Last week, the RTM unanimously approved the 2022-23 town budget, of about $222.8 million.
That could be the most underrated, underreported — and astonishing — story of the year.
Each spring for decades, budget battles consumed us. The Board of Finance slashed the Board of Education request. The Board of Ed fought back, with the backing of some — but not all — residents.
Parents argued for and against teachers and/or administrators. Westporters with no kids in school screamed at those who did, and at each other.
The next step — final approval by the Representative Town Meeting — was just as brutal.
Petitions were filed. Referendums were held. An entire political party — the Taxwatchers — formed in the crucible of budget wars.
Dick Leonard, Westport Education Association president, during a budget battle.
Things calmed down in recent years. Still, town boards and the RTM did not always see eye to eye. Department heads were forced to plead their cases, sometimes for just a few thousand dollars.
As Washington has become more polarized, Westport politicians play nice. This year’s requests sailed through, with only a couple of adjustments made.
The numbers seem large: almost $138.7 million for education, about $84.1 million for other town operations,, plus the Library, health and transit districts, and Earthplace.
But the people who make the decisions — Democrats, Republicans and the non-partisan RTM (no Taxwatchers) — seem to agree that Westport is in very sound fiscal shape.
They like the bangs they get for our bucks.
Residents must agree. Peeps in town made very few peeps throughout the process.
Sometimes no news is good news. Washington, take note!
Alert “06880” reader and RTM representative Kristin Schneeman writes:
I walked into Coffee An’ this morning to get my stressed high schooler a chocolate frosted on the way to school (and something for myself, of course).
Two men were having breakfast at the counter. Another was at the register. He ordered something to go, but realized he didn’t have his wallet.
The men at the counter quickly offered to cover his tab. When he thanked them profusely, they joked that he should get some more food.
Good things happen at Coffee An’. (Photo/Katherine Bruan)
This was one of those random acts of kindness that warms your heart, especially at a time when we often seem to retreat into ourselves, and divide across all sorts of lines.
Buy a stranger a cup of coffee and a donut. It’s good for the soul!
Earlier this month around noon, I shopped at Trader Joe’s.
My car was parked across the street in the CVS lot. With 3 full shopping bags in my arms, I distractedly attempted to cross the Post Road without checking both ways.
I would like to thank the man who grabbed my arm to stop me as I stepped off the curb into traffic. I fell but did not injure myself, except scratches on my hands and knees.
He saved my life. When I turned to thank him, he was gone.
Crossing this street can be extremely dangerous.
Are these the most heroic acts we’ve ever honored, in our Unsung Hero feature?
Of course not. But as Kristin Schneeman and Catherine Iffland know, little things mean a lot.
It’s small actions like these that play a big role in putting the “home” into “home town.”
(If you know an Unsung Hero, email dwoog@optonline.net)
And the winner of “American Song Contest” on NBC is …
… not Michael Bolton.
Connecticut’s (and Westport’s) contestant finished 7th Monday night. After 8 weeks, the title went to AleXa of Oklahoma.
But our guy made the semifinals — the top 10 out of 55, in our national version of Eurovision. And our neighbor is still #1 in our hearts. Click here for the full story. (Hat tip: Mark Mathias)
Screenshot from the “American Song Contest” website.
Here’s what the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee will discuss tomorrow, beginning at 8:30 a.m. (click here for the Zoom link).
I. Opening Remarks – Chair
A. Overall Meeting Goals
I. Approval of Minutes (4/2022 Meeting)
II. Strategic Priority Review
A. Parking Lots Reinvention
1. Downtown Lots Design Master Plan
a) June kickoff meeting with core steering team
b) Planning for public engagement and project timeline
2. Baldwin Lot – completion targeted for end of June
B. Pedestrian Access
1. Streetscape Improvements
a) Bench installs
b) Additional cans for high traffic locations
Strategic Priorities (cont)
Pedestrian Access (cont.)
2. Main Street Improvements
a) Status (bump out and re-pavement)
C. Sustainability
1. Solarization
a) Initial meetings with consultant
2. Alternative Transportation
a) Bird proposal
(1) background
D. Maintenance
1. Special Services District
a) Last Ordinance Draft
b) Cost development – RFQ
If you can’t make the 8:30 start, perhaps you can watch during dinner.
