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Letter to the Editor: Norwalk’s Election Must Be About Norwalk

September 18, 2025
–
Vinny Scicchitano, Republican candidate for Mayor

My opponents’ attempt to frame Norwalk’s mayoral race around national politics is exactly the kind of division our city doesn’t need. Norwalk’s voters are smarter than to let D.C. headlines distract from the challenges right here at home.

Our city’s problems are not caused by Washington. They are caused here by local leadership and Hartford insiders. Overdevelopment, tax abatements for developers, rising rents under the label of “affordable housing,” neglected neighborhoods, lack of waterfront protection, and our ongoing school budget crises all stem from decisions made by the local current administration and a state delegation that has failed for decades to secure fair ECS funding. Instead of fighting for classrooms and academics, Hartford delivered millions in bricks and mortar for a new Norwalk High. Building costs have increased dramatically over the original estimate, which Norwalk taxpayers are on the hook for.

For ten years, Norwalk has been under one-party rule, with nearly every office controlled by the same group. That monopoly breeds rubber-stamping and stagnation, not solutions. During her time on the Council, my opponent has chosen not to engage with many of us, and her voting record speaks for itself. She isn’t the solution. She’s the problem. Leaders must reach out to everyone, not just a chosen circle, and they must own their voting record. Not simply pretend it didn’t happen. That’s truth, that’s honesty. 

Why am I a Republican? My political beliefs formed when I was coming of age during the Iranian hostage crisis. At that time, America, once the most powerful nation in the world, was brought to its knees by a group of terrorists under a Democratic president I respected as a man but found ineffective as a leader. Ronald Reagan came along with strength, decisiveness, and the principle of “Peace Through Strength,” and he brought that crisis to an end. That moment shaped my view of leadership and my political identity. I am a proud and moderate Republican. 

We are a diverse community. My opponent has shown her contempt for residents of Norwalk that do not share her political views. That alone should disqualify her from being a leader in this City. I will be Mayor for everyone – from one end of the spectrum to the other. This is the only way we are going to bring unity to this community.

Again, this election is not about national politics. It is about who will best serve Norwalk. We must decide who can truly unite residents, clean up City Hall, push back on Hartford’s dominance, and listen to residents and a strong need for quality of life improvements from blight to traffic congestion to smart growth and planning. This election should be about Norwalk’s schools, neighborhoods, and people, not national headlines.

— Vinny Scicchitano

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Comments

13 responses to “Letter to the Editor: Norwalk’s Election Must Be About Norwalk”

  1. Bob Giolitto

    Interesting that Mr. Scicchitano writes that “this election is not about national politics,” yet he cites only national politics as his reason for joining the Republian Party. Were there no local Norwalk issues at that time? While some may question Ms. Smyth’s campaign tactics regarding the postcard she mailed–I did–the fact is that Mr. Scicchitano has enthusiastically supported Trump and his policies. Those policies, according to medical experts across the political spectrum–real doctors and scientists–now include putting our grandchildren’s lives in danger. Trump’s tariffs have increased inflation and have launched a job crisis that is just beginning. I cannot vote for someone who associates himself with, and hasn’t publicly renounced, the immoral policies of this administration.
    While I generally support what may be called liberal policy, I respect and welcome genuine conservative views and policy proposals.
    The solution? Run as an independent conservative, Mr. Scicchitano, or renounce the radical policies of the Trump administraion, and keep the election local.
    Bob Giolitto

