See you at City Hall on Thursday, October 27 @ 7 p.m. for our LWV Mayoral Debate. Imagine what we could accomplish with a kind, caring, calm “face of Norwalk”: Andy Garfunkel, Democratic candidate for Mayor!

Councilwoman: City should encourage participation of the public at hearings

“Another View” by Anna Duleep, printed in The Hour, March 28, 2009

As a new member of the Finance Committee of the Common Council, I would like to apologize to those members of the public who came from other towns to present information at Wednesday’s joint BET / Finance Committee public hearing on the operating budget, only to be denied the opportunity to speak. I was surprised when Mayor Moccia told New Canaan’s Democratic Registrar of Voters, George Cody, that residents of other towns were not permitted to speak at our public hearing. Residents of other towns frequently speak at Common Council public hearings. For example, a very nice realtor from Fairfield has spoken more than once in support of developments in the West Avenue area, most recently at the March 10th public hearing on the bond resolution for Waypointe. I appreciated her perspective on how those outside Norwalk view our real estate market.

As noted in The Hour (3/26/09), Mayor Moccia stated, “I don’t come to New Canaan to speak [about] how they can spend their tax dollars. I think our city voters would like to have the chance to speak on their budget.” Perhaps Mayor Moccia is unaware that sometimes residents of Norwalk have participated in public hearings in neighboring towns and have been received graciously. I never thanked them at the time, perhaps because it seemed to be a routine matter to them and to me, but I sincerely thank Westport’s Planning and Zoning Commission for allowing several Norwalk residents to participate in one of their many hearings on Mahackeno. Even though the room was packed and it took many nights to get through the list of residents on both sides of that issue, those of us from Norwalk were not turned away. Councilwoman Amanda Brown asked Westport’s Planning and Zoning Commissioners that night simply to consider the potential impact on their neighbors in the Cranbury section of Norwalk.

It is my understanding that public hearings are a time when the public speaks and we listen. I learned a lot about Mayor Moccia’s opinions on the budget last night, but my goal was to learn other people’s ideas about the budget. Information from any source could be invaluable to facilitating the difficult decisions ahead. According to The Hour (3/25/09), Mayor Moccia stated, “If they have ideas how we can keep staffing without increasing taxes beyond a reasonable point, then they’re going to have to tell me how to do that.” I apologize to those residents who didn’t realize that presenting their ideas at the hearing meant engaging in impromptu debates with Mayor Moccia. My notes are filled with Mayor Moccia’s interjections. The information Mayor Moccia provided during the public hearing was frankly news to some of us who were sitting on the stage with him, which makes the quick-witted, insightful replies of these residents all the more admirable.

Indeed, when one considers the public participation portion of Tuesday night’s Common Council meeting, it seems there is a wealth of spunk and grit in our elderly female population. As I was not privy to their phone conversation, I cannot say Mayor Moccia was wrong to dispute Mrs. Meehan’s claim that the tone of his telephone response to her letter to the editor concerning Waypointe (The Hour, 3/24/09), was “nasty” enough to prompt Mrs. Meehan to hang up on him. I will merely suggest that interrupting an elderly resident during her allotted public participation time is not the most effective way to dispel a false accusation of belligerence.

If we want to encourage public participation, we must follow the example of Council President Bolden and Councilman Doug Hempstead. Rev. Bolden takes special care to help members of the public feel comfortable expressing their views to the Common Council. Although he appeared to disagree with the sentiments of some residents at the public hearings on Waypointe, Councilman Hempstead nevertheless encouraged city employees to provide information to help residents better understand the bond resolution. And as Councilwoman Laurel Lindstrom pointed out in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, a few extra hours spent responding to questions from the public is well worth it.

The volunteers who serve on Westport’s Planning and Zoning Commission spent several nights making sure anybody who wanted to contribute to the discussion on Mahackeno, even those of us from across the town border, had a chance to participate. They may have been bleary-eyed, but they listened, and presumably saved their rebuttals for the proper forum. I trust that my Republican colleagues on the Common Council will join me in listening to the public, researching the ideas presented, and engaging other Common Council members, rather than the public, in spirited debate.

