Watercolor
of old logo. State Capitol in Hartford
________________________________________________________________________________
#1 -THE
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF WESTON, CONNECTICUT:
The
League
of Women Voters is a three tier organization--local, state
and
national.
The Weston League was formed in
1962. For more information about
what the League of Women Voters in Weston does...webmaster@lwvweston.org
LWV
of
Weston "FORUM ON DEMAND" - why
we hold it
and when...
"Forum on
Demand" Nov.
19, 2011 (after storm) proved cathartic for the community - it
got action...
CABLEVISION showed up with cameraman PLUS a reporter
. Great
ideas from our Weston citizens!
Picture story here.
SPEAK UP
2016SpeakUp25.html
2015 SPEAK UP
Last year...
2014 SPEAK UP VIDEO HERE.
Maybe
the best "Speak Up" yet ("Silver
Tsunami")...
"The
Town's Business Is Your
Business: Direction from
the
people to their government."
For
the
twenty-second
year in a row, the League of Women Voters of
Weston
brought you
its
original...power-to-the-people,
setting the agenda for the year to come - SPEAK UP!!!
-----------------
WHAT
WAS SO FUNNY 2013? ONLY THE
POLICE CHIEF WAS NOT SMILING...
Well, it was
Planning and Zoning that
cracked everybody up...we won't spoil it for
you...
Best
viewed
with Internet Explorer, which will
automatically open
Windows
Media Player
and start play back without waiting for the
download to complete.
1 hour
41 minutes 30
seconds
For
cable and dsl
users:
http://www.lwvweston.org/LWVSpeakup2-23-13CableVersion.wmv
(260
Megabytes)
LWV of Weston
"SPEAK UP" 2012
Humvees, COG's
and the Charter. And no complaints about the school
budget!
SPEAK UP 2012
VIDEO LINKS: 1
hour 44 minutes 25 seconds
LWV
of Weston "SPEAK UP" - STANDING ROOM ONLY FOR
2011!
First 'Speak Up' that
had to be
re-scheduled because of snow...
The Town's Business
Is Your
Business: Direction From
the People to Their Government
Total time: 1 hr 33 mins 50 secs
For Cable & DSL Users (245
MB): http://www.lwvweston.org/LWVSpeakup3-12-11CableVersion.wmv
For
Dial-up Modem
Users (36 MB): http://www.lwvweston.org/LWVSpeakup3-12-11ModemVersion.wmv
WATCH
'SPEAK UP 2010' NOW!!!
Our
photo gallery and report click
below...
Read FORUM
coverage
here!
Speak Up #19
over...find out who was on stage,the official
count
of crowd...
SPEAK UP 2010 VIDEO
DIRECT
LINKS BELOW
(Works best in
Internet Explorer)
Length:
1 hour 41 minutes 32 seconds
--------------
Required
watching for Westonites interested in this year's budget
process!
The
Eighteenth Annual "Speak Up" quite a show!
Saturday morning, February 7, 2009, from 10:30am to
12 noon at Norfield Parish Hall was big!!!
"SPEAK UP
2009" Q&A SUMMARY HERE
WATCH 'SPEAK UP 2009"
ONLINE
NOW!!! LINK TO IT BELOW...
Cable/DSL version:
Dial-up:
KNOW YOUR
TOWN DIRECTORY
On-Line Edition..."Who's
Who" of Weston government plus comment here:
E-Democracy:
A 21st
Century Citizen's Right to Know and Participate
- Fall Conference 2007 - watch it here!
"...The
first election to feature public financing - in 2008 -
involves races
for the General Assembly. In other words, state
legislators
didn't
just establish this system. Many of those same lawmakers
also will be
the first in Connecticut to use it."
Manchester Journal-Enquirer
full article here.
Not
so
new now Guide
to Voter Registration and Election Procedures (2006);
Older
yet...
FALL CONFERENCE 2005:
Novemner
19, 2005 (Saturday) at the Old Judiciary Room at the Capitol
in
Hartford - CIVIL
LIBERTIES: BALANCING LIBERTY AND
SECURITY - the Bill of
Rights link;
FALL
CONFERENCE 2004
- "Sustainable
Development" Saturday,
November
20,
2004, 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. - link
to report
and info on videotape.
