Longtime Westport residents Mike Nayor and Larry Weisman sent this letter to all Representative Town Meeting members:
You will shortly be debating the pros and cons of Jesup Green/downtown parking that have the potential for transforming downtown Westport.
Parker Harding is the linchpin. It needs a makeover to become more attractive, pleasant and inviting, and more riverfront oriented.
In a September “Opinion” piece in”06880″ Robert Augustyn posed taking bold steps to reconfigure Parker Harding to an almost park-like setting, while adding retail space, plus a parking deck at the Baldwin lot to make up for lost PH spaces.
The column elicited 58 responses. There was overwhelming support for virtually all of his suggested changes. A few comments concerned potential flooding and cost, but the vast majority enthusiastically supported the idea of a parking facility.
Not one writer objected to the proposal.
Parker Harding Plaza (Drone photo/John Videler for Videler Photography)
Historically, controversial changes/improvements undertaken in Westport have been hailed after the fact, and we are usually puzzled why any particular project was opposed in the first place. A parking deck can certainly be designed acceptable to all, to be integrated into its environment, with a low profile which does not mar the downtown skyline or hinder neighbors.
The need for contiguous parking at or very near store entrances has been pushed for decades. With the exception for handicapped parking, Westporters and visitors do not need curb-to-door access downtown. Witness the large number of cars parked at Gorham Island on weekends, creating a short walk to Main Street. Strolling pedestrians create a lingering and community atmosphere that benefits retailers.
A parking deck at the Baldwin lot alleviates the necessity for expanded Jesup Green parking. Therefore, the request for an appropriation of $630,000 should not be approved. Money could be far better spent to address other, more immediate downtown issues.
We urge RTM members to adopt this plan for downtown. The RTM should respond to the needs and desires of its residents. Improvements have been discussed and postponed for decades. The supposed urgency to get a spade in the ground now is not as important as getting it right. Poor choices now will have long term consequences.
(“06880” values the opinions of readers — and relies on reader support. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you!)
This was the scene yesterday in Norwalk, as workers dismantled the fire-damaged Fairfield Avenue I-95 overpass:
(Photo/News12 Connecticut)
Last night, massive “shears” were brought in from Long Island, to cut the metal. Work will continue all weekend.
Want to watch the ongoing operation, from the comfort of your home? Click here for this fascinating live webcam, courtesy of the state Department of Transportation.
Just when you think you’ve seen everything … you realize you haven’t.
A driver yesterday — perhaps unhappy with the I-95-related traffic, perhaps confused, perhaps distracted, but definitely not someone you want behind the wheel — decided to create a new street, in the pedestrian alley between Don Memo and Barnes & Noble.
Employees of Walrus Alley finally stopped him.
(Hat tip and photo/Joelle Malec)
But that’s not all.
He also ran the red light right there.
And drove right past pedestrians in the crosswalk, to make that right hand turn off the Post Road into the very narrow alley.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Nor would you want to.
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The Gillespie Center and Hoskins Place men’s and women’s shelters, and the Westport Food Pantry at the same site, have temporarily closed.
Homes with Hope has embarked on a $1.2 million renovation of the Jesup Road facility.
Food pantry pick-ups can be made at the Sasco Creek Village community building (1655 Post Road East) across from Goodwill) every weekday except Wednesday, from 1 to 4 p.m.
“It’s sad,” says Homes with Hope CEO Helen McAlinden. “But the result will be happy.”
Gillespie Center and Hoskins Place: temporarily closed.
Marc Hartog appreciated “06880”‘s recent Roundup item, noting that AEDs are back in a number of public outdoor locations.
The deputy director of Westport Emergency Medical Service adds: “PulsePoint AED is an app that shows locations of public access AED (automated external defibrillators.
“As long as the user has location permission allowed on their cellphone, it shows the location of the closest AEDs, along with a picture of the location. Clicking on the picture then adds more specific information.
“For example, if I’m near Winslow Park, it says ‘Entrance behind Westport Country Playhouse, by map and dog fountain; address 295 Post Rd East.’
“It also shows who is responsible for that AED (in this case, Norwalk Hospital EMS), along with the email address of the responsible party.
