The online edition of the Norwalk Advocate is once again leading with Stamford stories. Think they’re trying to tell us something? Today its about Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy talking about the direction Stamford is going. A snip:

In looking forward, Malloy cited the work of author Richard Florida, whose latest book, “Who’s Your City?,” identifies Stamford as one of the best “medium-sized” regions in the country in which to live at almost any age.

Florida argues the economic health of a place is determined by what it can offer sought-after employees.

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The Advocate leads with a story about the new parking policy in Stamford. Street meters are now being enforced till 10 pm, where previously they stopped at 6 PM. Needless to point out, residents and restaurants are unhappy about the situation. From the Advocate:

Signs are posted on the meters with the new hours, but Director of Operations Ben Barnes said the city will issue warnings instead of tickets for the first few weeks.

“We are going to go easy on enforcement for a period of time so folks have an opportunity to adjust,” Barnes said.

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Norwalk can only look to Stamford for a little inspiration on how belt tightening is done, especially when it comes to the BOE. Oh wait, Norwalk Public Schools under Corda don’t believe in the “nickel and diming” that comes from prudently whittling down expenses. Corda believes that a Stuart Opdahl manages money just fine. Corda believes that Opdhal is capable of projecting enrollment accurately. The numbers tell another story. And numbers, is what drives Stamford’s policy decisions. Yet it wasn’t all about the BOE. The Advocate reports:

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In a quick reaction to the growing concerns that Fairfield County was getting ignored by Hartford yet again, Governor Rell announced that the truck inspections will commence at the weight station in Greeniwch. And not a moment too soon. Today I-95 travellers are faced with a beer truck that collided with another truck at 5am between exits 13-14 northbound, and another truck that wedged itself in the Metro North train underpass on the Boston Post Road in Darien.

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The Maritime Aquarium is about to unveil its master plan.

The plan, scheduled to be unveiled Oct. 17, includes a three-phase, multiyear, multimillion dollar expansion to the Maritime Aquarium’s building, educational programs and environmental outreach initiatives, particularly the conservation of Long Island Sound.

“This began when Jennifer Herring took over as our president and CEO three years ago,” said Tim Gagne, publicist for the Aquarium. “She started to meet with staff, and we all started talking about how we could build from the future, and the plan really grew from there.”

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Perhaps The Hour is cleverly posting this to show our BOE that there are other ways of “negotiating” budgets. Or maybe they think that this year represents a trend in school finances. If its the later I tend to agree. I have read news reports of many BOE budget issues happening in other towns, talked to many teachers and administrators about the budgeting issues. They are not uniform, but for the most part ask that the School Boards do more with less. Such is the case in Stamford, from The Hour:

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Earlier in the week I interviewed Dan Malloy, current mayor of Stamford and former gubernatorial candidate. As always, Malloy impressed with his firm grasp of not only operating a major city, but of the regional and statewide issues that effect us all. This is the first part of that interview.

Malloy recently presented a Stamford city budget that the Stamford Advocate reported would increase property taxes by 8%. But on the subject of budgets Malloy pointed out, “City side government continues to be smaller than when I took office in 1995. Technology and training are ongoing investments; if you do it, it pays.”

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Here’s another glaring example of why the car tax is such a bad tax. Unlike houses, cars tend to move along with the people that own them to other cities, often in other states. Stamford recently hired a collection agency to to collect outstanding taxes on cars from 1992 to 2003. The outstanding tax is about $6 million. The state law says a municipality has up to 15 years to collect, and does not need to prove that a bill was received by the taxpayer. So some former Stamford residents are shocked to find outstanding bills plus interest. A short sampling from some message boards:

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