Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Farrell Still Opposed to YMCA on Baron’s South Property
First Selectwoman Diane Goss Farrell said today she is still opposed to the town making a portion of the Baron’s South property available to the Westport-Weston YMCA for a new home.
Addressing a questioner at her weekly citizens’ brown bag lunch, Farrell said the YMCA is a private entity that has every right to consider moving its headquarters to its Camp Mahackeno site from downtown.
But she said she has not altered her view that the town ought not to make available a portion of the Baron’s South property bordered by Imperial Avenue and Compo Road South.
“My position has not changed,” she said.
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Connecticut Siting Council Rejects Appeal on Power Line Upgrade
The Connecticut Siting Council has rejected a bid by Westport and 15 other municipalities to halt a power line upgrade between Middletown and Norwalk, but the agency will allow more hearings on the issue.
The towns filed a motion Tuesday (See WestportNow March 23, 2004) because they were frustrated with what they said was “stonewalling” and “repeated and persistent failure” of utilities to answer detailed questions about the plan.
Tuesday was the first day of hearings on the application from Connecticut Light & Power Co. and United Illuminating Co. to expand a 345-kilovolt electric transmission system into Fairfield County.
Although the council refused to dismiss the application for the new power lines, it agreed to add hearings on the $604 million proposal.
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Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Draft Long Island Sound Transportation Plan Subject of Stamford Meetings
If you have some ideas how Long Island Sound might be used to improve transportation services in the region, today is the day to make them known in Stamford.
Three planning agencies are sponsoring public review meetings on completion of the Long Island Sound Waterborne Transportation Plan at 3:30 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. at the Stamford Government Center, 888 Washington Boulevard.
The series of meetings are being held throughout Connecticut and New York to seek additional input from the public on the “short-list” of potential services currently undergoing detailed study.
“The Long Island Sound Waterborne Transportation Plan, when complete, will serve as an important resource as we seek to mitigate southwestern Connecticut’s ongoing transportation problems,” said Bob Wilson, executive director of the South Western Regional Planning Agency (SWRPA).
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Wednesday, March 24, 2004
9:30 a.m. - Town Hall Room 201 - Commission for Senior Services
10 a.m. - Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Weston - Westport/Weston Health District “Organic Landscape” seminar
10:30 a.m. - Town Hall Room 102 - International Hospitality Committee
Noon - Town Hall Room 309/307 - Citizens Brown Bag Luncheon
5 p.m. - Town Hall Room 309/307 - Board of Selectmen
7:30 p.m. - Staples High School, Room 516 - School Building Committee Staples Subcommittee
Getting Ready for This Weekend’s “City of Angels”
Staples Players Jacob Heimer and Tyler Rackliffe get ready for their run of “City of Angels” March 26, 27 and April 2,3 all at 8 p.m. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) Kerry Long for WestportNow.com
Animal Talk: Westport Police Schedule Animal Forum March 31
If you want to get a better insight into animal life in Westport, mark March 31 on your calendar for the Westport Police Department’s first “Animal Awareness Forum.”
The two-hour event beginning at 7 p.m. in the police classroom will bring together a who’s who of animal life in Westport and the state for a freewheeling discussion on dog ownership responsibilities, health and legal issues, and even what to do if you spot a coyote or other wildlife.
The discussion will also touch on licensing, rabies vaccinations, basic pet care, and a review of current rules and regulations about roaming off-leash dogs, nuisance complaints, and barking complaints.
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Monday, March 22, 2004
Westport Among 15 municipalities Seeking Power Line Delay
Westport is among 15 municipalities in Fairfield and New Haven counties which have filed a motion to halt a controversial power line upgrade project.
They claim utility companies refused to share pertinent documents on health concerns and the feasibility of burying more lines as part of the $604 million Milddletown to Norwalk project.
Hartford lawyer Peter Boucher filed the motion Monday with the Connecticut Siting Council.
“This extraordinary action is being taken in response to the repeated and persistent failure of (Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating) to provide these municipalities with adequate information and responses to discovery requests in a reasonable and timely manner,” Boucher said.
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Tuesday, March 23, 2004
7:30 p.m. - Town Hall Auditorium - Zoning Board of Appeals
7:30 p.m. - Town Hall Room 309 - Architectural Review Board
Shays Reportedly Reconsidering Stance on Same-Sex Marriages
As his likely Democratic opponent presses for a state ruling on same-sex marriages, Republican Congressman Christopher Shays reportedly is reconsidering his stance on the controversial issue.
The AP, in a Washington-datelined dispatch, reported that Connecticut’s congressional delegation is in lock step in opposition to an amendment banning gay marriage.
It noted that Westport First Selectwoman Diane Goss Farrell, who is running against Shays in the 4th District, “has taken a more active stance, saying she will perform gay marriages if Connecticut’s attorney general deems them legal.”
As has been previously reported (See WestportNow March 9, 2004), the AP said that Farrell, a justice of the peace, had asked state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for a legal opinion on the issue.
