To the Editor:

Sean Rainey (D) is running as a candidate to represent Ward 2 on the Warwick City Council. Sean has been actively going out and meeting the people he hopes to represent after Election Day.

An employee of Cox Communications and former President of West Side Little League, Sean is a lifelong resident of Ward 2 here in Warwick, active in our community and he cares about people.

While out walking the neighborhood and knocking on doors it was said to Sean how it seemed Ward 2 has been represented by absentee landlords who seem to get elected and disappear from view. If you want more of the same and like the status quo, don't vote Rainey. Sean believes in two-way communication and encourages feedback. He would like to hold monthly meeting at different establishments within the Ward so he can hear concerns both good and bad from residents.

Sean wants to bring back the Warwick summer recreation program in some form even if it is just a half day. Seniors over 65 should be offered tax rebates. Sean wants to preserve our way of life, improve traffic patterns and find ways aside from the tolls to fix our roads. He won't sell us out to the developers who would if they could turn Warwick into an airport and take away our sense of community.

As a member of City Council Sean would work to improve its relationship with the School Committee. Sean's 13-year-old son attends Warwick Public School and like so many other parents is concerned about the quality of public education. He will fight against wasteful spending and poor planning. Before we start to think about consolidating elementary schools we need to fix the problems which plague middle school and high school consolidation. The number of for sale signs out in front of local yards continue to increase. So many young families are leaving Warwick over what can be perceived as a decline in our school system.

Money going to lawyers and public relations firms over teacher layoffs and image enhancement isn't going toward improving the educational system. Our hard earned tax dollars need to be put to better use. In the end it will the students who will suffer.

Sean stands with the teachers of Warwick in their year-long quest to secure a fair and just contract.

I'd like to wager no one else running to represent Ward 2 on the City Council would be out there after a snowstorm with Sean plowing out driveways.

Sean Rainey is running for you and a vote for him on September 13 is a vote of all of us.

Russell E. Gundlach Jr.

Warwick