Town Assessor Paul Friia has announced details of Westport’s 2024 Grand List.
The Grand List is the sum of the net assessed value of all taxable property – real estate, motor vehicles and personal property.
Motor vehicles and personal property are valued annually, while real estate is updated based on the market values determined as of the town’s last revaluation date (October 1, 2020).
Changes to next year’s Grand ist will reflect the upcoming revaluation.
The net 2024 Grand List of $11,616,471,195 is an increase of nearly 1.3% from 2023 ($11,468,456,765).
Properties like this on Beachside Avenue help boost the Grand List.
There were increases in 2 of the 3 categories.
Friia says that the 1.6 percent increase in real estate assessment is a result of continued residential and commercial new construction, as well as renovation activity.
That includesthe completion of construction on 31 condos at 41 Richmondville Avenue (“The Mill”), and the renovation of National Hall.
The Grand List was also boosted by construction of approximately 40 new homes, and ongoing commercial development.
Personal property increased by just under 2%. Friia calls this “typical continued reinvestment in local new and existing businesses to include equipment and leasehold improvements.”
The motor vehicle portion of the Grand List decreased 7.8%. This was expected, following a change in state law that requires vehicles to be valued using MSRP, and a set depreciation schedule.
Other contributors to Westport’s Grand List.
The current 2024 Grand List totals are:
Assessment
2024
% of List
Real Estate
10,783,861,235
92.83
Motor Vehicle
428,120,510
3.69
Personal Property
404,489,450
3.48
TOTAL
11,616,471,195
100%
Friia also announced the top 10 taxpayers in Westport:
Connecticut Light & Power Inc Pers. Property 144,150,180
60 Nyala Farms Road LLC Real Estate 83,335,700
Bedford Square Assoc LLC Real Estate 51,520,000
Aquarion Real/Pers. Prop. 40,247,920
Equity One Westport Vill. Center Real Estate 32,970,900
If it’s almost the new year, it’s almost time for the Board of Education to examine the budget.
The first work session is Friday, January 3. Superintendent of schools Thomas Scarice will present his proposed 2025-26 budget at Saugatuck Congregational Church. The day-long work session begins at 8:30 a.m.
He will recommend an operating budget of $150,357,411. That’s a 4.69% increase over the current (2024-2025) budget. Of this 4.69% increase, “current services” represents a 4.17% increase.
The budget’s primary drivers are:
Maintaining all current levels of staffing and programming, while honoring new contractual agreements (health insurance costs, salary increases, Westport Education Association contract, etc.)
Maintaining staffing in response to regular education and special education enrollment
Maintaining the technology replacement cycle.
Scarice explains: “Maintaining current programming is essential to our continued response to student needs. Public education is a human services endeavor, which is heavily dependent on human resources. It is no surprise that the most significant funding allocation is for human resources (i.e. staffing and associated costs).”
Salaries are the primary budget driver. The projected amount for certified staff in ’25-26 is $72.2 million, a 5.1% increase. That covers 48% of the total budget, and is equivalent to a 2.45% increase to the total budget.
Non-certified salaries account for $19.6 million, a 5.3% increase, and 13% of the total budget. This is equivalent to a 0.69% increase to the total budget.
In total, all budget salaries represent a 3.22% increase to the total budget.
Employee health benefits remain a significant cost driver. This item includes a projected 8.3% increase to medical benefits, and a 5% increase to dental benefits. Final projections will come in early spring.
To maintain the technology replacement cycle and to meet software needs, the ’25-26 budget includes a $318,131 increase. This 0.22% increase in the total budget “keeps the district on a relatively smooth year over year technology funding path,” Scarice says.
School technology is constantly evolving.
Budget “assumptions” — initiatives prioritized to advance the work of the school system — include:
Restoring 2 full-time elementary school assistant principal positions
Advancing and supporting the work of maintaining facilities
Implementing action steps of district plans in areas like equity study, academic initiatives, technology, etc.).
A 2-day leadership team budget workshop earlier this cycle reduced the original budget request of a 5.26% increase to the proposed 4.69% (a reduction of $816,000).
