SPILO: There they go again

Submitted by Michael Spilo

Ms. Svetlana Tsalik-Wasserman’s letter reaffirms my point that the town’s far-left group engages in politics at its worst. Ms. Tsalik-Wasserman decries ad-hominem attacks, as she happily joins others in the extreme name-calling that has been emanating without restraint from her small faction.

In the past year members of this group have variously called town officials racist (in at least 2 letters by Mr. Goldrick) cruel, power hungry, immoral, misogynistic, and sexist. Anyone who disagrees with their demands or calls their politics or policy ideas irresponsible is fair game for these attacks on character. Their group’s bullying behavior isn’t reserved to letter writing either – accusations of racism, sexism and more are common on-line from all the same people.

If one can filter out the name calling noise, it becomes clear that their inflammatory attacks are as baseless as their claims that our schools are “crumbling” in the face of hundreds of millions of dollars of capital spending. In fact, this year alone we will spend an above average $65 million on capital projects, which amounts to $3,000 per household!

Our town is home to hard working families, safe neighborhoods, vibrant communities of immigrants and people of all races and ethnicities, diverse places of worship, excellent small businesses, great public schools, bucolic roads, amazing parks, civic centers and pristine beaches, all of which are the envy of the country. This is possible thanks to smart and dedicated volunteers and prudent, conservative elected officials who work hard and take seriously their commitment to use the tax-payers’ dollars efficiently and responsibly, implementing policies that benefit all town residents without mortgaging our future.

The far-left led by Ms. Swomley, and her small cadre of leftist men and women try to paint Greenwich as a grim place which is unsafe for children. But all of us who live and raise our families in Greenwich know well and are grateful for the excellent and sensible management our town has enjoyed for many years. We appreciate what we have, and we recognize that common sense requires careful scrutiny of our spending and sometimes saying “no” to special interests like Ms. Swomley and her group, even when they scare up vocal support with alarmism.

We will continue to fight for and protect what we love about raising our families in Greenwich.