Westlake

Ruthann 'Rae' Johnson is running for Middletown's Mayor. Below is info on her website's Green Initiatives page:

As mayor, I propose to:

Convert Town Hall to solar panels eliminating the need of reliance on an outside power source and thus decreasing the amount spent on electricity. School buildings and other municipal buildings would follow.

I would explore the options of establishing a trolley or train line between Middletown and Hartford. Encouraging other towns to participate in such a program thus lowering the cost of set-up and maintenance. It would be possible if there was enough interest to have the line run to New Haven or other towns as well.

I would like to establish community gardens and park settings. Our town is fortunate to have a couple of parks but it would be nice to create more green spaces where families can be together.

I would explore expanding the trail begun in the West Lake Area. The town began a wonderful project but never finished the path. The area has a nice path, ponds, walking bridges, tennis and basketball courts but no one can use them due to overgrowth and poor up keep.

I would encourage the community to participate in the maintenance of their neighborhoods through planting days and volunteer programs for our youth.

New development should be required to install solar panels or other energy creating device in their plan - not as an after thought. If a building can not be refurbished then the site should be cleared and reused rather than leaving an abandoned eye sore on a usable piece of property. We should re-use what we already have before we search to build new.

http://raejohnson2009.webs.com/