Items in the original budget request, but not in the final recommendation, include:
1 financial literacy teacher ($104,180)
1/2 special education teacher, Kings Highway Elementary ($71,265)
1 paraprofessional to support coordinators ($79,035)
Extracurricular stipend for unified sports ($5,131)
Textbooks ($250,000)
Bedford Middle School fitness center equipment ($18,500).
Other cuts were made to unemployment benefits, and facilities (restorative and preventive maintenance, fire and security).
The district booked $180,000 in credit for providing parking for student transportation.
First Student buses, parked at the Greens Farms train station.
Key increases that remain in the recommended budget include:
Assistant principals at Coleytown, Greens Farms, Kings Highway and Saugatuck Elementary Schools ($405,888)
The budget notes that the Westport Public Schools have 7 collective bargaining agreements for nearly 1,000 employees.
An agreement was reached with the WEA (teachers union) this past summer. Negotiations with 4 non-certified employee groups will take place this spring.
Scarice says that his proposed budget “fulfills the district’s obligations to local bargaining unit contracts, local guidelines and policy (e.g. class size guidelines), and state and federal mandates.
“This recommendation responds to the learning and social/emotional needs of students, while advancing forward thinking district plans. The team honored budget drivers and assumptions, and this recommendation clearly illustrates the need for ‘tradeoffs’ as the district continues to aspire to maintain the distinction and reputation that the community has enjoyed for decades.
“Along with the administrative team, I look forward to deeper discussions towards developing a greater understanding of the budgetary needs of our district.”
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As the housing crisis worsened last year, Westport’s Gillespie Center and Hoskins Place — the downtown site with beds for 15 men and 4 women, respectively — closed.
The reason: much-needed renovations. Homes with Hope — the non-profit that for 40 years has housed the homeless, provided meals and a food pantry for the hungry, and offered other supportive services — moved its residents into Linxweiler House (on the Post Road between McDonald’s and Fresh Market), and other shelters.
HwH is a ray of hope for unhoused people — and the working poor, who also face difficulties finding a place to live. CEO Helen McAlinden says a person must earn $42.50 an hour to afford a studio apartment in Fairfield County. Many Homes with Hope clients, meanwhile, make just $15 an hour. Even with 2 or 3 jobs, they cannot pay rent.
Gillespie Center, before renovations. (Photo/June Rose Whittaker)
Linxweiler House has been a temporary solution. After initial hesitation, Crescent Road residents have embraced their new neighbors.
But soon, the Gillespie Center will be back in operation. After months of construction, it will be more functional, efficient and welcoming than ever.
It’s not just for homeless people, either. A large, well-lit new conference room will be available, free, for non-profits to use.
The other day, McAlinden showed off the space. An entirely new kitchen will enable volunteers — individuals, families, organizations, and Cecily Gans’ Staples High School culinary classes — to not just serve, but also cook, meals.
Clients can use it too, to learn or improve their cooking skills.
Homes with Hope CEO Helen McAlinden, in the new kitchen …
An ADA-compliant bathroom means that people with disabilities can shower and take care of themselves too.
An isolation room is available for clients who get sick. When not in use, it can be used for extra beds.
The men’s dorm has been split into 2 rooms. The result is more privacy — and light.
The women’s shelter now shares a hallway with the men’s. Previously, women had to leave the kitchen or community room and walk outside, to a separate entrance.
The second floor food pantry — open to the public — is now served by a dumbwatier. “No more hauling sacks of potatoes up the stairs!” McAlinden explains.
… and food pantry …
The pantry will have have a refrigerator and freezer, allowing it to store milk, cheese, eggs and meat.
There’s space too for toiletries, like toothpaste and soap.
The refrigerator and toiletries have been some of the most popular features of the temporary pantry at Sasco Creek Village. It’s been a great success, since moving there in May.
But McAlinden looks forward to getting the pantry back under the Gillespie roof. And the Westport Housing Authority, which oversees Sasco Creek Village near the Southport line, will be happy to get its community room back.
