Two years ago, SoNo Baking Company took over the downtown coffee shop space vacated by Java.
The popular mini-chain — with branches in Norwalk and Darien — drew 150 to 200 people a day, 300 on weekends. Customers came to eat and meet — despite the noise and dust of the Bedford Square construction project, diagonally across Church Lane.
But now — the moment the retail/restaurant/residential complex is opening — SoNo Baking is closing. Owner John Barricelli expects to sell his final coffees, pastries and salads by Easter.
Plenty to choose from at SoNo Baking Company.
Moving in is Aux Delices. They’ll keep their other Westport store next to Carvel. This will be the 5th location, with 2 in Greenwich and 1 in Darien. Aux Delices offers imported and local foods, freshly baked desserts and full-service catering.
“The rent was astronomical,” laments SoNo owner John Barricelli. “We couldn’t pay what we owed on coffee and cake. We fell behind, and it got to be a huge burden. I’ve never walked away from a bill in my life.
“If we were going in now, we might have had a chance. But the numbers didn’t add up.
“To make it there we needed alcohol, and to be open 24/7. For some reason, at 2 p.m. downtown gets very quiet. We had plenty of people in the morning, and until 2. But with the average check of $10 to $15 — you do the math.”
Barricelli calls SoNo’s closing “very sad.”
But he’s not giving up on Westport. He’s looking for another site near Southport — close to their previous location, near A&J’s Farm Stand.
Westport’s favorite winter snowbird has returned home.
Okay. This snowbird is actually an osprey bird.
Alert — and nature-loving – “06880” reader Wendy Crowther spotted the much-loved raptor this morning. He was perched at his usual spot: the nesting platform near Fresh Market.
(He started out here on a utility pole. But in 2014 Eversource — then called CL&P — relocated the nest a few yards away, to avoid short circuits. The original pole now has a black protector, making it unsuitable for nesting.)
So far we haven’t seen his mate. Perhaps this year they traveled separately.
Wendy Crowther was driving this morning, and could not get a photo of the osprey. But here’s what the osprey looked like just over a year ago — on March 26, 2016. (Photo/Wendy Crowther)
Former 1st selectman Joe may be the most well-known Arcudi.
But his 6 siblings were also quite accomplished. In the mid-20th century, they were the pride of Saugatuck.
Bruno Arcudi — who died on March 17 in Buffalo, at 93 — has a particularly intriguing story.
The son of Italian immigrants Carmelo and Mary Arcudi, he graduated from Staples High School in 1941, then from Yale University in 1944 in an accelerated program. He immediately entered the Army Air Force, and served as a navigator during World War II.
Bruno Arcudi
He returned to Yale for a Ph.D. He taught at Yale, Rutgers and the University of California-Berkeley before serving his country again, with the United States Information Agency in Brazil and Italy.
Arcudi completed his teaching career as head of the Italian department at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
But it was during his stint as chairman of Westport’s Board of Education — a role he assumed while earning his doctorate at Yale — that he made his most enduring mark on his home town.
In 1954, Westport desperately needed a new high school. The Staples building on Riverside Avenue (now Saugatuck Elementary School) was bursting at its postwar baby boom seams.
Arcudi and superintendent of schools Gerhardt Rast decided that a minimum of 25 acres was needed for a new site. The board decided to buy at least 30.
The high school on Riverside Avenue (shown here from a yearbook, with the alma mater) was very crowded when Bruno Arcudi chaired the Board of Education.
Four sites were considered. One was Blue Ribbon Farm, a 53-acre tract on Cross Highway.
Another was George Gyurkovics’ 23 acres on West Parish Road, near the state police barracks (the current site of Walgreens).
The 3rd site was the Masiello family’s 35 acres on Cross Highway. But it was low-lying, vulnerable to flooding, and the least attractive of the 4 choices.
The 4th was a 67-acre parcel on North Avenue between Cross Highway and Long Lots Road, owned by George May. The hilly land seemed perfect — except for one thing.
Army engineers had just identified the area as a launching station for Nike guided missiles. The Army was building a defensive ring around Bridgeport — home to many key manufacturing plants. The high ground and sub-surface rock made the May property the perfect location for a Nike site.
A typical Nike site — much like the North Avenue one. Missiles were buried underground.
Arcudi and the Board of Ed hoped that a large expanse of trees could separate the Nike site from the school. RTM moderator Herb Baldwin appointed Ralph Sheffer chairman of a 5-man committee to determine if the May property could be shared with a new high school “without impairing the national defense.”
