Thing to remember is our Mayor is not even close to the top earner in the city and his pay isnt the burden that many of the union protected jobs are. We could likely fund that 10 million just by getting rid of the unions without cutting anyones pay. Its easy to point fingers & rant, you see it every day here & anyplace these discussions take place. Not so easy to state what needs to be stated & thats that we take care of everyone on the city payroll before we think about our kids. View Comment

How much MORE did Stamford get from the state than Norwalk? The problem isnt we need, as tax payers, to pay more, the problem is big expensive govt & in some ways overpaid city employees. Many of our city employees make much more with much better benefits than private sector counterparts. There are many ways to create funding for education besides raising taxes on already overtaxed property owners. Part of the issue is a large chunk of our children are from homes who dont pay a dime towards that education, yet you want to penalize those of us working hard to pay outrageous taxes? Our kids shouldnt pay for this mess, but if they arent going to then we need to be realistic about the situation. Our city in general costs too much for what we get. Fixing that is, or should be, the focus if we really want to move forward. View Comment

Someones stuttering... Bob is a good guy & I believe he cares. His biggest flaw is hid liberalness. Liberal politics are why we are in the mess we are in and that should be obvious. What the state needs is cuts in spending & downsizing of the state government. That would allow us to reduce our pathetic tax burden which in turn would get the economy moving & jobs happening. We would have plenty of money for our children's education if we cut the size & cost of our state Government. Our system works best & our state and country prospered, with little government intervention & regulation. Thats how we got to the top & the current swing in the other direction, while certainly done with good intent, is obviously how & why we started falling backwards. We shouldnt NEED to beg for money back from the state for education. The fact we do is evidence that the state takes too much & the fact its a regular procedure to beg for it means that both the state & city know they take too much. Let us keep our money & we will take care of our kids. View Comment

I have to wonder if these guys actually use the road or only walk on it. This weekend there was a line in BOTH lanes waiting to get into the beach. Make it a two lane road & people wanting to get to Cove marina are going to be waiting in line behind beach goers. Its almost amusing the way we have the city on one hand promoting the beach & trying to attract more & more people from out of town each year and a few residents on the other hand wanting to turn the only way there into an even smaller road than it is now. I admit traffic is a problem, but making the roads that carry it smaller isnt a very smart answer. Attempting to lessen the traffic is plausible, the road has been fine for decades, but the beach was mostly for use by residents in the past. Turning it into a destination and attraction from people outside of town might just be why theres so much use, I dont really know, but I thing a two lane beach road will do little but create congestion & new problems. Where will these bike lanes end for instance? The City owns the land on the east side of the street from Marvin school all the way to the beach. Putting a pedestrian/bike path off the road on those properties is a much better approach, of course its not free though so has little likelyhood of serious consideration. Another way to lessen traffic is simply stop letting out of towners in or at least stop promoting it and hosting so many events there. View Comment

There were comments in support of him in another article Iona. Rest assured most of us know & appreciate the work these guys do for us. My only comment beyond that is they dont & cant make the world safe. All they can do really is try to catch the criminals after the crime has been commited. That said there are many things we, as citizens can do to make our cities safer. View Comment

Redevelopment seems a loseing proposition in Norwalk. I just hope that all these bigwigs that have in many cases displaced long time norwalk merchants are paying property taxes equal or greater to what was levied before they got involved. If the work doesnt proceed as planned Norwalk should fine them a couple thousand dollars or more a day until it moves forward. Their financial issues are their own & shouldnt be a burden on us. View Comment

Its real easy to sit behind a computer & bash people every day day in & day out. The other accident Tim is talking about wasnt even remotely caused by the pursueing officers & this one wasnt something the Norwalk police even had much choice in. STAMFORD chased them into Norwalk & we helped. The people who sit & criticize our police over this, saying "it wasnt worth a pursuit" should try instead blaming the criminals, maybe saying "it wasnt worth running". I wonder what you guys do for the city, if anything but moan & whine. They dont say much about the robbery, but if I was the victim I'd want him caught and so would Tim & Jane. View Comment

You dont NEED a photo. Like Witherspoon said, if you note the car, time & place they will know who it is and would likely take action. Though we may never hear of it doesnt mean nobody was reprimanded. Besides they arent the ones running people over. I disagree with alot of things around the city, some police related, but as individuals I'v never had any issue with a Norwalk cop. They do their jobs & do them as well as can be expected given the nature of the job. I sure wouldnt want to be picked apart at every turn like they are. View Comment

Why 10 to 5 instead of the regular hours? CT has a very big issue with free enterprise and freedom in general. Why not address the silly unreasonable Sunday hunting ban at the same time? That ban definately costs us alot of money and hurts our attempts at keeping the deer herd under control. Our state needs to recognize that freedom & equality have nothing to do with popularity & often the people against free enterprise or equality have very little grasp on why their views are silly. View Comment

Its a very convoluted thing & one that Duff isnt likely very motivated to tackle. Its my opinion that we shouldnt need state funds. The state really has no funds, its our money, taken by taxation that we need to beg for later if we need it. The answer is a serious reduction in the state taxes & in the size and scope of state government. Let the cities & towns run themselves with the money they raise and provide the level of education they can afford. This "wealth redistribution" is the real issue. Taxes are levied, in theory to run the various governments & they should be kept to a minimum. When we always look to the next level for aid you get what we have here today. Outrageous taxation & poor service. The state now thinks its their money to dole out as they see fit. The simple answer is stop giving it to them. WE need it here. View Comment

