The top priority is to advocate for and represent homeowners, taxpayers and those without a voice, and the neighborhood communities in which we live, and protect our interests against overreaching by developers and special interests. We must hear and respond to the wake-up call of our neighborhood communities regarding quality of life issues too long ignored.

In the Cove, we must act (not just do studies) upon the longtime call of its residents to: (1) repair our roads and sidewalks and implement traffic safety measures to curtail the rampant speeding on our streets; (2) improve and reduce the overcrowding in our schools; and (3) strengthen the zoning rules and their enforcement against developers, contractors, illegal apartments and illegally parked cars. We also need more affordable housing, so that people have a safe place to live.

In Shippan, above all, we must work to reduce the crippling tax burden on homeowners and to improve a school system that is hurting property values. To succeed in reducing property taxes, we must: (1) end the tax giveaways to developers and corporate interests; and (2) streamline and improve the efficiency of a City government which consumes most of our tax dollars.

Better communication begins with trust and trust can only be built by listening to and acting upon the needs of all of our constituents, not just the chosen few. To know the needs of our constituents, we cannot lie back and wait for them to come to us. We must go out and talk to them, whether by attending neighborhood association meetings, holding regular office hours or canvasing our district not just at election time, but at least once every quarter. To build trust, we must also make our city government more transparent. We should also encourage more of our citizens to get involved by expanding the roster of our city committees, making the nomination process more open to newcomers and amending the Board’s rules of procedure to encourage more full and open debate.

I am a life-long resident of Stamford and attended Stamford public schools from my first day in kindergarten at KT Murphy until my graduation from Westhill. I was the first in my family to go away to college. After graduating from Georgetown University in 1981, I spent four years with the Jesuits, including assisting refugees from then famine-stricken Ethiopia. Afterwards, I attended Fordham Law School, while commuting from Stamford and working fulltime as a clerk at a New York law firm.

Today, I am the chairperson of St. John’s Community Foundation, which supports and provides grants to 47 local non-profit community organizations that provide assistance to those in our community who need it most and educational opportunities for our youth. The Foundation also subsidizes the rental of apartments to those who could not otherwise afford to live here.
I am an active member and former Senior Warden at St. John’s Episcopal Church, which is celebrating its 275th anniversary in the heart of downtown Stamford. I am a former volunteer at the Stamford Animal Control Center. My wife Joan and I, over the years, have adopted seven dogs and two cockatiels from area shelters and rescue groups. I am a strong proponent of building a new animal shelter.