Trains, an end to COVID and cleaning up after your dog
What Danbury-area leaders want in 2022
One first selectman wants residents to pick up their dog’s poo in town parks. Others hope 2022 will bring another police cruiser or a new health department building.
Local leaders have varying New Year’s resolutions for their towns. Several had particular projects they want to get done in 2022, while others simply hoped for a calmer year after the tumultuous 2020 and 2021.
“As the new mayor, I just want to continue progress here and move the city forward,” Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito said. “Danbury is a great place to live and
raise a family, and we’re going to make it greater, if that’s possible. I’m sure it is.”
Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi’s aspirations are even bigger.
“The first thing on my wish list for 2022 would be the end of COVID,” he said.
Sherman First Selectman Don Lowe’s are simpler. He asked that “all dog owners will pick up their dog poo from our town parks, take it with them, and discard it at their own homes.”
Lowe wants the town to progress on its new senior center, too.
In New Milford, Mayor Pete Bass said his resolution for the town in 2022 was to “continue working together as a community.”
Marconi had similar sentiments. He said he wanted to be mindful of what they say on social media and to each other. He praised the “compassionate,” “hard working,” and “caring” people who make the town better.
“That’s the spirit that makes Ridgefield the great town it is,” Marconi said. “What we need to do is to protect that spirit and to make sure everyone understands it, and that if you live here, we live here together. We don’t live here against one another … and we respect everyone’s opinion and their right to the First Amendment.”
Initiatives
For Danbury, Esposito said he hopes the city can make progress on the $99 million career academy, which will serve 1,400 middle and high school students when it opens in fall 2024.
School officials are developing the academic program for the academy, while the Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing related to the school on Jan. 11. The city should hear in the new year about approval of a state grant that would cover 80 percent of the project’s cost.
Another goal is opening a downtown building that will centralize health services and progressing on plans to create a faster train from Danbury to New York City, Esposito said.
“I would hope we’re really deep into getting that train scenario set up because that’s going to be a huge economic driver here in Danbury,” he said.
Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker said his resolutions for 2022 include completing the installation of the town’s E-Government online systems “to reduce operating costs and provide a better customer experience for residents and businesses,” and providing more support for the town’s Parks and Recreation facilities and programs — the latter of which, he said, is consistent with Bethel’s five-year improvement plan.
Knickerbocker said he plans to propose adding at least one unmarked cruiser to Bethel’s police force to address traffic problems.
“Complaints concerning speeding and running signals have increased since the start of the pandemic,” he said.
Washington First Selectman Jim Brinton aims to purchase a new building to serve as the ambulance headquarters. He also wants to maintain the town’s road program with paving and chip sealing.
Bridgewater First Selectman Curtis Reed said he aims to “keep the taxes low, the speeders going slow, salt on the snow and our citizens in the know.”