More than 70 years ago, Westport scrapped its annual town meeting.
The New England tradition — dating back to colonial days — had gotten unwieldy, as our community grew in the post-war years.
But town meetings still live on in Vermont.
When the AP went looking for a place to illustrate how in these polarized times local government can still work, they found Elmore.
The town of 886 cherishes its March town meeting. And part of the reason is the moderator: Jon Gailmor.
Townspeople there have called him a neighbor for over 40 years. But Westporters still remember him as a member of Staples High School’s Class of 1966.
He sang with Orphenians. After graduation, he and classmate Rob Carlson formed a duo that earned a cult following up and down the East Coast.
After time in Europe, Gailmor settled in Elmore. He’s become a Vermont state treasure — an actual title — as a singer. In addition to performing, he runs songwriting workshops for kids.
(Last fall, he returned to Westport. He headlined Suzanne Sheridan’s First Folk Sunday at the VFW)
The AP story says that after moving north, Gailmor “found the town meeting tradition nothing short of miraculous. It wasn’t some politician spouting off, but real people taking part …. You feel important. You feel like you are being listened to.”
Click here to read the full article. (Hat tip: Tom Allen)
Jon Gailmor, at the Elmore Town Hall. (Photo courtesy of AP/David Goldman)
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Tickets went on sale today for one of Westport’s best — and most fulfilling — fundraisers: CLASP Homes’ “Taste of Westport.”
The 18th annual event is set for May 22 (6 p.m., Inn at Longshore). As always, the Taste brings together the area’s best food and drink providers. There’s a wide array of dishes, and spirits from more than 2 dozen local establishments.
New this year: a vodka and caviar bar, and tequila tasting.
Plus music by the always-popular. Bar Car Band, and a very extensive silent auction.
It all benefits CLASP. The nonprofit provides homes, support and services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Tickets are $150 per person until April 12, then $175 after. Click here to purchase. PS: It always sells out.
Participants include:
- Artisan
- Aspetuck Brew Lab
- Baldanza at the Schoolhouse
- Black Bear Wines & Spirits
- The Boathouse
- Bridgewater Chocolate
- Cold Fusion Gelato
- Don Memo
- Dunville’s
- Ferrer Miranda Wines
- Freixenet
- Gabriele’s of Westport
- Greer Southern Table
- Gruel Britannia
- Grumpy Dumpling
- Il Pastaficio
- La Plage
- Little Pub
- Magic 5 Pie Co.
- Mrs. London’s
- Nomade
- Nordic Fish
- Rive Bistro
- Rizzuto’s
- Romanacci
- SoNo 1420
- Tarantino
- Walrus Alley
- Zucca Gastrobar
A small slice of the Taste of Westport.
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Nancy Diamond writes: “Greetings from Tel Aviv!
“Eighteen Fairfield County residents are visiting Israel this week on a mission to learn how the country is coping with the war, and to help where there are labor shortages.
“More than 200,000 Israelis have been forced to flee from their homes since the war began: about 100,000 from Gaza and 100,000 from northern Israel where, a few miles from the Lebanese border, Hezbollah regularly launches low-flying, hard-to-intercept missiles. Most families are housed in hotels and private homes around the country.
“The Connecticut delegation, organized by the Jewish Federation of Fairfield County, packed food boxes for these displaced families. They are volunteering with Pantry Packers, the oldest continuously operating network of social services in Israel
“They also met with hostage families.
“It’s been an amazing trip. Next we head to one of the destroyed kibbutzim, and the Nova Music Festival site. It will be an incredibly emotional day.”
Westporters on the Israel mission trip include (from left): Jeffrey Mayer, Lynn Rabinovici, Lisa Hayes, Stephanie Gordon, Sonia Ben Yehuda and Nancy Diamond.
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Carl Addison Swanson has lived in Westport since 1952.
He cares about the town — and wants it “safe and fun.”
Several years ago, he pushed for the installation of solar speed monitors near his home off North Avenue. He lives near Bedford Middle School, at the bottom of the hill from Staples where — unless there is school traffic — drivers routinely zoom by.
Are they working?
He went out Monday (10 a.m.), Tuesday (2 p.m.) and Wednesday (5 p.m.), and checked the speed of 50 southbound cars.
The average speeds:
- Monday: 48 mph
- Tuesday: 32 mph (school buses were slowing traffic)
- Wednesday: 52 mph.
