Well all of the candidates are nearing the end of the road so to speak as far as campaigning is concerned. As for me, I will be making my rounds, putting up a few more signs and getting ready for Tuesday. I will be at Stop and Shop in the afternoon, so stop by and chat. Please make sure your car is in park!!!

I did receive a call from a man whose name unfortunately escapes me, probably because I was at work in the middle of a project. But, as I stated in my flyers, my door is open and I did take the time to speak with this gentleman for about 20 minutes. He said something to me that is really the basis of election: he said he liked my ideas that I had put on my flyer.

Then after we spoke for a while, he actually asked me whom I could work with on the Town Council. My answer to him and to all: I would work with anyone on the town council. The meaning of being elected to the Town Council is to REPRESENT the people of Cheshire–ALL THE PEOPLE. So, my first concern would be doing what is best for the town and for its residents.

I am not afraid to speak my mind and offer suggestions for the betterment of our town. I know many newspapers and candidates alike are discussing paying police officers more money and/or hiring more police.

Now my last post concentrated on just that, the different police starting salaries in various towns throughout Connecticut and New York City. You can see there is quite a disparity, especially in New York City. I alluded to that at the Candidates Debate (although I was off by a thousand dollars). I understand peoples’ concerns that they do not want to see their town be a “training ground” and in a few years, see all the time money and effort go off to another town.

But, unfortunately, that happens in the business world all too often. I remember a few years ago, Bridgeport was down 50, yes 50 officers. They should have been at the 350 level for a city of its size, but because of budget constraints, they could not hire and frankly could not find enough candidates.

In the mid to late 80′s Bridgeport’s murder rate was over 100 every year. Then, the City hired a new police chief (he was originally from New York City) and I can’t recall his name at the moment. But he used his experience and brought Bridgeport’s murder rate down from over 100 to 12 in less than three years.
I know the police put up Jersey barriers in certain high crime areas of the City, (yes, Bridgeport has nice areas people, just go down to St. Mary’s By The Sea near Captains Cove) or even the North End. This eliminated many drug dealers.

They eliminated overnight parking in the downtown; loitering and just doubled up on patrols in the area they knew needed attention. All this was accomplished with a significantly downsized police department. It really boiled down to quality not quantity and tough street policing.

Honestly, I am for hiring police officers and keeping the department up to snuff, but if we are going to hire officers to hand out tickets, then I am not for it. If we have problems that need to be addressed, more officers to patrol at night when most crime still happens, then I support it.

I just wanted to get back to that gentleman who said he would be writing my name in on Nov. 6th. I thank him for his support. I want people like him to support me, because they believe in what I believe in. No-one should be voting for a candidate because they personally like him or her, or they live in the same neighborhood, or their kids go to school together or play together, or the candidate works with you. Vote for the person because you believe in his or her ideas, and you believe he or she can do the best for the town.

Leave personalities out of it. I worked with this girl years ago, her first name was Lisa. I could not stand to be in the same room with her. She was rude, she constantly called out of work (if this girl took 60 sick days a year, that was about par for her). But, she was the best copy editor and typist I have ever seen. I would hire her for my business in a heartbeat.

And as far as the Cheshire Herald goes, yes they are getting better and I have been encouraging them and meeting with them. That is why you saw the weekly meeting schedule in the paper the last few weeks. Did it hurt? No. The town is still here and guess what, people might be able to show up at a meeting and voice a dissenting opinion and nothing bad will happen!!

I will be going to The Wall, (the Vietnam one, not the Pink Floyd one) tomorrow and will be posting photos of this experience. I hope I can find my friends name on it.

See you all later.

The Waterbury paper did not endorse me so I am canceling my subscription. Oh, that’s right, I never had one in the first place.

Now for all of you privacy advocates out there here is an interesting idea that unfortunately may come to fruition sooner than you think:

“Your US driver’s license has a magnetic stripe with unique ID in it, and your debit card carries a magnetic stripe with account information on it, so why not link the two together and allow people to use their driver’s licenses as debit cards? That’s precisely what a young company National Payment Card is doing in select locations, according to Business Week: ‘Gas-station owners are pleased with the program too. Because NPC processes the payment as an e-check with the Automated Clearing House (ACH), a network most commonly used for direct deposits, participating retailers bypass credit card companies such as Visa and Mastercard.’”