  2. John O’Neill

    So much pressure on Vinny from those who wouldn’t vote for Mother Theresa is she happened to be running as a Non-Democrat. You’re right, he should stand up for certain policies if he believes them. Funny, as I look back, the sky is falling inflation rhetoric from the Left was unseen in 2022. The immigration deportation programs of the Obama administration with the blessing on both Hilary and Bill were never ever talked about. While I grant you Trump’s ICE overreach is just that, someone had to begin cleaning up the mess of Biden/Mayorkas Open Border — In hindsight, we’re lucky things weren’t even more chaotic/worse.
    My advice to Scicchitano is to open up about what he likes/dislikes about Trump policies if for no other reason than cast light on the missteps of the prior administrations…If anyone is expecting perfection you just need to look at Biden’s Foreign Policy failures to realize no President is perfect. It’s a tough job and in today’s culture you’re only going to appease half of America..
    So to Mr. Scicchitano: (Why do Italians have such difficult names to spell ?) be transparent about what you like/dislike about Trump. Not sure it will cost you any votes as many on the Left seemingly cast their vote on who their Party tells them vote for.
    To the voters of Norwalk: Pay heed to Romney Donald’s comment the other day – Vote for the Person not the Party.

  3. Mike Mushak

    The hypocrisy in this letter is so obvious it’s hard to know where to start. Barbara Smyth has always stood up for all Norwalkers, in her career as a schoolteacher and as an elected official with a record for all to see.
    Barbara will be a great mayor for ALL Norwalkers.

    Vinny has no public record to examine as he’s never held any appointed or elected position in Norwalk, ever. Now he wants to just go for the top elected position, and wants to be the first mayor in Norwalk’s history to not have any government experience or record for voters to look at. He’s never even served on any city board or commission as so many dedicated volunteers have on both sides of the aisle, giving up time with their families to serve the public. Where’s Vinny been all these years? The sense of entitlement is astounding.

    Just like the Republicans in DC, Vinny is saying “just trust me, I’m for you.” Right. How’s that working out? Republicans just cut trillions from Medicaid and food assistance and cancer research to pay for tax cuts for billionaires, after promising they wouldn’t during the last election. Watch what they do, not what they say. We could go on about the Republican double-crossing of their own supporters but there’s no need. It’s in the news every day, and we are living it every day here in Norwalk.

    The biggest hypocrisy in Vinny’s letter is his accusation of divisiveness while continuing the biggest divisive lie pushed by Norwalk Republicans for years, that apartment buildings are somehow taking something away from homeowners, and are a burden on the “real taxpayers.”

    In fact, apartment buildings pay more in taxes per square foot then single family homes (the taxes are paid through the rent), and use way less services as they aren’t strung along miles of suburban roads that need constant paving and plowing and utility work .

    The apartment buildings also add only 3 children per hundred apartments, debunking the false claim that new apartments add a burden to our schools. It’s actually the apartment buildings subsidizing the single family homes, not the other way around as Vinny wants you to believe. Also, every new building adds 10% deed-restricted affordable workforce units, adding to our stock of affordable housing. And new apartments don’t increase costs on housing across the city, but are helping stabilize costs through competition. We are currently at a 3.2 % vacancy rate, below the ideal 5-10% vacancy rate when competition stabilizes and even drives down housing costs. Slowing growth of housing supply now will keep housing costs artificially high, and that in a nutshell is the Republican plan. No thanks.

    Just look at how hard it is for most Norwalkers to afford housing now, as 47% of our renters and 30% of homeowners are “cost-burdened”, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Now Vinny and the Republicans (not just in Norwalk but across the state) want to make our housing crisis even worse by slowing our growth and pushing even more people into financial crisis. Why? For political opportunity by appealing to suburban NIMBY’s who are afraid of change? Or is it simply to push out people they don’t want in Norwalk? We can be assured the Republican plan will push out the struggling middle class in Norwalk faster than you can say the word “gentrification”.

    This is pure divisiveness, demonizing renters as a class of people to be despised, and Vinny has long been proven guilty of this sin. Let’s look at the facts.

    Vinny’s claim of “tax abatements” for apartment buildings is false. There are none. He won’t be able to produce a list because it doesn’t exist. This has been part of the Republican narrative for years, with no evidence ever offerred. There have been a few scattered “deferrals” in federal Opportunity Zones where the new buildings in those zones continue to pay the former tax before improvements, but that expires after 7 years and is not an “abatement”. The new buildings in East Norwalk, for example, pay full property tax that is multiple times higher than the former tax before improvements. Vinny is wrong in this point, and is pushing a blatant lie to create division and animosity towards apartment buildings and therefore renters in general.

