Opponents prevail in self-storage battle

      

        BRIDGEPORT REPORT

     

     By Reginald Johnson 

      BRIDGEPORT ---  A determined effort by local residents to block construction of a 1,000 unit self-storage facility at the old Stop and Shop on Madison Avenue paid off Monday, with the Planning and Zoning Commission rejecting the plan put forth by developer Hugh Scott.

   The panel voted against the proposal 4-2 following a hearing at City Hall attended by more than 30 people, many of them holding up signs expressing opposition to the project.

   Critics said that the self-storage facility was not in keeping with the residential character of the area and they urged that some type of housing be built instead.

  “Put self-storage units somewhere else but not here,” said one resident. “Affordable housing is strongly encouraged.”

  Neighbors in the city’s North End have been fighting the self-storage facility idea since it was first floated earlier this year. A number of scheduled hearings on the proposal were postponed by the developer, triggering more resentment at the project.

 However, Scott ran out of continuances this month and the hearing went forward. Scott maintained that his development would revitalize the site (where the Stop and Shop has sat vacant for 11 years) and self-storage space is badly needed in the Bridgeport area.

                 

North End residents showed up at City Hall Monday to oppose the proposal for a 1,000-unit self-storage facility at the site of the old Stop and Shop on Madison Avenue. The zoning commission voted to reject the plan. (Reginald Johnson photo) 

 

   But the developer got no support for his plan from any residents and city officials also opposed the idea. Thomas Gaudett, deputy chief of staff for Mayor Joseph Ganim, who is running for reelection this year,  testified that while the city is always looking for new development, the administration was against the idea of the self-storage at the Madison Avenue location.

  “We need to do things that are compatible with the neighborhood,” he said, adding that development of housing would be more appropriate.

  Opponents also got support from local city council members, including Michelle Lyons and AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia.

  “This proposal is inconsistent with the surrounding neighborhood,” said Lyons, who strongly urged the development of senior housing, which she said is in short supply.

 Also speaking against the plan were former state representative Chris Caruso and current state representative for the North End, Marcus Brown.

 Gaudett said the city will continue to work with Scott on developing housing at the site, including bringing in state officials to discuss the idea of financial assistance.

 

Protesters slam new housing at Testo's site

     BRIDGEPORT REPORT

     By Reginald Johnson

       BRIDGEPORT --- About 30 people picketed in front of the former Testo’s restaurant on Madison Avenue Sunday demanding that Mayor Joseph Ganim get involved to stop a housing development at the site which residents claim is out of place for the area.

   Under a hot sun the group walked in front of the closed-up restaurant with signs reading  “No to 177 units!” and “Mayor Ganim, Where are You?"

  People driving by honked their horns in approval.

 “We are out here to try and get the mayor to stop this development. It’s going to affect all of us,"  said Bianca, who owns a house on Westfield just across from the former restaurant.  “It’s going to lower the property values for everybody around here and we need our values to stay the way it is,” she added.

 Bianca moved to Bridgeport from New York city three years ago to buy her house and said it was a “rude awakening” when she found out that the restaurant was going to make way for a 177-unit apartment complex.

  “We need our neighborhood to stay a neighborhood,” she said, “and not turn into a commercial area like a city like New York that is overcrowded and overpopulated. We need to have a safe space."

                               

Bianca, who lives on Westfield Avenue, protests the plan for new housing at the former Testo's restaurant. (Reginald Johnson photo)

  Other protesters echoed Bianca’s view, saying that the complex was too big and not fit for the area which is dominated by single-family homes. They complained bitterly that local residents have not been given any say-so in how the development was planned.

  “There’s been no input from the neighborhood,” said one.

                      

North End residents demonstrate against housing at Testo's.

 (Reginald Johnson photo)

  The four-story complex to be constructed by builder John Guedes appears to be a done deal, with zoning approval for the general plan given previously. There don’t seem to be any legal avenues for opponents to block the project.

  However, protesters are hoping that possibly Mayor Ganim, who has remained quiet on the controversial project, will step forward and ask for some modifications to reduce the size of the building.

