To the Editor:
Last week Sensible Wilton was again attacked for having the audacity to question the decision by our town officials to spend $50 million of taxpayer money on the Miller-Driscoll school project even though school enrollments are projected to significantly decrease here in Wilton. Many of our neighboring towns, also facing decreases in enrollments, are currently even evaluating the possible closing of existing schools.
Since the author is a retired IBM’er, as I am, I would like to remind him of a famous ad that Apple Computer aired during the 1984 Super Bowl.
To the soundtrack of a whistled, discordant and down-tempo version of “Heigh-Ho,” a long line of blindfolded businesspersons slowly makes its way through a dusty, windswept landscape to a cliff, where one by one they fall to their doom. A voiceover notes that the Macintosh Office will soon be announced. The last businessperson in the line stops just at the brink uncovers his eyes and takes in the situation, as the announcer states, “You can look into it.” A second line of people is then shown, as the announcer continues, “…or you can go on with business as usual.”
Unfortunately, IBM tried to continue down the “business as usual” path, with disastrous results, until they brought in an outsider who realized that changes were needed, even though they were often painful. Though this saved IBM, we all know who took the better path, Apple or IBM.
Sensible Wilton believes it is important for Wilton taxpayers to take the blindfolds off and question the largest project in Wilton’s history so they can determine whether it is in the best interest of the Town and all its citizens. By signing our initial petition, over 1100 citizens have already expressed their opinion that we can no longer continue business as usual.
Alex Ruskewich
President, Sensible Wilton
“Senseless Wilton” Leadership continues to confuse Town Officials with the Citizens of the Town of Wilton. The Citizens have voted and a majority of voters have embraced this project. A few malcontents are arguing with the “Will of The People” ! If anyone had a blindfold on – it would be the handful of folks getting 1100 signatures (including 750 of which who are adult registered voters who couldn’t be bothered to vote on the 2 days that they were asked to stand up and be counted) collecting names for a petition that could not possibly succeed as they were asking for a re-vote on a bonding issue that the Town Charter clearly states is not allowed. If they had actually done their homework – they would have known that !! Ignorance is not a defense … But I guess they enjoy trash talking our Town’s Leaders and Volunteers more than doing homework… If SW looked in the mirror, I guess they would see they are the blindfolded business men in the commercial referenced … albeit a bazaar commercial to reference in this situation. Perhaps the author was just searching for a way – any way – to say I worked at iBM – I’m smart – listen to me … Senseless Wilton constantly references square footage building costs that fit their warped view rather – than say – neighboring Newtown which IS actually building a new school nearby. They suggest repeatedly that patching a few HVAC problems and roof issues fixes the MD problems in a cost efficient manner. Such a course of action is absurd to most rational thinking Wiltonians. That kind of Wack-a-Mole approach would not fix the plumbing, electrical and a whole host of other issues that need to be addressed. And now apparently, they have become experts in enrollment statistics a decade into the future (yet they didn’t know what days the vote was being held ??) … What will Pettition 3 be about we all wonder ?? The People of Wilton voted and a decision was reached. “Senseless Wilton” needs to stop bad mouthing our Elected Public Officials and our Volunteer Citizenry immediately !! Voting matters and it counts !! We will all be curious to see if “Senseless Wilton’s” IBM Alumnus runs for office this November or just continues to kvetch from the sidelines … Time will tell… But let’s move forward !!
It’s not right to call the M-D opponents “senseless”. But I also can’t identify them with the hammer-throwing blonde in the red shorts from the Apple commercial. One thing is certain – if anything is “business as usual” it is the rhetoric from Sensible Wilton and its supporters. Selectmen come and go, but the complaints remain the same. Sometimes it seems the best indicator that our town government is actually doing something is the appearance of certain names protesting in the paper.
Miller-Driscoll can’t be patched together to make a modern school any more than an IBM PC XT can be piecemeal upgraded into a Surface Pro 3. It’s time for a new school. It will cost tens of millions of dollars, and the exact figure is impossible to forecast. The town leaders are following a sensible and transparent path to getting the job done. Now, let’s support the project, get productively involved, help to ensure it delivers the benefits within the budget, and move on!
Alex, you are spot on in your analysis of government mismanagement and waste in Wilton. Why is the town being thoroughly investigated by the SEEC for statute violations? Why is the construction manager bidding process rigged in turner’s favor?there were only 2 bids—-Berhard?, Why are taxpayers being asked to pony up hundreds of thousands of dollars to extend a gas line to miller Driscoll because the School sisters saw though Brennan’s folly? And why did Brennan with Hampson assistance state multiple times that the Energy commission “carefully calculated” annual savings of $500,000.00 when we are now being asked to shore up Yankee Gas to the tune of 300k? Why is Hampson the Chair of both the Energy Commission and MDBC? Why are friends of Trackside allowed to park large boats on town property without reimbursing the town? There’s lots more but it’s time to go to work and get new clients to pay for Town mismanagement with our hard earned money.
