Like all good political ceremonies, the political flunkies were out in force to honor Mayor Moccia has he got sowrn in for his second term, along with Town Clerk Andy Garfunkel who was sworn in for his fourth term. State Rep Larry Cafero led the ceremonies introducing the speakers, which included Lieutenant Governor, and fellow Stamford native Mike Fedele. In a way, the Lieutenant Governor set the stage for a theme that resurfaced when Mayor Moccia spoke. Fedele said he extended his congratulations from the state and on behalf of the governor to all the elected after congratulating Mayor Moccia and said, “During elections we’re politicians and after we’ve been sworn in we’re legislators. Norwalk does a great job of that.”
Larry Cefero spoke about the success that Mayor Moccia has had in the last two years and that Moccia, “works hard for the city he loves.”
Mayor Moccia thanked everyone who helped him, and all the city departments and the former mayors, (the two Franks, Alex and Bill who were all there) and also thanks Walter Briggs who ran for mayor as his opponent. Walter was also in the audience, at the invitation of the Mayor. It was a nice gesture. To the residents Moccia said, “The last 2 years I promised I would respond and I wold listen. I tried to do that. I may not have always succeeded but I tried.”
Mayor Moccia then said that like in school there are the three Rs and in his administration, Respect, Responsive and Results. He plans to continue to work in a bi-partisan manner to move the city forward. This was well received by the crowd that had gathered and was soon spilling out in the hallway as even the standing room along the windows was occupied. A nice moment occurred when Kristine Beres sang God Bless America and many in the audience joined in singing softly along.
Republican Town Chair Jeff Konsporre said afterwards, “This is an exciting day for Norwalk. They mayor continues to be humble and looks forward to serving the people of Norwalk. I thought it was very gracious to recognize the his opponent Walter Briggs today.”
Mayor Moccia responded to my question about what he thought the biggest challenge facing Norwalk as in the next year with a quick laundry list of infrastructure items. He said, “Beyond the flooding issues, we have to work on establishing whether a storm water authority gets created, work on a water pollution authority and we have to move all these projects forward.”
