neighbor to help bail me out I now have snow banks in my driveway that are about Seven feet high.

Thankfully, and I do feel lucky, I had a good friend with a terrific snow blower, and after several hours of hard work I was able to finally leave my driveway. This was shortly after the Governors Driving ban was lifted at around 4:00P.M. today. What I saw while driving around town was an amazing disaster! There were big rig trucks stuck on I95, people walking all over the streets, cars stuck in snow banks that were abandoned, countless homes buried in deep snow and many town roads that were still un-plowed.

On wheelers Farms Rd. I watched a Four Wheel Drive Ford Truck with a plow on it attempt to push a snow bank out of a residential driveway. The snow was deep and thick from the City plow piling snow in front of the driveway and this high horsepower truck stopped dead in its tracks as its wheels spun hopelessly. The job of clearing these homes was getting done, but from what I saw it was among the most challenging endeavors our Plowsmen have come across in a long time. There were, and still are many residents out there who are holding these liberating Plowsmen as the bringers of freedom.

My travels were short, I actually got stuck myself on Cherry Street tonight for a few short minutes, and that was an experience that convinced me I did enough sightseeing for the evening. So I headed home and connected to Facebook. There I saw some of the most historic and amazing photos posted by my friends. I soon learned from news links that CT got hit the hardest in the entire affected area. Milford was the record setting town for snowfall in CT at 38 Inches of snow!

Seems like after two terrible deluges and windstorms in the past 18 Months, Milford now has the honor of adding this latest weather anomaly to its list of challenges. Part of me is starting to think that mother nature is mad at us or something, however I know that is not the case and this is really more about being in the wrong place at the right time.

Today's blog is to immortalize this latest record snowfall, because I do not think we will ever see this much snow drop all once in a very long time. So I included a picture that was made available on FB that best captures what I saw. I would also love to hear any of your experiences and frustrations with Milford's emergency preparedness and your thoughts on the coming weeks forecast predicting more snowfall mid-week.

Photo of the Seven Seas in Milford, CT

Balance Sheet Disaster...Rookie Mayor Ben Blake Raises Milford's Property Taxes Again.

Milford continues to slide down the list of the most heavily taxed cities in CT. Although we are not a Hartford or Bridgeport with Mill rates ranging from 50 to 70, well... all you need to know is that we keep growing Government in Milford, and our Rookie boards, Commissions and Mayor are making the same costly mistakes of their predecessors. With Apx. 73% of the City balance sheet now liabilities (SEE CFR STATS) we can expect "A lot less for a lot More" and if you think I am kidding just compare Milford to our close neighbor right across the Housatonic river. Shelton, a town near Sikorsky Aircraft, has a Mill Rate that is nearly 1/2 of ours. What are our inept leaders doing wrong? Personally I think its absolutely everything, but mostly I believe our reliance on the bad advice of out of town consultants, combined with pressure from local union leaders with a financial interest in Milford is a large part of the problem. To make a case in point one just needs to look at the New Haven Ave. Firehouse constructed at a cost that was five times more than any other auxiliary fire department, however Blake in his experience was convinced by the former Fire Chief that this was a "Good Idea" and voted to appropriate a multi-million dollar initial appropriation of which included hundreds of thousands of dollars for blue prints, all long accusing the Republicans for overspending a few hundred dollars on office chairs. This however pales in comparison to the effect of those forces tapping our local treasury. Blake has made several feeble attempts, or in his words doing his "best" to reject any policy that responsibly abates organized labors dependency on the public financing. The Unions and special interests in Milford have clearly demonstrated they have an inappropriate relationship with our Mayor, and in my opinion their long history of keeping well financed and locally entrenched candidates in key city positions prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.

Truly Challenging years are still ahead, and I think we should go easy on Blake for now. We can hardly blame a person because he tries his "best" and does not get the desired results. Perhaps he is getting bad advice from his staffers, however,  I believe charisma and a sincere effort is less than what the people of Milford deserve. To borrow a phrase from the movie "The Rock" with Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery, I am getting a bit exhausted with the excuse that Blake is doing his "Best""losers always say they are doing their best! Winners court the prom queen!" and Milford has yet to see that from Blake and his latest Tax Hike.

http://www.milfordmirror.com/3419/preliminary-2013-14-budget-would-see-owner-of-typical-home-pay-155-more-in-taxes/

City Balance Sheet Dilemma! Blake Proves Worse Than Richetelli

FACTS DO NOT LIE! Milford Republicans prove themselves as less irresponsible than Milford Democrats. The Graph below demonstrates that when it comes to eroding the city balance Sheet, Mayor Ben Blake has topped all previous records held by the previous kleptocrat Jim Richetelli. The city is not yet bankrupt because we still have more assets than liabilities, but we are well on our way with Blake "the snake." I predicted some years ago that under the present trends the city would be in big trouble around 2014 at the latest, because that is when (under the present trends) Milford would have depleted its entire asset base. Every good accountant will tell you that when you have more Liabilities than assets you have a negative net worth or in other words you are bankrupt. This makes borrowing more difficult and creditors grow concerned about a responsible plan whereby the city can balance not only its budget but its books. This often results in a massive spike in property taxes, credit downgrades and a decline in services. The future of Milford looks bleak with this administration we may want to think about a change come next election. 

To see the graph click the link:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/roccofrank.milfordindependents

Please Sign our Food Safety Petition!

Dear Friends,

With the cost of food skyrocketing, genetically modified (GM) foods are once again being hyped as the way to feed the world. But this is little short of a confidence trick. Far from needing more GM foods, there are urgent reasons why we need to take action to get them labeled and then banned altogether – in order to protect ourselves, our families, our environment, and the poor and hungry in the developing world.

I just signed the petition "STOP GMO: LABELING IS REQUIRED ON ALL FOODS CONTAINING GMO" on Change.org and whitehouse.gov.
It's important. Will you sign it too? Here's the link:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pass-food-safety-gmo-right-know-law/P0FBy2fp

Thanks!

Posts Moved to Facebook

Well folks, we have built a following of over 2,500 friends on Facebook and have began posting there on a great many issues. We invite you to join Facebook and Friend Request us just click the link below or search for Rocco Frank Milford Independents (or click the link) there you can join our discussions on  on many State, Local and National topics.

Milford's Asset Erosion Approaches 70% in 2011

The following graph indicates that the cities assets, when compared to the cities liabilities are continuing to erode. The trend slowed a little in 2011 but still not enough to stem the very troubling pattern of our spendthrift Kleptocracy here in Milford. The numbers speak for themselves, feel free to add your thoughts. (double click image to enlarge.)

Happy Holidays

Still enjoying my break from local politics. After the Holidays I will factually re-assure you this is only a welcome relief for our many Kleptocrats who love to spend your tax money on themselves. The battle will resume, broken promises will be exposed, lies will be revealed and the usurpation of the voters will be voiced.

On my desk I even have a way to help you all fight against kloptocratic leaders in our community. While the plan is a bit aggressive and characterized as extreme by our opponents... well I suppose that should be a sign that it works using all the laws they created for themselves against their wanton greed. Not ready to start that kind of infowar at this stage I still am wishing all the best to Ben Blake and hoping he succeeds in a sound beginning... time will tell. In the meantime kick back, have some eggnog and assemble with your family around your Christmas Tree this can all wait. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and/or every other unnamed celebration you may be partaking in on your days off from work this year.