Describe how your occupation will assist you in serving Norwalk and give three brief but specific examples, including what committees on which you hope to serve. As a professional photographer specializing in local community events, I am in unique position to easily connect with many people who influence how Norwalk operates. This includes several City officials and personnel, business leaders and civic organizations. While attending various happenings, I get to mingle and speak with lots of the participants and visitors. Having been elected several times and previously serving on all committees that were in place, I don’t really have a preference but would be willing to help where needed.

NancyOnNorwalk recently sent out questions to all candidates for At-Large positions on the Common Council. With 14 contenders, this is the largest group running for office. We are publishing their responses as separate posts, in their entirety. Questions were sent via email and the answers have not been edited or...

District A voters would be able to use a Belden Avenue parking lot on Election Day, making it easier for them to go in the Norwalk Public Library and cast their ballot, under an agreement set to be approved Thursday by the Common Council. The agreement, negotiated with real estate...

From September 2022 through the Common Council’s adoption of the final version this summer, the nonpartisan Charter Revision Commission worked its way through each line of Norwalk’s jumbled, outdated charter in order to present the City with a document intended to be more relevant, transparent and accessible. We heard from elected and appointed City officials; the Board of Education; department heads; and City residents. While there were a number of varying ideas, suggestions and critiques, one thing everyone agreed on was that the current charter is badly in need of an update. That is why we encourage everyone voting on November 7th to VOTE YES for charter revision.

Describe how your occupation will assist you in serving Norwalk and give three brief but specific examples, including what committees on which you hope to serve. My career spanned four decades and began in Human Resources leadership and elevated into general corporate leadership roles. This consisted of developing business strategies and implementing them focused upon creating Organizational Models & effective, collaborative Leadership Teams. My work was mostly in GLOBAL High-Tech, Manufacturing & Reinsurance corporations. In my general leadership experience, the Leadership Team was expected to understand, advise, & input on all aspects of business operations; this means my experience includes finance, global merger/acquisitions – due diligence & post close onboarding, consultant management; Board of Director Relations; and all-important organizational modelling. My experience also includes the great privilege to work with Federal Government Representatives on Solar Energy initiatives. Presently, I have the distinct opportunity to use all my corporate leadership experience and consult with non-profit local Norwalk agencies to assist their strategy and leader development.

Describe how your occupation will assist you in serving Norwalk and give three brief but specific examples, including what committees on which you hope to serve. I am a methodical and evidence-based thinker. In college (Yale) I majored in Economics and Mathematics, subsequently went to Business School (Stanford) and had a two decade career working on Wall Street in investment banking, securities analysis and distressed debt investing. These jobs required meticulous attention to detail and usually an enormous amount of work, including extensive research and analysis, and frequent collaboration with experts and clients. Further, that work is not complete until there is a clear answer, or possibly a range of answers, each with clearly identifiable advantages and disadvantages. I feel strongly that this approach will help when serving on Norwalk’s Common Council.

Describe how your occupation will assist you in serving Norwalk and give three brief but specific examples, including what committees on which you hope to serve. My professional background includes over 35 years of technical and managerial experience in the corporate sector developing a skillset to appropriately develop budget decisions and change the variables of a problem to create solutions. As an incumbent I currently serve as Chairperson of the Finance and Claims Committee and have also served on the Land Use and Building Management, Community Services, and Ad Hoc Affordable Housing Committees. I currently serve as the President of the Common Council. In each of these positions I collaborate with other Board members and the public to ensure we continue to flourish and thrive in every aspect of life including economic, education, health, safety and wellbeing of all of our stakeholders.

Describe how your occupation will assist you in serving Norwalk and give three brief but specific examples, including what committees on which you hope to serve. The combination of theoretical knowledge acquired in graduate school, coupled with my role as a researcher for the World Bank Group, provides me with a strong real-world understanding of development needs in the context of cultural differences, serious development challenges, and budgetary constraints. My work evaluating how relevant, effective, and coherent financing helps governments achieve their development objectives has given me a strong perspective on: (1) tax mobilization, (2) program evaluation, and (3) how politics work for development.

Describe how your occupation will assist you in serving Norwalk and give three brief but specific examples, including what committees on which you hope to serve. I am a three term member of the Common Council and have served as Common Council President, Majority Leader, Chair of Community Services and am currently chair of the Public Works Committee. I also sit on Land Use and Building Management and Economic and Community Development. This experience helps me to have a deep understanding of issues and initiatives that come before the Common Council. In addition, my years as a Norwalk Public Schools English teacher have given me a unique perspective as well as the ability to negotiate challenging situations, particularly during the budget cycle.

Describe how your occupation will assist you in serving Norwalk and give three brief but specific examples, including what committees on which you hope to serve. I’m an attorney, and have also worked for the New York State Senate and as a public policy advocate. I bring that experience to bear constantly on the Council. In particular, I really enjoyed editing our proposed new charter in great detail. As a member of the ordinance committee, I’ve used my skills to help draft clear, consistent ordinances, including drafting our new affordable housing account ordinance. And I’ve used my critical analysis skills on Finance and Public Works, asking thoughtful questions and pushing for strategic planning for long-term solutions.

