Scarlata
Hello, Ansonia, my name is Vinnie Scarlata and I am a Republican running as a petitioning candidate for 7th Ward Alderman. I have served my city now for almost eight years. Four years on our Economic Development Commission, three and a half as Chairman, and almost four years now on our Board of Education.
As a new commissioner to the EDC I walked into a political fistfight. No attention was paid to development just political jockeying for position. As Chairman, I eventually turned that around and put Ansonia first. I gave my word to that Mayor that I would keep politics out of the EDC and put the focus on all of Ansonia where I thought it should be. You might remember some of our more visible initiatives: The Pierre Lallement Festival of Bikes, the Ansonia Farmers Market, the $500,000 grant to repave and landscape the commuter parking. One you might not know, the previous Mayor and I worked for six months trying to recruit Amazon.com to locate its distribution center on the Copper and Brass Property. In the end, we were told Ansonia was Amazon’s second choice. I would routinely visit and recruited Emmett O and AHS students to help and develop projects for the City hoping they would embrace initiatives of their own. Let me note, mine was all volunteer work for us, not for political party gain. I always believed that our work had to include all of Ansonia. I left the EDC when the new administration came to make it a lightning rod for their political gain and now the EDC is pretty much a hollowed out entity that exists in name only.
I currently serve on our Board of Ed with the same mindset. We are volunteers elected to serve Ansonia. We truly embrace the ideal that once elected, we leave party politics at the curb and do what’s best for education. See, we are all friends and neighbors putting Ansonia first. In the four years I’ve served, we have had few instances where votes were not unanimous. We all work together not against each other with personal or political agendas.
I decided to petition for BOA because I see the same political nonsense I detested in the early EDC. When you are elected by the people, you need to serve unselfishly, all of Ansonia. The GOP in Ansonia accounts for only 15 percent of the voting population!!!! You cannot claim to serve all of Ansonia while constantly perusing political victories. We need representatives who are selfless. You also need to show up!!!! Attending only 12 of the last 24 BOA meetings means you’re not interested in serving, just partisan voting! There is a struggle right now on this BOA between those who want control for political and personal gain and those trying to keep the City’s integrity foremost. I want to be able to add my support in keeping Ansonia first.
One last footnote, there are several of us who are “petitioning” not requesting a “primary vote”!!! The difference for us, a “primary” costs the taxpayers money, “petitioning” is on us. We felt it very irresponsible to add that additional burden to the taxpayers budget. How do you cry budget woes then call for a primary vote? You decide Ansonia.
The writer is running as a petitioning candidate in Ansonia’s Seventh Ward for Board of Aldermen, as well as a Republican-endorsed candidate for Board of Education.
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