Truth Beyond Belief

In his Rebuttal article last week, our First Selectman seems to have invented his own definition of “truth.”

He refers to “erroneous allegations regarding the train station project” which he claims are being made “without a shred of evidence.” Come now, Mr. Flatto, you know very well that every allegation that has been made is supported by documentary evidence, almost all of which has come from the Town’s own files. Since those documents are clear and unambiguous the allegations based on them are not erroneous but precisely accurate.

As is his well known habit, Mr. Flatto goes on to indulge himself in self-praise even so far as to characterize his every action on the train station project as having had “noble” goals. Well, let’s look at those noble actions.

Mr. Flatto says he stopped “a mega-million lawsuit from being filed against the Town alleging unfair practices by Town employees and civil rights discrimination against a property owner.” No doubt he is referring to the December 11, 2007 letter from Attorney John Fallon on behalf of Blackrock Realty to Town Attorney, Richard Saxl. That letter made no mention whatsoever of “civil rights discrimination.” Furthermore, the letter was apparently never considered a serious claim since there is no evidence that Mr. Saxl ever responded to the letter or that Mr. Fallon ever asked for a response. If it were such a serious claim it would have been pursued but it was not. Nor was any attempt ever made by Mr. Flatto or Mr. Saxl to investigate the claims being made by asking the Town employees referred to in the letter for their expert opinion as to their merits. That would have been the way to protect the Town’s interests rather than just accept the word of the developer and remove the employees from the project.

Mr. Flatto, this “mega million lawsuit” was never going forward and your claim to have stopped it is exaggerated beyond belief. Furthermore, the actions taken by you in this instance were far from “noble.”

Other noble actions claimed by Mr. Flatto were “mediating and adjudicating conflicts and remedy delays.” How he can claim to have mediated and adjudicated the conflict between Blackrock Realty and the Town employees involved without giving the employees a chance to tell their side of the story is beyond me. And, what delay in the project has Mr. Flatto remedied? The removal of the Town employees in December certainly didn’t remedy any delay since absolutely nothing has been done on the project since then. And this project has had delays for over five years before that none of which were remedied by Mr. Flatto.

Finally, Mr. Flatto takes credit for helping to coordinate and implement the train station project. Well, let’s look at the results of his efforts.

Rumors are rampant that Blackrock Realty may be unable to complete the project because of a lack of funds. Their inactivity for so long lends credence to those rumors. What happens if this turns out to be true?

We are told by Mr. Flatto’s surrogate, Mark Barnhart, that “Site work . . . began one month ago.” He said, “They are underway.” But “they” is really the state DOT not Blackrock Realty because he then tells us “Blackrock Realty is looking at mid-September to begin construction….” The question is where and when did he get this information? If he just recently got it directly from Blackrock, we should expect activity in a couple of weeks. But, if this is just old information that hasn’t been made current, and nothing happens n September, then the question will be whether we were just being set up for feigned surprise by the administration to excuse themselves for not getting hard answers to current serious questions directly from Blackrock.

If the final answer is that Blackrock does not intend to go forward with Phase One at this time, then there are other hard questions that need answers.

The benefits to the Town under the infamous Tripartite Agreement signed in 2003 and paid for by the Town were supposed to be the following to be done by Blackrock:

1. the cleanup of some 100,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil by dumping it in a large hole under the parking lot to be constructed by the Town on land it has already bought from Blackrock for $3,750,000 and covering it with a plastic membrane (but no membrane underneath to prevent contaminants from leaching below);
2. building the train depot and commuter waiting area; and
3. building the access road to reach the parking lot, depot and waiting area.

What Mr. Barnhart does not tell you, however, is that Blackrock can elect not to build the depot; that it was to inform the Town of its intention to do it or not some time ago; that it was supposed to put up a $500,000 letter of credit which the Town could use to build the depot if Blackrock decided not to do so. That letter of credit was based on 2003 prices which have since escalated quite a bit. (The DOT’s cost alone has escalated by $10,700,000.)

Blackrock has the same option to decide if it wants to build the commuter waiting area. If it doesn’t it’s supposed to convey that land to the state. It’s not clear from the Agreement if the DOT would then have to build it.

If Blackrock does not go forward and build the access road, the Town would be left with a parking lot that could not be reached. The Town would then have to either buy or condemn the land from Blackrock and incur the expense of building the road itself.

Finally, what happens to the plan to move the contaminated soil? Does the Town just forget about it and build the parking lot without the soil’s removal? Blackrock estimated the cost of the removal at $13,000,000 and was supposed to put up bonds and/or letters of credit to guarantee the performance of its obligations for remediation work on the project. Has it done so?

All of these questions, if not answered sooner by Blackrock, should come to a head in September. Mr. Flatto should know this better than anyone. So, if Blackrock does not go forward in September any feigned surprise by those in his administration won’t work.

For Mr. Flatto’s and Mr. Barhardt’s sake, as well as that of the Town, let’s hope we see Blackrock’s people hard at work on the site in September.

So much for Mr. Flatto’s claimed efforts in coordinating and implementing the project.

In closing, if these so-called noble actions of Mr. Flatto represent his version of the truth, then for me it is beyond belief.