A little self promotion here, today’s Hour and Advocate feature articles about this site and yours truly and the mysterious workings that fuel the blog coverage of Norwalk. Overall, the coverage is nice and positive, except for Democratic Town Chair Galen Wells, who had this to say From Matt Breslow’s Advocate article:
But Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Galen Wells said a problem with blogs by Lightfield and others is the lack of oversight by an editor to ensure accuracy.“Much of what she says is just plain not true,” Wells said.
There are people Lightfield doesn’t like, Wells said.
The blog has included “incredible negative postings” about Wells and state Rep. Bruce Morris, D-Norwalk, and Lightfield has written “awful” postings about former Democratic Mayor Alex Knopp, Wells said.
Clearly Wells is not reading the posts, because otherwise she wouldn’t ignorantly claim that “much” of what I write is untrue. First off, much of what I write often starts from newspaper articles, that I quote directly, like I just did. Then I make an observation about it, like I’m doing, that explains what I think about it. I’m thinking Wells is not reading, because the alternative is that she’s just reflecting the usual incompetency that I am troubled by … oh wait …
OK, I’m having a little fun there. But seriously, here’s me saying awful things about Knopp:
Democratic Town Chair, and childhood buddy of Alex Knopp, Galen Wells wants us to believe that the past was mighty rosier than it really was. She said to Patrick Linsey of The Hour that Alex has a “vision†for Norwalk.
“Wells said. “I think now that he’s been gone for a while, people can put aside ‘Oh he was grumpy to me,’ and think of what’s best for Norwalk.â€. I think that people are smart enough to remember things as they really were and see that Norwalk City Hall is a much better place now. City Hall is the people’s government and it helps to have someone as mayor who genuinely likes people. It’s not something you can just pick up out of the back pages of “Political Life For Dummies†book. After all, you can’t really teach an old dog new tricks. the rest of the post
Ok, Galen, you got me. You said Knopp was “grumpy”, I implied he didn’t like people. Ooooo, awfulness in full bloom here.
But enough about me, there’s trouble in them dar hills.
State Senator Bob Duffs-D bill to get a timeline out of the Super 7 project stalls in the purgatory of committee active non action. Meaning, the political whippersnappers up in Hartford decided that this hot potato was too hot to force of a kill vote in committee, so they let it die by not acting upon it. I guess they think by not voting against it, and not voting for it, and not getting to a full floor vote that no one will be called on it next election time. Such silliness really. Duff is going to have to do a better job of gaining other legislators on board to apply the regional pressure to get this one moving. It didn’t help that the DOT couldn’t figure out how much land they owned already (first 40%, now 60%), and that a vocal opponent sits on the committee. But after enough strip malls dot the landscape on slowly widening route 7, positions should be a-changing. A new 15,000 square foot retail space to be built sign popped up next to the car dealership just the other day. Keep at it Senator Duff!
Todd Bryant is back with in the news with a CPR maneuver on Fodor Farm. When we last took the pulse of this story, the report that was to trigger all sorts of city hall action missed its filing deadline. The solution? Create a new report cover. I kid you not. From The Hour:
As such, study committee members vowed to re-date the report’s cover letter, make necessary copies of the report and its maps, and FedEx the materials to the state commission by Wednesday. Bryant said that’s the deadline for having the council consider the report at its April 4 meeting.“Onward and upward,â€said Marilyn C. Robinson, member of the study committee. The action, in effect, will attempt to re-circulate the report before the state Commission on Culture and Tourism, the city’s Planning and Zoning commissions, and the public.
Mayor Moccia has in effect moved onward, and instead said to The Hour, “I’m just waiting for Land Use to come up with their final
recommendations,†Moccia said last week. “The deadline (for the historic district plan) was missed and that’s that.†The crux of the issue is whether to create a new historic district of the 3 houses and former farm land, or whether to manage the property through existing mechanisms. Both plans call for selling of the houses as part of a deed restricted preservation program. There’s no controversy about what to do with the former farm land, which everyone agrees to maintain as city owned open space. Except that the Study committee wants that to be historic open space, or something like that, whatever that means. With the ongoing issues finding time and money to deal with the current city owned properties like the Norwalk Museum, one hopes that whatever plan moves forward is a realistic one.
Source: Norwalk Advocate, Blog from ‘Turfgrrl’ chronicles city politics, By Matt Breslow, March 20 2007
Source: The Hour, Putting the blog in local politics By Patrick Linsey, March 20 2007
Source: The Hour, Super 7’ bill dies en route to full legislature By Patrick Linsey, March 20 2007
Source: The Hour, Committee’s push for historic district not over By Robert Koch, March 20 2007
