As the weather warms, Westport heads into gala/benefit/fundraiser season.
Every spring, non-profits host events to fill their coffers. They take many forms — but they nearly always include some kind of auction, and often a program book.
Over and over, year after year, the same folks get asked to help: local merchants.
Time and again, they come through.
National brands, chain stores, the big boys who can more easily afford it — they seldom do.
“It’s against corporate policy,” they say.
Or: “We have to go through headquarters. There’s not enough time.”
Meanwhile, the mom-and-pops — struggling already against those same competitors, and online shops — donate merchandise for auctions and swag bags. They give gift certificates. They write checks for program ads, knowing full well that few folks ever open the booklet.
Savvy + Grace is one of many local merchants that donate whenever they’re asked.
Our local merchants, restaurants and services are hit up for everything.
They say yes for 3 reasons: These are their customers. They want to help. And they feel part of the community.
This week — as we get ready for gala/benefit/fundraiser season — they are our Unsung Heroes of the week.
Be sure to thank them for their generosity.
(Do you know an Unsung Hero? Email 06880blog@gmail.com!)
Westport Police have arrested a 27-year-old Brooklyn man, for the December theft of Israel flag lawn signs.
On December 30, the WPD initiated a larceny investigation after a complaint was made concerning those thefts. A Colony Road resident saw a man walking down the street, hauling a dumpster.
He stopped at a house across the street, with an Israel flag on the lawn. He seemed to check to see if anyone was looking, then stuffed the flag in his dumpster and continued walking.
The resident got in his car, and took a picture:
Worried what would happen if he confronted someone who would do such a thing, he returned home and called the police.
When he went back out a few minutes later, the man “seemed to have disappeared,” the resident said. “Maybe he was picked up by someone.”
A detective quickly arrived.
The neighbor had already replaced her Israel flag. But as the officer and the resident who called were at his front door discussing the incident, a white car with New York plates pulled up across the street.
Someone jumped out, grabbed the new sign, and zoomed away. He did not see the police car — but the detective saw it all.
He tried to pursue them, but was too late.
The police investigation revealed that 5 Israel flag yard signs were stolen.
William Banks
Through law enforcement sharing, the suspect was identified as William Banks.
A warrant was issued. Yesterday, Banks turned himself in to the Westport Police Department.
He was charged with 6th degree larceny, and released after posting a $500 bond.
Beginning March 11, the town will charge drivers at electric vehicle charging stations on town-owned and operated property.
Officials say the plan is competitive with other local charging stations, while also offering “a sustainable and cost-effective option for EV owners.”
Stations at Town Hall, the Westport Library, the Baldwin Lot, Senior Center and Fire Department headquarters will charge 35 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 3 hours.
After a 15-minute grace period, users will be charged an idling fee of $10 an hour. The goal is to discourage drivers from occupying spaces after they have charged their vehicles.
Stations at Saugatuck and Greens Farms railroad stations will also charge 35 cents per kwh. However, there is no idling fee, because vehicle owners use the station for commuting (and pay a railroad parking permit fee as well).
Payment may be made through QR codes on the charging unit, or through a 3rd-party app used for EV charging.
EV charges in the Baldwin lot, after installation last year. They were not yet in use, because they had not been turned on.
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Last night, News12 Connecticut ran an excellent story on tomorrow night’s event “Past, Present and Future Opportunities for Diverse Entrepreneurs” (February 29, 6 p.m., Westport Library).
Sponsored by StartUp Westport and Westport 10 — and coming on the heels of allegations of racism in town, and at the end of Black History Month — the timing is fortuitous.
Jay Norris — a co-founder of both organizations (StartUp Westport is aimed at creating a tech entrepreneurial hub here; Westport 10 is a networking and social group for Black men and their families — told News 12: “The goal is diverse entrepreneurship. We believe we’re all stronger together. We need to acknowledge ech other. We need to support each other’s business.”
He cited martin Luther King’s inspiration — and his focus on a “diverse economic perspective,” which remains unreached.
