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| Committee reports, 2002-2003 | |
 Community Relations |
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Community Relations covers publicity, the First Grade Recycling Program, the 7th Grade Civics
Program, the High School Voter Education Program, Staples Tuition Grant, publications, Memorial Day Parade and fundraising. Thanks to an award from the Westport Firefighter's Benevolent Association, we hosted a Community Conversation, Westport in the Global Community post 9/11 on September 22 at the Woman's Club. Close to 100 people participated in the dialogue with panelists hosted by Julie Belaga. We revised, updated and published Know Your Town, the LWV guide to Westport's officials, agencies and services. The brochure was distributed as an insert in the Voter, through the schools and the Observer Corps and at Town Hall and the Library. Lisa Shufro and several volunteers will visit all the First Grade classrooms in May and present their lively program on the basics of recycling. The is the tenth year for this program. We continued our voter education program in the 7th Grade classes at Bedford and Coleytown Middle Schools during the month of October. In November and again in May, LWV members presented the High School Civics program to all the American Government classes at Staples High School. In all, League members spoke to more the 1200 Westport students about important issues. Our scholarship student will be invited to speak at the annual meeting in June. Maggie Feczko and Ann Hill, Community Relations Vice Presidents |
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| Member Services |
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Each of the Member Services Committee's events this year has been a great success, characterized by gracious hosts, good food and large turn-outs. Our year started with the annual Meet-the-Candidate's Fall Brunch Fundraiser, held at Judi and Charlie Kiernan's lovely home and chaired by Deena Bellman.
Our next event, the Post-Election Coffee, took place at Maxine Holtzman's house and was co-chaired by Maxine and Kitty Graves. We gained some new members. Next came the Holiday Luncheon, chaired by Vicki Barnhill and hosted by Marie Skinner. Our Winter Warm-up, at the home of Kitty Graves and co-chaired by Hope Hageman and June Getraer, garnered even more new members. Still to come are the annual Tag Sale and the Annual Meeting. We have also embarked on a membership drive, motivated by an incentive offered by LWVCT. Our current membership stands at 198, up considerably from this time last year. Our goal for the next year is to surpass 200 members. While it may look like we are very close to reaching this goal, don't forget that reaching it depends first and foremost on retaining our current members as we go into our new fiscal year. That means all of you! Other work that the committee has been engaged in includes reworking the Member Handbook and our membership brochure, developing an evening discussion group on current affairs, and establishing a consistent data base of all our members. Kitty Graves has continued to do a wonderful job of fine-tuning the new format of the monthly Voter. Kitty has also helped our telephone tree to become as much of an "e-mail tree" as possible. And finally, the behind the scenes work of this committee could not get done without the unflagging care and attention of Rose Jordan and Bonnie Sammett. June Getraer and Lisa Shufro, Member Services Vice Presidents |
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| Note: The May 2003 tag sale netted over $4,000 for our annual Staples Tuition Grant. At the June annual meeting, a scholarship was presented to Kelley Sigovich. |
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Program/Advocacy |
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| Program: The Health and Human Services Study committee, under the leadership of Rose Ann Preston, put in a prodigious amount of research to produce a consensus unit bringing together the diverse worlds - of public health and safety, children's services, senior services, transportation, housing, non-governmental agencies - of Westport's health and human services universe. Both meetings were well attended, assuring the broadly based consensus essential to a meaningful position, to be presented for approval at the Annual Meeting. Meanwhile, the education discussion group administered by Jill Greenberg is on the verge of becoming a study which will investigate the effects of "standardized testing/'high stakes' testing on teaching, curriculum development, learning, scheduling and funding." Local Program Planning recommended approval by the membership at the Annual Meeting. Combining the Legislative Breakfast with State Program Planning on January 21 resulted in enhanced attendance and a streamlined format. Rep. Ken Bernhard was our guest; most questions and discussion focused on the current state budget deficit. |
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Advocacy: On the basis of relevant positions, LWV Westport has spoken to the following issues before the appropriate Town bodies:  for expansion of affordable housing at Hales Court: Planning and Zoning Commission (Housing position) for proposed access way to Winslow Park: Planning and Zoning Commission (Parks position). for Amendment 519 to residential zoning regulations: Planning and Zoning (Planning and Zoning position) concern re. proposed bus loop at new Staples High School: Conservation Commission (Coastal and Inland Wetlands position)At the state and national levels, we enlisted the assistance of the LWVCT in successfully persuading the national League to prioritize the LWVUS position on reproductive choice. Action: In response to a lengthy crusade by the Action Committee, the Town purchased new microphones for board and commission meetings. Although the equipment initially received mixed reviews, the consensus is that real progress has been made. The Town involved Action and Observer Corps members in the decision-making process. Observer Corps: Fourteen observers under the stewardship of Winifred Balboni regularly attend Westport board and commission meetings. The OC meets monthly to present reports, compare notes and identify items for action. Observers are needed for the Senior Services, Conservation and Shellfish Commissions. Additional observers would be welcome on the P&Z and Board of Education teams. Other: We assisted the Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition with its Westport Forum. Hope Hageman and Ellen McBride, Program/Advocacy Vice Presidents |
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| Voter Services |
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Voter Services has reached out to many people in Westport during the past year to educate and inform voters. We created and mailed the
Voter's Guide to every household in Westport, distributing over 12,500 copies throughout town. This year's issue included a letter from Patty Straus, the Town Clerk, detailing polling location changes. Next year's letter will describe the town's redistricting. In an effort to help new voters, we expanded the section on voting procedures to two pages with photographs and instructions on how to use our voting machines. In response to public confusion, we included a section on how to vote for a write-in candidate. Nodding to technology, we added a page listing important web sites where readers could obtain further information about candidates, voter registration and government officials. The 2001
Voters Guide featured color on the front page for the first time. For the 2002 issue, color was added to the back page as well. We are grateful for the continued financial support of Newman's Own. We joined forces with other Fairfield County Leagues to produce two forums for the 4th Congressional District Race. Two forums were offered so that voters could choose a convenient venue and time; both were well attended. Locally, for the first time, we held a forum for the candidates for Probate Judge. We do not know whether it was our choice of location (the Police Headquarters class room), time of the event, local interest in the race or the breadth of our co-sponsorship, but we had overwhelming response to this forum. We held five special voter registration events. Four at kindergarten pre registrations had disappointing results, but the fifth at Staples High School hit a new record for registering new voters - over 100 students! Finally, Voter Services initiated several projects to encourage people to get out and vote. At the Memorial Day parade, we sold red white and blue rhinestone ribbon pins affixed to voter information cards. Proceeds supported the Voters Guide. With New Neighbors, we developed and distributed packages of information to encourage voter registration and build awareness of town officials. In conjunction with the Town Clerk and the Registrar of Voters, we notified the residents who had been redistricted that their polling places had changed. We recommend continuing these efforts and in addition speaking to new voters and encouraging them to go to the polls and making absentee ballots available to college students. Lynn Goldberg and Julie Naughton, Voter Services Vice Presidents. |
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