Category Archives: Westport life

[OPINION] A Conversation About The Cribari Bridge

Posted on December 7, 2019 | 43 comments

Frank Accardi moved to Westport in 1993. He’s seen a lot — and spent a lot of time by (and on) the William F. Cribari Bridge. He writes:

At this time of year, out-of-town holiday guests pile into cars. We take them to the beach, Longshore, and all those other lovely places in this town we call home.

Lunching downtown, they get a view of the river. A bit of Main Street shopping is on the agenda too.

Local friends are introduced all around: kind, friendly and warm-hearted.

We drive by parks and the library, modern schools and old churches, bike paths and boat slips. Inevitably, guests fall in love with the town just as we have.

Sometimes they get a chance to literally ride through history.

We tell them: The oldest hand-cranked open span bridge in the state is after the next light.

It’s on the National Registry of Historic places.

Reflections on the Cribari Bridge (Photo/Tom Wambach)

The turn is made. The chatter quiets.

The bridge is just ahead. Just as quickly, the short span is crossed .

But it is inevitable that they see what we see every day.

The dents, the rusty disrepair and desuetude, all made sadder by the brightness of Al DiGuido’s lights and the generosity of his spirit.

Thankful that no one experienced an oncoming landscaping truck at the same time, conversation eventually picks up.

But never about the bridge.

You want to explain that there is history, engineering, boats and truck traffic patterns to consider. But you don’t.

Safely at home, someone takes you aside and says, “Maybe from now on you should go the long way around, son.”

You say, “Don’t worry. I’m sure they will figure it all out soon.”

Won’t they ?

43 Comments

Posted in Saugatuck, Transportation, Westport life

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Entitled Parking: The Main (Street) Event

Posted on December 5, 2019 | 50 comments

In nearly 11 years of posting photos of spectacularly selfish, jaw-droppingly self-centered, stupefyingly entitled drivers, I thought I’d seen everything.

Silly me.

On Monday, this person — I would not call him or her a “driver,” because that implies some sentience — landed his or her Jeep here:

This takes your breath away.

The person crossed the yellow line. The person stopped, going the wrong way against traffic — in a “No Parking” zone.

The person took the keys, opened the door, and left.

Without even the decency to park close to the curb!

Don’t believe me? Here’s another view.

(Photos/Dr. Edward Paul)

I would like to say that no one can top this. The bar has been set astronomically high.

But this is “06880.”

Someone will.

50 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Transportation, Westport life

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The Mink Of Ford Road

Posted on December 5, 2019 | 11 comments

Alert “06880” reader — and avid fisherman — David Ader writes:

I’m a recently retired, now former financial strategist, who has decided to fish until I get bored.

I’m not bored yet.

I like to fish along Ford Road because it’s convenient, beautiful, and there’s not too much garbage for me to clean up to keep the place neat.

David Ader’s favorite spot on Ford Road. Unlike many fishermen, he’s not afraid to give the location away.

For the last while, especially in the morning, I’ve fished beside a mink who keeps me company. The mink bounds along the shore, stops to stare at me in sort of an acknowledgement, and in contrast to the osprey, kingfisher and once in a while bald eagle, doesn’t compete for the trout I dutifully throw back when I catch, which is rare enough.

Today I was saddened to find this fine furry fellow squashed in the middle of Ford Road. That’s a bit gross, I admit, but there was something really lovely going on.

As I watched him from a rock near the bridge that leads to Bridgewater, I saw all the cars and trucks passing by slow down to give the mink wide berth. Some slowed to a real crawl to look at it. Others just went by, still with a sense of respect or at least curiosity.

A cyclist on a very expensive bike, wearing racing clothes, stopped and just stared by himself for a moment.

The mink, in the middle of the road. (Photos/David Ader)

I heard a story that may be apocryphal: Some years back, enviro-activists freed minks from a mink “ranch” somewhere in this county; the minks we encounter are descendants of those coats that never were.

It’s possible, though I imagine cage-raised minks couldn’t survive in the wild and that this one’s line runs back to the beginning, to Indian times surely.

A few months ago I was picking myself up from the bank, having slipped in the river under the eye of that mink, or a relative perhaps. I picked up a stone that was clearly made for some purpose by the original inhabitants.

I liked the mink for its own antics, but too like to think that he’s a holdover from Westport’s more ancient heritage.

