Kane Sweeney: First-time candidate for Waterbury Select Board

Feb. 3, 2023

To the community: 

Kane Sweeney is one of three candidates for two one-year seats on the Waterbury Select Board. Courtesy photo

My name is Kane Sweeney and I’m running for a one-year term on the Waterbury Select Board. 

Some of you may know me as a local musician performing under the moniker Bishop LaVey. Some of you may know me as one of the many career cooks who live and/or work in Waterbury and a limited number of you may remember me as the Vice President of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America Local 255. 

I’m writing to you not to ask you for your vote but to simply consider the big issues that are impacting our town. As someone who’s spent the better part of their adult life living in Waterbury, I’ve seen the same things as you. Rent has skyrocketed, purchasable housing has dried up, the roads -- especially in Waterbury Center -- have been patched and re-patched so many times that you can’t tell where the original pavement was laid. 

Working people are always the people who suffer the most from these things. It doesn’t take a mechanic to tell you that bad roads wreak havoc on your vehicle, just like it doesn’t take an economist to tell you that if your housing dries up, so does your economy. 

If you’re a working person who lives in Waterbury, you already know all of this. You stay locked in bad leases for fear that you won’t be able to find housing if you leave. You put off fixing that rocker panel on your car because you don’t know if the car is even worth it, yet it’s hard to save for another one. If you’re a cook, you know it’s more cost-effective to eat at work instead of going to the grocery store some weeks. You’re always one bad week from financial ruin because of your costly living situation. 

If you’re a local business owner or a landlord, you may scoff at this or you may have already stopped reading. However, understand this: there are more working people moving out of Waterbury than moving in, and those local businesses we all love so much are going to continue being harder and harder to staff and because of that, operating hours are going to continue to suffer. This isn’t some far-off doomsday theory, it’s happening right now and it’s going to continue unless we turn things around. 

Waterbury is a beautiful place to live and it's filled with the nicest people in Vermont. Let’s keep it that way. 

My name is Kane Sweeney and I’m a working person running for Select Board.

Find my blog online. Email is sweeney4selectboard@gmail.com.

Kane Sweeney
Waterbury