By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — When Westporters elected to town bodies Nov. 7 take the oath of office at a Monday ceremony, it will be a familiar event for veteran officeholders, but for others the official rite of passage to public service will be a first.
The swearing-in ceremony is set for 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 20, at the Town Hall auditorium, 110 Myrtle Ave.
James Ezzes, for instance, was elected to serve his 29th year on the Zoning Board of Appeals, and for 26 of those years, the Democrat has been the board’s chairman. He was born and raised in Westport.
David Rosenwaks, on the other hand, will be serving in his first elected office as a Representative Town Meeting member from District 6. He moved to Westport with his family during the pandemic two years ago from Brooklyn, N.Y.
But both men had the same reason to run for office — serving others.
“It’s important as a resident of the community to learn about your community and that you volunteer your time,” Ezzes said in a recent interview. “It’s a wonderful thing to be a member of town government. It’s important to give back.”
Rosenwaks agreed. “I want to do my best for all my constituents … communicate with them on an ongoing basis,” he said. “I want residents to know that they have someone listening to them, that they can express themselves and be in the know.”
Rosenwaks grew up in Manhattan, graduated from Dartmouth College and worked on Wall Street for 10 years. He started his own financial firm, sold it, became interested in the arts as a singer, songwriter and art collector, and was appointed to the Westport Arts Advisory Commission four months ago. He said he is now mostly a stay-at-home father involved in activities with his children — one in kindergarten and the other in second grade at Long Lots Elementary School.
His interest in town government took root at a birthday party a year ago when he first learned about the possibility that boundaries for Westport school districts would be redrawn. He attended a Board of Education meeting and an RTM meeting to become familiar with issues.
“I noticed that there weren’t many people with young children on the town’s governing bodies,” he said in an interview Friday. “There are a whole group of people who moved here who weren’t being represented.”
He feels “truly blessed” to be living in Westport, Rosenwaks said, and decided to run for the RTM. During the campaign, “I knocked on a lot of doors, he said, and discovered that Westporters want to be better informed about town government. “They really want to be heard. People deserve transparency in their local government. I don’t see why we can’t achieve that,” he said.
He won his seat with 510 votes, the second highest vote getter in District 6 after incumbent Candace Banks.
Ezzes, in winning election to a new, four-year term on the ZBA, amassed 5,955 votes.
Ezzes grew up in Westport in a political family. His mother was active in the Democratic Town Committee for years, he said, and his brother, Steven, was the first Democrat to be chairman of the Board of Finance and currently is the chairman of the Board of Education in Weston.
Ezzes was chairman of the Westport Democratic Town Committee for seven years, and at the state level, was chairman of the Finance Committee for the Connecticut Democratic Party.
“The town has changed dramatically” over the years, he said of Westport, particularly with a lot of commercial development in a community that he remembers from childhood as abounding with woods and swamps.
But he’s pleased to see a lot of younger people moving into Westport, and especially those becoming involved in town government.
“We want them to be engaged. We want them to participate,” Ezzes said. “The key thing is for us will be to turn it over to the next generation.”
Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.
As a 38 year resident I welcome David and his promise to inform, to listen, to demand transparency, and to actually represent what the residents desire. Given his resident-centric commitment it’s no wonder that, despite being “newly arrived”, he received such an outpouring of support.
That speaks volumes.
David’s first test will likely be to immunize himself against the “Go along to get along” infection that contributes to transforming “consitiuent representation” into the oligarchy our RTM has fallen victim to.
Establishing the communication pathways necessary to achieve his purpose will quickly become essential for achieving his laudable goals.
I assume that District 6’s residents will be available to ensure he succeeds.
David, congratulations on the win. I served 6 years on the RTM and found it to be a very positive experience.
It’s important to remember that you have not joined the Rotary Club and that the RTM is not supposed to be a Rubber Stamp for whatever the Administration wants. Resist the temptation to “go along to get along” as Jay points out above. Listen to all points of view, use common sense, speak up when something doesn’t seem right. And always remember that you are representing a diverse set of opinions held by the 800 or so people in District 6. Not always easy to discern what “they”want But listening to everyone, even us loud mouths, is an important part of what you’ve been elected to do.
Correction, Around 3,000 not 800
Congratulations to the new RTM, whether incumbent or new. To the newly elected, I look forward to fresh perspectives brought to the floor of town hall, which can enhance the institutional and historical knowledge of those who have served previously. I believe it is a combination of both that can bring rigor to democracy in our beloved town.
Another very important piece of the democratic puzzle, of course, are the citizens. Difficult to say how many citizens participate in RTM meetings since many can watch the streaming meeting from home, but I would venture to say not enough. We need more citizen participation, not less. More efforts to encourage participation, not mute it. More enthusiasm for conversations … and less top-down, or bottom-up directives.
It’s time. The decisions of the RTM aren’t just a measure or who wins and who loses. These decisions affect the lives of people and the quality of life in our homes and community. It is not just “families,” or the elderly, or this race or that, or this faith or another. It is all of us.
I hope inauguration day provides a reset for all of us.
Congratulations David! And thank you for your willingness to pursue greater transparency in Westport’s government.
It is MUCH needed.
Unfortunately, as others have remarked above, today’s RTM is plagued by a stifling level of conformity and group think.
What I can add is this: the status quo at the RTM is enforced in a variety of ways. One of the nastier methods: disparage residents who speak up. You will be told, sotto voce, by your new colleagues, that this resident or that resident is “an outlier” or represents a “vocal minority” and so on. The idea is to marginalize anyone who is perceived as a threat to the RTM’s approved positions and/or power.
My hope is that you will not allow this manipulative behavior to undermine your ability to genuinely listen to residents – and think for yourself.