Norwalk truly is a small town…with a large, diverse population. Like most “small town girls,” I was welcomed before I was even born – by volunteers who make those Christmas stockings that snuggle lucky December babies.
I lost that innocent security on March 3, 2008, the day my dog, Scrappy, was found dead. Scrappy found an advocate in Jim Clark, of the Golden Hill Neighborhood Association. A shooting on a Sunday night in ANY residential neighborhood affects all who care about Norwalk. What would our City do to protect us?
Three years –and one restraining order later- I still fight for justice for Scrappy. I’m dismayed by the gap between the fine investigative instincts of the responding Norwalk police officers and the official NPD quotes in the Stamford Advocate. This article implies our police really believe a deer poacher would hunt with a .22. After 10 p.m. on a school night. Right up the hill from Silvermine Elementary School. Our police officers deserve better, more effective advocacy.
I’m running because I cannot sit by and watch the current administration continue to make “penny-wise, pound-foolish” decisions. We must look beyond the upcoming budget cycle to realize long-term savings. We must LISTEN, not interrupt, when an 81-yr-old dissents on the record. Mrs. Meehan is now 83 – and unable to be here tonight. She should not have to decide between nursing a broken rib and participating in our democracy.
Will tomorrow’s headlines proclaim lack of interest in local government because Mrs. Meehan is ill, Ms. Beau can’t afford a babysitter, and this generation’s Dr. Duleep is pulling a double shift? Or will they proclaim a NEW day when we step UP to the challenges of our small city? Councilwoman Laurel Lindstrom ran in 2007 to “bring neighborhoods to City Hall.” The time has come to bring City Hall to our neighborhoods.

Here are links to YouTube vignettes of various groups of candidates answering questions. Click HERE to read Anna’s closing statement on why she’s running for Norwalk Common Council.

View and decide. I hope I’ve earned your vote on November 8th, 2011!

Click HERE to choose from the 5 videos available

Click HERE to compare: Republicans Doug Hempstead and Fred Bondi and Democrats Anna Duleep and Warren Pena answer the question, “What will you do about violent crime in South Norwalk?”

Click HERE to compare: Republicans Fred Bondi and Joanne Romano and Democrats Kate Tepper and Warren Pena answer, “Do you support a blight ordinance like every other city in Connecticut has to effectively control blight with direct fines from the city?”

Click HERE to compare: Republicans John Tobin and Doug Hempstead and Democrats Anna Duleep and Warren Pena answer, “Do you support a blight ordinance like every other city in Connecticut has to effectively control blight with direct fines from the city?”

Running a city is a large, complicated and expensive undertaking. It is, in effect, big business. For example, the city of Norwalk spends more than $250 million a year and, as taxpayers, we need to make sure that our money is spent in a cost-effective, responsible and responsive way. To build the kind of community we all want, we need visionary, hard-working leadership – people who keep their eye on the ball, shape the agenda and then follow through. We need first-rate minds, first-rate commitment. Yet the Republicans presently tasked with running our city are still governing in the status quo, “just slap on a coat of paint and don’t rock the boat” mentality.

To make this city thrive we must have an overall economic development program for the 21st century that will focus like a laser on creating, and keeping, jobs right here in Norwalk while at the same time navigating a steady course during the stress of the economic downturn.

Putting shovels in the ground may be a good campaign slogan, but there is no substitute for good economic policies that pursue the right economic development. There are too many Norwalkers out of work or underemployed to not have an extreme sense of urgency when it comes to really creating jobs here.

During the past six years, how many truly innovative and forward thinking new ideas have come out of the mayor’s office about the kinds of jobs we can create with our development and revitalization projects? The Republican campaign theme this year couldn’t be more accurate, they truly are in motion for Norwalk – very, very, slow motion.

All around us, new technologies are impacting on every aspect of the way we live and work and we need to embrace and integrate that technology into our local governance.

In education that means we have got to focus our resources on closing the digital divide between rich and poor, and making sure every child who graduates from Norwalk schools is ready for the 21st-century global economy and can meet a minimum level of competency in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). We need new blood on the Board of Education, as well as the Common Council, so that we are all pulling together as a Norwalk team, leaving party politics outside the door when we meet. Our kids are more important than any brand of party politics.

