What about the hurt feelings of Connecticut taxpayers?

State employee, but is he a "level One" or a "level two", and how can you tell?

Reader Hankster sends along this link to our Governor's effort to spare the feelings of state "workers":

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy has already given state employees so much that he’s created multibillion-dollar holes in future budgets, despite the massive tax hikes he’s also pushed through.
And now he’s moving to protect the workers’ feelings.

With his latest executive order, the gov is doing away with the hurtful term “nonessential employee.”

It merely describes those not required to show up during severe weather and so on, but Malloy’s decided it’s “demeaning,” because “state employees should be valued and treated equally.”

So he’s replacing “essential” and “nonessential” with “Level One” and “Level Two” — which still sounds like two different classes, doesn’t it?

Even Connecticut’s AFL-CIO chief called the move “inconsequential” given “all the issues facing us today.”

The Nutmeg State’s 47,101 unionized full-time employees earn an average of $73,036; more than a fifth make six figures. And the gov’s gifts to labor in last year’s contracts forced him to slash school aid to (sort of) balance this year’s budget.

Finally, a Frenchman confesses to what we all already knew

French waiter fired for "rude, aggressive behavior by Canadian restaurant claims discrimination: Rudeness is an imtegral part of French culture. I know that, you know that, but until now, the only solid evidence of it was found in a historical documentary, depicting events from long ago.

A French waiter at a Canadian restaurant accused his former employer of discrimination based on his culture after being fired for “aggressive, rude and disrespectful” demeanor.

Guillaume Rey filed a complaint with British Columbia's Human Rights Tribunal against Milestones Restaurant in Vancouver and its parent company, Cara Operations, claiming “discrimination against my culture,” CBC reported Saturday.

Rey worked as “shift lead” at the restaurant, where his duties included supervising other waiters, according to CBC. Rey was fired in August 2016 after an incident with one of the servers that left the server was left “borderline in tears,” the restaurant manager said.

Rey claimed in his discrimination complaint that French culture “tends to be more direct and expressive” and he was fired for “direct, honest and professional personality” that he acquired during his training in France’s hospitality industry.

Maybe it's best to marry a woman you know well, and one of you stay home to raise your children

The rush is on for psychological testings of nannies to weed out murderers

With the Killer Nanny trial underway, NYC parents are reassessing how they hire nannies and keeping an eye out for warning signs that their caretakers could become unhinged.

Limor Weinstein, who has a nanny consulting business in Manhattan, says she’s had more clients sending their nannies in for psych evaluations ever since Yoselyn Ortega’s trial commenced March 1 for the 2012 murders of Lucia, 6, and Leo Krim, 2.

“They want to have a professional reviewing their nanny and their mental history to make sure they don’t have any demons in their closet,” said Weinstein.

For $450, Weinstein will conduct a general screening and check references, as well as a candidate’s social media presence. A mental health assessment interview by a licensed professional is an additional $450, plus an extra $200 for a personality test.

“There are so many mentally unstable nannies it scares me,” said Weinstein, a psychotherapist who served as a commander in the Israeli military. On Friday morning, Weinstein said she received a text from an interviewee canceling her assessment because she was having a panic attack stemming from sexual abuse she endured as a teenager.

“I almost called 911 on her,” said Weinstein, who says the week prior another nanny, who had attended a nanny-training class of Weinstein’s months earlier, called her at 10:30 p.m. to tell Weinstein that she was feeling depressed.

“I was thinking about the nanny on the Upper West Side and I was like, ‘Oh my God, what if I hang up and she kills someone?’ I ended up calling her the next day to make sure the family is safe and she’s safe.”

For Corinne Jarvis, a speech language pathologist and mother of three, the trial was a reminder of how important it was to go the extra step when vetting potential hires.

“It seems like a no-brainer,” said Jarvis, who moved back to the Upper East Side last year from Oregon, and has been searching for a nanny since early March.

She decided to hire Weinstein to help with her search, particularly because of the mental health evaluation.