“This is an unbelievable, state-of-the-art facility,” says McAlinden proudly. The bulk of the funding caem from a federal Department of Housing ARPA grant. An anonymous gift paid for the dormer conference room that will be used by any non-profit that needs it.
… and outside the entrance. (Photos/Dan Woog)
Westport Department of Human Services director Elaine Daignault played a key role in the project. She wrote the grant, coordinated efforts with the town, and managed the project with McAlinden.
“So many people have been so supportive,” McAlinden notes.
Final construction, including wiring, plumbing, floorng and painting, is underway now. Beds will be delivered soon. Clients are expected to move back in before Christmas.
The Gillespie Center — and Homes with Hope — continue to be the gift that keeps on giving.
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The last time we checked in with Rachel Markus, her networking group for women working in alternative finance was just starting to purr.
Now, Rockin’ Alts Women of Westport — RAWW — is roaring.
More than 70 women — many in positions of power in hedge funds, private markets, venture capital and more — meet regularly.
They swap ideas about trends, resources, best practices, fund structuring, invstor databases and board opportunities.
They share stories about commuting and kids. They instill confidence in each other, and make connections so that all women in their industry will thrive.
RAWW has provided panelists for professional conferences, supported each other’s fundraisers, and referred a member to an employment attorney.
Tons of talent and expertise at a RAWW meeting.
Sub-groups have heard presentations on topics like angel investing, or how to work with an executive coach.
There is no membership fee. Lunch and happy hour meetings are held at local restaurants like Harvest, Romanacci’s and Spotted Horse.
Now, RAWW has hooked up with a similar group. Runa Knapp — a co-founder of FoundHer — attended a RAWW meeting, and recognized the synergy.
FoundHer focuses on women — also primarily in alternative finance — who have taken a career break to raise young children, or are commuters looking for a local or flexible position.
FoundHer connects them with firms seeking increasing diversity, but lacking access to experienced candidates outside their core networks.
RAWW and FoundHer members met earlier this month, It was an energetic event.
RAWW and FoundHer members get together.
Members of both groups know they can spend “an entire week in alternative finance being the only women in a room filled with men,” Markus says. “At conferences, we are definitely in the minority.”
Members of RAWW and FoundHer also know the difficulties of balancing professional and family lives — choices men seldom face.
“If you work in the city or you’re on the road, you can’t leave early for your kids’ events, or go to a school function or doctor’s appointment,” Markus says.
Often, however, working mothers feel they should be doing that.
If they’re working locally and can do those things, how do they fit them in with their work lives?
RAWW and FoundHer address those issues.
Who are those women?
Rachel Markus
“They’re ballers,” Markus says enthusiastically. “They’re awesome. They’re definitely not wallflowers. They’re spunky and supportive.”
Here in Fairfield County, members skew a bit older than women in alternative finance who live in New York City, and may be single. A few — including one graduate from Staples High School in the 1970s — are near retirement, and look forward to becoming mentors.
But younger families have been moving to Westport since COVID, Markus notes. Many of the women joining RAWW — or looking to get back into the workforce, through FoundHer — have at least 10 years of professional experience.
Markus was one. She moved to Westport in August of 2020 — the midst of the pandemic.
With schools closed to parental involvement — and Markus wanting to meet other women in alternative finance — starting a networking group seemed natural.
In the year ahead, Markus says, there will be RAWW meetings on specialized topics, like health and wellness, and sessions with other organizations, like FoundHer and the commercial real estate group they met with this summer at Don Memo.
They’ll continue community service projects, like collecting business attire and accessories for the University of Connecticut Women in Business group. Members borrow clothes for job interviews.
“This is just another reminder of what’s so great about Westport,” Markus says about RAWW and FoundHer.
Or, put another way: It’s a great investment.
(To learn more about RAWW, email RachelMarkus10@gmail.com. To learn more about FoundHer, email rknapp@foundherllc.com.)
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The opening of 122 Wilton Road — Westport’s new 19-unit affordable housing building across the Saugatuck River from downtown — shined a new spotlight on an issue the town (and county, state and nation) are addressing with ever-increasing urgency.
