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The local housing market still sizzles.
Brown Harris Stevens reports that 42 houses closed in February in Westport — the most for that month since at least 2014.
The average closing price was $1.8 million, up 50% from the same period last year.
Supply was down. On February 28 there were 138 houses on the market, 52% fewer than in February 2020.
Prices for the 68 houses pending — properties with signed contracts — ranged from $565,000 to $6.3 million. The average list price was $2.1 million.
Weston has seen a 76% increase in home sales for December through February, compared to a year earlier. The average closing price was $1.09 million, up 46%. (Hat tips: Roe Colletti and Chuck Greenlee)
This gorgeous home on Hidden Hill, off South Compo, is listed for $4.8 million. (Photo courtesy of Compass)
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For many people, COVID created 2 types of hunger: for food, and for the human spirit.
Westport’s Unitarian Church helps feed both needs.
For years, a community of food-insecure people has gathered on Sunday mornings under Bridgeport’s Route 25 overpass. They celebrate together: children’s birthdays, sobriety, housing, new jobs. When ministers or priests appear, prayer circles form.
As the pandemic’s quarantine and health regulations prevented many non-profit providers from serving food at the John Street site, Unitarian Church members worked with April Barron of Helping Hands Outreach in Bridgeport to coordinate bagged lunches.
Over the past 9 months, they’ve handed out over 12,000 lunches — filled with sandwiches, drinks, fruit, snacks, and messages of support.
With donations of food and money way down, April says the Unitarian Church — and similar help from St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Norwalk — were crucial. Just as important: the interaction with people.
The Unitarian Church’s Shawl Ministry — which for years has knit and crocheted shawls for congregants — also made and gave warm hats, scarves and cowls to the John Street community this winter.
To help distribute lunches, email david@uuwestport.org. To help make lunches (Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m.), click here.
Westport Unitarian Church volunteers, with bagged lunches.
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There’s always something to see at Sherwood Island.
The other day, Jack Menz did not like what he saw.
The American flag is in tatters. The Connecticut state flag is not much better.
(Photo/Jack Menz)
“It’s wrong to fly such a battered flag,” Jack says.
“Wrong for visitors to the park, and wrong for those honored at the park. We should have a new flag flying there.”
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The other day, the Cornell Daily Sun highlighted the student-run Cornell University Emergency Medical Service. Working through the pandemic, they provide free 24/7 emergency care to staff, students and visitors.
Director of operations Hannah Bukzin is a Cornell senior — and a Staples High School grad. She honed her skills working hundreds of hours with the Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Service.
CUEMS answers 600 calls a year — “allergic reactions, alcohol or drug overdoses, motor vehicle accidents and everything in between,” Hannah says.
Click here for the full story. (Hat tip: Dennis Poster)
Hannah Bukzin
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Klein’s is long gone from Main Street.
So is its successor, Banana Republic.
But the old department store — at least, its signage — reappeared the other day, during construction work on the property.
You can no longer buy books, records, cameras or typewriters on Main Street. But — for a while, anyway — Klein’s was back.
(Photo/Jack Whittle)
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And finally … today in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for the telephone.
For 30 days, every American flag flew sadly, partway up its pole. It was a powerful reminder of the tremendous loss our country suffered.