Mayor gets what he wanted

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone has struck a deal to secure a package of new communication services for the city for free until June 30th after funding for the project was defeated by the Board of Aldermen last week. 

The services have been described as "reverse 311" and would allow City Hall to contact every resident in the city by telephone or e-mail in under an hour about possible emergency situations.

Last week the Board of Aldermen cast a tie vote on a proposal to fund the service in May and June. Aldermen who voted against the proposal praised the technology but said they wanted to wait until they had a better idea of what next year’s budget would look like.

‚ÄúFrankly, I was surprised and disappointed that some members of the Board thought we should delay until the next fiscal year.  But you‚Äôve got to give a lot of credit to the five members of the Board who refused to give up on this important new communications tool. After the vote, they approached me to ask if we could sit down with the supplier and see if we could work something out.  They sent a clear signal to the vendor ‚Äì and to their fellow board members ‚Äì that they thought this was worth pursuing, and they helped me convince NTI‚Äôs regional reps to meet us more than halfway.‚Äù

Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston, Ward 7 Alderman Robert Trane, Alderman-at-Large Dennis Sullivan, Ward 1 Alderman William Roche and Ward 5 Alderman Sean O’Donovan originally voted in favor of the proposal.

Ward 3 Alderman Thomas F. Taylor, Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero, Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz, Alderman-at-Large Bruce Desmond and Alderman-at-Large William A. White voted against the proposal. Alderman-at-Large Denise Provost was absent.