Vote To Strengthen

Our Community

To the Editor:

Since my family moved to Newtown last summer, we have seen in many ways that we live in not just a town, but a community. Whether it be our neighbors, who welcomed us so warmly, or the staff at Hawley Elementary who have bent over backwards to accommodate my daughter’s needs, or the fact that people worked so hard for our children to have the Halloween celebration they missed due to the storm; what makes our community a truly special place is the way people help each other, care about their neighbors and work to make a better place for their children to grow up and thrive.

We rely on our town boards to make the right choices for our community, and find an acceptable balance for all our requirements. However, in the short time I have been following them, it has become clear to me that there is a lack of trust and respect among these boards. We need the LC, BoF, and BoE to restore civility between the members and bring accountability and responsiveness to the public back into their proceedings.

I had the honor of listening to a man named Joseph Poshefko speak on Memorial Day. Mr Poshefko is 97 years old, a WWII veteran, and an original as well as the oldest surviving member of The Flying Tigers. His pride and love for this country showed in every word he spoke. His parting words to us, his wish for America’s future, is that our children receive a good education so we can be the smartest and greatest of nations. His words moved me, and I think we can all learn from them.

We need to work together to ensure our schools get the funding they need, not make knee-jerk, blanket cuts to education. Others have quoted useful figures and statistics, but I do not want to do that. I want to encourage people to look at the budget, not in terms of “how much more will we have to pay?” but instead in terms of what it means for our community. Mr Poshefko’s words helped me step back from the many confusing details surrounding the budget to see the bigger picture — we are a community and we need to support our children! The economy is tight. There were no pay raises for my family this year. We understand the pain of paying more taxes, and we also understand that the benefits outweigh the sacrifices. No one likes paying taxes, but we all like having a good school system, a reliable police force, well-maintained roads, and the myriad other benefits taxes provide us. 

When we vote, please remember that Newtown is a community. The fact that we don’t need a particular service doesn’t mean we should ignore a neighbor who does. Let’s vote in a way that will make our community a stronger and better place.

Rachel Steinbroner

Patriot Ridge Road, Sandy Hook                                    May 30, 2012