Letter: Vote Andrea Urbano

I’ve been a neighbor in our beautiful town for over six years.  My two kids go to Beecher, we go to summer concerts on the green, and this Halloween, we will attend the Woodbridge Fire Department’s Truck-or-Treat (with their amazing bonus fireworks display).  We have relatives in other parts of CT and New England, but we chose this town to raise our family.  And, of course, no town is perfect.  There will always be room for improvement.

While there is so much to love, I, like so many of you, have been frustrated by high taxes and an old country club that continues to remain in limbo after all these years, among other challenges.  There are solutions to these issues, solutions that appeal to the townspeople, so why haven’t we seen progress?  Aren’t we teaching collaboration and decision making in our schools?  Shouldn’t we aim to model these qualities in real time?  Well, I will model this for my children by voting for change.

I will vote for Andrea Urbano for Board of Selectmen.  A farmer and environmental steward, her education in conservation and forestry, her leadership and strategic planning skills, and her dedication to not only Woodbridge, but our state of Connecticut as a professional public servant are more than enough to qualify her as a top candidate for this role.  I met this wonderful woman through Beecher a few years ago when both our eldest kids were in the same third grade class.  Within a week, she was sharing vegetables from her farm and inviting me for walks on local trails.  I found out soon after that in her spare time she advocates for transparency around local issues, hosting meetings at our library to share knowledge and ideas of what’s going on behind the scenes.

Cut to 2023, in addition to her full-time job, two kids, and farmstand, she spends her free time campaigning for change, chatting and connecting with residents, just bursting with positivity and action.  I am awestruck.  This is the person I want at the table helping make decisions for our town.  I trust Andrea Urbano to meet our modern needs without compromising Woodbridge’s historic and rural integrity.  I trust her to make a better Woodbridge.