The Staples High School boys lacrosse program is adding 4 honorees to their Hall of Fame.
Bill Rexford (Class of 1986), Ryan Kubie (’96), Paul McNulty (Staples ’64, head coach 2009-18) and the 16-0, undefeated regular season 2010 team will be honored at halftime of Saturday’s game against New Canaan. The contest begins at 3 p.m. The Wreckers are currently ranked #2 in the state.
Rexford and Kubie starred in the early days of Staples lacrosse. The ’10 team made history.
McNulty, meanwhile, was one of the keys to the growth of Staples lacrosse into the powerhouse it is today.
He took over a program that had had 3 coaches in 4 years. Within a year, he coached that ’10 squad to its undefeated record. The Wreckers reached 2 state championship games during his tenure.
McNulty returned to his alma mater — where he starred with Laddie Lawrence on the track team — after a hugely successful career coaching Wilton High lacrosse: 3 state championships, 2 state runners-up, and 20 All-Americans, among other achievements.
McNulty is a member of both the US Lacrosse and FCIAC Halls of Fame, and has earned numerous other honors. During his 50-plus-year career, he also coached football, soccer, tennis and track, starting at a segregated Black school in Jacksonville, Florida.
Fun fact: He was a student teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Florida with Coach Leonard Skinner, who was notorious for sending home boys with long hair. A few of them wanted to form a band, and did not want to get their hair cut.
So they quit school, formed that band, and named it after their coach: Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Cottage of Westport has named a new chef de cuisine: Danny Oddo.
He was previously executive sous chef at The Simone in New York City. He also worked for Marc Murphy’s restaurant group, which included Landmarc in Tribeca, and was part of the opening team at the Paloma in the Hotel Hendricks.
“Growing up in New Jersey, my love of cooking stemmed from visiting local farms and spending time in the kitchen with my mother and grandmother,” Oddo says.
“I am inspired to have the opportunity to work with Chef Brian Lewis and his entire team to bring my experience and background to our guests, and to work with local farmers and purveyors to offer new flavors, textures and colors on our menu.”
Its mission is clear: pairing local teens with special needs youngsters. They spend at least one weekend a month together, doing what friends do: bake cookies. Play games. Go bowling.
It’s a wonderful, low-key organization, loved by all who participate in it.
Their annual fundraiser and volunteer recognition is Sunday, May 22 (5:30 p.m., Beth Israel Synagogue, Norwalk). It’s always a warm, welcoming night. This year, special awards (courtesy of Senator Richard Blumenthal) will be presented to teens from Westport, Weston and surrounding towns. Despite the isolating effects of COVID, they’ve provided home visits and programs to their friends.
The evening promises good food, inspiring speeches, prizes and more. Click here for tickets and more information.
Beechwood Arts’ final event of “UpsideDown at The Westport Library” is this Friday (May 13, 7 p.m.).
There’s a reception for 15 artists (with wine and refreshments). Their art will be projected on the 19-foot screen, and they’ll share stories of reinvention and inspiration over the past couple of years, when “the world turned upside down.”
The Westport Library middle school summer program includes math, literacy and STEAM activities. Each week the immersive experience covers a different topic, over 2 days.
Mondays center around a blend of inquiry, design, research, writing and the arts. The Tuesday class builds on the work from Monday, focusing on math, science and revision, testing and technology, with students creating a physical representation of their learning.
Students work together to solve challenging problems that are authentic, curriculum-based, and interdisciplinary. Click here for details.
Rach’s Hope is a special organization, with a special mission: It helps families address the many challenges of a child’s critical illness.
Named for Rachel Doran — a 2018 the Staples High School National Merit Commended Scholar, talented Players costume designer, and founder of her own pajama company — the annual fundraiser is special too: a “PJ Gala.”
This year’s event raised nearly $40,000. Donations are still being accepted. Click here to learn more.
The Westport Garden Club’s annual plant sale is this Friday May 13 (9:30 a.m., Jesup Green). The club celebrates their 98th anniversary with over 1,000 perennials from members’ own gardens, all potted up for sale.
