03/26/08 - Greenwich Real Estate Report

Greenwich Business News Report

Hedge Fund Haven Greenwich, Connecticut Suffers Housing Slide
Bloomberg - USA

By Sharon L. Lynch

Home sales in Greenwich, Connecticut fell 29 percent in the first two months of the year as North America's ...

---

Please send comments to:
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

03/26/08 - In divorce papers, Kissel's wife had accused her husband of being a belligerent alcoholic.

Troubled millionaire 'hired chauffeur to kill him'

Telegraph.co.uk

A chauffeur to a multi-millionaire has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in a case where police believe he may have been hired by his employer to kill him.

Driver Carlos Trujillo, 47, was arrested last week along with his cousin and charged over the death of Andrew Kissel, a wealthy property developer found tied up and stabbed to death in his mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, in April 2006...

... over the death of Andrew Kissel, a wealthy property developer found tied up and stabbed to death in his mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, in April 2006. At the time of his death, Kissel was had been charged with real estate fraud and grand larceny ...

...Kissel’s death was the second gruesome episode in the family. In 2003 his brother, Robert, was drugged via a milkshake and then beaten to death by his wife, Nancy....

...

“I can emphatically state he has maintained from day one he had nothing to do with this,” Ms Urso said.

“It’s hard for me to believe this guy committed a murder.”

03/26/08 - Even as a baby, my mother recalls, I wouldn't lay my head on her shoulder and snuggle in close. I wanted to see what was going on

Traveling the world for justice

By Jennifer Demers

Special to The Standard-Times

March 26, 2008 10:10 AM

I'm 22 years old and in the last five years I have lived in over 15 different places, not including the times when I was living out of my car or out in the wilderness. I've always been a bit of the odd-man-out, I suppose; always looking for my next big adventure or an even greater adrenaline rush than the last...

... bitter and thinking how evil the world really was. So, once again, I decided to up and move, but this time to Greenwich, Conn., as a live-in nanny. What a shock to see that people on the complete opposite spectrum from those I worked with at DSS are ..

03/26/08 - John Eikrem, whose name was suggested by the national YMCA based on his leadership of YMCAs in Greenwich

Facing investigation, Yonkers Y hires interim chief, delays fundraiser

YONKERS - With the financial practices of its executive director under investigation, the Yonkers YMCA has postponed its annual fund-raising dinner that had been set for next month....

... by the national YMCA based on his leadership of YMCAs in Beverly Hills, Calif., for 15 years and more recently Greenwich, Conn., for 10 years. Still on the job at the YMCA are various du Sablon family members, who have leadership roles with the ...

03/26/08 - Harvey will close its freestanding stores in Paramus and Bridgewater, N.J.; Greenvale and Mount Kisco, N.Y.; and Greenwich, Conn., over the

Harvey Gets Funding, May Add More In-Store Shops

... Harvey will close its freestanding stores in Paramus and Bridgewater, N.J.; Greenvale and Mount Kisco, N.Y.; and Greenwich, Conn., over the next several weeks, Recca said, comprising substantially all of the company's assets, court documents show. ...

03/26/08 - Ben Carnevale, the winningest coach in Navy history and a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame has died

Hall of Fame Navy coach Carnevale dies

... the Purple Heart. Surviving are his wife of 65 years, Agnes Curran Carnevale; a daughter Jeanne Hansford of Greenwich, CT; and four sons, Robert and Dan of Mt. Pleasant, SC; David of Lewis, DE; and Mark of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL; ten grandchildren ...

03/26/08 - Leonard Trujillo of Worcester, Massachusetts did not enter a plea on the charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Carlos Trujillo and Leonard Trujillo

Police are not providing many details about the case, including a possible motive.

Second suspect in Greenwich millionaire murder in court
WTNH - New Haven,CT,USA

Stamford (WTNH) _ A Massachusetts man extradited to Connecticut to face murder charges in the death of wealthy Greenwich businessman appeared in Stamford ...

