












THE
'SPEAK
UP 2009' STORY:
Former
President Pat Heifetz opens the meeting, officials introduce themselves
(new Police Chief Troxell); first question on reval - First
Selectman Bliss answered that one...and then the fiscal crisis and how
the budget, including the school budget, relates to it went on for 10
speakers (answers from Board of Finance Chair. Mike O'Brien and
Superintendent of Schools Belair); suspend binding arbitration,
perhaps, asks one Westonite;
Moderator's closing reminds all of the Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009 P&Z
workshop on
the Town Plan (W.H.S. cafeteria, 7:30-9:30pm).
The League of
Women
Voters of Weston...Speak Up 2009! (The
Town's Business Is
Your Business: Direction From the People to Their Government)
A REALLY BIG SHOW
THIS YEAR...ON THE ECONOMY AND HOW WE ARE ALL SUFFERING AND MANY, MANY
POINTED QUESTIONS ON TAXES AND THE SCHOOL BUDGET; More than 200
residents attended, the
microphones worked, and our moderator was super!
WATCH 'SPEAK UP 2009' NOW:
Cable/DSL
version:
Dial-up:
---------------
LWV of Weston SPEAK UP 2009
notes: more than 200 in
audience at Norfield Church Parish Hall
Q&A: 18
questions/statements total, 14 on the economy, 10 of which were
directly noted to be school-budget related, 4 general;
other:
reassessment, flag procedure, need for cemetery and air traffic.
In
the order that these questions werer asked:
1.
Reval:
how come
assessment went up if nothing was done?
2. Class size: if it increrases,
families will leave town.
3. Taxes:
if taxes increase, no
one will move here.
4. School budget:
how about zero increase? Questioned budget approach.
(Superintendant
of Schools and Vice-Chair. of the Board of Education answered;
Chair.
of the Board of Finance as well - pointed out that the suggestion was
the approach that had been taken.)
5. School budget: zero increase
or people will have to move.
6. School budget: "arrogance of
denial" by administration to financial crisis.
7. School budget:
other towns are
cutting down on school expenses - can we?
8. School budget:
what would it take to get to zero increase? (Superintendent of
Schools
explained the 2.62% increase - which might go down when insurance
contract bids come in - is only 0.3% for school program [$900k for
insurance at present or estimated prices and $100k or more from reduced
special education aid rate.)
9. School budget: supporter of
schools says maybe the time is right to take another look at class size?
10. School
budget:
philosophic remark.
11. Schools:
contract
negotiations-binding arbitration question: (Legislators
responded, short version, "not likely.")
12. Budget general: time for
"Weston first" programs only?
13. Flag: it still flies 24/7 with
no light at night been asking for three years); no one seems to
care.
14. Financial melt down: general
observation of loss of wealth.
15. Cemetery:
will we ever get one in town? (First Selectman responds that he
hasn't
been able to find enough volunteers for yet another try at this - asks
if the questioner would care to join...)
16. FAA-air traffic-noise: what's
happening? (First Selectman reports that 13 towns are employing
the
2nd best attorney to fight the FAA - first best attorney taken by FAA -
New York politicians are pushing the flyover routes in our direction,
but recently the FAA officials in charge of that agency have been
removed because of their bias...)
17. Economy: what will happen
when there is hyper inflation (after all the bail-out $$ kicks
in)? No answer.
18. Economy: needs v. wants -
example of Food Pantry user increase.
CLOSING
STATEMENT:
Moderator
ends the meeting quoting Jefferson. NOTE: More discussion
of where
Weston is headed to take place, in a land use arena, on Feb. 26, 2009
(a Thursday) from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at Weston High School careteria.

Dan Gilbert will moderate
Weston Speak Up
Weston FORUM
Thursday, January 22, 2009
A face familiar to many Westonites,
Dan Gilbert will be behind the podium at Norfield’s Parish Hall on
Saturday, Feb. 7, from 10:30 until noon, moderating this year’s Speak
Up, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Weston.
In his
professional life, Dr. Gilbert retired from General Electric
Corporation 2003, where he served as a consultant to GE’s corporate
staff and their many different businesses, in the area of employee
compensation for its non-executive workforce. He had been with the
company since 1986, when GE merged with RCA, where he was the director
of salary administration.
Dr. Gilbert holds
a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Penn State University, an MBA
from the University of Scranton, a master’s degree in personnel
psychology from Columbia University, and a doctorate in educational
psychology from Fordham University, where he also served as a member of
Fordham’s Educational Psychology Advisory Board. His broad expertise in
the area of compensation and labor relations has also led to
chairmanships on numerous professional advisory boards, as well as
speaking engagements at national compensation conferences in the U.S.
and abroad.
He has contributed
articles to several professional trade journals, including ACA Journal,
The Journal of Compensation and Benefits, and the Compensation and
Benefits Review, and has served as a reviewer for the American
Compensation Association and the American Management Association.
Many will
recognize Dr. Gilbert from his many Weston civic activities. He joined
the Planning and Zoning Commission in 2003, and is now involved in
helping the board revise Weston’s Plan of Conservation and Development.
He was elected to the Republican Town Committee in 2004 and is a member
of Weston Kiwanis.
Depending on the
time of year, Dan can be found splitting wood for the Weston Warm-up
Fund, picking up trash on Weston roads for Green-Up Day, or at Weston
Center, collecting food for the Weston Food Pantry, or selling tickets
to the Kiwanis Pasta Dinner and Pancake Breakfast.
Dr. Gilbert is an
active member of Saint Francis of Assisi Church, where he serves as a
Eucharistic Minister, helps serve meals at the Norwalk Emergency
Shelter, and helps refurbish local homes in conjunction with AmeriCares
Homefront.
Dr.
Gilbert’s wife Sharon is also active in town and serves as the
archivist for the Weston Historical Society. They have lived in Weston
since 1986 and have two grown children, Mary Katherine and Craig, both
graduates of Weston High School.
Speak Up has become a Weston tradition —
an opportunity for community members to voice their concerns and speak
directly to their appointed and elected officials about local, state
and national issues and their impact on the town of Weston.
For more information about
Speak Up or the League of Women Voters of Weston, visit
www.lwvweston.org.