The event has happened every year since 1924 — except World War II, when members’ gardens grew vegetables to support the war effort, and 2020 during COVID.
The sale reopened last year, with cautions in place and an online pre-order/ curbside pick-up option. It was so successful, it’s been retained this spring.
The Garden Clubs uses funds raised to maintain gardens around Westport. This spring they replanted the Nevada Hitchcock Garden at Cross Highway and Weston Road with native species. It now supports the Pollinator Pathway Project, launched with Wakeman Town Farm and Earthplace in 2019.
Fothergilla species — deciduous Eastern US natives — are spectacular 4-season shrubs.
That garden was created in 1941 to honor the club’s co-founder, a reporter for the New York Herald. She moved to Westport in 1920. As a columnist for the Sunday Post (now the Connecticut Post), her column “Your Own Garden” was a popular feature.
The original garden featured 137 dogwood trees. Over the years many fell to disease, and were replaced by other plantings.
Original Nevada Hitchcock dogwoods.
The new plan features hydrangeas, Clethera, Baptisia, Joe Pye, butterfly weed, and goldenrod — all plants that promote the abundance and diversity of beneficial insects \.
Information about beneficial native plants is available at the plant sale, along with tips for home gardeners.
Westport Garden Club members prep the Nevada Hitchcock Garden.
Posted onMay 10, 2022|Comments Off on Roundup: Best Music Community, Dog Fest, Cajal Academy …
How good a community for music is Westport?
One of the best.
That’s not “06880” talking. It’s the NAMM Foundation. They just named us one of their “Best Communities for Music Education.”
For the 10th year in a row.
Th honor comes for our public schools’ efforts to provide music access and education to all students. The application process included detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instructional time, facilities, music program support, and community programs.
Westport’s Music Department has benefited from partnerships with organizations like the Westport Library, Levitt Pavilion, PTA Cultural Arts, WestPAC and Westport Arts Advisory Committee.
Staples High School’s Candlelight Concert — involving hundreds of singers, and orchestra and band members — is one culmination of music programs at every school, and every level. (Photo/Danielle Dobin)
The Asian American Pacific Island community — and allies — celebrate AAPI Heritage Month today (Tuesday, May 10), with a cash bar at MoCA Westport (19 Newtown Turnpike, 5 to 7 p.m.).
Mecha-Uma will be there with a food truck too. All are welcome!
The Dog Festival returns to Winslow Park this Sunday (May 15, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) for its 6th run.
The event includes fun competitions (best tail wagger, best dressed, best kisser, best trick, best lap dog over 50 pounds, dog that most looks like its owner), demonstrations, Police K-9 presentations, an obstacle course, kids activities, information booths, food trucks and more.
Also on tap: over 60 pet-related vendors, caricaturists and giveaways.
Parking is available at the Westport Country Playhouse, and other nearby lots. The festival entrance fee is $10 per person, $30 for a family of 4. Proceeds benefit nonprofit organizations.
Dog owners can register for the competitions online or at the festival. To register for the competitions and for more information, click here.
The Dog Fest is sponsored by the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce, in association with TAILS.
Yesterday’s “06880” lead story noted that Cajal Academy — a new school based on the latest neuroscientific research, for gifted students with special education needs — was going before the Planning & Zoning Commission last night.
In a unanimous vote, the board approved the application for 25 Sylvan Road South.
Stony Brook runs next to the 25 Sylvan Road South building.
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Sunday’s pro-choice rally was sponsored by DefenDemocracy.
This Saturday (May 14, 11 am to 1 p.m.), Planned Parenthood plans an event. It too is set for the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen downtown bridge.
Among the winners of the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County’s Daniel E. Offutt III Arts & Culture Empowerment Awards: William Felton, former chair of the Westport Arts Center who led a long effort to find, secure and improve its new home as MoCA Westport, on Newtown Turnpike.
Honored posthumously: Alexandra Korry. The Westporter was a trailblazing lawyer, educator and civil rights advocate, and the guiding spirit behind converting a 1935 Norwalk church into a space to enhance educational opportunities for underserved students, promote underrepresented local artists, and provide a welcoming space to enjoy art and music. The Norwalk Art Space opened last June, just a few months after she died.
