Open forum 12/21
I doubt I'll be posting much this weekend... need to go knock on some doors for Ron Paul in NH! And as a reminder... please tell your friends to check out my favorite Ob Gyn turned Presidential aspirant this Sunday on Meet the Press with Tim Russert. He'll be on for the full hour.
The NHRs Luther Turmelle reported on the WPCAs proposed user fee. I don't have a link, but the basic idea is that they want more time and have ruled out a user fee for this year.
Does anyone know who paid for "CheshireSmartGrowth" ad in the Herald? I haven't heard... although I haven't asked anyone either. I think those ads run between $500-1,000... hence the reason I didn't run any during the recent campaign!
I haven't seen many headlines about Senator Big Boy... er, uh... Tom Gaffey lately. I still think Rennie had a point though about receipts, payments and putting it all out there to help restore public confidence.
The Town Hall had its annual Christmas Party. I couldn't make it. But it's usually a nice affair with many town employees turning out for the breakfast.
I believe the Historical Society is having it's Christmas Party this Sunday (2-4pm??) at the house on the Green. I'm pretty sure it's open to the public... and it's always nice. So if you have time, you may want to stop by.
The UV system has been installed at the pool.
What else is happening?
Tim White
61 comments:
"who paid"
Probably a lot of people who are fed up with the control that the developers have on elected and other town officials. Instead of serving the people of Cheshire, too many people serve the developers, their own interests or their party bosses.
It's a shame that people have to resort to taking out ads to point out the truth and to voice their opposition to this plan that will change Cheshire to a mere part of the commercial sprawl. If you want to know what Cheshire will look like, just drive up route 10 through Southington.
It seems that the local newspapers follow the dictates of their advertisers, not only the realtors, and serve their own self interests instead of reporting the truth. They have forgotten that it's the readership that advertisers pay for and without reader, there is no advertising.
I think it's good whenever anyone gets involved in the political process.
But anonymity diminishes credibility. And conversely, identity enhances credibility.
I know it can be difficult at times, but remember these words...
WHEN in the Course of human Events...
WE hold these Truths to be self-evident...
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
combining those words with the first signature (which was also unusually large)... and a cliche was born...
Put your John Hancock right there.
And how could the cliche not be born? To consider giving your life and your fortune would be difficult... but to give your honor? And at the time, their actions were treasonous. So it really was his "honor" on the line. To me, I can't imagine a more powerful statement in the world.
Anyway...
He's gone down in history as one of the greats... because he put his name to it.
Don't get me wrong... saying something anonymously can be better than saying nothing. But putting your name to it is best and, IMO, can increase credibility and support for whatever your raison d'etre.
Maybe Santa is paying??? Ho Ho Ho.
If 1000 people gave one dollar then It would be difficult to list all the names.
The support is widespread and growing. More and more people in Cheshire are beginning to see through the bill of goods W/S is trying to sell
Cheshire residents have been slow in picking up on this, everyone has their jobs, children and life in general to worry about. I have a strong suspicion that the sleeping are now beginning to wake up, hopefully it isn't too late. You can see by the amount of opposition leters in the Herald each week that the numbers are steadily growing.
No one "has" to pay for ads to get their voices heard. The letters to the editor pages have been filled with people against the mall and also those that think it's a good thing. These same people could also
voice their concerns to their elected officials by attending public hearings and writing letters directly to these same public officials.
Who is serving the developers and their party bosses?
Truthfully I don't think most people care one way or another, because it's way up on RT 10.
The letters to the editor have been 3 to 1 in opposition to this project. As far as attending public meetings - who wants to stand up at 2AM to be heard. If you listen to the replay of the last P&Z meeting only 3 people spoke in favor all the rest were against or voiced concerns. If our public officials, as you say, are really listening then they should take this into consideration. The only problem is too many people in this town are going to make out very well financially with the zoning changes for this project to be looked at closely & fairly. As far as noone caring because its in the North End, wait and see what the traffic mess is going to be to the rest of the town, what the financial impact is "really" going to be and last but not least the environmental impact.
