The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Heading to the polls
Officials, candidates hope $87.45M school bond question will lure voters
MIDDLETOWN — Voter turnout is a concern for this year’s municipal elections, two years after taxpayers passed a charter revision that increased the mayor, common council and city treasurer terms to four years.
Still, with a referendum on the ballot that, if passed, would allow the city to begin construction on the $87.35 million Woodrow Wilson Middle School project in the spring, Democratic Registrar Lisa Santangelo thinks the issue might lure more voters to the polls Nov. 7.
“We’re hoping to have the same level of interest as we do in a regular municipal election because of the school bond question on the ballot,” Santangelo, referring to the proposed new facility, which would house sixth-graders at Keigwin Middle School and seventh- and eighth-graders at Woodrow in one building.
This year, there are four openings on the Board of Education and three for Planning and Zoning, plus an alternate. School board candidates serve staggered four-year terms and
zoning members are on the panel for three years.
The Democratic slate for school board is: Chairman Vincent J. Loffredo, Lisa Marino Loomis, Sean T. King and Patricia Alston. Planning and Zoning Commission picks are incumbent Stephen H. Devoto, Steven M. Kovach, Nicholas Ficaro and Amy Albert.
The Republican school board candidates are Ed Ford Jr., Jon Pulino, Kevin Kelly and Christopher J. Sugar, while those vying for planning and zoning seats are Nick Fazzino, Corrine Dorsey, Anthony J. Moran and Tyrell Brown for alternate.
Traditionally, Middletown has been an overwhelmingly Democratic populace.
The city has 26,552 active voters, with 12,012 Democrats, 4,099 Republicans, 9,967 unaffiliated and 474 other (Green, Independent, Working Families, Realistic Balance and Libertarian parties), Santangelo said. That represents a slight decline in active voters since the Jan. 3 total of 26,702.
Among municipal, state and presidential elections, those for city offices typically tend to have lower turnout, she said.
“We expect next year’s state election to be very robust because the governor is not going to run again, so there will be primaries,” Santangelo said. “Even in larger turnouts, if the sitting governor is not running for re-election, because you do have primaries, it’s a much more active election.
“We’d like to see people come out more often for the municipal, because those are the people that determine day-to-day life,” Santangelo said. “They decide the budget for the city — trash removal, police, fire and schools — so that’s much more immediate.”
The city now offers Election Day registration. “So, like people who wait until the last minute to go shopping for birthday presents and Christmas presents, even though they know that date is coming, they wait until the last moment,” and can still register to vote, she said.
Ford Jr., 20, is a full-time student at Central Connecticut State University and a minister at the Bread of Life Evangelistic Ministries in Waterbury.
Ford said he was class president his senior year of high school. “It was an eyeopening experience. It really was something new, almost like a calling or a passion of mine to want to serve and help other people,” he said.
He was a university senator while studying at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. That’s when he made the decision to continue his political career, Ford said.
“I said, ‘You know what? I serve at the church, I serve in student government, I serve in many different fashions, why would I not give back to the city that I consider I was raised in?’”
Because he’s only two and a half years removed from earning his high school diploma, Ford said he has a particular understanding of students. “The things that are going on in the school system, I went through. I lived it. I can really provide an accurate perspective on some of the things we can do to better improve our school system,” he said.
Every time he goes back to visit his teachers, he said, “I look at some of those kids and sometimes it’s like I’m looking at myself.”
That sense of affinity motivates him, Ford said.
“I want to help you because I’ve been where you are before,” he tells students. “‘I’ve had successes and I’ve had failures. I’ve had ups and I’ve had downs. And I want to help you get through this. I want to at least help you go on and help you figure out what you want to do to be successful in life.”
When voters talk to Ford on the campaign trail, he said many are intrigued that he’s so young and running for office.
“There shouldn’t be an ‘requirement’ to run for office,” Ford said. “If I can do that now for my community, why wait until I’m 25 or 26 or 27 when I can give back right here and right now when they need it?”
Albert, who is hoping to be elected as zoning board alternate, is an outreach coordinator for the House Democrats, including state Rep. Matt Lesser, who serves Middletown.
She has lived in Middletown for 13 years, has a daughter who is an eighthgrader at Independent Day School in Middlefield and is a homeowner in the Wesleyan Hills section of town. “I would love to be able to ride my bike downtown, see the riverfront redeveloped,” said Albert, who sits on the city’s Clean Energy Task Force and has been a member of the IDS Board of Trustees for the past three years.
“I’d love to be able to contribute to being a voice for sustainable and environmentally friendly progress in the city,” she said.
Loomis’ biggest concerns are closing the achievement gap and giving more attention and resources to the social and emotional development of kids. “That’s a huge factor in academic success, but we really don’t pay much attention to it in the schools,” Loomis said of children’s emotional health.
Loomis, who has worked with students from primary grades through high school for 16 years, teaches English and social justice at Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford. She’s also pursuing her doctorate in educational leadership at CCSU.
She’s interested in making sure the curriculum represents the city’s variety of cultures and getting faculty and staff to be more diverse to match the diversity of the student body.
“The district has begun to promote restorative justice discipline practices, but I’d like to see that continue and help it spread to more schools,” said Loomis.
Tyrell Brown, 19, a student at Southern Connecticut State University majoring in business administration, is vying for a planning seat. He also works as a financial planner at Northwestern Mutual.
“One of voters’ main concerns is the taxes. I think a lot of people are fed up with the amount that they are paying. ‘We can grow the grand list and in essence that would transition to lower taxes for you guys,’”‘ he tells voters. Brown said he’d also like to make it easier for businesses to come into the city.
The Westfield Neighborhood Association is holding an opportunity for voters to meet the candidates Monday at the Third Congregational Church on Miner Street at 7 p.m. For information, see the Registrar of Voters page on the city website.