PICTURE STORY OF SPEAK UP 2015 - ON TOWN TV CHANNEL 79 AT 10A.M. DAILY
Weston Public Library - Solo art show by Westport artist Eric Chiang, Jan. - Feb. 2015
Saturday, February 7, 2015, 10:30am to 12 noon

VIDEO HERE IN TWO FORMATS

Windows Media Player format (best viewed on Windows computers via Internet Explorer, which will open Windows Media Player and begin playback without waiting for the entire file to download; other browsers may not begin playback until the entire file has downloaded, which may take several minutes or more. 

Can be viewed on Apple computers if Windows Media Player has been installed):

www.lwvweston.org/LWVSpeakup2-7-15.wmv(1 hour 41 minutes 2 seconds; 256 megaBytes) 

MP4 format (viewable on most Windows and Apple computers, but playback may not start until the entire file has
downloaded, which may take several minutes or more):

www.lwvweston.org/LWVSpeakup2-7-15.mp4(1 hour 41 minutes 2 seconds; 437 megaBytes)





           
Picture story:  Before the crowds, a thought.  Before the discourse, the set up.   This year League was fortunate to have on the Library's walls a "musical" accompaniment!

League has reviewed the video, our summary of "Speak Up 2015" below.  Weston FORUM article on here:  http://www.thewestonforum.com/25441/record-crowd-attends-westons-speak-up/

The LWV of Weston got lucky.  "Speak Up" was scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015.  With a "blizzard" having been forecast for the previous week and a big snowfall due in later Saturday and possibly thru Monday, it was great good fortune to be able to fit "The Town's Business is Your Business:  Direction From the People to Their Government" into its original date!!!   Thank you, Mother Nature!

     
And so the 24th annual LWV of Weston "Speak Up" began.  Lights, camera, action!  What makes "Speak Up" the important event that it has become is the quality of the questions the public asks.  League counted 15 individuals asking questions and/or making statements.  Nineteen (19) officials were on stage.  It was standing room only in the audience.  And it did run a bit long.  Quoted in the FORUM report, the Moderator remarked upon the strands of mutual connection among and between volunteers in Weston.  


  
#1 - And our Moderator got started!  What's up at the Library?  Asked by webmaster, answered by Library Board Chair.  (in back row).  And we found out what is in store over the next number of years - and we are looking forward to our Library modernizing itself inside while keeping its identity as modern architecture - built in 1963, but still modern!


Weston reminds many of music.  Is it more like chamber music?  It is a smaller "classical" experience, with definite themes recurring throughout public discourse.

       
#2 - Senior Center thanks and can we do more?  On stage, those who don't have to respond, State Legislators and the Board of Education, relax.  Now that's a serious look from Town officials (r).  Our newest State Senator is impressed with the quality of the questions!
      
#3 - After sitting through a lecture prior to Speak Up, on the Merritt Parkway, this Westonite (l) asked about where "lock boxes" and the State of CT fit in.  And everyone was all ears.
        
#4 - And a question regarding not feeling informed about what is going on with the Police Station and the expansion of Town Hall.   And what will it cost and what we actually need.  Studies upon studies and what to show for it.  Chair. of School Board spoke up for Kaestle-Boos evaluation of school and town buildings as extremely helpful over the last decade.

       
#5 - More specifically, what are plans for the newest study being undertaken and who's in charge?  A new entity beyond "global facilities?"  A "Central Part of Town and Beyond" study?  Zoning changes?  The First Selectman reported that a 100 acre property was newly available (in private hands).
          
#6 - Someone who has been around for a while and questions the decision-making process of government generally, made a lot of sense, too.


#7 -  Bingo!  Someone asked about how come his reassessment went down but his tax bill went up - League had invited the Tax Assessor, but he did not attend, since this was not a re-assessment year!  The Board of Finance could have handled that but the Town Administrator stepped in at the suggestion, we think, of the First Selectman, and gave it a try - suggesting that the resident go in to Town Hall to ask the Assessor personally.   

THE IMPORTANCE OF A TOWN WIDE NEWSPAPER DELIVERED TO EVERYONE:

NOW, IF PEOPLE SUBSCRIBE TO THE WESTON FORUM THEY GET THE INFORMATION THEY NEED TO BE ON TOP OF THEIR OWN INTERESTS.  HAD THIS QUESTIONER HAD THE BENEFIT OF THE WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THE ASSESSOR LAST YEAR IN THE FORUM, HE WOULD HAVE KNOWN THE IF HIS PROPERTY DID NOT INCREASE IN VALUE MORE THAN THE AVERAGE HOUSE, HIS TAXES WOULD GO UP.
     
#8 - Complemented the town on the new Senior Center and asked about other services to keep Seniors in place. 