The Army gave assurances that the missiles would never be fired — except, of course, in response to an actual enemy attack — and that all fuel and explosives would be stored underground, with rigid safety precautions.
A safety expert from the US Rubber Company added, “Explosive and gasoline being trucked along the Post Road every day constitute more danger to Bedford Junior High School [now Kings Highway Elementary] and the Green’s Farms Elementary School than the Nike would to the high school.”‘
The RTM was left to decide whether joint tenancy between the Army and Staples High School would work.
They agreed it could. After a number of delays — involving design work, budget and construction — the new Staples High School opened on September 4, 1958. Just north of it, the Army occupied its new Nike missile site. Today, we know that property as Bedford Middle School.
But none of it would have happened without Bruno Arcudi.
(Bruno Arcudi is survived by 3 sons, Charles, Anthony and John; 2 grandsons, Joseph and Zachary; and 5 siblings, Rose DiMartino, Anna Malootian, Elvira Ebling, Angela McKelvey and Joe Arcudi. He was predeceased by his brother John, and ex-wife Lynn. A memorial mass is set for Saturday, May 6, at noon at Assumption Church.)
The “new” Staples, circa 1959. The auditorium (center left) and gym (large building in the rear, near the track) are the only original structures remaining today.
Two years ago, Ryan Milligan had his 1st crossword puzzle published in the New York Times.
Today he’s got his 2nd.
Not bad for a 27-year-old.
Ryan Milligan
Long before he graduated from Staples High School in 2008, Ryan was solving Times crosswords with his dad.
In 11th grade he began creating his own. He’d print 150 copies, and leave them in the lobby. By lunchtime, they’d be gone.
His first puzzles, he admits, were “truly terrible.”
Today’s is a typical Tuesday one. It’s clever, but not unsolvable. Clues and answers range from pop culture and sports to Edgar Allen Poe and commercial names.
Ryan says that this puzzle required “significantly less editing” than his debut.
I won’t give away the theme. But if you want a “clue,” check the headline of this story.
(To read what the New York Times crossword community is saying about Ryan Milligan’s puzzle, click here.)
Jack Norman’s parents divorced when he was young. His dad had a drinking problem. When he lost his job, Jack’s mother picked up a second job, to support Jack and his younger brother.
One day when Jack was 13, he stayed home from his school sick. His dad came to take care of him. When Jack woke from a nap and asked for a sandwich, his father stood up — and passed out. He’d been drinking all morning.
Jack cut off all contact with him. Two months later, his father died.
Soon, Jack’s mom — 1985 Staples High School graduate Jen Rago — returned to her hometown from Atlanta. She’d be closer to her family, and her sons could attend better schools.
Jack thrived as a Coleytown Middle School 8th grader. The next year, at Staples High, he discovered Players and the Teen Awareness Group. He stage managed 18 shows, as well as music department and other performances. He served as TAG’s treasurer; this year as a senior, he’s president.
Last summer, he worked at A Child’s Place. He also babysits through CrossFit Westport’s daycare program.
Jack Norman, working behind the scenes as stage manager. (Photo/Kerry Long)
Jack is a role model for many students. Through TAG, he talks to freshman health classes about the challenges of growing up, and the toll addiction takes on individuals and their families. He is open about his life, and the devastating effects of his father’s alcoholism.
Now, Jack is reaching an even broader audience. “Jack’s Story” has been posted on Positive Directions’ website. And he’s featured in the organization’s new PSA.
When the non-profit mental health and addictive behaviors education/ prevention program asked for volunteers to share their stories, Jack never hesitated.
His TAG presentations — which began when he was a sophomore — have convinced him of the importance of letting students know they’re not alone.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have resources, and a support system,” the articulate, insightful and very energetic teenager says.
“My mom has been there for me. Mr. Frimmer at Coleytown, and the theater family at Staples, they’ve been great too.”
So Jack talks — at Staples, and now online. He describes growing up with an alcoholic father. His painful decision to cut off contact. Writing something that was read at the funeral.
When he first moved to Westport, Jack says, new friends asked about his parents. Jack tried to protect them from hearing the truth.
However, he soon realized, “death is a reality. If you can’t talk about it, it consumes you.” TAG gave him the opportunity to break down the stigma surrounding addiction, and to encourage, empower and inspire many others.
Jack Norman
The day after one of Jack’s talks, a freshman approached him during a Players rehearsal. Tearfully, she said she was sorry for his loss.
“I’m okay,” Jack replied. “But how are you?”
“It’s just good to know other people understand,” she said simply. They hugged.
