Westporter Marshall Mayer is executive director of Ukraine Aid International. The non-profit organization delivers humanitarian aid directly to war-torn locations in the eastern part of the nation.
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its 5th year, Westport’s sister city of Lyman continues to suffer, just miles from the Russian front. The connection between our towns was facilitated in the early days of the war by UAI’s founders, Mayer and his brother Brian. Marshall sends this report, from Kyiv.
Four years. That is the headline everywhere this week. Four years since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
But Ukraine has not been at war for 4 years. The world has noticed it for 4 years, but Ukraine has been at war for 12.
On February 20, 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and began its assault on Donetsk and Luhansk. Long before the cameras arrived in Kyiv in 2022, Ukrainians were already fighting and dying for their sovereignty. The invasion did not begin when the world paid attention. It began when Russia decided Ukraine did not have the right to exist as a free nation.
For me, this war became personal in July 2014. A friend was aboard Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 when it was shot down over Donetsk by a Russian-provided missile. Two hundred ninety-eight people were killed. He was one of them. That was not geopolitics. It was personal.
Marshall Mayer in Lyman, Ukraine — Westport’s sister city.
In 2022, as the world finally woke up, we founded Ukraine Aid International. Our mission was straightforward: focus resources on the communities most devastated by war, particularly those near the front line. In the 4 years since we have worked in towns that rarely make headlines, but endure shelling, blackouts, floods, and rebuilding in constant cycles.
We have lost friends. Volunteer friends. Soldier friends. Civilian friends. Far more than anyone should lose at my age.
And yet what stays with me most is not only loss, but resilience.
In Ukraine, life insists on continuing. A couple on a first date in an underground bar. Office workers eating lunch by the river in summer. A husband waiting at a train station with flowers. Even on the edge of war, people choose love, culture, family and future.
Hope amid devastation, in Lyman, Ukraine.
There is endless talk about negotiations and concessions. But what concession is owed to an army bent on destruction? In years of fighting, Russia has measured gains in feet, not miles. “Three days to Kyiv” failed. Ukraine’s integration with Europe continues. Every day Ukraine survives is a victory.
When this ends, however it ends, Ukraine will emerge stronger than anyone expects. Russia will emerge weakened. Because Russia fights for land. Ukraine fights for love. Love of its children, its language, its history, its dignity.
For Ukraine, there is no plan B.
That energy is why we are still here. We support Ukraine because the moral line is clear. This is a fight between destruction and self-determination. Between domination and dignity.
On Thursday, March 5 at 7:00pm, we invite you to stand with Ukraine in a different way. Join us at the Westport Country Playhouse for “Keys for Resilience,” a benefit concert supporting Connecticut’s sister cities in Ukraine, featuring Ukrainian pianist Ruslan Ramazanov and Ukrainian-American soprano and bandurist Teryn Kuzma.
Ruslan rebuilt his life in the United States after the full-scale invasion, and now performs and teaches in Boston. Teryn, a Connecticut native, brings both her radiant soprano voice and the 55-string Ukrainian bandura to the stage. Together they will perform works by Chopin, Prokofiev, Brahms, Debussy, Gershwin, and Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk.
Last weekend, 75,673 fans packed Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It was opening day for MLS team LAFC, and they were there to see Lionel Messi — arguably still the world’s greatest soccer player — who plays for Inter Miami.
In 4 months, the World Cup comes to North America. Someone — probably not Messi, now 38 years old — will be hailed as the best soccer player on the planet.
In 1979, Johan Cruyff was the world’s greatest player. His Netherlands team had finished second (to West Germany and Argentina) at the 2 previous World Cups. He had signed a few months earlier with the North American Soccer League’s Los Angeles Aztecs.
And one September Sunday that year, Cruyff came to Greens Farms Academy.
(Photo courtesy of Mike Carey)
It was not a random event. Jan Brouwer — a noted Dutch coach — had been brought to the US by Bart van den Brink and a group of Dutch ex-pats, to spread the gospel of “Total Soccer” (the small nation’s whirling style of play) to our shores.