“Or if I’m around Main Street, the map shows 3 public access AEDs: 2 inside Town Hall, 1 outside at the ball field in the rear parking lot.
“The only downside is that the app only shows AEDs that have been registered with PulsePoint by the entity that owns and is responsible for it. There may well be other public access AEDs downtown, possibly within stores or restaurants, but they are not registered and do not show up.
“We strongly encourage any business with an AED to register their location.”
The Westport Country Playhouse’s move to a new format — with plays scheduled for October through April, rather than the summer — will generate a lot of laughs.
In a good way. The 3 shows are comedies, in what the 94-year-old theater is called a “Season of Laughter.”
Each play runs for 3 weeks. The season also includes a holiday offering and musical revue.
“The 39 Steps” (October 22-November 9) is “a fast-paced frenzy of espionage and murderous mayhem … (mixing) Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film with a juicy spy novel, and a dash of Monty Python.”
“Native Gardens” (February 18-March 8) features 2 sets of neighbors, who become “feuding enemies in a backyard battle for the ages.”
“Theatre People” (March 25-April 12) is set in 1948, as Broadway stars gather in a Newport mansion for a weekend of “romance, chaos, and misunderstandings.”
The shorter-run productions are “A Sherlock Carol” (the family holiday show by artistic director Mark Shanahan, back after last year’s sold-out run; December 17-22), and “Broadway Scores at the Playhouse,” songs from the Golden Age to recent musicals (January 23-26).
Season ticket packages for all three longer-run productions start at $68. Tickets will go on sale soon. Click here for complete season details.
PS: In other Playhouse news, a limited number of tickets remain for Bernadette Peters’ evening of songs from music masters (May 19, 7 p.m.). Click here to purchase, and for more information.
Also: A third Mike Birbiglia “Please Stop the Ride” show has been added next month. It’s June 4 (8 p.m.).
Tickets to his June 7 performance are sold out. There are only a few seats left for the second one (June 5). Click here to purchase, and for more information.
Westport Country Playhouse (Photo/Lynn Untermeyer Miller)
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The Westport Book Shop is going to the dogs.
Exhibitor of the month Clark Hanford is showing oil paintings featuring dogs. They are painted in 19th century style, and are presented in antique frames.
Hanford has been an artist for over 5 decades, working in painting, clothing and sculpture. Before returning to Westport in 1985, the 1962 Staples High School graduate lived, worked and studied in London for 17 years, making and selling works from his Notting Hill shop.
He has created lifelike sculptures of Marlene Dietrich, Lucille Ball, Katherine Hepburn, Liz Taylor and others, dressed in period clothing made by Clark.
Hanford’s notable clients include Burt Bacharach, Demi Moore, John Entwistle, Elton John, Debbie Reynolds and David Bowie.
A reception is set for May 15 (6 to 7:30 p.m.).
Clark Hanford, at his Westport Book Shop exhibition.
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All month long, the Mid-Fairfield County Association of Realtors is running a food drive, to benefit Person-to-Person.
Items — including especially cereal, oatmeal, hearty soups, peanut butter and jelly, protein and granola bars, bags or boxes of rice, canned fruit and vegetables, pasta and sauce, dried and canned beans, nutrition bars, coffee and tea — can be dropped off at the MFCAR office (19 Imperial Avenue, weekdays between 9:30 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.).
The month-long drive ends with a shredding event (June 1, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Colonial Green). Anyone bringing a food donation gets complimentary shredding.
To give a monetary donation to People-to-People, scan the QR code below:
No one knows. But Caleb Scharf’s insights are probably far better than the rest of us.
NASA’s senior scientist for astrobiology at the Ames Research Center returns to the Westport Astronomical Society’s free online lecture series. He’ll discuss “The Search for Life in the Universe: 2024 and Beyond” on May 21 (8 p.m.; click here for Zoom; click here for YouTube livestream).
This is his third appearance at the WAS. He’ll speak specifically about research in exoplanetary science, exploration of the solar system, and upcoming plans for Mars, Titan, and the Habitable Worlds Observatory (NASA’s future space telescope).