Anon 10:09 The last time I looked the people in the North End pay taxes just like everyone else in town and have voiced their concerns. Obviously you have not paid attention. One time a women got so angry watching one P&Z meeting at home that she came out to speak and voice her concerns regarding traffic. She has lived in the north end all her life. Ask her if she cares.... How would you feel if this was proposed in your area and other residents couldn't cared less. Were all Cheshire residents and should try to make this a better town for ALL - North, South, East and West.
"we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
"Put your John Hancock right there."
It would be nice if everyone posted their name, but for some it could result in anonymous attacks, loss of business, and other personal and financial costs.
Why don't developers use their own names when they post to this board, or identify themselves when they develop property, or ask the town, state or federal govt for favors or money. Why do they like to hide behind lawyers and LLC's.
When the owners of the 107 arces of the North End sought government grants did they personally apply? They got about $275,000 for all the work the town did. Did anyone on the council mention Paul Bowman, Doug Calcagni's or Frank DiNatali's name? No the the council and town manager only referred to the owners of the 107 acres as "The Owners" and the meetings on remediation costs were held behind closed doors. Why didn't the owners step forward in the light of day and discuss the situation during public hearings. Why didn't they go to any of the public hearings. Why haven't they personally come out in the open and tell us why the mall and housing is such a good thing and that they won't be the residential developers.
Why didn't the Cheshire Herald interview them directly and why didn't the Herald identify the owners by name and always referred to them as the owners.
anon 1:46
What's the difference...everyone seems to know who the owners are.
The emergency was not created by these landowners and the threats to public safety went well beyond the these owners property lines, hence the emergency meeting and resulting actions being authorized and undertaken. The parties involved included the state, the town and the owners.
"The parties involved included the state, the town and the owners."
You forgot the Federal govt. So why didn't they have the emergency meetings as public meetings. According to all the No Trespassing signs around this property, it looks like private property and with ownership comes responsibility for maintaining it so that innocent people are not injured. They should have fixed the problems without a single cent of taxpayer money. If so many people know they own it, why do you still call them the owners.
This was welfare for the rich and a waste of our taxes.
By the way, are you an owner or just working for an owner?
This lifestyle center is going to be a good thing for our town.
The shoppes and housing and the great entertainment
This is going to be good for the tax base too
Most of the citizens want this
they support it
3:33
I am an owner of some things but not the property in question. That has other owners. I believe you are probably an owner of a few things too. Come to think of it I do have a mortgage so I'm in bed with a banker. I do get to deduct the interest expense from my tax return along with other things including property taxes, charitible contributions, etc. How do you like that...a lot of us get some benefits in this tax & spend world citizen welfare state of ours.
I really don't want to see the north end developed with malls. I think it will really change the "feel" of our town. My "vision" for Cheshire is different than the developers and many in town government for that matter but I think your argument is pretty light headed and conspiracy theory laced. It makes you sound jealous and foolish.
Be honest...you think its a lousy project for our town as I do. Forget the other crap and just whine with rest of us.
Tim...why on earth will you be messing with peoples heads on behalf of Ron Paul when Christmas cheer and sugerplums are supposed to be dancing in their heads not fruitloops and kooks.
Have A Merry Christmas!
I have to laugh when I hear people talking about great restaurants and entertainment. What entertainment? There was originally plans for an amphitheater which has since been scraped and a movie complex - This is great entertainment? As far as restaurants maybe a Ruby Tuesdays or an Applebees if were lucky - this is great dinning? We don't even know what kind of stores will be there. The developer has no idea until someone expresses an interest. I agree with everyone who says this will change the makup of Cheshire and not for the better. As to the argument of increasing our tax base - when all the extra costs are brought out into the open for fire, police, schools even that argument has plenty of holes. The issues of traffic and polution are just added fuel for the fire.
Things are really looking up
New shopping in the north end
Our town is getting better every year
the shoppes at Cheshire will really add to the town
welcome them to our town-lets be very neighborly
If I were reaching out to voters, I wouldn't be doing it on the weekend before Christmas. I'd think many or most would be turned off or distracted.