Van den Brink lived in Westport. He rented a house here for Brouwer.
Greens Farms Academy was filled for that day of exhibition games and clinics. Soccer fans came from across the tri-state region to see Cruyff.
I was just starting my coaching career, and doing some writing for the Total Soccer group, about their work.
After the GFA event I was invited back to van den Brink’s house, less than a mile away off Greens Farms Road.
Johan Cruyff
They arranged an American-style picnic for Cruyff. I spent a couple of hours with him and other Dutch stars for the New York Cosmos.
It was a fun afternoon, for a 20-something soccer coach and fan. He talked easily and openly about his life, his sport, his country and mine.
It was also amazing to watch Cruyff chain-smoke cigarettes. He lit the next one from the one he was still smoking.
And he did it the entire time, until dusk fell and he left.
Johan Cruyff — the world’s greatest soccer player, and the star of a now-forgotten day in Westport soccer history — died in 2016. He was 68.
The cause was lung cancer.
EXTRA TIME: Cruyff was not the only superstar to visit Greens Farms Academy for a soccer event.
The Cosmos — owned by Warner Communications, whose #2 executive, Jay Emmett, lived on nearby Prospect Road — came one spring day, for an exhibition match against the University of Connecticut.
Giorgio Chinaglia — the Cosmos’ mercurial striker — played the entire game wearing sweatpants.
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MoCA\CT was packed last night, for the opening of its “Art, Jazz + the Blues” exhibition.
The sprawling show explores the intersections between visual art and 2 musical forms deeply rooted in African American traditions.
Westport artists are well represented, with many works drawing from the rich holdings of the Westport Public Art Collections. The centerpiece is “Giants of the Blues,” 7 large pieces by Eric von Schmidt depicting scores of influential artists, from the jazz, blues and folk worlds. It has hung for 20 years in auditorium lobby at Staples High School — von Schmidt’s alma mater — but at MoCA can be seen and appreciated much more grandly.
The exhibition also includes art by high school students, responding to a prompt about music in their lives and culture.
The opening reception featured remarks by von Schmidt’s daughter, and piano entertainment by Westport resident and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s original keyboardist, Mark Naftalin.
MoCA\CT executive director Robin Jaffee Frank (far left) and others involved in the “Art, Jazz + the Blues” exhibit. One of Eric von Schmidt’s 7 works hangs at the right. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Also last night: a reception honoring Bill Harmer’s 10 years as executive director of the Westport Library.
Former board of trustees chairs spoke about his work transforming the institution into Connecticut’s only 5-star library. In his remarks, Harmer praised the trustees, his staff, and the community for their collaborative work, and promised even deeper relationships in the future.
The event was held at The Visual Brand studio on Church Lane, where Harmer and other Library officials spent a great deal of time during the Library’s actual physical transformation in the late 2010s.
Bill Harmer, at his 10-year reception. (Photo/Dan Woog)
The only agenda item for next month’s meeting (March 3, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall auditorium) is “to hold a public discussion to support the Town Administration in its Cribari Bridge discussions with the State of Connecticut Department of Transportation, with the intent to adopt a sense of the meeting resolution.”
Cohl Katz is a hair stylist and makeup artist to the stars.
Her client list runs, literally, from A (Al Green, Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Arnold Schwarzenegger) to Z (Zelda Williams).
With Barbara Bush, Bob Dylan, Cal Ripken, Cindy Crawford, Ellen DeGeneres, Hillary Clinton, Hilary Swank, Jerry Seinfeld, John McEnroe, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mary Tyler Moore, Mel Gibson, Mick Jagger, Muhammad Ali, Nicole Kidman, Ray Charles, Robin Williams, Rod Stewart, Rosie O’Donnell, Sting and Tom Cruise in between.
Now, it can include you.
In your home.
