Category: GDTC Newsletters

February is Black History Month, a time to celebrate and pay tribute to the generations of African Americans who have struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American public life, including in Greenwich.

If this sounds familiar, that’s because it happens every year. Our Board of Ed carefully researches what our schools need, submits a reasonable budget, then the Republican-controlled Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) withholds needed funding.

Raw sewage overflowing into first grade classrooms, students with crutches carried up and down flights of stairs to get to class, special ed classes taught in broom closets, These are actual conditions happening NOW and are the inevitable outcome of decades of neglect by Greenwich Republican Town leaders.

Gutting renovation funding for Julian Curtiss and Old Greenwich Schools. Rejecting improvements to fire safety in Northwest Greenwich. What do all these decisions have in common? They were made by a single person who is not directly elected.

A meeting to vote on whether to accept a $500,000 grant to improve election administration and infrastructure in Town erupted in chaos when opponents challenged the result of the vote, which was narrowly in favor of accepting the grant, and demanded a do-over.

On a party-line vote in March 2022, local Republicans voted against restoring $150,000 in federal America Rescue Plan (ARP) funds for the Greenwich YWCA to create the only sexual assault program that would be available to Greenwich residents.

FOR THE FIRST TIME, Greenwich is sending a majority of Democrats to represent us in the Connecticut Statehouse. Steve Meskers, Rachel Khanna, and Hector Arzeno had historic wins this past November.

The selection was as good as sealed when First Selectman Fred Camillo said on a radio show that if the decision comes to him, he would choose his fellow Republican Joe Kelly.

Democrats on Greenwich’s legislative body, the Representative Town Meeting, are once again facing votes with no good choices at the December session.

If the BOE is looking to pick the most qualified nominee, the choice couldn’t be clearer. Let’s ask them to choose based on merit and vote for Christina Downey.