Newsletter Volume 4 • Number 5
Greenwich deserves better than traffic planning on autopilot
Board of Selectmen candidates Anthony Moor and Rachel Khanna have been knocking on doors in Greenwich for a month now, and report that what frustrates many these days is traffic. “Whether it’s speeding in backcountry,” Khanna says, “the daily parking hunt on Greenwich Avenue, or the challenge of safely crossing busy roads, the message is clear: getting around town has become more difficult and more dangerous than it should be.”
No one’s in charge
The irony is, Greenwich hasn’t grown much in decades, though there’s been an uptick in population recently. So why does it feel like our roads are more clogged, our parking more scarce, and our roads less safe?
The short answer: no one’s in charge. And that’s no way to run a town.
“Fifteen years ago, Greenwich eliminated the position of Superintendent of Traffic Engineering,” Moor points out. “Since then, the job of managing traffic flow, pedestrian safety, and street design has been scattered among highway crews, engineers, police, and outside consultants—none of whom have the authority or mandate to take a bird’s-eye view. Traffic has become everyone’s job and therefore no one’s responsibility.”
Even the First Selectman, who oversees both the Department of Public Works and the Police Department and chairs the town’s Traffic Authority has put forward no plan to improve how we move around town. His most recent operating budget doesn’t even mention improving traffic or transportation as a goal.
Towns around us have top-level traffic engineers to take on these challenges. They’ve recognized that transportation isn’t just about repaving roads or painting crosswalks. It’s about planning, thinking beyond the next intersection and looking at the network as a whole. By contrast, yesterday residents here expressed concern about a new DPW project on West Putnam at the state line that aims to address a pedestrian concern but could snarl auto traffic.
Let’s make traffic flow and safety a mission
Greenwich can—and must—do better. It’s time to restore a professional traffic engineering leader to our town government, someone tasked specifically with improving safety, flow, access, and infrastructure planning as a mission.
That leadership must be backed by a clear, modern policy framework. While other communities in Connecticut and across the region have adopted policies to ensure their roads serve all users—drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit riders—Greenwich continues to design roads project by project, such as the controversial bump outs on The Ave.
The current administration points to Safe Streets Greenwich, a recent initiative funded largely with federal dollars, as proof of action. “It’s a good first step,” says Moor, “and a program I and the RTM Transportation Committee, which I chair, supported.” But this plan for a plan is narrowly focused on identifying dangerous hotspots and doesn’t provide a roadmap for reducing congestion or solve the town’s broader transportation woes.
“Transportation was a priority for me when I was a state representative,” Khanna says. “Securing state and federal funding for local improvements is essential to this work.” Let’s stop putting traffic on autopilot. In a place as extraordinary as Greenwich, getting around shouldn’t be the hardest part of the day. You can make that happen. Vote for Moor and Khanna in November, and all our candidates on Row A.
Thanks, Trump and Republican BET: Greenwich taxpayers get stuck with the bill
Between Donald Trump’s budget slashing and Greenwich Republicans’ penny-pinching, local taxpayers are the ones getting burned.
After years of dragging their feet, town leaders are starting to move on long-overdue capital projects — including school repairs, a new skating rink, and wastewater treatment plant upgrades.
Too bad it’s all happening after prices have gone up and federal help has dried up.
Here’s what’s hitting Greenwich wallets hard:
- Building costs are up 4% over the last year — thanks to Trump tariffs and inflation, meaning old estimates are outdated and projects will cost more.
- Trump killed solar tax credits, reducing the savings Greenwich had anticipated for going green at places like Central Middle School, if we can’t meet the Trump July 2026 deadline for installation.
- Community services are taking a hit, thanks to Trump regime cuts to block grants. That means less support for groups like Abilis, United Way, and Neighbor to Neighbor — the very nonprofits that help our seniors, kids, and neighbors in need.
- And there’s more pain coming: Trump’s pushing for a whopping $12 billion cut to education funding in September.
Meanwhile, the GOP-controlled Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) has made delay a strategy — refusing to fund urgent repairs until walls are structurally unstable and a school building is condemned. Sound smart?
After 98 years of stale Republican control on the BET, it’s time for a new playbook — one that plans ahead instead of playing catch-up. This November, bring positive change to Greenwich by voting Row A on your ballot.
What we’re reading
Republican BET’s $4M ‘non-cut’ guts 23 school staffers, media aides halved
The Greenwich Time reported on how the Republican BET $4 million cut to the schools’ budget, which Fred Camillo tried to convince radio listeners is not a cut, has led to the elimination of 23 staff positions. Superintendent Toni Jones explained, “The biggest change will probably be felt across our media centers, where media assistant positions were cut by 50%….These were not planned reductions made on sound decisions, such as looking at the master schedule, class size decreases or reorganization,” but cuts made to satisfy the Republican BET’s demands for a $4 million reduction. Read the article here.
Action Calendar
July 26. Meet.
Come meet the candidates with the fresh ideas and the know-how to usher Greenwich into the 21st century. Private residence. 4:00-6:00 p.m. RSVP for location details.
July 31. Learn.
Legislators’ wrap-up and tapas, hosted by the League of Women Voters. $25. Burning Tree Country Club, 120 Perkins Road. 5:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m. Tickets.
July 31. Discover.
Thinking about getting your feet wet in local government? No better way than to run for the Representative Town Meeting (RTM). Come to this information session to learn how. 7:00 p.m. Town Hall Meeting Room, 101 Field Point Road.
August 7. Relax.
Save the date! Join fellow Democrats and others at beautiful Greenwich Point Park (Tod’s Point) for a fun and relaxing gathering. Rain date August 14th.
| Volume 4, Number 5 • July 24, 2025 |
| Paid for by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. |
| Greenwich Democratic Town Committee P.O. Box 126 Greenwich, CT 06836 |