Lou Weinberg is chair of the Westport Community Gardens, and director of the Long Lots Preserve. He is concerned about a perception that gardeners oppose renovation of Long Lots Elementary School. He writes:
Members of the Westport Community Gardens and the volunteers involved with the Long Lots Preserve support the construction of a new/improved Long Lots Elementary School.
If the development of a new/improved Long Lots Elementary School truly requires the use of the existing gardens space during construction, then our request is to rebuild the gardens, post-construction, in their current location.
Members of the Long Lots Community Gardens and friends, at an open house last fall.
This is our position. At no point in this process has the request for consideration and regard for the gardens and preserve delayed the process of constructing a new/improved school. Not by a second.
To imply otherwise is false. Furthermore, the current efforts by some community members to vilify the gardeners and blame them for delays in the process is misguided. The gardeners are not the problem. The gardeners are not the enemy.
If anybody tries to convince you that the Westport Community Gardens and Long Lots Preserve are responsible for getting in the way of a beautiful new school for the town of Westport, they are misstating facts. We all want the school.
The process is supposed to get us there. I very much hope the new 8-24 application will include the school, fields, and restoration of the community gardens and preserve. Let’s get this done together!
I believe there are solutions on the table that have been ignored by the administration and the building committee. I have confidence that our commissioners and elected officials will execute due diligence to make sure all citizens of Westport, state laws, town charters and prior precedents are considered when making these decisions.
If the position is to “allow” the garden space to be used for re/construction of the school, then the garden will be destroyed in the process.. If that happens, why is it relevant to re-use the existing garden area vs. being re-located? Seems as if the current garden is “wiped out” and the ground is trampled by equipment & supplies, it would have to essentially be rebuilt from scratch. If correct, then why not be relocated now to enable the garden’s rebuilding work to commence immediately?
I agree. The new relocated garden could be bigger and thus allow for more participants. it’s time to let it go and move on. The children absolutely need a new school and a new field to rep,ace the one they are losing. Let’s get together and plan something great for all.
I appreciate what Lou states in this piece. The signs around town, indicating that “kids come first, stop with self-interest” are offensive and, the way that I interpret them, imply that the Community Gardens have delayed the LLS planning process. The Community Gardens have had NOTHING to do with the lengthy delay in the planning process. This type of misinformation is counterproductive and can be destructive to the well-being of our community.
I keep thinking about how some articles over the last months have justified building a new school because the present one is 70 years old. 70 years old!!! ( I apologize if l have that information incorrectly). There are houses in Westport that are 250 years old. The construction of the school must be pretty shoddy if it’s not in good shape now. Why can’t it just be added on and keep the gardens in place and find another way to work around the gardens. This just reinforces the idea that it’s safer to own your store, home or the land you garden on. But then there is always eminent domain that could force you to move.
I am a Community Gardener, and I am so surprised when I hear from a non-Gardener what they think we want. My answers are always that (1) we want to resume gardening in our same location…and if we have to wait 2 years to do that, so be it! (2) We Gardeners are not holding up the approval processes or delaying the start of construction. No one is; the project is on schedule. Let’s work together to make this huge and exciting project successful for everyone involved.
Just curious why you want the same location? Someone bury Jimmy Hoffa there and don’t want him discovered?
Mark is right. The site will be wrecked after a couple of years of soil compaction from heavy equipment sitting/moving around on it. Maybe having been buried under a couple of inches of rock for drainage and to keep area from becoming muddy which may be scraped off afterwards or simply buried. Not to mention the remnants of any leaking oil or hydraulic fluid.
Seems to me that there must be somewhere else in Westport that can accommodate a community garden that would fit everyone’s needs and on a faster timetable. No one is getting younger.
For what it is worth, I am a vegetable gardener. Mine is in my yard. Last time I moved, so did the garden – I put it in my new yard. Relocating was not that big of a deal. Maybe I’m not a serious enough gardener.
Bill – did you garden in the same spot for 20 years? Did you see how the quality of your plantings improved every year because of the numerous hours you spent getting the right soil conditions and find the optimal plantings for your garden? Did you plant hundreds of dollars worth of plants every year that died when you moved them?
This is why, not only do we not want to move it, but the current gardens CAN’T be moved!
I’m confused by your comment. OP acknowledges the gardens will be used as a parking lot for heavy equipment and construction supplies for 2 years. Whatever plants that are there will be long dead. The precious soil almost certainly ruined. Did I miss something?
