A few weeks ago, “06880” called this “the ugliest building in Westport”:
Today it looks like this:
“06880” takes back everything we said. This is no longer “the ugliest building in Westport.”
It’s now “the ugliest building in Westport with a new paint job.”
PS: “06880” won’t take credit for the makeover of the Quonset hut behind the Boat Locker, off North Maple Avenue. But we won’t deny we had something to do with it either.
In a town filled with gross parking lots, the one formerly known as Shaw’s stands out as particularly fugly. Now mostly empty, it’s even grimmer than usual.
So it’s heartening to see perky new landscaping near the entrance, where Everything Personalized used to squat. It’s not yet finished, and “06880” looks forward to watching this former patch of asphalt grow green.
We’d be happier without Outdoor Design’s self-congratulatory sign. And things will look better still when the vacant Shaw’s reopens as Fresh Market.
But hey. It’s a start. As we learned many times on line at Shaw’s: We can wait.
Posted in Local business, Places
You’re sure to hear more about it in the weeks ahead. But for now, save the date: Sunday, November 8, 7 p.m. at Town Hall.
That’s when Westporters can see a remarkable new film: “Years in the Making.” In just 66 minutes, it pays homage to Westport’s heritage as an arts colony. It honors 50 Westport and Weston artists, in mediums ranging from oil and charcoal to sculpture, photography and printmaking.
Jean Woodham, 81 (Photo by Kristin Rasich Fox)
But it does far more. All of the artists are over 70 — some well into their 90s. But as they talk about their art and their lives — their educations, their careers, their creative processes and the lessons they’ve learned from it all — they serve as inspirations for us all.
This is a film about Westport and art, sure, but it’s also about the power of passion, and the potential we all have to keep getting better at whatever we do, every day of our lives.
Filmmaker Martin West — with great help from Ann Chernow, Kristin Rasich Fox and Ada Lambert — has created a work that anyone can relate to, and everyone should see. There’s more to come — the finished product will include separate hour-long interviews and studio tours with each artist (50 DVDs in all) — but for now, mark your calendars for November 8.
“Years in the Making” has been years in the making — 90-plus, in some cases. The wait is definitely worth it.
(An exhibit of the 50 artists’ recent works runs through September 7 at the Westport Historical Society.)
The artistic hands of Howard Munce, 92 (Photo by Kristin Rasich Fox)
Posted in Arts
Tagged " Westport artists colony, "Years in the Making, Ann Chernow, Howard Munce, Jean Woodham, Martin West
(Photo courtesy of joe-ks.com)
The Department of Transportation warns that nighttime milling and resurfacing will cause delays on I-95 in Westport and Fairfield.
Work is being performed both northbound (exits 17 to 19) and southbound (exits 24 to 17). The work schedule is 10 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Sunday evenings, and 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday evenings. The project runs through Sept. 23.
The DOT wants drivers to prepare for delays. As opposed to the rest of the year, when you cruise along with not a care in the world.
Comments Off on News Flash: Traffic On I-95
Posted in Transportation, Westport life
Today’s New York Times Magazine contains a fascinating story on the tremendous harm done to young baseball pitchers’ arms, due to overuse and under-caring.
The piece, it turns out, has a strong Westport connection.
It’s not — fortunately — about local athletes. Westport’s youth coaches do a good job of counting pitches.
Ron Berler
The connection is the writer. Ron Berler grew up here. A 1967 Staples grad, he was the Wall in the Staples Players’ production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He became an actor after being cut as a sophomore during baseball tryouts — “a wise decision” on the coach’s part, he now says.
Ron did play Westport Little League — “the last time I was an All-Star in anything.”
But he’s always loved the game, and while driving to his weekly Sunday morning softball game he listens to Rick Wolff on WFAN.
Shortly after last year’s Little League World Series, the talk show host mentioned that a pitcher had thrown 288 pitches during the tournament — over just 10 days. Ron was stunned. He had coached youth baseball for 17 years. A writer for Wired, Men’s Journal and ESPN.com, he “pitched” (ho ho) the Times. The result is today’s eye-opening piece.
“I hope the article will lead parents to demand changes in how youth baseball leagues are run,” Ron says. “It’s their kids who are at risk.
“At the same time I hope Little League — which has done more than any other youth league to protect its players — does not end up shouldering all the blame.
“Yes, Little League needs to address its relaxed pitching rules during the World Series tournament. But the real problem lies with the thousands of kids who play on multiple teams, many of them with overlapping schedules, for coaches who do not communicate with one another, and who pitch their players way too much.”
Amen. And let’s thank all the Westport coaches who are not caught up in such craziness.
Posted in Children, People, Sports
Tagged Little, Little League baseball, New York Times Magazine, Ron Berler, youth baseball
I probably drove past Westport Auto Craft 10,000 times without noticing it.
In decades of driving, I never needed a body shop.
This month, I did.
A guy in a leased Lexus hit me on Main Street. Visions of insurance company hassles and car rental headaches filled my head long before the cop arrived.
A visit the next day to Westport Auto Craft eased my mind completely.
Ron Bowler took care of everything. He made calls to the Lexus dude’s insurance company — and knew all the secrets (including evading voicemail) to make sure they honored the claim.
