Letter: Charter revisions do not address Shelton’s real problems

To the Editor: The people promoting the new charter proposal aren’t allowing actual facts to get in the way of their snake oil sales pitch. Nothing in the proposed charter guarantees funding for technology upgrades. The technology committee would be permitted to ask for things to be funded, and they may be given funds they could spend. Currently, the BOE is permitted to ask for things to be funded, and they may be given funds they need. It’s just another layer of bureaucracy to get between the IT director for the BOE who’s job is to know what technology is needed and the people who dole out funds. The obstructionist approach comes from within City Hall. They have only provided a fraction of the funding requested for technology for more than a decade. Our students are paying the price for that now. Alderman Anglace told people the only way technology would be funded is if charter revision passes. That’s flat-out blackmail. The new plan we need? Get the mayor and aldermen to understand technology is important, and they should provide reasonable funding to the schools so they can keep up with the times. If they were willing, they could do this tomorrow without charter revision. The proposed charter doesn’t address real problems our city faces. Zoning should be a promise for the future of your neighborhood. In Shelton, almost every development uses PDD’s to spot zone and change the character of neighborhoods. The proposed charter will make matters worse because they’re creating a larger super majority. The proposed charter actually reduces financial oversight. We had an employee embezzle a million dollars. Charter revision addresses that by reducing the number of people who participate in the budget process, and eliminating the only board involved in the budget that was required to have representatives from more than one political party. The proposed charter will reduce voter voice by reducing the number of people who can run for the Board of Education. The proposed charter revision is doubling down doing more of the same thing to make it harder to get different results. If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. — Albert Einstein. Vote no for limiting voter choice. Vote no for a boondoggle that will slow down technology improvements. Vote no for this charter revision. Wendy Holden Shelton

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