Three people have mentioned it in the past 2 days, so it’s worth passing along:
One side effect of the economic downturn is severely reduced traffic on I-95 and the Merritt. Morning or afternoon rush hour; northbound or southbound — it’s like a sleepy Sunday morning.
Be careful what you wish for.
If you search hard enough, everything in the world has a Westport connection.
Even Satchel Paige.
Tomorrow at 7 p.m., Craig “Doc” Davidson — who in 1970 was thrown off the Staples baseball team for long hair — will show his new documentary, “Pitching Man,” at the Westport Library. A celebration of the legendary Negro League pitcher who became a Major League rookie at 42, the film’s never-before-seen images add power to an already compelling story.
Included too is an interview Doc did with Paige shortly before his death in 1982.
“Pitching Man” builds on Doc’s previous effort, “There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace.” That video — narrated by James Earl Jones — is a broader look at baseball before Jackie Robinson. It has become a staple of PBS fundraising. Doc jokes, “I never made it into the Hall of Fame. But my film did.”
Making his films, Doc grew impressed with the perserverance of Negro League players, against tremendous obstacles. He also learned that, rare for the era, Paige made money. During World War II he was the highest paid player in the country — black or white.
This film’s audience, Doc says, is “baseball lovers; anyone who adores history, and kids and parents.” Because baseball is, Doc notes, “the great melting pot,” those numbers are huge. When he told a few Westport Little League dads about tomorrow’s showing, one said, “Great! My son loves Satchel Paige.”
The library will provide free peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Take that, Citi Field!
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Posted in Library, People, Sports
Tagged Craig "Doc" Davidson, Negro Leagues, Satchel Paige, Westport, Westport Library
Saturday’s “Community Conversation” was rich and insightful. Dozens of Westporters — executives, students, retirees, town employees, educators, you name it — spent hours exploring the skills Westport youngsters will need to live personally and professionally fulfilling lives.
Debate was intense, but participants felt stimulated and empowered. They left the event eager to help our schools, families, and religious and civic institutions work together to meet the immense challenges of the future.
I heard only one complaint. A participant said: “Our 21st century conversation had a 19th century result. When all the groups came together, we wrote our ideas on a flip chart.”
If only someone had videotaped the event, then posted it online for the world to see. Or podcasted it. Or created a “Community Conversation blog,” so all those superb ideas could be shared and spread.
It’s a shame such a great event was lost to history. The future belongs to the young, but the conversation is everyone’s.
Posted in Education, People, Westport life
Do not read this if you are a commercial real estate owner. Or if you are prone to depression.
Especially do not read this if you are a commercial real estate owner prone to depression.
A friend recently said there were 26 vacant storefronts in downtown Westport. Despite the economy, I thought that was high. I decided to see for myself.
The good news is: He’s wrong. The bad news is: He’s not off by much.
“Downtown” is an amorphous concept, but if you consider it as Main Street and environs, here’s what I found.
Across the Post Road Bridge, near Riverside Avenue, both Little Tibet and The Stuart Collection have closed. There is a “retail/restaurant” available sign near the Inn at National Hall, while in the other direction King’s Texaco has serviced its last vehicle.
A “Prime Retail” sign sits in the window of the old library (now HSBC Bank). Katzenberg Kafe on Main Street is gone; so is the spot next to Ann Taylor and, just past always-thriving Westport Pizzeria, both the old Soup’s On and the former Clementine.
The entire odd 4-story building at 125 Main Street — a vertical mall erected after a furniture store fire 30 years ago, and which never took hold in horizontal Westport — is completely closed.
Swezey’s Jewelers — site of the best Christmas window in town — is long gone. Behind Talbot’s on Parker Harding Plaza, a sign advertises “Space Available.” A similar sign hangs in front of Cocoa Michelle (though that upscale coffee/chocolate shop thrives).
Over in Sconset Square, we’re down both a jewelry store and a cabinet/countertop maker.
The storefront next to La Villa Restaurant is vacant; across from the post office, Sang’s Tailoring is shut. A few steps west, Beautiful Faces is empty. Particularly sad is the old Town Hall, the handsome stone building next to Restoration Hardware. A bank — actually, a few banks — used to operate there. Now the only sign of life is a “Welcome to Westport” banner out front.
The rest of town fares no better. In Playhouse Square, Derma Clinic has given its final facial. Heading east, Totally Kool is totally closed. Across the street, tumbleweeds blow across the empty asphalt of both Curran Cadillac and Shaw’s — plus nearby Everything Personalized, the Kodak photo place, and a third store I can’t even recall.