“It seems the speed monitors are not really slowing cars and trucks down that much,” Carl says.
“Funny, as I stood there taking notes, cars/trucks did slow. But that said, a 2015 study found that these types of monitors are not meant to slow cars down more than 10 mph.”
Carl believes that North Avenue — home to 4 of Westport’s 8 schools — needs traffic lights.
“Space them from Coleytown to past Staples,” he says, and traffic will quickly find alternative routes.
Solar-powered speed monitor on North Avenue. (Photo/Carl Addison Swanson)
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Civic Learning Week is an annual non-partisan effort, highlighting civic education in local communities.
The Westport Public Schools were active participants.
The week included middle school classroom activities about civic engagement. At Staples High School, 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker answered questions from students regarding her career path, job responsibilities, and more.
She also congratulated the students who will represent Staples at “We The People,” a national competition involving simulated congressional hearings in Washington next month.
The Staples team recently qualified by tying for first place at the state competition with Trumbull High.
1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker, with Staples High School’s “We the People” team, during Civic Learning Week.
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Noted artist and Staples High School graduate Michael Gish died earlier this month in Providence. He was 98.
Mike joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1943, at Dartmouth College. In 1944, after learning his older brother, USMC PFC Jim Gish, had been killed in action on Saipan, Mike left school to complete his aviation training with the Marine Corps.
Too young to see combat in WWII, Mike retired from the Marines as a naval pilot in 1946 to complete his education. He received an bachelor’s degree in fine art from Dartmouth in 1949.
Indelibly affected by the death of his brother, Mike decided to pursue art and the military as a career. He continued his education at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, in 1951 as a visiting student. Mike received a master’s in fine art from Yale University in 1964.
Mike then returned to active duty with the Marine Corps as a helicopter pilot, advancing to lieutenant colonel. In 1967 he was sent to Vietnam as a “combat artist.”
Mike received the Air Medal, for flying 24 combat missions. One of his paintings, “Studies of Helmets in the Sand,” was chosen to be the poster for the National Vietnam Memorial.
In 1991, at the age of 65, Mike became a full colonel in the Marines when he deployed to Iraq. As a combat artist for Operation Provide Comfort, he documented Kurdish refugees from the First Gulf War.
In 1993 Mike went to Somalia, where he continued his documentation of refugees and displaced people during Operation Restore Hope. Mike’s paintings have been displayed at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Washington, as well as the Smithsonian Museum.
A large part of Mike’s work reflects his love of still life and landscapes, particularly New England and his beloved Block Island. A prolific painter who worked well into his 90s, Mike was also a full professor of art at Fairfield University.
He was predeceased by his wife Marguerite (Drouin). He is survived by his children Charlotte Wall (Steve) of Southport, North Carolina; Peter (Robin Kaiser) of Hanover, New Hampshire, and Carl (Elizabeth) of Palo Alto; grandchildren Carla and Stephanie Wall; Sophia, Miranda and Olivia Gish, and Peter and Henry Gish, as well as his partner of many years, Marilyn Bogdanffy.
A memorial service will be held at the Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction, Vermont (May 18, 4 p.m.. Another ceremony will be held on Block Island this fall. In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made One to the U.S. Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.
Mike Gish
One of Mike’s many fans told “06880”:
“We, along with many other admirers of him as a painter and a person, were saddened to note the death of Mike Gish. We acquired a number of his pieces –oils and watercolors that reflect the luminosity of his palette and the range of his interests, from Block Island to the cliffs of Normandy to a barn in Fairfield.
“We were introduced to him in the mid-1980s when, quite by happenstance, we visited his studio with a real estate agent who was showing the house. We were struck in particular by a small study of a couple of Adirondack chairs.
“Wondering if we might acquire it, we learned he was about to have a show at a local gallery. That led to an invitation to the preview. We went, expecting only to browse more of his work, but then — in a familiar story — we were so struck by this wonderful rendering of a familiar Westport landmark that we amazed ourselves by buying it.
“It has held a place of honor in our house ever since.”
“Compo Beach Pavilion” (Mike Gish)
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Hook’d is not yet open.
So this guy found its own breakfast at the beach.
And then posed, for our daily “Westport … Naturally” feature.
(Photo/Matt Murray)
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And finally … I’ve posted this song by Jon Gailmor before.