Tomorrow’s event — moderated by MSNBC host and Westport resident Craig Melvin — will be followed by a cocktail reception. Click here for more information, and to register. Click here for the full News12 story, including video of Norris’ interview.
Everyone thought Ridgefield — the #1 seed in the boys basketball FCIAC tournament), ranked #2 in the state, and unbeaten in league play this year — would roll to their 4th FCIAC championship in 6 years last night.
Everyone except Staples.
The Wreckers got a highlight reel performance from sophomore Sam Clachko — 40 points, including 7 3-pointers and 11 of 12 foul shots — en route to a 73-57 demolition of the Tigers, in last night’s semifinal at Wilton High School.
The 4th-seeded Stapleites advance to tomorrow night’s final. They take on #2 Trumbull at 7 p.m., again at Wilton. It will be the Wreckers’ 2nd straight FCIAC final appearance, under 2nd-year coach Dave Goldshore.
The Westporters dropped a tough 48-46 decision to Ridgefield during the regular season. But they battled evenly in the first half, then pulled away in the second.
Junior Adam Udell added 13 points, in the all-around team effort.
Bill Vornkahl — the Korean War veteran and for over 50 years the organizer and heart of Westport’s Memorial Day parade, who died last month — will be honored this Saturday (March 2, 1:30 p.m.) at VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399.
The Bill Vornkahl Citation of Service will be presented to his family. The public is invited.
The event was coordinated by Westport’s state legislators Dominique Johnson, Jonathan Steinberg and Ceci Mahar, and the Board of Selectwomen.
Bill Vornkahl (Photo/Ted Horowitz)
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The New York Times reports:
A former New York University administrator admitted on Tuesday to spending $80,000 in public money meant for minority- and women-owned businesses on a swimming pool at her Connecticut home as part of a broader $3.5 million fraud she orchestrated, officials said.
The former administrator, Cindy Tappe, made the admission while pleading guilty to second-degree grand larceny, court records show. Under a plea agreement with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, she will be sentenced to five years’ probation and must pay $663,209 in restitution to cover the full sum of money she diverted for personal expenses.
Tappe, 57, lives in Westport, the Times says.
Ms. Tappe’s “fraudulent actions not only threatened to affect the quality of education for students with disabilities and multilingual students, but denied our city’s minority- and women-owned business enterprises a chance to fairly compete for funding,” Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said in a statement.
Deborah Colson, Ms. Tappe’s lawyer, said in a statement that her client “strongly regrets her misconduct.”
Click here for the full story. (Hat tip: Scott Brodie)
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A few tickets are still available for Bedford Acting Group’s production of “The Lion King Jr.”
The curtain rises at 7 p.m. on March 15. Additional shows are set for March 16 (3 and 7 p.m.), and March 17 (3 p.m.).Click here for tickets, cast lists and more information.
This Sunday (March 3, 4 p.m.), the United Methodist Church of Westport & Weston hosts a chamber music vespers service. It includes a string quartet, poetry and prayer, plus refreshments and conversation. The public is invited.
The church invites donations of non-perishable food items for Summerfield UMC Light on the Hill in Bridgeport.
(Photo/Dan Woog)
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High winds are predicted today.
Will they topple this utility pole on Compo Road South, a few yards from the Post Road?
(Photo/Mark Mathias)
Mark Mathias writes: “This does not look safe. It’s as if someone said, “let’s put this pole in the street and stack it on some 4x4s. What could go wrong?”
It seems, he says, “like a YouTube failure video waiting to happen.”
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The sun may not shine today.
But our “Westport … Naturally” photo — taken yesterday on Myrtle Avenue by Molly Alger — should bring a warm smile to everyone.
And finally … I never heard of Roni Stoneman, or the Stoneman Family. I never watched “Hee Haw,” where she played banjo and (apparently) had her biggest success.
But the former member of the “renowned Appalachian string band” had quite a career. She died Thursday in Tennessee, at 85. Click here for a full obituary.
