Patch Candidate Profile: Donna Smirniotopoulos, Norwalk Common Council

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

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

Independent Donna Smirniotopoulos, 63, is a Norwalk resident running for the Common Council in District B.

Education

1982 graduate of Georgetown University with a major in English Literature and minor in Classics. Extensive graduate studies (Masters equivalent) in English Literature.

What is your occupation?

30+ year Community Service volunteer.

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

Mother of three grown children, 36, 34 and 29, and Yiayia to one adored grandson, age 11 months.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No.

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

No.

Now we'd like to ask a few questions about your reasons for running and your general views on politics and government. First, why are you seeking this office?

As a community organizer and advocate with over 30 years' experience in non-profits and neighborhood organizations, I believe I can bring better representation to my district and more accountability to local government. South Norwalk is where the City does most of its dirty work. Our residents have been largely ignored.

For many years, South Norwalk residents have had few or no choices at the ballot box. Incumbents typically run unopposed, and residents are prompted at the polls to vote along straight party lines. Despite a lack of checks and balances created by single party rule, voters are told to vote "Row A all the way." The results are tangible in my district. Gentrification, no new schools, sidewalks in poor condition, increased street flooding and traffic ties ups.

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

The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is a lack of representation and accountability at City Hall, negatively impacting our quality of life, our environment and especially our schools. I intend to hold City Hall accountable for every dollar spent and every action taken by asking questions our current representatives are afraid to ask, including close scrutiny of city contracts and city hiring.

It is unconscionable to grow the size of local government without measurable results. Our streets should be cleaner, our sidewalks safer, our schools better. None of this is happening, despite a decade of rapid development, because our Common Council refuses to question the status quo and seems to prefer to take their cues from Hartford instead of the people who live here. Nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in District B.

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

I have a decades-long track record of success helping others by advocating on their behalf with enormous passion and tireless dedication. And I've done it all for free. Not only can my opponents not say this, one is beholden to City Hall for employment and reluctant to shine a light on inequities in our district. While I've been speaking out on the issues, my opponent has been publicly silent or worse, engaged in grandstanding in order to deflect from the issues impacting our district, especially on the topic long delays in bringing a new school to South Norwalk, gentrification under the auspices of the Norwalk Housing Authority, and rapid development that has pushed out older, poorer residents while making quality of life in our neighborhoods worse, all while running up the tax bills.

If you are challenging an incumbent, in what way has the current officeholder failed the community?

When it comes to how City Hall spends our money, my opponent has all the right platitudes with all the wrong motivations. Some of this is born of ignorance, but most is likely about protecting her job at City Hall. Instead of asking the tough questions about reckless spending and why more meaningful resources are being denied her own district, she participates in a rubber stamp council. Time and again she has voted to approve "feel good" spending while neglecting her district, cloaking her votes in the language of equity.

There is nothing equitable about the state of our schools. There is nothing equitable about spending $75,000 on a Halloween party while those in nearby Soundview Landing are living with a rat infestation. There is nothing equitable about giving a $100,000 gift to a corporate developer for design services when the same rich developer is slated to make tens of millions in HUD grant dollars to do this very work. That $100,000 could do a lot of good for the South Norwalk community. My opponent voted to approve funding for a new regional high school no one asked for while failing to ask why our South Norwalk school was taken off the State's School Construction Priorities list.

Norwalk is a high needs school district, but the incumbent has failed to demand that members of the Norwalk delegation to Hartford seek a higher rate of reimbursement from the state for school operations while our urban neighbors have 80% of their educational costs underwritten by Hartford. Serving South Norwalk requires not only principles but the moral courage to ask tough questions even if that means going against the party caucus and the mayor.

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

Flooding on Water Street and residential streets in South Norwalk. The relationship between increased street flooding and overdevelopment. Responsible development that includes stormwater management plans and infrastructure upgrades paid for by developers. Enforcement of our ordinances, especially blight and illegal occupancies that put lives at risk.

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

In 2017, an applicant, Firetree, sought to open a Residential Re-entry Center for current Federal convicts on Quintard Avenue. I helped organize neighbors and retain counsel, which resulted in the denial of Firetree's applications to the Norwalk ZBA. I subsequently joined the Coalition of Norwalk Neighborhood Associations, helped rewrite their By-laws and built consensus among 12 of our constituent neighborhoods with respect to the Citywide Plan. In addition, I organized and moderated multiple events on behalf of CNNA in order to raise awareness of local issues.

Prior to moving to Norwalk, I planned multiple successful fundraising events for a local pre-school and for the Westport YMCA. I served as VP of the YMCA Executive Committee, participated in executive search for the Y, successfully advocated on behalf of Westport parents in support of an ambitious school building project as Chair of the Staples Task Force, and Chaired Staples Tuition Grants, a needs-based college scholarship organization, doubling their year-over-year giving, increasing their fundraising capacity and supporting the development of a database to better serve donors and scholarship recipients.

I learned how to read a balance sheet, create coalitions, organize events, hire executives, advocate for others and leave every organization I served better than I found it. I intend to do the same for the Norwalk Common Council.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

My parents taught me the value of family, community, hard work and giving back.

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

I will work hard to protect South Norwalk's people and neighborhoods.