Westport has done a better job than many similar communities. We supported one of the first homeless shelters in any suburb anywhere. Homes with Hope — which operates 122 Wilton Road — has evolved with the times and needs, and today is stronger and more efficient than ever.
Still, their mission — to end homelessness in Fairfield County — is enormous, and seemingly impossible to achieve.
The Westport Housing Authority, formed just after World War II to help returning veterans, oversees 4 residential communities — Canal Park, Hales Court, Hidden Brook and Sasco Creek Village — with professional management, resident services, and outreach and support.
But their wait lists are closed.
Among Westport’s affordable housing options: Sasco Creek Village.
Still, Westport continues to seek solutions. The need for affordable housing is not just a moral issue; it involves the economy and jobs; education and the next generation, and much more.
Last winter, the Representative Town Meeting created an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Money from land purchases, house construction and market rate housing sales will be used to build affordable housing. It could generate up to $1 million annually.
Fairfield and New Canaan have similar funds.
Last month, the RTM appointed 5 members to the Affordable Housing Fund Committee to will oversee the money.
They are former Board of Finance member James Foster, former assistant town attorney Gail Kelly, former Planning & Zoning Commission member Jon Olefson, investment banker Kate Weber, and retired institutional asset manager Ralph Yearwood.
Ralph Yearwood
The other day, Yearwood — a Harvard College and Business School graduate; Westporter since 1984; father of 3 children who went through the local school system; volunteer with a food pantry and after-school learning program, and a Norwalk Public School mentor, as well as treasurer of Homes with Hope — chatted with “06880” about the new committee.
“Everyone should have sufficient food, housing, education, healthcare and security,” he said, describing his volunteer efforts in general, and his motivation to serve on the Affordable Housing Fund Committee.
Members have not yet held their first meeting. They’ll meet individually with 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker, before convening as a group.
When they get together, they’ll assess their tasks: to study the town’s existing plan for affordable housing; inventory the sites that may be suitable for affordable housing; track the availability of those properties, and determine how to purchase and fund those sites.
Yearwood is proud that there is a consensus in Westport around the need for affordable housing. The state mandates that 10% of units built since 1990 be deemed “affordable,” according to an income formula.
19 apartments at 122 Wilton Road are Westport’s newest affordable housing units.
But, Yearwood says, the interest of residents goes beyond state requirements.
“Having affordable housing enables you to attract better employees,” he says.
“There’s a direct benefit to teachers, first responders, retail workers and others.”
Affordable housing is also a means of reducing homelessness. And yes, there are homeless people in Westport, he notes.
In addition, the opportunity for children to get a good education helps end inter-generational poverty, whose effects are borne by all taxpayers.
The details and timeline of the Affordable Housing Fund Committee are still to come.
But Ralph Yearwood and his fellow members feel right at home in their work.
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With Governor Lamont noting that “a home is more than a roof over your head; it’s a community,” Westport inaugurated 122 Wilton Road this morning.
The ceremony — attended by Congressman Jim Himes, other officials, and local housing advocates — marked the official welcome for the town’s newest apartments.
All 19 units are affordable, under a state formula. Residents will include “the working poor”: retail workers, landscapers and others who struggle to find housing in what many speakers noted is a national crisis.
Nearly 400 people applied for the 19 apartments, located at the Wilton Road/ Kings Highway North intersection.
While praising Westport as being “a welcoming town in a welcoming state,” Governor Lamont noted, “we have to do a lot more of this.”
Governor Lamont, speaking at 122 Wilton Road this morning. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Other speakers echoed that theme.
Connecticut Commissioner of Housing Seila Mosquera-Bruno — who came to the US as a single mother at the age of 24 — said that without housing assistance, she would have been unable to obtain a master’s degree in urban studies, or complete a fellowship at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
State Comptroller Sean Scanlon said that his parents divorced when he was 6. His mother had no car or education, but through assistance made sure he grew up in “every apartment in Guilford.”
“When we build housing, we build Connecticut,” said the man who “signs the checks” for projects like these.
