By Phyllis Groner

Two Westporters who are leaders in the finance industry told a packed Westport Public Library audience tonight that the economy will only improve when public confidence is restored in the financial system.
Taking part in tonight’s Wall Street discussion at the Westport Library were (l-r) Marc Lasry, chairman and CEO of Avenue Capital Group, David Komansky, retired chairman of Merrill Lynch, and Jim Cooper, senior editor and economist at Business Week. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

“Confidence is what we need today,” said David Komansky, retired chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch.

Added Marc Lasry, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group, a New York-based distressed fund: “This is only going to stop when people stop being scared.”

Komansky said he had not had a chance to review in detail plans announced in Washington today by Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, to rescue the nation’s financial system but said he had already sensed things might be getting better.

Tonight’s Westport Public Library discussion about Wall Street and the economy had a standing room only audience. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

More than $60 million of Westport National Bank customers’ money was in an account that the bank had with Bernard L. Madoff shortly before he was arrested in December and charged with operating a global Ponzi scheme, The New York Times said in a story appearing in today’s editions.
New information reported about Westport National Bank’s links to Bernard Madoff. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com/file

None of the money belonged to the bank, a division of Connecticut Community Bank, but the account was in its name, the newspaper said. The bank has said it merely acted as a custodian for customers investing with Madoff.

Because the bank held an account with Madoff in its name, the true customers may not qualify for the federal securities insurance program that is expected to cushion investors’ losses, the Times quoted lawyers as saying.

The Times story for the first time identified the person who was the apparent link between the bank and Madoff.

UPDATE A list of the names of thousands of apparent customers of Bernard Madoff made public Wednesday included 40 with addresses in Westport.
The Westport National Bank was on a list filed in bankruptcy court as apparently having customers who had funds with Bernard Madoff. The bank has said it acted merely as a custodian for such customers. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com/file

However, many names are repeated, possibly because they had more than one type of account at the Madoff firm, which is in liquidation.

The 162-page filing made in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan doesn’t list the amount each client invested with the firm owned by the securities dealer allegedly involved in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

The chief compliance officer of Resnick Investment Advisors LLC in Westport, which is on the list, said in an e-mail that his firm isn’t directly invested with Madoff but received client statements “for clients of ours who ... were Madoff clients,” The Wall Street Journal said.

The Three Bears Restaurant, a Westport landmark since the early 1900s, has closed and a new restaurant, the Tiburon, has taken its place at the corner of Wilton Road and Newtown Turnpike.
The former Three Bears Restaurant is now the Tiburon Restaurant with new management and staff and a new menu. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

The sign was changed on Friday and came after Three Bears Restaurant Inc. filed for Chapter 7 voluntary bankruptcy on Oct. 1 at Federal Bankruptcy Court in Bridgeport. The Westport town Web site shows the restaurant owes more than $19,000 in real estate, personal property and motor vehicle taxes.

According to the Three Bears Web site,  original portions of the Three Bears are well over two centuries old, dating back to the restaurant’s earliest days as a stagecoach stop.

The restaurant history said the Three Bears “is Westport’s oldest eating place” and was originally called The Three Bears Tavern “until the repeal of Prohibition gave the word ‘tavern’ a new meaning.”

All is not gloom on the Westport retail front. After being vacant for about two years, the 11,000-square foot space once occupied by Genovese Drugs at 1076 Post Road East next to Barnes & Noble has been leased to Marshalls for a Shoe Megashop. The store is only the second standalone Shoe Megashop (the other is in Scarsdale) of a concept that is part of a number of Marshalls stores. It features designer name shoes at discount prices for kids, teens and adults. Opening is set for between March 15 and April 1. Parent TJX Companies also owns HomeGoods which opened on Post Road East near the Fairfield line in September in space formerly occupied by Toys ‘R’ Us. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

UPDATE The president of the Curran Cadillac Pontiac GMC auto dealership on Post Road East said today the business will stay open but lay off some employees as it struggles to survive in difficult economic times.
Jim Curran: There will be layoffs but his Westport auto dealership is not closing. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Jim Curran, in an e-mail message to WestportNow, did not explain why his sales manager said on Saturday that the dealership, which has been in operation at 561 Post Road East since 1964, would be closing its doors on Friday. (See WestportNow Jan. 25, 2009) Later in a telephone interview, he said: “I didn’t understand why he said that.”

“Curran Cadillac is not closing,” he said. “We are laying off additional employees by the end of this month,  but we will be open for service and sales.” There are 15 employees at the dealership.

“If we can’t make it as a GM store, we have been approached by several other automakers about the use of our site,” Curran said. “But our first choice is to keep it as it is—selling and servicing GM vehicles.”
—Dave Matlow contributed reporting for this story.

By Dave Matlow

UPDATE Is Curran Cadillac Pontiac GMC. an auto dealership mainstay on Post Road East since 1964, closing its doors this week, putting 15 employees out of work?
There was confusion about whether the Curran auto dealership at 561 Post Road East will close after 44 years. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Jim Curran, president of Curran at 561 Post Road East, messaged WestportNow late today that was not the case.  However, Sales Manager Chris Kusick said on Saturday that the dealership will close on Friday. He said it will continue to operate and do service through Wednesday.

“My dealership is NOT closing its doors as of this Wednesday,” Curran said, without explaining his sales manager’s remarks. He had been unavailable for comment on Saturday.

The Internet killed the family car business, said Kusick, a seven-year employee. “It’s become an online auction. (People) search for a price online and then have the service done locally.”