  
#9 - And after that thoughtful set of questions, came another even more penetrating one about our State (by the next in line).  And a reflection that CT is running out of options by our State Representative.
    
#10 - Always a privilege to hear from the former Chairman of P&Z (in a previous decade).   And the present Chair. of P&Z quotes from the 2010 Town Plan, wherein various ideas re: tax base and other matters are explored.

  
#11 - Thanks to the Library for providing opportunities to learn.

    
#12 - Questioning the "transparency" of Global Facilities Committee because it only posted minutes once.  And that the First Selectman had not had a plan for the former Guidera office and said so at Town Meeting, but this being the 21st Century, the Second Selectman used his smartphone to find a different reference from a FORUM article that quoted the First Selectman as saying that the people should decide what to do with the building, after it was purchased.  In fact at the Town Meeting, when pressed, the First Selectman pointed out that many administrations going back to Sue Hutchineson's in the early 1980's had tried to get that corner of the first Historic District, but that Town Meeting had not wanted to spend the money - it was voted down, whatever the reason, all those years ago.
 

#13 - A wise Westonite's pithy remark informally voted best and most immediately helpful comment.  He also congratulated snow removal by the Town so far, and made a suggestion regarding private property snow removal that shifts the piles of snow...out into the Town roads!  An ordinance perhaps needed to help insure safe passage on public roads...? 


   
#14 - Very concerned Westonite finally raised the unpleasant subject regarding the quandary, at least for him, of where we are headed as a Town, fiscally.  He noted that the First Selectman's power point at the Tri-Board Meeting earlier this week was most disturbing - Weston is listed as number one for highest tax rate along with a bevvy of other pieces of undesirable data.  And there is no vision for the future, if we heard him correctly.  Response came from the Building Committee who said that this was the most important "future"question of the morning.  Just before...
Towards the end, passing the microphone on the tough question, it came to the Chief of Police to repeat that the thing the Police would like to do is the conduct tours of the emergency service areas in the present set up.  One more round on the Emergency Services Compex/Town Hall Additions/Use of empty schools issue...which many speakers so far had questioned, and is the major local thought topic!


And then it was over (ran a bit long, but there was a lot to get out on the table, we guess).

 


THINGS UNDER CONSIDERATION...
Hartford Courant Editorial:  http://www.courant.com/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-moving-toward-regionalism-20150213-story.html

EDITORIAL: Speak and listen

By Kimberly Donnelly on February 6, 2015 - http://www.thewestonforum.com/25203/editorial-speak-and-listen/

There were even more releases - which turned out a crowd!!!  Standing Room Only!!! 
Weston Speak Up is coming on Saturday, Feb. 7
http://www.thewestonforum.com/24979/weston-speak-up-is-coming-on-saturday-feb-7/?utm_source=Weston+Forum&utm_campaign=1c8988edfe-FO_IN_THIS_WEEKS&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_848b12f59d-1c8988edfe-193260349

Although the Super Bowl is grabbing attention this weekend, Weston will have its own special event the weekend following.

On Saturday, Feb. 7, the League of Women Voters of Weston presents its 24th annual Speak Up from 10:30 to noon at the Weston Public Library Community Room.

This unique event brings Weston citizens together with town and state officials to explore issues in an open and unscripted environment. Have some donut holes and hot coffee or tea, courtesy of the league, and get involved.

As a Weston Forum editorial once put it, “Speak Up is the perfect place to make a statement, ask a question, voice an opinion, clarify a misunderstanding, or share information.”

This year’s event moderator is Laura Smits, a Weston resident, a League of Women Voters member since 1999, and a registrar of voters since 2008. She is currently also a member of the Commission on Aging and was a past member of the Board of Education (2001-05).

A self-described “media junkie,” Ms. Smits has been a radio talk show host, an advertising/public relations copywriter, and a freelance writer. She recently graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a master of arts degree in English literature.

The event will also be recorded on video and repeated on Channel 79 and online at the LWV of Weston website, lwvweston.org.

For more information about joining the league, email webmaster@lwvweston.org

Public may speak out at Weston Speak Up
FORUM January 19, 2015

The holidays are over, a new state legislative session has opened, and the local budget process has begun!

The League of Women Voters of Weston will hold the 24th annual Speak Up on Saturday, Feb. 7, in the Community Room of the Weston Public Library from 10:30 to noon.

Speak Up is a grassroots opportunity for dialogue between townspeople and their elected and appointed officials from local and state government.

Every Westonite is encouraged to attend and get answers to their questions or concerns about any topic of interest. The league believes citizen participation in government is vital to keep it transparent and effective.

Attendees are encouraged to bring a question and a friend...Story in full:  http://www.thewestonforum.com/24521/public-may-speak-out-at-weston-speak-up/