The Joggers Club is moving to the Greens Farms train station, with “fun runs” on Saturdays starting at 8 a.m. It’s a buildup series, free to all registrants in the Fairfield Half Marathon.
The Joggers Club also runs (ho ho) Track Nights (Thursdays, 6:30 p.m., Staples High School track) and a Kids Run Club (Sundays, 4 p.m., Staples High School track; $25 per session, grades K-8).
Joggers Club memberships ($50) include a free Lululemon running shirt ($78 value), a year of free coffee and bagels after each run, plus fitness and friends.
The Cottage is offering a prix fixe, 4-course Mother’s Day meal.
From noon to 5 p.m. next Sunday (May 12; $110 per adult, $55 per child, not including tax and tip), chef Brian Lewis rolls out the red carpet for Mom and her family.
When Fantasia headlined a tribute to Clive Davis recently at Carnegie Hall, she did so with her voice — and an elegant gown.
It was designed, Essence says, by Christian Siriano, “who has built quite a name for himself in the fashion industry. The lavender long sleeve dress featured a leg slit and a black feather trim all around the gown, causing a dramatic, old Hollywood effect.”
Siriano is — in addition to being a former Project Runway winner — a Westporter. His Collective West collection is on Post Road West.
Click here for the full Essence story. (Hat tip: Danielle Teplica)
Fantasia, and her Christian Siriano gown. (Photo courtesy of Essence)
Lift Wellness will hold a ribbon cutting for the opening of its mental health and eating disorder partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient treatment for teens and adults at their 8 Myrtle Avenue location on May 17 (11 a.m.).
The timing is appropriate: This is Mental Health Awareness Month.
Attendees can enjoy food, take a tour, and pick up swag. Click here for more information.
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Today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo highlights the Longshore golf course, in full, beautiful bloom:
And finally … Fantasia was wearing a non-Christian Siriano outfit (see story above) in this 411 million-view video.
But she still looks (and sounds) great.
(From high fashion to homeless shelters, “06880” has our town covered. This is “where Westport meets the world.” We rely on reader support. Please click here to help. Thank you!)
As debate continues on the possibility of replacing part of Jesup Green with parking spots, Westport’s tree warden has issued a report.
Ben Sykas — a certified arborist — examined 3 trees, at the easternmost (top) portion of the green. All would be removed, under a current renovation plan.
Aerial view of Jesup Green in summer. The Westport Library is at left; Jesup Road is on the right. The Norway spruce is identified by a green pin; the white pine by blue, the linden by purple.
The same scene in winter.
Sykas says that the Norway spruce “contains significant structural concerns which warrant its removal when actionable.
“Conifer trees in general are weak wooded trees, in conjunction with codominant structure containing decay and separation are factors that cannot be reliably mitigated.”
Norway spruce at Jesup Green. Close-up photos in the tree warden’s report show seams, and root damage.
Two other trees warrant further examination, Sykas says.
The white pine tree is a member of a species that is fast growing and thus “weak wooded.”
Limb failure is common in white pines during weather events like wind, snow and ice, Sykas says.
They are also known for “uprooting due to shallow footing.” Because of its location and exposure due to its height and open surroundings, plus previous branch failures, “mitigation to reduce risk might be possible.” Further investigation is needed however, according to the tree warden.
White pine at Jesup Green. Other photos in the report show branch structure and roots.
The linden tree “appears to be in average health.” Recent pruning reduced the risk of falling branches. Like white pines, lindens also grow rapidly and can be weaker than other species. They can be prone to cavities and decay.
Sykas recommends further investigation of this linden’s cavity.
Posted onMay 4, 2024|Comments Off on Online Art Gallery #212
Several different artists tackled spring this week.
All, of course, see the colorful season through different eyes.
That’s the whole idea of art — and “06880”‘s online art gallery.
No matter what your theme or medium — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Age, level of experience, subject matter — there are no restrictions. Everyone is invited to contribute.
Email it to 06880blog@gmail.com. Please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.
“Lily” — oil paints with cold wax (Sally VanDevanter)
“Spring Sunshine” — oil/acrylic on canvas (Dorothy Robertshaw)
“Central Park Conservancy” (Mary Sikorski)
Photographer Peter Barlow says: “The plants are called lupine. They are more common to Nova Scotia, but are growing in my Connecticut garden. The part I like best is the big round leaf with daisy petals. My garden needs some weeding.”
