Norwalk Is Doomed

The tenor of the questions from campaign 2009, the mayoral debate was enough to drive me over the edge of despair. Really. If the best the collective minds of Norwalk’s residents can only come up with a smattering of zoning questions coupled with parking and doom and gloom,  then I concede, Norwalk is doomed. Oh let’s review the questions shall we.

1. Difficulty enforcing health, demolition or zoning laws.

Well let’s just say that there’s this whole thing about due process, state law and property rights that comes smack up against what a mayor can and can’t do regarding any of the above. And then there’s the whole weak mayor, strong council issue. Oy vey. Who came up with this bonehead question? Let’s identify the real issues that underly this superficial non question. There’s the real problem of trash and garbage that litters our streets, our open spaces, our city. We see it every day. The causes are many; littering, garbage put out for collection that is spilled (variety of causes) and neglected property that accumulates the detritus of Norwalk. Why not ask the question, what can the mayor do regarding any of the above actual issues? And if you want to sharpen that pencil of inquiry, what can the Mayor do to encourage the Council to fund the oversight of these issues? Why dance around the maypole here? Enforcement means one of two things, paying for someone to go around writing tickets/fines or funding positions to clean up that are assessed to all. Hey this is a fundamental philosophical point of government. Why not ask it?

Zoning enforcement. Le sigh. We have around 200 open court cases about zoning violations. We are, the only city in the state of Connecticut that is using the courts to pursue these zoning infractions. We have a dedicated lawyer filing these lawsuits. Can we stop for a moment to ask why? Well there’s an answer, and it goes along the gist of this, the state legislature decided a long time ago that any zoning enforcement official could be personally sued  for issuing zoning fines. Personally. No indemnity like any other municipal departments. Until that state law is overturned, then you won’t see zoning enforcement occurring statewide. What you say? Other cities don’t enforce zoning regs? Uh yeah, and they get around it by creating city ordinances with enforcement by city ordinance. And who gets to create city ordinances in Norwalk? The Common Council. And so if we want to follow the bouncing ball on this issue it lands in the court of the Common Council.

Demolition? A backdoor on the issue of 93 East Ave. Who knows? None of the candidates touched it, but again, a property owner has every right to demolish their property. Except when it’s listed as a very important asset to the city. Roll out the debate now folks, because the arbitrator of very important shifts and shimmies like some bad disco dance and there’s no unanimous consensus here.  A better question would be why do we allow property owners to create empty lots? There’s an answer. Without the building they get taxed on the value of the land only. Do you see the problem with that? I do. Empty lots are bad for neighbourhood preservation. Why not ask that question?

2. Crime is at a 20 year high in last two years.

Oh my. Doesn’t anyone bother to fact check these days? 20 year high? Does anyone pay attention to FBI reported crime rates? How many murders were there in 2005, 8? October 2009 Norwalk had the first murder. Puhlease. And here’s where the ball was dropped on the question. Why isn’t the Norwalk Police Department releasing the breakdown on aggravated assaults?  The Mayor says they are mostly domestic violence incidents. Well, color me skeptical, but I’d like to see the incident reports. Is it 300 out of 400? 201 out of 400? Don’t you want to know?

3. Does Norwalk charge more to park than other municipalities?

Why is this question even uttered. Oh don’t get me wrong, I am loath to pay for parking, just like the rest of you. But just like every driver on the planet, there’s that whole convenience factor that kicks in when I need to go somewhere that I need to drive to. I circle around blocks looking for empty meter spaces, or better yet the free spaces that are tucked away on side streets, and when there are no other options, when it’s raining or snowing or I’m carrying heavy items, there I am in the nearest garage paying someone outrageous parking fees. But the philosophical question that is at the root here is –what is the price of free parking? After all nothing, as we have learned, is free. If the city owns land, should it make it available for parking? But what about strip malls? Don’t they pay for their surface lots? Should the parking that is owned by the city be paid for out of general tax revenue, meaning all of us? Or should it be paid for by the people who use it? You’d have thought that this question has been debated and resolved way back when when the idea that it was okay to shift the burden of paying for it to the user back in 2002. No, the issue comes up because there’s no master parking plan for the entire city. Much like there’s no master traffic plan, because um well, someone would have to  pay for those studies, and while we have council committees that should be guiding the process, they haven’t exactly leapt into action. Actually I am doing a disservice to the one person who has called for a master traffic study since 2005, and that would be Laurel Lindstrom. Debate the genesis of the traffic study.

4. What should be done about illegal apartments?

Well here we are back to an issue that affects relatively few areas in Norwalk. First it’s easy to pinpoint the areas in which residents have concerns about illegal apartments. They occur in primarily multi family zoned areas. Within those areas, there are buildings which by law can have up to 6 people who are not related to each other living in a unit. And herein lies the anti immigrant sentiment that floats beneath the civilized surface of Norwalk, because who is it exactly that chooses to live in crowded dwellings? Why immigrants young grasshopper. So what is being asked here? Coded language about tolerance for immigrant populations? Of course there are readily apparent causes of distress for the neighborhood. Six people, six cars and where do you park them? Which brings us to the crux of the conflicts within Norwalk’s neighbourhoods, who is managing on street parking neighbourhood by neighbourhood. A good question no? Too bad it wasn’t asked.