Bill – is there are part of “if” and “truly needed” that are confusing to you?
Ah, I think I understand now. The gardens haven’t conceded that the garden area is needed for staging as planned and want to delay things debating whether that is necessary. Got it. Thanks for clarifying.
Oh, wait, you’re not delaying anything. Pick one. I, personally, don’t care one way or the other, but the gardens really should get their story straight and not gaslight everyone. Do the gardens have Aaron Rogers on retainer for communications consulting?
“If” and “truly needed” are pretty unambiguous, Bill. If you want to pick and choose which words to read, that’s on you.
That’s fine. It’s clear to everyone what the strategy is now. Put on a facade of “reasonableness” – Oh, we are fine if the gardens have to be used for staging. All we really want is for them to be rebuilt where they are. We aren’t delaying anything. We don’t know why anyone is blaming us for delays.
If the garden really meant that, you’ve given your input, so you can now quietly let the powers that be make their decisions and move forward without further interference.
However, notwithstanding Mr. Weinberg’s reasonable sounding letter, it appears from the subsequent comments that the gardener’s position hasn’t really changed from “don’t touch the garden” and that the gardeners have no intention to stop interfering with the process.
I actually don’t have a problem with that. Should the gardens have been consulted before the building plans were moved forward. Maybe. But the denying the process hasn’t been delayed by the garden? C’mon, no one is that stupid.
But go ahead, fight to the death to save the garden. Chain yourself together in front of the bulldozers. Just own it and stop with the hypocritical “we’re not getting in the way” nonsense. Anything that distracts the town and takes even 30 seconds to consider by definition does that.
Bill – it is clear that you don’t care about the Gardens at all. That’s fine. As you say, just own it.
I think the Gardeners have been 100% clear as to their support for a new school.
I interpret Lou’s words (though I obviously don’t speak for Lou, nor does he speak for me) as “worst case scenario, if you need it for staging we support that, but we support that knowing that the Gardens will be returned to the site.” Only Lou can tell you if that is what he meant, but that was my personal read on it.
You are reading Lou’s words and saying “let’s use the Gardens first thing and, if we are going to use them, why do we need them here in any case?” That’s a fairly large chasm.
The Gardeners aren’t getting in the way of a school. By shoehorning the ball field in the plan. the FS’s LLSBC gave P&Z something that they presumably found unacceptable. The Gardens aren’t part of that at all. The overreach created the delay.
I responded to your original comment:
“I’m confused by your comment. OP acknowledges the gardens will be used as a parking lot for heavy equipment and construction supplies for 2 years. Whatever plants that are there will be long dead. The precious soil almost certainly ruined. Did I miss something?”
It appears, now, that you willfully missed something.
Maybe you are just a smart ass !
Maybe just maybe the community gardeners do not have the luxury of having their own yard.
Maybe 4 decades in of paying for the Westport schools they moved to condos without garden space.
But you know what.. it doesn’t matter.. and it is not your business to judge.
it’s not your business why a Westport tax payer wants to have a plot in a community garden.
Maybe it’s so they can be part of a group with like minds.
Who cares what the reason.
Are you a diagnosed narcissist ?
Or do you just act like one ?
This entire process has been delayed and changed because of the gardeners. Why else would you create signage and raise funds after going to town meetings in the last quarter of the game, when you signed a letter in the Parks report being okay with the garden moving, for the plans include a new garden on site? Enough!
Six months behind later…
Sorry, Mark, but the First Selectwoman could have submitted for an 8-24 months ago, but chose not to.
Also, those who are all so eager to spend $100,000,000 of taxpayers money on their kids, without caring in the slightest about other residents of Westport, need to work on their reading comprehension.
“if” and “truly required.”
Blame the Administration and the LLSBC for trying to shoehorn in a huge baseball field that had nothing to do with the ed specs of the project. Maybe you should asked Jen Tooker why she wanted that so bad, jeopardizing the timely building of the school? And while you are at it, ask why she delayed the 8-24 hearing until after the election?
Westport supports FS Tooker. 100%.
Leave your keyboard Chris, grab a shovel. It’s over.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats like the Tooker. She’s an idiot.
100% guarantee that the next First Selectman race will result in anyone but Jen Tooker leading the way in Town Hall.
