Candidate for
Member, Town Council; Town of Windsor

I believe that we have, here in Windsor, an history opportunity. We can continue the transformation of our young town from a bedroom location into a true community of pride and place.

The development of our new/old downtown is just the beginning of the process; its completion is the paramount challenge we face in the immediate future. The successful completion of our downtown project, together with our forthcoming commute-rail station will engender increased tourism and will bring local visitors to our core downtown region.

But well designed new buildings and crowds assembled on our new Town Green does not in and of itself build community.

The two concepts - community and place - are inseparable. Place is the vessel within which the spirit of community is stored. Community is the catalyst that imbues a location with a sense of place. The two are not divisible.

You cannot have a community without place and a place without a community is only a location. One Sociologist noted: "A search for identity, community and a sense of place is covertly motivating many peoples lives."

A major challenge for our Town Council then is to extend its mission of community development to enhancing and encouraging neighborhood organizations.

We must coordinate and encourage block parties and other methods and tools available to facilitate neighborhood activities in all four quadrants of our Town. Such activities break down fears and suspicions and help build neighborhood trust, which leads to real safety and security in these times of insecurity.

We must have a Town Council that is especially sensitive to neighborhood concerns and interest - a town government that is open and transparent - treating its citizens with the extraordinary respect due them.

GROWTH

We are not no-growthers!

Windsor's population growth constraints are identified in our GENERAL PLAN and our GROWTH CONTROL ORDINANCE (GCO) that includes a cap on all new residential housing permits at 150 annually, in addition, the GCO goal for population growth is a rate of 2% per year with an expectation of approximately 32,000 people in the Town of Windsor by 2015.

If we stick with these constraints, then we shall have been faithful to our covenant with the people of Windsor. We shall have achieved concurrency with our infrastructure and shall have shown respect for our natural resources, water and air quality.

A previous Town Council, several years ago, decided that it was in the public's health, safety and welfare interest to pass these Growth Control Ordinances, and I support them.

I do so, because as an advocate for SUSTAINABLE communities, I understand that creating sustainable places means understanding in the most comprehensive way, the resource needs of our community, where its energy, water and food come from, and how its wastes are managed.

"A community should forge a sustainable relationship with its ecological home, recognizing natural carrying capacities and limits. Resource needs often strain regional ecosystems and waste generation often exceeds the natural assimilative capacities." From The Ecology of Place.