Cohl is offering house calls throughout the area.
Haircuts, hair style, makeup, makeup lessons; for weddings, big moments, perhaps a TV appearance or speech — she’s ready for it all.
You don’t need a red carpet to welcome Cohl. Just a front door.
Text 917-848-9596 for an appointment, or more information.
Cohl Katz and a client …
… and now Cohl comes to you.
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The Staples High School Counseling Department helps students find the right college.
On March 5, they’re bringing in a big gun to help.
Higher education expert Jeff Selingo will speak on “Dream School: Finding The College That’s Right For You” (book signing 5:30 p.m., presentation 6 p.m., followed by Q-and-A).
Selingo’s previous book, “Who Gets In and Why,” explored decision-making by university admissions offices. His latest, “Dream School,” shifts the focus toward student agency. The presentation will encourage families to move beyond selectivity, and evaluate colleges through the lenses of fit, value, and long-term outcomes.
Our Public Works Department did the heavy lifting after Monday’s blizzard.
But there’s still work to be done — including 24 miles of sidewalks.
This was the scene yesterday, on Hillspoint Road.
(Photo) Tracy Porosoff)
They’re doing a great job.
But they sure wouldn’t mind if residents with shovels lent a hand outside their own homes, too.
PS: Speaking of snow removal, Billy Cohen sends great thanks to Westport Police Chief David Farrell, for making sure that mounds of snow have been removed from the main (southbound side) parking lot at the Saugatuck train station. (The Westport Police are in charge of parking lots at the Westport and Greens Farms stations.)
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Speaking of Monday’s snowfall: It kept attendance down on Tuesday, at a morning Westport Library event.
But Allan Siegert was there. And he wants “06880” readers to know what they missed. He writes:
“Can AI ever replicate the magic of human actors on a real set? That is what Westport’s own Stéphanie Szostak, who played fashion editor Jacqueline Follet opposite Meryl Streep in ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ and starred in ‘Iron Man 3’ and ‘A Million Little Things,’ asked AI entrepreneur Eline van der Velden.
“Szostak is a working actress who has lived the experience. van der Velden is trying to recreate through AI, and she wanted to know if it’s even possible.
“Szostak said the finished product may look similar, but the process is fundamentally different. On a real set, she said, it’s the happy accidents, the unplanned collaboration, and the raw human energy between actors that create the magic. She said no prompt can engineer that.
“Van der Velden pushed back, saying filming motion capture for Tilly actually feels more raw and free than a traditional set, less choreographed, more like a rehearsal room, where the focus shifts entirely to craft and energy rather than appearance.
“But Van der Velden acknowledged there will always be a place for 100% human productions — just as filmmakers still shoot on film in a digital age.”
Stephanie Szostak, at the Westport Library. (Photo/Allan Siegert)
Siegert also reports: “Enslaved people in Revolutionary War-era Connecticut faced a choice with no good answer: fight for Patriots who offered no real promise of freedom, or flee to the British side and risk being sold to the brutal Caribbean slave trade if caught.
“That stark dilemma was brought to life yesterday morning by historian Ramin Ganeshram, speaking to the Y’s Men of Westport & Weston.
“Ganeshram — executive director of the Westport Museum for History & Culture, and a George Washington Presidential Library Fellow, noted that enslaved people first arrived in Connecticut in 1639. Many had roots here going back 3 or 4 generations by the time the war began.”
Ramin Ganeshram, at the Y’s Men meeting. (Photo/Ted Horowitz)
A celebration of the life of Jon Gailmor — the 1966 Staples High School graduate and beloved musician/educator/humanist who died November 30 — is set for May 23, from 1 to 6 p.m.
The setting is appropriate: the statehouse lawn in Montpelier, Vermont. He lived in the Green Mountain State for 40 years, and was named an official state treasure for his work with students, and his love for Vermont.
