Now that campaign season is winding down and Election Day is days away, I humbly ask for your support on November 8 in my pursuit to be the next mayor of Derby.
I began my quest for City Hall last December, and over the past 11 months, I have devoted the majority of my time working on my campaign, focused and determined to make Derby a better place.
My campaign started off on the right foot when Mike McFarland agreed to be my campaign manager. Mike is highly regarded in the community and served as the campaign manager for the successful mayoral campaigns for one of Derby’s most-respected mayors, Richard A. Grande.
I turned my attention to building my platform, basing everything on one simple concept: putting Derby 1st, at the forefront of every conclusion.
My platform was introduced and outlined to the public as early as July.
I decided to articulate and convey my message early because it is extensive and all-inclusive to move Derby forward.
The main focuses of my campaign have been Public Safety & Quality of Life, Economic Development, Education and Municipal Finances.
If elected, these issues will be a high priority.
Among the most significant issues to address include:
Increase police presence and install cameras on public property in high-crime areas
- Reinstitute foot patrol of police officers
- Aggressively pursue businesses that will enhance Derby’s tax base
- Privatize or remove the parking garage
- Ensure that all city-issued loans are paid as required
- Reduce legal costs
- Create a task force to look at how our local government can provide better and more cost-effective services for our residents
- Call for an Educational Summit to urge educational leaders to develop a comprehensive plan to improve test scores
- Call for changes in teacher contracts to ensure the best teachers are retained based on performance
- Propose to change tax payments to four times a year from the present two-payment schedule, easing the burden on homeowners
- Institute a policy of transparency
The underlying factor within each of these objectives is transparency. My administration will implement a policy of transparency that is sorely lacking under the present administration. Transparency is the most important goal of any government, especially when it concerns the flow of taxpayer money.
My mailings and commentaries throughout this campaign have revealed many inconsistencies within the current administration and have exposed Mayor Staffieri and have proven him to be little more than a gatekeeper for the past several years.
And, Mayor Staffieri has done little to counter my platform. When given the opportunity to debate, he once again declined. The uncertainty that has plagued the City of Derby can be changed on November 8.
Again, I humbly ask for your support on Election Day and I look forward to leading Derby to a brighter future.
The writer is a Democrat running for mayor
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This is going to hurt. It really is.
But here’s what I get when I read your bullet points:
*Reinstitute foot patrol of police officers – Costly, not effective enough to justify the cost, and potentially dangerous.
* Aggressively pursue businesses that will enhance Derby’s tax base – Noble goal. But will private landowners be down with that as well? I’m reminded of Tri-Town.
* Privatize or remove the parking garage – How in God’s name will considering removing a critical parking garage help us?
* Ensure that all city-issued loans are paid as required – And this isn’t happening?
* Reduce legal costs – How?
* Create a task force to look at how our local government can provide better and more cost-effective services for our residents – Specifics, please. And what will this task force cost?
* Call for an Educational Summit to urge educational leaders to develop a comprehensive plan to improve test scores – How long would this take? And is our singular focus to “increase test scores”? There’s more to education than standardized testing, and I don’t want our kids learning a test.
* Call for changes in teacher contracts to ensure the best teachers are retained based on performance – There we go. This is an outstanding idea. Now… how do you plan to get the teachers’ unions – one you were once a part of – to sign on? They are vehemently opposed to this kind of change, and while we can agree that hurts Derby (and other municipalities) as a whole, they still need to sign on. Do we go the political route, or do we pull a Scott Walker? (Hint: we don’t pull a Scott Walker)
* Propose to change tax payments to four times a year from the present two-payment schedule, easing the burden on homeowners – I’m satisfied with Ken Hughes’ idea on taking the public’s opinion into account.
* Institute a policy of transparency – As with any elected office, I’ll believe that when I see it. Though I do remember it was the Garofalo people who were wiping HDDs.
In short, I see very little, after all this time, substantive, and the few things I see that are substantive are either wasteful or flat out wrong. I agree that we need some sort of regime change, but I’m not really willing to go from crappy to differently crappy. I’m also not comfortable with Mr. Foley’s insistence that he would use the office of the mayor to intimidate department heads, going above his legal ability to do so. In fact, either Mr. Foley himself or Rob Hyder intimated that the office can be used for this purpose. This won’t stop at two knuckleheads doing work they’re not supposed to do.
Judging on campaign promises and how they’re sold, and by the campaigns themselves, I can’t help but think that the only difference between a Foley administration and the Staffieri administration is just what sucks. Education will suck less, and as everyone knows that’s my #1 goal, but at what price? If I’M asking that question, of all people, priorities need to be seriously investigated.