One of the issues that Mayor DeStefano often mentions is the difficulty young people have buying their first home in Connecticut. This is an issue that I can directly relate to as a 24 year old living in Norwalk.

Website Vooweb.com provides the biggest collection of professional Web 2.0 Templates. Web 2.0 Templates - its a website templates which made by world-class designers. Buy our Web 2.0 Templates | A family cooking recipes with hundreds of healthy, whole-food cooking recipes for the home cook. Healthy Food cooking Recipes For Your Entire Family | List of Samui villas and houses for rent on Koh Samui. Koh Samui villas for rent and sale on a private Samui community on the southern tip of the island of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand.

I have recently gotten engaged and have begun looking around for a home. The problem is, it's nearly impossible to find a house in Norwalk that a pair of 24 year olds can afford. So that leaves us with 2 options: Continue renting, making it harder to save up for a down payment or moving elsewhere. This is a problem that people my age face all across the state. Several friends of mine have moved out of Connecticut for the simple fact that they don't want to live in their parents' basements until they're 30. Norwalk has virtually lost its middle class as a result. We have the upper class that can afford to purchase $500,000 homes.

Mayor DeStefano chats at the SOTS Candidate Forum

Last evening New Haven played host to the Democratic candidates running for Secretary of the State. Each candidate was afforded ten minutes to address the audience and give his or her biography and plans if elected. There are six candidates currently running, and all were in attendance except the two who are members of the General Assembly.Those two, Evelyn Mantilla and Andrew Fleischmann, were in session up in Hartford. Present were candidates Audrey Blondin, Robert Landino, John Nussbaum and Norma Rodriguez-Reyes.

This morning, the Mayor provided the welcoming comments to the first annual meeting of the Connecticut Hispanic Democratic Caucus at the John Martinez School in New Haven. There were many notable Hispanic political leaders there including Mayor Eddie Perez of Hartford, Yolanda Castillo and America Santiago, who were elected chair and vice chair of the caucus as well as numerous State Reps, Alderman, and the Bridgeport Registrar of Voters.

Next to the Norwalk River, right before it passes under a busy bridge on I-95 sits the St. Ann’s club. The last Wednesday of every month about 200 men from this Italian fraternal association gather for dinner. Outside, they smoke and talk on their cellphones. Inside they have their drinks and slap each other on the backs.

It was great to visit Democracy School last night. It was the first class, and everyone was just getting to know everyone. There wasn't a chance for questions after the Mayor spoke and so the give and take of the political process, which he spoke so well about, didn't occur, at least while I was there.

The second event of the evening, however, provided a vivid contrast. The Teamsters' Local 1150 in Stratford. The crowd was mostly shop stewards who are attending a class, “Labor and American Politics". This is a class offered by UConn which is held in Local 1150's union hall. It is part of a series of classes which can lead to a Bachelor's of General Studies with a certificate in Labor Education.

The folks work hard all day and then find time to take classes in the evening. They want to improve themselves and improve our country. They understand that it takes handwork, commitment and unity. They also understand the importance of a fair playing field and have been following legislation that could make our state and our country stronger. There was some discussion about Senate Bill 1111 which would return collective bargaining to the city of Waterbury. Kelly Hubbard spoke with passion about HB 6228 which would raise the minimum wage and tie it to the cost of living.

"This is what democracy looks like" is chant that I have heard in many settings over the years. I remember people demonstrating in the streets. I remember political leaders gathering at the funeral of a beloved friend. I remember children dancing as they pass out campaign material. All of this is what democracy looks like.

This evening I got another interesting view of what democracy looks like. Mayor DeStefano gave his opening remarks to the first class of the second session of 'Democracy School'. The first class had forty people sign up. This time sixty people applied and they needed to keep the class limited to forty. These people came from every walk of life, city employees, business owners, teachers, school secretaries, psychologists, and so on. They came from every part of the city. Some knew which ward they were from others spoke about the local community they were part of.

The Mayor spoke about how we all make ourselves better by being with one another. He spoke about how the way hard things get done is by everyone working together. This doesn't mean that we have to agree. Instead, we need a good dialog. We need to argue and arrive at better ideas than we would in isolation.

Sunday was Easter and I, like many of my high school friends, went home to see family and friends. I was out with Matt, a long time friend, driving around town when it dawned on us how much Newtown had changed.

When our families moved into Newtown it was the mid-1980s. Houses were small, clustered together and there was a real sense of community. Today, Newtown has changed and that feeling of community is gone.

Newtown is like a lot of other towns in Connecticut. New housing is BIG. The houses are on multiple acre plots and are mammoth. There is no way Matt or I will ever afford to buy one of them. In high school we talked about how one day we would like to move back to Newtown. It is becoming more and more clear that such an ambition will never come to fruition.

Has anyone else noticed that their towns have changed over the past 2 decades? Is anyone else worried? I am. Something needs to change or my generation won't be able to afford to live in the state where we grew up.

You know the Mayor is in a good mood when he sings. Last night I was driving John to Wethersfield for a Democratic Town Committee (DTC) meeting, I caught him singing "Dream On" by Aerosmith. I knew it was going to be a good night.

The Mayor met with the DTC and he really connected with Wethersfield on land use issues. Wethersfield is a town with not a lot of commercial development and have major property tax issues related to funding their town's education expenses. John demonstrated a clear vision of how Connecticut can end its reign as the most heavily dependent (of all 50 states) on property tax to fund public education.

John headed a Blue Ribbon Commission on Property Tax and Smart Growth so he was able to outline a vision for how small rural communities and large urban areas can work together. Because Connecticut will rise and fall together, we must all work together if we intend to end the lack luster job growth and decline in our quality of life.