  “It’s past the Council people.” said Bianca. “The Council already voted on it, so the mayor has to get involved at this point,” she said.

                                          

                                   

Protesters at Testo's. (Reginald Johnson photo)

  The former Testo’s Ristorante at 1775 Madison was a fixture in the North End for decades and also served as a political base for the Democratic Party, with the eatery hosting many fundraisers and election night parties. The restaurant was owned by Mario Testa who was the longtime head of the Democratic Town Committee and a close friend of Ganim. Testa and his relatives closed the restaurant at the end of last year and the apartment plan was announced soon afterwards.

 

Hunter Biden gets off easy

    By Reginald Johnson

          

           Commentary

    

   The slap on the wrist that Hunter Biden got yesterday for serious crimes he's committed is really an outrage.

 Biden was facing tax evasion charges and unlawfully possessing a gun, felony crimes that upon conviction would result in serious jail time. But instead the government offered the President's son a plea bargain that will likely spare him prison time.

 Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanors on the tax fraud and get placed in a cushy "diversion program" on the gun charge. No ordinary person would get this kind of a deal, believe me.

 Meanwhile, the government led by Hunter's father, President Joe Biden, is throwing the kitchen sink, the barn and the garage at former President Trump, trying to convict him of violations of the Presidential Records Act. They’ve hit him with a 37-count indictment.

 Though this is a civil law, prosecutors have twisted Trump's alleged violations into a criminal case, charging him with obstruction and even violations of the fascistic Espionage Act. That’s the law which was used to lock up dissenters during World War I and then in the 1950s to send alleged Soviet collaborators Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair.

   The government also wants the trial schedule on the Trump case speeded up. Throw him in jail NOW! Two-tiered justice? You bet.

 Two side by side headlines on the front page of the New York Times today tells you the story: The one on the left said, "Trial Judge puts Documents Case on Speedy Path." Over the story next to it was the headline: "Hunter Biden Likely to Avoid Prison in Deal." Such is the politicized state of our criminal justice system today.

  Another disturbing aspect of the Hunter Biden case --- which his lawyers are saying is now over --- is that prosecutors so far have not held the younger Biden culpable for his likely influence peddling with countries around the world. Documents recently turned over (reluctantly) by the FBI alleged that Hunter and Joe Biden took millions of dollars in bribes from businessmen in Ukraine, in return for US government favors. There were also claims that Chinese officials may have been funneling improper payments to Hunter Biden.

  The US Attorney in Delaware who has been in charge of the Hunter Biden investigation says the probe is not over, but you have to be skeptical, given the pro-Biden bias that the Department of Justice has shown to date.

 I don’t think there will be any more focus on the bribery claims by the DOJ, and it will be up to the House Oversight committee to continue pursuing the matter. Expect them to be stonewalled by the administration as they move forward.

   

Battle over self-storage facility in Bridgeport

 By Reginald Johnson

  BRIDGEPORT REPORT

 

    BRIDGEPORT --- The fight over whether a 900-unit self-storage facility can be placed in the middle of a residential area in the North End may be coming to a head this Monday night at City Hall.

  The Planning and Zoning commission will meet at 6:15 pm in the City Council chambers at City Hall to discuss the application by Simcove LLC requesting a special permit to build the storage facility at the site of the old Stop & Shop, 2600 Madison Avenue.

  Local residents have been working against the proposal for a number of months but have been frustrated because developer Hugh Scott has repeatedly asked for continuances from the zoning commission and hearings have been delayed.

 However, Planning and Zoning Commission Clerk Gloria Blackwell said Scott is not entitled to any further continuances and the hearing will take place on Monday.

  Scott has maintained that the self-storage facility is the best use for the area and self storage is badly needed in the city.

 But local residents feel the facility is out of place in a residential zone and a much better use of the area would be senior housing.

  Amy Marie Vizzo-Paniccia, a councilwoman who represents the neighborhood, said she thinks the storage facility is not the right fit for the area and likes the idea of senior housing.

 But Paniccia said she’s more worried about the commission granting a zone change through the special permit. “If they do this zoning change, it leaves the door open to anything,” she said.

