Piesner And The Property Owners

To the Editor:

As the president of the Greater Bridgeport Property Owners Association (GBPOA), I felt it is important that the inaccuracies in a recent Bee article about Mr Barry Piesner are corrected.

Our organization formed 14 years ago, covers every city and most towns throughout the state of Connecticut. Our members own over 22,000 housing units and we have been instrumental in many state law changes that benefit all property owners.

Mr Piesner was one of the founding members of the Bridgeport chapter seven years ago when he became the VP and director. His unselfish devotion and donation of his personal time has resulted in GBPOA affecting major improvements in state and city legislation which has directly resulted in Bridgeport property values more than doubling over the last five years.

Working together as a team, we strongly encourage the city leadership to tear down all of Bridgeport’s hundreds of burned out buildings. Removing these incredible eyesores completely changed the appearance of the city.

GBPOA imported from Arizona a multifamily housing crime prevention program that has sharply dropped crime because we integrated it with all the city agencies headed by the police department. We helped coordinate the 26 citywide community organizations into the Unity Council which we now administer. GBPOA has made a difference in Bridgeport.

Mr Piesner moved to Newtown three years ago and, as a Newtown property owner at that time, was instrumental in the formation of the Newtown Branch where he was appointed as director of both organizations. Continuous ownership of real estate is not a requirement of our organization as our members buy as sell property on a regular basis. It is the members’ contribution that counts._Mr Piesner’s unpaid efforts on the part of the property owners statewide has been greatly appreciated and we applaud him on the important work he is performing for Newtown residents. Developing fair and equitable regulations that protect all property owners is our collective objective and Mr Piesner has been working closely with us to achieve this goal.

When someone who has the knowledge, organization and skills to brig important change and improvement to your town, you should be thankful he is there. With Barry’s help, we have seen the difference here in Bridgeport. It appears that Newtown could benefit from a similar experience.

Sincerely,

Richard Deparle, President

Greater Bridgeport Property Owners Association

3149 Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport     August 31, 2001