Letters to the editor: Metro Center

`Setting the record straight'

with lies, half-truths

We have been members of the Concerned Citizens group since it began its efforts to correct a threat to sound environmental management in this town. We know some of the people who signed the article referred to in our title (Fairfield Citizen, "Setting the record straight," Feb. 5), and we believe they know us well enough to be assured that we would never belong to a group to whose positions were not well founded.

It seems possible that, other than town Attorney Richard Saxl, those who signed the recent letter, "Setting the Record Straight," were not sufficiently informed to be able to evaluate the kind of claims and accusations to which they were affixing their names. We therefore feel compelled to enlighten these signers as to the truth.

1. Theirs: The Concerned Citizens group "sought for years to derail the project."

Our correction: The Concerned Citizens are not against completion of the train station and we are on record to that effect. What we are against is the way the Ken Flatto administration has proceeded in matters pertaining to this project.

2. Theirs: "Why is a group of apparently politically motivated critics trying to blame our current leaders for contract language they did not write?"

Our correction: The Concerned Citizens, a group of four Democrats and four Republicans, has never been politically motivated.

The blame for the failure to provide proper contractual language to hold the developer Blackrock Realty (BRR/Wittek) responsible for doing the improvements described in the tripartite agreement for the metro center belongs to Flatto and Saxl. They allowed the inclusion of a condition whereby BRR/Wittek was only responsible for their parts of the project (road, parking area, etc.) if it received a certain state grant, which was not received. Flatto has continually taken complete credit for negotiating the tripartite agreement, which Saxl wrote and which Flatto signed.

This failure to transact a proper agreement and not anything the Concerned Citizens have ever done is the primary cause of the current "chaos of the train station" project.

3. Theirs: "Flatto and the state DOT convinced the developer to take on more responsibilities than in any other public mass transit project ever."

Our correction: What Flatto and Saxl omit is having provided the developer with the above-noted escape clause.

4. Theirs: Blackrock Realty pleaded for permission to get on with its work and the Conservation Department caused "unwarranted delays."

Our correction: Blackrock Realty was a serial violator of town regulations, including failure to pay fees due on time, all of which required the department to stop the work until such violations were remedied. The department's action was not unwarranted.

*(See editor's note) 5. Theirs: The town and Conservation Department were about to be sued over a multi-million-dollar claim for "unwarranted delays," so Flatto felt compelled to remove the department from the project and install "fair environmental experts. This stopped the delays and the pending lawsuit."

Our correction: The Flatto administration has failed, to this day, to produce any evidence of unwarranted delays caused by the Conservation Department. Nor was there ever a "pending lawsuit," but only a vague threat in a letter which was never pursued because there was no basis for such a lawsuit. Nor did the removal of the department stop the developer's delays. Since the department's removal, the developer has done nothing on the public project. Blaming the department was a sham to excuse the developer's inaction.

Describing the Conservation Department's replacement as "fair environmental experts" implies that the department was unfair in the performance of its duties. This insult compels us to repeat the full story behind the department's removal, as revealed by e-mails from the Flatto administration's own files.

Flatto (and possibly Saxl) had a meeting with Blackrock, after which Blackrock sent an e-mail to Saxl, demanding that the Conservation Department be removed from the metro project.

The town charter requires the town attorney, as legal adviser to town officials, to provide "all necessary legal services in matter relating to the official powers and duties of the town officials." The Conservation Department director, Thomas Steinke, is a town official.

Saxl never informed Steinke of Blackrock's demands nor gave him a chance to respond. Thereafter, the attorney for Blackrock sent Saxl the letter threatening a lawsuit against the town and the Conservation Department. Again, Saxl never informed Steinke, even though Steinke might have been sued for damages. Without knowing what was going on between Blackrock, Flatto, and Saxl, Steinke sent an e-mail to Saxl with a list of Blackrock violations that could have resulted in a cease and desist order. But Steinke said he was willing to avoid that delaying process if the developer would promptly cure the violations. This was the second time Steinke had given Blackrock this accommodation. Instead of telling Steinke what was going with Blackrock's demands, Saxl sent Steinke's list of Blackrock violations to Blackrock's attorney with a now infamous e-mail note: "We need to have Steinke's checklist accomplished by Thursday or there will be enough egg on everyone's face to make matters impossible."

Thursday was the day Saxl and Blackrock's attorney knew that Steinke was to be removed from the project. The clear implication was that, if Blackrock's violations still existed on Thursday, it would make Steinke's removal impossible.

Thus, Saxl failed utterly to provide Steinke with the necessary legal services to which he was entitled, which failure was, we believe, in violation of the town charter.

On that Thursday, Flatto removed Steinke from the metro center project with a letter that exactly reflected the demands of Blackrock. When Steinke tried to dispute Blackrock's claims, Flatto refused to give him a chance to respond.

These are documented facts that neither Flatto nor Saxl can deny. (We wonder if any of the signers of the article we are correcting have read all the documents on which our position is based.) The manner in which Flatto and Saxl treated Steinke, a dedicated public servant, who has spent the greater part of his life protecting this town's environmental interests with expertise and integrity, was wholly despicable.

6. As to the developer being hard hit by the recession, we only know that while the recession was being blamed for the developer's inaction, he was beginning an even larger development in California than the one he planned here in Fairfield. We also know that he had received an increase of $10 million on his mortgage for the project in 2006 and $3.75 million from the town of Fairfield for the parking area.

In conclusion, we suggest that those of you who may not have been aware of these facts consider whether you still believe you have "set the record straight" with the unsubstantiated allegations in the article you signed.

Pam Ritter and Joy Shaw,

Members, Concerned Citizens,

Fairfield

*Editor's note: The Bridgeport Superior Court ruled on an appeal of an Ethics Commission decision, which ruled that Flatto and Saxl did not violate ethical standards when removing Steinke from oversight of the metro center project. A second lawsuit is pending, in which Concerned Citizens seek to remove George Weddle from his position as wetlands compliance officer for the Fairfield Metro Center project, claiming that he was illegally appointed.