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Sunday, March 21, 2004
Monday, March 22, 2004
7 p.m. - Staples High School, Room 516 - Board of Education anticipated executive session
8 p.m. - Staples High School Library - Board of Education
Saturday, March 20, 2004
Sunday, March 21, 2004
2:30 p.m. Westport Woman’s Club—Westport League of Women Voters “Community Conversation” on transportation
Two Westport Clergy Involved in New Paltz Same-Sex Marriage Ceremony Today
Two clergy from Westport’s Unitarian Church were among six Unitarian Universalist ministers who married 25 same-sex couples today in New Paltz, N.Y.
Rev. Barbara Fast File photo
The marriages were performed in defiance of prosecutors who have charged two ministers with performing the ceremonies without a license.
The Rev. Barbara Fast, an associate minister at the Westport church, and the Rev. Debra Haffner, a community minister, were among those performing the ceremony, according to a church source.
While there was a small police presence, they did not interfere or cite the ministers, the source said.
Asked whether she feared being arrested for participating, Haffner replied: “I had no choice but to be here,” according to the Kingston (N.Y.) Daily Freeman.
Last week, the Rev. Marion Visel, another community minister at the Westport church, performed same-sex marriages in New Paltz and received a warning letter from the local district attorney.
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Fire Damages Post Road East Body Works Salon
Fire caused extensive damage to a second floor body works salon on Post Road East today. Quick work by firefighters kept the flames from spreading to the rest of the building. There were no injuries.
A witness across the street from the building at 719 Post Road East said she was pumping gas at the Cumberland Farms service station when she noticed a bright flash on the left side of the structure.
“Out of the corner of my eye I noticed what I thought was a welding arc and thought ‘who the hell is welding out in the open like that’ because it was so painful to look at,” she told WestportNow. “Then I realized it was a fire.”
Someone else at the service station dialed 911 as flames licked up the side of the building and workers began scurrying out of the first floor Effi’s Salon, she said.
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Telling the Story
Westport Fire Department Assistant Chief Robert Kepchar tells a local television station about today’s fire on Post Road East. Firefighters can be seen working around the second floor area where the fire began on the outside of the building. There were no injuries and damage was confined to the second floor. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Firefighters Clean Up After Post Road East Fire
Firefighters work at a fire at 719 Post Road East today. Assistant Chief Robert Kepchar said the fire apparently started on the outside of the second floor of the building and may have been electrical. It damaged a top floor body works office with smoke and water damage to a beauty salon below. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Fire Damages Post Road East Beauty Salon
Fire damaged a beauty salon and second floor body works office today at 719 Post Road East. Firefighters on the roof wet down pieces of wood pried from the burning building. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Friday, March 19, 2004
Saturday, March 20, 2004
11 a.m. - Westport Historical Society - Lecture “The Mechanicals of Your Old House”
Miami Cool, Not
Westporter Vanessa Galan is just back from spring break in Florida and woke up to a six-inch plus snowfall today. She quickly got to work and decided to share her creation with WestportNow readers. In case you can’t make it out, the sign says “Welcome to Miami!!” Vanessa, 19, is a sophomore at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. Thanks for sharing, Vanessa! (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) Vanessa Galan for WestportNow.com
Westport Winter Scene One Day Before Spring
With the Westport public schools closed for a snow day, Winslow Park was crowded today with sledding and other snow activities. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Friday, March 19, 2004
9:30 a.m. - Town Hall Room 201 - Commission for Senior Services
Brown President Speaks of Importance of Diversity
Dr. Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University, spoke today to TEAM Westport about the importance of diversity on college campuses, in towns like Westport and throughout American society. Clockwise from bottom: Cynthia Swift, Fairfield University, consultant to TEAM Westport; Bernicestine Macleod Bailey, TEAM member, Weston playwright David Wiltse, Harold Bailey, chair of TEAM Westport, and Simmons. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Brown University President Guest of Westport Multiculturalism Group
Ruth J. Simmons, president of Brown University, was special guest today at a meeting of TEAM (Together Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism) Westport at Town Hall. Simmons has been president of the university since 2000 and is the first African American to lead an Ivy League institution. She previously had been president of Smith College in Northampton, Mass. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
First Selectwoman Addresses Siting Council
Westport First Selectwoman Diane Goss Farrell addresses today’s Town Hall meeting of the Connecticut Siting Council as it considered a request to raise the height of a town-owned communications tower on Bayberry Lane. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Connecticut Siting Council Considers Bayberry Lane Tower Expansion
Members of the Connecticut Siting Council visit the Bayberry Lane tower site today. The balloon indicates new tower height. WestportNow.com photoThe Connecticut Siting Council met in Westport today to consider an application to increase by about 50 feet the height of a town-owned communications tower on Bayberry Lane.
If approved, the tower will provide improved cell phone coverage, better emergency radio communications, and enhanced coverage for the Staples High School radio station, according to the Westport Fire Department.
Members of the council met at the tower, adjacent to the Westport-Weston Health District, to inspect the site and see a balloon simulating the requested increase.
They then headed to an afternoon and evening public hearing at Town Hall.
