The permanent memorial to the lives lost April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Colorado was created with the participation of the Columbine school community and the efforts of an original group ...
I’m happy to hand out my first Good Egg Award of the year. Beginning in early December, at the Sandy Hook Tree Lighting, the Foundry Kitchen and Tavern in Sandy Hook Center began handing out customize...
UPDATE (January 9, 2014): This story has been updated to reflect the correct ticket price for the Fred Hersch performance.
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Newtown resident and “Live At Edmond Town Hall” series p...
“It’s all coming together in February,” said Mary Fellows, a member of the Board of Managers at Edmond Town Hall, referring to the upgrades to the infrastructure of Edmond Town Hall. The cornerstone o...
For several days before the somber anniversary of 12/14, First Selectman Pat Llodra led a panel of community leaders through a half-dozen press conferences that were attended by state, regional, and n...
Occupation: I am the owner and instructor of Yoga Dimensions in Newtown. I’ve been an instructor for over ten years, and we’ll have been at our South Main Street location for ten years in April 20...
January 6, 1989
The Legislative Council voted 17-0 January 4 to approve a resolution “censoring” First Selectman Rod Mac Kenzie for violating the town charter by overspending certain line item ac...
NORWALK — Nearly two dozen lighthouses built using everything from gingerbread and cake icing to PVC pipe and Plexiglas are lighting the way for visitors of The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk during the...
Offering more than 60 square miles of a winter wonderland for those who like the outdoors, Newtown holds a diversity of scenery and history.
Noting sites including the flagpole and “quaint Main Street...
Offering more than 60 square miles of a winter wonderland for those who like the outdoors, Newtown holds a diversity of scenery and history.
Noting sites including the flagpole and “quaint Main Street...
Tom, I appreciate you sharing your perspective. My advocacy isn't about a personal 'vested interest' in a single field; it is about the Standard of Newtown.
While you categorize the salt shed and library parking as 'essential' and the turf as an 'upgrade,' I would argue they all fall under the same umbrella of maintaining town assets.
The Turf Field ($1.4M): This was a replacement project for a facility used by thousands of youth athletes, not a new 'luxury' add-on.
The Salt Shed ($1.2M) & Library Parking ($1.4M): These were passed at almost identical price points.
The point isn't to say these items aren't important; it’s to ask why we find the money for infrastructure that serves one demographic while claiming we are too 'fiscally strained' to fund infrastructure for another. When we categorize things we use as 'essential' and things our neighbors' children use as 'extras,' we aren't having an honest discussion about priorities, we are picking winners and losers.
The goal of my letter wasn't to be 'unproductive,' but to sound the alarm for the 82% of residents who didn't show up to the polls. We cannot be a community that only thrives in parts. If we want Newtown to remain a place where people want to move and raise families, we have to invest in the next generation with the same urgency we use to fix our parking lots.
Michelle, I am sorry to see that you are also a victim of fabrications. All those rumors that go round that seem so convincing. All so often, those rumors are little more than convenient lies. This has been happening for several years and hopefully we can come together to stop them.
Until then, I ask that those of you who have heard disparaging remarks about the candidates take the time to meet with them to ask them directly what you are concerned about. Get to know them better rather than assume. We all will have better representation both locally and state-wide if you do so.
This is disappointing because it frames voters who rejected the Treadwell turf replacement as selfish or anti-youth. When I suspect that Katherine's motives were likely because she has some vested interest in those turf fields, which makes it exceptionally selfish.
There is a clear difference between maintaining basic town infrastructure and approving an athletic facility upgrade. Library sidewalks, parking access, and a salt storage facility support safety and essential town operations. The turf field may be worthwhile, but it is still a different type of request.
Residents can support youth sports and still question the cost, timing, or priority of a specific project. Calling that selfish, or turning it into a generational argument is unfair and unproductive.
Newtown is better served by honest discussion about priorities, not by accusing voters of lacking community spirit because they disagreed on one ballot item.