The ceremony’s host, Helen McAlinden, president and CEO of Homes with Hope — the non-profit working to end homelessness, which oversees the project — greeted the 100 guests. She gave a special welcome to the families that have already begun moving into 122 Wilton Road.
The apartments were built by Richard Friedman, president of the Garden Homes Fund. The private foundation focuses on affordable housing.
Rev. Pete Powell also spoke. A founder of the Interfaith Housing Association — Homes with Hope’s predecessor — he reminded the audience that one of the first locations for Westport’s homeless shelter was at the Vigilant Firehouse (now OKO restaurant), a few hundred yards away on Wilton Road.
“This has been an unimaginable journey,” Powell said.
He cited the many men and women who have worked to alleviate housing in Westport in the 40 years since the IHA began, and were on hand to celebrate the opening of the new apartments.
Representative Jim Himes spoke of the importance of addressing housing shortages nationwide.
“If Westport can do 19 units, and every town does the same, we will move the needle,” the US congressman said.
After the ceremonial ribbon-cutting, Homes with Hope offered tours of the building.
Among the ribbon-cutters, from left: Rev. Pete Powell (bowtie), Interfaith Housing Association founder; State Representative Dominique Johnson (blue blazer), 2nd Selectwoman Andrea Moore (with scissors), Homes with Hope CEO Helen McAlinden, Congressman Jim Himes, Connecticut Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno, Governor Ned Lamont, Garden Homes Fund builder Richard Friedman. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Jonathan Steinberg was not a fan of 122 Wilton Road.
Like many Westporters, the state representative thought the new apartment building at the Kings Highway North corner was too big for the land, and too close to wetlands.
But when Steinberg learned who will be moving in, he changed his mind — dramatically.
He’s betting many other Westporters will too.
The 19 Homes with Hope apartments were distributed by lottery to “working poor” individuals, and their families.
Nearly all have ties to Westport, through jobs and/or families.
Some work in local supermarkets; others for landscape companies, and cleaning homes.
One apartment will be rented by a Ukrainian family. They’ve been underhoused, since arriving in Westport as refugees.
122 Wilton Road apartments.
According to Helen McAlinden, CEO of Homes with Hope, an individual must earn $42.50 an hour to afford a studio apartment in Fairfield County.
Someone making Connecticut’s minimum wage of $15.69 an hour — and working 2 jobs — cannot come close to that.
Nineteen of those workers — and, in some cases, their families — will now have secure housing. For some, it’s the first time in their lives.
Every resident of 122 Wilton Road is “a productive member of society,” McAlinden says. They have at least one job. They work hard, serve employers and customers, pay taxes, and have hopes and dreams for the future.
“This building will allow these people an opportunity to live in this wonderful town,” where some already work, McAlinden says.
Their children “will reap the benefits of our brilliant school system. In many cases, they’ll be the first in their family to go to college.”
Kitchen, in a 3-bedroom apartment.
One of the many excited new tenants is a woman named Laura. She’s the community closet coordinator for Open Doors Shelter in Norwalk.
She’ll move in with her fiancé — who prints shirts in a warehouse for an e-commerce firm — and their 2 1/2-year-old daughter.
“Honestly, this is life-changing,” Laura says.
They’ve spent the past 5 years in one bedroom, at his grandparents’ house.
“It’s a blessing to be with them,” Laura acknowledges. “But our daughter needs her own space. We need to not worry about her making too much noise, and to cook whenever we want.”
The hunt for affordable housing has been “discouraging,” Laura says.
“We’ve been on lists in Norwalk, but others were closed. We applied in Stamford and Fairfield, but never heard back.”
She learned about the Wilton Road apartments from another list she is on.
“We can’t wait,” Laura says. “We’re a little nervous, but we feel like this is our time.”
A bedroom in one of the 122 Wilton Road apartments.
Another new resident is an older, disabled Westporter who works around town. On a fixed income, he could not afford to be here any longer. He is thrilled to now remain in the community where he was raised, and has lived for so long.
122 Wilton Road is close to the Post Road bus route — an important consideration for those without a car.
And — crucially — those 19 units of affordable housing will go a huge way to help Westport meet the state’s 8-30g requirement, avoiding lawsuits and other, potentially much larger, construction due to a lack of such housing.