ACTION: link
to Public Issues
Team;
LWVCT concurrence on
ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT - adopted by LWVCT Council,
2004 (resources
here);.
Complete CT Constitution HERE;
LWVCT "Positions
in Brief" 2003-2005 - click
HERE. Full on-line version of
IMPACT ON ISSUES 2003-2005 here;
LWVCT was founded
in 1921. League of Women Voters of Connecticut
Offices are
located in Hamden (1890 Dixwell Avenue);
In Hartford, Capitol
Tours, run by LWVCT, for all visitors, are located
right by the
entrance
of the LOB and next to the most
powerful offices in the Capitol
Building.
(Next time you are in Hartford, check out our Legislative
Office
Building
desk, and/or
Capitol Building Office)...some matters of interest to
LWVCT
(as examples of where our focus is):
League
testifies at
Broadwater hearing;
LWVCT joins
"CenterEdge
Coalition!" (See their report HERE.)
"Blue
Ribbon Commission" created on 2 of LWV favorite
subjects...report
now finished;
Sheff
v. O'Neill...agreement reached. Comment from
former
Governor Weicker on current status of State of
Connecticut.
Legislature
repealed "Las Vegas Night" legislation two years ago--will
they go back
on it now? This step is an effort to limit
casino
expansion.
It was a victory for anti-gambling coalition - Special
Session of Dec.
18, 2002 reconvened on Monday,
January 6, 2003 and after much debate,
took
this action. History HERE.
________________________________________________________________________________
#3
- THE
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE UNITED STATES (LWVUS)
NATIONAL HAS ANNOUNCED A NEW WEBSITE - one item is of interest -
as we
tried
to locate information about where local leagues fit into the new
"design" - here.
The
League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization,
encourages informed and active
participation in government, works to
increase understanding of major public policy issues, and
influences
public policy through education and advocacy.
LWVUS "Mission
Statement"
AT
THE LWVUS
CONVENTION 2010 IN ATLANTA, THE GUEST SPEAKER, THANKING
THE LEAGUE FOR
ITS SUPPORT IN
PASSING
HEALTH
CARE
REFORM LEGISLATION, WAS THE SECRETARY OF H.H.S.
SEBELIUS...
Remarks for Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius
League of Women Voters
Atlanta, Georgia
June 15, 2010
Thank you, Janis, for that nice introduction. Kansas women
have a long
history of leadership on women’s rights. Some of you
probably
know that the first local League of Women Voters chapter
wasn’t in New
York. And it wasn’t in Chicago or Washington, DC. It was in
Wichita,Kansas.
We in Kansas are very proud of our role in the women’s
suffrage
movement. Kansas was also one of the first states where
women could
vote in local elections, one of the first states to give
women the vote
statewide, and one of the first states to ratify the 19th
Amendment.
But my favorite story about the 19th Amendment comes from
the middle of
1920 when it had already been ratified by 35 states. That
meant
they were one state short, and the feeling was that it would
all come
down to Tennessee...
.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
https://sites.google.com/a/leagueofwomenvoters.org/clearinghouse/
A new way to check
out what League is up to! Or should we say Leagues,
plural!
---------------
LWVUS
National Popular Vote Compact
Study Update
The
culmination of work on the NPV study in CT was a subject of
discussion
at LWVCT Convention 2009.
While respecting the internal
nature of
"concensus"procedures, in the spirit of open govenment/open
League, a formal letter
of
satisfaction about
virtual
LWVUS Council AND
dissatisfaction
with the way
the most recent National Study
was
conducted (in part, below, a letter from LWVCT to LWVUS):
"...It
should go without saying that we do not want to recommend
anything that
would significantly
increase LWVUS
expenses. However, improvements – including at least the
following, can and must
be made in the study
process at virtually no cost:
•
provision
of study materials in a timely manner;
•
clear, concise, and unambiguous consensus questions and/or
concurrence
statements; and
•
more transparent, detailed and up-front explanations of study
voting
procedures..."