I can't believe that the owners of this property would stoop so low as to have to sign their own petition of support for the mall and to also get otheir families, relatives, and employees to sign.
And it is obvious that people were encourageed to signing the names of other family members.
How can anyone trust these people, who try to trick the public into thinking there is real support of the mall? From the very start, W/S and their supporters have gone out of their way to decieve the public.
In their latest attempt to trick people into believing there is support from people without a financial interest, they presented a petition with 150 signatures to P&Z on Nov 26. A review of of this petition found the following signatures.
The results are;
B BOWMAN 11
C CALCAGNI 5
D DINATALI 6
CR CALCAGNI REALTOR 18
FALSE SIGNATURES 14 (someone else signing)
TOTAL OUT OF 150 SIGNATURES 54 of the signatures should make people ask, who supports this?
To see the petition go to
http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/
The lifestyle center will be a big change but a good change for our great town.
it may take a wile to get used to but it will be good in the long term
I support the WS Development. Cheshire is no longer the quaint,little town that people pretend it is. It will be nice to have a place to go to. Something will eventually be developed there, why not this? Years back everyone wanted the Apple Valley Mall up there, what's the difference now.
And I'm not associated with Calcagni, Bowman etc. Also, by the way, don't they all live in town? They pay a heck of a lot more taxes than most.Why shouldn't they sign the petiton and support the project. This is America you know.
There is a lot more support for this project than you think there is.
The north end will be great around Christmas time with all the sights and sounds of the season. Great places to shop and eat.
seems like a good deal for all
Cheshire will still be a great little town-only with a better place to shop and more taxes coming to the town
Today is a great day to shop. Outdoors???
Just so all understand, the taxes the Town will receive is from property only not sales. So all the shopping and support of the stores through sales has zero benefit to the Town. Long gone are taxes on inventory.
Looks like the caveMAn is at it again. Several of the short spams, above, with ringing endorsements for the proposed NE lifestyle center, shoppes, housing, etc. sure sound like him.
Seriously, someone should investigate if he doesn't have some personal interest in this development. Sure smells like it.
we can have great shooppes and a great town
There he goes again.
Roses are red,
violets are blue,
the Attorney General
should investigate you.
Can this development be put out to referendum?
Do you support the change in zoning for Cheshire's north end to allow for commercial development?
Even if it is to gauge public support/opposition, the powers that be can vote the will of the voters.
There are many shops that would be great in Cheshire
Our great town would benefit
Imagine the christmas spirit in the north end with fellow citizens meeting there to exchange warm greetings and good cheer
"ringing endorsements for the proposed NE lifestyle center"
It's not a life style center, it's a mall and nothing more, and it is the cheapest type of mall to build.
The ringing endorsements are all from the same few individuals who care more about their wallet than the town or their neighbors.
The only show of support that this mall and apartments has is from the local developers, and W/S. Their latest petition shows that they can't get support, so they have to sign the petition themselves, get their families and employees to sign and tell people that they can sign for someone else. How many more people signing their petition are relatives or employee?
Not only did they have their employees signing they had them go to the P&Z meetings, wear their "YES" buttons and then for extra credit some told the P&Z how bad our current restaurants and resident owned shops were and that Cheshire really needed national chain stores of a W/S mall, even though nobody knows even one of the stores that stores would be there. It was so sad to hear them say that they have to leave Cheshire to do their shopping.
Their is more to life than shopping and a few national fast food chains. For the love of money, they are going to pave over this beautiful 107 acres of enviromentally sensitive wildlife habitat.
See who you know on their petition, go to
http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/
We can all get along just fine
It is going to be great if the north end goes through
No reason to be sad
we have a great town and it will still be a great town
Your crystal ball and mine must be different.
12:19 above says,
"We can all get along just fine
It is going to be great if the north end goes through
No reason to be sad"
Sounds like the dentist saying, "this isn't going to hurt a bit."
Come to think of it, I'd rather have root canal than this sprawl that will mess up our town.
