Now is the season of thanks and of thanks giving. It is also the season that kicks off gift giving, although anyone who has visited a mall or department store in the past six weeks has already been pu...
When the holidays get started in earnest next week, the town will again embark on a season of heightened sensibilities with a celebration of Thanksgiving. Elsewhere, the fulsome holiday spectacle of t...
The work of Newtown’s finance authorities is axiomatic: seek economy in the increasingly expensive enterprise of running a town. And in watching the early work of the Board of Finance and the Finance ...
Election day is welcomed and celebrated in this country as the culmination of the democratic process — a system that is supposed to make our representative government accountable and self-correcting. ...
Newtown approaches Election Day this year with a perspective on federal and state government it did not have two years ago. Hartford and Washington, DC, do not seem quite so removed from our community...
Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.—Hippocrates
There are few times of the year when we are reminded more of the passing of time than the end of October...
The Legislative Council approved the transfer of $29,000 from contingency to contractual services last month to cover cleanup costs for private property at 31 Great Hill Road. A 3,400-square-foot home...
Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act has been on the books for nearly 40 years. A couple of generations of public servants have been operating under its provisions. Yet after decades of illuminati...
We like to think of young adulthood as a time when the world is an exciting place in which to be. But for one out of five Connecticut residents, that world is fraught with anxieties and fears as menta...
We like to think of young adulthood as a time when the world is an exciting place in which to be. But for one out of five Connecticut residents, that world is fraught with anxieties and fears as menta...
Dear Alyssa, Kelela, and Brandon,
We send our sincere sympathy to you and your family. We will also keep you in our prayers asking our Lord to grant you comfort and peace.
With love,
Vince and Sandy Venitelli
Bruce, your advice that voters should “read, listen, and engage” would be much more persuasive if you practiced it yourself.
You campaigned on openness and responsiveness. You declared that “evasive answers or silence are unacceptable in government” and promised to answer constituent inquiries within two days. Yet you never answered my straightforward public question about Main Street demonstrations, traffic disruption, pedestrian safety, and the effects on local businesses.
After taking office, meaningful public engagement has largely been replaced by “Brews with Bruce” at the Senior Center—requiring reservations and, for some residents, a day pass. That is not accessible, townwide engagement. Previous first selectmen held open coffee hours and walk-and-talk sessions that any resident could attend.
Then came the failed storm communications, your apology, and another promise to communicate better—followed shortly afterward by more silence while multiple police agencies conducted a significant search near Saw Mill Road.
You now tell voters to examine what candidates say and “how they say it.” I would suggest going one step further: compare what politicians promise while seeking office with what they actually do after winning.
Your record presents a stark contrast. You told voters exactly what they wanted to hear to get the job, then failed to live by those promises. Whether that is dishonesty or simply indifference, it is the same familiar, two-faced politics you once claimed you would replace.
Nothing says “I care about Newtown homeowners” quite like lining Main Street with plywood campaign billboards—apparently built just inches below the size at which officials say they can take action. At this rate, we’ll need property-tax relief just to offset the loss in curb appeal.
