Debate: Fight Crime with After School Programs

Support for police but also for softer methods of fighting crime, like having more after-school activities for youths, were among the ideas at a candidates' debate Wednesday night.

Four candidates for the two District D seats on the Norwalk Common Council met in the basement of St. Peter's Lutheran Church on Newtown Road for an hour Wednesday evening.

Here is a sample of what they said (with summary descriptions mixed with quotes):

How they would approach city spending when the tax base isn't growing much:

Bruce Kimmel (Democrat): "We would have to have a serious discussion with our Police Department. I want to know if they feel they need more resources. [If not] I would like to make sure that they have the funds necessary to take care of guns in our city. [...] We should work with the Board of Education in a respectful, diligent way to find out what we can cut and what we can't cut."

Bryan Meek (Republican): "Even during a Republican administration, the budget has gone up in recent years from $240 to $280 million. I'm very aware of budgeting processes for major corporations. [...] Our seniors need affordable housing. Our taxes are crushing them. I'm going to do my best to keep any [tax] increases to a minimum.

Jerry Petrini (Republican): I'm going to talk to department heads, and I'm going to just tell them, 'Prepare for a very lean year.' [...] the schools don't have an automated system to track their expenditures." Petrini would like to have more joint purchases, in which Norwalk Public Schools and the rest of the city government buy things in common, like paper, to save money.

Lynne Moore (Democrat): The way Norwalk budgeting works is that the mayor tells the Finance Department how much needs to be cut, and then the Board of Estimate and Taxation, "so as we sit to prepare budgets, that information has already been sent out. [...] "I think we have way too much polarization between the city and the Education Department."

Do you think there's a crime problem in District D, and if so, what would you do about it?

Meek: "Any crime is always a problem. [...] We can have wifi, solar-powered, Internet cameras at strategic spots around the city—I'm not talking London, here—where someone can look at four or five cameras, and then they can dispatch police where there's a problem."

Petrini: "Maybe it's time the city should look into a teen center. We've got a lot of extra, empty storefronts. [...] It would probably cost the city a lot less than putting a police officer on the street to maybe arrest thesee kids."

Moore: "I would like to know a lot more about how the Police Department tracks and reports these incidents of crime. Can we really say that crime is going down? How is all of that measured?"

Kimmel: "Crime isn't down—property crime is up."

Describe one specific personal attribute about yourself:

Petrini: "I led the Norwalk High Marching Band. [...] Thousands have kids have gone through that program. [...] When I took over the program itself was kind of in disarray. Parent participation was down, there was infighting, what have you. I didn't do it alone: I put good people in places."

Moore: She is principal at West Rocks Middle School. "We're no longer on the 'needs improvement' list as defined by No Child Left Behind because we earned [success through]academic programs in 2010 and 2011. I'll be able to take the management and leadership skills from my current position, that I utilize every day with parents, staff and students, and apply this at the city level.

Kimmel: "I'm very independent-minded. I have to be convinced. [...] Some would say I'm stubborn, but I ultimately come around. I like to make up my own mind."

Meek: "I'd probably say, 'problem solving.' [...] I've worked in a lot of corporate IT [Information Technology] and financial departments where I was always putting out fires."