Chris Bowen and his wife, Jenna.
In the years I lived in Derby, I watched some of the political dysfunction front and center.
I watched as people were more interested in personal squabbling, score settling and cheap shots than actually fixing the problems that started to accumulate.
The sewer deteriorated. Businesses shuttered. “Same old Derby” was a frequent complaint.
I left Derby a couple years ago myself to start a life and a family in my original home town, but my entire family, including my six year old niece attending Irving, remain.
My stake in the city is as strong as ever. And for the first time since I’ve been politically aware, I can say definitively that things are going in the right direction.
And much of the credit for that falls on the shoulders of Anita Dugatto.
Others have discussed the campaign bulletin points, so I won’t bore the reader by rehashing those items. But where Anita truly excels is in the things that aren’t apparent when driving on Route 34.
She has spearheaded an improved infrastructure within City Hall, allowing the city to work more efficiently on day to day items.
She has hired good people and put hem to work in good places. When I left to move in with Jenna, I moved to Hamden, where I got to see – and hear – the benefits of Leslie Creane’s work as their Town Planner first hand.
Her hiring was a coup for the city, and has started to pay immediate dividends for the City.
Most importantly, she has run a clean, ethical administration bereft of animus, without the spite that has saddled prior administrations across the political spectrum. She is open and accessible, and her methods have won notice with administrators outside of Derby.
That greases the skids for a lot of good things coming from Hartford.
There is still work to be done; one trip down Main Street makes that apparent. But for the first time in quite a long time, Derby is on the positive path forward, and I am honored to support the candidate that has put the city on that track.
Please consider supporting Anita Dugatto on September 12th.
The writer is a Seymour resident.
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