By Ken Valenti
WESTPORT–Filling Westport storefronts, building the stock of affordable housing and preparing the community for immigration raids that have occurred throughout Connecticut were some of the topics raised in a “coffee and conversation” meeting with the Democratic candidates for first and second selectperson yesterday morning.
The discussion with candidates Kevin Christie, for first selectman, and Amy Wistreich, for second selectwoman, turned often to the need to collaborate with stakeholders, such as merchants, in the case of supporting the business community.
They breathe life into downtown
“It’s critical to engage with the business owners themselves,” Christie said at the session in the Westport Library. “They are the ones that are operating the businesses. They are the ones that are breathing life into downtown and elsewhere in Westport, so it’s a must.”
He noted concerns raised following a study of downtown parking options by Colliers Engineering and Design. The study did not survey merchant opinions. (Randy Herbertson, chairman of the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee, said at the time that merchants may have been included in other focus groups and everyone was invited to give their input at the public information-gathering sessions, often referred to as “charrettes.”)
Fifteen community members joined candidates to discuss issues, make suggestions or just listen to the conversation.
Three-way race
Christie is in a three-way race for the first selectperson seat that Republican Jen Tooker is vacating for her gubernatorial run. He faces Republican candidate Don O’Day, a lifelong Democrat who switched his registration to “unaffiliated” to run on the GOP line, and Independent Party candidate David Rosenwaks.
Wistreich faces Republican incumbent Andrea Moore for the second selectwoman’s seat.
Economic development director
On attracting businesses, Christie mentioned that they also are considering hiring an economic development director who would be instrumental in the effort. Sal Liccone, a member of the Representative Town Meeting’s District 9, said merchants have told him the recently enacted two-hour parking limit downtown was hurting business. Resident Janine Scotti said the town needs to do more to keep downtown clean.
Affordable
The candidates noted the need for more affordable housing in the town, where about four percent of the housing stock qualifies as affordable. That is short of the state-mandated target of 10 percent. Wistreich said the town needs to take greater initiative in bolstering the number of affordable units.
The need for “affordable housing is here to stay in the state of Connecticut, and Westport has to buy into that idea and really take control and do it in a way that’s much more proactive” Wistreich said. She added, as an example, “Our seniors should be able to age in place in Westport.”
Immigration enforcement
The candidates discussed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Concern arose after news reports that ICE arrested 65 immigrants throughout the state over four days. A video showing an officer tasing a man in Norwalk went viral. Christie said he had seen the fear and pain caused by drastically stepped-up immigration enforcement. One Westport resident he spoke to said that when he asked a man working on his property how he was doing, the worker “just broke down in tears.”
“He had to invite him into his living room to have a conversation to help support him,” Christie said. “That’s the type of fear that’s happening in our community.”
Christie said he has reached out to the state attorney general’s office to discuss available resources and information that can be shared with the community to educate them on their rights and where to go for help.
Erin Gensel-Cancro, a board member of the Saugatuck Congregational Church, mentioned that the house of worship has laid out literature in multiple languages in its back vestibule to advise immigrants of their rights and resources available.
Resident Tom Prince praised the candidates for making their views known on the matter.
“I hope that you will continue to comment on national issues as they affect Westport,” he said. “I think that’s only right, only proper, and I’m glad that you did it.”
Governing style
The candidates and residents also talked about governing style. When they discussed the need for a new location for the Westport Community Gardens, displaced by the planned replacement for Long Lots Elementary School, Scotti said: “We’ve got to really, definitely move forward. We do have a tendency in our town to do a lot of studies and master plans that don’t come to fruition.”
“That’s one of the reasons I decided to run,” said Wistreich, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission. “Because I’ve had a front seat to that and I’ve been so frustrated with that. And that’s not what I’m looking to continue here at all.”
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Ken Valenti
A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.
THANK YOU, Kevin Christie and Amy Wistreich, for addressing the horrors that families in Norwalk just experienced. Children who live fifteen minutes away lost their parents last week. Towns are happier when they think like neighbors, not fortresses. Good to see some heart in our local leaders.
I have been attending multiple town meetings over the past three years, which included most of the Long Lots Building Committee meetings and all the of the Hamlet related meetings. I have lived in town for 35 years starting in my twenties and have owned three business in town during that time. What I know is that we are in a desperate need for a changing of the guard.
The democratic ticket of Kevin and Amy is a solid choice for our ever changing complex community. They have a strong business background that has honed their skills for bringing together stakeholders.
I believe they completely understand the issues our community is facing because they have dedicated hours of their time serving as elected officials. They have made well informed decisions that are benefiting our community at large.
Most recently, Amy utilized her skills gained working in the construction field to understand how detrimental the Hamlet, brought in its current iteration, would be to traffic and safety in the Saugatuck area.
I urge all of you to seek out a conversation with them, ask them questions so the issues that are most concerning to you as a citizen of Westport will be addressed.
For our Republican ticket I have witnessed countless hours of being ignored and dismissed because I disagreed with their position on issues facing our town. I found them to be thin skinned and offended as I fought for the garden as I expressed my concerns over other plans they have tried to implement. A vote for the Republican ticket is a vote for the same chaos that we are facing right now in our community.
Please note there is already confusion about how the election will be tallied because we have a third-party candidate running. I encourage you to do your own research which includes reading our local blog and journal, reading the comments of our informed citizens, attending candidate events, asking tough questions and understanding our town charter.
This was refreshing to read.
Kevin and Amy certainly and honestly spoke about several very contentious topics which are incredibly relevant.
Affordable housing. It’s not going away. We need to address it head on and no more sweet deals for contractors getting around zoning regs and giving sweet FA back to the town.
The gardeners must be accommodated in an APPROPRIATE, spot, not shaded, not on a hill, not without easy access and parking.
The downtown as Kevin said, stakeholders( merchants) were shunned/scorned throughout this process. My words not his.
The plan DOES NOT work.
And collier don’t have a clue about our parking.
Turnover is not what businesses want. Turnover just makes customers leave.
We want customers to stay, eat, and play as Tooker loves to say. Nobody is doing that in 2 hours.
But we all know that. Why ? Because we hear it from customers daily.
Imagine if the Scamlet was told, your customers must leave in 2 hours.. please.. not a single person involved in thus far decisions, has a singular clue about running a retail business.
Hard to argue that in order to help the hamlet underparked plan to succeed, someone or many someone’s are out to sabotage Main Street. 🤔
Ignorance may be bliss but not when it affects your livelihood and the health of the downtown.
All in all I appreciate the candidates candor.
I look forward to hearing from all other candidates on downtown, affordable housing, hamlet and the community gardens, oh and the 7 million dollar shed at Longshore !
And I will add I especially look forward to hearing from O’Day -Moore on the needs of 4 more huge school redo’s, and on the above topics, because his voting to date speaks for itself. Very difficult to wriggle out of a voting record.