5. Should we have caps on the number of condos and townhouses?

Are we in the 21st century? Is this really a question? The whole problem with affordable housing in Fairfield County is the cost of land. Something to do with location, location, location. So why are we asking this question? Is having to mow a lawn and asphalt a driveway some sort of honor badge out there? Do they ask this question in Florida?

6. Four year term for Mayor?

There are three possible answers to this. Yes. No. Let the voters decide in referendum. Worthy of a debate question? No way.

7. Should Senior Citizens get property tax relief?

Let’s review the Norwalk municipal budget shall we? And I’m including capital expenditures in this rough back of the envelope calculations here. BOE 70%. City of Norwalk 30%. Expressed in trident gum dentists prefer language– 7 our of 10 of your tax dollars somehow make it over into the BOE budget. So let’s rephrase this innocent looking question, should senior pays for education. Oops, them dars a lightening rod question, old generation versus younger. Can’t do that. But that’s really the question isn’t it? If you want to refine it, should a property owner who has owned the same home for 20 or 30 plus years be revaled into a higher valuation? That really hits the heart of the matter. There seems to be a penalty inherent in the property tax code that penalizes long term home ownership. Let’s debate that. Or rightfully kick it up the the state that allows Fairfield County to fund the BOE budgets of upstate and big cities.

8. Emergency preparedness?

Okay my Wiltonian ostriches, what does every evacuation plan of coastal Fairfield county call for? Bueller? Bueller? Why they call for an evacuation inland, upstate. And we are all to jam on route 7. Uh huh. Can we be a little more specific on these types of questions? If we can’t commute during work hours, and we live all one influenza vector from plague like status, what else are we too debate here? Did anyone expect any candidate to state they were against emergency preparedness? Duck and roll my friends, because ya know the big mushroom cloud is coming to get you.

Where were the hard hitting what question like where do you see Norwalk in 20 years? Should we invest in more mass transportation? What happens when the average age of a Norwalk resident is 75? What services should be improved to our residents? What happens when revenues fall further? What happens when Westport peeps start shopping at our Walmarts? Oh wait. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could debate big issues worthy of the highest elected municipal office?

  • Nicely Done…Great Explanations With Insight

    Great commentary…

  • Nicely Done…Great Explanations With Insight

    Very insightful writing. Nice job Jackie.

  • The Rock

    How about:

    Why is Lynne Moore still an administrator at West Rocks when half a dozen states forced her to resign within months?

    Oh wait, that’s a gotcha question.

    • NorwalkSpectator

      That’s a question for the Board of Education, not for the mayor. The City side of government has NO say when it comes to that. Ask Steve Colarossi or Sue Haynie about that after the first week in November.

  • Jo

    Here’s another gotcha question…why is Myrna Tortorello still an administrator when she bullies her staff??

    • Unbelievable

      Good question Jo. This Marvin principal left Yonkers schools in 2004 with an annual pension of $78,541.

      Check it out: http://www.newsdayinteractive.com/community/teacherpensions.php?keyword=tortorello

      Than she comes to Norwalk and gets paid about $150K a year on top of the $78K from Yonkers. Didn’t she land in the top 50 salaries in Norwalk that The Hour listed last year?? So what are we looking at about $230K a year to degrade and bully people? WAKE UP NORWALK!!!

      • NorwalkSpectator

        Once again, that’s outside the area that the Mayor or any non-NPS official has control over. Your question, much like the one that proceeds it, needs to be directed to the Board of Education and I would seriously encourage you to express your concerns privately to Dr. Papallo. Since it is a personnel issue, it won’t be discussed in public.

  • parklover

    Good points, but just wondering how many personal lawsuits have been filed against Norwalk zoning staff in recent memory? I can’t recall a single case in the last 20 years. If this is the excuse not to enforce ordinances, is the fear of a lawsuit just poor excuse to not do your job?

    And if this is the case, why are taxpayers paying for staff who are not doing their job, which is to enforce the zoning code? And wouldn’t you think if this was such a problem, why wouldn’t the zoning staff or commissioners be lobbying our legislators to change the state law?

    As far as your labelling as racist anyone who is against illegal apartments, I would kindly suggest that if the zoning chairwoman had invested her life savings in a property instead of being a renter, she might feel differently about watching her neighbors carve up their two-family houses into rabbit warrens to cram as many people in as possible, and she might feel differently if she tried repeatedly to get city officials to do something about it and was met with excuses and inaction. People invest in cities where the quality of life is enforced, and property values are protected. Many of us who have invested heavily in our homes are shocked to find out slumlords can basically do whatever they want in with impunity right next door. You call this racism?

    • ENW

      Well said, PL.

    • turfgrrl

      parklover: I don’t think any zoning enfocement officer in the entire state has been sued, mostly because who would want to to test the law to find out if it is valid or not. Here’s a link to the report by the legislature on the issue, circa 1998.

