New Britain
Federal COVID Aid to City Boosts High Profile Capital Projects
Possible Uses of Federal COVID Relief to New Britain Include Vaccinations, Aid to Workers and Support for Small Business and Non-Profits.
Does New Britain need a chief operating officer and a full time mayor?
Misleading Referendum Proposes High Level Patronage Job To Manage Municipal Government by John McNamara NEW BRITAIN – Creating a new chief operating officer to manage the municipality and making town clerk and tax collector jobs appointed instead of elected offices are big and very different questions for a referendum vote in November.Voters, however, won’t have […]
Primary on Tuesday Will Decide Contested Party Nominations
Voters registered to vote in primaries will chose Democratic and Republican candidates for statewide offices and U.S. Senate on Tues, Aug 9th.
NB Mayoral Aide’s Campaign For Secretary of The State Under Scrutiny By Election Commission
Republican Brock Weber Withdraws From SOTS Contest Amid Inquiry On Contributions By John McNamara The campaign of Republican Brock Weber, one of three Republicans seeking the nomination for Secretary of the State in the August 9th Primary, is being investigated by the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) for alleged violations of campaign finance law. Weber, […]
COO Patronage Job, End To Elections Of Clerk and Tax Collector Are On The Nov. 8 Ballot
Fuzzy Charter Question Will Keep Many Voters in the Dark by John McNamara New Britain voters will be deciding much more than who should be the Governor and making their picks for other elective offices on November 8th. City charter revisions will, if approved, make the biggest changes in a generation as to how Connecticut’s […]
Council Approves Charter Changes For Referendum On November 8th Ballot
The City Council has approved changes to the City Charter, while the lead Democrat is criticizing combining ballot questions.
Another Restructuring Adds Millions In Debt To New Britain’s Finances
Fitch “does not consider this to be a prudent management practice during a period of recovery.” By John McNamara In a perfunctory special meeting on June 1st the Common Council unanimously adopted a municipal budget for the year that starts July 1st. The $251,046,177 million budget for the new fiscal year is “controlled, calculated and […]
City Council Resolution Calls For Common Sense Gun Control Laws After Buffalo and Uvalde
NEW BRITAIN – An anti-gun violence resolution co-sponsored by Robert Smedley (R-4) and Aram Ayalon (D-3) is on the New Britain Common Council agenda at its Wednesday June 8th meeting in the aftermath of attacks by lone gunmen at a Buffalo, NY supermarket and Uvalde TX elementary school in May that killed 31. The resolution […]
NB Dems Endorse Incumbents For State Representative; GOP Picks Challengers
Campaign 2022: Election Day Is November 8th Democratic Party endorsements for newly-drawn State Assembly Districts in New Britain were made at a Town Committee meeting at City Hall May 19th completing a slate of endorsed candidates for the November election. State Representatives Manny Sanchez (D-24), Bobby Sanchez (D-25) and Peter Tercyak (D-26) received unanimous support […]
Probate Judge Contest Is A Rematch Of 2021 Special Election: Republican Carrier vs. Democrat Rivera
By John McNamara Attorney and former Common Council Leader William Rivera won the Democratic Party’s endorsement for Judge of Probate last week setting up a rematch of last year’s special election won by Attorney Michael Carrier. Convention delegates from Berlin and New Britain nominated Rivera without opposition. In accepting the endorsement Rivera acknowledged Carrier, who […]
Party Endorsements To Be Made For Congress, Legislators and Probate Judge
Lamont, Bysiewicz and Constitutional Officers Endorsed at Saturday’s Democratic Convention Delegates to party conventions will endorse candidates for U.S. Congress, the State Legislature and Judge of Probate May 9-12 following statewide endorsements at major party conventions this past weekend. U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes (D-5) is expected to be endorsed by acclamation on Monday, May 9th, […]
Council Committee Nixes Registrars’ Plan To Reduce Polling Places
Deadline Is May 11th To Finalize Voting Locations By John McNamara A plan by both Democratic and Republican Registrars of Voters to reduce the city’s Election Day polling places from 17 to 12 was unanimously tabled by the Common Council’s Committee on Finance, Administration and Law on May 4th less than a week before the […]
Campaign cash soared in ’21 municipal election but voter turnout declined
By John McNamara “Money is the mother’s milk of politics” goes the observation first coined in the 1960s that applies to almost every state and federal election cycle as all kinds of committees and special interests raise billions in reported and anonymous donations. That old saying about money in politics applies less frequently to local elections where […]
Stewart Apparently Proposes Borrowing To Cover City Spending Again
Republican Mayor Erin Stewart is proposing $49.5 million in taxpayer borrowing to refinance existing city debt…
“Morning Without Child Care” Rally Set for Tuesday in New Britain
Coalition Says State Needs $700 Million To Address A “Crisis” Advocates of affordable child care are organizing a “Morning without child care” rally on Tuesday March 15th at child care centers across the state, including a New Britain rally at the Human Resources Agency (HRA) on Clinton Street. Coalition leaders, who include New Britain Board […]
Council Resolution Proposed To Support Ukraine
Local Responses Grow To War, Humanitarian Crisis By John McNamara A resolution affirming Ukraine’s “independence and territorial integrity” will be considered by the New Britain Common Council at its March 9th meeting. Alderman Aram Ayalon (D-3), consulting with members of the city’s Ukrainian and Polish communities, is submitting a resolution as war and a humanitarian […]
2023 New Britain Little Poland Festival Coming Up
The Little Poland Festival is planned to return in 2022 after two years of having been cancelled because of COVID-19.
New Coalition Pushes for Child Care Investments To Close Gaps
40% of CT Families Live In “Child Care Deserts”; Shortage Is Severe in New Britain By John McNamara New Britain is one of the communities in affluent Connecticut with significant “child care deserts” — places where a high percentage of working and middle income families do not have access to quality and affordable services for […]
Rep. Sanchez Announces $70,000 in Mayoral Campaign Fundraising
Rep. Bobby Sanchez (D-25) has announced that he has raised nearly $70,000 in donations toward his campaign for Mayor of New Britain.
Remembering Steve Horowitz: Losing One of New Britain’s Best
Dr. Steve Horowitz, 68, CCSU Psychology Professor and a former President of the New Britain Board of Education, died last December 18th after a brief, sudden illness. For Democrats and political activists in New Britain, Steve’s passing meant the loss of a close friend and one of “New Britain’s Best.” You can be forgiven if […]