RMA Featured Speakers: Greenwich Communities Sam Romeo and Tony Johnson

The Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich invites you to its meeting, March 6, 2024 at First Presbyterian Church featuring Sam Romeo and Tony Johnson, with a talk entitled, “How Greenwich Communities Can Save Greenwich from Overdevelopment.”

The program will be in person as well as via Zoom: https://bit.ly/30IBj21

Greenwich Communities board of directors chair Sam Romeo and CEO Tony Johnson.

Mr. Romeo is the chair of the board of Greenwich Communities (formerly known as the Housing Authority of the Town of Greenwich). Mr. Johnson is the CEO of Greenwich Communities.

Their talk starts promptly at 11:00am.

Affordable Housing is one of the most controversial issues in Greenwich, and numerous proposals have been submitted to the Planning & Zoning Commission under the state’s affordable housing statute 8-30g, exempting developers from local zoning in all instances except for public health and safety, and the bar for denial is high. The statute has been on the books over 30 years requiring all towns and cities in the state to have at least 10% of their housing designated affordable.

Until the 10% is achieved the statute grants developers the exemption from local zoning. Hence the cries for local control.

After 30 years, Greenwich’s percentage is still about 5%.

According to promotional materials for the talk, “NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) has become BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody).”

Romeo and Johnson will field questions from the audience.

Lifelong Greenwich resident, Sam Romeo is the chairman of Greenwich Communities. He has occupied leadership positions on the Greenwich RTM and RTC for over 20 years, has served as ombudsman for the State of Connecticut Dept of Social Services, and as a member of the board of directors for Greenwich Emergency Medical Services. He has owned and operated his own busines, Command Packaging Supply Products, for the past 30 years.

Mr. Johnson has experience in managing and developing public and affordable housing, and commercial and residential real estate. He is experienced in all aspects of real estate including HUD regulations, accounting/finance, feasibility studies, strategic planning, deal negotiation, construction, bond issuance/financing,tax credit financing, and mixed finance development and strategy implementation.

The RMA talk will take place at First Presbyterian Church, located at 1 West Putnam Ave in Greenwich.