The 6 Month Senseless Wilton Public Relations Cake … Kvetch, kvetch, then toss in the besmirching of an elected honest Town Official and a hardworking Commission Volunteer. Stir in slowly some insulting comments about a construction company that has repeatedly done good works on time and under budget for our town on past projects. Add a pinch of a red herring – such as boat parking/storage on some other town property or clairvoyant knowledge of the number of 2nd graders 10 yeas from now. And bake for 20 minutes … Nice recipe that has been repeated ad nauseum for months. You didn’t get the votes ! You lost … Move on…
Typical arrogant response from Ray. Did you read the OSHA report from Middlebrook regarding mold following construction? And you still selected a Construction Manager via dubious bidding? So it’s ok for Town employees to use Town land for their benefit? It’s okay to have a truck for sale by a town employee sitting on town property? Can my brother park his 38′ Trojan boat at Trackside for the winter—that would be just grand! There are zero ethics in this Town and we are only getting started….
Here’s a new solution that will clear the air. Hickey and the Sensible drop out from IBM should move out of the Town that is causing them so much consternation. Just get out of Dodge and never, never again take the name of IBM Corporation in vain. Never!
Ray, apparently IBM’s ethics class at World Trade in White Plains do not carry on with certain people.
I’d like to caution everyone, let’s please keep it civil. The GMW community is different than other places. People with opinions on both sides of this issue are coming close to the line. Please get back to the issue, and stop attacking the writers.
You lost the vote! Talk about sore LOSERS!
The referendum is being thoroughly investigated by the State Elections Enforcement Commission. The reason the vote was in favor because it was rigged just like the selection of the Town’s construction manager—RIGGED.
Good Kevin. Now can we leave it in the hands of the officials PLEASE?!
Officials? SEEC is on the case…if you mean Town officials…nada!
So how can we resolve the rigging of the Turner selection after reviewing Middlebrook OSHA reports by all the teachers complaining of mold in the classrooms after construction?
How can we resolve the fact that in an email from Karen Birck to Bruce Likly in 2013 that stated a NEW school would cost $41million? Why are we being hoodwinked with turner stating now it would be $83 million?
I guess a Senseless Wilton Lieutenant wants to make a double batch of the cake referenced above. If they ONLY showed this much energy when it actually mattered – in the months and years prior to last September … perhaps they would have carried the day. But they didn’t. And the Town’s voters approved the proposal. Now they need a lesson in Civics and Sportsmanship. Perhaps there is a Summer Camp Class they could take at M-D when school is out …
So 413, what you are telling your children is that lying and cheating is okay to do when you want to win a vote. Makes Sense! Sounds like you missed your civics ethics lesson.
By lying and cheating I assume you mean Senseless’ manufactured statistics about square footage costs and enrollment … The statistic that matters to me is of your 1100 petitioners 750 did not bother to vote. Imagine if just 50 of them did. But they didn’t and this game is over. You should be upset with those folks on your documented Petition list not our First Selectman, Turner Construction and the Volunteers of the Building Committee, Finance Committee and our Board of Selectman who approved the plan unanimously. You failed fto get out the vote and it bothers you – I get it. But that is really Senseless’ Problem not the rest of the Town’s !!
Kevin
When you repeatedly call people “chicken”, “arrogant”, “condescending”, “pompous”, “pontifical” and “bully”, what example are you setting for kids?
When you accuse our town volunteers and elected officials of “finagling” and “manipulating” to get rich, and of being a “racket” in the same league as “Tammany Hall” and “Vichy France”, what lesson are you teaching to our kids?
When you support the position that it’s ok not to vote in town elections so long as you make a big enough stink when you lose, what are you teaching our future voters?
When we try to teach our children to keep their names private on the internet, what example are you setting when you insult people for doing exactly that?
Do you think the example set by your consistently vitriolic letters and comments reflects the kind of person you really are, or the kind of person our children should emulate?
Hi Rick, are you certain you are talking about the right person. When I read Hudspeth and Moskow pontificate on ethics and lambaste specific individuals, I cannot help but ask why Hudspeth misstated his credentials at Yale School of Law to elevate his credentials on ETHICS documentation that was distributed to clients for over 2 years by an Endowment Fund of Funds. This person is a columnist for a local newspaper? It’s ok to keep rigging the bidding process for Turner? It’s okay to falsely state that this town will be saving 500,000.00 per year by digging up town roads for natural gas as carefully calculated by the Town’s Energy Commission when they have no documents backing this up? Now Brennan is asking for hundreds of thousands of dollars? Who are you kidding Rick… This town is in trouble ethically and Sensible Wilton is on the case.