According to Eric Fine, a Westport Fire Department communications specialist, the tower height would increase from its present 100 feet to 150 feet and would actually involve constructing a new tower adjacent to the present one.
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Firefighters Quickly Douse Fire in Crawl Space
A Hillspoint Road homeowner who started a fire in her fireplace got an unexpected surprise when it spread to a crawl space under her house.
Responding Westport firefighters had to follow a circuitous route to find the flames before dousing them.
Assistant Chief Gene Maloney said the homeowner reported she started a fire in her first floor living room fireplace Wednesday and later smelled smoke while on the third floor.
“The homeowner returned to the first floor, saw fire coming from the floor in the area immediately in front of the fireplace hearth and dialed 911,” Maloney said.
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Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Thursday, March 18, 2004
2 p.m. - Town Hall Auditorium - Connecticut Siting Council public hearing
2:30 p.m. - Town Hall Room 309 - TEAM Westport
7:30 p.m. - Town Hall Auditorium - Planning & Zoning Commission
Leaman: No Town Traffic Study Planned for YMCA Mahackeno Site
Selectman Carl Leaman, filling for First Selectwoman Diane Goss Farrell, told today’s citizens brown bag lunch the town has no current plans to do a traffic study of the area around the Camp Mahackeno site the Westport-Weston YMCA says will be its new home.
Leaman was responding to a question from Candice Savin, a resident of the Mahackeno area who said neighbors of the sprawling YMCA property were concerned about increased traffic that would result if the Y relocated from its longtime downtown facility.
“It’s something the town might consider, but we have not been asked to do anything (regarding a traffic study),” Leaman said.
News reports in recent days have said that the Y has finally decided to relocate to the Mahackeno site after outgrowing its 78,000-square foot headquarters at the corner of Post Road East and Main Street which it has occupied since 1923.
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The View From Room 309
This was the snowy view from Town Hall’s Room 309 during today’s Citizens Brown Bag lunch. Selectman Carl Leaman substituted for First Selectwoman Diane Goss Farrell who was off marching in Bridgeport’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. The bad weather also kept many regular attendees away from the weekly lunch. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Martha Stewarts Daughter: ғShe Feels Like Her Life Was Wasted
Westports Martha Stewart is “disappointed over feeling like her life was wasted” after being convicted for lying about a stock sale, her only child says.
“Everything she did is ignored over something that trivial, that maybe didn’t happen,” Alexis Stewart says in an interview on CNN’s “Larry King Live” to be broadcast today.
She said, in excerpts released by the network, that her mother is “incredibly saddened” by the verdict, delivered by a federal jury March 5.
She said a prison sentence would be “incredibly wrong,” but she predicted her mother would handle it well.
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Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
10:30 a.m. - Town Hall Room 201 - International Hospitality Committee
Noon - Town Hall Room 309/307 - Citizens Brown Bag Lunch
7 p.m. - Town Hall Auditorium - Conservation Commission
7:30 p.m. - Westport Library - Library Board
8 p.m. - Town Hall Room 309 - RTM Education Committee
Main Street Looks Like Christmas
Westport’s Main Street looked more like a Christmas scene tonight than the eve of St. Patrick’s Day and four days before spring. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Spring is Only Four Days Away
By early evening, a few hours after today’s snow began, the scene across the Saugatuck River looked more like mid-winter than four days before the start of spring. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Westport Country Playhouse Announces 74th Summer Season in Ridgefield
With its home undergoing renovation and modernizing, the Westport Country Playhouse is on the road this summer in Ridgefield and today announced its reduced two-play season as well as a special six-evening performance by Paul Newman in a play about a blacklisted writer.
Running from June 24 to July 11 at the Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies and
the Performing Arts will be “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me,” written by Frank McGuinness and directed by Ethan McSweeny.
The second play, which runs from July 29 to Aug. 15, is Moliere’s classic comedy “The School for Husbands.”
Details of the season were announced at a news conference in Ridgefield. (See photo on Arts & Leisure page.)
Set in 1980’s Beirut, Lebanon and inspired by a true story, “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” depicts the imprisonment of three Westerners in the Middle East and the bonds formed between them.
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Late Winter Snow
Today’s late winter snowstorm started out as a light dusting. The view is of the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Memorial Bridge looking west across the Saugatuck River. Schools dismissed early because of the storm, which forecasters said could dump four to seven inches on the area. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
Long Lots Road Head-On Collision Injures Two
A head-on collision today on Long Lots Road near the Fairfield County Hunt Club injured two persons. Westport EMS transported one of the drivers to the hospital in serious condition. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) Thom Burrows for WestportNow.com
Realtime NY Metro-area traffic reports from Traffic.com
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Westport Property Transfers May 6 - 10, 2013MORE >>
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What a joke! I hope the BOF does their job…
[Editor’s note: The following comment has been edited to delete…
Thanks Diane
No kidding? What a surprise!
approx. 5,0000 sq, ft, in two and one half stories…
Going Round and Round at SpinOdyssey
Video Update: Westport Family Y Struggles to Reopen
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Note: WestportNow Publisher Gordon F. Joseloff is also First Selectman of Westport