July 4 display again raises controversy

Fishbein balks at town’s different treatment of fireworks and ‘Celebrate’

As published in the Record Journal Thursday April 12, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

Dickinson Fishbein Zandri

Photos courtesy of the Record Journal

WALLINGFORD — One of the town councilors who helped launch a fundraising effort to save the annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration claims the town doesn’t treat all nonprofit organizations it works with equally.

Republican Town Councilor Craig Fishbein said that the fireworks are being treated differently from events such as Wallingford Symphony Orchestra concerts and Celebrate Wallingford, which is put on by Wallingford Center Inc., the downtown business advocacy group. The town budget allocates $8,500 for an outdoor summer symphony concert that Fishbein said draws only hundreds of people, while the fireworks celebration draws more than 10,000 and receives no funding. For Celebrate Wallingford, Wallingford Center Inc. is able to contract with vendors, Fishbein said.

Fishbein and Democratic Town Councilor Jason Zandri founded the nonprofit Wallingford Fireworks Fund in 2010 after the town dropped funding for the show from its budget. They’ve butted heads with Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. during the planning for this year’s celebration. Zandri and Fishbein raised several issues during a council meeting Tuesday.

For the last two years, Zandri has negotiated with vendors. He said the arrangement allowed a certain flexibility on costs, through discounts from the vendor, and room to accommodate last-minute donations that could improve the show. But this year that process is being handled by the Parks and Recreation Department.

“The town doesn’t contribute one red cent, yet the mayor feels the (donors) should have no part in the coordination,” Fishbein said. “We don’t want total control ... we’re willing to work with them.”

Liz Landow, executive director of Wallingford Center Inc., said the events are treated differently because the town, not the fireworks fund, ultimately puts on the show, even if the fund provides the money. She said Wallingford Center Inc. wasn’t getting special treatment.

“It’s a Wallingford Center production,” she said of Celebrate Wallingford. “It’s put on by Wallingford Center; we hold the insurance. We have the freedom because of the way it was established.”

Dickinson, a Republican, has maintained that the town must handle the purchasing process for the fireworks, and said that comparisons to Celebrate Wallingford aren’t fair.

“The fireworks are clearly put on by the town,” he said. “For Celebrate Wallingford, Wallingford Center provides insurance; they are the hosts of that. They are a separate entity from the town that provides all the groundwork.”

Several members of the Wallingford Center board have Republican ties, including Republican councilors John Le-Tourneau and Rosemary Rascati and former Republican Councilor Stephen Knight. Landow is Rascati’s daughter. But Zandri said he doesn’t believe politics plays a role in the perceived different treatment of the fireworks and Celebrate Wallingford.

“I like to look above and beyond that ... I think it’s not politically motivated,” Zandri said.

Zandri said that he hasn’t thought about the fund taking total sponsorship of the event, but said that if he is continually denied input, it’s an option he may consider.

“I suppose there’s ways to do it,” he said. “But it’s a manpower issue. Right now it’s just me, my father and Craig (Fishbein). It’s hard to say it, but if I have to go that route someday, maybe I will.” Jason Zandri’s father, Geno Zandri, a former six-term Democratic councilor, helps organize fireworks fundraising.

The fund would have to get permission from the town to use the school grounds and pay directly for the cost of the town services including police, fire and public works, and the fireworks. Currently, the town makes the payments and arrangements after receiving a check from the nonprofit.

Democratic Town Councilor John Sullivan said that he thinks Fishbein, Zandri and Dickinson need to sort out their differences, and not at a council meeting.

“We have two sides working toward a common goal,” he said. “They need to sit down, communicate and work together.”

Wallingford Fireworks 2012 campaign: Week three collections net another $1,194.68; the 2012 campaign total stands at $4,567.07

Good morning everyone.

This week is going to be an exciting week for the Wallingford Fireworks Fund and all her supporters. Please keep an eye out on the blog this week for additional announcements.

Until then, totals are in from our week three collections are in and we collected an additional $1,194.68.

Our full 2012 campaign is to collect $30,000.00 before the Mayor’s deadline of 5PM on Friday May 25th 2012.

Our current totals for the event stand at $4,567.07 (oh for the want of an additional eighty two cents to make that a sequential total; had I known that was going to be the remaining balance ahead of time I would have thrown it in).

I am still waiting on Mr. Bowes, Wallingford’s Comptroller, to let me know what the costs to the town services are as that is the first of the totals we need to take care of before we can even consider paying for the fireworks themselves.
In 2011 those costs were:

Police Dept. Overtime $7,750.00
Fire Dept. Overtime $1,900.00
Port-o-lets $990.00
Fire Marshall $850.00
Public Works $330.00
Board of Ed $330.00

Town Services 2011 total $12,150.00

I am sure that amount is probably 2 to 5 percent higher this year so I am planning for about $13,000.00

So that is where we are right now.

Today is Tuesday the 20th and my father is supposed to be out at the Yalesville Dunkin Donuts on Main Street (Route 150) to collect for us. Stop by and see him.

I am working all this week in New York City (I am on the train as I write this) so I am unavailable to help until the weekend. Over the weekend we are again planning to be at the Wallingford Landfill and the Wallingford Recycling Center.

We are always looking for additional volunteers to stand out and collect donations.

We have slots available at the Dunkin Donuts here in town on most mornings. While we like to cover a full morning rush hour shift from 6:30AM to 9:30AM if all you have is an hour to spare and want to help we’ll take it.

We’ve also sent out the letters to all the donors from the past two years and we have gotten a few checks to date (they are already deposited and in our running total).

