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Entries from May 2008

Cranbury Park Environmental Inventory

May 18th, 2008 · 3 Comments

The Hour’s Robert Koch reports on this news:

Cranbury Park, Norwalk’s largest public open space, has several major wetlands, three types of forest cover and plenty of slopes subject to erosion.

That’s a brief overview of a recently completed environmental inventory of the 219-acre park located off Grumman Avenue in the northeast section of Norwalk. The city’s Department of Recreation and Parks, together with The Friends of Cranbury Park, envision the report becoming the basis for a master plan for the park.

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Tags: Norwalk

Big Read Event At The Library Today 3 PM

May 17th, 2008 · No Comments

Today the Norwalk Library is hosting members of the Hudson River Playback Theatre who will act out scenes based on Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 at 3 p.m. today. From the Advocate:

“We create theater pieces on the spot,” said Jo Salas, artistic director of the New Paltz, N.Y.-based improvisational theater. “Sometimes they are full-fledged, 10-minute scenes, or they’ll be shorter pieces or movements.

“So, we’re going to say to the audience, ‘You read this powerful book, and what in the book has echoes or resonance from your own lives or experiences? Or are there moments from the book that you like and would like us to act out?’ ” Salas said.

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Tags: In the News

Norwalk: Taxis In The News Again

May 17th, 2008 · 14 Comments

Not exactly what the taxi contingent wants in the news, but …

The incident began at about 8 p.m. as the Connecticut Towing and Recovery driver prepared to hook up Yellow Cab number 19 on State Street, Sgt. Paul Vinett said.

Seeing this, Magloire Cayo, 53, of 25 Chestnut St., began yelling at the woman and jumped into the driver’s seat of the cab he had been driving, police said.

Connecticut Towing and Recovery owner Wayne Masone said yesterday the owner of Yellow Cab requested the cab be picked up because Cayo was delinquent on fees for the car and taxi license, owned by Yellow Cab.

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Tags: In the News

The Cost of Diesel And Trucking

May 17th, 2008 · No Comments

With the price of a gallon of diesel set to break $5/gallon soon, it was only a matter of time for the inevitable news article on the impact on the trucking industry. The LA Times delivers:

If you think gas is expensive, be thankful you’re not a trucker. Filling up their 18-wheel, 80,000-pound leviathans can cost more than $1,300 these days.

Because of short supply, the price of diesel has gone up more than twice as much as gasoline in the last year, reaching a U.S. all-time high this week of an average of $4.33 a gallon. With little hope of a near-term decline — oil futures rose $2.17 to settle at a record $126.29 a barrel Friday — the run-up is causing panic and prompting radical cultural and technological shifts in the struggling trucking industry.

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Tags: Transportation

Westport Wants To Ban Plastic Bags

May 16th, 2008 · 14 Comments

Well this will certainly cause consternation amongst the dog owning set of Westport. The RTM, in their overeagerness to jump on the bandwagon to ban plastic bags is looking to introduce an ordinance. From the Advocate:

The newly crafted ordinance calls for a committee appointed by the first selectman to enforce the ban and encourages stores to provide reusable cloth and recyclable paper bags.

“We’re very excited about it,” said Gene Seidman, an RTM member representing District 4 who is sponsoring the ordinance with three other district representatives. “It’s forward-thinking. We’re thinking globally and acting locally.”

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Tags: Westport

93 East Ave and the Argonauts

May 15th, 2008 · 215 Comments

Yesterday it was Dante today it is Sophocles and our allegorical tale picks up with the latest in greek tragedy:

The owners of the 267-year-old Grumman-St. John house have filed a tax assessment appeal disputing the city’s valuation of the 93 East Ave. property.

The appeal was filed Tuesday in state Superior Court in Stamford.

Owner Chris Handrinos wants to knock down the house to expand his property at the Norwalk Inn, while preservationists want to save the home.

A temporary injunction granted to the Norwalk Preservation Trust and the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism in February prevented demolition.

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Tags: History · Norwalk

Route 7 Merritt Interchange Still In Play

May 15th, 2008 · 22 Comments

With State Rep Larry Cafero leading the way, residents of Silvermine got their opportunity to speak out on the proposed interchange design with officials from the DOT. A neighbourhood meeting was held at Silvermine elementary school. The Hours Robert Koch reports that meeting was attended by over 150 people, with the usual assortment of political flunkies on hand.

Raising concerns about traffic safety, and impacts on wetlands and woodlands, Silvermine residents told state Department of Transportation officials Wednesday night to dump what is known as the Modified Cloverleaf with Option D2 for the Route 7-Merritt Parkway interchange project.

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Tags: Norwalk · Transportation

More on Dog Poop

May 15th, 2008 · 15 Comments

It seems that we just aren’t finished yet with the subject of dog poop. Today’s Hour provides insight about the peoples republic of Rowayton’s dilemma:

Attention: All dog owners who use the Rowayton Community Center field to exercise their pets should know that use is in jeopardy because the fund used to purchase doggie bags is depleted.

“I’m told they use 32,500 bags a year or about 88 bags per day,” said Edwin Carlson in his capacity as property manager. “There is just one box of them left and no money to purchase another box.”

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Tags: Norwalk

Norwalk: Meandering Investigations Part II

May 14th, 2008 · 9 Comments

The taxi cab stand in, off and around has certainly generated enough comments, and in keeping with Dante’s Inferno, this level is eight and we pay close attention to Bolgia 6 while looking out for Blogia 5. You’d think I’d get enough fun reading traffic studies, but clearly not enough because I read the data form the Taxi study. Which was performed in the merry month of January.  Er, January is not merry is it? I digress. The data tracked, number of tax cab with fares, number of taxi cabs parked and number of taxi cabs circling. See how we keep getting back to circles?

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Tags: Norwalk

Norwalk: Meandering Investigations Part I

May 14th, 2008 · 5 Comments

When Dante was busy writing about the fourth circle of Hell, he couldn’t have known about the CT DOT, but as a modern metaphorical stand in, nothing could be more perfect. This meandering investigation concerns the traffic light, the condos and Mill Hill. As all good Norwalk stories must begin, before the burning of Norwalk, the events that transpired are convoluted and in keeping with the structure of classic literature involve misunderstandings and divine comedy.

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Tags: Norwalk