Submitted by Debra Hess, Greenwich
Make no mistake, big developers, SuperPACs and politicians like Stamford’s Mayor Caroline Simmons are doing everything they can to push Senator Ryan Fazio out of office. Why? Because Fazio has been a brick wall standing in their way—protecting our towns from the kind of reckless, profit-driven overdevelopment they want to impose on Greenwich, New Canaan and Stamford.
Simmons showed her hand last year when she snuck a provision into the state’s enormous omnibus bill, in the middle of the night, that stripped local towns of the right to control their own zoning laws. The media widely refers to it as the “Rat Bill”.
Fortunately, Ryan Fazio stepped in. He was having nothing of it. He led the charge to repeal that dangerous provision, preserving our right to decide what is best for our towns. Simmons has egg on her face, but the developers and their allies have not forgotten—and they are eager to get Fazio out of the way.
This is what is really at stake in this election. If Fazio is gone, there will be nothing standing between big developers and our neighborhoods.
Senator Fazio understands we have thrived because we have had a say in how we grow, how we protect our green spaces and how we manage development. Take that control away and we become just another target for developers looking to make a quick profit at the expense of our quality of life.
This election is not about party politics; it is about protecting the future of our towns from those who want to turn them into something they were never meant to be. Big developers and politicians like Mayor Simmons want Fazio out of the way so they can move full steam ahead. We cannot let that happen.
Ryan Fazio has proven he is willing to fight for us and our right to control our own future. We need him in Hartford to keep standing up for our communities, to keep the developers at bay and to protect what makes our towns unique.