More support and Letters to the Editor

Time for change
Editor: Wallingford needs a change. Jason Zandri is our man. He’s wise, intelligent, young, energetic, knowledgeable about issues, community- minded, a watchdog of the Town Council, a man of the people and for the people and, especially, a family man. Yes, Wallingford — Jason Zandri is our man for mayor, 2013.

Ben F. Klimczak, Yalesville

Wallingford taxes
Editor: I moved to Wallingford in 2007. My taxes were $3,860.00. They were $4,300 in 2011. Mayor Dickinson and the Republican block tout how they are holding the line on “expensive” employee salaries (you know, the people doing the actual work). They brag about 1.4 percent average annual salary increases over three to four years of a contract (after additionally paying arbitration costs because they don’t negotiate fairly). So tell me — why have my taxes gone up 12 percent in those same four years? Salaries are barely 5.5 percent of that. The other 6.5 percent? What are we spending it on?

Michael Cicarella, Wallingford

Deferrals
Editor: Regarding the elderly tax deferral program and Republican commentary (R-J letters, 9-18) “Does somebody making $71,000 need tax relief ?” It depends on the individual. Someone at $55,000 may, and that person is currently excluded from the current program despite being more than 20 percent below median income. “If more people have property taxes deferred, the rest of us would have to make up the difference.” Overall, that isn’t true; in the short term, while there are more deferrals taking place than settlements, it is possible, but the entire point of “deferral” is that the town is made whole over time.

Charlotte Ayers, Wallingford



GOP spin machine
Editor: The Republican spin machine is at full RPM. A letter-writer (R-J, 9-18) indicated Jason Zandri wanted to “expand the elderly/ disabled tax deferral program to people with incomes up to $71,000. No reason, except that Durham and Guilford do it” — couldn’t be further from the truth as those towns were examples. The reasons are in his blog, “I don’t want to have anyone move from family and the town that they grew up in or have called home because they can no longer afford the taxes in Wallingford.” My vote on 11/5 goes to Zandri for Mayor.

Patricia F. Mills, Wallingford

More voter support via Letters to the Record Journal

Since the screen shot above is a little difficult to read here is the text of that letter from Christopher Regan:

October 8^th, 2013

Jason Zandri via jason@zandri.net

Subject: My original submission to the Record Journal / Op-ed (unedited)

Editor: Jason Zandri's campaign slogan "Moving Wallingford Forward" is exactly why I endorsing him for Mayor in this community. As a CEO with a national business headquartered in Wallingford and also as a resident I was stunned at the lack of any type of economic development incentives for business for when I moved my organization into town. Eight years later -- Wallingford hasn't advanced forward in any appreciable means as far as business owners are concerned.  We are not close to Wallingford Center, although we appreciate the work and support the efforts to beautify our town and make frequenting downtown businesses an enjoyable experience.

Jason has proven to me that he has fiscal responsibility, wants to take advantages of integrating modern day solutions to receive efficiency gains, gives full thought about impact to the community, and solicits opinions using tools that the modern day business executive has as its disposal (email, blogging, social media, etc.) in order to effectively communicate with the people he works for.  I like the fact that I can talk to him every day any day or read his views and opinions openly and honestly.

We recently became frustrated with the town's lack of response to a residential street issue.  We reached out to the Mayor's office, to the Town Council at large, and to the Department of public works.  The only response we received was when Jason came out, on a weekend and on his own time, with a video camera and documented our issue.  It was only until then that we then received a call from public works informing us to what was going to be done.

I applaud his work in the past, for the fireworks fund, and for this town's forward momentum.

Christopher J. Regan

President & CEO

Standing still – Letter to the editor of the Record Journal Sunday August 4, 2013

This letter was written by Vincent Avallone of Wallingford and published in the Record Journal on Sunday August 4, 2013 in the Readers’ Opinions section of the paper.

 

Editor: In response to Jim Seichter’s letter (R-J, 7-26), I’m sure Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman would have enjoyed meeting with the mayor if she had only been invited.