      Secondly let’s not confuse building code violations, which you point out versus land use violations, which is what I was referring to. Zoning cites illegal apartments as being ones in zones where apartments are not allowed, ie. a single family residence zone. It is the DPW and building codes, or fire codes that would govern “two-family houses into rabbit warrens to cram as many people in as possible” as possible safety violations. Two very different legal issues.

      But it’s interesting that you chose to single out my choice to rent versus own as a possible criteria in how I view quality of life issues. I would suggest that this blog, 3 years of it, has sufficiently documented my strong positions on improving the quality of life of a city that I have chosen to make my hometown. People chose to live in cities where the quality of life is good, the economic prospects are good, the educational system is good, the cultural life is good etc. regardless of property ownership status. As for excuses and inaction of city officials, I would point out that sometimes all you have to do is ask city officials about problems, and it is up to all of us residents to hold officials, ourselves and policies accountable. It’s easy to say there’s a problem, harder to actually do something about it. I follow the later path of course.

  • jillcooks

    love question 7….
    70% to BOE? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx4pN-aiofw

    watch this and see if that 70% still makes sense…lets not send Grandma to North Carolina ITS THE TAXES STUPID!

  • anonymous

    One correction to the statement that only zoning enforcement personnel can be sued personally. Any municipal official can be personally sued under federal civil rights law, and can be held personally liable. The city can not indemnify them. It is something all municipal employees and officials live with – that you can get sued just for doing your job.

  • OLD TIMER

    Anybody can get sued. Only people who have an ability to pay ever actually get sued. If they are agents of the City, acting within the scope of that employment, the City, MUST defend the suit.(CT 7-101 and 7-456) Usually, it is the City’s money the suit is after, assuming it has deeper pockets than employees. If the City can make the case in court that the employee was acting outside the scope of that employment, it can step aside and leave the employee standing all alone. This not likely, but it happens. People get sued for all kinds of things. Too many people in positions that require judgement decisions will not make a decision for fear of being sued. These people, in governemnt, define the term “deadwood”.

  • OLD TIMER

    TG:
    Agreed, the questions used were not the best, but the moderator had handfulls of questions she never got around to. It would have been a better debate if it was twice as long and the council candidates were scheduled for another time.
    Somebody is not telling the truth about police manpower levels. The Mayor made it sound like the department was in good shape, a council candidate later said they were short 21 positions. I am inclined to believe the council candidate. Just having sufficient numbers of officers where they can see and be seen prevents a lot of crime.

  • Secondhand Rose

    “two-family houses into rabbit warrens to cram as many people in as possible”

    This could be taken up with the landlord, not the zoning board, since it’s obviously being done with either the landlord’s permission or at least the landlord’s knowledge. There’s no way you can convince me that “rabbit warrens” with “as many people as possible” could get installed in a rental property without the landlord finding out or turning a blind eye to it. If nothing else, one would think the landlord would expect to be paid by all these people simply to purchase his silence on the matter.

    • parklover

      The illegal apartments are being installed by the landlords, mostly. They all know Norwalk is an enforcement-free zone and could care less about how the properties look, or maintaining any neighborhood character. Some we know of live in verdant luxury in Wilton and Westport, and basically use the properties in Norwalk as cash cows. Entire 3-story additions have been added on to the backs of houses without any permits. One case we know of took 26 years to resolve in the courts. And the city department heads think everything is fine the way it is (most of them live in other towns by the way.) It is a broken system, and sad that no one wants to change it.

  • ENW

    These illegal conversions have destabilized formerly solid neighborhoods in NYC. The city has done nothing to stop them over the years.

    The conversions, along with the shoddy construction installations that slumlords favor, create fire traps for the residents and emergency personnel alike.

    Rockland County, NY is setting up a task force to deal with these conversions. Serving on the task force is a FDNY fireman who survived a conflagration in one of these death traps. Two of his fellow firefighters–neighbors from the Rockland County town of Pearl River–did not.

    Hopefully, the task force will be successful. Perhaps Norwalk may be inspired to create one as well.

    Link to articlel: http://www.lohud.com/article/2009910220405

  • parklover

    Thanks ENW. This a big issue in Norwalk, but largely ignored by its leadership (they claim that existing laws are enough-despite the evidence that they are not). I suspect it will take a fatal fire to push the city to start enforcing its own laws, sad but true.

  • Secondhand Rose

    I don’t think more new laws are called for. What is really needed is heavier enforcement of the existing laws already on the books.

  • Family on the Street, Wake up call, ring ring ring

    Would love to see a landlords with empty apartments to step up to the plate here.

    We have a family, mother, father, two minor children homeless and stranded walking west av pleading deperately for help.

    Every shelter in CT, NY, MA, RI. packed with waiting lists.

    People lets focus here, families need help.

    Lets act the way were brought up, we need a gold old fashion barn raising.

    Lets help the shelter build a decent, safe, dignified, safe haven.

    We can do this and we can do it now.

    Construction is at a lull and labor is plentiful.

    We can do this, we must do this and we must do this now.

    Families are living on our streets.

    Cmon, lets kick up the gears here and save some lives here.

    Will the boys at open door, Please speak with zoning and lets get this done.