He told me I had the right to a rental car, on the other guy’s dime (or hundreds of dollars). He made sure I got the rental — even calling to arrange for it to be delivered to me when I dropped off my own.
Ron did it all with a smile, and good humor. And, a few days later — exactly the day he’d promised — he called to say my car was ready.
It was as painless a collision experience as I could imagine.
All except leaving the shop. Backing out onto busy Riverside Avenue was a near-death experience.
I almost became a return customer, 6 seconds later.
You never know what you’ll find on Compo Cove.
A stroll across the wooden bridge yesterday evening revealed a couple of workers using laptops and sophisticated digital devices to check the Old Mill tidal gates. They’re checked periodically to make sure they open and close when they should. Despite the archaic-looking alarm-clock devices hidden behind metal doors, the gates are high-tech. Most of the time they’re monitored remotely.
And you thought they opened and shut according to the moon.
Westport is looking for a new tax collector.
George Underhill — whose name is on so many Westporters’ bills — is retiring after 16 years on the job. He’s done a great job — but filling his tax collecting shoes should be a slam dunk.
Plenty of Westporters with accounting, business administration and bookkeeping backgrounds are looking for work. Others who have jobs may want to work closer to home.
The municipal pay might be low — $75,000 to $80,000 a year — but there are solid medical benefits. Your pension won’t disappear. And you can’t beat the commute.
The application deadline is August 14. Click here for more details.
Anne Wexler
Anne Wexler died this morning, following a long battle with cancer.
Her obituary — sure to run tomorrow in the New York Times and Washington Post — will probably quote Washingtonian Magazine, which called the co-founder of Wexler & Walker one of the capital’s “10 most powerful lobbyists (and) easily the most influential female lobbyist in a world still dominated by men.”
It will talk about her tireless work in Democratic politics, including her participation on the McGovern Commission that revolutionized the nominating process — leading directly to the presidencies of unknown governors like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
It will mention that she was Jimmy Carter’s chief deputy in charge of building support for White House programs and policies, and a former Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce.
Her obituary will probably not talk about her Westport years. But they were key ones, crucial in her transformation from housewife into political powerhouse.
In the mid-1960s Wexler was a member of our Zoning Board of Appeals. She worked for President Johnson’s election in 1964 but — disillusioned with his handling of Vietnam — went on to manage the congressional campaign of peace candidate John Fitzgerald.
By 1968 she was vice chairman of Connecticut’s Eugene McCarthy for President Committee. Only 13 states scheduled primaries that year. Wexler and a few others researched election laws, then figured out how to force the 1st primary in Connecticut history. It was too late to include all 169 towns, but they won 25 percent of the delegates to the June convention in Hartford. Wexler was 1 of them.
That summer, she helped research the delegate selection process in the other 49 states. Sen. Harold Hughes of Iowa chaired a commission to examine changes in the nominating process. At the convention — the famous Chicago bloodbath — the Hughes report was voted down.
Wexler — a member of the national Rules Committee — reintroduced it as a minority report. Late at night, in the midst of chaos, it passed. The report called for a national commission to recommend ways of providing greater public participation in the selection of candidates.
George McGovern was appointed chairman. Wexler was named to the group too. The McGovern commission held hearings around the country. One result was that — with solid knowledge of the new nominating process — McGovern himself was nominated for president in 1972.
Another result was that the Democrats increased the role of caucuses and primaries, and mandated quotes for proportional representation by blacks, women and youth delegates. The role of party officials and insiders was considerably reduced. The rest is history.
Wexler eventually moved from party politics to lobbying. She left Westport behind (along with her husband — after their divorce, she married senatorial candidate and former priest Joe Duffey).
But Westport helped make Anne Wexler who she was. As local as it sounds, Westport’s Zoning Board of Appeals launched the political career of one of the most powerful women in Washington.
Posted in Looking back, People, Politics
Tagged Anne Wexler, Democratic politics, McGovern Commission
It’s official: Bridgewater Associates is the largest hedge fund in the world.
The Westport firm — located in the woods of Glendinning Place, off Weston Road just beyond the Lyons Plains traffic light — has $38 billion assets under management, according to The Hedge Fund BlogMan. That’s a cool $5 billion more than runner-up JPMorgan Asset Management in New York.
Congratulations, I guess. I guess too the path to being the biggest hedge fund in the world includes keeping a low, discreet profile. Bridgewater certainly has not been a noticeable player in town philanthropy.
I recall seeing a few company ads, in programs for plays and the like. Beyond that, I can’t say what Bridgewater’s contribution to Westport life has been.
Compared to companies like Mitchells, Newman’s Own and Tauck World Discovery — and even now-departed businesses like Marketing Corporation of America — Bridgewater is a fly on the back of an elephant.
An argument could be made that, as a global financial services firm, they don’t owe Westport anything.
A counter-argument is that, no matter who you are or what you do, you owe your home town something. That’s my view, anyway.
I hope I’m missing something. Perhaps Bridgewater underwrites major civic programs, or surreptitiously keeps many organizations afloat.
If that’s the case, I take everything back.
And if it’s true, I’m sure that “06880” readers will quickly let me know.
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