But because:
- It’s one of my favorite songs of all time, about one of my favorite states, and …
- I mentioned it in the very interesting item about Jon (above), and …
- This is my blog …
I’m posting it again. Enjoy!
(Today — like every day — our Roundup is jam-packed with a wide variety of info. If you enjoy this daily feature, please support our work. Click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
Jon Gailmor is Vermont’s gain and indeed a treasure. And so are you, Dan, for presenting these stories to us.
“Carl believes that North Avenue — home to 4 of Westport’s 8 schools — needs traffic lights.
“Space them from Coleytown to past Staples,” he says, and traffic will quickly find alternative routes.”
I’m not sure I understand what Mr Swanson wants. Article starts off sounding like he wants to reduce speeding, which is a laudable goal. By the end though, sounds like he really wants to move traffic off of his road, North Avenue, and onto Bayberry and Roseville which doesn’t seem terribly neighborly.
Since I deem there is little enforcement of speeding, Mr. Strittmatter, by our police force, speeding is NOT going away.
As such, I would rather drivers speed on roads which do NOT involve four (4) of our schools and our children. At one juncture in our town’s history, kids did come first. Now it is all about money and “ME” as your comment illustrates.
I’m still a bit confused. You note that when school buses are out (i.e. school time) that traffic is slower, while the other times you monitored speeds did not coincide with when kids might be threatened so it is not clear what your proposal would do “for the kids”.
Having said that, if “the kids” are what you are worried about as opposed to simply impeding traffic and diverting speeder to other roads, would lights that only worked +/- 1 hour at time of school start/end work for you? Or is it really a 24/7 thing you want (not that there is anything wrong with that)?
For what it is worth, I don’t live off Bayberry, North or Roseville nor do I take any of those roads in a daily basis so it not particularly a “ME” thing (at least for me) as you suggest. Nor do I make any money from people speeding or driving on North Ave.
Frankly, when I do travel north/south through eastern Westport, I generally take Bayberry since there tend to be fewer people on my tail when I try to travel near the speed limit so, as I said, I’m all in favor lowering speeds everywhere.
I don’t understand your point. The local police do not enforce the speed limit because all the revenue from tickets goes to the State. No incentive so they focus on cell phone drivers etc. In every jurisdiction I have lived from Houston to Bermuda to Minneapolis have “blinking 5 mph” lights in “school zones” upon their opening/closing. They also have a cop sitting right there watching in his vehicle. North Avenue has become the grand gateway for commuters coming/returning from Fairfield, Easton, Weston and Southport along with the vast number of contractors who seem to dominate our lives/roads. Prime example of what works: Drive the Post Road at night. The traffic light at Fresh Market works 24-7. It seems moronic to stop there with no traffic but it slows any speeders down. My point spot on.
Got it. The whole thing about “protecting the kids” was a smokescreen. What YOU want is for people to stop speeding on YOUR street with YOUR solution being to divert speeders to SOMEONE ELSE’S street by making it difficult to speed only on YOUR street. We now understand who “ME” is, otherwise you would be advocating for more speed enforcement generally or traffic lights on every street to slow traffic everywhere rather than just North Ave.
So, my point is: Your proposed solution addresses your problem while ignoring the knock-on consequences for everyone else in Westport. Which doesn’t seem very neighborly to me.
As an aside, just because the money from speeding tickets goes to the state doesn’t mean the police don’t do their job of “protecting and serving” the good citizens of Westport. I mean, it’s not like they collected money for rescuing the rowers off Compo.
Oh, Bill, you are just a whiner and one reason why nothing ever gets done in this town. As for the derogatory “ME” comment, I also just got the tree warden out here to cut down trees along North and our street, have a band of ten members who pick up trash every Sunday on North, and already planning on an enforcement committee when the leaf blower ordinance goes into effect. Bill, if you don’t have a solution, you are part of the problem.
I don’t know if Mike Gish is related, but Lillian and Dorothy Gish, sisters from Westport, were well known actresses in the very early days of film, working with D.w. Griffith.
The Town Meeting is alive and well in Heath, Massachusetts, where I live now (I grew up in Westport). Heath is one of the so-called Hill Towns of Western Mass. (basically towns north and west of Northampton), most of which have populations of 600-1,500 or so and Town Meeting governance. Westport went over to the RTM system just before I went off to prep school in the early 50s, IIRC. The Town Meeting is a great institution: democracy in its core meaning.