New Britain Parks and Recreation Department: Chili's Give Back Night

Here is something that is something you may find a great way to help benefit our city Parks and Recreation Department, while enjoying lunch or dinner out. This is from the Parks and Recreation Department...

On Thursday, March 8th , Chilis on Hartford Road in New Britain will be donating 10% of sales to the New Britain Parks and Recreation Department. Patrons must present the attached flyer in order for the Department to receive the 10%. Please note, this  includes lunch, dinner, takeout, and bar orders.

Click here to get this flyer.

Report from the Outside Auditor for Addressing the Budget Deficit

When I told by the City Finance Department, after becoming Mayor, that the City faced an $11.5 million deficit for the budget I inherited, I decided to bring in an outside auditor to help find ways to close the deficit. And I am glad that I did, because the auditors identified hundreds of thousands of dollars in saving that might not have otherwise been identified.

Here is a copy of the draft report of the auditor (PDF).

Updates on restoration of electric power after the snowstorm

I hope you and your family are OK after the severe autumn snowstorm that created record power outages. I have been in communication with CL&P regarding restoration of electricity and I have been working to keep people informed on the progress, and other important information, as best as I can.

Even though I have mostly been using other means than the internet as the way to get the word out (since people without power are less likely to be online) there are people using smartphones, etc. to access the internet, so I am posting the information I am receiving about the power restoration progress in New Britain and other news.

Update as of Tuesday afternoon (November 1st):
Information I have received is that transmission lines and power substations bringing power to New Britain should be restored by 8 pm tonight. That may restore some people's power, but, of course, the lines down on the streets still need to be repaired to restore everybody's electricity. Also, the information I have received is that we will get New Britain's service restoration estimate from CL&P by tomorrow morning.

Here is the update as of Monday night (October 31st):
I asked CL&P about the fact that people in New Britain are reporting to me that they do not see repair crews in New Britain. CL&P said their crews have been working on the high tension transmission lines and the power substations. Fixing those will restore some people's power. I am told that that they will be starting to fix the lines on the streets soon. They also tell me that, starting tomorrow and over the next few days, 1,500 repair crews will be in Connecticut to fix lines and restore power. I will post other news as I get it.