Our priorities for 2023
With the turning of the calendar, the West Haven Voice, once again, offers those issues we hope will be addressed – and resolved – over the next year. Since our first year of operation, we have made this first edition of the New Year a list of the three or four issues we believe most affect and concern the average taxpayer. Interestingly, many of the topics reappear year after year, indicating their difficulty and/or a lack of political will to change things. As we enter 2023, we offer these issues as our top priorities:
Changing the way the city does business – The arrest of former city workers and the subsequent court cases have shown the city’s bureaucracy is ripe for changes – big ones. Culling through some of the testimony, one finds rampant political infiltration of the bureaucracy, which officials have used to their advantage not for years, but for decades. And lest one believe this is something new under the Rossi administration, we beg to differ. The revolving door of leadership over the last three decades and with one party in charge has set many ways of doing business in stone, and usually to the advantage of which ever faction of the Democratic Party is in power.
Due to the publicity brought forth by the arrests and court cases along with the oversight of the Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB), and the hiring of new personnel in the Finance Office, change might happen. Should real change be put in place over the next year, we would consider that a win for the taxpaying public.
A coordinated plan to renew the city – For more than two decades we have held that West Haven needs economic development. We still believe that. Over the last year or so, however, it has become clear economic development is only one component of what is needed. Wholesale changes to neighborhoods, thoroughfares and city facilities must be the long-term goal. Though the city has a “Plan of Development” as the crux of its renewal plans, these plans have served as little more than checking off a box or fulfilling an obligation. The city needs a renewed spirit as well as structural changes. It needs to look at existing streets and traffic patterns to streamline travel. It also needs economic development. That is always the major goal, but the piecemeal approach has not worked. The loss of the Haven project – no surprise – shows the lack of coordinated effort. The Allingtown Center is a good example of what can be accomplished. If that effort can be expanded throughout the city, we can envision renewed neighborhoods, and civic pride.
Saying what one means – Whether it be politicians or committees, club presidents or activists, we have noticed a major uptick of the use of jargon – some of it unintelligible – when making an announcement, discussing a program, or just letting people know about a forum concerning a specific issue. The use of jargon, multisyllabic buzz words, or two-or three-word catch phrases has multiplied over the last few years. Much of it has to do with the current cultural tic that wants to find fault, lack of inclusion, or Heaven forfend, bias. Some of it, though, is bound up in the current trend of explaining something so only those interested in the same issues would understand – and in the process make one sound smart using jargon. We have, many times, told activists and issue pundits their press releases are rife with gobbledygook. A more straight-forward approach is always better, especially when one is trying to impart something to the public. We find there is a connection between the use of jargon and those who let us know what their pronouns are. We have a suggestion: ditch the pronouns and be more direct. No one cares about your pronouns. We do care about what you are trying to say.