Bill Bittar, Patch Staff

Bio:

Bill Bittar grew up in Monroe and has held positions at several newspapers over the course of his career. He covered his hometown as a reporter for the Connecticut Post and again as editor of the Monroe Courier.

Bill has a Master's Degree in journalism from Northeastern University.

He has won a number of awards, including: Two first place awards for  investigative reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists; first for in-depth reporting from Suburban Newspapers of America; first for spot reporting from the New England Press Associaton; and first place for general reporting from the New England Newspaper & Press Association.

Bill and his wife Jennifer live in Shelton.

In his free time, Bill enjoys sports, reading, movies, traveling and get-togethers with family and friends.

His e-mail is bill@patch.com and phone number is 203-621-4847.

You can also see his Welcome to Monroe Patch video.

Beliefs

At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism.

However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible and human beings have beliefs.

So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal certain key beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable.

This disclosure is not a license for our editors to inject these beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that our beliefs are on the record will force us to be ever mindful to write, report, and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you, the user, ever think you see evidence that we failed in this mission, we wholeheartedly invite you to let us know.

Politics

How would you describe your political beliefs?

I had been a registered Democrat, then later as a Republican. I now plan to change my status to Unaffiliated.

Many people in this country are firmly entrenched within one political party and prefer to get their news from only Left or Right leaning media outlets.

I think that is a big mistake, because it blinds you from the big picture of what's really going on. No political side is always right and neither is always wrong.

Hot Button Issues

What do you think are the most important issues facing the community?

Monroe is well-known for its annual budget battle and the root of it is the need for quality schools, municipal and emergency services verses taxpayers' ability to pay for it all.

I understand the frustration of town leaders and administrators and parents of school age children, who often have small funding increases or actual cuts to programs they care about.

But at the same time, property taxes have to be reigned in. Most residents salaries have not increased at the same rate as their tax bills and, in many cases, were frozen or cut.

In this national recession many have either lost or fear losing their jobs. And a high number of senior citizens are living on fixed incomes and/or have seen their retirement funds depleted.

It is my hope that the town can increase revenue by growing its commercial tax base to better accomodate both sides.

With every dispute in town, I will strive to give all parties a fair shake regardless of my personal opinion.