Our changing demographics

Democrat Stephen Meskers defeated Mike Boccino for the state representative position by 19 votes. Mr. Boccino is probably relieved: when first elected, he tried to change the legislature rules so as to permit voting by phone, rather than drive the 90 minutes to Hartford to cast meaningless votes in a Democratic body. Still, he did run for reelection, so it’s possible I underestimate his enthusiasm for the position.

Regardless, Greenwich will now be represented in Hartford by a Democrat who labels himself a “fiscal conservative”, yet has plans for expanding spending on almost every social issue that so concerns his Pussy Hat friends, so I have my doubts.

What struck me about this Greenwich Time article is that Meskers’ win is attributed to the Hispanics in Byram, who, as of 2016, comprise 39.4% of the population, up from 28.5 in 2010, and undoubtedly more today. 70% of those Hispanics are foreign born, mostly from Mexico and parts south. Neighborhoods change, and the Italians began fleeing Byram long ago, so this isn’t all that surprising.

What did surprise me, however, is that the United Way has set $85,000 as the minimum “household survival budget” for Fairfield County, with Greenwich’s budget is surely higher than that; say, $100,000? Even $85,000 must sound like a lot of money to our fellow citizens in more distant parts of the state. Did I mention that we have a huge budget problem looming? It’s not too hard to imagine where the state’s going to look for the solution to that problem.