The Currency For Success

To the Editor:

As a town resident and a candidate for the Board of Finance, I would like to share some observations relative to the difficulties we are experiencing as a result of the recent snow storm. I believe that our town officials are doing their best to restore power as soon as possible. Many of us still cannot believe that an early snowstorm has caused such havoc, disruption, and loss of that essential energy — electricity — which is critical to our survival.

We live in an age where many products and services are readily available when everything is fine and dandy. However, when this network of interdependence is interrupted, we find ourselves powerless in more ways than one. One of the areas we need to focus on in the future as residents is developing strategies for prevention and preparedness. We live in an area of 60 square miles with a population of about 27,000 people. This makes us one of the largest towns in the state. Some towns in Westchester County have 27,000 people living in areas of less than nine square miles. We have thousands of trees growing close to our power lines and we need to do extensive pruning program this winter when the trees are dormant.

We also need to a volunteer task force that can quickly offer help and assistance in clearing tree limbs, in clearing snow, in helping senior citizens and others in need. This effort should operate in collaboration with town resources that cannot get to these areas because of other priorities. We could establish a disaster/relief communication network that would communicate via cellphones or even via our own “local radio station” that could operate during the year providing area information of events and programs.

We have to think of creative ways to resolve eventual problems. New York City was faced with rising crime rate in the 1970s and the logical solution was to put more police on patrol. Then a very innovative solution was proposed which involved putting more eyes on the streets to report crime. This resulted in the establishment of “Crime Stoppers.” People were empowered with the ability to report criminal acts. It helped to reduce crime. It was a Lateral Thinking Idea developed by Dr Edward de Bono, a friend and collaborator. This way of thinking is based on the belief that we can improve the quality of our thinking and this should be goal in business, in education, in other institutions. But this requires a deliberate effort to challenge current “mindsets,” especially if we realize that doing the same thing over and over again will not produce new results.

We are operating in a new creative economy which seeks innovation and creativity in products and services. There is no reason why creative and innovative thinking cannot be instrumental in improving our lives in Newtown. This is the reason why I am running as an IPN candidate. We believe that new ideas are the currency for success.

Rudy Magnan, EdD

60 Watkins Drive, Sandy Hook                                November 2, 2011