I’m Seth Stern, and I’m a town of Granby trustee candidate.

My focus is to represent the best interests of the community, small businesses and the town. I see housing and cost of living as two major obstacles to decreasing the stress levels for all. In all honesty, I do not see the town of Granby as capable of solving either of those issues.

There’s not been a retail business owner on the board in some time. Small business is a challenge in any environment, the Granby situation isn’t much easier by any stretch. Small business owners have a different perspective on most issues and many believe the market is more capable of solving problems than the government, but that doesn’t mean the government plays no role.

A number of Granby business owners feel the relationship between the town and businesses has become adversarial. I’ve put in no shortage of effort on my part to repair that relationship, but would be able to do more as your trustee.

The town should get out of the business of attempting to directly solve problems, and instead use the incredibly effective tax break incentive to allow property owners along Agate Avenue and other areas to build long-term solutions fairly quickly, which would result in an improved downtown and keeping more money and jobs in the Granby economy.

I want to see the former hotels of Agate Avenue generating revenue and jobs again instead of being used as employee housing. I would ideally like to see single-family homes in Granby used for single families again, instead of putting more “us vs. them” conflicts into working class neighborhoods.

More second homes are coming, we can’t stop it. But we can certainly work to contain it and use innovation and creativity to solve long-term shortages before the workforce housing situation decays more than it has.

How do I plan to set myself apart? Transparency is the big one. Should the voters of our unique town decide to elect me to the board, I will explain every vote I make, answer any question, and shine a bright light on anything I’m not legally prohibited from sharing. 

And that process starts now, my store is open Thursday through Monday, come see me — ask, tell, suggest. I want to know what’s most important to you and what you need from me to earn your vote.