Because of the building’s size and location, Steinberg says, “I was frustrated for the community. None of us expected a good outcome.”
But, he says, when he learned that all the units would be deemed “affordable,” under Connecticut’s income formula, he realized its benefits.
“Westport is a model for the state,” as legislators contemplate changes to regulations, he says.
Because of this project, and other small clusters of affordable housing in town, “we will have a seat at the table in Hartford. We can help direct the best outcomes for Westport.”
The hallways are decorated with art and photographers by Westporters Miggs Burroughs, Tom Kretsch, Katharine Ross and Susan Fehlinger. All have local or New England themes. Burroughs paused earlier this month, while hanging the works.
The original plan was for 6 units of affordable housing, and 13 at market rate. Town officials denied the plan. But after 7 years of litigation, developer Richard Friedman prevailed, on 8-30g grounds.
McAlinden developed a good relationship with the builder. When he decided to sell the building, McAlinden realized it aligned with Homes with Hope’s mission: to end homelessness in the area, and provide resources for self-reliance.
The units include 4 one-bedroom apartments, 8 with two bedrooms, and 7 with three. Millenium Property Management will manage the building.
Homes with Hope will connect residents with essential resources, including job training, counseling and other support services.
“Essential workers like store associates and service industry professionals are the backbone of Westport,” Homes with Hope notes. “Yet many struggle to find affordable housing near their workplaces.”
Living close to work will reduce commuting times and costs. Increased disposable income can be reinvested in the local economy.
Affordable housing fosters economic diversity. “This inclusivity strengthens the cultural richness of Westport, creating a more vibrant and dynamic place to live,” Homes with Hope adds.
For months, Westporters have driven past 122 Wilton Road, and wondered who would want to live there.
Now they know: 19 hard-working, very appreciative families do.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a percentage point.
Implications ripple across the economy. One of the most significant areas is real estate.
In Westport, that’s always a lively topic. “06880” asked our friends at KMS Team at Compass what the news means for home buyers. They say:
According to to Lawrence Yun, National Association of Reatlors chief economist, much of the rate cut had already been factored into existing mortgage rates.
However, he said, “due to already low mortgage rates compared to spring, the purchasing power for home buyers has been lifted by around $50,000 for those with a $2,000 monthly mortgage payment budget. Consumers who were priced out due to earlier higher mortgage rates could now be back in the market.”
For those buyers still in the looking phase, this offers an opportunity to reach just beyond their target range, perhaps opening up a new selection of homes to consider.
Let’s say buyers set a price range between $1 million and $1,149 million. Today, that search in Fairfield County shows 35 properties.
Simply changing the upper end of the range to $1.2 million brings 62 homes to consider.
In Westport, a search range of $1.5 million to $1.649 million returns just 2 homes on the market. Increase the range to $1.7, and now there are 6 homes.
The Federal Reserve’s rate cut puts this 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, 2,304-square foot home on 1.41 acres at 163 Cross Highway in the range of buyers who might not have afforded it otherwise. It’s listed for $1.699 million.
For buyers who have already identified a property to purchase but have not locked into a mortgage, the potential savings are a bonus.
One client, looking at a 5-year adjustable rate mortgage, received a quarter point reduction in the rate overnight.
While this amounts to less than $100 a month on a $500,000 loan, it is not insignificant. If just half that amount were applied as extra principal payments, the borrower would save more than $24,000 over the life of the 30-year loan — and finish paying the mortgage off 15 months sooner.
The Mortgage Research Center offers a great calculator, for playing with the numbers.
Most importantly, the rate cut is a psychological signal for nervous home buyers that things are looking up.
The idea of “dating the rate and marrying the home” — refinancing when rates drop — is unfamiliar to many first-time home buyers. And why not? This is the first rate cut in over 4 years.
(Real estate is of prime interest for many Westporters. “06880” covers the topic often — along with so much else. If you like our work, please click here to support this hyperlocal blog. Thank you!)
Henry Ford said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have told me ‘faster horses.'”
