This week, the Long Lots School Building Committee provided updates to the Boards of Finance and Education.
In the weeks ahead, they plan to meet with Long Lots neighbors. The LLSBC will
“listen to all questions, suggestions and concerns from the neighbors and discuss the current school design. We will restate that water management, both during and after the project, is a key priority for the LLSBC and the town. We will acknowledge that the project will be disruptive for the neighbors and affirm that we will do our best to mitigate the disruption and listen to the neighbors throughout the process.
The LLSBC will also meet with the Long Lots PTA, to “discuss the project and listen to parents’ questions, suggestions and concerns about the design of the new school including parent and bus drop offs, project timing, safety, and efforts to minimize disruption for all parties during construction.
In a meeting with the Planning & Zoning Commission, they provide an update on the project.
The LLSBC and design team will also meet with the members of the Westport Community Gardens. They will “listen to questions and seek input and suggestions about the construction of the new relocated Community Garden. The new garden is currently forecast to be ready, along with the new athletic fields and parking lots, the year following completion of the new school building.
“Currently the first planting season in the new relocated garden would be in the spring of 2028. We’ll reaffirm that this growing season (2024) will be the last for the current garden as mobilization and construction is forecast to begin in the spring of 2025.”
They will “also highlight that the First Selectwoman met with the Garden Steering Committee in late August and offered to work with the gardeners to move them to the Baron’s South property adjacent to the Senior Center. This move would allow the new gardens to open significantly sooner than the spring of 2028, which was the main impetus for the LLSBC to suggest this in our initial recommendation in October of 2023. The discussions between the First Selectwoman and the Garden Steering Committee regarding a move to Baron’s South are outside the scope of the LLSBC and the construction of the new Long Lots school.”
Plans are moving ahead for construction of the new Long Lots Elementary School.
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With less than a month to go before the presidential election, political signs are popping up all around town.
Some are for Harris/Walz. Others tout Trump/Vance.
They’re not generally noteworthy. But one on Saugatuck Shores caught our eye.
It wasn’t the message. It was the messenger.
The sign belongs to Betty Lou Cummings.
The 90-year-old and still very active volunteer is well known in town. In nearly 50 years here she founded the long-running Apple Festival, organized fundraisers like the Riverwalk and Westport Library River of Names, advocated for the Senior Center advocate, and served on the Representative Town Meeting.
She is also a former 2nd Selectwoman.
A Republican 2nd Selectwoman.
Betty Lou Cummings. Back in the day, she was a Michigan State cheerleader.
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Tickets to Staples Players’ “Elf: The Musical” go on sale tomorrow (Saturday, October 12, 10 a.m.). Click here to purchase.
Performances for the family-friendly show are November 15, 16, 21, 22, 23 at 7 p.m., and November 16, 17, 23 at 2 p.m.
“Elf” tells the story of a suspiciously oversized elf named Buddy who has been raised by Santa in the North Pole. Overhearing the news that he’s actually a human, he embarks on a journey to New York City in a quest to find his father, who, he soon discovers, is on the naughty list.
Buddy’s own half-brother also doesn’t believe in Santa. Buddy decides to change the outlook of his new family and bring the true meaning of Christmas back into New York City. Along the way he discovers friendship, romance, and his true identity.
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A rare sighting on the Saugatuck River yesterday at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 399 stirred excitement: the arrival of dredging equipment.
The last previous work there was 20 years ago.
Dredging operations are expected to begin today.
(Photo/Phil Delgado)
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Twenty current and former members of Westport’s Representative Town Meeting celebrated Restaurant Week yesterday, with lunch at The Boathouse.
The annual Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce event — actually 2 weeks — ends Sunday. Click here for a list of participating restaurants, with links to their menus.
RTM members lunch locally, at The Boathouse.
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Ken Feinberg — who as special master of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund was responsible for the disbursement of over $7 billion dollars — is the special guest at next Thursday’s “Common Ground Conversation” at the Westport Library.
