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Opinion: Sustainable Streets Common Council Candidate Report Cards

October 31, 2025
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Sustainable Streets Leadership Team

As part of our effort to elevate policies that promote a more sustainable future for all Norwalkers, Sustainable Streets Norwalk has identified 12 priorities we’d like to see city leaders focus on to promote sustainable development. We reached out to every 2025 Common Council candidate with accessible contact information, and sent them a questionnaire about their stance on these priorities. After reviewing their responses and other public statements on these issues, we have assigned each of them a grade on the issues that matter to us. 

In the interest of brevity, this article will provide only the grades that each candidate has earned. These grades were determined by members of Sustainable Streets’ leadership team, and were based on the candidates’ level of support for specific areas of interest: walking & biking, public transit, and housing. In addition, each candidate received a holistic score based on the quality of their responses and their public record of statements and actions. You can examine candidates’ responses to the questionnaire here. 

Candidates that did not respond to our survey are assigned INC, or an incomplete. Below are the candidate grades by district, starting with those running at-large. 

At Large Common Council Candidates: 

CandidateWalking & BikingPublic TransitHousingOverall Score
Jo Bennett (I) C-C-D-D+
Lisa Brinton (I)BC+D-C
Jesse Buccolo (D)A-A-BB+
Scott Goodwin (I)C+C-C-C
Josh Goldstein (D)A-B+B+A-
Colin Hosten (D) BBB+B
Johan Lopez (D) A+AB-A-
Erik Vitaglione (U)AA+B+A-
Pat Agudow (I)INCINCINCINC
Nicol Ayers (D)INCINCINCINC
John Cardamone (R)INCINCINCINC
Victor Coppola (R)INCINCINCINC
Chris Dwyer (U)INCINCINCINC
Luis Estrella (R)INCINCINCINC
Doug Hempstead (R)INCINCINCINC
Enrique Santiago (R)INCINCINCINC

District A Common Council Candidates: 

Jalin Sead (D)B-C+B-B-
Cheryl Kemeny (R)INCINCINCINC
Peter Rotondo (R)INCINCINCINC
Broderick Sawyer (D)INCINCINCINC

District B Common Council Candidates: 

Kimberly Krieger (R)C+B-B+B-
Harold Bonnet (R)INCINCINCINC
DaJuan Wiggins (D & I)INCINCINCINC
Darlene Young (D)INCINCINCINC

District C Common Council Candidates: 

Read Auerbach (R)BB+CB-
Richard Bonenfant (R & I)D-FFF
Anne Wennerstrand (D)AAA-A
Nicolé Eaddy (D)INCINCINCINC

District D Common Council Candidates: 

Richard Dellinger (D)B+A-BB+
Jan Degenshein (D)AA+A-A
Heather Dunn (I & R)BC+D+C
John Levin (R & I)AA+A+A+

District E Common Council Candidates: 

Andrew Anello (R)D+D+D-D
Jim Frayer (D)A-BCB
Brian Bailey (D)INCINCINCINC
Peter Bondi  (R & I)INCINCINCINC

Sustainable Streets Norwalk is a volunteer association that advocates for improved walkability, bikeability, public transportation, housing for all, and urban green space. We aim to elevate those elected officials whose policies align with our vision for a more accessible, connected, and sustainable Norwalk. We encourage all readers who share our values to take into consideration this candidate report card when they vote in this year’s mayoral election.

Editor’s note: This piece is an opinion article. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the perspectives of the publication or its staff.

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Comments

4 responses to “Opinion: Sustainable Streets Common Council Candidate Report Cards”

  1. Bruce Kimmel

    Thank you. My wife, Kay Anderson, and I found this report card quite helpful.

  2. Bryan Meek

    Bonenfant getting an F confirms this anonymous leadership team is out of their minds.

    Maybe I’d change my mind if this group advocated for sidewalks up to Cranbury park. Instead celebrating their termination at Live Oak. What a joke.

    1. Tanner Thompson

      Hi Bryan. I’m on the anonymous leadership team, and I think it’s a shame that the sidewalks on Grumman end at Live Oak Rd. People in your neighborhood deserve a high-quality walking route to the park.

      Rich Bonenfant got an F because his responses to our questionnaire indicated, at best, a low level of support for our policy objectives.

      For example – when asked about the SoNo Rail Trail, Mr. Bonenfant responded that he is “neutral on this issue and considers it low priority”, saying “This was proposed many years ago and none of the merchants wanted it”. We believe that the SoNo Rail Trail would bring immense value – such as access to greenspace, the train station, and the new school – to the South Norwalk residents surrounding it, irrespective of what “the merchants” think about it.

      The rest of Mr. Bonenfant’s responses – which you can read at https://www.norwalkstreets.org/projects/2025-candidate-report-card/full-candidate-responses – indicated a similar lack of support or concern.

      If you do read his responses, you’ll see that our very first question is about refreshing our city’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan, which has not been updated since 2012. Once the City agrees to work on that, I will advocate alongside you to include a sidewalk connection to Cranbury Park in that plan.

    2. Paul Fox

      I will happily identify myself as a member of the leadership team as well. We’re not trying to keep our identities a secret, but rather to present a collective opinion rather than individual ones.

      We absolutely would like to see sidewalks up to Cranbury park, but that would require the city to put more priority on pedestrian improvements, which requires a mayor and common council in favor of that. That is why we are doing surveys and report cards like this.

      Sadly some candidates like Mr. Bonenfant, don’t really seem interested in prioritizing issues like this based on his responses to our survey.

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