Submitted by Jim Finn
As we enter 2025, I believe it’s a good time to look ahead to what we can do together to enhance the lives of our citizens and move forward on long overdue public infrastructure projects that make us one of the most desirable destinations in the region for families to raise their children.
More than a year ago, The League of Women Voters of Greenwich released its Capital Project Funding Study, which reported a $1.6 billion backlog of building projects across the board – including well-known public school infrastructure issues as well as a host of other infrastructure concerns. (Greenwich League of Women Voters Capital Projects Community Presentation).
Co-author Steve Waters said at the time, “The concern that we have about some of the things that have been done over the last 20 years – or longer, really – is that what we’ve done is we’ve kept taxes low on a year-to-year basis, but we haven’t funded our needs.” The report also noted that Republicans have dominated the powerful check-writing Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) for most of the last century and the First Selectman’s for most of the last 20 years.
The bottom line is what should now be evident: Greenwich has disastrously deferred investment in our town for decades!
So, how are we doing?
Well, we’ve made some progress since Central Middle School (CMS) was condemned in 2022 – yes, folks, that actually happened in Greenwich, not Bridgeport.
But not without an inordinate amount of pain: it took close to two years to get it properly funded – as if we didn’t need a new CMS pronto.
And Old Greenwich School’s (OGS) renovation is moving forward, too, but not without a recent last-minute behind-closed-doors efforts by Republican BET members to delay funding for yet another year. (KALB: The Republican BET Grinches that almost stole OG’s Christmas).
And, I hate to break it to Riverside public school parents, but your long-overdue update isn’t even in the five-year capital plan, which means your kids may be in high school or college before the town gets around to your kid.
So, how do we do better in the New Year?
I believe the Town of Greenwich will need to re-evaluate its relationship with how the town finances its activities. When I moved here nearly 30 years ago, people bragged that they funded the town out of the parking meter fund!
Democratic BET members have been warning about an impending “fiscal cliff” facing the town in the next few years. Basically, the “cliff” represents the gap between much-needed projects that have already been approved, like the schools, but have yet to be financed, which could result in tax increases. (BET Democrats: Our town budget is hurtling toward an abyss Nov 21, 2024)
When one considers that the wizards of Wall Street – the Masters of the Universe – live here, it begs the question: Would they really run the town this way?
Are we an outlier in Connecticut? Nationally?
The answer is both.
According to Democratic BET member, Elliot Alchek, who ran the municipal bonds desk at Goldman Sachs for 20 years, no one funds the town – and particularly long-term capital projects – like Greenwich. And this is not a compliment when you consider that some 20+ municipalities in the state have nice, new schools and maintain AAA-ratings without having the “grandest” of Grand Lists like Greenwich.
Red Herring alert: Taking on more debt will double our taxes…we’ll lose our AAA-rating…seniors will have to leave town.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
And don’t get me started on losing our AAA-rating, the most common campaign scare-tactic that we are sure to see trotted out later this year. Rest assured: we have a AAAA-rating and no one really expects to see that change in our lifetime – irrespective of how we modernize the town’s finances.
This is a debate the town needs to have in 2025…the sooner the better.
Fred to Greenwich Police on Avenue: “It’s Never Going to Happen”
So, what’s up with Greenwich Avenue? And why can’t we have nice things in Greenwich?
To be sure, Greenwich Avenue is the Rodeo Drive (of Beverly Hills) of the Northeast.
But after reading my friend, John Cooper’s letter to the Greenwich Free Press, which was one of the paper’s most read stories last year, it is clear to me that this has become a bi-partisan issue. The Avenue has become a free-for-all that is making almost no one happy. (COOPER: At Elm Street at Greenwich Ave, a mistake has been made. Why won’t the town correct it? Sept 5, 2024)
Right now, a virtual petition has sprung up to restore police on the Avenue. I hope the RTM weighs in again on this issue, as it did in 2021 with a non-binding Sense of the Meeting Resolution (SOMR) in support of returning police to the Avenue. Undoubtedly, we have the resources in our budget to do the right thing for public safety and properly fund our great police department at the same time.
Simply put, I believe the people have spoken: Put the police back on the Avenue. Now.
But, according to First Selectman Camillo, that’s “never going to happen.” Kind of reminds me of the 70’s headline when then President Ford told a bankrupt NYC: “Drop Dead.”
New York City survived, Ford didn’t.
Happy New Year!
Jim Finn is a resident of Cos Cob and an RTM member from (D-8). His views are obviously his own.