Dara Lamb is a co-founder of the Westport Alliance for Saugatuck.
Last year, the grassroots organization battled the Hamlet development. Now they’ve turned their attention to the Cribari Bridge.
The other day, Dara joined me on the Westport Library stage to chat about their work, the controversy, the neighborhood and more.
Click here or below to learn what the Alliance is doing, how they’re doing, why it’s important — and what’s ahead.
Dara would be a great member of the newly formed bridge committee.
Thank you dara I am glad You were put on this by Dan you bring a great voice to Westport as someone who worked with you thanks for your service to the town
Thanks to Dan Woog and Dara for a compelling look at how one of Westport’s most engaged districts has been forced into a kind of “survival mode” to keep the town livable and manageable.
Today, Ned Lamont held two town hall meetings in Westport—one at the Westport Public Library and another at the Westport Center for Senior Activities.
Both took place roughly a mile and a half down Imperial Avenue from the site of a decision that will shape Westport’s next century: the future of the Cribari Bridge—and, with it, the daily reality for residents along the town’s far coastal west.
At both meetings, Governor Lamont and First Selectman Kevin Christie presented a united front in their determination to maintain the current prohibition on truck traffic over whatever bridge replaces the existing structure.
That goal is widely shared.
But goals are not a substitute for process.
I asked the Governor to ensure that any decision is grounded in a complete and current Environmental Assessment—one that, consistent with Federal Highway Administration and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation regulations, fully evaluates:
• historic impacts, including effects on the Bridge Street National Register Historic District
• long-term and cumulative environmental consequences
• regional and diversionary traffic patterns
• and reasonable alternatives, including modifications and exceptions, before any preferred option is advanced
This is not procedural nitpicking. It is the foundation of sound decision-making—and the only way to ensure that the outcome reflects reality rather than assumption.
Credit is due to Westport Alliance for Saugatuck and Dara for mobilizing nearly 3,000 members and deploying lawn signs across town with QR codes that make it easy for residents to submit comments for the federal record. Those comments will be reviewed by the Federal Highway Administration, and the same platform provides a direct channel for communicating with the Governor.
You can learn more and participate here:
https://sites.google.com/view/westportallianceforsaugatuck/cribari-bridge
Active, informed citizens are not an obstacle to good planning.
They are the reason good planning happens