There is one vacancy in the Calise’s strip mall, another where Gallerie Je Reviens used to be. Carvel will never close, but the business next to the Great American Stamp Store behind it did.
Just past Bertucci’s, Sports Collectables and another store could not make it. Retail space is available in the Crate & Barrel shopping center, and where Green’s Farms Variety used to be.
Pane Vino restaurant closed recently; the old Pepper Mill property remains undeveloped. Across from Super Stop & Shop, an empty storefront snoozes next to Sleepy’s.
Circling back toward downtown, through Saugatuck, Conte’s restaurant is vacant. So is part of Bridge Square, the poster shop on Riverside Avenue, a store across from the railroad station, and a large space next to the AAA.
What a list — talk about a buzzkill. So, to avoid starting off your week on a down note, consider a few signs of life:
Crumbs Bakery will soon dispense scrumptious cupcakes (for dessert after dinner at nearby Matsu Sushi?). Joe Arcudi’s square pizza returns to its old stomping ground. A flotation therapy spa opens in May downtown.
Or take an even broader view: With all that empty space, now’s the perfect time to make your move.
Two days ago, an “06880” reader suggested lowering the driving age to 14.
Here’s another thought: Make ’em walk.
It’s not my idea. I stole it from the New York Times, which reported on a town in Italy that eliminated most school buses and parent drivers. Instead, paid staff members and parent volunteers lead lines of walking students to school — “Pied Piper-style, stopping here and there as their flock expands.”
The town’s “piedibuses” (the Italian sounds better than “foot buses”) have saved more than 100,000 miles of car travel, and prevented tons of greenhouses gases from entering the air.
Here in the U.S. a few places — Marin County and Boulder, go figure — have introduced modest “walking-bus programs,” but the concept is foreign to most of us.
Westport — home of the first plastic bag ordinance east of the Mississippi — would seem to be a perfect place to try. We could save gas, help the environment, unjam roads, amortize our sidewalks, promote fitness, give students more time to socialize, give parents more time to themselves, and (the big one) cut some buses out of our education budget.
Walking to school might lighten backpacks too. Kids today haul all their earthly possessions everywhere — more academic, less migratory versions of the Joad family.
The downside? Drivers still on the road — those hustling to work, or their workout appointments — would be freed up to speed up. Our streets are already riskier than Baghdad’s; adding hundreds of potential targets might not be the smartest idea to come down the pike.
On the other hand, it’s worth a try. Perhaps we can use the stimulus package to put Pied Pipers to work, leading ever-expanding flocks up and down North Avenue.
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Posted in Transportation, Westport life
Tagged drivers, driving, Economy, Environment, students, walking
Three decades ago, at home across from the Minuteman statue, Deej Webb read The Beautiful and the Damned. Suddenly he realized something amazing: F. Scott Fitzgerald was writing about Westport.
Not just any part of town, either. The classic 1922 novel described South Compo Road and Longshore, a few steps from where Deej sat.
Just 14 years old, he was “intoxicated and captured” by Fitzgerald’s images. Now the history department head at New Canaan High School, Deej’s historian’s brain is always perking. Sparked by a 1996 New Yorker article that confirmed The Beautiful‘s Westport geography — along with the theory that The Great Gatsby was also based here — he developed a presentation weaving modern technology with Jazz Age joie de vivre.
Sunday at the Westport Historical Society (3 p.m.), Deej will use Google Earth and PowerPoint to show local landmarks from Fitzgerald’s works. Included are 244 Compo Road South (F. Scott and Zelda’s rented house next to the Longshore entrance — and purported home of Gatsby narrator Nick Carraway); Longshore itself (Jay Gatsby’s mansion), and the E.T. Bedford estate (Tom and Daisy Buchanan’s place).
Fitzgerald spent just one summer in Westport. But that was long enough to influence two major works — and help give this place the “writer’s colony” brand that has endured for nearly a century.
Tomorrow Deej Webb and Google bring us back to the dawn of that era.
F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald in front of their rented South Compo Road home. (Photo courtesy of Westport Historical Society)
Posted in History, Looking back, People, Places
Tagged Beautiful and the Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Great Gatsby, Westport, Westport history
At Staples, Eric Meyer often did things his own way. But last summer, when a woman on his boat off the coast of Mexico suffered a life-threatening diving injury, Eric did everything by the book.
