‘ There are silver linings to everything’
Greenwich’s first selectman looks back on a year like no other
GREENWICH — When Fred Camillo took the oath of office last year to serve as Greenwich’s first selectman, he had no idea what was heading his way.
“I’ll be honest, I always do prepare myself for the worst possible scenarios, because going into anything you have to know there are going to be spots where the road is bumpy and the sea is going to be choppy,” Camillo said in a year-end interview.
But Camillo said he never imagined a pandemic bringing life to a halt. In response, he worked to slow the spread in town by temporarily closing parks, beaches, marinas and other places where people congregate — moves that didn’t please everyone — and constantly urged residents to wear masks and distance themselves from others.
It was never a position Camillo wanted to be in.
“That’s where government has to put policies in place to enable people to sustain themselves and survive,” Camillo said. “But government also has to be able to get out of the way so you don’t hold people and businesses back.”
Despite the pandemic, or perhaps aided by it, Camillo said he was able to make progress on initiatives he discussed on the campaign trail — before anyone knew the word “coronavirus.”
“I believe there are silver linings to everything,” Camillo said. “There have been many silver linings here and we’ve been working hard to take advantage of them.”
One has been the opportunity to accelerate plans for Greenwich Avenue. Camillo while campaigning had discussed making portions of the Avenue more “pedestrian friendly.” Months later, in an effort to boost restaurants struggling during the pandemic, he and the Board of Selectmen approved closing off the lower portion of the street to vehicles so restaurants could have expanded outdoor dining.
“We got that done pretty quickly because we had to get it done pretty quickly,” Camillo said. “That was key. We didn’t sit around and debate it. We walked the Avenue. We walked around the business districts. We spoke to merchants and restaurant owners and spoke to the community. Not every municipality acted that quickly. All the credit goes to the town. Not to one person or a few people, but the whole town and the town department heads and our employees and the business owners and the residents.”
The initiative remains a work in progress. Merchants and Camillo are still discussing what can be done in 2021 to create a sort-of outdoor pedestrian mall while not taking away critically needed parking spaces, he said.
Camillo wants the effort to be part of a larger initiative to better connect the town’s downtown to the waterfront — also a subject of his campaign.
“This is something we’re going to strive to make better,” Camillo said. “There’s that Vince Lombardi quote about shooting for perfection. You’re never going to attain it but along the way you’ll catch excellence. That’s what we’re doing.”
In January, Camillo will unveil his proposed budget for 2021-22. Without getting into specifics, he said there will be work proposed for Roger Sherman Baldwin Park as part of the effort.
An initiative that did get interrupted by the pandemic, but which will continue, Camillo said, is improving effectiveness and efficiency of services deliv
ered at Town Hall, which was closed for months due to the pandemic.
“This year has not been a throwaway year,” Camillo said. “Yes it’s been dominated by COVID, but we’ve still gotten a lot done and we’re going to continue to get things done.”
His budget and capital spend
ing plan will include initiatives to beautify many sections of town, he said.
“I think people are going to be very happy about that,” Camillo said.
He expects other initiatives put into play to bear fruit in 2021, including the Reimagine Greenwich Committee that has
been tasked to Selectwoman Lauren Rabin and the Sustainability Committee he put Selectwoman Jill Oberlander in charge of.
“You’re never going to get everything done,” Camillo said. “When I look at beautification of an area, people might say to me, ‘Well it’s costing money.’ Everything costs money and coming from a small business background I know you have to spend money. You just have to do it wisely. ... I learned that in 11 years in the Legislature. 50 percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing.”