Letter to the editor submitted by Gina Gladstein
Let me start out by saying, I believe like Alex Bergstein and Indra Nooyi, the Chairman of PepsiCo, that tolls make fiscal sense to fix our infrastructure and attract new business. We are not alone, the Bipartisan Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth supports this view as well.
Laura Gladstone contends in her LTE, that Ms. Bergstein has reneged on her campaign promise of no new taxes. This is patently false. Ms. Bergstein actively campaigned on instituting tolls from the inception of her candidacy. Ms. Gladstone derides Bergstein’s request for respectful dialogue. This was in response to a rather nasty Facebook campaign prior to her Community Conversations asking Republicans to go to these events and disrupt them. In addition, Ms. Gladstone criticizes Bergstein for inviting Nooyi to the Greenwich event.
Personally, I was thrilled to hear this brilliant and charming businesswoman speak on the fiscal issues facing Connecticut. I was reassured to hear that she is working with Ned Lamont to create a stable tax structure to attract new business to our state. Finally, Gladstone criticizes Bergstein for generating a variety of ideas as to how tolling might be implemented. Ideas like congestion pricing, increased charges for fast lanes and reduced pricing for state residents. In my opinion, we should be lauding Bergstein for spending the time and energy researching new ways to solve our fiscal crisis.
I would probably agree with Gladstone that our state is in fiscal crisis. I support Alex Bergstein’s efforts to tackle this problem head on. At the Greenwich town event she reached out to the community to contact her with ideas and solutions. Let’s keep the hyperbole down and all commit to concentrating on that approach.
Gina Gladstein
Old Greenwich