I hope another one, or two, show up when the weather warms up.

Oh, I did catch a large rainbow trout as well.

11 Comments

Posted in Environment, Westport life

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[OPINION] Everyone Talks About Traffic. Now We Need To Do Something About It.

Posted on December 4, 2019 | 47 comments

Last Saturday’s traffic was INSANE. In late afternoon, it took one “06880” reader half an hour to travel from McDonald’s to downtown. Another spent 40 minutes getting from the Post Road to the train station.

Side roads were no better. Cars backed up on Cross Highway from Weston Road all the way to Bayberry Lane.

This was a particularly bad Thanksgiving weekend mess. But more and more, it’s the norm.

An alert “06880” who asked to be identified as GS has had enough. He writes:

I’ve lived in town a long time. I’ve seen the traffic get worse and worse.

You can’t get from here to there anymore. I envision a not-too-distant future in which our property values go down, because traffic has become what Westport is best known for.

One familiar scene …

Anyone who was on the road last Saturday around 6 p.m. can attest: You could have gotten where you were going faster walking than driving.

Do you commute to and from New York by car? It used to be that once you got past Stamford, you were home free. Now you spend 20 minutes just between exits 40 and 41 on the Merritt.

If you’re on I-95 and get off at Exit 17,  you’re dead in the water. If you continue on to 18, there is a 5-minute backup on the exit ramp.

Heading from Cross Highway toward Exit 42 at the wrong time of day? That’s a joke. I could go on and on.

and another.

For starters, there has to be an immediate ban on development. More people equals more cars.

Then you have to systematically examine the traffic patterns of every intersection, and the timing of every light. Yes, I’m sorry, you will need to replace some of those stop signs with traffic lights.

A few traffic officers stationed in the right places at the right times of day would provide some relief.

We need a plan, and it has to start with limiting new buildings.

Maybe we need to form a special commission. Or perhaps appoint a traffic czar.

Whatever we decide, we have to do something. Traffic in Westport has reached a crucial point.

47 Comments

Posted in Transportation, Westport life

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Happy Thanksgiving, 2019

Posted on November 28, 2019 | 26 comments

In 1941, The Saturday Evening Post published Westport artist Stevan Dohanos’ Thanksgiving cover.

A few years later Dohanos produced this illustration, titled simply “Thanksgiving.” The house was a red gingerbread, at 55 Long Lots Road.

That home still stands — though it’s been remodeled. Much else has changed in Westport over the years too.

And much has not.

On this Thanksgiving Day 2019, “06880” wishes all our readers — in this zip code, or far away — a happy, healthy and heartfelt holiday.

As we count our blessings, I’ll start with this:

I am truly grateful for each and every reader. You make our community — online and off — one of the liveliest, most robust, most fulfilling and fun — on earth.

26 Comments

Posted in Arts, Media, People, Westport life

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Great New Festival Shines A Light On Cribari Bridge

Posted on November 27, 2019 | 7 comments

Westport is filled with holiday treats. But the lights on the Cribari Bridge outshine nearly every other winter wonder.

Ever since Al DiGuido and a crew of volunteers first hung hundreds of bulbs all over the historic span nearly 20 years ago, however, the actual lighting has been a low-key affair.

This year, there will be a very impressive ceremony.

No, it won’t rival the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center.

Ours will be better.

The William F. Cribari Bridge, in all its holiday glory. (Photo/JD Dworkow)

This Friday (November 29, 6:30 p.m.), Westporters are invited to the Saugatuck Rowing Club. There on the patio — with a perfect view of the Cribari Bridge — there’s hot cocoa, spiked cocoa, Saugatuck Sweets sundaes, Donut Crazy donuts, cookies, popcorn, a hot dog cart, live music, a cash bar and more.

The actual lighting takes place at 8 p.m. But the party lasts till 9:30.

Kids go free. It’s $20 for adults — but 100% of the proceeds benefit Al’s Angels. That’s the organization founded by bridge lighter (and Saugatuck Sweets owner) Al DiGuido. All funds help children and families battling cancer, rare blood diseases, natural disasters and severe financial hardships.

The Cribari Bridge lights were created as a symbol of hope for all in town.

Let’s hope there’s a huge turnout of angels on Friday, when Al turns on the lights.

(For tickets and more information on Saugatuck Rowing Club’s Bridge Lighting Festival, click here.)

