By Bob Shullman
At the Retired Men’s Association (RMA) meeting on December 7th, Arnold Gordon introduced Jen Tooker, the first selectwoman of Westport, who spoke on “Important Municipal Issues Common to Greenwich and Westport.”
Jennifer (Jen) S. Tooker is completing her first year of a four-year term as Westport’s first selectwoman. Previously, she served as Westport’s second selectwoman and served as a member of the Westport Board of Finance, the Westport Board of Education, and the Westport Conservation Commission. Jen received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame. She had a 22-year career as an executive with Gen Re. Upon retirement, she served on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Business Development Council, the Board of Directors of the State Education Resource Center, Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Education Commission for the Diocese of Bridgeport, and as a board member of the Adam J. Lewis Academy in Bridgeport. In 2019, Jen launched Westport Together, whose mission is to promote the positive development of children. Jen also created and hosts Westport Means Business, a series of events focused on the local business community. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, she served as chair of the ReOpen Westport Advisory Team. She has also served in various capacities with a number of local organizations, including the Westport-Weston Family YMCA Board of Trustees, the Westport Sunrise Rotary Club, the Sunrise Rotary 21st Century Foundation Board, the Bedford Family Social Responsibility Fund Committee, and as a coach for the Westport Soccer Association.
There are five challenges that Jen and her colleagues must address in Westport according to the feedback Jen has heard from her constituents, and she is confident that they are also issues in Greenwich as she said “Westporters, they really need to be heard. I imagine Greenwich residents are the same. “The five challenges include, in order of priority in Westport, the following:
• Traffic,
• Parks & Recreation Facilities,
• The Downtown Area,
• Flooding and
• “Everyone Belongs”
Based on her prior business and volunteer experiences, she considered each of these five challenges and focused on them while seeking community input from the town’s nine neighborhoods. This resulted in over 400 suggestions from the community. The suggestions were then broken down as follows.
• Which suggestions can we address immediately?
• What is a great suggestion that’s feasible to address in the near future, and how much money and time can we allocate to this idea?
• Which are suggestions that, for the time being, we can do absolutely nothing about?
Following are very brief summaries of Jen’s thoughts regarding these five challenges and how Westport is currently addressing them (recounting her thinking in detail would take many pages, but they can be viewed on the video of the talk on the RMA website).
• Traffic: A very big problem. Why? The Saugatuck River passes through the middle of the town and is adjacent to downtown, and there are only two ways to get to the Merritt and I-95. What community suggestions did she hear about traffic? The community wants the town to address speeding and reckless driving throughout the town. So, there were changes to how the police department was organized and now there are two officers whose only focus is traffic safety; they are working on many safety-related initiatives.
• Parks & Recreation Facilities: Just like Greenwich, Westport has recreation facilities by the Long Island Sound and throughout the town. With the pandemic hopefully ending, Westport is now conducting a capital planning project to determine where to invest in its parks and recreation facilities.
• The Downtown Area: Just like Greenwich, Westport has a downtown area full of fine retail and dining establishments where our residents and visitors come to shop and dine. Plus, Westport’s main street is adjacent to the Saugatuck River and the town wants to include that in its planning for now and the future. It’s an incredibly booming downtown that just like Greenwich has traffic and parking challenges that need to be addressed.
• Flooding: As in Greenwich, when it rains, flooding becomes a major issue. In addition to the Saugatuck River, there are seven streams that flow through Westport’s nine neighborhoods. When it rains hard, as it does from time to time, there is flooding which is expensive and time-consuming to address. To address it, Jen and her colleagues have invited the homeowners who live around the seven streams to come to town meetings to discuss the flooding challenges and how they potentially can be addressed.
• “Everyone Belongs”: Again, like Greenwich, Westport residents have different points of view regarding the first four challenges and others that Jen addressed during the Q & A session that followed. All residents need to put their political views aside and work together to improve the town for its residents and guests.
Jen then asked if there were any questions from the audience and, as expected, a number of hands went up. Those interested in the questions asked and Jen’s responses are urged to go to the RMA website and click on the video of the discussion. To see the full presentation, go to https://greenwichrma.org/ and click on “Speakers.”
The RMA’s next presentation will focus on Issues in Greenwich Land Use and will be presented by Margarita Alban, Chair, Planning and Zoning Commission, Greenwich;. This presentation will occur after the holidays on Wednesday, January 4, at 11:00 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Greenwich as well as on webinar at: https://bit.ly/30lBj21.
Note: The views expressed in these presentations are those of the speakers. They are not intended to represent the views of the RMA or its members.
RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees. The RMA does request that all eligible individuals consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer and community service opportunities that the RMA offers to its members. For further information, visit www.greenwichrma.org or contact Joe Mancinelli (mailto:jlmanc@optonline.net) or Peter Stern (mailto:members@greenwichrma.org).
