New Britain cuts ties to North Oak NRZ

Mayor points to ‘dysfunction in leadership’ on board

Increasingly angry arguments between leaders of the North Oak Neighborhood Revitalization Zone have led New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart to cut the city’s contact with the organization, at least temporarily.

“The dysfunction in leadership on their board (and membership) is not something I will subject any city employee to any longer,” Stewart wrote in a memo advising municipal employees not to deal with the association until the trouble is resolved.

On Monday, the association’s vice president, Edgar Lopez, resigned after weeks of disputes with its president, Pablo Rodriguez. Lopez said his family had just suffered a medical emergency.

Council Majority Leader Carlo Carlozzi called on Rodriguez to step down, saying the city’s North Oak section needs a properly functioning NRZ.

“I think based on what I’ve heard and seen, a change in leadership is very much needed,” Carlozzi said. “The residents deserve leadership that can deliver for them. I believe he cares for the community — it would be in the best interest of the community for him to step down.

Just last week, Republican Alderman Kristian Rosado also called for Rodriguez’s resignation. Rosado referred to disturbances at city hall and at the police department’s Oak Street substation last month involving Rodriguez; no charges were filed, but police have banned Rodriguez from the substation.

Stewart cited those incidents in her directive to city workers to avoid dealing with the organization.

“Until the group can abide by the basic golden rule, ‘Treat others the way you want to be treated,’ the city will promote our own initiatives in the North-Oak neighborhood without them,” she wrote. “I value each of your strong commitments to the North Oak neighborhood but I cannot subject you each to tolerate this mistreatment any longer.”

The General Assembly established neighborhood revitalization zones in the mid-1990s as a way to build community involvement in improving poor, distressed neighborhoods. NRZs do not have governmental authority, but generally serve as a connection between neighborhoods and municipal leadership.

Rodriguez has said he is proud of his record of leadership, and on Friday posted a video on Facebook showing him at city hall delivering a check for $2,241 — proceeds of North Oak NRZ fundraisers for families displaced by the Allen Street apartment building fire last month. Rodriguez emphasized that Stewart did not come out of her office to get it.

“I could put my ego aside while the mayor hides in her office because she is embarrassed to admit they had no plan on helping the Allen Street fire victims,” he wrote.