It amazes me how the thinking of the local Republican Party is so in sync with the state and national Party in that they’re great at pointing out problems, with no solutions of course, but fail to acknowledge those most responsible for causing the problems in the first place.

Do the names John Rowland, Jodi Rell and George Bush ring a bell? When Mr. Dickinson became mayor in the 80’s, he wasn’t burdened with a financial and economic crisis, electric rates were already low, much lower than they are today, and the bond rating was just fine.

Not quite the same scenario when Governor Malloy and Lt. Governor Wyman took office. It’s unfortunate that Seichter didn’t attend Jason Zandri’s fundraiser and listen to the Democratic Party’s endorsed mayoral candidate’s address to the crowd. He was excited, energetic and full of ideas you’ll learn about as the campaign progresses and he delivered a message of moving Wallingford forward and making it a better place to live, unlike the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy of the mayor.

The Republicans feel that Wallingford is an oasis and they’ll continue “doing things how they always have been done.” The mayor is so complacent that instead of addressing issues that face the town, he decided to sing a song when he was recently endorsed by his Party. Jason Zandri understands that if Wallingford isn’t moving forward, it’s moving backwards as other towns streak by us utilizing modern methods of achieving greater efficiency at a reduced cost. There’s much work to be done, as Seichter states, but it won’t get done standing still.

Vincent Avallone, Wallingford

How I Feel – Letter to the Editor

As published in the Record Journal Tuesday June 11, 2013

Editor: Patricia Kohl’s letter (R-J, 6-9) needs a little on-the-record correcting.

I have on many occasions lamented that all local turnout, whether municipal elections or referendum, is very low and that is unfortunate as you have the most impact voting locally. Would you rather be one voice in 25,000 registered voters (or actually one in 12,000, because that’s all that shows up), or would you rather be one voice in 150,000,000 for a presidential one?

Did I say, “The residents already said “no” to that lot.”? Yes, I did.

“6,888 voters went to the polls; of those, 4,120 voted to reject the project. Is that number a minority of the registered voters in Wallingford?” Yes it is, but they showed up and had their say; 4,120 people got their outcome and spoke for all of Wallingford because they were the majority of those that showed up. If the rest of Wallingford wanted their say, they should have showed up.

“So, can one conclude that Zandri believes that 4,120 people represent all of the residents of Wallingford?” How anyone can make that assumption when I have clearly stated in the past: “A minority of registered voters in town dictates the result for the majority”?

I do not want it both ways. I would always prefer to see Wallingford in the high 80th percentile turnout of voters like what we see in the presidential elections but, when the registered voters decide to stay home, the “minority of registered voters in town dictates the result for the majority.” When the voters speak, even if it is the majority of the minority that show up, their will should be done. No need to speculate or “conclude” any further -- this is how I feel.

It’s your town – get informed, get involved and vote.

JASON ZANDRI, WALLINGFORD

Mayor (Dickinson) in the way

As published in the letters to the editor section of the Record Journal Friday June 7, 2013

[NOTE – the cross posting of this writer’s letter is NOT their endorsement of me. I have posted this here because I am in full agreement with this writer – nothing more.]

Editor: Does the mayor of Wallingford serve the wants of his public or even that of his councilors?

We in Wallingford value life and our environment. Last Tuesday, seven of nine councilors agreed (Rascati abstained, Fishbein agreed with Mayor Dickinson) that a medication drop box would be a benefit to our community. The only thing in their way was our mayor.

As a physician assistant for over 30 years, I know firsthand of the problems that come from misuse of prescription drugs (narcotic and non-narcotic) and the measures medical providers take to combat prescription drug problems. Our community is attempting to take responsibility and combat prescription drugs making it into the wrong hands — but our hands are now tied.

Thirteen police chiefs in Connecticut are offering to discuss their drop box programs, and have provided answers to the mayor’s and Wallingford police chief ’s concerns, but the major just says no, expressing his personal opinions and spouting personal responsibility. How do we move forward into the current era when we have the questions and concerns that are raised and still hear no? I say the lives that could be saved could/would be members of his community, and that must matter.