Calling names…who are you? You’ve been your worst enemy, Trump. What a shame. And to think you once served on the RTM. Just an angry person. It is sad. You owe everyone an apology for pointing the finger, but then agreeing to the comment below. Hypocrite.
Just because YOU do not like someone does not represent all.
Layla, I apologize for so harshly saying out loud what much of Town (members of both parties as well as independents) have been saying privately for two years. How about “she is out of her depth in this position?”
From the downtown parking lot mess to this, she’s done nothing to gain input from concerned parties before throwing out unpopular plans. As the saying goes, it’s all “ready, fire, aim” from this administration. The needless complication of the Long Lots re-build is simply the latest example.
Here, she manufactured a LLSBC and filled it with cronies. Once the process became contentious, BOE asked for a meeting of all interested parties re Long Lots. Did she call one? No. She wanted expanded ball fields on the LLS site, jeopardizing a timely school re-build in the process. If those fields are so important to her, we should expect a proposal to see them somewhere else, right? But we won’t. Because if they had gone here, they could have embedded the cost in the school rebuild budget. I guess I have to give her credit for knowing that most of the BOE would just rubber stamp the proposal even though she ignored their request. Alas, P&Z had concerns.
She is effectively the leader of the party that put up BOE candidates so extreme that they were trounced by a write-in candidate. I still don’t understand, if she opposed them, how they were nominated. Does she have that little pull in the local GOP?
Is anyone happy how Parks & Rec is being operated? Do department heads receive any direction?
Does anyone in Town think that if Jon Steinberg had been elected FS, seemingly everything in Town would be handled in such a… clumsy matter? Outside of photo ops, what does the FS do well? Photo ops aren’t leadership. She seems to want the title FS, but doesn’t seem to want to do the actual job. None of this is brain surgery. There are hardly partisan divides on local policy. We just need some competence.
What a positive influence you are for all women who may consider some level of political involvement.
Be proud, Clown.
Also, if you want a good laugh (sort of), go on Westport Front Porch and read the new thread about how nobody answers her phone and she doesn’t return calls.
The best way to reach her is 867-5309! LOL
People really should consider a recall vote. It’s not that difficult.
Name calling is not productive. you should be ashamed. We need to get to on this project. The gardeners should not be in TV be way of a multi purpose field for the community. It would make things easier if you would move the field as the garden is going to be destroyed. And you could get started with a new garden sooner.
Rick. Please take me out of your stats. I do not. I didn’t. I never will. Anyone else with me?
What is going on Westport??
Everyone should stop pointing fingers at everyone else.
Basic facts-
We need a new school that will cost 100 million dollars because the old one is falling apart and is overcrowded.
We are now shown in the latest plan the town doesn’t want to put another Babe Ruth sized field next to the elementary school.
But has substituted a large multipurpose field that someday could be turned into a Babe Ruth sized ball field because that has to be part of the construction site.
We have a community garden that is a town gem that would like to stay where it is and retain a nature preserve that has been cultivated next to it over a 20 year period and not have it become part of the construction site.
If the town is going to spend 100 million dollars, I cannot believe a construction company would not or could not devise a plan to complete this school project, preserve the preserve and access to the gardens and build the town a beautiful state of the art elementary school.
What am I missing??
Great comment, Steve! 100%.
What am I missing? Most efficient and cost effective way (in order to respect Westport taxpayers)?
What am I missing? Diminish the social media drama (so we can enjoy our community if not our country)?
What am I missing? Clear, rational decisions on downtown parking. (Parker Harding ) Strict enforcement of zoning (the Hamlet), adherence to legal language and citizen’s rights (RTM)
What am I missing?
Hi Werner- it sounds like you’re not missing much globally.
But your points are tangential to the specific school issue being discussed.
On the contrary… every issue the town has faced for the last year has been boggled… in a fashion that suggests incompetence. Why have all these issues blown up instead of being resolved?
You are correct… smoke and mirrors…
We do not need a new school.. we need a 35$ million dollar renovation to the existing school..
I do not dispute that.
A renovation… to bring long lots into the 22nd century even !
I believe Lou spoke out of turn in that he did not represent all the gardeners… or any of the neighbors.
At this point the issue of gardens has been rightfully adopted by many of us non gardeners…
Actually I happen to manage a small farm but I am not a member of the WCG. Why ? Only because it is full.. why is it full. ? Because it’s fabulous !
