I’m going to go out on a limb here, and nominate an entire group of Westporters as this week’s Unsung Heroes:
Everyone who slowed the runaway train that (to mix a metaphor) looked like it was ready to turn part of Jesup Green into a parking lot.
The final plan for downtown is still to be determined. There are studies to be done, plans to be made, votes to be taken regarding Parker Harding Plaza, the Imperial Avenue lot, Taylor Place, perhaps even a deck on the Elm Street Baldwin lot.
But — thanks to a decisive vote by the Representative Town Meeting last week –there will be no further consideration of parking on historic, and very green, Jesup Green.
Saved! (Photo/Rowene Weems Photography)
Reasonable people can disagree on next steps. (And they will. Probably even in the Comments section on this very story.)
But many reasonable people stepped up in the days preceding last week’s RTM vote, and ensured that as our town moves forward to figure out its parking problem, we did not do what Joni Mitchell despaired over, more than 50 years ago.
We did not pave paradise, and put up a parking lot.
(Unsung Hero is a weekly “06880” feature. To nominate a hero, email 06880blog@gmail.com. To support our work, please click here. Thank you!)
Bravo to these heroes and your coverage Dan!
They are the unsung heroes
And thanks to 06880 and all who DIVERTED the “runaway train”. NOW, please RETREIVE the community gardens!
Rosalie, were you at the meeting recently ( last few days) where second selectwoman Andrea Moore who always always votes in sync with Tooker ripped into Toni Simonetti and the gardeners, and blabbering about barons south, because this new public safety bs, is aimed at forcing the community gardens to move altogether, so the state contributes toward the build of a “field of dreams” which will be a field of garbage when like everything else in this town it’s not maintained.
What everyone forgets here as well as the community gardens is the skullduggery and bullying with which the town and its rtm cronies, attempts to “force “ people to give up, and the disgraceful lack of transparency that occurred.
Can we suppose the town was attempting to copy this schools agenda. I think we absolutely can and will !
Please read and find the folding in of the “field of dreams” for this particular school district in 2022 ! Ring a bell ? Or an alarm bell.
https://www.thesunchronicle.com/editorial-norton-school-plan-faces-long-road/article_156cb8ad-9c37-5197-bb17-d9c32dacbe98.html
Elect me as First Selectman and I’ll make Westport great again#MWGA (Oh wait.. I don’t live in town anymore)
RTM….
“REPRESENTATIVE “ Town Meeting….
Working for us
Thank you
Yea Great move‼️
It’s been said that a common danger will unite even the worst of enemies. Sociologists call the phenomenon “unification against a common enemy” or “common front”. Politicians have called it frontism.
Whatever it’s called, thank you Dan, for honoring all who came together to save Jesup Green, regardless of politics and opposing loyalties.
A reminder that we are always better together.
Peace.
Actually Gloria what is hilarious here is that they were too naive to realise what the effect of what they voted on was.. ( the illegal ammendment – that meant going back to square one..regardless) back to BOF, back to PZ, so I suppose in the end it all goes back to square one.
What must be understood here was that, That was not what any of them understood… but it is how it will work . Again, the 10 who voted against along with public sentiment were the unsung heroes.
The same 10 who understand the charter…
Now this “shall” all go back before our commissions.
Unsung heroes ? For what ?
For doing a “go along” with the administration who wanted to destroy our town green. ? That amounts to nothing… except a total redo of the last few months.. the result would have been the EXACT same if they had, had the courage to vote as the other 10 correctly voted.
The unsung heroes were without any shadow of a doubt the 10 rtm who voted against this debacle.
Now it all goes back to PZ and BOF, so what exactly did they save ?
Nothing !
This post is truly hilarious ! Heroes my backside !
But the only good that comes from the having to start again, is that Parker Harding CANNOT be touched either. So I suppose it’s a parking garage or Parker Harding gets repaved and restriped with added ADA, exactly as it has perfectly and geniously functioned for 5 decades.
Saving us tax payers a fortune.
After all it was the merchants paid for Parker Harding to begin with. But for the merchants it never would have existed but would still be a river…
The unsung heroes were the 10 RTM who voted with the public !
Amen! I understand that you can’t stop progress and things change, but Westport would not be Westport if we take even a nibble out of Jesup Green.
Ultimately, if it has to happen, kindly wait until my passing and let me be carried to my final resting place in “The Minibus”
Please pardon my not following this story Dan, but what group of hungry folk ever thought to carve up Jesup Green? Has Westport declined so far as to even consider precious open spaces like the green to be commercialized into more parking spaces for the famous “Entitled “?
Decades ago, long before the new library and the concert space were created on the green’s edge, (as proper uses I might add), some friends and I lived on the green in the upstairs apartment in that lovely old colonial, which I believe still stands as the book shop. And would that structure and others be similarly torn down to make way for more space?
