Posted on 02/17/2011 12:31:03 PM PST by KosmicKitty
(Updated) City Hall has turned down a last-minute offer from the police union to save 16 cops’ jobs following a raucous march by 200 cops through downtown streets.
Police Union President Louis Cavaliere made that announcement around 1:15 p.m. Thursday as he emerged from a pow-wow with the 16 cops inside the police substation on City Hall’s first floor.
Before that, Cavaliere and other union brass had spent more than an hour upstairs in Mayor John DeStefano’s office. Cavaliere said the union asked the mayor to hold off on the layoffs another two months while the two sides negotiate a solution that would save the 16 jobs. Cavaliere said the mayor rejected the offer.
Meanwhile, the city started the process of laying off another 40-plus city workers Thursday, all in an effort to close a $5.5 million budget gap in the fiscal year that ends June 30. A separate round of layoffs is expected in July to close next year’s gap.
DeStefano and other city officials, including schools chief Reggie Mayo, plan to address the press about the layoffs at 3 p.m. Thursday. Until then, no official comment.
DeStefano is expected to emphasize that even with the 16 layoffs, the police force is bigger than it has been at any time since 1999. The layoffs reduce the department’s sworn personnel from 450 to 434. In the last fiscal year the city had 421; the year before, 400.
At 1:25 p.m. the 16 officers headed to police headquarters at 1 Union Ave. to turn in their badges and guns.
That had thought they were showing up to 1 Union Ave. to do that at 10 a.m. Thursday. Then everything changed.
Instead, they found themselves surrounded by hundreds of other cops outside police headquarters at 9:30 a.m. They crowd gathered for a “solidarity” rally on behalf of the officers.
Some of the cops targeted for layoffs teared up while hugging their fellow officers. Speakers like police union Treasurer Anthony Zona fired up the crowd. Zona warned that citizens should expect longer response times after the layoffs and echoed a call from his union president that citizens should perhaps arm themselves.
“People need to be prepared to protect themselves,” Zona (pictured above) said.
Union Vice-President Frank Lombardi criticized Police Chief Frank Limon when it was his turn to speak. The union recently held a no-confidence vote against the new chief.
“He should have been down here with us. The chief should have talked to the mayor,” Lombardi charged.
Then all 200 cops rode elevators or walked upstairs to the station’s third floor to confront the police chief.
There they encountered Limon and city Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts. The press was not allowed in. The officials and the cops met for around a half hour in the “TASCA room,” where top cops usually meet to review daily crime trends.
Afterward, participants said the crowd aired grievances during the meeting. Officers said they wished the city had accepted the union’s alternatives to layoffs, which included having officers work for free one or two days between February and June 30, giving up vacation days, and/or having senior officers retire early.
Smuts said the city needs to reach a specific dollar figure in savings with the cuts but didn’t disclose what that figure is, according to Sgt. Richard Miller of the union executive board and Lou DeCreszenzo, one of the 16 officers facing layoffs.
Smuts adjourned the meeting, they said. (Smuts could not be reached for comment afterward.)
The 16 targeted cops said they weren’t asked to hand in their badges and guns at the meeting.
Rather than being laid off as planned, they ended up back on the street with the crowd after the meeting. They marched at the front of the line as the hundreds of cops marched up Union Avenue toward Chapel Street. Their destination: City Hall. To confront the mayor.
Maurice Martin helped lead the march. He’s one of the cops who were told to show up today to hand in their badge and gun. He is married and has three kids. He has been on the force a year and a half.
Martin was asked if he agreed with union officials that people should arm themselves at home in response to the layoffs. He said he considered that a “fair” idea.
“It’s already a shooting range out there” on the streets, he said.
Officers behind the wheel of eight or so cop cruisers followed the march, wailing their sirens.
The crowd arrived outside City Hall around 11:15 a.m. The cops said they wouldn’t budge until they get to meet with Mayor John DeStefano.