Its wait list speaks for itself.
Ciara – I also quite enjoy your comments.
I don’t want to debate (here) how the school rebuild should be handled. On one hand, a completely new school kind of makes sense. On the other, I really don’t believe *anything* that comes from the LLSBC. And in my time in Westport, I’ve never seen a BOE that wasn’t interest in the grandest building project possible (I’ve also never seen a BOE that showed any interest in anyone else in Town: Community Gardens = Land Grab; Senior Center = Land Grab; Another Community Gardens = Another Land Grab).
But I do completely agree re the Statement. As we see, people are already twisting it into something it is not. I thought that P&Z’s concerns almost seemed less about the Gardens and more about the loss of a passive barrier for the neighbors.
The people who are spiking the ball over the Statement are going to be in for a surprise when *someone* petitions the building expenditure to a referendum, holding up the process for who knows how much longer. I have no idea if it will be neighbors, gardeners, or budget hawks, but it is an almost certainty.
Dan, I hope you or one of the aspiring filmmakers in town is collecting enough video, even in winter, to make the documentary on the fate of the community garden. Today we have “grab a shovel.” We already had, “I have a chainsaw.” Perhaps the film should be called “The Westport Chain Saw Massacre.”
I have my first video editing class at the Westport Library this week! Will be my first documentary class project.
This whole situation is tough for me. I am hurting for both sides.
I have kids at Coleytown, and we need more space. Stepping Stones clearly needs a new and better home than a school built in 1952. Very few of the gardeners and their supporters mention this or the pre-school kids that are hugely affected.
On the other hand, my step-dad up in Canada absolutely lives for his community garden at age 75. He doesn’t really socialize outside of it. It’s been wonderful for him. If they were going to just take it from him, he’d fight.
I don’t understand all the technical details of how these things get done here, but we need schools and community gardens. If we can do it here, then where else can they do it?
Mike.. you are singing to the choir.
I am mom
Of 4 and 55 and I love my garden. Especially in this town it is my peace. And as of the last few years finding your peace in this town has not been easy.
Of course people care about children but there are other members of our community also. There is plenty room to co exist.
They are just as important after all they ( we) have paid the taxes long since which pave the way for the new schools..
has everyone forgotten that.
I guess some have.
I have paid enough taxes in this town to build 20 community gardens. And I want them built. Before any more money is squandered..
Why suddenly is long lots the b all ?
Well ask yourselves why it never got renovated before ? And start pointing the appropriate fingers…
I promise you will find alllll the culprits now having hysterical break downs to be the same ppl screaming “ I want it now”
Blame your administration.
They failed you. Not the gardeners. Or as some have labeled them the terrorists in waiting..
Not the neighbors.
Nope.. but I suppose some might say the neighbors might pose a “very real threat” to the children.
I jest.
These screamers have all lost the plot.
Ironically the only people with a right to quiet enjoyment of their spot despite your persistent protests are the neighbors, and the WCG. They are not looking for change. You are !
Think about that.
I appreciate you hurt for both sides.
It is the administration is failing both sides.
Who are you kidding an election tomorrow after long shore, Parker Harding the hamlet.. this catastrophe.. tooker is never getting elected again.. not tomorrow not ever.. nor her cohorts..
why don’t you leave your keyboard you smart ass !
Always love a discussion with a true narcissist.
Ciara, you are my favorite person on 06880 anytime I check in to 06880…besides Dan that is. You articulate what many feel I’m sure, and stand righteously in the face of the backlash especially some from the male nation. I don’t live in Westport anymore but I can attest to the value of the enormous value of working the land for children and all humans. My daughter went to a Montessori school in the woods, and they had gardens and farm animals to keep. And parents and grandparents helped. My daughter grew up to be a compassionate woman, a wonderful wife, mother and businesswoman with a heart. I hope someone in a decision lmaking capacity listens to you.
Thank you BJ. You might be Irish.
I am flattered you paid me that complement, as possibly one of the most despised commenters on 06880.
I just hope that I rubbed off on my children. And I am so happy your daughter is a successful and happy person. I hope the same for my children and I could not mean that more. Thank you for appreciating my albeit brash comments.
I cannot sit still while having the wool pulled over my eyes.
Thank you for making my day.