An awards breakfast is set for the Shore & Country Club in Norwalk on June 15, (7:30 a.m.). Click here for tickets.
Sure! That’s the name of Earthplace and Harbor Watch’s fundraiser, set for Copps Island Oysters in Norwalk on June 11 (5 to 7 p.m.). There’s an unlimited raw bar, hors d’oeuvres from Harbor Harvest, and wine and beer from Black Bear — plus a silent auction, live music, and very cool views.
And finally … Spinal Tap was a fake band. But Ric Parnell was a real drummer.
He was perfect for the perfectly played satirical 1984 film, “This is Spinal Tap.” He had the looks, the chops, and he was in on the joke.
Including the fact that, somehow, Spinal Tap’s drummers kept dying in bizarre ways. He himself (as Mick Shrimpton) spontaneously combusted on stage. When the fake band went out on tour in the 1990s — life imitating art — Parnell was introduced as Mick’s twin brother Rick.
Ric Parnell died this month in Missouli, Montana, of organ failure. He was 70.
But Spinal Tap lives on. Play the video below loud — all the way to 11! (Click here for a full obituary.)
Comments Off on Roundup: Best Music Community, Dog Fest, Cajal Academy …
Westport has another Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer.
And it’s not Lynsey Addario or Tyler Hicks.
Spencer Platt — like those two New York Times journalists, a Staples High School graduate — was one of 5 Getty Images photographers who earned their industry’s highest honor today.
The 5 were awarded Pulitzers for Breaking News Photography, for their coverage of the January 6 assault on the US Capitol.
January 6, at the US Capitol (Photo/Spencer Platt for Getty Images)
Platt and Hicks both started their professional careers not in Westport, but at thesmall Troy (Ohio) Daily News.
Platt has worked with Getty Images for many years. He photographed the Israel-Lebanon conflict of 2006 (and won the World Press Photo of the Year award for his shot of grinning Lebanese girls in front of a devastated building). He also worked in Iraq, Liberia, Congo and Indonesia.
One view of the upheaval in Egypt. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
He is perhaps best known for his iconic photo of the World Trade Center, engulfed in a fireball moments after it was struck by a plane.
(Photo/Spencer Platt for Getty Images)
Amazingly, Platt is not the only one of the 5 Getty Images Pulitzer winners today with a Westport connection. His colleague Win McNamee is the brother of Julia McNamee, for many years an English teacher at Staples High School.
Posted onMay 9, 2022|Comments Off on Roundup: American Song Contest, Ukraine Concert, Late Mothers Day …
Connecticut has made it to the finals of tonight’s “American Song Contest.”
Actually, Michael Bolton has.
The Westport resident — representing the state — is in tonight’s NBC finale. The show is based on the wildly popular Eurovision, and includes representatives from all 50 states, plus Washington DC and 5 territories. There are 10 finalists.
Good luck, to one of the real good guys in the music world! (Hat tip: Mark Mathias)
Screenshot from the “American Song Contest” website.
Tenor Craig Gillespie — a Westport resident, and son of Jim Gillespie for whom the town’s men’s shelter is named — is among the local musicians offering a mix of Broadway, American songbook, jazz, reggae, traditional Irish, spiritual, country, classical and opera songs, in a “celebrate spring/raise money for Ukraine” concert.
The event is Sunday, May 22 (Southport Congregational Church, 3 p.m.). It’s free, but donations to Save the Children’s Ukraine Project are requested.
An update on the closure of Riverside Avenue near the train station, for paving: It’s now scheduled for Wednesday (7 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Thursday (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.).
And finally … Mickey Gilley died on Saturday in Branson, Missouri. He was 86.
He had 34 country Top 10 hits. But he was best known as the owner of a huge bar near Houston that became synonymous with country music. Gilley’s had a mechanical bull, and was the location for much of the famed “Urban Cowboy” movie.
Buried in the New York Times’ obituary: He was a cousin of both Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart.
Comments Off on Roundup: American Song Contest, Ukraine Concert, Late Mothers Day …
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