“Knowing someone felt less alone, that’s very satisfying,” Jack says. Even if they don’t tell him everything, he’s helped them take one step on a long journey.
The Positive Directions PSA does the same thing. “The whole idea is to get the message out there,” Jack explains. That message is: It can happen to anyone.
This fall, Jack heads to college. He hopes to study stage management.
When Darren was 10 years old, his father committed suicide. Like many children who have lost a parent or sibling, he felt not only the sting of death, but isolation from his peers. He was different, he thought, from every other kid.
Fortunately, he attended Experience Camp. Every summer, bereaved youngsters come together for a week. Most of their time is spent in typical camp activities — swimming, arts and crafts, campfires.
But with the guidance of licensed clinicians, they find opportunities to share their life stories with kids who are just like them.
Darren did not say a word all week about his situation. Nevertheless, he came back the next year. And the year after. The year after that, too.
Finally — in his 4th summer at “ExCamp” — a counselor told Darren privately that he too had lost his father to suicide. Tentatively, Darren opened up.
The next year, Darren became a leader. Today, he’s a counselor helping other kids share their own stories.
To Sara Deren, that’s what ExCamp is all about. There is no right or wrong way to grieve, she says. But caring support allows hundreds of youngsters to move on from the trauma of losing a loved one.
Deren is a Westporter. And Experience Camps — which has grown from one site and 27 kids in 2009, to a network of 4 camps in New York, California and Georgia, with 200 volunteers serving 500 boys and girls ages 9 to 16 a year — is headquartered right here in Westport.
Jon and Sara Deren
Deren never went to summer camp. She had a high-powered career in financial services. But she married into a camp family. Her husband Jon owned Camp Manitou for boys in Maine.
Deren quickly learned about the wonders of camp. She and her husband also recognized that its high price prevented many youngsters from enjoying the growth of a summer in the woods.
In 2008 they formed a foundation, with the broad mission of providing a camp experience to those who could not afford it. When they learned that Tapawingo — another Maine camp — ran a bereavement program for girls, they realized they could fulfill their goal by setting up a parallel week for boys.
Experience Camp began the next year. It ran the week after Manitou’s regular session ended.
Using crayons, campers express their feelings after someone very close has died.
It filled a crucial need. “For a kid, death can be incredibly isolating,” Deren says. “Feeling ‘less normal’ than everyone else — and not having a way to express it — can lead to detrimental actions, sometimes years later. This gives kids a place where they don’t feel alone. A lot of times it’s the only place where everyone understands what they’re going through.”
Many campers return each year, Deren adds, “because grief changes too.”
Darren — the boy who grew into a leader, after 4 years of silence — is one example of the wonders of Ex Camp. There are many more.
Steven’s father spent years in a vegetative state after a car accident, before finally dying. A year later, Steven’s mother succumbed to cancer. An only child with no other relatives, he was adopted by the woman who nursed his mother before she died.
Despite his horrific childhood, Steven had not lost his smart, articulate, mature personality. At the camp’s talent competition he recited all the presidents’ names — backward and forward — and held up a sign about running for president. He was named “Mr. ManEx” (Manitou Experience).
Campers rushed the stage to embrace him. “For the first time, he experienced a real family,” Deren says.
He returns to Ex Camp every year, “paying it forward.”
Deren serves as executive director of Experience Camps. Her office is in downtown Westport, right above Brooks Brothers (coincidentally, just down the hall from another Maine camp, Laurel).
She loves her work. Now — in addition to planning 4 summer sessions — she’s looking ahead to year-round efforts. “We do camp really well,” Deren says. “But we also want a way for kids to stay connected all year long.”
One of her jobs is fundraising. No child pays anything — including bus transportation to and from camp.
It costs $1,000 for a week at camp. That’s all covered, thanks to individual donations, foundation grants and fundraisers.
A week at Experience Camp is filled with fun.
All the hard work is worth it.
“The feeling of fulfillment — of making a difference, and giving other people an opportunity to make a difference too — is fantastic,” Deren says.
“Our supporters, our volunteers, our campers — everyone works together to create a microcosm of how the world should operate: with acceptance and inclusion.
“Being able to provide a way for kids to thrive, to find happiness and lightness in an otherwise dark time — what an incredible privilege.”
(Click here to learn more about Experience Camps. Click here for a series of powerful videos, and here for resources for helping youngsters deal with grief.)
Aarti Khosla is one of my — and Westport’s — favorite people.
The owner of Le Rouge — the fantastic handmade chocolate shop on Main Street, just past Avery Place — is always the first to donate funds (or treats) for any good cause.
Today she went one step further.