    Vinny’s claim that our waterfront isn’t being protected is also false. Our waterfront is being improved with every approved project, adding public access where none existed, and improving water quality in our harbor as new regulations require every new project to filter its stormwater runoff in underground chambers instead of dumping trash and pollutants into the harbor with every rain, as obsolete unimproved properties do now. Therefore, new construction improves the water quality of our harbor and increases public access. That’s exactly why for years both Republican and Democrat Planning and Zoning Commissioners have supported these projects, as they vote on real facts, not on emotional knee-jerk NIMBY opposition.

    More facts: Norwalk is currently growing at a healthy pace of 6.5% per decade instead of the 20-30% rates of the last century when suburban sprawl gobbled up our farms and open space, and just like every smart city in the nation we are correcting the planning mistakes of the last century and building density where it makes sense, near transit and in walkable vibrant neighborhoods where many people of all ages want to live these days. We are building new density on 5% of Norwalk’s total area, so we are not destroying Norwalk but making it better.

    That’s why the former Republican-controlled P and Z Commission approved the largest apartment buildings in Norwalk, before Harry Rilling was elected in 2013. These include Waypointe, both Avalons (Norden and Belden, both recently renamed), Soundview Landing that replaced Washington Village on Water Street, and the “Tyvek temple” on Wall St that was delayed for over a decade in lawsuits but now being completed.

    Republicans used to be for apartment buildings before they flipped and jumped on the opportunistic NIMBY bandwagon that is making our housing so expensive for everyone. Supply has not met demand for years, and the Republican plan to slow our currently healthy growth will drive housing costs even higher making Norwalk a city that only the very wealthy can afford. That’s not a vision most of us want, on both sides of the aisle.

    The truth is the new apartment buildings are full of local folks as well as newcomers, retirees and empty-nesters and young folks right out of college and everyone in between. These days, not everyone wants a big expensive suburban house to maintain while spending their weekends mowing and cleaning gutters.

    Finally, the other big lie pushed by Vinny and the Republicans is that our infrastructure can’t handle the new growth. That also is nonsense, as our treatment plant will have less inflow in 2030 than it did in 2010, due to constant investments in separating stormwater and sanitary systems that were combined in the 19th century like every old industrial city had done. Our utilities are continually being upgraded, and every project goes through a rigorous infrastructure review with all city departments to analyze infuriate impacts. If needed, the developer is asked to make improvements at there expense, such as Wegmans being required to upgrade signals and crosswalks on CT Ave as our TMP department requested. Wegmans wasn’t happy about that, but they complied and the project is a huge success without creating gridlock.

    Barbara Smyth is not pushing any narrative that divides the city as Vinny is doing as evidenced in this letter full of blatant lies about housing and other issues, and we can therefore conclude that Barbara will be a great mayor for all of us and for future generations. My vote is for the sensible Democrats in November, not for the divisive MAGA Republicans.

  4. Drew Todd

    Thank You Vinny!! It has been great getting to know you better over the last few years and your passion and dedication to doing what’s best for our City is unmatched in either of your opponents. What really sealed the deal for me and my support and no, not just because we belong to the same party but you were at EVERY budget meeting for the schools and your support for the teachers, staff and students was fantastic. We have never had anyone who actually came to the meetings and stood up and spoke with such passion and commitment to them. I look forward to seeing you take the oath of office and making this City better and stronger and changes that need to be made!
    VINNY FOR MAYOR!