 

The shuttered Stop and Shop supermarket on Madison Avenue. A developer wants to convert the building into 900 self-storage units.

  Michelle Lyons, the other council member from the area, said people are still determined to fight the project, despite the many delays.

 “People are not giving up, they’re actually getting stronger,” she said.

 The battle over the self-storage facility comes at a time when many residents of the North End are feeling anxious about the future of their neighborhood. Nearby Sacred Heart University in Fairfield has been steadily expanding into Bridgeport, building new facilities southward along Park Avenue. Sacred Heart students are renting houses throughout the North End, in some cases generating complaints about noise.

  Local residents are also worried about how a new housing development will turn out at the site of the old Testo’s restaurant at 1775 Madison Avenue. Builder John Guedes is planning to construct 177 units on the site and many people in the area think the project is too intense.

 However, city officials have already given the green light to the plan and at this stage people appear to be resigned to the construction going through but are hoping somehow to modify it and possibly lessen the density.

 

The New York Times: journalism or public relations?

 

By Reginald Johnson

 

    Commentary

 

   The last few days I’ve headed over to the news stand (there are still a few left) to pick up a New York Times.

  I don’t normally do this, as I’ve grown increasingly disappointed with the quality of the Times’ reporting, both on the domestic side and the foreign policy side.

  But the Times is still considered the standard bearer for American journalism and in the interest of fairness, I wanted to be absolutely sure that the paper was in fact not covering  --- as critics charge --- one of the biggest potential corruption scandals in recent history.

   That story centers on the allegation made by an FBI informant that President Biden, when he was serving as vice president, and his son Hunter, took a total of $10 million worth of bribes from a Ukrainian businessman to get help from the US government in stopping a criminal investigation of his oil and gas firm.

   This story broke last week after the House Oversight committee, which has been investigating wrongdoing by Hunter Biden, was finally able to get the FBI to release a statement by the informant called  a “1023” which, while partially redacted, indicated that the two Bidens had received payments.

  The story exploded further on Monday when U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, got up on the Senate floor and said that he had received information that the Ukrainian businessman had audiotapes of his discussions with the two Bidens about the bribes.

  “According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses 15 audio recordings of phone calls between him and Hunter Biden,” Grassley said. “According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses two audio recordings of phone calls between him and then Vice President Joe Biden,” said a report on Fox News.

  The allegations obviously are shocking and are widely deserving of coverage. Anytime a President or top official in an administration is implicated in potential bribery that is a huge story.

 Yet, except for conservative outlets like Fox News and Newsmax, the electronic media has ignored the claims. That includes CBS News NBC News, ABC News, CNN and MSNBC.

 On the print side, outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post have given the claims strong coverage.

  I wasn’t totally sure whether all the print outlets were ignoring the story, so that’s why I went to check on the Times. Surely, I thought, the Gray Lady, which throughout the decades covered governmental corruption quite well, would give some attention to these new claims, even if they haven’t been verified yet.

                                  

The New York Times building. (Photo, Wikimedia Commons)

 I mean, we’re talking about the President of the United States. What could be more important than that? Bribery is listed as one of the reasons why a President can be impeached, so certainly if a President is implicated in taking illegal payments, it’s paramount that any allegations related to that be checked out by the proper authorities in the government. But they should also be the subject of vigorous inquiry by the press.

 When mayors and governors are implicated in bribery or corruption schemes, that kind of thing is covered avidly by local papers and TV outlets, as it should be.

 Why should a President be any different?

 I must say I was disappointed after my review of the Times. I read three days of the Times, and I found not one reference to the Biden bribery claims.  

   Obviously, the last few days have been dominated by the Trump indictment and all outlets are giving this blanket coverage --- as they should be. This is a massive story --- the first time in US history that a former president has been indicted on federal charges ( he’s already been indicted on state charges in New York) so it deserves a huge amount of coverage. I have no problem with that.

  But the Biden story is big, too. Joe Biden is the current president, not former, and he’s the person who is overseeing the conduct of domestic and foreign policy affecting hundreds of millions of people and public expenditures worth trillions of dollars. If claims about criminality are made against him, that should be the subject of a laser focus by the media, and not just shunted aside.