At 11:36 a.m., the mayor welcomed the union executive board into his office for a closed-door chat. The group included union President Louis Cavaliere, Zona, Lombardi, Miller, and Det. Renee Lunau.
At noon, police reopened Church Street to traffic. It had been blocked off during the protest.
Meanwhile, mayoral spokesman Adam Joseph said that the other city employees were given their layoff notices in the morning.
Scary, isn't it. Good example of "Upholding the law"
Boo Freakin’ Hoo.
Dunkin’ Donuts workers hardest hit.
Are you handling the CT ping list? If so, you may be interested.
It's come down to those who rely on Taxpayers, and those who are self-dependent, responsible, productive, and ANTI-BIG GOVERNMENT, vs. those on welfare, Union slugs who depend on Seniority and not skill to keep their jobs, etc.
It's gonna be like Cairo, and Beirut, soon. Count on it.
Public Unions should be illegal...
There is so much fail in that excerpt and in the article as a whole.
We're talking here about the crap hole called New Haven. It goes without saying that, police layoffs or not, citizens need to be prepared to protect themselves. The police are there to ticket cars, to take witness statements and to clean up the mess after the crimes, not to protect the citizens.
As far as citizens protecting themselves, I don't know about New Haven specifically, but there is ample evidence that other Democrat-infested CT cesspool cities (such as Danbury) put up hurdles and roadblocks to make it difficult for citizens to get their hands on a "carry permit" (which is required in order to purchase a pistol, let alone to carry it on your person away from your home).
On top of that, Mayor John DeStefano is the "Scofflaw in Chief", more interested in collecting fines and towing cars that overstay their welcome at parking meters, and turning the city into a haven for illegal aliens, than he is interested in protecting or providing services for actual citizens...
Police unions in urban areas have no clout at all, since they often do nothing anyway. The current racial climate has caused these police forces to stand down years ago; there will be no increase in crime at all as these layoffs occur. It isn’t the same as closing schools for a day, which often forces parents to make arrangements for their children’s care.
“Martin was asked if he agreed with union officials that people should arm themselves at home in response to the layoffs. He said he considered that a “fair” idea.
“It’s already a shooting range out there” on the streets, he said.”
That sounds like an indictment against the cops. If the cops were doing their jobs, it shouldn’t be “a shooting range out there.”
Our American Founders had solutions for that called “committees of safety.” They were renamed vigilance committees after we became a sovereign nation.
If the doughnut eaters can’t handle their jobs, let’s hire citizens who can.
New Haven is also a sanctuary city. There are parts of the city that have been lost to the criminal elements for years!!
Also, new police chief trying to clean up the department just had a no confidence vote from the rank & file.
New Haven police sat on evidence that would have solved a murder in my home town because the shooter in that crime was an informant in the murder of a cop’s son.
Nice that they could use tax-payer purchased cruisers to block a major roadway in the city while on duty. Wonder what the same officers would have done if it was a group of private citizen’s behaving in this fashion.
Good post. Of course living here in Connecticut I didn’t see or hear anything about this story from any other media.
I saw a very small mention on the WTNH web site, but no mention of cops on duty blocking Church street with their cruisers.
What if there was a serious crime occurring while the protest was going on?
Probably wouldn’t matter as New Haven cops already have a terrible response time. This just gives them an excuse for not bothering to show up at all.
“It’s gonna be like Cairo, and Beirut, soon. Count on it. “
Are you saying public sector unions are unemployed, without savings and cannot afford food and housing? The situation is almost the exact opposite of the protesting in the ME. This is Greece, not Cairo. It’s time for them to get out of the taxpayers’ pockets.
I’m saying that those living on Taxpayers’ backs are gonna be really pissed when their income streams (paychecks, golden benefits, welfare checks, etc.) are gonna get cut and/or cut off. The Unions have gone TOO FAR in raping the public, and the welfare Class has got to learn that THEY are responsible for their income; not someone else.
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