Stratford Election 2021: Kaitlyn Shake Running For Town Council

STRATFORD, CT — The 2021 municipal election is heating up in Stratford with plenty of races on the ballot.

Voters will head to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 2 and cast their ballots for the position of mayor, along with seats on the Town Council, Board of Education, Planning and Zoning and more.

Stratford Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Democrat Kaitlyn Shake, 37, is running for re-election to the Stratford Town Council in the 2nd District.

Occupation: Registered Nurse

Family: My family resides in Stratford.

Experience: Current Town Councilwoman, District 2

Family in government: No

The single biggest issue in town is ______, and I plan to do this about it:

For the second year in a row (2020,2021) Stratford has been identified as one of Connecticut’s 25 Distressed Municipalities. Coupled with some of the highest property taxes in Fairfield County, Stratford residents young and old continue to find themselves struggling to pay their bills. What does that translate to? Stratford is becoming unaffordable to working and middle class families. How do we address the elephant in the room? First, we acknowledge that it exists and then we create a new strategic partner plan that includes attracting/recruiting sustainable businesses small and large. In order to meet the rising demand of technical/manufacturing/healthcare sector jobs we need to provide accessible and affordable re-training/education to our residents. As a proud Alumna of Housatonic Community College, I look forward to building that community partnership to help our residents attain employment training that provides a living wage, competitive benefits and ultimately a better quality of life.

Critical differences between me and my opponents:

I am committed to making decisions that center the needs of people and our community. This has been demonstrated by my ability to respond to my constituents in a timely manner, provide a pathway forward and resolve their concern. One of the reasons I ran for office in 2019 was due to the fact that my then Councilman never got back to me after I tried contacting him via email for help during a snowstorm. The Mayor’s chief of staff responded to me a week later and offered an apology but no follow up plan.

Since the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic, public safety and public health continue to be the highest priority for me. I have advocated and pushed for stronger public health measures when it comes to testing availability/accessibility, vaccine public education, community health partnerships, vaccine access and equity and an indoor mask mandate per CDC recommendation based on our metrics. I understand the undeniable truth and reality that until we as a community do everything possible to keep people healthy and safe we will not move through this era without preventable casualties. In my professional opinion, adhering to public health recommendations should be based on science, data and facts--not personal opinions or political positions. We have an obligation to our residents to keep people safe and I will continue to advocate for stronger public health and public safety measures.

Accomplishments:

I’ve survived working through this pandemic as a Nurse on the front lines and serving our town during my first term in office. I take the responsibility of protecting our community very seriously and have advocated for stronger public health measures at nearly every town council meeting. When our Health department called for volunteers to join the MRC (Medical Reserve Corps), I enlisted to help them administer hundreds of Covid vaccines. Since the town did not complete the necessary public health education outreach directly to our residents in the spring of 2021, I took the initiative and went door to door in District 2. I answered their questions, addressed their fears/concerns and helped residents find available covid vaccine appointments in and around our town.

In the fall of 2020, the town did not provide direct outreach other than an email to our small businesses regarding CT CARES Small business grant opportunities. I took the initiative to walk door to door in District 2 along Main Street to inform business owners of the opportunity. These grants were lifelines to many of our small businesses struggling to stay open and I’m thankful many of them applied and were able to make it to another season.

As Chair of Longbrook Park Commission I made sure that the historical safety issues were finally addressed and advocated for increased police patrols, surveillance cameras and environmental studies to reassess the current plan and therefore positively impact future planning and implementation. Through real bi-partisan leadership I along with Vice Chair and 7th District Councilman, Bill Perillo (R) worked together with Public Safety to solidify funding for the necessary surveillance upgrade and data storage.

Other issues:

Transparency and accountability are the cornerstones to public service. As District Two’s Councilwoman I also represent the heart of our small business community. Since the spring of 2020 I would ask the Mayor during council meetings for an update of how many businesses in Stratford have closed. It wasn’t until the August 2021 meeting that I finally received a response: The town does not keep track and the Mayor indicated they are not required to. I was baffled by this answer and followed up with questioning how they measure growth if we don’t keep track of who is open vs closed per quarter or year.

Stratford has so much potential and due to Gov Lamont’s leadership Connecticut is number one in the country right now in vaccine administration and low infection rates. Because of our State leadership adhering to public health experts, businesses are now flocking to CT and they will have the luxury of picking which CT towns/cities to launch their business. Unfortunately, since April 2021 under our current Mayor, Stratford has had one of the lowest vaccination rates and one of the highest infection rates in Fairfield County. Until we demonstrate that we are investing more in our public health and public safety measures, Stratford risks not being considered a prime location for sustainable businesses to open their doors.

Attracting and retaining new businesses to Stratford is a win-win. If we reassess and strengthen our economic development department and implement a strategic plan, it will help to offset our extremely high mill rate. A better Stratford is possible but we have to elect leaders that offer an innovative vision that calls for sustainable growth, investment and community partnerships.

What else would you like voters to know about you?

Local elections directly affect our day-to-day lives. As your Councilwoman I am 100% committed to advocate for your needs and concerns while pushing for real change and progress. Let’s do the work of building a better Stratford together. Our future is worth fighting for and I hope to earn your vote on November 2 at Stratford High School.