Full name, age
James B. Streeto, 51
Education
(colleges/degrees)
Trinity College (B.A. in History (intensive study)), University
of Connecticut School of Law (J.D.)
Work
For the last 14 years, I have been an assistant public defender
in the Appellate Unit of the Office of the Chief Public Defender. In that capacity,
I defend indigent persons in the Appellate and Supreme Courts. Prior to that, I
had my own firm for a brief stint, and spent 5 and 1/2 years associated with
the firm of Weigand, Mahon & Adelman in Meriden.
Why do you want to hold
public office in Middletown?
I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve the community
in the past, and have always found it rewarding and gratifying.
I'd like to think I bring some positive qualities to the table
aside from experience, which you've asked about below. Specifically, I think I
can offer some degree of legal acumen, common sense, and, above all, a sense of
humor (which in turn brings a sense of proportion).
What experience do you
bring to the table?
I have served 6 terms on the common council. During my tenure on
the council, I served on the Public Works Commission (including a stint as
chair), Ordinance Study Commission, Contract Compliance Commission, and the
Water and Sewer Authority. I have also served on the Middletown Board of Ethics,
the Zoning Board of Appeals, and currently serve as a member of the Board of
Assessment Appeals.
I have been a practicing attorney for over 25 years. In that
capacity, I have handled numerous cases in state and federal courts, at all
levels, including 19 cases before the Connecticut Supreme Court. My 20th
argument can be viewed on the CT-N network (state v. Kendrick).
What do you think the
town's most pressing issue is?
The town's most pressing issue, like the nation's, is the degree
of acrimony and inflexibility which have become such a common feature of
ordinary interaction. The present administration has done a wonderful job in
defusing a number of conflicts and settling a number of lawsuits. But our
community, like our country, continues to maintain a highly charged atmosphere,
in which accusation and angry rhetoric are the order of the day. We need to
work together more smoothly, as friends and neighbors, and learn to disagree
respectfully, here in our city, and in the nation as a whole.
What do you love most
about Middletown?
Its diversity. Middletown is such a wonderful microcosm of
Connecticut as a whole--where else can you go from a street and a restaurant
that feels exactly like downtown New Haven to a rural farm and wooded area that
feels precisely like Litchfield County to a waterfront spot which reminds one
of Branford or Mystic, all in the space of a few miles?
Its no accident we have some of the best and most diverse
restaurants in Connecticut--there's a ready made market for any cuisine
here.
What do you like to do
for fun?
Travel, exercise, karate, theater, hiking with my wife and
grandchildren, computer gaming (World of Warcraft, among other games), reading.
How can residents keep up
with you? Email address? Website? Facebook page? Twitter? Instagram? Etc.
email is the best way.
A fellow Warcraft player, eh? What class/race do you play as?
ReplyDeleteMy main is a tauren shaman--you?
ReplyDelete