Annelise Osborne uses that quote in her new book, “From Hoodies to Suits: Innovating Digital Assets for Traditional Finance.”
The Westport writer and fintech executive refers not to Model Ts, but to blockchain.
But a century later, the concept is the same: Most people have no idea how to innovate, or what new ideas mean for their lives.
They better pay attention. If they don’t, they’ll get run over — by a car, or a concept they don’t understand.
Osborne has taken a circuitous route to her blockchain book, which was published last week by Wiley. She grew up on the Marshall Islands (where her father did missile work). After William & Mary and Columbia Business School, she began her career in New York.
She’s worked in financial services (including as senior vice president at Moody’s, where she managed the commercial mortgage backed securities conduit surveillance team, responsible for monitoring ratings on $400 billion of bonds), and served on numerous boards.
Since April Osborne has been chief business officer at Kadena, a blockchain firm.
After COVID, she moved to Westport. Like the Marshall Islands, it’s on the water. It’s got great schools for her 3 teenage boys (and, she says happily, a public golf course).
She’s involved with Homes with Hope, rescue dogs — and Startup Westport. The town’s public/private tech entrepreneur group is a perfect fit.
Osborne has gotten to know many of Westport’s most creative minds (a number of whom are women). They, in turn, are interested in what she knows about blockchain.
One way to visualize blockchain. Annelise Osborne offers another way, with words.
Explaining how and why finance is chaining is the goal of her new book. Blockchain, she says, is a $2.6 trillion market “created by (people in) hoodies. But (people in) suits need to understand how and why it’s important.”
Blockchain can save investment companies like Templeton, JP Morgan and KKR enormous sums, says Osborne, through operating efficiencies. In fact, they already have.
And with baby boomers passing down trillions of dollars in assets to (primarily) Gen Z — many of whom get investment information from “finfluencers,” who understand blockchain technology, and seek non-traditional types of companies to invest in — it behooves the suits to understand what the hoodies are doing and thinking.
Osborne notes that the lines between the two groups is blurring. When Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress recently, he ditched his trademark look for a more traditional one.
Osborne calls her book “a Michael Lewis-type read.” It’s filled with stories that blockchain-challenged people can understand.
Annelise Osborne (holding book), with (from left) Doug Bross, Zac Mathias and Marion Jones, at this month’s launch party at Mexicue.
This being Westport — a town with plenty of suits, and a growing number of hoodies — Osborne thanks several locals in her book. They include Keith Styrcula, founder and CEO of Glasstower Digital; investment manager Ilka Gregory; Gregg Bell, senior vice president of The HBAR Foundation, and Patrick O’Kain, a partner at RW3 Ventures.
The book has created a bit of buzz. She sold 75 in 10 minutes at an Austin crypto conference. It sold out on Amazon , and topped the charts in a couple of new release categories.
Osborne now heads out on a book tour, to financial capitals around the world.
What’s ahead? She’s keeping her eye on even more efficiencies in finance, including “programmable money.” Bonds can pay themselves interest; look out for automated margin calls.
You heard it here first, from Annelise Osborne — a Westport financial whiz wearing neither a hoodie nor a suit.
Lynn Flint wrote yesterday: “The ground ozone count for today in Westport is 122 (way high).
“Anything above 70 is considered USG (unhealthy for sensitive groups). Normal is around 10.
“The same high count is forecast for Friday.
“This condition is invisible, not like forest fire smoke. I’ve noticed it the last few days whenever I was outside my eyes started to burn, my vision became blurry, and I started to cough vigorously.”
Be careful out there!
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A reader writes: “Students graduating during the COVID lockdown in 2020 were denied graduation ceremonies, and the accompanying fanfare and celebrations.
“To create alternative markers of these students’ accomplishments, schools produced and distributed lawn signs for each graduate’s family to display.
“Now, 4 years later, I see lawn signs for Staples, Bedford, even Goddard School graduates. Why?
“Can we please stop, for the sake of our landfills? Graduates are able once again to celebrate and be celebrated.
