Ridgefield Candidates '97
Board of Selectmen

Barbara Manners

Barbara Manners has lived in Ridgefield since l983. An attorney who spent most of her career working in the law department of pharmaceutical corporations, Barbara retired in 1989 from a position as General Counsel to be able to spend time with her son David, an only child, born in l988.

Born in Texas at Fort Sam Houston, Barbara was raised in Manhattan and graduated with a BA and an MA in History from NYU. She received her JD from Fordham U. Law School in 1973.

Barbara has been married since l980 to Morgan Weber, also an attorney. Mr. Weber works for Schering Corporation in Kenilworth, New Jersey. In addition to their son David, Barbara and Morgan are also proud to be host parents to one of this year's ABC freshmen. Together with their four dogs of assorted variety (and presently 8 puppies as well) they live on Round Lake Road.

Since David started school Barbara has become increasingly active in the community, first becoming involved in her son's former school, Maimonides Academy, as president of the PTA and later, for three years as Secretary of its Board of Directors.

• Performing Arts Center -- Barbara first came to widespread attention in town politics when she spearheaded the drive to convert the old high school auditorium into a performing arts center. Through her efforts, momentum was created which may well lead to her vision being realized in the near future. Ms. Manners believes that the people of Ridgefield should be given the opportunity to vote at referendum on whether they want to spend some of their tax dollars to have an arts center, where residents would be able enjoy movies, drama, music, dance and other activities. To date the Republican administration, most recently the Republican Board of Finance, has blocked efforts to bring the issue to the voters.

• Overcrowded schools and Ridgefield's future -- Ms. Manners' believes that the town's first priority at the moment is to resolve the overcrowding in the schools and preserve excellence in education. Once this crisis is under control and a plan has been implemented, Barbara feels that the town really needs to begin long-range planning for the 21st century. The changing demographics of Ridgefield need to be taken into consideration. With a large percentage of our population under 18 and over 55, and with evidence that this trend will continue, we should explore the economic feasibility of some form of limited public transportation around town. We also need to work on bringing in more commerce to Ridgefield so that residents don't bear such a large percentage of the tax burden.

• Our environment -- Open space remains an issue. We currently have lots of small plots of open space throughout town. Ms. Manners would like to see Ridgefield develop a plan for acquiring, perhaps through exchange if not purchase, large blocks of open space some of which would be maintained in its natural state and some which could be utilized for outdoor activities. She also believes that we need to focus now on renewing the lease with Gilbert and Bennett for water rights at Martin Park. The lease expires in two years and we need to insure that Martin Park will continue to be there for residents' recreational use.

• Ridgefielders working together -- While there are many other issues in which Barbara is interested, there is one other on which, if elected, she would like to focus: seeing to it that town board's and commissions work together more, consult more with each other and that each have an idea of what the other is doing. We must prevent future fiascoes like the one just experienced- the proposed East Ridge expansion which ended up wasting over a million dollars of the taxpayers' money.

Barbara currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Women's Center in Danbury. She is also on the board of A Better Chance in Ridgefield, the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, the Friends of the Ridgefield Performing Arts Center and is vice-chairman of the Democratic Town Committee. She is a member of the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women. In 1995, Barbara ran for First Selectman on the Democratic ticket against four time incumbent Sue Manning.

On November 4, please join friends and neighbors in electing as Selectman a truly talented and dedicated Ridgefielder, Barbara Manners.

The following issue papers have have been archived. They are no longer available on this web site. Please e-mail the webmaster if you would like access.

Read why we have experienced Declining Test Scores

Candidate Manners statement: Let's Shake Off The Dust

Read Town Should Do More For Teens

Barbara Manners on Stopping Vandalism

Read Since When is PTA A Dirty Word?

Candidate Manners on the need to Stop Fiddling and Start Acting!

Click to see Barbara Manners statement on "Why I'm running".

Campaign '97 Home GO TO Candidates' Page

Brought to you by the Ridgefield, Ct. Democratic Town Committee, John Kukulka, Chairman.

This site hosted by Web-Connect of Ridgefield