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GREENWICH, Conn. A letter to Greenwich residents from Democratic candidate for Town Clerk Stephen Ng:
I am the Democratic candidate for town clerk. I reside in Cos Cob and I am a member of the Representative Town Meeting. I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved to Greenwich at the age of 13 as my parents highly valued the prospect of greater educational opportunities. I am a 2003 graduate of Greenwich High School and went on to study psychology and political science at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
I began my undergraduate tenure in pursuit of a pre-medical course of study, but in my junior year developed a keen interest in becoming more civically engaged. I applied for a congressional internship with Congressman Jim Himes shortly thereafter and during that experience I fell in love with politics and became deeply committed to the preservation and advancement of the democratic process.
Beyond my service contribution to Congressman Himes, I have since worked on various campaigns. During these campaigns I availed countless opportunities in which I merged theoretical concepts taught by my undergraduate professors with real life applications. Most profoundly, I learned firsthand that democracy is not a spectator sport.
My vision for the Office of Town Clerk is simple and can be summed up by my slogan New Vision. New Direction. Together, we must embrace the changes necessary to ensure effective, fiscally conservative governance in the 21st century.
Neighboring town clerks are leading the charge with innovations such as citizen-friendly websites that allow constituents to make full use of the services their local government has to offer in an easily accessible, convenient way. Technology is coming fast, and we cannot deny this.
If elected, I promise to make initiatives such as this and others my utmost priorities. I intend to implement a new system called the "New Vision." Town clerks in Stamford and Norwalk already have this system in place. The Norwalk town clerk estimates that it saves $40,000 to $60,000 per year. With this cost effective system, advancing the technological infrastructure of Greenwich and digitizing Greenwich town records will be easy and secure. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. is not a very convenient schedule for working people especially ones who make the long commute into New York City. As your next town clerk, I will improve accessibility to local government by extending office hours in compliance to the Greenwich union rules and will introduce the mobile town clerks office, which will bring services directly to citizens.
I believe the citizens should put partisan politics aside and vote for the person with the best ideas for the future of Greenwich not for the "most popular" candidate or someone who has done a good job but doesn't necessarily have the ideas to move Greenwich forward into the 21st century. As I already mentioned, technology is coming fast and we cannot deny it. As your next town clerk, it would be an honor to be the one that lays down this technological foundation for the future of this great town. Unfortunately, the incumbent will not be able to debate me, which will not allow her to discuss where she thinks the office will be headed in the next six years. Please feel free to email me with any question about my candidacy at StephenEngee@gmail.com
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