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About Town
—October 29, 2009
by MARGARET WIRTENBERG
(Suggested title: “VOTE”) PLEASE
NOTE THAT THIS COLUMN WAS PLACED IN THE SPOT ON PAGE FOUR WHERE
EDITORIAL OPINIONS GO!
Did you miss the League of Women Voters debates Sunday? No
problem!
Watch them online at www.lwvweston.org. This is a link to the
League’s streaming video of the First Selectman, Board of Selectmen,
and Board of Education candidate debates held at Norfield Parish Hall
on Sunday last.
Town TV channel 79 should also be announcing its viewing schedule for
the debates, and DVD copies are available at Weston Library as well,
courtesy of the League.
What you can do for Weston and for yourself is make sure to vote on
Tuesday, November 3, 2009, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Weston Middle
School gym. The “Democracy Cup” is at stake! Let’s get the
kind of turnout in 2009 that Westonites provide in even-numbered years!
If you don’t vote, you don’t count.
Future
I think this campaign has been bracing. Thanks to some issues
brought up indirectly, Weston leadership is forewarned. No more
“business as usual.”
Those listening carefully heard that steady increases of funds based on
a growing Grand List may be about to end. And we may be facing a
big deficit on the Town side of the budget thanks to lower interest
income from our surplus.
Special appropriations authorized during the year, that may be up to
two percent of the town budget, may become a thing of the past.
Bonding for roof replacement on town and school buildings, or even any
bonding, may become a thing of the past.
The good news is that joint ventures are expanding into new
areas. Under George Guidera, the town partnered with the Nature
Conservancy and bravely stood up to Bridgeport Hydraulic, saving Trout
Brook Valley.
In only one term, Hal Shupack brought about Weston’s inclusion in
Regional Household Hazardous Waste Collection, and got the Referenda
passed for school construction.
Woody Bliss arguably went furthest in the regional direction, however,
anchoring the successful fights against power lines and for open space
purchases on the town line. It took his vision for the town to
partner with the Fire Department on a new Lyons Plains fire
station. Sports organizations now save for turf replacement
funding thanks to Woody’s business acumen. And he found a
permanent home for the Food Pantry.
Weston is a secret treasure, and perhaps our future, without a train
station, sewers or public water lines, is limited. But many of us
wouldn’t want it any other way!
NOTE: “About Town” is also a television program. It appears
on Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30 to 6 p.m. on Cablevision Channel 88
(Public Access). Or see it at www.aboutweston.com.
Watch for Part 2, a focus on H1N1, in our series of interviews with
staff of the Westport Weston Health District.
-30-
EDITORIAL -
link to our sub-webpage that
contains information about the activities of the Select Committee on
Legal Review, which did not quite finish its work on time, but did
submit a final report in September (to be discussed in more detail, we
hope). Link to earlier editorial by clicking on football. And in Weston, football is alive and
well, with Booster Barn and home-side stands now a slam dunk, to use a
metaphor from another sport! Click here
for news of Board of Finance action! Click here to review the saga
of how the Sports Complex rolled out after November 15, 2001.