“Sunset Geometry” — digital composition combining photographed elements and Photoshoop manipulation. Ken Runkel calls this “a meditation on the interplay between the natural world and human intervention, inviting the viewer to contemplate the beauty and fragility of our surroundings. It is a visual symphony of minimalism, geometry, and nature, designed to evoke a sense of tranquility and reflection.”
Untitled (Tom Doran)
“Chez Pierre” (Kathleen Burke)
Untitled (Roseann Spengler)
Photographer Mike Hibbard writes: “Thailand Airbnb, $4,860,300 per month, internet included. Enjoy the local tribe of monkeys that comes to visit early each morning. Vaccination for rabies required.”
“What’s Next?” (Lawrence Weisman)
“The Hope for Peace!” (Steve Stein)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
Since moving to Westport in 2003 with newborn twins, John Suggs has been an active community member.
He served on the Representative Town Meeting, and ran for 1st selectman as an independent in 2017.
John Suggs
He’s been involved with Assumption Church, Little League baseball and youth basketball. His family hosted A Better Chance scholars.
Professionally, Suggs worked in asset management analysis, public policy and community development,
Yet some of his most satisfying achievements have come in forensic genetic genealogy. His Family Orchard business helps adult adoptees, and birth parents and siblings, find each other.
One search took 9 years to solve. It involved a birth mother of an abandoned 3-month old — who was then 91 years old.
Twelve years ago, adult adoptee Morgan Zo Callahan asked Suggs to help him find his birth father.
Morgan Zo Callahan
Suggs spent 7 years on the search. Along the way he discovered that Callahan — who had been raised white — was fathered by a Black Haitian named Lionel Durand.
Durand was no longer alive. he died when Callahan was 17.
But he had led a remarkable life. Lionel Durand was the son of Haiti’s last pre-World War II diplomatic consul to France, and a member of the French Resistance in the first 2 years of German occupation.
He was captured twice — and escaped twice from the Gestapo. He fled to the US, where he served on the French desk of Voice of America, broadcasting to occupied France.
A friend of Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau, Durand went on to report from the world’s hot spots as Newsweek’s Paris bureau chief.
Lionel Durand, behind USSR Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev.
He died at just 40, after being injured by a tear gas bomb that exploded while he covered the violence in the Casbah during the Algerian War of Independence.
Durand posthumously received the George Polk Award for “best reporting, requiring exceptional courage and enterprise abroad,” from his peers at the Overseas Press Club of America.
After finding who Callahan’s father was, Suggs helped him meet members of his family.
Its royalties too will be donated to Faith in Action, in Haiti.
The book tells Durand’s remarkable story, often in his own strong voice.
“This book is Morgan’s tribute to his father: a man he never knew. A proud Haitian,” Suggs says.
“It is the story of Haiti, right up to this moment.
“It is also the story of his and other Black men and women fighting in the French Resistance where, because of the color of their skin, they could not easily ‘go underground’ and hide. And the Nazis had a pathological hatred and fear of Black people.”
It is a story too, Suggs adds, that will “help raise desperate funding for the people of Haiti.
“It is a story of one man’s lifetime, which took us over a dozen years to discover and write. It is a story that needs to be told.”
At last, it has been.
(“06880” is truly “where Westport meets the world.” If you enjoy stories like these, please consider a tax-deductible contribution. Just click here — and thank you!)
The day after a gasoline tanker fire damaged the Fairfield Avenue overpass at I-95 Exit 15 — causing closure of the highway perhaps until Monday, as workers dismantle the span — traffic in Westport was lighter than expected this morning.
It began picking up again, clogging the Post Road, this afternoon.
Perhaps drivers (including parents dropping off school children) heeded the many warnings to stay off the roads, earlier today.
Perhaps drivers heeded warnings — as far away as New York and Rhode Island — to find alternates to 95.
The closest other route is the Merritt Parkway. Everyone here knows that trucks are banned, due to numerous low bridges.
Unfortunately, not every truck driver knows what.
Or heeds the signs at entrances, and various spots on the highway.