It's going to be great for the developers, actually the spoilers, and all the others that feed off the selling of the Cheshire school system.
If all four quadrants of the NE are developed, Cheshire can expect up to 400 or more students.
Don't doubt it! There is not one adjacent town that comes close to the high level of Cheshire's schools. This is nothing new, people have been moving here for years so that their children can get a better education.
Great town
Great schools
Great surplus
Great shopping to come
Hey Matt A
It's hard to believe you're such a cheerleader for NE sprawl for purely altruistic reasons. Like someone said, it smells funny.
Its going to be great
Our town is going to get better and better
"It's going to be great,
Our town is going to get better and better"
translation:
"You're feeling relaxed,
you're getting sleepier and sleepier..."
the uv system at the pool
Good things are happening
Lets stay postive here
Good things are happening in this Town. So why do we need two parties who can do and say whatever they want? By the way they ( NEVER PAID OR PAY TAXES TO THE TOWN OF CHESHIRE). Something does not make sense to me... We should of never change our zone text.
"Great town
Great schools"
So why destroy it with this commercial sprawl. Life is good now. Let's keep it that way and kick the developers out of our town government. They don't care what happens to this town so long as they can stuff their pockets with money. There is very ittle support for the mall and even less for the apartments. Don't believe the bull that Justin Adinalfi has been constantly shoveling, and all his stupid postings. His last pitiful attempt to show that the mall had support was a total failure. His 150 signature petition shows that the limited support for the mall is mostly from the very people that will profit from it, and profit they will.
See Justin's his latest petition and you will understand that this is just another atempt to mislead the public. Go to the following link. Get the truth not the bull.
http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/
a great town can have good schools and good retail and an excellent quality of life
Keep a positive attitude
No need to be glum chum
It will all work out for the better
The prophet has spoken again.
"Keep a positive attitude
No need to be glum chum
It will all work out for the better"
Translation:
"Just take happy drugs
and you can ignore all the problems
we're foisting on you.
It will work out for the better
($$$$ for me and my friends)"
LOCAL DEVELOPERS WANT THE HOUSING NOT W/S.
W/S does not have any housing in any of their other malls and has said so many times that housing wasn't important to them. Believe them when they say they are not interested in the housing.
Remember a number of years ago that Paul Bowman wanted to put up 200 rental units off East Johnson and when he was turned down, he took the town to court. Hard to believe that an ex-council person would take the town to court because he didn't like it's decision, but he did and he lost because the property was zoned industrial. Now a few year later, W/S requests a zone change to the interchange zone to include housing. Isn't it odd that W/S, in their text change request, included housing in the zone even though they are not interested in the housing. The current owners of the property, Paul Bowman, Frank DiNatali and Doug Calcagni do have interests in residential.
Why did W/S ask to have "The Town Plan of Conservation and Development" changed to include residentialif they were never interested in building or renting residential? The changed town plan now makes it so much easier to build residential in all of Cheshire's existing commercial zones. This was a big win for local developers.
W/S doesn't do residential, period.
You figure it out. Who do you think really wants to build the 160apartments, and it will be apartments, not condos?
How can the WPCA approve anything when there are so many unresolved issues?
Exactly where will the lines from this huge development run?
How many gallons of waste will the retail, hotel, physical fitness and mall generate at peak periods not just on average. Metcalf engineers found the estimates given by W/S were low. All of W/S's estimates are low just and based on getting approvals, not on reality.
Is there going to be a swimming pool and hottubs? Where will the waste water from these chlorinated source go? Chlorine kills essential microbes in the plant.
Where will the pumping station be located and who will own and maintain it?
How can the WPCA grant approval of this massive project when the plant is so near to capacity and while others in town have been denied connection due to capacity issues?
How can more information be given to the WPCA when public hearings are closed? Why can developers continue to provide information outside of a public hearing while the public has been silenced.
It's time to reject the application. As a homeowner, I am not allowed to proceed until all the questions have been answered, so why do developers get special treatment.
