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Published: May 18, 2000 12:00 am
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Rachel Buethe, Kaitlin Eckert, Laura Konkos, Julie Landin, Andrea Minor, Jenna Moser, Tricia Reed, and Jina Willie
I’m not sure I would call this a victory lap.
The contentious relationship between the NIMBY crowd and local builders has not served Newtown well. In fact, this kind of obstructionist approach is part of what leaves us with worse outcomes. We have already seen projects like the cinder block row housing on Oakview pushed through in ways many residents were unhappy with, and it is only a matter of time before a company like Vessel Technologies decides to block up an area like Castle Hill if we continue down this path.
We need to learn how to work with builders, not meet every proposal with lawsuits, angry Facebook groups, and organized opposition. That does not mean residents should stay silent or accept every plan as presented. It means we should engage constructively, negotiate for better outcomes, and work toward development that fits Newtown rather than spending everyone’s money fighting until there are no good options left.
Let’s learn to work together.
"Think about women seeking reproductive healthcare." In which state does Brandon think he's running for office? If that's your moral imperative to run for office, move to Texas and insert yourself in their culture wars. Campaigns like this one choose the very odd "but Trump" angle because they have no other leg to stand on. Mitch has represented Newtown with integrity in Hartford, and it is evidenced by the complete lack of criticism of his record in the statements above.
That may have been true in 1995-2008 when every new unit of housing had 1.5 kids, but with an aging population and declining birth rates, our demographics have stabilized and our enrolment has been decreasing for 20 years while population has remained relatively flat at 28k. Less people in the homes. Not all households use the same amount of services as 2/3rds of our budget is for education. For example, Senior housing uses very little services relative to the taxes they pay, and we recognize that with a Senior Tax Credit to keep them here. It is the same for one bedroom units. Age diversity distributes the costs of education, and housing diversity supports age diversity, allowing young people to live in town and seniors to downsize (freeing up their colonials for new families.) Newtown and R-2 zoning pushes a type of building geared towards families with kids, but 4,000 sq ft 4 br homes with big lawns to mow are not what young people or empty nesters are looking for or can justify at those phases of their lives. There is also a commercial aspect as CT business associations routinely support housing so their employees can afford to live close to their jobs. Commercial tax payers need employees, be it manufacturing, medical, retail, services or our restaurants. Without a workforce, commercial property is less desirable, the commercial assessments decline and more of the tax burden gets shifted onto residential at revaluation. Housing supports the school district too. Where can a bus driver afford to live in Newtown? Why would a bus driver commute to our community to drive a bus when the municipalities they can afford to live in also need bus drivers? Newtown schools would have to pay more to incentivize them to commute further (increasing traffic on the highways.) Its no wonder we have had a chronic a bus driver shortage.
It may seem like a foreign concept to a partisan political insider, but many in Newtown feel Mitch won by a larger margin because of his years of community focused constituent service, helping local families and businesses navigate state bureaucracy during COVID, and successfully advancing legislation, especially for seniors and our special education families.