Whats your point? How much over budget is the state & nation? How many billions missing? These issues are directly related to our current liberal policies & have little to do with the guy caught holding the bag. View Comment

I agree with him on all points except marijuana. Its obvious by now to anyone paying attention that we waste an aweful lot of money enforceing laws against it. Its not heroin or crack, its not extasy or PCP. Its a plant which even if it has zero medicinal value is much less harmful to society or the individual than alcohol is. Legalizing it would give the blood suckers in Hartford something to tax, it would eliminate the black market and its violence overnight & if regulated like alcohol would probably reduce its use by kids. Drug dealers dont care how old their customers are but legally regulated distributors would. That said Mr. Chiaramonte will very likely get my vote. View Comment

I agree with jrey. Had the city simply been paying attention and enforcing exisinging regulation this would have never happened. Our liberal legislature is always ready to pass new restrictions and regulations, but if they aren't enforced what's the point? View Comment

Whats funny? We NEED to stop electing the same old liberals year after year expecting things to get better. Our legislature has been stacked with Democrats for awhile now & the result is one of the highest taxed state in the nation running a deficit. We are commiting financial suicide by not recognizing failed policy when its stareing us in our faces. Maybe the BOE fiasco wouldnt have been such a big deal if we werent already giving money away like it grows on trees. If we could get responsible leadership in Harford maybe we can reduce the state tax burden & keep more of our money available for us instead of having to beg for it back. View Comment

This is shamefull. Its legal so let them build it. We have the city itself ignoring the impact some of the events it allows to go on have in neighborhoods and people are worried about a place of worship? View Comment

I might be alone in my feelings on this, but its a city dock & nobody should be permitted to use it as a permanent mooring, especially to make money. It exists for the benefit of residents and visitors to launch boats or dock while visiting. I also dont find it particularly nice to look at. It has nothing to do with Norwalks history, its a riverboat. View Comment

GreenGiant brings up another valid point, lack of thought. We wouldnt need studies if our employees just did their homework or at least paid attention as they drove around the city. Seaview NEEDS parking simply because Vets park doesnt have enough for the activities permitted there. If I lived on Seaview I'd be very upset that there are so many sporting events there without any thought given to parking. Our streets ARE NOT parking lots for people who wish to participate in recreational sports. When the city is asked about things of this nature parking, or a lack there of NEEDS to be brought up. But obviously its not, just as it wasnt a couple years ago for the Columbian fest where we saw cars parked from Overtons all the way to the park entrance. When I called the PD I was told "Theyre having an event" I insisted and a car was sent out to ticket them but why was it allowed to happen? We pay these people alot of money & they need to stop acting like its beyond their control or not a big deal. Taking money from people for the use of a park & not providing parking is terrible from a residents & a leagues point of view. But thats beyond the topic at hand. What we are hearing here is we spent half a million to look into something that will benefit a small handfull of people, many not even Norwalk taxpayers, but can only add to the traffic woes we already have. Has anybody thought about Cove Marina & what it'll be like for their customers waiting behind 1/4 mile of cars trying to get into the beach? Everyone has something they enjoy, the city cannot acomodate everything for everybody. Its a road, it was built & is maintained for motor vehicle traffic period. We share the road right now. I'd suggest creating a citywide group of cyclists, petition the members for contributions and let them build a bike lane between the street & fence along Taylor farm. But the city needs to spend its money wisely. It costs me $700 a month in taxes just to live here & I dont want my money spent on special interests. View Comment

Personally I feel very strongly that the city needs a venue for all the things is wants people to come here & pay to do. Our parks should be primarily for the residents to use. The fee could stay the same that way because we wouldnt be competeing with all the things currently going on, not only at the beach but also Vets park. East Norwalks parks should be considered neighborhood parks just like the parks in other areas of the city. If we need to host a dozen ball games a week lets build a place for it, if we want to have big festivals to generate money for the city lets build a place for them. If we want to let people who care to swim & sunbathe at our beach do so for a fee thats fine, but the traffic & crowding are not generally from actual beach use as much as from other activities that go on there. I live here on a small street off Gregory & to be blunt the summertime stinks due to the inconsiderate abuse of our parks & the traffic generated. I hate to beat a dead horse but we have stagnant undeveloped cleared areas in great proximity to highways, the Maritime center & other Norwalk attractions just sitting there waiting to make a couple people wealthier. How nice it would be for ALL of Norwalk to take that land on West Ave and build a venue for sports & festivals that wouldnt have the negative impact of our neighborhoods. Unlike the beach & Vets its not in a residential neighborhood, yet it still has easy access to the water for our kayak parties etc. Something to think about, for those who actually care about the quality of life for people who live in East Norwalk. Its NOT all about money raised, its a quality of life issue. View Comment

I'm very surprised that tax crazy Malloy doesnt go for legalization & regulation/taxation. Its one place I thik it obvious we waste millions on enforcement & ignore millions in easy tax revenue. View Comment

I tend to agree with Joe. I think if I were this lady I'd be very upset to have the worst moment in my life out there for the world to be amused by. I think it n very poor taste. View Comment