Elections: "Less Criticism and More Solutions”
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As we approach the end of summer, and with Election Day fast approaching, voters in Danbury are being pummeled with a horrendous amount of political rhetoric, overflowing with criticism (and insults) that's absent of any substance or insight into addressing long-standing issues in the city.
A couple of months ago, I wrote an op-ed regarding my ever-growing cynicism over municipal elections in Danbury and my frustration with the lack of vision and foresight from challengers to the status quo when addressing decades-old quality-of-life issues. After covering endless political cycles in the city, it has become grossly apparent to this writer that residents frustrated with lingering problems in Danbury are being ill-served by challengers who've repeatedly failed to offer viable proposals to city concerns.
Here's a brief synopsis of what we've heard thus far from local Democrats who want to be taken seriously by the public on Election Day.
- Answer to school-related concerns: "it's the Republicans' fault!!!" (even though Democrats enjoyed majority status on the Board of Education and led the charge in hiring the present School Superintendent).
- Answer to land development concerns: "it's the Republicans' fault!!!" (even though the Zoning Commission is chaired by a Democrat and the Democrats held the majority on the land-use board in past election cycles).
- Answer to higher taxes: "it's the Republicans' fault!!!" (even though Democrats wanted to INCREASE local school spending, build new schools, and repair roads that can cost hundreds of thousands per mile).
I could go on and on, but you get the point.
From the start of the election cycle to the date of this writing, there has been NO plan of action presented by the challengers to the Republican incumbents that address ANY city concerns or criticisms of Republican city officials who have held the majority status in a city where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by a 2-1 margin for over the last two decades.
With less than one hundred days to go until Election Day, voters who have been inundated with substance-free mailers to visit the website of Democratic mayoral candidate Roberto Alves will be greeted with a virtually blank page that's devoid of any material, except for a picture of the candidate and a link to video footage of the mayoral debate...from the LAST ELECTION CYCLE.
Voters should send a message saying, "LESS CRITICISM and MORE SOLUTIONS.” Residents in the seventh-largest city deserve less vitriolic political name-calling and MORE proposals to move Danbury forward. Anything less than that is a disservice to the public.