(Whether or not you’ve got an electric vehicle, “06880” hopes you will “charge” a contribution to your hyper-local blog. Or send a check. Please click here for options to support our work. Thanks!)
Listening to the local and national news — and reading some comments on this blog — the answer seems to be “yes.”
The other day, a Black parent tearfully told the Board of Education that her 2 daughters were victims of racial slurs and harassment, at Bedford Middle and Staples High Schools.
Dr. Carol Felder (right) and her husband Richard Anderson, speaking at a recent Board of Education meeting.
Barely 2 months earlier, a Jewish parent wrote in Newsweek that his middle school son was taunted so badly, he enrolled in a private school.
Both times, some “06880” commenters wondered what our schools are doing to punish the perpetrators of hate speech, and stop it from happening in the first place. (Privacy laws prevent administrators from discussing specific disciplinary measures, like suspensions and expulsions.)
Others noted that children’s attitudes are shaped first in the home. “You’ve got to be carefully taught” to hate, they wrote, echoing lines from “South Pacific.”
Deniers and apologists shared space in the Comments section. Emotions ran the gamut: rage, sadness, frustration — sometimes all in the same response.
But issues of racism and antisemitism are not new. When it comes to acceptance, Westport has a checkered past.
In the 1940s, a Black community thrived at 22 1/2 (now 28) Main Street. It included residents, a grocer, barber shop and church.
In December 1949, members asked the Representative Town Meeting to be considered for new affordable housing planned for Hales Road.
They were rebuffed. A local newspaper predicted “great loss of life” if a fire threatened the “slum housing” on Main Street.
Eight days later, 22 1/2 Main Street burned to the ground. Arson was suspected — but there was no investigation.
Burned out of Westport, the residents moved elsewhere. Soon, they were forgotten.
A 2018 exhibit at the Westport Museum of History & Culture included photos and text about 22 1/2 Main Street.
Two decades later, in the aftermath of Martin Luther King’s murder, Westport’s interfaith clergy joined residents and Staples students to create an Intercommunity Camp.
Youngsters came from Bridgeport and Norwalk to Westport and Weston, for summer fun.
Not all Westporters were pleased. They opposed “busing” in kids from those town — and were even angrier when Project Concern (a program to bring Bridgeport students here) was proposed for the school year.
That controversy led to a recall effort against Board of Ed chair Joan Schine, who promoted the idea. The recall campaign — with antisemitic overtones — eventually failed.
For more than a decade, Project Concern thrived. Some of the friendships made in schools half a century ago continue today.
Walt Melillo teaching a Project Concern student, at Burr Farms School.
A successor of sorts is A Better Chance of Westport. For 2 decades, through a national program, academically gifted and highly motivated young men of color live together in Westport. Supported by host families, drivers and many others — including Black men who act as mentors — they give back as much to our town as they get from it.
For even longer, Westport has participated in Open Choice. The lottery program brings a few Bridgeport students here, beginning in elementary school. Participants have long described a variety of issues, including feeling “different” and ostracized, and — though there is a “late bus” — being unable to participate in after-school activities because of transportation difficulties.
Westport’s checkered past is religious as well as racial.
Stories of homeowners not selling to Jews — and country clubs excluding them — are real.
But after World War II, Westport opened up. The town was known as “not Darien or New Canaan.”
Temple Israel was the first synagogue. Today there are 4. Non-Jewish 13-year-olds go to so many bar mitzvahs, they joke that they know all the prayers.
Yet in late December Colony Road was hit by brazen thefts of lawn signs with the Israel flag, supporting that nation after the terrorist attack by Hamas.
This person put an Israel flag lawn sign in the trash barrel, and wheeled it away.
There are plenty of Jewish families in Westport today.
There are far fewer Black families — though certainly more than when I was at Staples, in the 1970s.
“Hate Has No Home Here” signs — ubiquitous a few years ago — still stand on lawns throughout town.
There is also TEAM Westport (the town’s official multicultural committee), and Westport 10 (a networking and social group for Black men and their families).