And finally … Eric von Schmidt was not just a very talented painter. He’s included in MoCA\CT’s “Art, Jazz + The Blues” exhibition as a blues and folk singer too, who made a big impact on a young Bob Dylan.
In fact, Dylan name-checks von Schmidt — and talks at length about him — on “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down,” in his debut album. Click here or below to listen.
(Another day, another Roundup, full of news, info and photos. If you like this daily dump of stuff — which takes a ton of time to produce! — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Lee Shufro moved to Westport in 2020. He serves on the executive boards of the Westport Youth Commission and Downtown Merchants Association. He is also a Rec Basketball coach. (His last year of organized basketball was the Stamford High School freshman team.)
As March Madness approaches, Lee shoots the lights out with this paean to his passion. He writes:
Rec basketball holds a place dear to my heart. It is part of the mosaic that makes Westport such a great town.
Westport’s Park & Recreation Department operates the program, under the stewardship of Max Robbins.
Since 2019, he has done it all: promotion, registration, recruitment of commissioners and coaches, securing game officials, procurement of uniforms, creating practice and game schedules, and organizing the end-of-season events.
Fun is an important part of Rec Basketball.
The program includes pre-K and 1st- grade clinics, plus competitive leagues from 2nd grade through high school for boys and girls (though girls have not had a high school league since 2018).
This year there are 1,081 players — about 20% of all eligible students.
The program depends on adult volunteers. 174 have volunteered this year, mostly as coaches and league commissioners. As in other youth sports leagues, parents make the engine run.
I salute all the players’ parents. You schlep to schools for pick-ups and drop-offs. You go to games intending just to watch, but you are cajoled into sitting at the scorer’s table, keeping track of fouls or maintaining the scoreboard. Thank you! It truly does take a village.
Parents are part of the Rec Basketball village.
For the kids, it’s more than just a game. Their leagues became a social ecosystem. Post-draft Snapchats flow when kids find out who is on their team (and which one was “stacked”).
During the season they walk the halls, high-fiving a teammate who just scored their first basket or made a clutch free- throw.
Lunch tables buzz with game discussions, analyzed like an NBA finals game 7.
With 5 elementary schools feeding into 2 middle schools, and then into Staples, Rec Basketball serves as a bonding experience where everyone knows each other.
Rec’s formal rules, honed over decades, enshrine fundamental tenets of sportsmanship and equity.
First and most importantly: Everyone plays an equal amount of time. Rather than weed players out, Rec encourages players of all skill levels to participate. From the best players (often on travel teams) to kids who just like to hoop it up in their driveway, everyone plays the same. This rule is sacrosanct.
Playing …
Second: Great pains are taken to ensure the teams are fair. Leagues work together to draft players, so each team (at least on paper) is equal. That’s why we have tryouts – to evenly place players, for balanced rosters. Coaches want fun, fair and even contests.
All league regular season games are played for tournament seeding — which brings us to March Madness.
It’s the culmination of months of practice, and what distinguishes Westport’s league from other towns.
It is more than just a post-season tournament. Parks & Rec creates an entire format of fun games and experiences. From knock-out to 3-point tournaments, there is an activity for everyone.
After each team is eliminated, they get a mini-pizza party in the cafeteria. And of course, a champion is crowned. Queue up the “One Shining Moment” song!
… and warming up. (All photos courtesy of Lee Shufro)
I’ve been a volunteer coach since I moved to Westport in 2020 (my first season was post-Covid). Being a coach is one of the ways I’ve been welcomed to the town.
The season is long, stretching from mid-November tryouts to the championship in early March. Over the years, I’ve spent many hours in gyms rating players. I’ve huddled with other coaches at Viva Zapata, drafting players with spreadsheets rivaling those found on Wall Street.
I’ve sent countless emails to parents to “remember to bring water to the game,” with play-by-play game stories. It’s been a true labor of love.
If I may speak for all players, coaches and parents: Just like all youth sports, it has been a massive commitment — but well worth it, on and off the court.
