It’s been a busy week for Norwalk area politicos. The battle of historical activists flounders on in the letters to the editor sections of the local papers. The hyperbolic language serves as a reminder of the net effect of the ineffectual group that steered the commission to its present commission 2.0 state. Service to one’s community need not be solely relegated to the titled and appointed in Norwalk. There’s nothing preventing any Norwalker from working towards historic preservation, unless they want to become a part ofthe insular clique of “friends of scorched earth politics”. Without the the special mouseketeer ears though, newcomers might not feel welcome. So much for rallying public support.

The usual bickering from the Norwalk Democratic party culture has offered another round of clueless bombast, this time over an attempt to generate interest in informal dialog amongst the common council members.

Common Council leaders announced Friday that they will begin holding informal “Bipartisan Council Members Meetings” aimed at discussing issues affecting residents without engaging in partisan politics.

“The whole reason for the group is that now almost every spare minute is taken up in partisan meetings or caucuses, leaving little time for opportunities to know one another across party lines so that we can work better together,” wrote council President Michael W. Coffey, a Democrat, and council Minority Leader Richard A. McQuaid, a Republican, in a joint statement released Friday. source: The Hour

The first meeting will be on Tuesday January 23 at 7 p.m., right before
the regular common council meeting. Coffey said the meeting is open to the public.

Matthew T. Miklave, a former council president and one of five other council Democrats, believes Coffey and his allies are siding with Republicans against residents’ wishes on mayoral appointments, affordable housing, how caucuses are conducted and other issues of concern to residents. Miklave, upon learning of the informal meeting set for Tuesday, dismissed the implication that partisanship is an issue on the council floor. He suggested that some are confusing debate with partisanship. source: The Hour

Matt Miklave suggests that, “This just seems to me a way to get a headline. People often mistake informed discussion and debate for partisanship.” Galen Wells added she was , “completely stumped” on its purpose. She claims there’s no partisanship on the council despite encouraging 5 members to walk out instead of vote on re-electing Common Council President Mike Coffey.

Keeping track of what the zoning commission actually does, apparently does not interest Miklave. It seems that he prefers to claim that the council has let the issue of affordable housing languish is more important than applauding the commission for passing an affordable housing regulation, which it did on Wednesday January 17th.

The 147.7 million dollar Board of Education budget is put in context this week with the revelation, mid year yet, of how many study halls students are being forced to take because classes are full. The Norwalk Board of Ed fails to see how reactive policy approval only encourages our mismanaged school district to continually underestimate school enrollment by school, and fail to address real financial oversight to its bureaucracy. Bruce Kimmel proffered the usual mantra uttered by people whose deep thinking is only represented by the words in a bumper sticker, “They’re sorely needed, and I hope we find a way to fund them this year”. It’s as if Kimmel somehow thinks Norwalk students are incapable of learning on their own without constant instruction.

State Rep Chris Perone-D and State Senator Bob Duff-D have diligently pressed forward with legislation on zone pricing.

“One way to provide immediate relief is to ban zone pricing,” Duff said during a news conference at West Rocks Shell station on Main Avenue in Norwalk. “Zone pricing just adds extra profit in what is already a profitable market” for oil companies.

With a longer legislative session this year, the time is right to get the bill passed, said Michael Fox, executive director of the Gasoline and Automotive Service Dealers of America in Stamford.

“We have more time to get people on board,” Fox said.

Some House members were “taken by surprise” by the zone pricing bill last year but will be more prepared to take on the issue this year, said state Rep. Chris Perone, D-Norwalk.

Fox and his group spent much of the year campaigning for the bill in parts of the state that have previously been against a zone pricing ban, he said.

Oil companies have always successfully lobbied against the bill by telling legislators that only select stations in lower Fairfield County are affected by zone pricing and banning it statewide could cause prices in some other areas to rise, Fox said. source: Norwalk Advocate

State Rep Larry Cafero-R, after advocating a more regionalized approach to government at the small towns conference earlier in the week, has chosen to focus his legislative efforts on sex offenders. Over all other issues, Cafero has chosen to pursue a regulation that would require convicted sex offenders to avoid living within 1000 feet of schools or day care center. Rapists and sexual predators who prey on adults are not required to live 1000 feet from single women or women in general.

Residency laws also would force sex offenders out of congested urban areas and into suburbs, said state Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven, a law professor at the University of New Haven and a former prosecutor.

“That’s good news for urban legislators,” Lawlor said. “All the sex offenders will move to the suburbs.”

D’Amora, who heads a treatment center for sex offenders in Middletown, said such laws also are based on a myth that sex offenders are likely to prey on strangers they meet in public places.

A majority of child sex crime victims - about 60 percent of boys and 80 percent of girls - are abused by someone they or their family members know, according to the Center for Sex Offender Management, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advises communities on managing sex offenders.

And most abuse occurs in the victim’s or perpetrator’s home, D’Amora said.

Cafero said he is aware of these points but believes his proposal is fair. Some states and municipalities have enacted stricter laws with restricted zones extending as much as 3,000 feet. source: Norwalk Advocate

Perhaps Cafero would be interested in requiring convicted sexual offenders to wear a scarlet letter S.