“It makes me feel more secure,” she said. “I think a lot of parents are really desperate to find a nanny. It’s a constant pressure, like finding the right school. It’s something, as a parent, that is the top priority and they panic, because when you need that person, you don’t always take the time to go in-depth enough into someone’s history and health.”

While it’s technically illegal to ask job candidates about their medications and whether they take anything for depression or anxiety, one woman, who owns a nanny agency in NYC, still does so.

“I want to get down to the nitty gritty to how mentally stable they are. If they are on a dose, what dose are they on? If they are taking something, are they taking care of themselves?” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous.

Weinstein says she even advises suspicious parents to go through their nannies’ bags.

“It’s okay if you have medication, but look to see if it’s from different doctors or it’s not the nanny’s name on the containers,” she warned.

Deb Crisford, who owns a nanny placement service Crisford & Co. in Manhattan, said she’s seen more people requesting credit checks since the trial began. “It really comes down to seeing how somebody handles themselves financially and how they keep themselves together in the city,” said
Crisford, who says she’s seeing more people seeking nannies with legal immigration status than ever before.

“How else are you going to run a criminal background check on a candidate?” she asked.

But as Jarvis points, out, all the due diligence in the world can’t provide full-proof protection.

“At the end of the day, a lot of people who have mental health issues are hiding them,” she said.

I certainly did, but fortunately, it was Pal Nancy who volunteered to stay home with kids.

The market's definitely picking up for expensive houses (at the right price)

Thomas Kinkade wuz here

12 laurel Lane, $6.595 million, has a contract. It was returned to the market at that price in February, after languishing from September, 2015 to September, 2017 at $8.995. Nothing wrong at all with a $6 1/2 million sale, but I think a lot of these large sales reflect the weariness of owners who set "aspirational" prices on their homes.

Peace chairs. really? whatever.

Big Ticket Sale Pending in Deer Park

2 Deerpark Meadow Road, asking $12.9 million, is scheduled for a closing after just 43 days on the market. That's certainly encouraging news for other sellers of mega-houses. When it was built in 2008, its builder tried, and failed for 487 days to get $16.250. 

Ten years on, finding a buyer willing to sink almost $13 million into Greenwich real estate is definitely a good sign.

CORRECTION: Just checked, and saw that this property was purchased in a non-MLS sale in 2010 for $11.2 million.

New on Taconic

Butt ugly? We report, you decide.

156 Taconic Road, asking $6 million. Less than four-years-old, the listing claims 14,000 sq. ft. while the tax card says 9,000, so I assume the agent is including the basement. Personally I wouldn't pay a dime extra for a wine cellar and a nanny dungeon, but that's just me. 

There was a time that house such as this would have commanded more than $6 million, so kudos to the agent and the owners for acknowledging the new reality.

It will be interesting to see what this finally sells for two years from now.

Pending in Belle Haven

521 Field Point Road. Built in 2001, sold in 2005 for $6.035, and asked $6.475 this time, in 2015, with a last-asking -price three years later of $5.850. My guess is that it will be going for about a million less than that $6.475 price.

It was built by Hobbs, so you know that the construction quality is absolutely solid, but the lot is just 0.71 of an acre in an RA-1 zone, so our FAR restrictions limited it to a one-car garage and a pull-down attic (which are useless, unless you're storing feathers or marshmallows). Some day, someone with more influence than I will question how a band of staff employees and unelected residents were permitted to strip so much wealth from Greenwich home owners by enacting inane building restrictions.

No question: the $1.1 — $1.5 range is hot

41 Cat Rock Road, asking $1.330 million, reports a contract after just six days. Allowing for the delay between accepted offer and drawing up contracts, that probably means it sold the day it hit the market.

1 Widgeon

Similarly, One Widgeon Way, $1.248 million, and, to my taste, an inferior (to the Cat Rock house) product, has a contract after 59 days.

The real bargains these days can be found in the $4.5 market and above.

Maybe our Leftists should wait a bit before disarming America, or perhaps they have a different agenda

Death dive

Acapulco is now a terrorist zone, with robbers invading schools and turning the area into one of Mexico's most murderous states. U.S. State Department now warns  tourists against visiting the place.