I remember well the pleasure of walking out each morning onto that beautiful expanse of sloping grass, surveying the trees and the river, before getting into my car to be off to work. We’d be meeting friends there, attending Memorial Day services and a host of other town events held on that lovely space. Priceless! Truly, what are these people thinking? This beautiful green is one of the few remaining vestiges of old New England life, which always served as village meeting places. It should remain as such in perpetuity.
It is said we learn more from our failures than our successes. But when the right thing prevails, when the mandate prevails, boy does it feel good.
Victory comes few and far between around here… but when it happens, how sweet it is.
Good call, Dan! A heartfelt thank you to all who stopped the madness.
(I think the ludicrousness was best summed up by one Westporter – sorry, can’t remember the name – who essentially said: they want to destroy a green space in one area in order to create a green space in another!)
Thank you Peter Gold for being creative in finding a way to stop the madness. And yes, thank you to The RTM who listened to the outcry and voted no !
good save, but we are still eliminating lot lots preserve and community garden paradise and putting up a parking lot.
Thank you, thank you, thank you …..to all who saved Jesup Green.
There is so much mis-information here – the overall master plan for Downtown needs to be looked at by all the commenters – as laid out by professionals it shows Jesup Green being made BIGGER by extending it to the riverbank and relocating a portion of the existing Taylor Lot, which will also make it more a more attractive town green, connect it to the river walk and make it a destination with a playground. There is no plan to destroy Jesup Green.
DPIC was set up by Jim Marpe with the vision of improving downtown Westport, making it more a attractive destination and thereby increasing the number of customers to all businesses and stores. Overall parking space numbers will remain as they are.
MANDATE OF THE PEOPLE.
Also, I think the best “playground” for young and old is wide open space where you can kick a ball, play catch, run in circles or sit in the shade of a big tree and eat snacks.
All should read or re-read the 2015 Downtown Plan. It is excellent, addresses all the issues and makes recommendations, some of which have been implemented, others remain to be addressed. The most likely only negative reaction to the proposals in the 2015 Downtown Plan pertains to the recommendation as to Parker Harding, namely to forgo some parking in support of river enhancement. The Plan reflected superb work by the consultant and the Town participants.
Don Bergmann
The 2015 downtown plan suffers from trying to over-hype Westport. Every outside consultant has missed the beauty of what is happening already. People and committees are constantly trying to tweek things down there, as if under some unseen preasure to change for change’s sake. Most of the ideas are terrible because the concepts at play remain invisible to people who dont see the magic. There are ten good ideas from the last 50 years that might be implimented.
For instance, if you park atTaylor a lot, one loves the freedom of parking right at the rivers edge, the most beatiful thing in the world. As many times the grass is wet with due, you dont want wet shoes to get a peak of the river. And you cant really see the river from most of the Taylor lot because most times the tide is low, so if one exchanges the Taylor lot for the green you actualy lose access to the river.
There are many attributes that went into designing downtown. The people who designed actually hung out there, lived there.
The systems in place to make changes now have faults, such as the five minute walk about tour, ha, and the committee looking at maps… if you live it you know. Westport is for living, not a flashy vacation spot.
I can see where an outsider could make that mistake because it is beautiful. There is a great book called Main Street by Sinclair Lewis.
Everybody wants a shot at the title, to change something downtown. 50 years ago downtown was perfect. The changes have not helped. The library is a step up. The levitt is gaudy and the good shows are ticketed not free. The movie theaters created a vitalty that is gone. The y made downtown central for Westporters. Nobody comes from Manhatten to shop in Westport …sorry if that was your dream…
It will be a happy ending if we learn from this and do better. Yes, it is a very positive outcome that the top of Jesup Green will not be razed and paved over. The townspeople are relieved, seemingly universally regardless of party affiliation. But Jesup Green never should have been at risk.
In a healthy working system bad ideas are thrown out fast without hurt feelings and good ideas surface. Way too many people, despite indicating that they did not think the plan was a good idea, passively pushed the bad idea forward, seemingly out of deference to the administration. This did not serve the townspeople well. In the end, it did not make the administration’s job any easier either. It never would have been uncooperative to just say, “We appreciate the effort to achieve the goal but need a better solution.”
There were a lot of good intentions and a lot of generous time and passion put in, but there were also a series of irresponsible bodges and repeated shrugging off of the rules of our town charter’s process. At several points, members questioned in real time whether or not process was being followed correctly, but those questions were plowed over. There was a dysfunctional insider/outsider way of looking at making decisions for the whole town. It was very disheartening to watch. In the end, the errors advanced had to be fixed through multiple steps. There are a lot of good minds and good intentions in our town’s decision making seats. I have hope that going forward, people will listen to the merchants and residents, follow the rules in place, treat each other with respect and in the end make good “forever” decisions for Westport.