--------------------
Click
here for the
list of
questions exactly as they are presented in the...NPV
Compact/Study
Response Form.
Please
note that when you have
completed the Response Form, you will have an
opportunity
to
indicate the number
of participants as well add comments (150 words maximum).
The
deadline
for responding is May
1, 2009.
Click
here for all
NPV Compact
Study documents.
----------------
...link
to "Impact
on
Issues; Civics
Education Curriculum
Find
here a link ("sign in") to e
- Newsletter:
***
LeaguE-Voice
- on-line newspaper - when you visit the link, you can sign
up to be on
e-info list.
The League got
started when women got the right to vote--in
1920.
Click
HERE for
link
to
the whole story!
The "horses
mouth" when it comes to non-partisan politics, joins
coaltions on
subjects
such as Campaign Finance Reform...
click HERE
to read more...LWVUS
CONTINUES FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY
_________________________________________________________________________________
E -
RESEARCH AGENDA:
Environment
Property
Tax
Ethics
Other
Issues:
Beginning with ethics.
Taxes;
Regionalism
NEW - Health Care in CT
E - Sources
of Information
ALWAYS GOOD TO REMEMBER FINE VICTORIES!
Open Space
Preservation effort still going strong - LWVCT in Coalition:
Testimony
of Cheryl Dunson, Drinking Water Specialist - Victorious in
2004
Session
with Endangered Lands Coalition!
CGA Public
Health Committee
Public Hearing
March 4, 2004
Support for
SB 465
There
are few
government actions more fundamental than ensuring a plentiful
and
potable
drinking water supply for its citizens. As far
back as 1956, the
League of
Women Voters
of Connecticut recognized that this most necessary of natural
resources
cannot be taken for
granted. We adopted a strong position in support of
policies and
programs that preserve and protect water resources and
watershed
lands
and based upon this longstanding position, the League urges
your
support
for SB 465.
As
Benjamin
Franklin wisely noted “When the well’s dry, we know the worth
of
water.”
Recent experience with the frequency and
severity of droughts in our
state
and the
Northeast region
points to the need to maintain sources of supply.
Potential
terrorist
actions
against our nation speak against “consolidating” water
supplies;
proverbially
“putting our
eggs in fewer baskets” would make our
supplies more vulnerable to
attack.
Unforeseen public health threats, for example the unexpected
and
virulent
SAR
(sudden acute
respiratory syndrome) outbreak, may require an increased need
for water
usage. The ability of our state to ensure water for its
citizens
will
depend
in no small
measure
upon
maintaining our multiple sources of supply that can be called
upon
in time of need. SB 465 will give
the Commissioner of Public Health the
much-needed authority to assess the future water needs of the
entire
state,
not just the water
company’s service area, before approving an
abandonment
of a surface
water source
and surrounding acreage.
While
the importance
of the reservoir forestlands in protecting the quality of our
water
resources
is well recognized, equally important is
the role these forested areas
play
in the recharging
of area groundwater supplies for citizens on wells. Reservoir
lands are
located in
areas originally conceived as “rural” and now rapidly are
being
developed.
Although
the
water utility industry has changed over time, the public
interest in
these
water supply lands has not. We ask that the
Committee also take into
account
that
these lands
were acquired from Connecticut’s citizens under the pressure
of eminent
domain and
the cost of the land acquisitions were paid for in rates
charged
to water
company customers.
You can't blame a company for doing
business, but the laws that promote
the sell-offs of our reservoir lands need to be changed. It is
prudent
and
essential that
the
Commissioner be given the ability to evaluate the long-term
needs
of
our state when rendering a decision on abandoning a supply of
water.
Water
utilities
were formed for the purpose of selling water, not land. The
proposed
legislation
will not affect the companies’ ability to
profit from the sale of
water.
The
League of Women
Voters of Connecticut urges your support of the passage of
legislation
that will
permanently safeguard our State’s sources of drinking water
and
protect
the forestlands
that surround them. Please vote yes on
SB 465 “AAC Water Supply
Abandonment.”
