Depot Stakeholders Fill Void With Reproach For Critics

    It's a new year and most have reflected on their milestones of 2014, but not those who are only digging a sore spot on Despot Lot. The stakeholders' plans have had more extensions and brought more shame upon themselves than Milli-Vanilli on their night of Bristol infamy. Even the nationally covered Aaron Herndandez scandal has brought less public attention and ire among local residents. Yet some of these stakeholders have continued to bring more shame upon themselves by repeatedly publishing their fallacies and ad hominem attacks in local papers. Some of these players are so arrogant as to refer to detractors of a plan that has failed to reach each milestone promised to taxpayers as negative nellies, conspiracy theorists, naysayers, whiny and other repugnant terms. Some deny the irrefutable facts contained in regional planning documents, State of Connecticut public acts and statutes, DOT Guidelines, Bristol's Annual Action Plan, etc., and dismiss ANY argument as without merit without addressing one single fact.

  These methods are the rules for radicals who purport to care about Bristol while slamming the predominant opinion of it's residents. I applaud the efforts of these mouthpeices of the establishment as they do a better job of illustrating how out-of-touch they are with the majority than I could. Yes, the stakeholders call it a conspiracy theory but call it whatever they may; a willing donor's public-private partnership is an unwilling man's cabal. To afford the public an opinion of their own should surely escape the limits of one's self-image of elitism.

We all want Bristol's future to be a success and for the downtown to be redeveloped but we the citizens of Bristol do not equate the success of this cookie-cutter, transit-oriented plan to the success of Bristol. We are informed citizens and see what is happening in surrounding Connecticut towns and cities. We are familiar with the Malloy/State of CT Department of Transportation and Department of Economic and Community Development's agenda. We read the city's minutes and documents and attend city meetings. We know that this plan is not the grassroots plan that the stakeholders purport it to be and we the people have spoken with disdain regarding building apartments on this lot. Nonetheless, minimum building requirements for the site have been removed from the developer agreement.


   The City of Bristol's Plan of Conservation and Development draft (which is open to public comment at the Bristol Public Library on January 24th), suggests the city take action to create an expansion of dense affordable housing adjacent to transit. This document is a guide for the next ten years of Bristol's downtown development and will likely be used to codify a radical transformation of Bristol to a dense urban center in concert with the State of Connecticut's goals. Transportation Policy Forum Hartford, CT 12-3-14
   There are no guarantees that the planners' goals of changing the demographics of the area will succeed and plenty of legitimate reasons to think they will not. Furthermore, 2012 FBI Statistics  reflected in Table 8 and CT OPM City and Towns statistics prove that CT cities with higher density and populations have higher crime rates and the expansion of the CTFastrak to the downtown is unlikely to help the situation.

    A recent survey by the planners show that rising taxes is the number one concern of Bristol residents. Can you find an urban center in Connecticut with lower taxes than Bristol?  Check the Office of Policy and Management's website by clicking here.  I bet the mouthpieces of Bristol's political propaganda can fruitlessly try, but will keep their findings hush and call it (and therefore you) irrelevant. Now is the time again for Bristol residents to stand up and speak their minds regarding their concerns of the future of their city.   Change is coming. Will you let a small group of people leave you and your family to pull their wagon?

Above image is from 2000 POCD and these land uses are being updated in the new plan for 2015-2015 (below)

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