Describe how your occupation will assist you in serving Norwalk and give three brief but specific examples, including what committees on which you hope to serve. Besides Bartending and Massage Therapy, I’ve also worked in the Event Industry, Film Industry, and for a brief and eye-opening time as a Private Investigator for New York States Insurance Fund, investigating worker’s comp cases. But even across a diaspora of industries, with specific intricacies of focus, one tends to glean a general skill-set applicable to unrelated tasks and jobs. So how is my “multi-tool” useful for this position? Bartending is usually three things at once: interacting, finances, and making the thing you just interacted about and sold. Also keeping track of who’s next when there are three rows of people in front of you with a sliding scale of manners. Keeping track of what you are running out of because now there are four rows of people in front of you and the register is stuck. And on. In short, dealing gracefully and efficiently under pressure, limited resources, with large groups of wanting people, and delivering what you agreed upon in a timely manner. Talking to thousands of people a year does hone communication skills; working in a high volume environments teaches the efficacy of brevity. Massage Therapy, on the other hand, cultivates the need for individual care and attention, presence, with a mindset of remediation of the pain and the causative factor. Massage assess blockages, trigger points, areas of dysfunction; so I seek to take that body map and apply it to the streets and sewers. In regards to Commissions of interest (and vacant seats available as of today), I have interest in Ethics, Fair Housing, Fair Rent, and/or Water Quality.

Describe how your occupation assists you in serving on the Board of Education and give three brief but specific examples. I am the Norwalk Branch Office Manager for Sav A Tree. In this role, I must possess the leadership skills to organize and make sure the branch meets the expectations of Corporate and their protocols.

It’s National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. Noting that lead poisoning is 100% preventable, a news release from the Norwalk Health Department states the “need for action to protect our children’s health and learn the health effects of lead exposure.” The Department advises parents to ensure children’s avoidance of lead contained in paint, lead dust, and other sources, and “make sure your home is safe from lead.”

It’s November 1 – for most of us, that means the day after Halloween or a day of sugar-hangover and raiding the kids’ candy bags. Here at NancyOnNorwalk, it’s kickoff day for NewsMatch, our year-end fundraiser. For our newer readers, NewsMatch is an annual campaign organized...

NancyOnNorwalk recently sent out questions to all candidates for Board of Education: five Democrats, one Republican and three Independents. We are publishing their responses as separate posts, so readers can find candidates by their voting districts. Questions were sent via email and the answers have not been edited or copy-edited...

Describe how your occupation assists you in serving on the Board of Ed. Give three brief but specific examples. I am a 31 year veteran teacher from the Norwalk public Schools and recently retired. My qualifications for Board membership are: (1) I have first- hand knowledge of the ins and outs of the school system and problems that need addressing. (2) I know the importance of open communication between all parties to get things accomplished. Teachers and students alike must have a voice to speak to the education of our future citizens. (3) Being retired gives me the availability to reach out to constituents to address issues and the needed time to research answers to our many concerns.

Describe how your occupation assists you in serving on the Board of Education and give three brief but specific examples. I am currently a substitute teacher in Bridgeport. My position gives me insight into the realities of education. I have used my experience in Norwalk Public schools as a para educator and implied them at my position in Bridgeport. I have first hand experience creating lesson plans, real time teaching, staying after later to help students during office hours, taking time after hours to grade work, and juggling all of that with my personal life. I have experience coordinating with administration and family’s/parents on student progress and other issues, so I know the frustrations that parents have when it comes to education.

Describe how your occupation assists you in serving on the Board of Education and give three brief but specific examples. As a deputy superintendent with the state of Connecticut’s Bridgeport Juvenile Detention Center for over 21 years, an active member of the Stamford school system for over 31 years in several capacities, which include restorative behavioral management coordinator, in-school suspension moderator, mentor, tutor, and recently retired basketball coach of 34 years, I’m well rounded in several different aspects of the educational system.

Describe how your occupation assists you in serving on the BOE and give three brief but specific examples. In my occupation I deal with people with many different backgrounds and attitudes. I have learned how to listen then react and how to keep a level head when things spiral out of control. In my occupation I talk to many customers and things can sometimes get out of hand, I try to stay focused even when they are yelling and when you remain calm it calms down others because they don’t want to be seen as being aggressive. Working in my field you must pay close attention to detail and show initiative while getting along with many different individuals and personalities.

Describe how your occupation assists you in serving on the BOE and give three brief but specific examples. As a Community Liaison, I maintain current and build new relationships with our community partners as well as the youth and families we serve. A few examples of how my job assists me serving on the board are as follows: 1) I work with youth and their families on a daily basis, breaking down barriers to/of recovery and advocating for the proper levels of care 2) I offer person-centered service by treating people as resources, asking good questions and actively listening 3) The collaboration of care is pertinent throughout one’s recovery. When one provider operates as a silo, things become disarray.