by | Mar 11, 2011 12:01 pm | Comments (22)
Rev. Sharpton.
As the battle between the mayor and unions heats up, labor is bringing in a heavy hitter: Rev. Al Sharpton. Police union brass has decided not to join this parade.
Continue reading ‘Rev. Al To Rev Up Unions—Minus Cop Leaders’
by | Mar 11, 2011 9:12 am | Comments (34)
Privatizing school custodial services would cut janitor salaries in half, perhaps forcing their families onto food stamps and state-funded health care.
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‘Report: Privatization
Would Impoverish Custodians’
by | Mar 11, 2011 9:05 am | Comments (34)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Wilbur Cross junior Isaiah Lee arrived at a public hearing on the city budget with an armful of textbooks, complete with a message for city lawmakers.
by | Mar 7, 2011 8:25 am | Comments (7)
Uma Ramiah Photo
Pat Wallace.
Yoga and tai chi for seniors topped a list of requests, as city officials pleaded with aldermen for their piece of a shrinking pool of federal block grant money.
by | Mar 4, 2011 9:03 am | Comments (46)
Thomas MacMillan/Melissa Bailey File photos
Alderman Goldson (left) and spokesman Joseph.
With budget cuts forcing libraries to shut their doors on the weekends, one alderman offered a solution: Eliminate the city spokesperson.
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‘Goldson: Library Hours
Trump Spokesman $$’
by | Mar 2, 2011 2:24 pm | Comments (30)
ScottWalker.org/ Independent Photos
Wisconsin’s Walker, New Haven’s DeStefano.
As the mayor braces for a confrontation with union leaders, he asked them to show the “maturity” to distinguish New Haven government’s approach to fiscal crisis from, say, Wisconsin’s. Replied one labor negotiator: There’s no difference.
by | Mar 1, 2011 2:51 pm | Comments (33)
Paul Bass Photo
AFSCME negotiator Kevin Murphy and custodians union President Robert Montuori (foreground) at the mayor’s budget announcement.
(Updated) Parking-meter monetization is dead. Cops are spared more layoffs — for now. The mill rate stays the same. But New Haveners get less from government, and some more tough long-term fights loom, as a result of Mayor John DeStefano’s newly proposed $475 million city budget.
by | Feb 28, 2011 9:02 am | Comments (27)
Neighbors from the Hill were at the library Saturday afternoon learning how to become active citizens by using SeeClickFix. Now, thanks to a city budget crisis, they have a concern they can post on that website: The fact that they can no longer gather at the library on weekends.
Continue reading ‘Saturday? Neighborhood Library’s Now Closed’
by | Feb 22, 2011 10:24 am | Comments (24)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
East Rock’s Engine 8.
When the mayor unveils his proposed budget next week, he might move to retire an East Rock fire engine and replace it with a couple of station wagons.
by | Feb 22, 2011 1:02 am | Comments (14)
Paul Bass File Photo
Economic development officer Richard Yao (pictured), who joined City Hall in 2008, was one of 82 city workers let go Thursday as the mayor sought to close a $5.5 million budget gap this fiscal year.
by | Feb 18, 2011 8:19 am | Comments (44)
Paul Bass Photo
Hundreds of cops were protesting outside his door. Inside, union brass urged him to declare a two-month time-out. Mayor John DeStefano thought about the faces he’d seen on TV of cops about to lose their jobs. He thought: “This is tempting.”
by | Feb 17, 2011 6:41 pm | Comments (19)
Paul Bass Photo
After standing silently by Mayor John DeStefano’s side at a press conference Thursday, Police Chief Frank Limon broke with the official line and denounced how 16 of his cops lost their jobs.
by | Feb 17, 2011 5:44 pm | Comments (38)
New Haven’s long-discussed budget crisis turned into flesh and blood Thursday, as 82 city workers lost their jobs — while the mayor vowed that many more will join them unless union officials get serious about health care and pension reform.
by | Feb 17, 2011 3:25 pm | Comments (21)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Barber and her philodendron.
(Updated 1:37 p.m.) Kristin Barber, a city government disability worker, made an appointment Thursday morning to help a man who was suicidal. Before she could go to meet him, she was called into an office to learn the city has laid her off.
by | Feb 17, 2011 3:00 pm | Comments (98)
Police union head Sgt. Louis Cavaliere.
(Updated) City Hall turned down a last-minute offer from the police union to save 16 cops’ jobs following a raucous march by 200 cops through downtown streets.
Continue reading ‘Last-Minute Negotiations Fail After Cop March’
by | Feb 17, 2011 1:39 pm | Comments (1)
Uma Ramiah Photos
As private social-service agencies gird for block-grant cuts from City Hall, a city official promised that government agencies would not get preferential treatment in dividing up a dwindling pool of money.
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‘Budget Official: City
Won't Play Favorites’
by | Feb 16, 2011 6:42 pm | Comments (20)
Melissa Bailey Photo
(Updated) New Haven and Bridgeport’s mayors joined top state officials on the dais at the state budget address Wednesday for a reason — the governor’s proposal, while it was hard medicine, protected cities and offered unexpected help.
by | Feb 15, 2011 8:21 am | Comments (38)
Sixty teachers and 190 employees in all face layoffs next school year as the district grapples with a $14.6 million budget gap. The challenge, according to the mayor: Find smart cuts that don’t hold back the city’s nascent school reform drive.
by | Feb 14, 2011 5:43 pm | Comments (24)
MacMillan Photo
Union Prez Cavaliere.
In an effort to avoid an unprecedented 16 layoffs, some rank-and-file cops floated a proposal: Everyone work one day unpaid between now and June. It didn’t fly.
by | Feb 9, 2011 7:43 pm | Comments (20)
Christine Stuart Photo
Mayor DeStefano (at left) listens as Gov. Malloy vows.
New Haven’s projected budget gap for the coming fiscal year suddenly dropped from $42 million to $31 million Wednesday after a promise from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
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‘Malloy Slices New Haven's
Budget Gap By A Cool $11M’
by | Feb 8, 2011 6:07 pm | Comments (13)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Hot downtown location. Three-hundred seventy-one spaces. Six stories of concrete. Name your price! But you’d better raise the dough by June 30.
by | Feb 7, 2011 9:29 pm | Comments (48)
Thomas MacMillan Photo
In his annual “State of the City Address,” Mayor John DeStefano warned New Haven to prepare for tough budget decisions, including a first round of government layoffs by the end of the month.
by | Feb 3, 2011 5:36 pm | Comments (13)
Melissa Bailey Photos
“Big bangs & bump-ups”: Tax-base boosters Winstanley & Bolduc.
A big roller on Winchester Avenue and a Haven Street small businessman helped the grand list grow a state-topping 3 percent, cutting next year’s budget gap to $42 million.
by | Feb 1, 2011 8:52 am | Comments (23)
Melissa Bailey Photo
Police union members listened in on the mayor’s pension announcement.
City workers may have to give up cost-of-living increases when they retire in order to avoid “bankrupting” the city with rising pension costs, Mayor John DeStefano declared.
by | Jan 28, 2011 11:59 am | Comments (24)
Top city workers Friday are receiving “longevity payments” for another year despite a mayoral vow to the contrary. But the practice may finally be on its way out, along with a rule that allows assistant police chiefs to retire with pensions nearly $20,000 higher than their salaries.
Continue reading ‘Despite Promise, “Longevity” Bonuses Arrive’