Another view. (Photo/Joel Treisman)

 

7 Comments

Posted in Local business, Organizations, People, Saugatuck, Sports, Westport life

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To Catch A Thief

Posted on November 20, 2019 | 25 comments

Earlier today, I posted a story about an epidemic in town: Citizens stealing signs advertising non-profit events.

I used a generic photo. Obviously, I did not have a handy image of someone caught in the act.

Now I do. Even better: It’s a video.

A Westport resident captured this scene, from a dashcam.

The view is from Church Street South, near the Post Road intersection.

The sign advertises — er, advertised — Bedford Theater Company’s production this weekend of “Bye Bye Birdie.”

It’s in 2 separate videos, because the dashcam records in 3-minute increments.

In the first, we see a man who has parked his silver SUV in the lot of the now-closed Mobil Self-Serve (right). He walks from right to left, toward the sign:

In the second, longer clip, he lifts up the sign and brings it back to his vehicle, on the right.

It’s easy to say, “No big deal. It’s only a sign.”

But when you see a neighbor of ours behaving like this — a grown man removing a sign for a middle school play — you have to wonder what kind of town we’re living in.

25 Comments

Posted in Education, Police, Westport life

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Did You Vote?

Posted on November 6, 2019 | 45 comments

Yesterday was Election Day.

In mid-afternoon, Darcy Hicks posted this on Facebook:

I just drove a neighbor who needed a ride because she got home from surgery one hour before, and she wanted to get to the polls before her anesthetic wore off.

She was determined, as an American, a Vietnam veteran, and someone who took an oath to serve this country, to vote. I was so humbled and honored to meet her, and she made me so proud to be an American. If she can do it, shaky, in pain, so can you. Exercise your right to vote!

Lisa Alter soon added this:

The lovely Westport resident I drove to the polls this morning walked with a cane and some difficulty – and she managed to get there and vote. Please, everyone: Exercise your right to vote.

Turnout here yesterday — for an election that will help determine the future of our middle schools, redistricting, affordable housing, the vitality of downtown, taxes, and much more — was about 33%.

That’s right: One of you voted. Two others did not.

That’s embarrassing.

And shameful.

Here’s my two cents: If you were eligible to vote yesterday, but found some reason not to, you forfeit your right to criticize any political decision made in town for the next 2 years.

Elections have consequences. Every vote counts.

Did we count yours?

 

45 Comments

Posted in Local politics, Westport life

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Is Halloween On Or Off? Check In Here!

Posted on October 31, 2019 | 19 comments

Yesterday, town officials sent out a message about Halloween. They said:

Because trick-or-treating is not a town-sponsored event, the team agreed that it is best to leave the decision up to families and individual neighborhoods to change the night within their own neighborhood.

Makes sense. But at 10 a.m. — with rain coming down, and light rain and showers forecast for the rest of the day — how to decide?

“06880” rides to the rescue.

Click “Comments” below to weigh in: Trick or treat tonight? Tomorrow? Saturday? Some other solution?

“06880” won’t render an official verdict. As town officials noted, that’s up to Westport families and neighborhoods.

But at least you’ve got a forum now to debate, and come to a consensus.

Trick or treat!

Will Westporters trick-or-treat — or welcome guests — tonight? You decide! (Photo/Betsy P. Kahn)

19 Comments

Posted in Children, Westport life

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Signing Up A Thief

Posted on October 11, 2019 | 30 comments

Lawn signs — which really should be called “traffic island signs,” but that takes too long to say — are an easy, cost-effective way of advertising a political campaign, non-profit fundraiser, school play or sports tryouts.

Plenty of Westporters don’t like them. They clutter the landscape. Plus, many individuals and organizations ignore town regulations governing their placement and duration.

But one person really hates them. He (or she)* deliberately removed several signs from the North Avenue traffic circle at Long Lots Road. Others were taken from Bulkley Avenue and Greens Farms Road.

We can’t tell whether the vigilante took signs for non-profits, candidates, or both. All the evidence is gone.

Well,  not all. The metal frames remain.

The traffic circle at Long Lots and North Avenue.

That’s a deliberate act.

You can love the signs. You can hate them.

But you can’t take them.

And you sure can’t take them, leaving only the frames behind.

That just advertises you’re a jerk.

* Though for some reason I’d bet anything it’s a guy.

30 Comments

Posted in Organizations, Politics, Westport life

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