Both are important. But neither they — nor any program, or all 4 synagogues, or any other one “thing” — will remove the glare of the media spotlight from our town, or ease the perception that this is a racist, antisemitic place.
The truth is, we are a socioeconomically segregated, relatively homogenous suburb, in a state that, while socioeconomically segregated, mirrors the ethnic diversity of America.
We still have work to do.
We — Westporters of all ages — still must be taught not to hate.
But not “carefully” taught.
Instead: Forcefully. Consistently. And ceaselessly.
Markus Marty grew up in Switzerland. From age 4 on, he biked everywhere. He spent 15 years in New York, and rode somewhere every day of the year.
After moving to Westport in 2020, he was stunned to find biking here more difficult than New York.
The other day, Markus and I chatted onstage at the Westport Library. We talked about Bike Westport — the non-profit he helped found to make bicycling (and walking) better and safer all over town.
We discussed other quality of life issues too. I learned a lot, about both transportation and Markus.
It won’t be Burger King. They left a long time ago (replaced first by Arby’s, now Starbucks drive-thru).
But it will be some place local. Nearly 2 dozen restaurants vie for the title, in next month’s Great Westport Burger Contest.
The Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce event begins Friday (March 1), and runs through the 31st.
The Chamber has run contests for a variety of items — pizza, soup, salad — for the past 6 years. Burgers were last on the menu in 2019.
This year, 20 restaurants will compete in 7 categories. Judging is done by residents, voting online.
And every voter will be entered into a drawing to win a free burger from one of the 7 winning restaurants.
Competitors include Black Duck, Boathouse, Harvest, Jr’s,, La Plage, Little Barn, Match Burger, Nomade, Old Mill Grocery, Organika, Rizzuto’s, Shake Shack, Southport Diner, Spotted Horse, The Blondinit, The Porch, The Whelk, Viva Zapata and Zucca.
The 7 categories are Best Classic Burger, Best Cheese Burger, Best Gourmet Burger, Best Veggie Burger, Best Non Beef Burger (fish, turkey, lamb…), Best Fast Food Burger, and Best Slider. Each Restaurant can enter up to 4 categories, but can win a maximum of 2.
Residents have all month to visit the venues, enjoy their offerings, then vote on the Chamber’s website.
The Chamber encourages social media participation too, with the hashtag #greatwestportburger, and burger photos.
The winning restaurants will be announced April 1 (no fooling!), and will receive plaques.
Friday’s contest kickoff takes place at 11:30 a.m. at Match Burger Lobster.
Happy 94th birthday to a Westport icon: Joanne Woodward.
Over 60 years on stage and television she won an Academy Award, 3 Primetime Emmys, and 3 Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the oldest living Best Actress Oscar-winner.
Just as importantly, she — and her husband, Paul Newman — contributed mightily to the civic life of Westport.
Whether helping save the Westport Country Playhouse or dishing up popcorn at the Westport Historical Society, Joanne Woodward made our town a better place.
Among the items at the next Planning & Zoning Commission meeting (Monday, March 4, 7 p.m.; Zoom, and Optimum channel 79 and Frontier channel 6020): a request from First Selectwoman Jen Tooker to temporarily amend the lease at 655 Post Road East (the Linxweiler house, between McDonald’s and Fresh Market) to allow Gillespie Center clients to be housed and supported there temporarily, during renovation of the downtown homeless shelter.
Click here for the full agenda, and additional materials.
Linxweiler House, on Post Road East.
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Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Service president Mike Burns gave an in-depth, eye-opening look at the most recent Y’s Women meeting.
Many members were surprised to learn that the 45-year-old non-profit relies entirely on donations. The 75 EMS volunteers — who respond in 7 minutes or less to everything from strokes, seizures and births to accidents on I-95 and the Merritt Parkway (and even incidents on Metro-North) pay for all their own supplies: heart monitors, gurneys ($70,000 each), and ambulances.
WVEMS’ 3 ambulances are 10 years old. The first of 2 new ones will arrive next year — at a cost of $450,000.
