New Canaan parents last week called for finance officials to support town youth by restoring modest funding levels to the Outback Teen Center and investing in technology infrastructure.
During the March 4 Board of Finance meeting, Outback board member Claudia Pagazani said that the widely discussed underage drinking at an event last fall provided an opportunity to address the problem with her daughter “head-on, about the risks that she faces by making the wrong choices.”
“There is a huge underage drinking problem in New Canaan,” she said during the meeting, held at the New Canaan Nature Center. “Maybe we attack that at an early age and we do that at the Outback by teaching kids to make the right choices.”
Advocates are seeking to raise taxpayer support for the teen center from $17,500 (the figure approved by the Board of Selectmen) to $20,000 (the current fiscal year’s funding level). Though the finance board will not approve and pass along a fiscal year 2015 budget to the Town Council until this week, members thanked Pagazani and other speakers—including Pagazani’s own young son—for their input and indicated that they would support the $2,500 of additional funding for the Outback.
“I would propose this because the amount is a modest change,” said First Selectman Rob Mallozzi, the board’s chairman.
About 75 residents attended the March 4 meeting of the Board of FInance. Credit: Michael Dinan” credit=”
Pagazani’s son Diego Ferreira, together with fellow Saxe Middle School sixth-graders Erik Berg, spoke eloquently in support of the Outback and even drew laughter and applause from about 75-plus residents in attendance.
“The Outback has taught me a lot about leadership and friendship and many other things,” Berg said during his time at the microphone (lowered to the appropriate height).
“They have video games you can play with your friends and pool and ping pong and they let you drop off your backpacks,” he added.
Ferreira painted a vivid picture: “I feel like it should stay, because say if you go to town, I know on Fridays [New Canaan youth] think it’s fun to go to town and you are walking and talking and then it gets later and your friends get picked up and everyone starts to leave, and it’s getting dark and cold and the Outback stays open late enough that you can call your parents and you just wait there and it’s a safe place to wait so you are not out in the cold and by yourself.”
Town funds in the proposed budget that are earmarked for human services agencies had been reduced across the board with the exception of New Canaan Cares, a nonprofit organization that offers youth, parent and community programs.
Parents also spoke in favor of earmarking taxpayer funds for school resource officers and fully funding the Board of Education’s original proposed budget or parts of it, such as the technology portion, saying that public schools need improved network infrastructure.