He was the only person among dozens — including the captain — who knew CPR. He helped save her life. And yesterday Eric was honored as a hero by the Mid-Fairfield County Chapter of the American Red Cross.
First selectman Gordon Joseloff introduced Eric’s video account of the rescue. Eric received a handsome glass figure, along with the prestigious Certificate of Merit signed by President Obama. In a speech to over 450 attendees, Eric talked eloquently about the importance of learning CPR.
Eric’s morning was well deserved. But for coolness, nothing beat 3 high-tech billboards looming over I-95. For a couple of weeks, Eric’s face smiled down on hundreds of thousands of drivers as they slogged along our highway from hell.
Eric was not always recognized in high school. Today he’s a hero who’s hard to miss.
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Posted in People, Staples HS, Teenagers
The telephone. The airplane. TV dinners.
Given enough time, man can dream up anything. But it takes a creative Westporter to think of this idea:
Lower the driving age to 14.
A middle-aged neighbor — who asked to remain nameless — has devised a new way to meld environmentalism and puberty.
“Everyone says kids are not responsible,” he explains. “I think we need to give them more responsibility.”
At a time when our entire nation needs to be more responsible — particularly if we want future generations to do things like drive and live — this Westporter suggests handing car keys to boys and girls a year after their bar or bat mitzvahs. Here’s the catch: They could not drive high-speed vehicles.
“America needs to produce new types of cars,” he says. “But manufacturers don’t think there’s a market for them. If we allow 14- and 15-year-olds to drive — but not let them on highways, or in cars that go over 45 miles an hour — we’ll expand the market. There’ll be a new sector for efficient, low-cost, locally driven cars.” One more buzzkill for young drivers: Their cars would be small enough to carry only one or two passengers.
The Westporter has a 14-year-old daughter. Would he actually let her get behind the wheel?
“Sure!” he says cheerfully. “She’d be a better driver than me tomorrow!”
He is a brave man indeed. Just not brave enough to allow his name to be printed publicly.
Posted in Teenagers, Transportation
Tagged drivers, drivers license, driving, Teenagers, Westport
A woman nearly earns the presidential nomination; an African American edges her out, and wins in a landslide. What’s next?
How about an Englishman running for first selectman?
That’s next, by Jove, after this week’s announcement from the Republican Town Committee. Gavin Anderson — two-term Board of Finance member, and long-time corporate finance director — is expected to win nomination when the RTC meets in July.
His running mate is likely to be Board of Education member Kristin LaFleur. That’s not ground-breaking — Jacqueline Heneage, Marty Hauhuth and Diane Farrell were female first selectmen; Betty Lou Cummings has served in the second spot, and Shelly Kassen is our current second selectman(woman)(person).
But a Brit — that’s one for the books.
Gavin Anderson is straight out of central casting. He stands tall and dignified; he speaks perfect English (in a perfect English accent), and makes key points with wry understatement.
His manners are courteous. His expected foe — first selectman Gordon Joseloff — is similarly calm and clear-headed.
Both men love Westport, and have served the town in many volunteer capacities. The incumbent was raised here; the challenger chose it years ago, after leaving his native land.
Whoever wins, Westport will not lose.
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Posted in Local politics
Tagged first selectman, Gavin Anderson, Gordon Joseloff, Local politics, Westport
Two students walked out of Staples’ production of “Twelve Angry Men.”
“I want to serve on a jury,” one said.
“I want to be a lawyer,” his friend replied.
That’s one story of the power of the legendary high school drama troupe’s production of the intense courtroom drama.
Here’s another: Earlier this week, the widow of Reginald Rose — the man who wrote the drama for television, then co-produced the movie version — bought a ticket for the Staples show. She could have seen dozens of productions of “Twelve Angry Men” over the years; she chose this one.
Photo by Kerry Long
One more story: designer Reid Thompson, a Staples grad, served jury duty several weeks ago. That experience shows, in the set’s superb yet stark details.
Now 50 years old, it’s hard to imagine Staples Players coming up with anything new. But they always do. This time it’s directors David Roth and Kerry Long’s innovative staging. The jury sits in the middle of the Black Box Theatre, surrounded on all sides by the audience . Blocking is challenging — but the result is both intimate and compelling.
“Twelve Angry Men”‘s final performances are tonight, tomorrow and Saturday (all 7:30 p.m.). Click here for more details and ticket information.
Posted in Staples HS, Teenagers
Tagged High school drama, Staples, Staples Players, Twelve Angry Men, Westport
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