  5. John O’Neill

    I think some History is needed here for context:
    Regarding Almost any issue in Norwalk/Connecticut currently — Some may have forgotten that Dems have controlled Norwalk for the last
    2 decades…It would be further enlightening to voters that Dems have controlled Hartford Legislature for last 70 years (with the exception of a
    couple of terms) So one doesn’t have to be paying much attention to understand who’s controlled things Locally to cause the issues Norwalk and Connecticut
    currently have. Certainly, not Vinny. He’s been to busy being a great Auto Mechanic.
    So, let’s take a step back and examine the last couple of decades:
    How have Norwalk Schools Progressed over the last 20 Years?
    How have the Teachers in Norwalk fared over the past 10 Years?
    How about Energy? Are out Electric Bills lower?? CT Energy policy has been abysmal..
    How have Wall Street in Norwalk progressed?
    How have housing affordability worked out….I see lots of apartments, but no discounts on rents…
    I will credit Rilling administration for Calf Pasture Beach — It’s literally better than ever.
    I sense CT politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths –Both Groups
    On one hand they sell us that things are better than ever because of their policies….On the
    other they talk about certain groups needing more help than ever…? Which is it?
    While most of us will not claim to know all the intricacies of Gov’t, we do have eyes.
    It’s all about what we see, not what we’re told…
    One last thing on being Mayor of Norwalk — Harry Rilling was a true leader in Norwalk during Covid.
    I would argue he took personal risks to stabilize Norwalk during Covid. So did most of our teachers thankfully.
    Would Barbara Smyth or Vinny the Auto Mechanic do the same….??

  6. Bryan Meek

    The party in charge is the reason why housing is unaffordable.

    When government spends over $800k per unit on public housing like Poko and Meadow st, society pays for the contractors to get filthy rich who then donate back to the party in charge.

    $30 million a year is spent on public housing with 10% of that coming from the tenants and the rest taxpayers.

    If the party in charge cared about affordable housing, we’d be building on the 100000s of acres of undeveloped land up north, especially the Essex river valley which has a nearly unused 4 lane highway going through it.

    Instead it’s about profits for their buddies. That’s why they cram them down here with no plans for the infrastructure.

    We need a change in direction before these people completely destroy what’s left of Norwalk.

    1. David Muccigrosso

      “We need a change in direction before these people completely destroy what’s left of Norwalk.”
      – probably said at some point in 1649 by Chief Mahackemo of the Siwanoy Tribe, or at least something like it.

    2. Becca Stoll

      A few thoughts:

      1. How does Norwalk’s mayoral election have anything to do with housing in Middlesex County? If the point was about disagreement with state government policies, maybe that could have been helped by the vetoed HB5002 which would have forced places like Essex and Old Saybrook (which by the way does have a massive apartment complex right by the train station to facilitate just this kind of growth and allow residents quick access to transit, downtown shopping, etc) to do more to combat the housing crisis. But again I don’t see the value of the comparison when we need housing everywhere in this state.

      2. The CT River Valley is a poor analogy to Norwalk for a second reason that I can speak to personally and here’s why: it’s the first place I lived when I first came to CT. I had to drive my personal car just about everywhere which meant spending a lot on gas, my entry-level theatre job paid minimum wage ($8.70 in 2014), and even as I moved up through that company, I never made a wage that could have allowed me to rent one of those Old Saybrook apartments without a roommate and/or a guarantor.

      The cost analysis is completely different in central CT vs here in FF County. My top wage I ever earned there was less than minimum wage is now, and there was no room for advancement. So I left to pursue a theatre career in the place I knew I could be challenged and make money: New York. And for that, I had to live somewhere with a reasonable commute time: Norwalk.

      Housing is needed everywhere, but it makes the biggest impact if it’s where the jobs are. Living in Norwalk allows my husband and I to work our way up and try to establish roots and start a family here, just as many other millennials want to do. Just as boomers and zoomers WERE able to do because college tuition was cheaper, starter houses were attainable and reasonable, and wages kept up with costs.

