Despite the beckoning warm weather and sunlight, I found myself drawn to the mayoral debate like a moth to the flame, and slipped in just a few minutes before the debate started. The political flunkies were out in swarms, conveniently food grouped by party clumps. By my audience count the Dems showed more candidate support for Briggs than Moccia got from the Republicans.
The setup was th same as previous years, this yeas question panel was Donna Bertoli, Kristi Faccenda and Wendy Corey from The Hour, News 12 and WSTC/WNLK respectively. They asked good clear questions, often about the same issues that drive the comments here. Fortunately none about the town clerks’ race though 
Once again Dick Moccia stole the show with the ever so apropos witty comment here and there. Not to say that Walter Briggs was humorless, it was evident that he was trying harder to get comfortable with his role as challenger. So we begin.
Walter says he “knows what Norwalk wants in the future.” He identified 4 issues, Flooding, Open Opportunities for Children in Schools, Affordable Housing and Preservation of Historic Opportunities. Walter, Walter, Walter. What are you thinking with these 4 issues? You’re not, you cribbing the ghosts of mayors past and hoping to sound up to date on the real issues. You’re not, and it showed in the answers to the questions later.
Dick says he’s got things covered and has delivered “responsive leadership.” What does he mean? He answers, he responds to citizens, dealing with flood, litter crime and speeding issues. We need to “transcend political philosophy to deal with everyday issues.”
With openign statements out of the way it was onto the questions. Rather than list them out and what each response was I’m going to highlgiht the interesting ones. Cablevision will be airing the debate tonight at 8PM on news12 and if you are an IO digital subscriber, you can watch it anyone after that on 612. For pure political immersion, do watch that.
Both candidates referred to the flooding issues that seep through the fabric of infrastructure. Briggs challenges Moccia’s leadership on fixing and focusing on the issue. Moccia challenges Briggs on throwing money at the problem instead of planning what to prioritize in planning. They both skirted the real issue here, which is that the common council’s public works committee executes no compelling oversight to the DPW department so that they anyone truly has a handle on the extent of infrastructure issues in Norwalk. DPW director Hal Alvord displays his military background in managing the system. But we don’t need a Yossarian character shifting answers to suit the questioner, we need real data driven answers of where the investment in staff, software, studies and action need to be applied. It’s all well and good for Alvord to now come up with a 3-5 year plan to address flooding, but this issue was raised to the DPW and the Public Works committee in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Briggs and Moccia are both enthusiastic about development reinvigorating the tax rolls. Funny how neither addressed the quality of life imposed by increasing the value of surrounding properties. But here each was trying to out position each other on being pro development. Briggs suggested that it was Alex Knopp who spurred development. Moccia credited many mayors and sought to frame the issue in more of a non-partisan effort. Both laid claim to being pro economic development. ANd when it turned to the question of municipal binds being used to pay for infrastructure, both stressed the checks and balances as part of the process.
Briggs tried to say he would do better. He claimed that Moccia never goes to Hartford, never speaks to legislators about funding needs from the state and encouraged Governor Rell to veto the binding package. This was the Dem dar fightn’ words moment of the debate. And for anyone who reads the papers, an absurd attack. I think Moccia thought so too, and he quickly rebutted Brigg’s claims. I don’t think Briggs came up with these either, he spoke them because someone told him too, and that makes him a chump.
Round two of thrust and parry concerned zoning. Yikes zoning! The question concerned the role of heavy industrial zones in Norwalk. The Gault oil storage facility surfaced quickly with Moccia suggesting that the master plan should have done something about removing that use or making the zone light industrial and Briggs claiming to the narrow mission of increasing uses circa 2005. Neither had much to say about Affordable Housing, a subject complex enough that while just about everyone agrees you need to have housing for people to live in in order to attract companies to set up up here, no one has a magic solution to get there.
Briggs made more claims that crime is the same as it ever was in 2005. For some reason he headed into the mode of defending the do-nothing on crime Knopp administration. Who funded what when. Does anyone but the die hard care about that? I think not, maybe they’d like to see some new ideas, new patrol officers new community policing. Moccia runs through how he delivered on all of the above, but Briggs gets his best line, “Instead of people shooting each other , now they’re robbing banks.”
One of the panelists asks about “Historic Opportunities.” Naturally Briggs says this means 124 East avenues untimely demise, and 93 East Ave slow decay while the courts a-weigh. It’s here that Moccia has a firm grasp of process and what our government can and can’t do. Briggs is grasping at sloganeering his way though this. Which prompts the sage advice from Moccia, “Better to be a good groundskeeper that a bad grandstander.”
The big questions were over, but both candidates had done a good job of speaking succinctly, so little questions field the remaining time. Of those, the question of Education gave Moccia the opportunity to remind the audience that 9 Democrats sit in the Board Of Education, and that the chairman says “we are not here to supervise people.” Right on, and until the Democrats manage a come to Jesus moment of accountability, we are locked into the taxing death spiral of unaccountable dollars being sucked into the great Opdahl vacuum of incompetence.
I’ve given you just a flavor. Do watch the debates, run your own scorecard, and as both candidates said, go out and vote.
