Two New Things

[oldetowne]

1. I didn't see it at first, but there was an article in the paper maybe Friday or Saturday that said Porter & Chester was moving from its place on the Silas Deane to Rocky Hill.

2. The public safety radio system issue that I asked about recently appears to be unrelated to construction at the town hall. Instead, it appears to be related to grossly negligent service by Motorola. You know, the same Motorola that we HAD to have at the cost of millions? The same one that we are suing on one hand and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to on the other? Let's just hope that the back up batteries are working when any of us has a police or medical emergency.

[RGarrey]

I saw the article regarding Porter Chester. They are moving to the old Ames building in Rocky Hill. They say that the need for more space was the reason. My question is, did anyone on the Town Staff or on the EDIC know that they were looking, if so what steps were taken to try to keep them in Wethersfield? If no one knew then then maybe we should work at ways to find out what our businesses needs are. I don't mean more surveys or visits but maybe working with Real Estate Agents to find out if a business is inquiring about relocating.

As far as the Radio system, that has been a major problem since the planning stages. Motorola should have been removed a long time ago. I don't understand why Wethersfield, as well as many municipalities and state agencies seem to accept poor workmanship, poor service, construction delays, etc. without removing the vendor and or seeking restitution.

I am thinking of the skate park as an example. The day of the grand opening water was coming up through the concrete. The water still comes up during wet periods and the concrete is breaking up at that point. Was the contractor told about this, was money held back in case of problems such as this. When will politicians and municipal leaders start realizing that the money they are spending is coming out of our pockets and theirs and start acting the same way they would if that contractor or vendor performed that level of service at their own house.

[morganika]

"I saw the article regarding Porter Chester. They are moving to the old Ames building in Rocky Hill. They say that the need for more space was the reason. My question is, did anyone on the Town Staff or on the EDIC know that they were looking, if so what steps were taken to try to keep them in Wethersfield? If no one knew then then maybe we should work at ways to find out what our businesses needs are. I don't mean more surveys or visits but maybe working with Real Estate Agents to find out if a business is inquiring about relocating."

I thought the same thing myself. It would have been nice for the tax base to keep them here.

"As far as the Radio system, that has been a major problem since the planning stages. Motorola should have been removed a long time ago. I don't understand why Wethersfield, as well as many municipalities and state agencies seem to accept poor workmanship, poor service, construction delays, etc. without removing the vendor and or seeking restitution. "

I think no one cares because it's not "their" money. Tax, spend, tax, spend, who cares! I'm CAREFUL with spending our households money. I do research, follow up, etc. Does anyone on the town level do this?

[SyZyGy]

rgarrey said:

I don't understand why Wethersfield, as well as many municipalities and state agencies seem to accept poor workmanship, poor service, construction delays, etc. without removing the vendor and or seeking restitution.

Another gripe:

Lousy workmanship in the last repaving of Silas Deane Highway!

If memory serves me, the Town has asked the DOT to NOT repave the majority of Silas Deane because of the Town's plan to reconfigure the Highway one or two years ago, even though the DOT says that the SDH "needs" repaving.

Does it really need repaving and if so why?

Take a look: the seams between each run of asphalt are the most glaring defect - real a s s f a u l t s! Why is that? The shoddy workmanship by the contractor who paved the Highway. This is a classical example of planned obsolescence! Shoddy workmanship means that the contractor (and probably their Unionized laborers) get more frequent opportunities to do their shoddy work again!

And the Town puts up with this! The Dem's who control the state government (NOT the governor despite the BS which DeStephano was spouting last nite) tolerates this - if not encourage it!

Who pays for it! The taxpayers - you, me and the rest of the powerless or clueless schmoes.

[mocmoc]

Why are we losing a good taxpayer to Rocky Hill? Didn't anybody try and stop it? Russ? Bonnie? What about our State Senator or State Reps? Anybody watching out for us?

[standish]

This is an opportunity for EDIC and the Silas Deane Highway Committees to really do something for the town. Let's see them reverse the downhill trend to "Dollar" and "Rental" stores at the north end of this critical Highway with something that brings us up-market. If we have all of these groups purportedly working on behalf of the town, let them prove their merit. Time to actively recruit!