Mansfield Grove Rd Traffic Light....Maturo is just lying

When I was apart of the East Haven Republican establishment I used to sit there and watch all of these politicians jockey for position and prestige and would feel something was just not right. I never felt comfortable because some of these people would just say and do things just for political favor or statue. This is certainly the case for Joseph Maturo Jr in regards to his involvement with the Mansfield Grove Road Traffic light. What he says is simply not true. As a matter of fact the only things he said that were true is he was the on the Council in 1992 and was Mayor while petitions were being circulated. He could give a damn if the light went in or not. We in fact had a direct conversation about the light when I was on the Town Council and his exact words to me was..."Don't go f***ing me up with stop signs and traffic lights."

He even had the Chairman of the Police Commission at the time, Pat Romano try to deflect attention away from Mansfield Grove Road at a couple of meetings when we successfully lobbied to get a three way stop sign on Mansfield Grove Rd and Gurney Street. Why, because the Joseph Maturo Administration's policies are to lay low and do nothing. His quote above was a direct response to not cause controversy and have phone calls coming into the office and having constituents being upset in favor or against.

The facts are these. The idea for the traffic light came when the Mansfield Landing Condominiums were built. With the increased volume of traffic it became necessary to install the light because the alternate route out of Mansfield Grove Road (Hoop Hole Lane) was an absolute pot hole nightmare at the time. The plan was to install the light and I know Mariam Amendola was involved because she circulated a petition around the neighborhood. I did not live on the road at the time of the 1st petition but I was certainly there for the next two. The 2nd petition was started by myself because the State had signed a deal with the Mansfield Landing and Mr. Lippincott to purchase the land which we know today as the Farm River State Park. Now with additional traffic it became more necessary to get the light because the Marina was going to be active once again. In addition, Clemente builders was trying to get the Jessica Road project off the ground off of Wheaton Road which would have put up to 10 more homes in the immediate area. When I began this petition I was the 2nd District Representative and do you know how many times Joe Maturo asked me the status? ZERO. I asked for meetings and was denied. I was told that Joe did everything he could and he won't meet with you about it.. We never stopped though. Calls were made by several residents on the road even getting as high as the Director of DOT and each and everytime they said they would study it. To their credit they did. We saw signs of rubber strips to count the volume of traffic several times and saw the DOT even clear the line of sight. At the time there was only one flashing light and then there was two. So some progress had been made.

Then the State Representative race came in 2006 and the light became a campaign issue. The only reason why Maturo is even mentioned in the press release was for political respect and to show the residents we were unified.

http://ctsenaterepublicans.com/2006/10/mayor-maturo-senator-fasano-and-councilman-mccann-petition-state-for-traffic-light/

 I had accused Mike Lawlor of failing to do anything to help the residents of the Town and circulated a 2nd petition to get to the State. I was not successful in my attempts at Mike's seat but I certainly drew his attention to the light because then we started seeing significant movement and even some construction to improve the sight line. It was after Mike Lawlor was appointed to the Transportation Committee in 2009 the light really became a reality. Please read below.

 http://blog.mikelawlor.com/2009/01/mike-appointed-to-transportation.html .

http://www.townofeasthavenct.org/pdf/minutes/tcouncil/tcouncl-min-july6-10.pdf

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/01/15/news/metro/b1-ehlawlor.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Here is a blog post between myself and Mike Lawlor regarding the Traffic Light on Manfield Grove Road

Dan McCann

7:38 pm on Tuesday, December 7, 2010

What about the traffic light promised at Mansfield Grove Road and Short Beach Rd? Both Lawlor and Santino promised and nothing has been done?

Mike Lawlor

7:09 am on Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Hi, Dan, thanks for the question. The last update I received on this issue was in July. The light has been authorized by the state Department of Transportation and is awaiting funding. As you know, the state is facing a rather severe fiscal crisis. Here is the entire email which I received from Pam Sucato, legislative liaison for the DOT, dated 7/6/2010:
Hi Mike: Last we spoke, I think I mentioned that the Department's Division of Traffic Engineering indicated to the the Town of East Haven that we are willing to recommend the installation of a traffic signal to the State Traffic Commission . The attached file contains copies of our 9/17/09 letter to Chief Gallo and the Town's subsequent 9/22/09 response indicating their concurrence with the local cost participation. We're unable to provide a time frame for either design or construction due to funding constraints. The future signal installation project that this signal will be in is not programmed nor is funding available for design activities. I'm sorry - I wish I had a better update, but nothing has changed. Please let me know if you need anything else. Pam

So there East Haven those are the true facts about the Traffic Light on Mansfield Grove Road and Short Beach Road. Other than the press release from the Len Fasano's 2006 campaign do you see Joe Maturo's name anywhere?

Once again the facts show that Joe Maturo will say and do anything to grab credit for something he had nothing to do with. The credit due is to the residents of Mansfield Grove Road, Short Beach Road and all of the surrounding roads that use this strip of road everyday and signed the petitions, made the phone calls, wrote the letters and demanded that politicians to work for them. A special thanks to Mike Lawlor who had the courage to take a political issue and really work hard to get funding for a project that was so needed. As for Joe Maturo....Nice try but you still don't get it Joe...The instant media, videos and 21st century technology is your worst enemy.