Maturo Administrations Incompetence is the Reason We Have Problems at the Town Beach

Once again pure incompetence, the lack of ability to lead, lack of courage and political games are being played with the residents of the Town of East Haven when it comes to the use of our Town Beach. Our Town Beach has not changed its size in well over 30 years and has an additional parking lot from the acquisition of The Candlelight by the Sea. What has changed is the addition of the Splash Pad which has attracted many more people to visit our Town from other areas around the State.

After the Greenwich decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court opening all Connecticut beaches in 2001, East Haven did absolutely nothing to address the issue. Can you guess who was Mayor? Yes it was Joe Maturo. I was the Town Councilman at the time of the decision and warned the Administration that we need to do something to protect our residents along the shoreline. I suggested that we do as they did in Branford by making permit only parking along the side streets in the beach area. That would include all streets south of Dewey Street so that the residents would able to live in their homes without the constant annoyance of out of town people using our streets for parking, blocking driveways and preventing our own residents from parking away from their own doors. Because the beach area streets are very tight some homes don’t have driveways and they use the streets to park their cars. That is their right as taxpayers in the Town and the Mayor, Town Council and Police Commission should be looking out for their interests. Don’t you just wish the Mayor would put enough effort and time into this issue that has plagued the area for over 13 years as he currently is doing with his lawsuit for his pension?  I’m sure if people were parking along his North High Street residence he wouldn’t like it much and we’d probably have a different outcome with much attention.

What's even more of a concern is The Town Council Chairman Rich Anania’s comments from the New Haven Register Article today where he is quoted,  

“It’s an ongoing thing every year and it is unfortunate but hopefully we can come up with a solution that will take care of the problem,”

He also told the crowd that assembled at the Town Council Meeting Tuesday night not to expect a quick fix.  Why not Mr. Chairman? If you and the rest of the Town Council knows it’s a problem year after year why haven’t you done your job and get it fixed?  Anania served on the same council I served on when I was involved with the issue. The Town Council hasn’t held a Beach Subcommittee meeting in years and the facts remain that it hasn’t received any attention because Joe Maturo hasn’t told his puppet Anania to address it. A simple adoption by the Town Council to institute permit parking for residents south of Dewy Street would solve this issue once and for all and it’s completely legal to institute and has upheld court challenges.

Another issue that needs to be addressed is the ridiculous charge of just $10.00 for illegal parking. What’s even more of a joke is what the general public doesn’t know is that once the ticket is written it has zero enforceability. The ticket goes into a bin at the station but the East Haven PD does not hand the tickets over to the Department of Motor Vehicles therefore the time writing, issuing and enforcing the ticket is worthless.  If you have unpaid parking tickets in Waterbury, Hartford, and New Haven for example and you try to re-register your vehicle you won’t be able to until the tickets are paid to the municipality. The only way you can deter this behavior is by having complete follow through and that’s where the incompetency exists in this Administration.

This Administration can fix it this today with a few simple steps. At the July 29, 2014 Police Commission meeting they can introduce Resident Permit Parking for the Beach Area. Then once that is completed they can send it to the Town Council who then would have to have a public hearing in August 2014 and as early as September 2014 can vote on the matter. If it would pass then there would be enough time to introduce, notify and accustom the area to the new ordinance and next year with a solid policy and procedure to enforce this matter would be a thing of the past. Is this lawful? Absolutely! Look at these Cities and Towns that are currently doing it for their residents.

http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/TrafficParking/residentialzones.asp

http://www.greenwichct.org/Government/Departments/Parking_Services/Residential_Parking_in_Greenwich/

http://www.branford-ct.gov/Resident.htm

We can only hope that this can be the solution. The sad part is getting this Administration to adopt out of the box ideas is very difficult because it not self-serving for the Mayor. He obviously doesn’t care about the issue cause he’s not said one word about it nor has he attended any of the public meetings to listen to the residents which is why we elected him.

Lastly, Councilman Santino is fighting the same battle I did with this Administration and I give him kudos for attempting but now more than ever the Administration will dig in because he’s a Democrat and of course this Administration and the past ones too can never work collectively for the good of the residents. It’s always about scoring points for their respective Town Committees and that is so sad. Do you ever think we will ever see the day come when a good idea can be supported by all sides for the good of all? In East Haven that dream is far from reality with this Administration.