At “Civil Discourse to Resolve Complex Disputes,” the October event (7 p.m.)
Feinberg will share his experience and expertise in bringing people together to analyze, understand, and resolve complex disputes. Steve Parrish will moderate the discussion.
The Common Ground initiative will also be livestreamed. Click here for the link.
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Speaking of the Library: How much we know about our environment and how we interact with it is the theme of their newest Verso Studios podcast, “Real World.”
A collaboration with Marisa Manley, the goal is “to explore, celebrate, and help listeners understand and possibly improve the built and created environment which surrounds us,” she says.
“We examine what the world is made of, how it came to be this way, and how it functions — in sometimes surprising ways.”
Episodes focus on everything from high-rise buildings and street signs to leggings and rocking chairs. Manley explores how they were designed, how they can be improved, and how they benefit all of us.
The podcast debuted Wednesday with 3 episodes, each 15 minutes long. An additional episode drops every other week.
It’s available on the Verso Studios podcast page, and through podcast distributors like Apple and Spotify.
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Two of our town’s most exciting groups of people — StartUp Westport, and creative Staples High School graduates — join forces on November 25 (Westport Library, 6:30 p.m.).
The public/private partnership for our tech and innovation community hosts the first Young Innovators Forum. It’s a celebration of the groundbreaking innovations developed by remarkable alums.
Staples’ computer science program has nurtured a generation of young entrepreneurs. Visionary founders — all under the age of 26 — have launched transformative technologies and startups that are reshaping industries and attracting significant investment.
They’ll speak about challenges they’ve faced, solutions they’ve found, funding and investment, and the future of innovation in Westport.
Panelists — all from Staples — include Dylan Diamond, co-founder and CEO, Saturn Technologies; Max Hammer, co-Ffounder and CEO, CrowdVolt; Josh Karol, co-founder and CTO, CrowdVolt, and Jack Sharkey, co-founder and CTO, Whop
Staples alum Molly O’Shea — a venture capital investor and founder of Sourcey, will moderate.
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On Monday, “06880” reported that Pure Salon has closed.
Despite a “Retail Space For Lease” sign in the window, the Taylor Place shop remains open.
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Staples boys soccer fans were excited yesterday by the Wreckers’ 7-0 defeat of St. Joseph, at Wakeman Field.
But no one was more thrilled than several dozen boys and girls from Luis Marin Elementary School. The Bridgeport youngsters — participants in the Lighthouse program — have been mentored this year by members of the Staples team.
Among the project leaders: senior Alex Kuster. He also donated 1,200 childhood books to the program.
They took a special bus trip to Westport yesterday, to cheer on their idols. They were greeted before the game. At halftime, they participated in a penalty kick contest.
And afterward, they celebrated with the teenagers who this fall have become their friends.
Staples players and Luis Marin students, after the game. (Photo/Mike Beebe)
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Speaking of sports: This weekend, the Staples rugby team starts its fall touch program. It runs from 9 to 10:30 a.m. on Sundays through November 24, at Staples’ Loeffler Field, for 8th-12th graders — and parents. No experience is necessary.
An open house is set for October 20, to answer parents’ questions.
Staples High School rugby team.
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In the interest of safety and efficiency — and to accommodate commuters and school traffic — the milling and paving project of Long Lots Road will be conducted outside regularly established days and hours.
Work will be done on two Saturdays — tomorrow and October 19 — and this Monday, the Columbus Day holiday.
Work will begin at 7 a.m., and end at 3 p.m.
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Daisies in the morning Compo Beach light are the focus of today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature.
(Photo/Celia Campbell-Mohn)
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And finally … today, in honor of National Coming Out Day for the LGBTQ+ community:
(Happy Coming Out Day! To celebrate, please click here and make a tax-deductible contribution to “06880.” We could not publish this hyper-local blog without reader support.)
Though Columbus Day may be a federal holiday, I believe Westport public schools will be open. It will be a mess on Long Lots.
