I was forced to announce last night that the unthinkable happened. The City seized our fleet. It was not a shock that they were doing it, but it was a surprise. No one really thought they would totally ignore the law to take over our facility, especially when the eyes of the world were watching, but they did. And so its was a surprise, but not a shock.
People say that phrase when a 95 year old man drops dead of a heart attack. "Oh It was a shock, but not a surprise" They say it when a corrupt politician goes to jail after years of flaunting the law but never getting caught. They say, "OH we knew he was breaking the law, but we thought he'd never get caught- it was shock but not really a surprise we he did"And they say it when after seven years of battling with City officials to do the right thing, in a town that is known for doing the wrong thing, and when those same City officials, break the law after being thoroughly warned by State and Legal officials NOT to do what they were threatening to do, and they go ahead and take the boats anyway. Well... It was shock, but not a surprise.
We were told by a least a dozen lawyers who read the section of law pertaining to vessel seizures, Sec 15-9 of the Connecticut general statutes, that no one in their right mind would just take our boats from private property no less, without following the letter of the law. It reads:
(b) A harbor master may notify any officer attached to an organized police department or any state police officer that a master or owner of a vessel is in violation of the provisions of subsection (a) of this section. Any such officer may remove and take such vessel into custody and shall give written notice by certified mail to the owner or master of such vessel, if known, which notice shall state (1) that the vessel has been taken into custody and stored, (2) the location of storage of the vessel, (3) that such vessel may be sold after fifteen days if the market value of such vessel does not exceed five hundred dollars or after ninety days if the value of such vessel exceeds five hundred dollars, and (4) that the owner has a right to contest the validity of such taking by application, on a form prescribed by the Commissioner of Transportation, to the hearing officer named in such notice within ten days from the date of such notice. Such application forms shall be made readily available to the public at all offices of the Department of Transportation and at all state and local police departments.
That pretty much never happened and so when the Harbor Master started towing boats, he was breaking the law.
And I am surprisingly OK with that. Boats are tools of the trade- they are transportation. Nothing more. When one dies, you get another and another. If they can be moved, they can be returned. What scares me, is when they come for the docks and the boat house. Those cannot be replaced easily. And once they are hauled out, odds are they will never go back. And that is what the City is banking on.
But The Law Offices of Jennifer Mongillo now hold the wheel on this effort and she tells me, in classic Stratfordian bravado, " This is why I became a lawyer". GOD Bless her- It's amazing what a couple of kids from Stratford High can do when they put their heads together- and so we will fight, til the last drop of blood leaves my pale and lifeless body.
This first task is no gimme, but based on the conversations I have had with State DOT officials, (they actually were the people in charge of boating before the DEEP got all high and mighty, so they are the regulators of record when it comes to vessel seizures) they tell me they talked with the City Harbor Master and the City Economic Development Coordinator and told them both about the law. (Apparently, my name has been bandied about Hartford quite a bit in the last few weeks) DOT's official position is they don't want to get involved, but tacitly, I think they want to see us win- and why wouldn't they? Its the right thing to do!
We're not dumping raw sewage, we're not installing a LNG pipeline, we're not even docking an unregistered boat- we're trying to create a public access facility for inner city kids to sail from? Is that so freaking bad?
Well, according to the State Police, the USCG, the DOT and the folks at the Governor's office, it doesn't seem like such a big deal. But to me it is. Its my livelihood, its my Opus, it's my everything- so if its killed legally, I wont be shocked or surprised, but I will be heart broken. And if it is killed illegally, then I will be fighting mad and looking for some justice.
And you should be mad too. It was your dollars that built this facility, it was your hard work that built CCB. It is your kids who get to enjoy the fruits of our labor and it is your tax dollars that will be spent to take it down. You should be looking for justice too.
But if I heard it once, I have heard it a thousand times. People are broke- "I wish I was rich, Chris, I would bail you guys out" " Chris this sucks, How can I help? I have no money?" " I can't pay my car insurance Chris, but this is wrong what they're doing to you." I have also gone to the deepest pockets in the land, Billionaires and Millionaires alike. They all have their own private foundations that send out nicely worded letters telling you the same thing, "We support what you do, but there are hundreds of good causes and we cant support them all- sorry" If Billionaires gave away their money to every good cause, they wouldn't be billionaires long.
Justice is easily had in this State if you can pay for it. But no one has the money these days to pay for it. That's neither a shock or a surprise.
But do you want to hear a shocker? I don't do this for money. And all the money in the world can't fix it when someone just doesn't like you. So they can take our boats, and our docks and our boat house if they think they can get away with it. But that wont stop me from trying.
I am in this for the long haul, and CCB can survive all sorts of bad horrible things and stay alive. You see, a cause is just an idea- and ideas have power even if they lack presence. V says it so much better than me- have a look.
Now Im not going to do anything rash- violence is not part of this effort, never was, never will be. But let them take the boats and the docks. Let them do their worst. And when you hear that certain officials are officially sanction by the Courts and certain individuals are going to jail, you shouldn't be surprised. And you shouldn't be shocked when CCB wins a judgement for $2 Million dollars against the City and State that is paid for by tax payers, know it was not my wishes to do so, but a means to an end. And when Bridgeport Harbor gets a $1 Million face lift, a school ship is founded and our lighthouses are protected for the ages, know that a few dirty boats, a rickety dock and a half built boat house were what started it all, and then you can say, I am not surprised or shocked- just proud to be part of it.
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