Or uses the “truck” mode on their GPS.
This afternoon, Jo Shields Sherman was on the Merritt’s North Avenue overpass. Looking west, she was surprised to see very little traffic.
Standing on the North Avenue bridge and looking westward I was really surprised to see so little traffic.
Gazing in the other direction though, she saw 2 tractor-trailers on the shoulder of the westbound lane.
Cars tried to get around, creating a bottleneck.
But, she says, “a highway worker miraculously appeared, and took control. Both trucks made it under the higher middle portion of the bridge.
(Photo/Jo Shields Sherman)
“I was relieved they did, and glad to see the truck drivers had stopped, didn’t cause an accident, and didn’t catch fire.”
Kudos to the highway worker. Boos to the drivers who could have made a bad situation even worse.
Be careful out there!
(“06880” will continue to cover the I-95 cluster**** — and everything else Westport-related. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
“The Synanon Fix” just finished its 4-part run on HBO.
Poster from a 1960s film.
The film by Rory Kennedy (the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, born 6 months after he was assassinated) told the story of the drug rehabilitation program-turned-cult that imploded in 1991, after members were convicted of financial misdeeds, evidence tampering, terrorism and attempted murder.
Synanon was founded in 1958 after Charles Dederich, a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, took LSD.
Control over members occurred through the “Game.” The “Game” was presented as a therapeutic tool, and likened to a form of group therapy, but it has been criticized as a form of a “social control,” in which members humiliated one another and encouraged the exposure of one another’s innermost weaknesses.
Beginning in the mid-1970s, women in Synanon were required to shave their heads, and married couples were made to break up and take new partners. Men were given forced vasectomies, and a few pregnant women were forced to have abortions.
By that time, Synanon had already come — and gone — from Westport.
It opened a 24-bed drug rehab facility here in February 1963. The site was an 18-room Victorian mansion at 249 Greens Farms Road. The 4-acre property had once been part of the Bedford family estate.
249 Greens Farms Road (center of aerial photo) today. The entrance is near Beachside Avenue.
Senator Thomas Dodd backed the effort. He called Synanon “one of the most dynamic and vital programs that I have experienced.” The Westport center was envisioned as important to California-based Synanon’s expansion into the Northeast.
“The Sponsors of Synanon” — a Westport organization — provided funding, food and supplies.
But less than 3 years after opening, the town forced Synanon to close. The case reached the Connecticut Supreme Court, which declared that while the non-profit’s program “may be meritorious,” Westport’s single-family zoning ordinance for the neighborhood was clear.
Synanon had claimed that the residents were “family,” all united in a single pursuit.
That was one of the first court cases against what later was called the “most dangerous and violent cults America had ever seen.”
It’s a sure sign of spring. Next Thursday, the Westport Farmers’ Market opens its 2024 season.
The Imperial Avenue parking lot is once again the spot for fresh produce, meats, herbs and more — including organic pet food, and lunch from Mexican and pizza food trucks — every Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
This year’s Farmers’ Market runs through November 7.
New this season: stricter guidelines on plastic usage. The goal is to reach a waste-free model.
The Farmers’ Market also plans to include only Connecticut farmers, and products from state-based businesses.
Three Staples High School students are finalists for TEAM Westport’s annual Teen Diversity Essay contest.
Sophia Lopez, Olivia Morgeson and Teya Ozgen will read their essays on Monday (May 6, 6 p.m., Westport Library) — and learn who has won the $1,000, $750 and $500 prizes.
This year’s essay prompt is about hate speech, and the balance between offensive, threatening or hurtful language, and the constitutional right of free expression.
In the aftermath of yesterday’s gas tanker fire on I-95 in Norwalk — the cause of enormous Westport traffic jams — superintendent of schools Thomas Scarice praised the district’s bus service, First Student.
“They were on top of the travel issues long before buses started rolling and did incredible work navigating the clogged streets,” he said. “I am sure they will handle (the) afternoon commute in a similar fashion.”
Scarice also urged parents to not drive their children to school or pick them up. The buses will take a while longer than usual — but more cars on the road will make the trip even longer.