As part of her mission to help the St. Baldrick Foundation raise money for childhood cancer research, she set a personal goal of $5,500.
Friends, family and customers pledged $6,783.
So today, Aarti sat down to fulfill her side of the deal.
Aarti Khosla before …
… during …
… and after the St. Baldrick’s fundraiser, at the Westport Weston Family YMCA.
She’s proud to do her part to help kids who are battling severe illnesses.
Now it’s your turn.
You can still donate to Aarti’s page. Just click here.
Then have some of her chocolates. They — and the knowledge of doing good — will make you feel great!
Six of the 7 Board of Finance have written an open letter to Westporters. They say:
Westport has worked hard to prudently manage its finances and tax base. All branches of our town government, many elected officials and volunteers, have worked collaboratively, on behalf of all residents, to ensure we have a high quality of life at a cost all residents and businesses can afford. Sadly, maintaining this balance will be more difficult in the future.
Today we are faced with grim economic news from the State of Connecticut. This is not a one-off problem and it will continue for years to come. Because of our state government’s inability to manage their budget and control spending, resulting in a projected deficit of over $1.5 billion next year alone, Westport finds itself in a difficult position. Instead of tackling a state government that has grown too large and too expensive for the residents, the state is largely trying to solve its budget problems by shifting costs to towns.
First, the state is decreasing or totally eliminating payments it has made to Westport for either education or other services, which equals $3 million to $4 million in 2018 alone. We assume this revenue from the state, which directly supplemented our operating budgets, is permanently gone.
Second, the state is discussing transferring ongoing costs from the state budget to the town budget, in the form of teacher pension costs. If it does not come in the form of teacher pension costs, we still believe transferred costs will come to us in another form.
The total impact in 2018 will be in the $8 million range (based on the proposals currently on the table). Rather than pass these costs directly on to Westport taxpayers with a big tax increase, approximately $800 per household, the Board of Finance asked our town to come together as a community to find ways to slow the growth of operational costs.
The Police, Fire Department, EMS, Public Works, Parks and Rec, Library and Town Hall staff did what they could, and reduced their initial operating budget submissions by 1.5%. We also asked the Board of Education to trim its submission by 1.5% or $1.7 million. This actually results in an increase of 1%, or $1 million over the prior year education budget.
Now it is time for the Board of Education to join with the Westport community to do its part, as they have before. This is not the time for pitting parents against the rest of the community. We must all do what we can to try to provide the best services to everyone in Westport at the most reasonable cost.
As we have learned in the past, it is indeed possible to slow the growth in the education budget without significant pain and suffering. For example, in the aftermath of the Great Recession crisis, the school system proposed an extremely responsive budget, and even gave back a sizable year-end surplus, with minimal impacts to our children.
We ask the Westport school administration, Board of Education, PTA, teachers and parents to come together collaboratively to try to discern what areas of the education budget can be trimmed without impacting our children’s futures. We know that in order to continually be a leading school district that we must continue to innovate. That means evolving and becoming better consumers at every level.
This is not a circumstance of Westport’s making. None of us can be satisfied with the decades of financial mismanagement in Hartford. The unfortunate reality is that successful communities such as Westport are being forced to shoulder the burden of Hartford’s failures.
Let’s take our passion regarding our schools to the state. All Westport citizens should be telling our representatives in Hartford — Toni Boucher, Gail Lavielle, Jonathan Steinberg and Tony Hwang — that Westport will not stand for being the state piggy bank. This is where we should raise our voices and be heard.
Lee Caney
Sheri Gordon
Michael Rea
Brian Stern
Jennifer Tooker
Jim Westphal
They came from all over Westport, and Redding and Roxbury. There were, by some estimates, 800 of them. But crowd estimates, as we all know now, are less important than the message the crowd sends.
They were Democrats, Republicans and independents. They were moms, dads, tweens and teens, and folks who marched in the ’60s and are now beyond that age.
The English translation of this Russian sign is: “Treason leads to impeachment.”
All 3 selectmen were there, with town officials, state legislators, and former GOP gubernatorial candidate Julia Belaga. The first President Bush appointed her regional director of the EPA, an agency that President Trump wants to scrap.
Past and present town officials — Republicans and Democrats — at the march included (from left) Steve and Rosemary Halstead, 2nd selectman Avi Kaner, 1st selectman Jim Marpe, State Representative Gail Lavielle and 3rd selectman Helen Garten.
They were there for the environment, women’s rights, immigration and education. They were there against authoritarianism, murky Russian ties and the countless whack-a-mole controversies that have sprung up ever since January 20.
