Granby Drummer (https://granbydrummer.com/category/voice/page/33/)
Unsigned editorials are the consensus opinion of the editorial staff and publisher. Commentary pieces express the opinion of the writer and not necessarily the opinion of the Drummer.
As a resident of Granby for the last 15 years, I find it refreshing to have a candidate as dedicated as Amanda Webster running for State Representative in the 62nd District. Amanda continues to impress me by working tirelessly to get to know Granby, Barkhamsted, New Hartford and Hartland residents, and understand the issues that mean the most to them.
I have been very excited to hear news of the proposed Kearns Community Center. In times like these, where there are more and more ways to connect with people online from all around the world, we can still feel isolated and not even know who our neighbors are.
Here’s a big shout out to the steering committee members who are deeply involved in the Kearns Community Center project. They are a highly motivated group of people exploring opportunities for the new center, incorporating young and old alike, while not overlapping with other agencies in our community.
We have seen Bill Simanski in action at the State Capitol working on behalf of our state and our towns in the 62nd District just the way he did in Granby as our First Selectman. Bill was instrumental in avoiding the cost shift of teacher’s pensions onto the towns during the latest budget cycle.
No matter who becomes our next governor or which party controls the legislature at the state capitol in Hartford, they will have their work cut out for them. While the bipartisan two-year state budget passed last year made some progress in helping to flatten the cost curve going forward, it is still the case that there are anticipated structural deficits of $2 billion and $2.6 billion respectively in the upcoming two fiscal years that will significantly test the mettle of state legislators and the executive branch.
Bill Simanski deserves to be reelected as our representative in the General Assembly. Bill is dedicated and hard-working, and he puts his constituents’ interests ahead of his own.
Over the past several months, my husband Bill Regan and I have made written and oral comments, as well as commenting at public sessions, all directed to the Board of Selectmen relevant to various projects and their processes that impact the town’s economic and development future. The core of these comments and observations was to stimulate a marketing plan as recommended in Granby’s Plan of Conservation Development (POCD) instituted and submitted to the state in October 2016.
Bill Simanski, wife Marie, sons Brad and Cliff, and two dogs moved to Granby 30 years ago from Staten Island, N.Y. In five short years, Bill started serving Granby as a Selectman, and was elected First Selectman 1995 to 2003. In 2010 he was elected to represent the 62nd district.
We need to amend the state constitution to protect public lands. We will get the chance to do that on Election Day, Nov.
Regardless of party, I think most Granby residents can agree that our proud town has often been overlooked when it comes to the decision makers in Hartford. New leadership in the capitol is in Granby’s best interest in both the short and long term, and that is why Amanda Webster is the right person to represent the 62nd District when voters go to the ballot box in November.