Artificial turf fields on the table again. And at a higher financial cost. No! Following is documented information from scientific sources explaining the nature of the serious negative health consequences of the PFAS – “forever chemicals” – contained in the “blades” and the turf backing on kids, on the public water supply, and on public health and welfare.
These fields have been and continue to be banned in states and communities, and Mt. Sinai’s Children’s Health center and others strongly recommend against them, for excellent reasons. CT has a law banning PFAS and Atty. General Tong has filed an important lawsuit against manufacturers (with, as he has said, more to come. A wealth of information is readily available from many sources.
From: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, and the Ecology Center “Now lab tests show that both the grass-like blades and the backing of artificial turf contain the highly toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS….
PFAS are known as “forever chemicals,” since they accumulate in the body and do break not down. Nearly all Americans’ blood is polluted with PFAS chemicals, which have been linked to lower childhood immunity, endocrine disruption and cancer. Children are especially vulnerable to harm from PFAS because of their developing bodies and PFAS chemicals’ persistence in the body. PFAS chemicals are found in drinking water, firefighting foam, and many other consumer and industrial products. …
PEER and the Ecology Center tested eight different samples of turf. They all tested positive for total fluorine, which suggests the presence of PFAS. PFAS are used in the manufacturing process to make the turf blades pliable enough for extrusion. The organizations tested for 36 types of PFAS, but there may be many other PFAS in synthetic grass. ”
From: The Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI)
“PFAS Testing in Artificial Turf Carpet
Determining what chemicals are present in a product can be challenging because chemical contents are frequently not disclosed by the manufacturer. Two nonprofit organizations recently tested artificial turf carpet and found evidence of the presence of PFAS in the material. The nonprofit organizations tested backing of both new turf and older, discarded turf. They also tested a number of samples of artificial grass blades (carpet fibers)….
One possible reason for the use of PFAS in the artificial turf grass blades is to serve as an extrusion aid. That is, PFAS is added to the polymer mixture before it is passed through an extruder. An extruder is manufacturing equipment that melts and forms the polymer mixture into its desired shape. The PFAS helps to prevent the polymer from sticking to the extruder. According to a researcher, artificial turf grass blades were previously made from low-density polyethylene, but the material had poor durability. Newer polymer mixtures have greater durability, but were not compatible with existing extrusion equipment. Therefore, PFAS were added in order to facilitate use of the new polymer mixture with existing equipment.”
Those are just a couple of semi-technical explanations of how and why PFAS exist in artificial turf. A substantial body of information documents and supports them, also concluding artificial turf fields are serious health hazards. Many of the sources are scientific or technical but the topic has also been covered by such mainstream media as ABC News and the Washington Post.
I have supported building a new Long Lots to benefit the health, safety, and educational well being of our children and the community. Artificial turf fields will defeat that purpose. Let’s responsibly reject artificial turf now.
Thank you Wendy. Disappointed that our town leaders need to be reminded of these facts.
Everyone in Westport owes a debt of gratitude to Betty Lou Cummings. (And everyone should follow her wise advice!)
Indeed! And thank you Betty Lou, for, so far, being the only well known Republican in town to have the intelligence, patriotism and courage to publicly support the only visible choice for President…would that our selectwomen had the same.
Betty Lou, like many other prominent republicans have made a choice to support the candidate they think will do the best job for our country. Thank you Betty Lou for your continued contribution to our society.
She never won a primary. Talk about democracy. Not one vote.
She hasn’t done shit to run this country. Rich white Westport liberals live in a bubble. Most of America hurting under Harris/Biden.
I would love to see them send some illegals to Westport. You white privileged Westport people would have a shit fit.
Trump 2024
Make America Great Again.
Here’s the thing, Jeff. People like you want to believe that things are bad because, well, you seem to hate the country.
Unemployment is low. Inflation is low. Under the current administration, our economy has led the world in recovering from the pandemic.
So now you have to find whatever bugaboos that you decide are important, to criticize.