Many times I’ve been in a restaurant when a parent says hi, and thanks me for coaching their son years ago. I’ve formed bonds with other coaches, as we post game results and smooth over any issues via text chat. I’ve coached alongside other parents for years, building a rivalry that exists only in my head.
Lastly and most importantly, Rec Basketball has given me a platform to bond with my son.
We’ve been through it all. It’s crazy. but one of my fondest memories of Westport is his 5th grade team’s run to the Final Four as the last seed.
With March Madness quickly approaching, the Rec season will come to its close.
As my son enters Staples next year, this merry-go-round will eventually stop. We will both graduate Rec Basketball. We will turn the page on another chapter of his childhood.
Goodbye and goodnight, Rec Basketball. I love thee!
(“06880” regularly covers Westport kids’ activities — and their parents’ too. If you appreciate our hyper-local, 24/7/365 focus, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Dashboard and body camera footage has been released of the Merritt Parkway accident in Westport last July, involving WWE co-founder Vince McMahon.
Driving northbound near Exit 20 (formerly Exit 41) at a speed of 110 to 115 miles an hour, the 79-year-old Greenwich resident slammed his Bentley Continental GT into the back of a BMW. He caromed off a guardrail, then continued driving before a Connecticut state trooper pulled him over.
The WWE owner told the officer he was in a hurry to get to his granddaughter’s birthday.
He received a misdemeanor summons for reckless driving and following too closely, and was released at the scene on a $500 bond. In October, he was granted accelerated rehabilitation for one year, on the condition he make a charitable contribution.
Click here or below to see the accident, and the aftermath with the state trooper. (Hat tip: Sal Liccione)
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds into its 4th year, a special event will raise funds for besieged towns.
One of those is Lyman — Westport’s sister city. It was the first of several established by Ukraine Aid International, the not-for-profit founded by Westport brothers Brian and Marshall Mayer. UAI provides humanitarian aid to Ukrainian communities near the Russian border.
Next Thursday (March 5, 7 p.m.,), “Keys of Resilience” brings Ukrainian pianist Ruslan Ramazanoy to the Westport Country Playhouse. He rebuilt his life in the US following the 2022 invasion, and is now a faculty member witht the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
He’ll offer interpretations of masters like Brahms, Chopin, Liszt and Gershwin, and introduce the audience to contemporary Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk.
In addition, Connecticut-born Ukrainian-American soprano Teryn Kuzma — a 4th-generation bandurist — will play the 55-stringed harp-zither.
Congratulations to the Staples High School boys basketball team.
Last night they routed a strong Ridgefield squad 67-49, to complete the regular season 20-0.
That remarkable run includes 15 FCIAC (league) wins), and victories over non-league Wilbur Cross-New Haven, Ramapo, Archbishop Molloy, Taconic and Scarsdale Highs. The latter 4 are out-of-state teams.
The closest contest was 53-51, over Fairfield Ludlowe. Two weeks ago, the Wreckers handled then-undefeated Trumbull by 18 points. Every other win too was by double digits.
Coach Dave Goldshore and his senior-laden ballers begin the FCIAC tournament this Saturday (February 28), with a 1:45 p.m. tipoff at Staples.
Coach Tommy Sparks’ girls team — who suffered only 2 losses in league play this year — are the first part of that FCIAC quarterfinal doubleheader. Their game starts at noon.
Jennaty Med Spa — a boutique medical aesthetics and wellness spa — has just opened on the 2nd floor at 991 Post Road East (across from Starbucks).
It was cofounded by 2 nurses. They wanted to create “a private, concierge style wellness space, where patients feel genuinely cared for.”
They focus on IV hydration and wellness therapy, advanced injectables (Botox, dermal fillers), regenerative treatments and personalized aesthetic consultations.
The atmosphere is “intimate, elevated, and designed to feel more like a private wellness lounge than a traditional med spa.” Jennaty believes in “natural results, ethical practice, and long-term relationships with our clients.”