“So let’s end the practice of producing plastic signs that do not get recycled. biodegrade or do anything useful.”
A celebration of Leonard Everett Fisher’s life is set for this coming Monday (June 24, 3 to 6 p.m., Westport Library).
The date is special. It would have been the noted illustrator/artist, longtime civic volunteer and proud World War II veteran’s 100th birthday.
Donations in his and his wife’s name can be made to “Margery & Leonard Everett Fisher Endowment for Children’s Books in the Arts,” c/o Westport Library, 20 Jesup Road, Westport, CT 06880.
Leonard Everett Fisher (Photo/Ted Horowitz)
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Only 2 athletic facilities in Westport — Paul Lane Field at Staples High School, and PJ Roman Field behind Saugatuck Elementary — have lights.
That may change.
Now that a 10-year agreement with Staples neighbors has expired — and with more demands on fields than ever, due to the growth of sports like rugby and girls lacrosse — discussions are beginning about lighting more places.
The Planning & Zoning Commission Recreation Subcommittee meets next Thursday (June 27, noon, Zoom; click here for the town website livestream).
The agenda includes:
Review of participant feedback on athletic field lighting for properties (seen here).
Discussion of temporary vs. permanent lighting, and times of the day.
Discussion of the next steps in implementing athletic field lighting.
Paul Lane Field (lower right) is Staples’ only lighted athletic facility. the baseball diamond, and adjacent Albie Loeffler Field and Jinny Park Field are not. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Tickets for Billie Jean King’s appearance at the 25th annual “Booked for the Evening” — the Westport Library’s signature fundraiser (September 12) — go on sale Monday, July 15, at 10 am.
Speaking of summer: It was the solstice — and a full moon last night.
Dalma Heyn captured the scene, at Old Mill Beach:
(Photo/Dalma Heyn)
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Congratulations to Katie Augustyn. The longtime Westporter is the Sunrise Rotary Club’s new president for 2024-25. She was inducted Wednesday.
Katie Augustyn (center), at her Sunrise Rotary presidency induction. Looking on are the 2023-24 president Liz Wong, and Robert Friend, Rotary district governor.
The former marketing manager of the Westport Library’s Verso Studios — who is also a film director and musician — has been named director of operations and new initiatives at WPKN, Bridgeport’s free-form, listener-supported FM radio station.
At Verso Studios, Toller helped develop the mission, partnerships, and programming and marketing efforts.
Brendan Toller (Photo/Michael Civitello)
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Jianmei “Jamie” Zheng died June 14 at Yale-New Haven Hospital, with her family by her side, after a battle with lymphoma. She was 61.
She was born in China. After she and Ping Zhou married in 1986, Jamie earned a master’s degree in computer science from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
They and their 2 children eventually settled in Westport, where they lived for the past 18 years.
Jamie was a lifelong enthusiast of music and the arts. As a girls she performed traditional Chinese dance onstage, and later developed a love for classical music and opera. She followed that passion through world travel. Locally, she enjoyed MoCA CT, the Westport Country Playhouse, Westport Community Theatre, the Music Theatre of Connecticut and Fairfield University’s Quick Center.
Jamie practiced yoga, and was a founding member of a book club. She also found great happiness at Sherwood Island State Park, and relished in her daughter’s accomplishments.
In addition to her beloved husband Ping of 38 years, Jamie is survived by her daughters Connie (Scott) and Katie, and brothers Jianquan and Jianbin.
A memorial service is set for June 29 (11 a.m., Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport).
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Jamie’s memory can be made to the American Cancer Society.
Jamie Zheng
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While Westporters sweltered, these swans enjoyed cool Lees Pond.
Amy Swanson spotted them, for today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature.
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Scarice explains: “Maintaining current programming is essential to our continued response to student needs. Public education is a human services endeavor, which is heavily dependent on human resources. It is no surprise that the most significant funding allocation is for human resources (i.e. staffing and associated costs).”
Osborne has taken a circuitous route to her blockchain book, which was published last week by Wiley. She grew up on the Marshall Islands (where her father did missile work). After William & Mary and Columbia Business School, she began her career in New York.
