Danbury Mayor Reacts to COVID Restrictions + Eversource Increase
There's always a lot of things happening in the city of Danbury, and every week, Mayor Mark Boughton fills us in on what's going on.
This week, Mayor Mark talks about the new COVID-19 restaurant restrictions, and the pending Eversource rate increase.
So, the COVID-19 numbers seem to have spiked a bit over the last week.
"Yea, we're definitely seeing a community spread now within the Greater Danbury area, and what that means is that it's very difficult now for us to contact trace, in other words, follow exactly who got who sick and how. I once again advise people to wear their masks, make sure they stay away from large groups of people, and wash their hands frequently, that's the only way we can get these numbers down, and take it seriously. I'm still seeing people around the city not wearing masks and that's a problem."
What about area schools, any idea when they might head back even on a hybrid learning schedule?
"Well, it's my understanding that Immaculate High School is even closed down now and doing distance learning until after Thanksgiving. In Danbury, we are going to continue to monitor the numbers, and when our team at the Board of Education thinks it's safe, they will re-open. But it's going to be awhile, so I would expect the schools to be on distance learning at least through Thanksgiving".
We had the ruling go down last week that shuts down local restaurants at 9:30 PM, I know you have some thoughts on that.
"Well, the Governor moved everyone back to phase 2 last week, and that took effect on Thursday night. Essentially, what that means is that restaurants can serve until 9:30, and then they have to have their dinning room cleared out by 10 PM. They are permitted to do take out after that. The main point here is that we have some places that are masquerading as restaurants, but are really night clubs that were staying open way beyond that, and it just got too difficult for us to manage across the state. This will give people a better understanding what the rules are, and they also went back to 50% capacity, not 75."
Finally, I'll ask you this because I know you're a big fan, I see that Eversource is planning another rate hike starting in January, what can you tell us about that?
"You just can't make it up, it's just offensive, it's wrong, and I hope that PURA will make their argument to not give them anything. It's a fourteen percent rate hike that does not include the delivery fees that we're facing right now that everyone has been rightfully so upset about. This company has just abused the Connecticut consumer."
Who actually gave them the authorization to be able to do this rate hike, the Connecticut Legislature?
"No, it's the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), it's a group of appointed people that will listen to Eversource's arguments and decide if a rate increase is merited. Let's hope they do the right thing and understand that this company is making enough money, this company made a billion dollars last year, they don't need a rate hike."