PS: The name comes from the nicknames of the 2 founders: Jennifer Velazquez and Natalia Cardona.
Jennaty Med Spa founders: Jen and Naty.
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Club203 — Westport’s social group for adults with disabilities — celebrates “the green” (aka St. Patrick’s Day) at a very appropriate place: Green’s Farms Church.
The March 9 event (6:30 to 8 p.m.) includes Irish-themed bites by Lyfe Cafê, live Irish favorites from Peter Kozak, and sweet green treats by Avery Horne.
Westport Police made 2 custodial arrests, between February 18 and 24.
An 18-year-old Meriden man was charged with larceny, theft of a payment card, charging less than $500 on a stolen/revoked payment card, and identity theft, following theft of a wallet from a car that was in an unlocked garage, with the garage door open. He was released on a $50,000 bond.
A 71-year-old Westport man was charged with operating under the influence and evading responsibility, following a motor vehicle accident in the Riko’s Pizza parking lot. He was released on a $1,500 bond.
Westport Police also issued these citations:
Texting while driving: 7 citations
Failure to renew registration: 5
Traveling unreasonably fast: 3
Failure to obey stop sign: 3
Speeding in a school zone, 2nd offense: 1
Failure to remove snow/ice from roof:
Tinted glass violation: 1
Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 1
Failure to comply with state traffic commission regulations: 1
Failure to obey traffic control signals 1.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: It’s not just courteous to remove snow and ice from your vehicle’s roof. It’s the law!
And finally … the item about Vince McMahon (above) brought to mind:
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Yulee Aronson is a licensed professional engineer, with 40 years of construction management and project controls experience, overseeing many high-profile and complex projects. He says, “I have never encountered a construction problem that couldn’t be overcome.”
Locally, Aronson has worked on the earlier renovation of the Cribari Bridge; the new Staples High School, and the chlorination building at the wastewater pollution facility. Other projects include Penn Station access, the reconstruction of La Guardia Airport, and the Baltimore Potomac Tunnel replacement. He writes:
I’d like to begin by the thanking the Representative Town Meeting for Tuesday’s Zoom meeting, and having an open and respectful discussion regarding the upcoming Connecticut Department of Transportation project that will affect most of us living in Westport for many years to come.
Also, I thank 1st Selectman Kevin Christie and State Representative Jonathan Steinberg for participating, and sharing their thoughts.
Over the course of my career I’ve been involved in many bridge rehabilitation and replacement projects.
Yulee Aronson
The Bridge Street Bridge, as it was called then, was my first. I wasn’t involved in the beginning phase, when a temporary bridge was built and the existing bridge was replaced.
I was involved in the second phase: raising the newly constructed bridge, and removing the temporary one.
For context and in response to some of the comments Tuesday night: The original bridge wasn’t built lower before it was raised, as some may remember thinking at the time.
It certainly felt that way if you traveled under it in a kayak.
The reason is a difference in the structural design. The original historic bridge was supported by floor beams resting on trusses. The floor beams ran north/south, and kayakers could travel between them during high tide.
When the bridge was replaced, the trusses no longer served any practical purpose. They were installed as a decorative feature, to preserve the historic look of the bridge.
Instead, deep girders were installed in an east/west direction, denying kayakers access during high tide.
Westporters complained and protested, calling for bridge openings 10 times a day until the state agreed to raise the structure. Now here we are again.
I evaluated proposals by the state as they relate to the proposed bridge elevations. They are:
It appears that the state proposes to elevate the bridge 10 feet, to keep the machinery above the 100-year flood elevation, either on alignment or offset.
What “on alignment” means
The distance between the intersection with Riverside Ave and the west abutment is 45 feet+/-. Even if the grade was flat (and it is not), to go up 10 feet in 45 feet, you’d need 22% slope. So, elevating the bridge “on alignment” is not a real option.
Elevating the bridge off alignment may look like the old temporary bridge.