Speaking of school buses: I’m not sure how this story escaped notice on “06880” — or any other local media.
But it’s been at least a couple of weeks, and this is the first we’ve heard of a car crash that took out Westport’s nicest (and perhaps only) school bus shelter.
It happened on Saugatuck Island, right before the schools’ spring break.
Here’s a photo from that night …
,.. and one during daylight:
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A Staples High School student writes: “I often fly fish in Westport for striped bass, in the Saugatuck River. Lately, I have seen a huge amount of poaching.
“There are maybe 3 or 4 respectful, honest guys where I fish, at 5 a.m. But I also see, for example, a guy dropping nets, with a rope. He had at least 8 fish on the bank, all undersize.
“I was very upset. This is a fishery I try to protect, but because of people like him, the species has suffered badly.
“I did not speak to any of the people there. They could be dangerous, and being out alone as a kid is dangerous enough to begin with.
“I hope some action can be taken, either by local law enforcement or DEEP (state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection). If anyone sees any poaching, they should report it please.”
Speaking of Staples: Non-Profit Promoters — the podcast created and hosted by juniors Zach Gorin, Cormac Mulvey, Jack Schwartz and Aaron Varsov, which tells the stories of local organizations — has just dropped a fascinating interview with Helen McAlinden.
The CEO of Homes with Hope goes into depth about their work fighting homelessness and hunger. She also talks about her career path, challenges such as COVID, and the importance of community involvement.
Speaking of podcasts: Alec Baldwin just did a great interview with James Naughton.
The actor and longtime resident talks about the Westport Country Playhouse, his friendship with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, his advocacy work for death with dignity legislation, and much more.
Westport’s Representative Town Meeting has a new member.
Alma Sarelli replaces Jessica Bram in District 6. Sarelli — who previously ran unsuccessfully for the Board of Education — is president of Neighbors & Newcomers of Westport.
Bram resigned, after moving from the district.
Alma Sarelli
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After reading Tuesday’s “06880” story on Westport’s use of American Rescue Plan Act funds — and the possible issues of using them to fund a study for the redesign of Jesup Green — a reader writes:
“Since the funds can be utilized for sewer, maybe the town could upgrade the existing sewage treatment, and help residents connect.
“At the moment the town basically double charges residents to connect, unless they petition and can wait 5-6 years. If a connection point is a few houses away, the person looking to connect must pay for all the work involved, plus give a connection point to every house they pass by at the full expense of the person looking to connect.
“On top of that, the town levies the full assessment of the sewer line they are connecting to, even though that line has been fully paid for by all the residents it services. I’m told the extra money charged goes into a sewer Kitty.
“It definitely doesn’t make the idea of upgrading one’s sewage disposal very attractive. But it sounds like we might have potential funds available so residents don’t have to pay for it twice, and question whether connecting makes sense due to exorbitant cost.”
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This winter, the Longshore Women’s Golf Association asked the town to upgrade the women’s locker facility.
Within 4 days, the request was approved.
Work started quickly. It’s already been done — in time for the new golf season.
The LWGA says, “We are thrilled at the positive attitude of the town officials and their willingness to go above and beyond.”
The LWGA did their part, donating time and money to upgrade the locker room’s furnishings.
Last week, Westport Parks & Recreation director Jen Fava joined Mike Frawley of the Department of Public Works’ building maintenance staff, for a ribbon cutting.
Celebrating the new women’s locker room.
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Neil Roper, an active member of Staples High School’s Class of 1965, died recently in Memphis, after a short illness. He was 77.
After Staples, Neil attended the University of Virginia, and graduated from Michigan State University.
He worked in Overton Square in the 1970s, moving on to be part owner of the East End Grill, and part-owner and general manager of the Belmont Grill. He retired in 2015.
Neil enjoyed gardening, working around the house, and going on road trips. He was heavily involved Staples’ class reunions.
His obituary says, “His wonderful sense of humor consisted of practical jokes, puns and pranks. He was very well-read, and carried on lively discussions about politics, current affairs and music, which he was extremely passionate about. Those who knew him saw past his gruff exterior and loved him for his idiosyncrasies.”
