{news} NL Green Party Maps Out Strategy

[Clifford Thornton]

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      NL Green Party Maps Out Strategy  
      NL Green Party Maps Out Strategy  
      By Elaine Stoll<javascript:void(0);>  
           
     
      Published on 10/17/2007 in Home<http://www.theday.com/default.aspx> »Region<http://www.theday.com/news/Region.aspx> »Region News  
      New London - Candidates from the New London Green Party envision a New London with greater citizen inclusion in the democratic process, development projects that sustain the city's center as well as the environment, and an overhauled tax system and educational philosophy. 
      "Our vision is New London for the 21st century," said City Council candidate Art Costa. 

      Costa, who is running for a council seat along with Kenric Hanson, and Board of Education candidates Ronna Stuller and Davana Grabel, outlined the party's platform Tuesday at New London Green Party headquarters on State Street. 

      To increase citizen participation and ensure that the city is responsive to the needs of all its residents, Costa and Hanson propose a series of charter changes. Members of the City Council, they said, should be elected by district rather than as at-large representatives of the entire city. 

      "While I'm sure city councilors have a certain affinity for the whole city, there's no doubt that where they live is what they know best," Costa said. And where they live, he added, is usually the wealthier part of town. A change to district representation would give all residents a voice, the two council candidates said. 

      Hanson and Costa called for an elected rather than an appointed Board of Finance and Planning and Zoning Commission. 

      Also, the annual budget process needs to be opened to greater citizen participation, Costa and Hanson said. The process should begin, they said, with a neighborhood-by-neighborhood prioritization of community projects - ranging from work on roads and parks to traffic and crime initiatives - by the residents who live there. The projects would then be incorporated into the city budget, they said. 

      Candidates called for higher-density development, an approach they said could help the city's economy and the environment. 

      "If you want to support public transit and people being able to walk to work, you do need a certain critical mass at your city center," Stuller said. And more people living downtown would help sustain new and existing local businesses, candidates said. 

      Remaining vacant space downtown should be developed into dense dwellings, and existing, empty buildings downtown should be refurbished into apartments, Costa said. This would attract those who live in the suburbs back to the city, providing the population necessary to help local businesses thrive and to make future services such as a shuttle system to move people around the city possible, he and Hanson said. 

      New development undertaken in the city should be green, attaining the highest level of compliance with the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) rating system, candidates said. 

      The council candidates also called for an overhauled tax code, one they said would reduce the tax burden on most city residents. 

      A phased change from the existing system to one that taxes land but not improvements - a land-value tax - would stop punishing property owners for maintaining or improving their homes, Costa and Hanson said. It would also diminish land speculation, they said, and would encourage the owners of vacant properties to develop them or sell them to someone who would, bringing new business to the city. 

      They pointed to the adoption of a form of land-value tax by many Pennsylvania cities as evidence of its success and enthusiasm for the system by leaders in Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven as a potential for collaboration in this state. The change would require enabling legislation from the General Assembly, they said. 

      Grabel and Stuller called for a rethinking of the city's school system. 

      "I think our New London school system needs almost a complete overhaul. It's failing too many of our students now," Grabel said. 

      To improve its schools, the city must take advantage of resources it isn't tapping, Grabel said: local artists and community leaders with whom students could work in internships, mentorships or summer programs. 

      The school board ought to expand the use of a project-base curriculum, like the one at the Science and Technology Magnet High School, to other city schools, Grabel said. 

      She called for the green construction of new schools: buildings that foster a sense of community rather than closed-in classrooms that send a message that only what happens during the current hour is important, and opportunities - such as gardens - for students to develop a sense of environmental stewardship. 

      Stuller, a preschool teacher, added that the city needs to find a way to reach out to families with kids from childbirth on so that students do not fall behind at an early age but are exposed to books and reading, and are prepared for the classroom. Family involvement is key, she said. 

      As the city evaluates a proposal to turn New London into a magnet-school district under state legislation that would give the city more money for school construction, New London needs to be careful, Stuller said. 

      "I think it's great to have students interacting who are not all from New London," she said. But the city needs to "read the fine print" and make sure the plan makes fiscal sense before proceeding, she said. "I don't want a situation where New London is subsidizing the suburbs." 

      www.nlgreens.org<http://www.nlgreens.org/> 
     

      New London  


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