Temporary bridge (left), during early 1990s renovation of what was then called the Bridge Street Bridge.
If the new bridge follows similar alignment, why does it need to be movable?
Forty years ago, the bridge was replaced in open position. So for several years marine traffic passed under the temporary bridge. Regulators, including the Coast Guard, permitted this.
I was not involved in the permitting process, and I don’t recall the height of the temporary bridge, but it wasn’t nearly as tall as the one carrying I-95 traffic.
There are issues with this option as well. Is there availability of land to build the bridge as shown in the photo? And how do we address impacts to wetlands on the northeast side. There are other potential environmental challenges too.
Marc Lemcke is a Westport resident, and a close observer of Aquarion.
Yesterday, he attended a hearing in Hartford on the proposed sale of the water utility. He writes:
You’re driving a bus at 110 miles an hour, when you see a wall in front of you. You cannot stop. Everyone on board knows: This will not end well.
Yesterday’s hearing before the Connecticut Energy and Technology Committee felt like that.
The proposed $2.6 billion sale of Aquarion Water Company to the Regional Water Authority carries enormous risk — and committee members know it.
The “bus driver” is committee co-chair Jonathan Steinberg, Westport’s state representative.
He is probably the least to blame, having warned early about the risks. Yet all eyes are on him, to see whether he can avert what could become a disaster.
The odds are squarely against him. Here’s why.
Hartford’s rushed enabling legislation, passed in an emergency session in 2024, created the state’s largest public agency. It would be financed entirely through $2.6 billion in debt. Not partially. Entirely.
Aquarion reported net income of just $33 million in 2023, according to the Connecticut Mirror. That’s the math.
The state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) rejected the deal.
However, the Superior Court found that PURA misapplied the statute — essentially ruling that the regulator must operate within the legislature’s framework, not independently of it.
Next week, PURA — with newly appointed commissioners — will issue a revised draft decision and may approve the deal, pointing to the 2024 enabling legislation.
To be clear: at a lower price, this deal could offer many advantages for Westport ratepayers. RWA has strong water quality, is innovative, and serves customers rather than investors.
Meanwhile, the town focuses heavily on Aquarion’s property tax payments — which we fund through our water bills, and which will decline over time under public ownership.
The sale of Aquarion is a textbook example of what journalist Dan Davies calls an “accountability sink” — a situation in which responsibility is diffused across complex systems, making it nearly impossible to determine who is accountable when Aquarion is in trouble.
Much now rests with Representative Steinberg. At the end of a long legislative career, he finds himself again at the center of Connecticut’s utility universe — driving a bus carrying more than 200,000 passengers.
We can only wish ourselves luck — and start preparing for much higher water bills, while considering more water-friendly gardens. That may not be entirely bad.
(“06880” Opinion pages are open to all. Submissions may be sent to 06880blog@gmail.com.)
First responders were on high alert too. They were ready for anything, and everything.
As soon as the snow stopped falling, firefighters fanned out. They began shoveling around hydrants. It’s a job residents should do — but our Fire Department makes certain it gets done.
Here’s a typical scene, from Center Street:
(Photo/Bob Weingarten)
Bottom line: We knew there would be a blizzard.
It came.
But thanks to our amazing Highway Department, DPW and Fire Department, we’re already back close to normal.
Our entire town’s hats are off to you, for your amazing work.
Now get some rest!
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PS: This just in from Kevin Desjardins, moments before we posted the story above:
“I’d like to nominate all the people who have taken time to plow a path (no matter how small) along the sidewalks in front of their houses.
“While residents are not obligated to do so, this act of kindness for the community is greatly appreciated, and provides temporary safe walking conditions until the DPW crews can finish clearing the sidewalks.
“It’s acts like these that make me feel like 🎶 We’re all in this together 🎶…. even if it is just my morning commute to work!”
Myrtle Avenue sidewalk. (Photo/Kevin Desjardins)
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