From the January P&Z Commission public hearing, it appeared that the Commission was going to issue a negative 8-24 Report as to the proposed field, presumably because it would have replaced the Garden. It was a mistake for Jen Tooker to withdrawn her first 8-24 since the Commission never got a chance to explain its thinking, thinking that could have instructed Jen Tooker as to whether or not a second 8-24 would meet the same fate as the first. Now we await the second 8-24. We will then learn if the Commission continues to believe that the athletic field on the Garden site is not consistent with the Town Plan of Conservation & Development. The Commission appears to believe the preservation of the Garden where located is consistent with the Town Plan of Conservation & Development.
There are anti garden people distorting information and making false claims. It hurts, not only from the perspective of possibly losing the garden, but also the sad recognition that this low form of human nature exists right here in Westport. I just can’t understand it.
What additional “facts” have been uncovered since the P&Z meeting on December 18th to foster this new proposal? Did Parks & Rec finally provide a detailed usage schedule of all the fields for the 2023 calendar year instead of the color-coded grid that no one was able to read or decipher? If so, is the public going to have sufficient time to review the results prior to the next P&Z meeting ? Why has the supposedly much needed Babe Ruth league field been scrapped for a multi-purpose field? Could it be because baseball field usage proved that a 4th babe ruth league field was NOT needed, even though at the October 30th Parks & Rec meeting Parks & Rec tried to convince the taxpayers that one was needed by using misleading information (see pg 2 of the Parks & Rec Property Review & Usage report dated September 23rd).
Until a detailed usage report of all the fields has been produced I can not see how a new multi-purpose field on the Hyde Lane property can be approved. If there really had been a critical need for an additional field why did it wait to be coupled with the Long Lots School project which wasn’t going to start construction until the fall of ’24?
Why haven’t the 4 NON-profit organizations that have a vested interest in the towns fields gotten together to see how they could best utilize the $3.8 million they have sitting in cash & investments to rectify the dire field situation and then present that plan to P&Z? The lack of urgency on the part of these organizations shows that it isn’t as dire a situation as being presented and its more of a convenient land & money grab. It makes you wonder what else in the $100 million budget for this project is NOT necessary. Hopefully the Finance Committee will scrutinize this when requested to authorize the funding for this project.
FYI: The $3.8 million figure is taken from the balance sheets of the latest tax filings (Form 990) of Westport Soccer Assoc ($1.191 million), Westport Baseball & Softball ($1.144 million), Westport PAL ($1.037 million) and Friends of Westport Parks & Rec ($428 thousand). You would think with the incredible amount of money sitting on the balance sheets of these NON-profit organizations the possibilities would be endless on what can be done to the EXISTING fields in town. For example, overhauling the underutilized Doubleday field into the premier multi-purpose field in town. Also, Doubleday & Wakeman baseball fields which have been neglected (pitching mounds not the standard 10″, grass growing in the infield dirt, dangerous infield lips, etc) could be drastically improved including adding dugouts, scoreboards, etc.
These are among many unanswered questions that need to be addressed before the most expensive project in town gets approval from P&Z and the Finance Committee.
Thank you Louis! Westport deserves the best for its students and residents, and leveraging the collective expertise of the P&Z members, the Long Lots Building Committee, residents, and gardeners is how we will get there. I appreciate P&Z asking the tough questions that will lead to a more thoughtful plan and look forward to the timely revised submission.
The only smart people in the room here are P&Z.
The long lots committee do not have a bulls notion about what is going on. Nor do they give a crap.
They are a hand picked bunch of “pleasers”, picked with pleasing the administration in mind.
At no point has a single word out of their mouth made any sense. I am mortified by their stances which change more often than the weather forecast. Instructions I am sure.
They have proven themselves to be the least expert group in this town. But very faithful little followers.
Breaking News: Today, the town failed to file their latest iteration of an 8-24 Municipal Improvement application for 13 Hyde Lane.
This forces the Planning and Zoning Commission to either:
1) Give a less-than 3-business-day public notice (and staff prep) for a hearing on Jan. 22; or
2) Hold their next meeting without this matter on the agenda.
Who shall be accountable for this squeeze play?
A) The weather; B) Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King; C) Jen Tooker?
I don’t speak for Toni, or anyone else. But I think that she is pointing out that some people are blaming the Gardeners for delays, which is fatuous.
Anyone hyperventilating about the delays should ask why the administration didn’t file a new 8-24 today.