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Far-leftists in Connecticut’s Democratic Party are so excited by Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City that they are starting to think about challenging Governor Lamont if he seeks the party’s nomination for a third term.
Having vetoed unemployment compensation for strikers and a housing bill that, while cheered by the left, was more bluff than substance, the governor has just polished his reputation as a moderate at the expense of leftist support. But Lamont’s reputation as a moderate is still overdone. He has pledged to keep giving the state employee unions everything they want and he remains as much a supporter of illegal immigration, transgenderism, and political correctness as any leftist.
Though Mamdani’s victory scares moderate Democrats as well as the political right, it too may be overdone. For Mamdani’s two top opponents in the primary were badly compromised. A federal criminal indictment, canceled by President Trump, caused Mayor Eric Adams to withdraw from the Democratic primary and to try get re-elected as an independent instead. That left former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, disgraced by a sexual harassment scandal that forced him to resign four years ago.
By some calculations Mamdani’s vote total in the primary was only 9% of all New York City voters, and it’s a long way to Election Day with plenty of time for Adams or a Republican nominee to seize the flag of moderation. There’s also plenty of time for Mamdani’s critics to mock his public record and the likely expense of his platform.
Like many on the left, Mamdani believes that nearly everything desirable should and can be free. He wants free public transit, free child care, a freeze on apartment rents (but not a freeze on the expenses landlords must pay), and groceries subsidized by city-operated supermarkets.
Who is to pay for all this? Not the recipients of the goodies but “the rich,” on whom Mamdani would raise taxes — if he could, but he can’t, since New York City income tax rates are set by state government, not city government. That is, his platform is a fraud.
But Mamdani has a point, and it resonates especially with city residents: The cost of living is too high. Indeed it is, and not just in New York City but in many other places, like Connecticut. Unfortunately, like most leftists, Mamdani is not interested in bringing costs down; he just wants to transfer them to others, perpetuating a vicious cycle.
That cycle began with government driving up the cost of living, especially the cost of housing, with inflation and taxes, crushing the poor and the once-middle class. This caused people to seek more free stuff and subsidies from government, prompting government to oblige (and, of course, to grow), thereby driving inflation and taxes up more, causing people to demand still more subsidies and free stuff and government to oblige, and so on.
Why can’t so many people afford to feed themselves and care for their children anymore? Why haven’t wages kept up with inflation?
These questions don’t interest elected officials, probably because they would implicate themselves by asking. But answers can be inferred.
Wages aren’t keeping up with inflation because work skills aren’t, since public education, having reduced itself to social promotion, is not producing as many people equipped to support themselves and their children.
Welfare policy has wrecked the family, depriving millions of homes of fathers and breadwinners.
Government’s mistaken financial priorities, like the supremacy of government employee unions, has diverted money from important services to the public.
The admission of millions of illegal immigrants has depressed the wage base for the less-skilled labor being produced by public education.
Mamdani’s victory is a measure of New York City’s impoverishment by government. People will always vote for free stuff if the plan is to get someone else to pay for it, and, as the French economist Frederic Bastiat discerned long ago, government is the great fiction by which everybody tries to live at the expense of everybody else.
Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years.
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TORRINGTON — The Northwest CT Community Foundation Draper Foundation Fund recently awarded $619,650 to nonprofit organizations serving Northwest Connecticut.
Established by Jim and Shirley Draper, the fund continues to impact the region with grants awarded annually to a selection of area nonprofits, along with competitive grants to additional organizations and projects that address community needs.
The grant recipients include:
Community Health and Wellness Center of Greater Torrington received $20,000 to support an on-site community food pantry for clients in the Torrington location.
The Housing Collective’s Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity received $25,000 to support capacity for direct project work with the all-volunteer nonprofit affordable housing organizations in Northwest Connecticut.
KidsPlay Children’s Museum received $30,000 to support a pilot Youth Engagement Program in the Summer of 2025 and general operating support.
Colebrook Preservation Society received $45,000 to support interior renovation of the Colebrook Store Building.
Connecticut Foodshare received $10,000 to support the mobile food pantry service in Winsted.
FISH of Northwestern Connecticut received $6,550 to support lighting replacements and upgrades for the FISH shelter and food pantry.
Great Mountain Forest received $10,000 to support a site development plan to guide campus improvements for public programming.
Little Guild of Saint Francis received $35,000 to support the final construction costs of a new shelter facility.
Torrington Youth Service Bureau received $10,000 to support youth development programming with Outside Perspectives in Fall 2025 for 10 to 12 high school students.
