Mark Boughton

Over the last 6 months my office along with the Office of Neighborhood Assistance has been conducting field surveys of various neighborhoods throughout Danbury.

The objective is to identify areas of concern related to quality of life issues in a neighborhood and then to develop a strategic plan to address the problems that our code enforcement task force (Unified Neighborhood Inspection Team or UNIT) has uncovered in it’s field survey.

Prior to the field survey, we mail letters to the neighborhoods informing the residents that we are coming, we organize a neighborhood meeting at a local school or church to review common zoning issues and violations and answer questions about our process and enforcement procedures.

So far our surveys have identified various issues in the neighborhoods  that we have surveyed. Things like parking on front lawns and sidewalks, litter, loud noise, commercial vehicles parked in residential neighborhoods as well as more serious violations like illegal apartments, and work performed on homes without the necessary permits.

Finally as we approach the colder months, we are also offering a new service for our residents. Our Fire Department will conduct a free fire safety survey of their home to look for any obvious fire safety issues. Our firefighters will test the smoke detectors, look for things like frayed extension cords, and help our seniors fill out a “file of life” magnet that stays on the refrigerator so that our public safety workers know what medications the resident may be on in the event of an emergency. Residents who want a fire safety survey for their home should call 311 for an appointment.

Promoting good neighborhoods takes work by all of us. By each part of our community contributing and taking responsibility for the quality of life in our community, we can continue to improve our neighborhoods and our city.

Every member of our community will always remember where they were on September 11th 2001. I think of that date and where I was often.

I was teaching my first period class at Danbury High School. It was one of my all time favorite classes. Good kids, solid students, who liked United States history, a class with a good, positive, personality.

I gave out our quiz, completed my daily attendance report, and turned on the computer. I immediately saw that the press was reporting a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I could tell that the plane was not a  small plane from the pictures posted on the web. I turned the computer monitor around to the class, asked that the students put down their pens, and announced that something serious had happened in New York City. From there we watched history explode before our eyes.

I think of the students who were in that room with me all of the time.

We share a moment in history.

Eight years have passed and those kids are twenty five. Some of them have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Others have begun families and all have entered into adulthood.

Eight years have passed for us since that horrible day, yet 9-11 seems like it was yesterday.

I will always feel a bond with the young people of my first period class on the third floor in D-wing of Danbury High School.  A group of teenagers who aged quickly and who learned more about the world than they had bargained for when they walked into my classroom that morning in September.

The tragedy and the horror of the moment, the absolute fear that everyone of us felt during those desperate hours of the attacks. The quick inventory that is taken, where is my family?, is anyone in New York today? Do I know anyone who works at the World Trade Center? The Pentagon?

The wounds of 9-11 are still fresh for those of us who live so close to New York City.

Danbury lost its share of residents in the attacks, and has sent many of our young people across the globe in service to our republic. They have served our country with courage and with bravery.

Yet, eight years later, there is still an air of unfinished business. We have not put our finger on the spot that makes us feel that things have been set right.

Even after eight years our nation’s spirit is still wrestling with how to make things right .

But eight years ago, I was with a group of seventeen year olds, on a warm fall morning, and watched them lose some of their innocence, and saw fear in their eyes that was much more deep and sinister then anything ever imagined.

The attacks changed the students in that room. The world became a different place for those kids and for us. A darker place.

That is one of the reasons we still have to set things right..

May God bless our fallen Firefighters, and their familes.

May God bless our fallen Police Officers and their families.

May God bless our fallen EMS workers and their families.

May God bless our fallen Military Personnel and their families.

May God bless our America.

By passing a budget last night the Connecticut General Assembly punted on the tough choices that face our state. Borrowing to fund operational expenses and “securitizing” assets will not position us for the new economy nor does it address long standing systemic problems in the state budget.

Governor Rell had proposed some interesting and creative ways to begin to downsize state government and develop a state government that we can afford and a state government that will be sustainable-unfortunately, legislative leaders in the General Assembly decided to punt.

There is an important discussion in Connecticut that must happen, its one that nobody really wants to have, but the economics times that confront us demand that we have it.

It’s the Elephant in the room, the 800 lbs. Gorilla sitting in your kitchen or what ever metaphor you want to use.

It’s the downsizing state government, tackling property tax reform, redefining the core mission of state government discussion that strikes fear in the heart of ever big government advocate, and every legislator whose vision is clouded by whatever special interest group that is in front of them at the moment.

This is a difficult talk to have as a state legislator (as a former legislator, I can attest to this). Too often the conversation becomes about who wins and who loses. Once it is defined that way, it becomes a contest on who can advocate the best, and who can win the sound bite war.  The talk becomes shouting, shouting becomes screaming, and then everybody hunkers down to a sort of political trench warfare.

These are difficult times. It is time to have the talk. The talk about what we want our state government to look like, the talk that will set our mission and our goals for the new economy.

Our state budget is a two year spending plan. It is as much a policy statement as it is a spending document. The budget should reflect our mission, our goals, and what we value as a state.

Our state spending plan should reflect the deliberations and discussions of the various budget writing committee’s in the public, with public hearings and transparency.

There are momentous decisions being made behind closed doors without input from the public, but that is another column. The “talk” should include a discussion of the process (or lack of).

We cannot sustain our state government if we continue down this path.

It remains to be seen if the Governor will sign this budget.

But either way, let’s have the “talk”..