He was predeceased by his wife Denise and brother Timothy. He is survived by his sisters Anne Roper of Dublin, Ireland; Margaret Trainor (John) and Erin Roper; brothers Brian and Kevin Roper of Memphis, nieces and nephews, and his loyal cat, Buscher.
Angelo Dorta and Chris Chaille were thanked for their care and friendship over the years.
A gathering honoring Neil is set for Alex’s Tavern in Memphis on May 9 (3 p.m.).
In lieu of cards or flowers, donations can be made to a charity of choice.
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Like all animals, ospreys act on instinct.
Today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo shows this one, trying to intimidate an owl near Police headquarters.
And finally … Duane Eddy — the groundbreaking 1950s guitarist, who influenced artists like George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Springsteen — died Tuesday in Tennessee. He was 86, and had been ill with cancer. Click here for a full obituary.
(“06880” is your hyper-local blog. We rely on support from readers like you. Please click here to help. Thank you!)
Longtime Westporter “06880” reader Scott Smith writes:
I’ve sat on the sidelines for most of the endless debate about downtown parking, but the recent 06880 post about the “field trip” to Jesup Green by RTM members and town leaders really gets my goat.
I can’t believe the town is considering paving over a large swath of precious and historic green space in the heart of downtown for the sake of a few more parked cars.
I googled the Jesup Green area to get a bird’s-eye view. I wanted to explore an idea: If the merchants or town muckety-mucks really want more convenient parking downtown, they should buy 100 and/or 126 Post Road East — the current homes of Paper Source/Bankwell and Bank of America, respectively — and turn those sites into public parking.
Aerial view of downtown shows many empty parking spaces behind the Bank of America building (top center, red circle), and Paper Source (to its immediate left). Jesup Road is the street in the middle. Jesup Green, and the Taylor parking lot, are at lower left.
Each entity could be easily relocated, as there’s already a glut of empty retail space in the area (and certainly no shortage of banks). Hey, knock yourself out and amortize both properties. Presto: There’s your 40 new spaces, close by anywhere downtown.
But do we really want to pave over all of downtown? Looking at the satellite view makes me think there is absolutely no shortage of parking in the area surrounding Jesup Green.
Toni Simonetti outlined current police parking near Jesup Green (center) and behind police headquarters (lower right) in yellow. The purple area shows where new parking could be created at the top of Jesup Green (outline), and along Jesup Road (hash marks).
The problem is access and zoning. No way BofA, with its drive-thru, needs all those parking spaces, for instance. Or perhaps the bank could be persuaded to open up its empty parking spaces to employees of local retailers who bank with them? Has anybody asked?
Not shown in the bird’s-eye view is another overlooked parking option: All the unused spaces behind the Police Department.
Lower parking lot, near police headquarters. The entrance is at the bottom of Jesup Road, near Imperial Avenue. This view is looking west, toward the Levitt Pavilion and Library.
I parked there a dozen years ago while working at the Westport YMCA when it was still downtown, and the Jesup Road municipal lot was closed for renovation and construction of the Paper Source building.
It’s an easy walk, especially for those working and shopping on the southeast side of downtown. Presto: There’s 40 more spaces!
So c’mon, RTM members, First Selectwoman Tooker and Public Works director Ratkiewich: If you’re dead set on adding downtown parking, get off the dime and build a deck on the Baldwin lot.
Or repurpose the police lot for safe, secure parking for retail employees.
Or make a deal to open up or convert existing underutilized retail space to additional parking.
But keep your hands off the town’s unique and under-appreciated riverfront walkways and vistas — especially Jesup Green.
Scott’s suggestion to utilize the parking lot behind police headquarters, near Deadman Brook, has been made by other “06880” readers.
One idea: Use that entire lot behind the headquarters building for police vehicle parking. That would free up the spaces currently used to the west of the building — near Jesup Green — for parking by downtown shoppers, restaurant-goers and employees.
The RTM will discuss a $630,000 appropriation for a study on Jesup Green and Imperial Avenue parking at its meeting on Tuesday, May 7 (Town Hall auditorium), following its vote on the Board of Education budget. Discussion on the parking issue is expected to begin around 8:30 p.m.
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The book tells Durand’s remarkable story, often in his own strong voice.
