The most important skill a district representative should have is to be a good listener. I believe the people of Stamford want to be heard. The responsibility of each district rep is to listen to his or her constituents, conduct appropriate research when necessary and to follow through with answers, and actions when appropriate. We may not be able to solve every issue, but ensuring good communications with my district constituents, maintaining a strong understanding of the most important issues affecting the district and bringing those issues to the entire Board of Reps is an essential trait that will allow me to serve my community most effectively.

As a long-time resident who has been involved in the community on different levels, I believe I have a solid understanding of what makes our city function for the good of the community and our people. I am not one to make quick decisions, but rather someone who listens, asks questions, seeks accurate information, and makes prudent and careful decisions. I believe this begins and ends with excellent communications with our stakeholders.

In recent weeks I have been talking with people throughout District 20 and a topic that has been brought up consistently is about the poor condition of our roads. Specifically, the concerns are with pot holes that have been neglected or poorly repaired, and with streets that have not been paved for many years. I am actually seeing them first-hand as I walk the streets of our district. The problems go well beyond the primary streets. They include many neighborhood roads as well.

One of my priority goals as District 20 representative would be to continue these important conversations with the residents of our district in an effort to accurately identify the streets that have the greatest need for either repair and repaving. I would work to establish direct dialog with the city (and state) departments that are responsible for allocating resources to the roads in District 20. In addition to getting the work done I would also work closely with my counterpart to better improve communications to our constituents about our progress, as well as any upcoming road improvement plans scheduled in our district.

Housing is an economic issue and there is no escaping the fact that we have a growing population. People want to live in Stamford and that is a good thing. Its better than the opposite. As an economist I understand the laws of supply and demand. When supply is low, prices go up, and when demand is high, prices go up even more. If we want to keep housing costs from skyrocketing there needs to be a strategic plan to create more housing options for our residents. But that doesn’t mean we can just build wherever we want for the sake of creating more housing. There needs to be a plan that the people of Stamford and the infrastructure can support.

I believe there should also be a strategic plan to make the pathway to homeownership possible for anyone. Homeownership is what builds wealth, especially for our younger generations. A community that actively promotes and makes homeownership possible for the next generation is a community that prospers. New residential buildings that don’t support this goal need to become a thing of the past. People who own homes generally have a lower cost of living and as they mature and raise families they become greater contributors to our local economy. In real estate we often say ‘it is better to pay your own mortgage than it is your landlord’s mortgage’. When your landlord is a for-profit investment company located in another state you’re doing very little to support your local economy.

The Affordable Housing Trust Fund needs to become an even higher priority for the City of Stamford than it is right now. While the AHTF does make an important impact for some people living in our city, we are falling way short of what is truly needed. While I believe the AHTF is doing good work with the limited resources it currently has, I would like to see more resources dedicated toward the growth of the Fund. I would like to find new ways for our community to support the fund and welcome more dialog on this subject with the constituents of my district.

We are a city with great financial resources, especially with our strong corporate base, and we need to do a better job of tapping into those resources if we want to solve the problem of affordable housing for those on the lower end of the economic spectrum. I also believe the public needs to understand this is a much broader audience than is currently being served. We are just scratching the surface of what needs to be done to seek more affordable housing options. With greater awareness of the need perhaps there can be greater dialogue among all of our community stakeholders.

Tackling the problem of affordable housing for our city’s lower income earners must be a top priority for Stamford. We need to work together to find a sustainable solution and to build a better pathway to homeownership for all of our citizens.