  The fact that the New York Times --- probably the most widely known media outlet in the world and still one of the most respected --- does not give the story about the Bidens and potential bribery even a mention or a small story in the back pages, is a complete outrage. This is NOT reporting and it is NOT journalism. The Times is shirking its duties as a member of and the leader of the media.

  The press or what is known as the Fourth Estate is supposed to play a critical function in our society. The press traditionally is supposed to act as a “watchdog” against government wrongdoing. Right now, the New York Times and many other media outlets are not acting as that watchdog. Instead, they’re acting more like a guard who’s drunk on duty.

  We don’t know whether the Biden allegations are true. Maybe the informant is not to be trusted. But the point is, this needs to be checked out. The FBI has sat on this story for several years and it took a lot of cajoling and threats of a contempt citation by the House Oversight committee to finally get FBI Director Christopher Ray to release the document prepared by the informant. Then parts of it, apparently those dealing with the audiotapes, were redacted.

  So there’s been some prevarications by the FBI in terms of investigating this issue and that’s also part of the wider story. It’s not just about whether the President and his son took bribes but also whether the agency that is supposed to be ferreting out information about possible criminal misconduct is doing its job. Right now, it doesn’t look like they are.

  The New York Times and much of the rest of the media have to get back on track and report on the basics of news. When officeholders are involved in possible corruption that’s one of those basics and they must report on it. They cannot put something aside simply because somebody is a favored political person and covering that particular person in a negative way might hurt their electoral chances. I hope the Times has not been thinking like this but it kind of looks like they have been.

  If you’re a reporter or journalist with a daily news operation, you MUST cover corruption. If you’re not, you’re not a reporter and you’re not a journalist. It’s really that simple.

  The New York Times has to decide whether they’re still in the news business or whether they’re in public relations. Shame on them if it’s the latter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

JFK's call for peace should be heeded today

    

By Reginald Johnson

        Commentary  

    It's been 60 years since President John F. Kennedy gave the commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C., calling for peaceful coexistence with Russia. The address has been called one of the most important speeches in US history. Here's a brief excerpt:

"What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children --- not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women --- not merely peace in our time but peace for all time."

We can learn from Kennedy's words today. As tensions surrounding the war between Ukraine and Russia mount, it is critical that we find every possible way to bring about a peaceful resolution to this conflict, to avoid the unthinkable. The possibility of nuclear war between the US, which backs Ukraine, and Russia, is not out of the question. As Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia says in an interview about Kennedy's speech and its relevance today, the people who dismiss the possibility of a nuclear war "don't understand the world we live in." Sachs also said that US policies have been "shockingly dangerous" and led to "shocking devastation in Ukraine." Below is the interview with Prof. Sachs:

YOUTUBE.COM

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs on how we can make peace with Russia by learning from JFK's example

Watch the full video here: https://youtube.com/live/wRTx6wq

Sailing for peace

 

By Reginald Johnson

               

   From Hawaii to San Francisco, to cities along the Great Lakes and now to Connecticut and New England, the "Golden Rule"  is spreading the message that the world needs to abolish nuclear weapons.

     The 30-foot sailboat, named after the ethical principle of treating others as you would like to be treated, has logged more than 22,000 miles in recent years as part of an educational campaign by Veterans for Peace aimed at bringing about nuclear disarmament.

    With red sails emblazoned with the peace symbol and the Veterans for Peace logo, the boat also has a black banner on its side which reads, "Ban Nuclear Weapons. Sign the Treaty."

   "We're trying to stop the possibility of nuclear war by educating people about what they can do, " said Helen Jaccard, project manager for the VFP's "Golden Rule Project"  during a stopover by the boat in New Haven last weekend.

  "We talk about the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and passing 'Back from the Brink' measures, which includes, in addition to the treaty, taking away the President's sole authority to launch a nuclear first strike; taking away the $2 trillion nuclear modernization program; and taking nuclear weapons off hair trigger alert."