GINA MORGENSTEIN, WALLINGFORD

A letter to the editor - ‘Logistics’

As published in the Record Journal on Saturday February 23, 2013

I couldn’t agree more with the topic, content, and sentiment that this letter writer had with their submission to the Record Journal

 

Editor: We have had the word from the expert on logistics. Logistic guys move things. In last Sunday’s paper, Steve Knight’s comments were about moving snow — the last snow storm. All about those public works snowplow drivers who in fact did work very hard for long periods of time with very little sleep. No one could (or possibly would) want to deny that or criticize their efforts to clear snow. They did the best they could with what they had. You could say different, but shame on you if you do. What is always missing from Knight’s constant explanatory defensive comments of the administration’s not-to-be-questioned behavior is what we could learn for the future — how the administration might serve the citizens of Wallingford a bit better or how in the future we could make Wallingford’s citizens safer.

Could we have offered more communication about roads to be plowed so people would not wonder if they had been forgotten? Other examples: How we could have informed all those who called the town hall or Public Works and got no one — those who were seeking information. How we might have had a telephone bank, a TV show, or internet communications to inform Wallingford residents and give them updates or an answering machine telling them when to call. We might learn how much we saved by not hiring contractors or we might have learned that we spent more than the $200,000 in overtime by not hiring contractors, or that the residents in town just wanted the roads and sidewalks plowed and that safety was more the issue. Maybe we could have had an Emergency Communication Center staffed by all the important agencies serving the community. Maybe we could have coordinated services to the elderly or the disabled.

Maybe we need a plan.

PATRICIA BENTLEY, WALLINGFORD

Letter to the editor - Scrapped opportunity

As published in the Record Journal Sunday December 9, 2012

Editor: The Wallingford Law Department’s decision on whether there was any violation of the Charter or the Purchasing Ordinance with respect to the handling of ornamental streetlights indicated no violation occurred and that “neither the Town Charter nor the Purchasing Ordinance prohibits the disposal inoperable/unusable assets.”

The 39 streetlights taken down were fully working at the time, as confirmed by Public Utilities Directory George Adair at a council meeting. In the Record-Journal, Mr. Adair was quoted as saying the division wants the old poles out of circulation. “We don’t consider them suitable. We do not want to perpetuate the use of them . . . We consider them truly to be scrap . . . It’s not something we have interest in at all,” he stated (R-J, 10-24). The lights were viable and working when taken down. They had a value that could have been recovered by another town department as a reused resource or in money received at sale via the surplus list. In the future, other departments may also bypass the process and indicate a “problematic asset” to be designated: “We don’t consider (it) suitable. We do not want to perpetuate the use of (it) . . . We consider (it) truly to be scrap . . . It’s not something we have interest in at all.” Problem solved: send it directly to the scrap hauler for recycle value.

The facts are: the lights were working, no other town department was offered the use of the asset (required by ordinance) and the town didn’t offer the asset up for sale (required by ordinance). At the end of the day, Wallingford lost an opportunity to recover tens of thousands of dollars in asset sales because a process wasn’t followed and there wasn’t proper oversight to catch the error in time.

JASON ZANDRI, WALLINGFORD TOWN COUNCILOR

 

A little additional from me regarding my prior comments posted here on the site and the letter to the editor itself; there is already a lot of hand-wringing and the like over this effort to try to outline where an inefficiency of use of process occurred and how it cost us money – actually, it was more of the loss of a recoverable asset but at the same time if we need to spend money on future lights it will become an expenditure.

Does the Public Utilities Commission have other things on their plate? Of course they do. Locking down the best way to secure the $60 million in electric power that Wallingford needs certainly takes center stage.

It doesn’t excuse the error. No one gives A-Rod a pass when he blows a game no matter how many home runs he hit the night before.

I have had to keep saying this because the political spin machine keeps turning it – this was never totally about the Public Utilities Commission or the Wallingford Electric Division specifically; the current situation about the departure from process was and it could have been any town department.

I was elected for a number of reasons and one of them was to be a good steward of Wallingford’s tax dollars and resources in total. I see part of that as resource recovery as well.

I will do that job until I am out of seat number eight on the Council Table.