If you’re a newcomer and want to donate you can by sending your tax deductible donation to:

Wallingford Fireworks Fund
c/o Jason Zandri
35 Lincoln Drive EXT
Wallingford, CT 06492

As always, if anyone has any questions of me please feel free to reach out by calling 860 614 6069 or via email at Jason@Zandri.net. (Generally speaking, I can answer email faster than a phone call because of my work schedule).

 

PLEASE – stay tuned this week for a major announcement here on the blog and I would expect in the Record Journal as well.

Councilors seek help with fireworks fundraising

NOTE: The Wallingford Fireworks Fund will meet at Gaetano's Tavern on Main (40 N Main St  Wallingford) on Wednesday February 8th at 7:30PM in the dinning area.

The meeting will be to recruit volunteers to work as part of the fundraising committee for the 2012 fundraising season which will kick off on March 1st.

For more information contact Jason Zandri at 860 614 6069 or via Jason@Zandri.net. You can also contact Craig Fishbein at his law offices - (203) 265-2895

As published in the Record Journal on Tuesday January 31, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD — If Jason Zandri has learned one thing in his past two efforts to raise money for the town’s Fourth of July fireworks celebration, it’s that you can never start too early.

Zandri, a Democratic town councilor, has headed the effort to pay for the fireworks since the town dropped the festivities from its budget in 2010. He’s already started a blog to promote this year’s fundraising efforts, and will be holding a meeting soon, looking for people to join a fundraising board to oversee the operations.

“We’re looking this year to get a formal fundraising committee established,”Zandri said. For the past two years, Zandri, his father, Geno, and Republican Town Councilor Craig Fishbein have collected most of the donations. But Jason Zandri said it can’t continue with just the three of them.

“It can’t just be the Jason, Craig and Geno show,” he said. “We lucked out doing it twice like that.”

The first year the money was raised, Jason Zandri worked from his Wallingford home and his flexible schedule allowed him time for fundraising outside Stop & Shop and Dunkin’ Donuts. But last year, Zandri took a job in New York City and had to restrict his efforts to the weekends.

“For 16 weeks that’s all I did on the weekends,” Jason Zandri said.

With his new responsibilities as a councilor, putting in the same effort this year will be “impossible.”

“I’m just too involved,” Jason Zandri said. “I have to tend to my council duties, and the majority of the fundraising comes during budget season.”

Fishbein agreed, noting that he too became busy in 2011 and didn’t help out as much as he did the year before. “We need all the help we can get,” Fishbein said.

Jason Zandri said he hopes more of the people who come out to the show will help pay the costs associated with it. Many of the donations in the past two years have come from large businesses and not individuals.

Fishbein said he was disappointed that two fundraisers scheduled last year — a matinee movie and a concert at Zandri’s Stillwood Inn — drew small numbers of people.

“It was very discouraging,” Fishbein said.

Fundraising efforts at the show last year also didn’t garner as much money as was expected, Fishbein said.

Jason Zandri will once again ask the mayor if the town can pay a portion of the costs, such as the police and public works overtime, but he said he wasn’t optimistic the town would put money toward the project. The fund has about$1,000 left over from last year to put toward the 2012 show.

Last year the $24,150 for the show was raised with little time to spare. Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said the check was delivered to the town at 2:30 p.m. on May 27, 2011, only hours before his 5 p.m. deadline.

A $2,500 donation from New Life Church helped the charity reach its goal in 2011. Similarly, a $5,000 gift from Choate Rosemary Hall in 2010 pushed the fund past its $30,000 goal.

For more information on fireworks fundraising, visit http://wallingfordfireworks.blogspot.com.

Celebrate Wallingford 2011 / Wallingford Fireworks Fund

Celebrate Wallingford 2011 will be taking place TOMORROW Saturday October 1st -- 11AM – 7PM and Sunday October 2nd -- 12PM - 6PM at the Wallingford Railroad Station Green and along Hall Ave.

I know there will be some candidates there campaigning but I will not be one of them. I will be there both days collecting for the Wallingford Fireworks Fund and that will be it.

Democrat Headquarters at 62 Center Street will be open and I may stop there for a little while as I might have some help at the fund-raising booth for a brief period of time in the afternoon. 

There might be the time for both but for me it is more important to get the needed jump start on the 2012 celebration as opposed to adding more juice to my campaign. As I need to, I can meet with people individually and in small groups in their neighborhoods; there are very few opportunities for me to reach this many Wallingford residents all in one shot for the Fireworks Fund. 

Besides, if at this point I would think that the voters are well on their way to forming their opinions about me, how I might serve the town, and what my goals and aspirations for the town are. If I need to reinforce anything or further clarify for them I can always do this on a one to one basis. 

Hope to see you at Celebrate Wallingford - thank you for the support over the past two years and I hope we can count on it again going forward.

Celebrate Wallingford 2011 / Wallingford Fireworks Fund

Celebrate Wallingford 2011 will be taking place Saturday October 1st -- 11AM – 7PM and Sunday October 2nd -- 12PM - 6PM at the Wallingford Railroad Station Green and along Hall Ave.





I know there will be some candidates there campaigning but I will not be one of them. I will be there both days collecting for the Wallingford Fireworks Fund and that will be it.  

There might be the time for both but for me it is more important to get the needed jump start on the 2012 celebration as opposed to adding more juice to my campaign. As I need to, I can meet with people individually and in small groups in their neighborhoods; there are very few opportunities for me to reach this many Wallingford residents all in one shot for the Fireworks Fund. 

Besides, if at this point I would think that the voters are well on their way to forming their opinions about me, how I might serve the town, and what my goals and aspirations for the town are. If I need to reinforce anything or further clarify for them I can always do this on a one to one basis. 

Hope to see you at Celebrate Wallingford - thank you for the support over the past two years and I hope we can count on it again going forward.