Mayor Stewart is $6M Short: Where is the money for the Allen St. Project? What Is Your Plan? Our Taxpayers Deserve Better Than This

This updated record is being shared regarding the status of our neighborhood’s storm-sewer-sanitary system and the City and State Responses.

More debunked talking points:

1) Mayor Stewart and Alderperson Saavedra never walked the Allen St. Neighborhoods with Sharon and I.

2) Attached is Mayor’s Stewart’s letter (dated 7-15-24) to the State Bonding Commission members Napoli and Piscopo recapping their visit (date 4-26-24) to Allen St. with Alderperson Saavedra and others.

Paragraph 4, details the State’s bonding arrangements with the required financial support from the City for the Allen St. Project. Per Stewart’s letter no amount of money was noted by State Rep’s Napoli and Piscopo and certainly there was no indication that the State would cover the entire Allen St. Project shortfall. The State did provide the City with a generous $2M Grant In Aid which we are grateful for.

3) The Allen St. Problem/Project remains a City Funding issue ($6M short) which has been neglected and mismanaged for 30 years, including 12 years on Stewart’s Watch.

Dear Mayor Stewart,

Our city officials over the past 30 years have failed to upgrade the compromised Allen St. Storm-Sewer System. This includes 12 years on Stewart’s Watch. Our due diligence since 2023 has uncovered the facts.

We have been proactive with the assistance of Majority Leader McNamara, making the required effort to appeal to Mayor Stewart’s good senses. Leader McNamara understands the peril our neighborhoods, blocks and properties are in. It seems that Mayor Stewart does not understand…If she did understand, common sense tells us, after 12 years in office she would have surely prioritized, fully funded and constructed the Allen St. Project.

As a reminder…We were invited by Stewart to voice our concerns regarding her priorities and her fiscal behavior. Our criticisms are fact based, as we have detailed for you in all of our narratives. Stewart wrote to us: “You are not kind to me and you will never be”. It’s difficult to be kind and joyful while our neighborhoods, blocks and properties are flooding. We are the victims; Not Stewart!

Why has Stewart failed to step up to fully fund and construct the Allen St. Project? Why has Stewart singled out all of us in the Allen St. Neighborhoods to suffer through these ongoing hazardous conditions?

Stewart’s allies sat in our living room repeating their mantra, “We have no money for the Allen St. Project”. Meanwhile, Stewart received hundreds of millions of earmark free dollars from our State and Federal Partners. The Allen St. Project was conveniently lost in the fiscal shuffle while Stewart prioritized other higher profile projects. Bottomline, no one was advocating for this critical project until we stepped up with Leader McNamara in 2023.

Now Stewart claims she has a $25M unassigned balance in the General Fund. Mayor Stewart, you are $6M short for the Allen St. Project. After 12 years, here is another opportunity for you to finally correct the Allen St. Problem.

Stewart wrote memos, but never stepped up with the required determination to complete the job. As Stewart has noted; “The Allen St. Project is our most pressing need and Allen St. is a definite hazard”. As we have noted, Stewart continues to fail all of the taxpayers in New Britain. Meanwhile, the flooding, infiltration, cross connections and sanitary issues continue.

In 2023 Weston-Sampson Engineers declared, “The Allen St. Project must be a priority because the infrastructure is at crisis levels”. To date, Stewart has refused to Prioritize, Fully Fund and Construct the Allen St. Project.

The cause and effect is undeniable. Our taxpayers deserve better than this; Our quality of life continues to suffer, our safety continues to be in harm’s way and 50+ properties and structures are all at risk.

Why does Mayor Stewart continue to ignore the critical nature of the Allen St. Problem when you have the resources to construct the Allen St. Project now? Why are you choosing to ignore all of us in the Allen St. Neighborhoods? Mayor Stewart, you have the authority to correct these hazardous conditions and it’s your responsibility to correct these hazardous conditions now.

Thank you.

F&S Chase