Happy New Year!
It is a tremendous honor to get to be Mayor of our wonderful city. Each day I walk into Government Center and I am reminded of what a privilege it is to serve the people of Stamford alongside so many dedicated city employees.
Since taking office, my team has hit the ground running by meeting with department heads, city workers, and legislative board members, solidifying my cabinet, reviewing and preparing our capital budget, and outlining a strategic vision for my first 100 days and first year in office. Below are a few of the priorities we focused on in our first month:
COVID-19 Response
Protecting the health and safety of our community and responding to COVID-19 is my top priority
- In light of rising case numbers and hospitalizations, we reinstated the indoor mask mandate in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 and reduce the high number of hospitalizations. I want to thank all of our Stamford residents for your patience as we continue to navigate the pandemic and for the sacrifices you and your family have made during this difficult time to protect public health and safety
- We have worked with our City's health department, Stamford Hospital, CT Department of Public Health and community partners to expand testing and vaccination capacity
- We have worked to enhance communication on COVID-19 resources for Stamford residents about vaccinations and testing, through press conferences, social media, website updates, and bi-weekly COVID-19 live streams
- We recognize how challenging it has been to find available testing and are working tirelessly with state and federal partners to expand testing capabilities. For real time updates on the latest testing and vaccination sites, click here.
Infrastructure
- During our first week, my team met with engineering and transportation officials to discuss the city's priority infrastructure needs, followed by a tour around the city of our roads, bridges, and resiliency projects, which we will prioritize in our capital budget
- I had productive meetings with Congressman Jim Himes and Senator Chris Murphy to discuss infrastructure projects for federal funding
- We also met with CT Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe Giulietti and his team to discuss priority infrastructure projects that require state DOT funding and approval
Constituent Services
- With the goal of making our administration more responsive and transparent, we launched our first Citizen Services Hub at the South End Ferguson Library branch where we heard from residents on a range of issues
- We continued the bi-weekly COVID-19 livestreams for residents to share updates and resources about vaccinations, testing, and COVID-19 cases
- We started a review of Fixit Stamford and will be bolstering support for constituent responsiveness through this system and other methods moving forward
Education
- During my first week, I visited Westhill High School with Dr. Tamu Lucero, Principal Mike Rinaldi, and education officials to discuss securing funding for our school facilities
- We worked with Dr. Lucero and the Stamford delegation to ensure Westhill High School and Lockwood Avenue are on the state school construction priority list
Securing State and Federal Funding
- We successfully worked with the Stamford delegation and Governor Lamont's office to secure $2.5 million in bonding projects which was approved by the bonding committee at the December meeting. This funding will go toward playgrounds, schools, and projects like building an observatory at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center
- We secured $550,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice which will improve the City's Community Response Initiative (CRI) with the police department and assist police when encountering those with mental health and substance abuse issues
As we look ahead to 2022, I’m excited to continue working on the issues my transition team policy committees identified as critical for our city, including: Economic Development, Infrastructure and Environmental Resiliency, Citizen Services, Education, Affordability and Housing, Public Safety, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Public Health, Veterans’ Affairs, and Workforce Development. I am grateful for the input and partnership of the community leaders who worked on these efforts and I look forward to implementing innovative policies to address these issues moving forward.
To that end, as we start the New Year, I will be sharing brief updates each week so you can hear how your local government is serving you, key developments that will impact residents and how our city operates, and critical announcements in the fight against COVID-19 and our efforts to ensure we recover in a responsible and sustainable way.
This is just one platform where I will be sharing updates on a weekly basis, but you can also connect with me and my administration on the platforms below:
Tune into our bi-weekly COVID-19 livestreams on Tuesday evenings – Join us on Tuesday, January 4th at 6:30 pm for the next livestream; click here to watch
We will be hosting Citizen Service Hubs throughout Stamford – stay tuned for more information
Send me an email at mayorsoffice@stamfordct.gov and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can
And of course, I will be out and about across the city every week visiting with local businesses, meeting with constituents, and hearing from stakeholders in our city – so I hope I’ll be able to talk to you in person very soon.
Best wishes to you and your family for a happy, safe, and healthy New Year!