Town of Colebrook received $5,650 to support the installation of automatic door openers at the Community and Senior Center to improve ADA compliance.
Warner Theatre received $5,700 to support the purchase of audio equipment frequently requested by touring shows that is currently rented on a per-show basis.
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NORTH CANAAN — In the last five years, the median price of a single-family home in North Canaan has risen from $168,000 to $284,750, an increase of 69%, in line with the regional market in Connecticut.
At the end of June there were eight single family homes listed for sale with six of them offered at under $500,000.
Transactions
79 East Main St. — 3 bedroom/1 bath home on 3.25 acres sold by Estate of Michael Tyler, Estate of Larry Tyler, Keith F Tyler and Stephen C. Tyler to Carlos Mario Pineda Coreas and Mirna Marisol Chavez for $81,250 recorded on April 17.
25 Honey Hill Road — 4 bedroom/2 bath home built in 1954 sold by Community Residences Incorporated to Joshua C. Bergenty and Lana K. Knudson for $340,000 recorded on April 28.
68 Allyndale Road — 4 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 1.51 acres sold by VRMTG Asset Trust US Bank Trust National to S. Sodhi and K. Sodhi Gurmeet for $413,400 recorded on April 29.
55 Allyndale Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home sold by Deborah Gasperini and Susa Throop to Rosa Barnaba and Hoah Cooper for $322,000 recorded on May 12.
37 Old Turnpike Road — 4 bedroom/2 bath house sold by Annette L. Roddy to Lemon Properties LLC for $90,000 recorded on May 12.
65 East Main St. — 2 bedroom/1 bath home sold by Oueslati Haithem to Seaside Capital LLC for $165,000 recorded on May 14.
305 Ashley Falls Road — 1.2 acres lot across the road from the Caddie Shack sold by Michael Rossi to Ashley Falls Owner LLC for $68,000 recorded on May 27.
*Town of North Canaan real estate transfers recorded as sold between April 1, 2025, and May 31, 2025, provided by the North Canaan Assistant Town Clerk. Transfers without consideration are not included. Current market listings from Smart MLS. Note that recorded transfers frequently lag sales by a number of days. Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Salesperson with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
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Housing group reviews progress, plans
Jul 02, 2025
SALISBURY — Affordable housing options in Salisbury are actively expanding, reported Salisbury’s Affordable Housing Commission at its June 26 regular meeting as it reviewed a flurry of progress updates from various projects around town.
Commission Vice Chair Elizabeth Slotnick announced that the long-awaited Holley Place affordable rental apartment development is nearly build-ready, anticipated to be under construction by the end of the year. “We’re getting very close,” Slotnick said.
She also explained that the results of a study on the Pope property’s habitat for the state-listed wood turtle – conducted by wildlife biologist and Salisbury P&Z Chair Michael Klemens – and a resulting map of developable land are not expected until September. The study is part of a slew of early-stage efforts in a plan to develop the land into an affordable housing campus that also features recreational facilities and adheres to conservation ideals.
Chair Jennifer Kronholm Clark reported that Salisbury is soon to have “two new homeowners on Perry Street.” She said that two families with young children had been chosen from the application pool to be the first owners of the newly installed affordable houses. She said that she hopes for the deals to be closed and the houses handed over by the end of August after some finishing touches — “we’re very excited about that.”
She noted that in Cornwall, the installation of two more affordable homes under the same Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity-led initiative as Perry Street has been delayed by the detection of an underground spring on the site. The length of the pause was unclear, but Kronholm Clark anticipated it to be several weeks.
The Salisbury Housing Trust, an independent nonprofit that seeks to expand Salisbury’s affordable homeownership opportunities, had previously amended its construction plans at the Undermountain Road site, moving one of the buildings to save several large oak trees on the property. The issue has been sensitive with some residents who feel the trees to be a historic component of downtown Salisbury.
At the June 26 meeting, Kronholm Clark said that one of the trees was found to be rotten through after it was felled. Another old oak on the property, which would pose a direct threat to the homes if rotten, will be tested and cut down if it is deemed to be dangerous.
The Commission also addressed a “letter to the editor” published in the June 12 edition of the Lakeville Journal, in which Lorraine Faison argued for the proposed Pope property complex to be moved from the site due to concerns about the density of development and the sensitive ecology of the area.
She suggested the Mary V. Peters Park on Long Pond Road as a promising alternative, but the Commission explained that the park had already been assessed and determined to be unviable for the development for several reasons, foremost was its lack of sewer connection and the logistical difficulty of installing a septic system on the site. The Commission reported that extensive ledge had been found on the site.
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