Monday, October 19, 2009

Second District Newsletter by Tom Ruocco

A Newsletter Featuring Local News, Information and Opinions

Good policy is based on public input. Personal interaction through e-mail and door to door contact has provided me with good feedback about the issues facing residents. During this campaign I have canvassed virtually every street in the district. Here is some of what people are saying.

Household budgets are pretty tight, and the recession is still a major concern for many people. I ran into a resident who works at Pratt & Whitney. We had a brief conversation that was, frankly, a little depressing. He’ll probably be transferred to East Hartford but the disruption will affect him and his employer forever. Clearly, we still feel the effects of national recession locally. The pool comes up a lot, and residents want this thing fixed. There seems to be some interest in a major overhaul and long term plan to extend the life of the building. The possibility of a seasonal pool is another suggestion I hear. People also tell me it should be bulldozed. One thing is for certain, the pool can’t operate as is. Planning issues seem to come up from time to time. Some people wonder why some of our infrastructure is lacking. For example, why are some ball fields of such poor quality, while some are still under construction? Why do we start new projects when we can’t seem to complete what is underway, or maintain what we have? This is a question that I do hear from time to time. It’s really a question of priorities and focusing on doing basic things well. Maybe it’s time to do some catch up work; instead of adding more to the list of things to do. We have a lot to manage and our town is very active but our resources are limited. That’s why we need to focus on the quality of what we do, and not be too concerned about the quantity of what we do.

One thing that always comes through, however, is that residents love Cheshire. Someone said to me recently that Cheshire is a “big little town”, and that’s true. I think the small town “feel” is a key reason we love living here.

Tom Ruocco

13 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Tim White said...

Ashley, you posted it once (under WRA). And it was on topic. But this is post is related to Tom, so your comment was inappropriate.

Anonymous said...

Tom is right on when he talks about priorities. We need a council that recognizes the needs of our town. We should fix what's broken before we start brand new projects. The people of the town should be approving what large projects are undertaken, not the council making those decisions for us. Keep up the good work Tom!

Anonymous said...

Looming ahead in the next 15-50 years is the complete renovation of ALL of our schools; about a $800 million tab at today's costs.....in 15 years our (8) schools will be collectively 520 years old....

Breachway said...

he came by my house one day - I am voting for him....

Anonymous said...

Ruocco is one of the hardest working straight shooters ever to sit on the Council.
No contest here in this part of town....unless you want the developers running the place (more than they do now)

Anonymous said...

Tom works very hard for the citizens of Cheshire.

Anonymous said...

The Democrats have controlled the Town Council too long. Their primary priorities have been to support the special interests without any concern of the cost to the taxpayers. I think the Democratic leadership is controlled by the special interests and that they nominate candidates that will vote in favor of the special interests over those of the Cheshire residents.

For this election, they have nominated three individuals that have serious conflicts of interest, Dill who is head of Cheshire's chamber of Commerce, Matt Bowman who has been awarded numerous plumbing contracts and is closely connected to realestate interests and Justin Adinolfi who is a consultant who did considerable work to help W/S in getting approval of the proposed northend mall. There is no question in my mind that if these three individuals are elected they will continue to support W/S, the local developers and the realtors.

Anonymous said...

Tom has earned my vote through his ongoing efforts on the council. Tom can be found walking through the neighborhoods he represents knocking on doors so that he can hear directly from those he represents. I'm still waiting, after all these years, to hear directly from the incumbents and their challengers to the school board and zoning etc though.

8:20 p.m. has a point about the opposition for this seat. A vote for the opposition is a vote for special interests which have not recently served the majority of those paying taxes in town very well.

Vote Tom Ruocco back for another term in November!

Anonymous said...

October 21, 2009 8:20 PM

It's only a matter of time before Cheshire will look more like Waterbury and Bridgeport. I guess some people don't care very much about nominating people that have such obvious conflicts of interest.

We need people to serve the town that don't have conflicts of interest and who want to serve the community rather than serving themselves.

Anonymous said...

The Cheshire Education Association received $10,000 from W/S. Connect the dots. I hope people are paying attention and vote for the most qualified candidates who will work hard for the citizens of Cheshire. Vote Nov 3rd please.

Anonymous said...

Is there a candidate running who's brother is trying to sell fire trucks to the town?

cheshire sucks said...

please stop insulting bridgeport by comparing it to shitbag stuckup cheshire