Lets all hope that the year 2008 will be a healthy and happy year for all cheshire citizens
Lets all pull together and help eachother in the spirit of the good old US of A
Three cheers
To: Dec 26 3:16pm
"There is not one adjacent town that comes close to the high level of Cheshire's schools."
Actually, I think most people would say that the Amity Regional School system ranks as high or higher:
CAPT %age meeting state goal
Amity 49.5%
Cheshire 49.0%
SAT average
Amity 552 Math 544 Verbal
Cheshire 548 Math 534 Verbal
source: www.csde.state.ct.us
WPCA and other boards will approve this application but it's going to end up in the courts. We (Cheshire) gave away our protection when we changed the "ZONE TEXT". So we could argue all we want but others(not Cheshire elected officials) will make the decision that can change Cheshire forever be it good or bad. We the citizens screwed up.
There should be a mechanism by which citizens can put P&Z decisions to a referendum, and potentially override those decisions.
There is alot more good that is going on in our great town
Let us celebrate the good things
We have alot to be thankful for
"There is alot more good that is going on in our great town
Let us celebrate the good things
We have alot to be thankful for"
Translation:
"Pay no attention to that little man
behind the curtain."
It is sad when a postive message has to have a cold towel thrown over it
Ignore the negative people and look at the positive side
They may try to distract but the positive forces in life will overcome
"Ignore the negative people and look at the positive side
They may try to distract but the positive forces in life will overcome"
Translation:
"Ignore the overwhelming of town services, schools, and traffic that will result from Northend sprawl.
The positive forces (ie: $$$ developers and their friends) will overcome."
"Amity Regional School system ranks as high or higher:"
Evidently you have a reading comprehension problem. Read my comment again. I said, "towns adjacent" to Cheshire, Meriden, Waterbury, Wallingford, Hamden, Southington, and Prospect. Why did you avoid these? Look these up. If you lived in these towns, you would definitely want your kids in Cheshire's school system.
You know they are selling the Cheshire school system for their personal gain. We can expect 400 or more kids. Remember we are not talking just 107 acres, there's another 3 quadrants, not to mention the fact that the text change to the town plan includes residential in all the other commercial zones of the town and all the developers have to do is to request a zone change. The local boys won big at the expense of everyone else.
http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/
We have many reasons to be thankful
Great people in our town
Great school system
Well run government and low taxes
Good retail coming along
The future looks bright
Tranlaltion:
We have many reasons to be thankful
Great people in our town
Great school system
Well run government and low taxes
Good retail coming along
The future looks bright
We have many reasons to be thankful
Great people in our town
Great school system
Well run government and low taxes
Good retail coming along
The future looks bright
Tranlaltion:
We have many reasons to be thankful
Great people in our town
Great school system
Well run government and low taxes
Good retail coming along
The future looks bright
TRANSLATION:
Just ignore the facts that this sprawl will overwhelm the school system and government services, that everyone's taxes will increase, and that Rte.10 will be gridlocked.
My $$$friends and I have many reasons to be thankful. The future looks bright indeed for us. Too bad for the rest of you suckers.
To December 29, 2007 12:32:00 AM
source: www.csde.state.ct.us
The source link that you posted is not open to the public. By your access to this site, you must be in education, and possibly even on the council.
Why did you go searching for a school system equal or better than Cheshire? It seems that you just want to defuse any information which might show that a major reason people have to move to Cheshire is for the school system.
Matt Altieri is the only educator on the council. He doesn't do a good job of staying anonymous, as he often gives himself away in subtle and not so subtle ways.
What I want to know is, why has he been pushing the NE plan so persistently on this blog? It's hard to believe he's just being altruistic for the town. Does he have some personal interest in this scheme?
Happy new year to all
We have a great town here
A great 08 is on the way
To Dec 30 4:29PM
Obviously, you have a geography problem. Bethany IS adjacent to Cheshire and is part of the Amity Regional system.
To Dec 30 5:44pm
I only "went searching" for the information because a previous poster stated that the CPS system was superior to all those in adjacent towns. I just wanted to point out that there are other good school systems out there. Cheshire hardly has a monopoly on good schools--although most real estate agents want us to think so.
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