Westporter Susan Terry led the crowd in a rousing, singalong “Star Spangled Banner.” Car horns honked in solidarity. (One car passed by with a counter-protest. “Make America great again!” the driver shouted.)
Suzanne Sherman Propp wore her favorite hat.
The music included upbeat songs like the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” and protest anthems like Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.”
And when today’s “Connecticut: One Small State, One Big Voice” march from Jesup Green to Veterans Green was over — after Senators Chris Murphy and Dick Blumenthal, Congressman Jim Himes and 1st Selectman Jim Marpe had spoken — there was one last song.
“These boots are made for walkin’,” Nancy Sinatra sang. “And one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.”
Are you ready?
March organizers (from left) Darcy Hicks, Lauren Soloff and Lisa Bowman show off the message of the day.
Today’s march attracted demonstrators of all ages…
… including this future voter. (Photo/Cathy Siroka)
Congressman Jim Himes gets ready to speak.
Congressman Jim Himes said that President Trump has catered to “the worst elements of extremists.” But he hasn’t succeeded, because “all over America — in unlikely states like Oklahoma and Alabama — people came together. Reasonable Republicans heard from people like you.
“People have used fear to move decent Americans behind bad instincts,” Himes added. “But this is America. We don’t do fear well. Whatever your party, stand up.
“To all the Democrats and Republicans here: You are the best of America. Thanks to you, our shared values will prevail.”
The crowd responded with a heartfelt chant: “Thank you Jim!”
Senator Dick Blumenthal (Photo/Diane Lowman)
Senator Dick Blumenthal told the crowd at Veterans Green: “This is what democracy looks like!” It’s because of crowds like this, he said, that Trump’s “cartoonishly incompetent” healthcare plan went down to defeat.
The Judiciary Committee member pledged to push an independent investigation of the president.
He noted that his father fled Germany for the US in 1935. He was 17, and spoke no English. “This country gave him a chance to succeed. He would be so ashamed now, to see the Statue of Liberty’s lamp extinguished.”
Senator Chris Murphy (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)
Senator Chris Murphy energized the crowd, saying: “There is no fear that can’t be cured by political activism.” And though he sometimes goes to bed fearing the movement will lose strength, he wakes up in the morning to find it bigger than ever.
He said that he, Blumenthal and Himes “are trying to raise our game to equal this moment. Democracy is inefficient, but no one has invented a better system yet.” However, he noted, “democracy is not inevitable. We have to keep fighting for it.”
Senator Murphy on Veterans Green. (Photo/Diane Lowman)
Last week’s photo challenge was different. It was a portrait of an old guy, hanging in a private home.
Some people thought it was unfair. They guessed every famous Westporter — except Morris Ketchum. (The photo — circa 1850s, which you can see by clicking here — comes from Bob Ketchum. He’s Morris’ great-great-grandson, living far from Connecticut. Bob sent it to me, saying, “very little family lore was passed down” before his father — also named Morris — died.)
Finally, Pam Romano zeroed in on him.
So who was Morris Ketchum?
Bob’s great-great-grandfather helped bring the railroad to Westport. According to Woody Klein’s book he lived a couple of miles away, on a 500-acre estate called Hockanum. Consisting of parks, farmlands, wheat fields, vineyards, forests and gardens, it was considered one of the nation’s most beautiful estates. It was designed by Ketchum’s friend, Frederick Law Olmsted (who also designed Central Park).
Born in 1796 in New York state, he came to Westport as a youth. Married to a member of the Burr family, Ketchum made his money in the cotton trade. He founded one of the first cotton commission houses in the country, in New York City. That led to his interest in the newly developing transportation network of railroads (with another wealthy Westporter, Horace Staples). That led to his role as a titan on Wall Street.
Hockanum — known now most as the place Abraham Lincoln allegedly slept at while here to raise money for the Civil War — still stands, on Cross Highway. Ketchum’s land — from Roseville Road all the way north to the Merritt Parkway and Lyons Plains — has been largely developed.
Morris Ketchum Jesup — who provided funds for the Westport Public Library building on the Post Road in 1908, shortly before his death — was Morris Ketchum’s godson. Morris Ketchum had been a close friend of Jesup’s father, who died when Jesup was young.
Got all that?!
Now you can smile at this week’s photo challenge. And stop complaining: It’s as Westport as Westport gets.
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“To make it there we needed alcohol, and to be open 24/7. For some reason, at 2 p.m. downtown gets very quiet. We had plenty of people in the morning, and until 2. But with the average check of $10 to $15 — you do the math.”
