Tired of traffic?
Here’s an interactive — even fun (!) — way to make your voice heard.
A new online map-based survey is the first chance for residents to provide feedback on of Westport’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Safety Action Plan project.
Users easily zoom in on a particular place in town. The map has 3 options to drop a pin, and offer feedback: “Safety Concern”; “Safety/Improvement Idea”; “Good Example.” There’s a chance too to like a previous comment (and see how many other residents agree).
One suggestion that’s already been made: Adding a left-turn signal from Compo Road South (leaving the beach) onto Bridge Street.
Two examples of concern, both at Parker Harding Plaza and the Post Road: It’s confusing for pedestrians, and drivers must nose out slowly exiting the lot, to see past Starbucks.
A “Good Examples” example? The new stop sign at the Greens Farms Road/New Creek Road intersection (near the train station) drew praise (though, the commenter noted, it was probably done to help the school buses parked there, rather than normal vehicles).
The project is led by Westport’s Traffic and Pedestrian Task Force. Consultants Tighe & Bond were hired — with funding from a federal grant — to design a road safety improvement plan.
Click here to take the survey. Click here for the “Traffic & Pedestrian Safety” page on the town website.
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The Board of Finance agenda for March 6 (7:30 p.m., Town Hall auditorium; livestream at www.westportct.gov; Optimum channel 79. ) is jam-packed.
Among the agenda items:
- 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker will present the town budget for fiscal year 2024-25.
- Superintendent of schools Thomas Scarice and Board of Education chair Lee Goldstein will present the BOE’s operating and capital budget for fiscal year 2024-25.
- A request from Parks & Recreation Department director Jen Fava for $186,590 for a comprehensive beach resiliency planning study.
- A request from Fire Department deputy chief Nicholas Marsan for $110,000 for work to update and merge FD conceptual plans to include the Police Department and Emergency Medical Service in a new concept analysis for a joint public safety facility.
- A request from Public Works director Pete Ratkiewich for $630,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Fund for design and permitting of the redevelopment of Jesup Green and the Imperial parking lots.
- A request from Public Works director Ratkiewich for $1,295,000 for parking lot repaving, curbing and sidewalk improvements at Staples High School.
- A request from Public Works director Ratkiewich for $253,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to replace the cooling tower and 2 heat pumps at the Senior Center.
How resilient are our beaches? Parks & Rec is requesting funds for a study.
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Tequila and mezcal come to Weston on April 27.
The Weston History & Culture Center host a tasting fundraiser. It will be led by Gregg Glaser, publisher/editor of Modern Distillery Age. Diageo will provide the spirits.
The event includes a silent auction. Tickets are $100 each. Click here to buy.
Tequila!
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Meanwhile … when you’re working on the Saugatuck River, you want to make sure that when nature calls, you can answer properly:
(Photo/Johanna Keyser Rossi)
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Christa Lawrence died Sunday, after a long illness. She was 55.
Born in New York City, she grew up in Westport and attended Staples High.
She moved back to New York at 17, and immediately knew she was home. Her family says: “She loved everything about the East Village — the people, the energy, the music — and it loved her back.
“She soon became a mainstay of the East Village and in the rock and roll social scene, where she made many friends and was always part of the fun.”
In nearly 40 years in New York, Christa worked as a bartender and manager in bars and restaurants. She later entered the real estate industry. She worked most for Bond New York.
Her family adds: “Christa was an unforgettable person. Everyone who crossed her path, either growing up in Westport or in her adult life in the East Village, loved her and is quick to tell a story and share a laugh about their time with her. Christa’s quick wit, unique sense of humor and one-of-a-kind laugh will never be forgotten.”
She is survived by her close friends Jay Clark and Mary Rodriquez, and her sister Andrea Lawrence Moore. Visitation is set for February 27 (2 to 8 p.m., Peter Jarema Funeral Home, 129 East 7th Street, New York). The funeral will be held February 28 (11 a.m., St. Stanislaus Church, 101 East 7th Street, New York). Christa will be buried at Eagle Cemetery in Milesburg, Pennsylvania, alongside her parents.
Christa Lawrence
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“Westport … Naturally” photographer Tracy Porosoff hopes that birds return this spring to this now-abandoned nest, and lay eggs.
(Photo/Tracy Porosoff)
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And finally … in honor of the Weston History & Culture Center’s upcoming fundraiser:
(From traffic surveys to tequila fundraisers, “06880” is your hyper-local source for news. If you’d like to support our work, please click here. Thank you!)
Traffic study: Danger zone on Compo Rd North at Gorham, Tamarac and especially Evergreen Ave.
Can’t believe all this bitching about traffic and “safety.” If you’ve got expanding population and non expanding roads and land mass, what the hell do you expect…just grin and bear it, or move north, for Christ’s sake.
And this administrations answer is : allow 400,000 sq feet of business to go up in saugatuck( hamlet) and get rid of parking in the downtown.
Or as is the case in their proposal, kick people out of the downtown after 3 hours so parking “looks” like less of a catastrophe.
Well folks. You won’t be coming to Westport to shop, dine and get a hair cut, at least not on the same day.
You may do one of the above, so says our anti business selectwoman.
I’m most concerned for the retail businesses and less for the restaurants.
After customers dine, there will be time to possibly visit one close store.
And if you thought I’ll move my car and fair and square find an available spot, think again. Your licence plate will be in the system.
It’s welcome to Westport for 3 hours.
Sorry you were planning on spending the day here.
You are only welcome for 3 hours.
Great business model if you do not own a business.
That coupled with the promise that Randy and Pete made to show us where approx one thousand staff will be told where to park. So they told us last week at a public meeting, not once but twice.
We are patiently awaiting that direction.
After all if we provide parking for staff at schools, surely we need to show the staff where they should park in our downtown.
The businesses do require staff to open their doors.
EXTREME ANTI BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.
Well, I think this is a great idea but for whatever reason, impossible for me to use either FireFox or Chrome to add thumbs-up for any of the points on the map. And both these browsers (running Webroot for security) think there’s vulnerability on the site. That’s the bad news. The good news is that I see my neighbors have already made points that I agree with, so my upvote might be superfluous in any case.
Christa, you will be missed my friend. Thoughts with Andrea Moore and her family. Christa was always full of love, and life. No one ever escaped without a big hug, laugh, and smile. I will always remember that smile.
Like Laurie Goldberg I am unable to add a thumbs up or additional comment to the map.
This map and survey have so many pins it is impossible to see anything clearly. Remove the Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Like, Dislike and make the map easy to see. The thumbs are completely unnecessary.Why is it always so difficult for the town to make responses less than complex and frustrating?
No doubt in my mind that stop sign on greens farms ( which is great) was definitely added for the school buses..
amazing how when it’s for something like that it’s done overnight.
SMH
Why in heaven’s name do we need to spend almost 200K for a study of beach resiliency? Our science class at Staples lo those many years ago did a study. The prevailing current moves from the cannons to Schlaets Point, hence the probably 5 ft of sand piled up on that far top corner of the beach. Never understood why we don’t dig it up and spread it around. I’m sure Staples students are perfectly capable of doing a study for a science project.
Actually the breakwater there was built as a result of that Staples study.
Sally, it’s far easier to do ANOTHER useless study and throw away another 200,000
I hope the board of finance says NO, absolutely NOT.
Will Westport residents who attend this finance meeting have any opportunity to ask any questions of the traffic study presenters??