Patch Candidate Profile: Andrea Gartner, Danbury City Council

DANBURY, CT — The 2023 municipal election is heating up in Danbury and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office.

Danbury Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as Election Day draws near.

Executive Director, Norwalk River Valley Trail, Andrea Gartner, 58, is running for election to the City Council as a Democrat, representing the 5th Ward.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in government from Georgetown University, and a Master of Arts in history from Western Connecticut State University.

Do you have a family? If so, please tell us about them.

Yes, I am the proud mom of George who has three degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). He does classified contract work for the US Navy's nuclear submarine program. He follows a long line of engineers in my family, including his Uncle Willi who resides in Danbury.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

Not outside the classified work my son does for the Navy.

Have you ever held a public office, whether appointive or elective?

Previous appointments includes 15 years on the Ridgefield Historic District Commission; 5 years on the Danbury Main Street Partnership; elected positions include City of Danbury Zoning Commission; Danbury Democratic Town Committee Chair; and current Danbury Democratic Town Committee Vice Chair.

Why are you seeking this office?

I ventured into getting involved locally when I was the executive director of CityCenter Danbury because I was frustrated with local elected leaders' maddening acceptance of mediocracy when it came to downtown Danbury. I wanted to do more about it. That interest and activism soon grew to issues around the abysmal state of Danbury public education funding, deteriorating infrastructure, and unplanned development impacting our public schools, our roads, and housing costs. There is a deleterious effect of not having bipartisan representation in our local government. I am committed to honesty in local government, better fiscal management, and prioritizing public education. I believe that my willingness to get involved and my tenacity to stay involved despite the difficulties and setbacks inherent in bringing qualitative change to the community I care so much about make me the right candidate for downtown Danbury's 5th Ward.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ___, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The most pressing concerns in the 5th Ward that I have been hearing about is the increase in traffic and speeding and the danger that it is bringing to our streets - streets where people are raising their families. For example, there is a neighborhood effort underway in the Deer Hill Ave area where I live to engage the City in making the streets safer for the folks that live there. This is a sentiment repeated in many other neighborhoods in the 5th Ward that I have canvassed and my neighbors' response and action could be a model. Citizens should feel that their representatives are listening to them and that their Council representatives will go to bat for them with City departments when residents' quality of life is impacted. Outside of this 5th Ward concern, the single most pressing issue citywide is the underfunding of the public schools. I will spend my efforts on the City Council looking for avenues to restore the resources teachers and students need to rebuild a first-rate public school system. This topic should be front and center of every city council elected official and ahead of any discussion of privately resourced and publicly dubious charter school initiatives.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Business as usual is not a strategic plan for the future! Twenty-two years of one party, super majority rule stifles creative problem solving and quells innovation. Let's make Downtown Danbury the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) engine that builds a better Danbury! Let's get the best minds on the big problems that Danbury has to ensure its brilliant future.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

Another issue that I have been hearing about is services around emotional and mental health support for our young and old alike. Expanding recreational opportunities would be a great start. How do we make our neighborhoods connect to other parts of the City and accessible to nature? How can we encourage walkability, mobility, and more activity in our parks? In addition, how do we fast track the Career Academy while also creating a strong economic development plan so when our students follow an academic, career, or technical track that is suited to their talents and dreams, their post graduation opportunities are myriad and the sky is the limit? A bright future for Danbury means that there are a hotbed of career opportunities whether as an entrepreneur or maker; a doctor or medical technician; a white, blue, pink, or green collar worker.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I am a lifelong resident of Fairfield County who has been actively and passionately working on community initiatives in the region for decades.

I grew up in the Pocono Lane neighborhood and after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in government from Georgetown University, I worked and traveled extensively before settling to raise my family in Ridgefield where I was a founding director of the Ridgefield Playhouse and the Ridgefield Historical Society.

As the executive director of CityCenter Danbury, I was an active partner in creating the Downtown Revitalization Zone; lobbying for Naugatuck Valley Community College to locate in the central business district and launching the Danbury Innovation Center.

I have called downtown home since 2012.

As a volunteer, I have has served on Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, the Regional Advisory Council of Naugatuck Valley Community College, the Greater Danbury Area Women’s Business Council, Housatonic Habitat for Humanity Advisory Council, the Friends of the Danbury Museum and Historical Society, and the DanburyWORKS Executive Board. I am a founding coordinator of Danbury’s Museum in the Streets program, the Downtown Danbury Mural Project, and the Danbury Farmers’ Market Community Collaborative. Currently I serve on the Boards of the Cultural Alliance of Western CT and rvnaHEALTH.

In my current job as executive director of the Norwalk River Valley Trail (NRVT), this year, I helped secure a $5.33 million federal grant through WestCOG that includes final plans for the NRVT as well as plans to connect the NRVT north along the Still River Greenway to New Milford and west along the Maybrook trail to New York. In this capacity, I am actively work with DOT infrastructure funding coordinating the design and building of three more miles of the NRVT in Wilton and Ridgefield.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

There is no summit (I've adopted it as my mantra) and that change is inevitable but growth is optional. There will always be things that we want to change in the world and sometimes the problems seem so big. But, we always have the choice to do something. The easiest path is to start with something that's right in front of you. Take that first step! Get involved! Keep going!

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I am a small 'p' politics person along the lines of how do you get a group of people to work together to accomplish things that no one person can do on their own? Great things get done this way!

What I see instead in Danbury are current leaders locked into capital P Politics at all costs. Instead of welcoming ideas and input from across the aisle, our City Council focuses on keeping power concentrated in Party hands, restricting public comment, and bullying opposing view holders while kicking the really big issues down the road again and again and again. "Politics over People" has resulted in shocking tax increases, a $4.7 million public school funding gap, and fiscal mismanagement that impedes Danbury's access to millions of dollars in grants and supportive programs that the community - especially our children, teens, young families, and seniors - really need.