NORWALK, Conn. — Candidates for the Common Council’s District A seat discussed housing, neighborhood safety, and community representation Monday night during a League of Women Voters forum at Nathan Hale Middle School, co-sponsored by Norwalk Acts and NancyOnNorwalk.
Only two of the four candidates, Democrat Jalin Sead and Republican Cheryl Kemeny, attended the event. Democrat Broderick Sawyer and Republican Peter Rotondo were not present.
Community priorities and experience
Sead, a Democrat and community advocate, said transparency and accessibility are essential to rebuilding trust in city government. “I believe in government transparency as the inroad to actual engagement,” he said, proposing digital tools such as an AI-driven newsletter that would let residents subscribe to updates by topic. “I also believe in meeting people where they are — going out into the community, to coffee shops and holding meet-and-greets.”
Kemeny, a Republican and lifelong Norwalker, said she would restore direct, in-person communication between residents and the council. “The way I would try to reach out to residents more often is by holding in-person quarterly meetings at the same place, at the same time, every time,” she said. “These would be open-ended meetings where there is dialogue between council members and residents back and forth. None of that ‘we don’t answer questions at this time.’”
She added that local officials must remember they are accountable to voters, not to staff. “You are oversight for Corporation Counsel, not the other way around,” she said. “No one voted for Corporation Counsel — they voted for you.”
Education and language instruction
Kemeny, who described herself as an educator, focused much of her time on English-language instruction for immigrant students, arguing that non-English-speaking children should learn English before joining regular classrooms.
“Students should receive English-speaking training before they’re dumped into a classroom not knowing,” she said. “I see students graduating who can’t read, and I think that needs to be addressed. I feel like it is our responsibility if we are bringing foreign students into the country. I’m the child of immigrants, so I’m very aware of it.”
She continued, “It is our responsibility not to just dump them and then say, ‘Oh, good, I want these people to be my gardeners and my maids.’ I think they deserve the opportunity to pursue the American dream, and they can only do that if they speak English. As an educator, I can tell you they will succeed better if they know English first.”
Kemeny suggested creating a separate school for non-English-speaking students until they are proficient, saying they could then be placed into “regular” classrooms, a model that would educate students separately from their peers until they reached English proficiency.
Sead, by contrast, emphasized inclusion and inter-agency cooperation rather than a model that would educate them apart from their peers. “We need a cohesive discussion between the council and the Board of Education so we don’t have the kind of drama we saw this year over the school budget,” he said. “I’d like to see no-drama education funding this year.”
He also called for stronger advocacy at the state level to secure equitable resources for all students. “We need to advocate for more money in Hartford and bring it back here,” he said.
Housing and development
Both candidates agreed that Norwalk must manage development responsibly to protect existing residents while accommodating future growth. Sead said he supports policies that encourage affordable housing near transit and major employers, as well as expanded renter protections. “We can have development that helps everyone, but it has to be done thoughtfully,” he said.
Kemeny said she wants to ensure that growth doesn’t come at the expense of infrastructure and local services. “We have to make sure our schools, traffic systems, and utilities can handle the population we already have before adding more,” she said.
Neighborhood safety and engagement
Sead said that public safety depends on community trust and engagement. “People are more likely to feel safe when they know their council members, when they see them out listening,” he said. “We have to show up for our residents.”
Kemeny said she would work to improve communication between the city and residents through regular town halls and public updates. “People shouldn’t have to search for information,” she said. “Transparency and accountability build trust.”
Collaboration and representation
Both candidates said they want a more responsive city government, though they framed that goal differently. Kemeny said her focus is on “making City Hall accountable to taxpayers,” while Sead said his goal is to “make residents feel like they’re part of the process, not an afterthought.”
Leave a Reply
You must Register or Login to post a comment.