Town Has Not ‘Prevailed’ On The Facts Of The DeAngelis Complaint

To the Editor:

I am disappointed that in your recent coverage of Mr DeAngelis’s decision to drop his lawsuit and FOI complaints against the town you failed to explain to readers the other side of the story.

Mr DeAngelis’s tactics certainly entitle his critics and those he named as defendants the opportunity to comment on these developments, but like Barry Piesner before him, that scrutiny doesn’t make his opinions or his lawsuit wrong. In fact, neither the US District Court nor the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission ever considered Mr DeAngelis’s lawsuit or the FOI complaints as baseless, invalid, or wrong. Nor did they state that the facts were on the side of town officials. The truth is town officials have prevailed over Mr DeAngelis last week only because he decided to withdraw the suit before it was to be heard in court. When you review the facts, Mr DeAngelis is not the rabble-rouser you make him out to be.

In 2001, during the town meeting to vote on the $21 million in funding for the purchase and development of Fairfield Hills, Barry Piesner recommended that the funding be reduced to a third so taxpayers could control the spending. Recognizing that the $21 million was now at risk, Herb Rosenthal, our first selectman, promised the crowd that they would get to vote on the master plan if they approved the entire amount. The entire $21 million was approved.

Two years later, after town officials, consultants, and taxpayers worked together on the plan, the town made last minute changes that undermined the plan the public had overwhelmingly supported. The plan went to a public referendum and to nobody’s surprise, it was defeated. But town officials moved ahead anyway with the rejected plan. The selectmen and Julia Wasserman quickly created the Fairfield Hills Authority to prevent further public participation. And today, despite the growing public outcry against it, the plan has morphed from a community and recreational project into a center for commerce with a new town hall as its centerpiece.

The DeAngelis lawsuit had asked the federal court to force the town to fulfill its promise and allow the taxpayers to vote on the plan. He knew as I do that a new town hall that was never approved by the taxpayers will inevitably be defeated.

Not so absurd after all, is it? The legal system may be our only option but next time, the lawsuit may be at the state level, with hundreds or thousands of taxpayers named as plaintiffs. It’s only a matter of time.

I care about Newtown and I respect the hard work of our town officials and volunteers. But while the town has made costly mistakes before, this will be one for the record books. And if there are people like Mr DeAngelis who want to put their money, time, and passion where their mouth is, your newspaper should find a way to tell both sides of the story before you let the critics pile on and beat them into submission.

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Hill Road, Newtown                                     May 2, 2007