In
case anyone was not aware of
'Speak Up 2009' the League posted its sign on the Onion Barn!





Moderator
Clem Malin; FAA came first, then zoning enforcement on Georgetown
Road...lots on school start times, some on traffic control, explanation
of "Teen Talk" at W.H.S. and a pitch for Global consciousness.
LAST YEAR
(2008)...
"SPEAK
UP 2008"
video online! WATCH "SPEAK
UP 2008" HERE
An original LWV of
Weston exercise in open government - first program in 1992!
On-line reports of earlier
programs here.
(Note that that these files
are
very large. They are best viewed in Internet Explorer.
Other browser programs, such as Firefox, may download the entire
program before beginning playback, which could take a long time)
To
view "Speak Up 2008"
Please Click
Here For The Modem (Dial Up) Version
Please Click Here For
The Cable/DSL Version
"Speak
Up 2008"...Saturday,
February 9, 2008, 10:30am - 12 noon plus a bit, at Norfield Parish
Hall; League
moderator, refreshments and a chance to let
your elected and appointed representatives know what's on your mind for
2008! And they did! League event gets
high marks from new resident, who says that he never saw this kind of
open dialogue in all the years he had lived in a nearby Westchester
suburb!!! Chair. of Commission for the Arts gives high marks to
"whoever thought of the microphones in the audience" - League
accepts all compliments, as our fundraising appeal is for items just
like this!
Before
"Speak Up" our publicity said...
- WHAT
IS "SPEAK UP?" It is one of a kind democracy in action - no one
else ever did this before we thought it up...the audience asks the
questions and a moderator keeps things moving along; "The Town's
Business Is Your Business: Direction From the People to Their
Government" is the 17th such event in a row that the Weston League
offers to the community.
- MICROPHONES:
"Speak Up" (the short title) indicates that in the past, some folks
didn't project. Now we use technology to improve this most
democratic of events. Come and ask your own question of any of the more
than two-dozen public officials on stage at Norfield! Not one
politician speaks without first being asked a question!!! See
your government do a group think on some questions--State officials
present may have a new way to look at what we think is just a local
problem!!!
How
did the newspapers perceive the issues of interest at "Speak Up 2008?"
The
Westport News came out Wednesday, Feb. 13 with their report - no longer on-line, but
you may read it
here.
The Weston FORUM came out today, Feb. 14 with their report - link
here.
"Speak Up 2007"
Weston's 16th
annual "Speak Up" was held on February 3, 2007. If you
missed it, and your computer is of recent vintage, you can watch it
here! Or you can go to the Weston Public Library, and borrow a
DVD or VHS copy.
When you click
on one of the links below, and if you have a
Windows-based computer, the video should automatically start
downloading and playing in the Windows Media Player program.
After the download has completed, as indicated by the progress bar near
the bottom of the Windows Media Player screen, you will be able to skip
around to any part of the video. The complete video is 98 minutes
long.
If you have an
Apple computer, and don't already have Windows Media
Player installed on it, you can download the Apple version of Windows
Media Player at www.microsoft.com.
To
view "Speak Up 2007"
:
(Note that these
files are very large)
Please
Click
Here For The Modem (Dial-Up) Version (37 megaBytes)
Please Click
Here For The Cable/DSL Version (247 megaBytes)
"Speak
Up 2006"
Weston's 15th
annual "Speak Up" was held on February 4, 2006. If you
missed it, and your computer is of recent vintage, you can watch it
here! Or you can go to the Weston Public Library, and borrow a
DVD or VHS copy.
When you click
on one of the links below, and if you have a
Windows-based computer, the video should automatically start
downloading and playing in the Windows Media Player program.
After the download has completed, as indicated by the progress bar near
the bottom of the Windows Media Player screen, you will be able to skip
around to any part of the video. The complete video is 95 minutes
long.
If you have an
Apple computer, and don't already have Windows Media
Player installed on it, you can download the Apple version of Windows
Media Player at www.microsoft.com.
To view "Speak Up 2006":
(Note that these
files are very large)
Please
Click
Here For The Modem (Dial-Up) Version (35 megaBytes)
Please Click
Here For The Cable/DSL Version (246 megaBytes)
HISTORY:
Link here to reports of earlier "Speak Up" programs:
YRS 2004 and
2005 reported on here.
YR2003
YR2002
YR2001
YR2000