Greenwich is blessed with many unique and outstanding attributes. We enjoy a dramatic coastline, and beautiful New England terrain. We are committed to preserving the best that Greenwich has to offer, protecting our environs, and supporting programs that meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our community. We share a dedication to our children, their welfare and their education, as well as to our senior citizens.

    To achieve this, Greenwich Democrats pledge the following:
    We will aggressively promote accountability and transparency in Town Government.

Our leaders will exhibit transparency in their decision-making process. They will strive to listen to the needs of Town residents and respond through their reasoned deliberations surrounding issues that confront the Town. They will:

1) Promote teamwork among the Town departments so that there is a coordinated approach to addressing problems that face the Town.
2) Implement new systems to provide greater communications within Town Hall such as installing a “311” telephone information system to give residents a knowledgeable person to respond to specific issues in a timely manner.
3) Be available to our citizens in various venues, not only in formal settings, but also through meetings of community organizations. We will promote meetings to be held at times convenient for working people, including Town employees.
4) Make it easier to contact officials on all boards, commissions and the RTM so that they can be responsive to issues raised by residents. Agendas of up-coming meetings will be published; the Selectmen’s schedules will be available to residents.

    We will engage in a responsible and responsive approach to budgeting.
The Greenwich town budget, including capital projects, has increased from $258 million in 2003 to nearly $400 million today, which includes an unprecedented $44 million in bonds for capital projects. The Town has undertaken expensive projects such as the public safety center. We want to ensure that capital spending is reasonable and justifiable, with on-going accountability for each project. We support:
1) Publishing of capital expenditure contracts, so tax payers can see exactly where their tax dollars are going, and who is accountable for the proper use of tax revenue.
2) Developing a Capital Improvements Plan with more transparency, citizen input and mandatory assessment of need and public purpose.
3) Identifying alternative approaches to capital investments, particularly in the development of property-based capital projects. Greenwich must receive value, while saving tax revenue.
4) Increasing openness and transparency in Town budgeting process.

    We will create workable development policies in Town.
We must treat our physical surroundings with care. Our streetscapes, our neighborhoods, our shoreline must be managed and preserved to ensure the enjoyment of residents for generations to come. We will take an active role in redefining the upcoming Plan of Conservation and Development. The Plan should include policies to:
1) Promote the close monitoring of new and expanded property development to ensure that neighborhood continuity and streetscapes are maintained for the future.
2) Expand community notification requirements for any proposed development.
3) Scrutinize property development to prevent overdevelopment on inappropriate sites such as those with excessive slope or too much rock blasting.
4) Support Safe Route proposals and neighborhood traffic calming initiatives.
5) Aggressively act to preserve the Town’s historic heritage (e.g. historic homes).
6) Preserve mature trees.
7) Strengthen regulations to enforce noise ordinances.

    We will support initiatives to provide the best educational opportunities for our children.
To ensure that each child is given an opportunity to reach his or her potential, we must:
1) Support the development of work force housing to enable teachers to live in the Town, thus enabling a greater retention of teachers.
2) Support the timely reconstruction of the Greenwich High School performing arts and music facility.
3) Support the effort to find creative solutions to close the achievement gap among our school children.
4) Strive to keep class size small at all schools and at all grades.
5) Ensure the availability to every child in Greenwich of a pre-school education to prepare each child for a lifetime of learning.

    We will be responsible stewards of our land, water and air to provide for a healthy and sustainable community and to protect our quality of life.
We will:
1) Reduce future energy use and costs in Town because the cost of energy is rapidly increasing.
2) Introduce regulations to mandate that all Town capital projects, including the construction of school buildings, require an alternative energy assessment, including economic projections.
3) Aggressively support efforts to acquire open space in order to reach the State goal of 21% open space in each town.
4) Promote expansion of opportunities for tax incentives for private developers to install environmentally responsible measures in new construction, such as those employed at the Greenwich Armory project.
5) Support development of Town-wide master plan for flood and drainage control.
6) Directly tackle flooding and drainage problems by mandating the consideration of development’s impact on the watershed as a factor on approval (such as near the Byram River).
7) Continue to expand recycling efforts to reduce waste-disposal expenses.
8) Promote hybrid, bio-diesel, natural gas and electric vehicles in the Town fleet when appropriate and cost-effective.

    We will improve policies which ease the burdens on our senior citizens.
As Greenwich has changed, and as our population has aged, challenges such as real property tax increases, access to social services and mobility are having a significant impact on our seniors. We support:
1) Retention of Department of Social Services programs under Town government and assessment of programs that have been out-sourced to other organizations to ensure that effective services are provided to seniors.
2) Expansion of Senior Tax Relief program to permit more Greenwich seniors to remain in their homes by increasing the household income limit to more reasonable income levels applied in comparable communities.
3) Provision of a comprehensive Senior Center, either in its existing location or in some other appropriate location in the center of the Town.

We ask that you join us in supporting these initiatives in order to meet the challenges facing Greenwich for the benefit of our residents and those who will follow us.