      3. To Mr. Schicchitano: if you care about moderate Republican values such as a less-restricted free market, then why the fear of “overdevelopment?” Last week at the YIMBYtown conference in New Haven, multiple Republican leaders from cities across the country that have cut through the red tape and regulation that stymied growth spoke about how letting the free market build the housing people want is helping their cities and towns to THRIVE. People flock to move to places like Austin and North Dakota and you know what else? Rents there are FALLING because there is finally enough supply to shift the leverage away from the landlords and developers and to the side of the buyers and renters. This is what we all say we want.

      4. Re: new Norwalk High: of course it costs more, everything costs more every year. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. It’s hard for me to see how we can “fight for classrooms and academics” when we are sending students into decrepit out-of-date buildings. No one is set up for success that way, and if we don’t keep improving our buildings, it won’t make our schools better, which means we won’t be an attractive place for people and families to move to (and pay property taxes). A new NHS does help meet the need for “strong quality of life improvements” and will yield dividends. Why are you against it?

      5. Mr. Meek, you say “We need a change in direction before these people completely destroy what’s left of Norwalk.” But if we reverse course now and don’t allow our amazing and attractively located city to grow and welcome in new residents/workers/families/taxpayers/voters while making sure it’s possible for our current ones to stay, THEN I fear we will destroy what’s left of Norwalk because there won’t BE anyone left in Norwalk.

  7. Kenneth Werner

    Bryan, places with lots of undeveloped land generally don’t have jobs. Developers are not going build homes for people who will not come to live in them.

    1. Bryan Meek

      That lack of visions is why Connecticut is circling the drain

      1. David Muccigrosso

        Lol what?

        So are you implying that Connecticut, that great “sprawl bridge” joining one pole of the Great Northeastern Megalopolis with its central core, doesn’t do enough greenfield development?

        Where exactly do you think all the people should go? Do you think it’s GOOD for people to commute over an hour to their jobs? Why should any sane civilization make it a norm to waste 2+ hours of its citizens’ time per day? What sane civilization relentlessly paves its forests away just so everyone can live in the same suburban sprawl with the same 5 tract-housing designs, and the same arterial stroads lined with the same 20 big-box stores and chain restaurants?

  8. Liz Conti

    Bryan Meek is so right about why Norwalk is “circling the drain” as far as the overspend expected and enacted by allowing this relationship with developers to run this city! I personally think there’s so much corruption behind this and the decisions made by bought legislators within this city, the only reason we are so far gone! Should the people finally wake up and stop being distracted to national politics to see what is right before their eyes, they would clearly see the obvious and vote for Vinnie a vote for resounding change! It’s so sad what’s happening and the previous comments wrapped up like last year’s Christmas presents all about “Orange man bad” what is wrong with the deranged folks so easily distracted by a shiny object not conducive to helping make Norwalk better for all?

  9. Ilos ZM

    In response to your op-ed claiming that local elections stand apart from national politics, let’s be clear: they don’t. When you’ve personally donated to Donald Trump’s PAC — Making America Great Again (MAGA) — and openly aligned yourself with that agenda, it’s obvious those priorities would shape how you govern here.

    And that brings us to qualifications. Owning and running an auto shop is honest, hardworking business — but that doesn’t make you qualified to manage a city budget, set policy for schools, or decide how our tax dollars are spent. Leading a city takes more than running a private business; it requires real experience in governance, planning, and serving a diverse community.

    As someone who is part of the local Latino community, I can’t simply brush aside national politics the way you suggest. Why shouldn’t I be worried about racial profiling — even as a U.S. citizen — when we’ve seen people terrorised just because of the way they look or the accent they carry? How can you say national politics don’t matter when those very policies and attitudes filter down to local police practices, schools, and neighbourhoods?

    That’s why this matters. Because your choices and your alignment with MAGA aren’t just about labels — they’ll directly shape how safe we feel in our own community, how our kids are treated in classrooms, how our healthcare is supported, and how our freedoms are protected right here at home.

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