It is really not your concern how the Democrats chose to replace Joe Biden as the candidate when he stepped down, is it? You aren’t going to vote for the Democrat, because you support the orange seditionist, so why do you care?
Trump is the poor man’s idea of a rich man, the weak man’s idea of a strong man, and the dim man’s idea of a smart man.
And FYI love Betty Lou and her family. Many great times on the baseball field. She has done a lot for the town.
We all vote for what’s best for us.
Trump 2024.
Make America Great Again!!
No hope and joy for me.
If Putin ran as a Democrat Rich white Westport liberals would vote for him!!
That’s pretty ironic given how Trump sucks up to Putin.
And the Ukraine invasion was just a “minor incursion.” Hey, you don’t have to like Trump to concede that Biden has lived up to Barack’s assessment that you can “Never underestimate Joe’s ability to f—k things up.” With friends like that…..
Trump’s base is made up of uneducated white males. Anyone here fit that description? Just wondering….
I fit that description but I’m firmly for Harris.
Eric, Taylor Swift has an IQ of 160. As a matter of fact, she is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest singer ever to sign at age 11. I know my comment is a bit off topic, but we have someone who comments here frequently who has a higher I.Q. Her first name is Gloria. She’s a true genius! This is my 5th comment so I’m finished.
Putin would be arrested if he set foot on U.S. land, as he would in the rest of the NATO countries. Then he’d be shuffled off for trial. As a side note, I knew the guy who guarded Goering during the Nuremberg trials. He was a crybaby according to the guard.
Jeff,
Your continued mean-spiritedness and vitriol is both sad, and unworthy of the Arciola family.
Your relatives came to this country at a time when immigration laws were much looser. There was plenty of prejudice against Italians in the US. Fortunately, they found a community in Westport. Through very hard work, strong family ties — and the help of others too — they prospered.
The Arciola family is legendary in Westport. They were firefighters, town employees, and contributed and succeeded in countless other ways. Tony Arciola went to Yale, spent decades as a beloved English teacher and department chair at Staples, and after retirement returned to teach in the special education department. Westport would not be the town we are without the Arciola family.
I’m sure their early path was not easy. What a tribute to them, and to all who helped them succeed.
Our country would not be what it is without immigrants, of all kinds. There are only 4 ways to be here in the US today. You are either a Native American, or your ancestors arrived as immigrants, refugees, or in chains.
One final thought: As you and others in North Carolina struggle to recover from Hurricane Helene, you are receiving help from all over the country. The federal government, utility companies, private individuals — all are aiding in the effort, just as North Carolinians have helped others when they suffered.
Some of the toughest jobs, like roofing, and gritty clean-up work, is being done by immigrants. They do it because it needs to be done, and because they need to feed their families, so their children can have a better life.
Some of them are undocumented. North Carolina will not get back on its feet without them.
I am proud of the melting pot that Westport is — a community that the Arciola family helped build. Our town is not perfect; neither is our country, including its immigration system. But there must be a reason so many people risk so much to come here. Just as generations of immigrants have done, ever since our nation began.
I can’t understand how any woman could vote for Trump. Listen to the Hollywood Access Tape where he brags about abusing women!
Jack, Hollywood Access probably has tapes on me, you and half of Westport. I forgave Bill Clinton. Besides, with those little hands of his it’s unlikely his reach extended far enough to grab anything that wasn’t already attached to him (if you know what I’m getting at).
Women voting for Trump is like chickens voting for Colonel Sanders.
Voting for Harris is a mere formality we’ve skipped all the other steps so let’s just hold the inauguration now. I can’t wait to see the speech but let’s just skip that too.
Bravo Zulu, Professor Woog.
Westport is a lot of things, many of them great. A melting pot is absolutely not one of them. Good comment otherwise Dan.
A few years ago, when I was head coach of the Staples boys soccer team, we had 66 players in our program. 33 of them — exactly half — had at least one parent born overseas. They were from all over the world: Colombia, Brazil, Egypt, Israel, Ireland, South Africa, the Philippines, etc.