        

The Golden Rule sail boat at the Long Wharf pier in New Haven. The vessel has traveled 22,000 miles and visited cities and towns throughout the continental US and Hawaii as crew members and others with Veterans for Peace spread the message that nuclear weapons must be abolished. (Photo by Reginald Johnson)

                               

 In New Haven, there were several days of events in connection with the boat's arrival, including a tour of the New Haven Peace Garden, a presentation at the Sound School Festival and a public welcome by city officials and comments by Jaccard, local peace activists and others at Long Wharf Park, where the Golden Rule was docked.

   Over the Memorial Day weekend, the peace boat was in Norwalk.

  Later this week, the Golden Rule will sail up to New London and then it's onto Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine.

   Jaccard said the mission to bring about nuclear disarmament is more urgent than ever, as the United States keeps pumping Ukraine with billions of dollars in military aid to wage a proxy war against Russia. As the war grows more intense, the chances rise of a confrontation between nuclear-armed United States and nuclear-armed Russia.

  Veterans for Peace nationally has criticized the Biden administration's military support for Ukraine and called for a cease-fire and negotiated peace.

   Jaccard said the danger of a nuclear war is as great now as it was during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when a nuclear war between the US and the then Soviet Union was narrowly avoided.

  Commenting on Ukraine, Jaccard said, "Both Russia and the United States have said all options are on the table. You know what that means? Threatening nuclear war."

  The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons bans the production, testing, use and transfer of weapons under international law. The treaty has 42 countries signing on, but not the nuclear-armed countries including the United States, Russia, Britain, France, India and Pakistan.

  Jaccard said some progress is being made to move the needle and get the treaty signed by the US and approve other related measures. She said 5 states have now passed resolutions calling on Congress and the President to sign the treaty.

  "I do see nuclear weapons more at the table of conversation," she said.

  The history of the Golden Rule actually goes back to 1958, when Quaker peace activists (including Albert Bigelow of Cos Cob) sailed the craft to the Marshall Islands in the Pacific to protest US atomic bomb testing. The Coast Guard stopped the vessel and the crew was arrested, prompting an international outcry.

  According to a brochure on the Golden Rule, "rising public awareness of the dangers of radiation led to worldwide demands to stop nuclear testing." Later the US under President Kennedy signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with Russia and the United Kingdom in 1963.

  The boat was used for a number of more years and then fell into disuse in northern California. The boat later sank in a storm in Humboldt Bay. But in 2010, veterans and others decided to salvage the boat and restore it. By 2015, work was completed and and the Golden Rule began making tours.

 One of the speakers at the Long Wharf event gave first-hand testimony about the dangers of atomic bomb testing. Hank Bolden of Cheshire said he was a teen-ager in the Army in 1955 when he and others in his unit were exposed to nuclear fallout during bomb testing in Nevada. Bolden said the Army never warned them in advance that they were going on a mission where atomic bombs were being tested.

                   

Hank Bolden, a Korean War vet and atomic testing survivor, speaks about his experiences. Bolden has endured multiple cancers since he was exposed to radiation from an atomic bomb test in 1955. (Photo by Reginald Johnson)

  "They put soldiers in the path (of the explosion). They wanted to find out how soldiers would react in a nuclear environment," he said. "I was exposed to ionizing radiation so badly that when the bomb dropped, when you held your hands up, you could see the bones in your hand," he said.

  Over the years, Bolden, 86, has endured multiple cancers. He is one of two surviving veterans who were exposed to atomic testing. A number of articles have been written about Bolden and others in the military who were exposed to testing.

  "I invite you to go on the internet and see what you may or may not believe about what the federal government will do to you," Bolden said.

    One of the crew members on the Golden Rule spoke about why he decided to take part in the Veterans for Peace project. Bill Good of Ohio said, "I think this an opportunity to at least bring some awareness, get people thinking of how we can get rid of these nuclear weapons and point out how much of our money and taxes go to fund these weapons and how we can take that money and use it for much better purposes, like education, housing and health care and make a better society."

  

                              

Crew members Captain Kiko Johnston-Kitazawa of Hawaii and Bill Good of Ohio stand next to the Golden Rule.

 (Photo by Reginald Johnson)

     (For more information about the Golden Rule, go to www.VFPGoldenRule.org)