Cosponsors
as of 3/5/04 of SB 465 “An Act Concerning Water Supply
Abandonment”
Rep.
Claudia
M. Powers, 151st Dist.
Co-sponsors
as
of 3/5/04 of SB 371 “An Act Concerning Water Company Lands”
(This
bill calls for a simple change to the rate rule to
award water company
shareholders the majority of the benefits for conservation
land sales
that
will protect pristine water company lands,
not for sales that allow for
development.)
Rep.
Andrea
L. Stillman, 38th Dist.
Rep. Livvy
R. Floren, 149th Dist.
Rep. Lile R.
Gibbons, 150th Dist.
Rep. Christel
H. Truglia, 145th Dist.
Sen. William
H. Nickerson, 36th Dist.
Rep. Claudia
M. Powers, 151st Dist.
Rep. Antonietta
Boucher, 143rd Dist.
Rep. John Mazurek,
80th Dist.
Other environmental
subjects :
NEMO guy
at
P&Z (Town Hall Annex) Thurday, May 8, 2008 at 6pm!
NEED INFORMATION ABOUT
GROUNDWATER,
APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING?
NEMO
was our leader, was one of the main
sources of
research
and data on "smart growth" mechanics.
Fastest
growing
NEMO sub-link - www.clear.uconn.edu.
Link
to Sewage Treatment Impact Committee...Item #1 on the
November 15,
2001 Referendum provides for funding improvements
to septic fields and
a tertiary treatment plant on the Schools campus...safe
disposal of
household
hazardous waste--when April
comes, can "Good Riddance Day" at DPW be
far
behind?
_______________________________________________________________________________
LEAGUE ISSUES...SAME OLD
SAME OLD
STATE OF CONNECTICUT PLAN OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
2004-2009
approved in 2005!
C&D PLAN 2013-2018 UP FOR APPROVAL
CCM
link...
WHAT
WILL BE COMING OUT OF P&D IN 2013?
Smart Growth/
Property Tax Bill does not pass in 2004 Session but parts
of it did in
2005...http://www.cga.ct.gov/olr/
Commission proposes tax changes
NEW HAVEN,
Conn. (AP) September 30, 2003 New Haven REGISTER- A
commission on
property
tax reform is recommending
shifting almost $1 billion in education
costs
from the towns to the state.
Members of
the states Blue Ribbon Commission on Property Tax Burdens
and Smart
Growth
Initiatives unanimously adopted its
report Monday. The report
recommends
the tax shift to reduce reliance on the property tax,
which fuels
competition
between
towns for tax growth, encourages sprawl and threatens the
rural
character of the state.
Separately,
the commission recommended that cities and towns be
reimbursed at 100
percent
for property tax exemptions at a cost
of $250 million. The report
further states that there will be little taxpayer support
for tax
reform
unless there is a commitment to
more efficient delivery of services to
cut the cost of government.
New Haven Mayor
John DeStefano Jr., (who then ran for Governor), chairman
of the
commission, said he was "excited"
that
the
vote was unanimous. "I think the real job is
not to let
this
get defined as Lets just raise more taxes, but to
understand the real
issues
are the quality of life, the air that we breathe and
the
character of
our
communities."
SSA 02-13,, AAC Blue Ribbon
Commission on Property Tax Burdens and Smart Growth
Incentives
(effective
upon passage [which it did not]); "Responsible
Growth" new bill
in 2008 got through the State Senate but not
the House.
This
act establishes a 17-member commission to evaluate smart
growth
incentives
and disincentives passed. The
commission's final report, with
findings and
recommendations, must
be filed by October 1, 2003...done; but not yet
fully implemented (2008).
SWRPA plus
HVCEO = WCCOG (right above)
2015: OUR REGION HAS GROWN IN SIZE..and earlier report
on regionalism:
STUDY
FROM ELSEWHERE;
CLICK HERE FOR
SUB-PAGE ON REGIONAL PLANS ...
OTHER LWV INTERESTS:
And for Hartford Courant
series on the impacts to date of Sheff v. O'Neill, click HERE;
_________________________________________________________________________________
SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
