Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety Public Comment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents decry canceled meetings, downtown safety; call for more frequent public-safety oversight
Summary
Multiple Meriden residents told the Public Safety Committee on Oct. 1 that canceled meetings and persistent downtown loitering have left neighborhoods feeling unsafe; commenters urged the committee to hold sessions more regularly and to address problems around Community Towers and Willow/St. Casimir streets.
Several Meriden residents used the Public Safety Committee’s Oct. 1 public comment period to press the panel for more regular meetings and immediate action on downtown safety.
Dan Zaborowski, speaking at the start of the public-comment period, said the committee has met only twice this year and criticized repeated cancellations, saying the lack of meetings prevents residents from having their concerns heard. “People out there are fed up with stuff that’s going on, and they should be able to speak at these, especially this public safety,” Zaborowski said. He also urged the city to look at the fire department’s budget and station footprint, arguing that some stations could be closed to reduce overtime and operating costs.
Resident Eddie (Willow Street) described “a nightmare” on Willow and St. Casimir streets, saying sidewalks are frequently blocked by encampments and people “hanging out on private property” and that cancellations of public-safety meetings have discouraged residents from organizing to address the problem. Dan Malavenda echoed the concern about blocked sidewalks and added a dispatch-related data problem: after a recent CAD (computer-aided dispatch) transition, Malavenda said calls now show only streets rather than house numbers, making it harder to track recurring problem locations.
An online commenter, Colleen Cyr, asked why the police department was not scheduled to give a report and urged a detailed police analysis of downtown and Community Towers complaints at a future meeting.
The committee did not take formal action during public comment. Chair and councilors acknowledged the concerns and asked staff and presenters to follow up: Hunters Ambulance was asked to provide school-by-school response counts at a future meeting, and the fire chief said she would bring a response-time coverage map and the city’s station-location study results to the next session.
Next steps: Committee members requested additional data and follow-up reports at future meetings, including per-school emergency-response counts, a breakdown of assaults that include firearm-related incidents, and a city map showing station coverage and response-time modeling.