Westport is NOT a socio-economic melting pot, by any means. But in many other ways, it is. Listen to the languages spoken at Compo Beach on any summer day. On one day this year, I counted (at least, what I thought they were). I’m pretty sure I heard Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese and Hebrew.
Thank you, Dan…I choked up reading your wonderful, necessary and timely reply to the Arciola traitor.
Jeff…. Trump is an incoherent rambling old man who brags about abusing women with those tiny fingers! How many times did he cheat on his wives?
He may be an incoherent, rambling old man but in Westport we call them “Homeboy.”
Biden won by 7 million votes and 72 electoral votes in 2020. Not even close but Trump is still denying it. Wake up Jeff, you are being conned. Actually, we have a significant number of “illegals” working in this town, doing jobs nobody else wants or will do. You need a new slogan . . . for why didn’t the convicted felon make America great the first time around???
And all those Republicans who worked with and for the T administration and now decry him as the most dangerous man on the planet are wrong, Jeff? And you and your head in the sand, anti American compatriots, who do not know the man, are fit to judge him?
Hello Betty Lou,
Goodbye Heart!!
I have a few questions for the author of this article on Betty Lou Cummings;
1. In the Line, “But one on Saugatuck Shores caught our eye.” Who is the “Our” being referred to?
2. Is the purpose of the article to applaud Ms. Cummings for being and staying politically active at her age? If yes, then I am all in!
3. Is the purpose of the article to suggest that a career Republican has decided to support a candidate in this election from the Democratic Party? Unfortunately this is probably the case. My opinion would be that in every election, regardless of scale, there are party members that cross the line and then cross back again.
This case is not special and carries no more weight than any other. Nice try.
Under current law, I’m guessing that Dan Woog can, on Dan Woog’s blog, post whatever he wants for whatever reason he wants. And there’s nothing Daniel Guilfoile can do about it. Isn’t there some book Mr. Guilfoile needs to ban or some network license he needs to pull? Nice try.
When “It’s A Wonderful Life” is updated for streaming TV it will be about Dan Woog who will play himself. George Bailey was a creation of Hollywood. Dan Woog is the real deal.
Betty Lou! Go Sparty!
Dan
I am a little confused as to why the river is being dredged in the area of the VFW when the only folk that use the river north of the bridges are the rowers – who need all of a foot of water to float and small outboard powerboats. The area south of Saugatuck YC to the mouth of the river is the part that is badly silted and in need of dredging.
At this stage the answer is purely informational as the contract is awarded but it would be interesting to know the justification for spending tax payer dollars on a part of the river that is never used by any craft that draws more than 3 feet!!
The dredging barge is hard to miss as one looks north from the national historic William F Cribari Bridge.
It is my understanding that the dredging is being paid by and done for Bridgebrook Marina and the Saugatuck Rowing Club. Many on the existing slips are currently unusable due to shallow water. It is not—to my knowledge—part of the dredging plan touted by town government some time ago.
The Army Corps of Engineers’ posted dredging map indicates that they will only widen the 4 foot wide channel that has filled in for roughly 100 yards from the area in front of the Saugatuck Elementary school to the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge.
I believe that since commercial use of the river ended with Gault moving their fuel tanks to Bridgeport dredging the river is not a government priority.
Warner, please slow down when driving over the Bridge Street Bridge. You don’t want another citation.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved a dredging contract for VFW Post 399. The contract pertains to the maintenance of private property area and does not include dredging of the Saugatuck River channel. It is important to note that to my knowledge, the northern channel of the Saugatuck River is not expected to receive approval for dredging for several years. Best Regards, Phil Delgado, VFW Post 399 Quartermaster
To be clear, no taxpayer dollars are being used for the VFW Post 399 dredging contract. Everyone is welcome to visit the VFW anytime. Best Regards, Phil Delgado, VFW Post 399 Quartermaster
Thank you Phil for the explanation – appreciate the clarification.