All donations are welcome (83% are less than $100); click here.
WVEMS president Mike Burns, at the Y’s Women meeting. (Photo/Jilda Manikas)
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Westport resident Tom Kretsch spent his career as a teacher in the Norwalk schools.
And for almost 40 years he’s been involved with that city’s partnership with Nagarote, Nicaragua. They’ve created and run a community development project that provides opportunities for young people and families to improve their economic and educational lives.
A benefit cabaret — “Spring Into Song” — is set for Sunday, March 24 (5:30 p.m., Westport Woman’s Club).
Attendees can bring food and drink to share at small tables before the music begins. Nine great vocalists — including Westporters Michelle Pauker, Bill Hall and Emily Hall Stevens, and Charlotte Roth of Weston — are donating their talents. They’ll sing tunes from Broadway shows, original music and other covers.
For more information and tickets ($50), email kretscht@yahoo.com.
Michelle Pauker (Photo/Brynn Owen)
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Trumpeter Andy Gravish plays the music of Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan — 2 iconic musicians of the “hard bop school” — at this Thursday’s Jazz at the Post (February 29; shows at 7:30 and 8:45 p.m.; dinner at 7 p.m.; $20 music cover charge, $15 for veterans and students).
Gravish performs at top international jazz festival, and has been the featured soloist with the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band, Paquito D’Rivera and many others.
Joining Gravish are pianist Michael Cochrane, bassist Essiet Essiet, drummer Steve Johns, and saxophonist Greg “The Jazz Rabbi” Wall.
Reservations are highly recommended: JazzatthePost@gmail.com.
It’s been 15 years since the Staples High School Class of 1974 had a reunion.
Now they’re ready for their 50th. And members of adjacent classes — with friends among the ’74 graduates — are invited too.
It’s the weekend of October 18-20. There’s a Friday night social at the VFW, a Saturday night main event with dinner and dancing (and the class’ Mark Santella as DJ) at the Westport Woman’s Club, then Sunday at the Compo Beach Ned Dimes Marina.
As medical director of Westport Urgent Care, Dr. Deborah Mogelof is used to urgent requests from people about to leave on trips.
I need a prescription refill! they urgently tell the emergency physician, a longtime Westport resident.
I’m going to [wherever]. What medications do I need to pack?
Once they’re at their destinations, the questions keep coming.
My kid is sick, and we’re away from home. Help!
Dr. Deborah Mogelof
Help has arrived.
SafeTravelsMed.com went live earlier this month. It’s a site for personalized medical care for travelers (and their families).
Think of it as Westport Urgent Care, around the globe.
Mogelof offers 2 services. A travel kit includes 5 common over-the-counter medications: ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Benadryl, triple antibiotic ointment and a topical burn cream (plus Band-Aids). All are labeled, with dosage information.
Optional items include constipation and diarrhea medicines, and (why not?) a hangover kit.
Mogelof plans a “college pack” too, with all of the above items — plus Narcan.
Sure, you could assemble all that yourself.
But when was the last time you did?
The second service is “concierge.” For $300 patients get access to a visit with Dr. Mogelof before they travel. She can fill a prescription, or examine someone who feels ill.
There’s also the option to buy telehealth visits, from the road. The cost is $10 per call if booked 14 days ahead, $100 if booked less than 14 days.
Due to licensing requirements, concierge patients must be Connecticut residents, or visiting Connecticut at the time of the telehealth visit.
The doctor is also working on a college version of the concierge service. For $500 a year, a student would have access to telemedicine (provided she has contact with them in Connecticut as they start their membership).
Mogelof hopes to expand the telehealth offerings to a network of doctors nationwide.
SafeTravelsMed seems to fill a need in travel medicine.
An urgent need, you might say.
(For more information on SafeTravelsMed, click here.)
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This year, 20 restaurants will compete in 7 categories. Judging is done by residents, voting online.
The second service is “concierge.” For $300 patients get access to a visit with Dr. Mogelof before they travel. She can fill a prescription, or examine someone who feels ill.