Skyrocketing crime rates in Brazil causing many to rethink its ban on civilians owning guns.

In the world’s most murderous country, gun control is starting to lose its appeal.

Desperate Brazilians are wondering whether they’d be better off armed, given that around 60,000 of their compatriots are killed each year. Polls show support for gun ownership gaining ground. In an election year, politicians are paying attention.

One of the candidates leading the field for October’s 2018 presidential election — hardline conservative Jair Bolsonaro — has promised to allow law-abiding citizens to arm themselves, a popular pledge in the nation with by far the most homicides of the entire world. Even before then, Congress may debate legislation to overturn the “disarmament statute,” a law that effectively bans civilian gun ownership, except in rare circumstances. The proposal would allow Brazilians with clean criminal records who pass psychological and firearm exams to buy up to six weapons.

“Everyday, everywhere you look, the criminal is armed with a high-powered weapon as the citizen tries to hide,” Rogerio Peninha Mendonca, the lawmaker behind the proposal, said in an interview. “What we want is for the citizen to be more capable of defending himself.”

 

CDC, 2013: "Use of firearms for self-defense is an important crime determent".

“Self-defense can be an important crime deterrent,”says a new report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The $10 million study was commissioned by President Barack Obama as part of 23 executive orders he signed in January.

“Studies that directly assessed the effect of actual defensive uses of guns (i.e., incidents in which a gun was ‘used’ by the crime victim in the sense of attacking or threatening an offender) have found consistently lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared with victims who used other self-protective strategies,” the CDC study, entitled “Priorities For Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence,” states.

Britain: Police respond to emergency calls — domestic abuse included — 15 hours, on average, and no longer investigate burglaries at all.

The Inspectorate of Constabulary said a quarter of forces in England and Wales were often "overwhelmed" by demand.

The annual review found instances of police taking days to respond to calls that should be acted on within an hour.

Police chiefs said increases in demand had put policing under "real strain".

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services' (HMICFRS) annual assessment of police effectiveness said most police forces were doing a good job and keeping the public safe.

However, the report said it was concerned that vulnerable victims were "too often" not getting a prompt emergency response.

Thousands of 999 calls assessed as requiring action within 60 minutes were not dealt with for hours or, in some cases, for several days - mainly because officers were not available to respond.

In Cambridgeshire, for example, inspectors found the average time it took for police to respond to a 999 call during September last year was 15 hours.

Victims 'at risk'

Inspectors said they were concerned by the findings because it showed the system was "under severe strain and in some forces the cracks are showing".

Zoe Billingham, the Inspector of Constabulary, told Radio 4's Today programme that some callers, such as domestic abuse victims, were being "put at risk".

But she said the report needed to be put into context, highlighting last year's terror attacks and a significant increase in calls from victims of domestic abuse as factors in a "massive increase in demand" on forces.

Out of 43 police forces, only Durham Constabulary was ranked as outstanding.

It found that "life and limb" and "crime in action" cases were generally dealt with quickly.

But the report criticised the standard of investigations into crimes such as robbery, burglary, car theft and assault.

It said officers frequently failed to carry out house-to-house enquiries, gather CCTV evidence and use their body-worn cameras.

The National Police Chiefs' Council said it was working with forces to boost their detective numbers and specialist capability.

And speaking of waiting a bit before rushing in to buy a hot new listing

78 - 80 Cedar Cliff Road, a lovely old (1936) Riverside house on two + acres, which are apparently divisible, has dropped from $17.5 million to $10. 750 over the past two years. It's telling that almost all the pictures in the listing show its waterfront views, rather than the interior of the house itself, because that (strongly) suggests that its value lies in the land, and not the house itself. I don't believe I've been in the house since its 1973 renovation — it looked fine to me then, but tastes have changed considerably over the past 45 years, and renovations made then have probably become a bit dated.

But it is certainly beautiful waterfront, and they aren't making more of that, so maybe this latest price will smoke out a buyer. If I could afford the land, and the cost of building a new house, I'd leave the land intact and simply enjoy the luxury of having such a large, private property in crowded little Riverside.