Dan Rosenthal

Democrat, District 1

Personal Info: Age 29. 2 HyVue Drive. Investor Relations, Pequot Capital Management, Inc, Westport.

What personal qualities do you have that you believe will benefit the Legislative Council? — I feel that I am open-minded and I am considerate of all viewpoints in formulating opinions. I am also not afraid to vote my conscience even if I am the only dissenting vote.

What will be the council’s biggest challenge in the next two years? — The perennial challenge facing the council is controlling the year-to-year increase in the mill rate while maintaining a high level of service for the public. Recently, Newtowners have come together and supported some sizable projects. The purchase of Fairfield Hills and the construction of the 5/6 School being at the top of the list. While these projects are essential to Newtown’s future, we must not let them impair the need to continue to provide for public safety, road maintenance, education, and the acquisition of open space.

Do you favor economic development at Fairfield Hills, or should the campus be used solely for municipal purposes? — Before anything can happen with Fairfield Hills the town must prepare a master plan for its reuse. The development of a master plan will be done with a great deal of input from the people of Newtown. Personally, I hope the outcome is one that calls for a mixed reuse of the property, but makes the town’s space needs a priority. The beauty of the property can be maintained while allowing for some quality low impact economic development. We need to strike a balance between the planned economic development of Exit 9 and conceptual development of Fairfield Hills.

The proposed changes to the charter may fail on November 6 because of confusion and concern over the need to implement the changes in just 30 days because of a clerical error. Would you be willing to reappoint a charter revision commission next year to bring these changes before the public again a year from now so that they may be considered solely on their merits? — As a member of the Council, I was in support of nearly all of the proposed charter changes. However, due to the issue of the changes taking effect 30 days after the November election versus the intended date of December 2003, I will vote no on all of the ballot questions. If elected I will support the reappointment of the Charter Revision Commission in order make sure that the public has the opportunity to judge the proposed changes on their merits, free of any date conflicts, in the November 2002 election.