While the present city website gives lots of data, it is not very user-friendly and often not very up-to date. With modern technology all city data and proposals should be made easily available to decision-makers and to the general public, for it is the public, the people who pay Norwalk taxes, who must hold our leaders accountable for results. We should create a publicly accessible website that tracks citizen complaints – potholes, abandoned property, downed power lines, etc. – so we can track results and response times. Citizens should be able to text their complaints and transmit photos showing the problems and these should be made readily available. That should get results! We need to know who is responsible for work and how they execute that responsibility.

Our first order of business should be to focus on establishing our priorities and then finding ways to fund them. We need to actively seek funds from both federal and state agencies and rigorously pursue grant funding for new projects. Rather than take last year’s budget and add to it or cut from it, let’s focus on what we keep, not the cuts, and make sure we are getting what we pay for with a regular, rigorous review of every program – not every two years, but every two weeks!

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” isn’t good enough, Norwalk needs better enterprise than that. We not only want to pro-actively maintain our city, we want to push it forward to make sure it really is “all it can be.” We need a mayor that engages in the process of government, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We need a mayor that helps change the trajectory of our city. Andy Garfunkel fits the bill.

As Democrats, we are a party of action, and in this coming election we want the chance to renew our commitment to revitalize the city that is our home. We’ll work together as a team with a fresh perspective, using innovative ideas, discipline, good old-fashioned elbow grease and common sense. As Democrats, we want to give everyone a voice, and represent all the people in this diverse community. We want to cultivate and add to the assets innate to our city: our waterfront, our commercial centers, and our tourist attractions. We need to make our residential communities flourish once again. Norwalk should be a destination, and a point of interest. By voting for the Democratic slate, you can bring about the change that can help our city thrive and expand to its full potential.

Click HERE to read this essay as published in The Daily Norwalk on October 24, 2011.

Here in Norwalk, our “main street” happens to be called Wall Street. The summer I was 15, 2 out of my 3 jobs were on Wall Street, Norwalk: I waited tables at my family’s restaurant, Ganga Haute Cuisine of India; worked as a cashier at H.L. Green’s for $5/hr; and volunteered in the O.R. Holding Room at Norwalk Hospital. Working at Green’s helped me pay for textbooks at Exeter; when my father passed away that winter, I distracted myself by focusing on customers at Green’s.
Tonight, I am delighted to co-host a fundraiser supporting three progressive mayoral candidates, including Norwalk’s own Andy Garfunkel! Join Gov. Malloy, mayoral candidates Andy Garfunkel, Dan Drew, Tim O’Brien, and me TONIGHT, 5p.m.-7p.m. at the Pine Loft Pizzeria and Café, 1474 Berlin Turnpike, Berlin. Busy tonight? Consider donating on your schedule.

Read my mom’s letter in today’s newspaper to learn why Unaffiliated & WFP voters agree with Norwalk’s Democrats: Andy Garfunkel is the change Wall Street, Norwalk’s small businesses need!

I concur! As the daughter of a Wall Street building owner, I’ve waited my entire life to see redevelopment in our downtown. I’d like Norwalk to save time and money -as well as increase the number of finished projects- by streamlining our redevelopment process.
I support Andy Garfunkel’s vision of a user-friendly process whereby developers AND concerned neighbors can begin collaborating with Norwalk City Hall early. I voted for the entire Waypointe package -despite firm resolve against its risky financing plan- in part because so many neighborhood associations spoke favorably of Mr. Seligson’s team. Over the five-year period before the final Common Council vote, Mr. Seligson’s team met with many neighborhood groups and modified their ambitious plans to better accomodate neighborhood character. If we had fostered a smaller series of development plans early on, we might be enjoying more completed projects -and increased grand list tax base- now.
Please visit www.AnnaDuleep.net or watch my “Stream of Conscience” interview at http://vimeo.com/29545142 to learn more about my ideas for Norwalk. Thank you for your helpful feedback, sir.

FYI Here’s Mr. Hamlin’s comment on www.thehour.com:
Ms. Duleep asks “shouldn’t we reconsider where it is we want Norwalk to go?” Well, she could start by telling us where she wants Norwalk to go and how specifically she thinks we ought to get there — especially if she wants voters to cast their ballots for her in the upcoming election. It’s not enough to be critical of the status quo.
Posted by: John Hamlin – Norwalk, CT | Oct 13, 2011