How one town led a citizen uprising that defeated a dystopian state plan, exposed a canned “audit,” and stood up to hate.
In just over 24 hours, our community stood together and fundamentally altered the landscape of Fairfield and the state.
We stood up to the powerful builder-developer lobby and the elected officials who ply their wares in Hartford, and we won a stunning victory for local control. We stood up to out-of-town actors who expected to dictate our future, only to find they couldn’t stand the heat, especially of an informed public. And we stood up to the vile, hateful, antisemitic attacks on our public servants, confronting our own shortcomings to craft a better way forward.
This is the story of that day. A day that showed the tide has turned. A day that proved the people really do have the power.
Act 1: The Victory
Last week, the residents of Connecticut scored a stunning victory against the powerful, Hartford-based builder and developer lobby. When Governor Lamont vetoed the omnibus housing bill, HB 5002, it was a massive win for local control and a gut punch to a political machine that thought this was a done deal. Like the Minutemen of 1776, a modern-day citizens’ rebellion—led primarily by women, including our local heroes Kathryn Braun and Alexis Harrison, and leaders in other towns—launched a swift, well-coordinated attack against a lumbering, over-confident adversary. With dim chances at the outset, they proved that even in a state where the system often feels fixed, the people can still win.
Act 2: The Apathy
On Tuesday morning, agents for the building lobby were scheduled to lead an “audit” at the Black Rock train station. We at The Voice showed up, armed with our own audit to counter their narrative. They never came. We were there on that blistering hot day, ready to engage; apparently, they can’t take the heat, especially of public scrutiny. They didn’t even contact the RSVP list to cancel.
Their no-show was not a confession; it was a reflection of their profound apathy. It shows a disregard for the community they seek to remake. Their entire premise is built on the flawed fantasy of “Transit-Oriented” development and dangerously outdated flood maps. They champion high-density rentals while ignoring the real segregation in Connecticut: the economic chasm between those who own their homes and those trapped in a cycle of renting. When faced with facts, they have no response. So they retreat to the backroom deals and political arm-twisting of a bygone era. Those days are over.
Act 3: The Hate & The Hope
That same evening, as our community processed its victory, the forces of intolerance launched a different kind of attack. The Fairfield Town Plan and Zoning commission was subjected to a vile and criminal antisemitic “Zoombombing” that required police intervention. This was a direct act of political intimidation, a blast of dark energy that has no place in a nation built on inclusion.
But out of this darkness, we will create light. The silver lining is that this hate crime compels us to address long-overdue calls for accountability and equity within our own town processes.
In that spirit, The Voice calls on our Jewish community and the entire town to begin the process of renaming the offensively-named “Gypsy Springs” Open Space in our Tunxis neighborhood. Let us honor the Romani people, who suffered alongside our Jewish neighbors in the Holocaust and whose persecution is too often ignored. Let love be our answer to hate. Let our unified voices be the answer to intimidation.
We will not go back. The digital age has ushered in an era of transparency. Unless the operators who have controlled the system for decades can un-invent Google, this is the new way. The people are watching, and we have found our voice.