See Also:

03/26/08 - Retired Stamford Police Officer, Vito Colucci Predicts A Guilty Verdict For Leonard's Murder Charge And A Not Guilty Verdict For Carlos

---

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression”

James Madison quotes

(American 4th US President (1809-17),
and one of the founding fathers of his country. 1751-1836)

03/26/08 - Vote For John Smith...ummm....I mean Peter Tesei

Just In Time For Campaign Season, Spot Runner Gets Into Politics

TechCrunch

Political campaign season is upon us and that means one thing: really bad political ads on TV. There are 50,000 public elections every year in the United States. And an estimated $3 billion will be spent on political TV ads alone in 2008. Spot Runner wants to get in on the action, and maybe even raise the quality of the ads a little, by turning its self-serve TV advertising platform over to politicians. Today it is launching a political section of its site, where both national and local political campaigns can create TV ads for as little as $500 and run them in highly targeted cities and even neighborhoods. It has also assembled a high-powered political advisory board that includes former Senator Bill Bradley and political strategists Mike Murphy, Dan Schnur and Bob Shrum...

... Spot Runner has begun to solve those challenges. To start with, Spot Runner has created 22 generic ad templates that can be further modified, which cover issues ranging from taxes and education to immigration and leadership. Campaigns add video images of the candidate and tweak the script any way they like. Spot Runner will record the voiceovers. And if new footage needs to be shot of the candidate on the campaign trail or working hard in Congress, Spot Runner can supply the camera crew (in January it purchased GlobeShooters, a network of about 1,500 video professionals).

And then when it comes time to pick where to show the ads, Spot Runner has developed a sophisticated media map of the U.S. that lets campaigns target ads by age, gender, income levels, voter affiliations, and even history of campaign contributions. A campaign manager can choose to run the seniors ad in older neighborhoods and the education reform ads in neighborhoods with a lot of young families. Spot Runner also lets campaigns create fund raising ads that can be e-mailed to supporters.

To get a sense of what these ads look like, here is an ad for Peter Tesei, a Republican in Greenwich, Connecticut who won a recent local election for Selectman:

See The Before And After Videos Here

COMMENTS:

1. Barack Obama
   

   Should I go with the “Change” ad or the “Strong Leader” ad?

2. John McCain
   

   Don’t you dare use the “Strong Leader” ad Barack Hussein Ali-Bama. Everybody knows that I am the strong leader in this campaign.

3. Hillary Clinton
   

   Do they have a template for a politician that landed in Bosnia and had to courageously dodge sniper fire? That would be really useful.

   Also, does SpotRunner take credit cards? I’m a little short on cash right now.

=================================================

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

03/26/08 - If the construction does not finish on time, officials will have to find alternate classrooms for students at Hamilton Avenue and Glenville

Super Slick Leslie Speaks
There also is the question of what the Glenville community thinks about the options, committee head
Leslie
"I Know How To Handle The Press"
Moriarty
said.

"We haven't circled back to the community and found out where modulars sit on their radar for education," Super Slick Leslie said.

Civic center may be Glenville's temporary housing

By Hoa Nguyen
Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

Board of Education officials are leaning toward using Western Greenwich Civic Center as temporary housing for Glenville School students when the school is scheduled for renovation later this year.

The Advisory Committee on Facilities, which met last night at the Havemeyer Building, said students at the school could relocate to the civic center in some combination with classrooms at other buildings nearby.

But officials don't know for sure whether the option can work. For instance, Glenville's student population cannot entirely fit into the civic center, so officials also must look at placing some classes at Parkway School or Hamilton Avenue School and St. Roch's YMCA Child Care Center. Officials also are considering bringing in new modular classrooms to augment the civic center space......

Get A Translator Don't These Egg Head's Know How To Speak English? They speak like a bunch of now nothing bureaucrats and politicians

... Board of Estimate and Taxation Chairman Stephen Walko, who attended last night's meeting, said education officials must get a better sense of the timing issues.

"If there's consensus that Western Greenwich Civic Center is the linchpin, what's your critical path here?" he asked. "If you're saying you have to wait until that day, realistically, what's that day?"....

Translation: Glenville Students Are Going Suffer, Because Of Betty "You Can Trust Me" Sternberg and her failed administrators.

But Don't Worry

Leslie
"I Know How To Handle The Press"
Moriarty

Will Baffle Everyone With You Know What

03/26/08 - Hot Off The Press - Breaking News From The Greenwich Post

03/23/08 - What No Heartfelt Thank - You For Betty "You Can Trust Me Sternberg?

=============================================

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“A free press can of course be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad. . . . Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better, whereas enslavement is a certainty of the worse.”

Albert Camus quotes
(French Novelist, Essayist and Playwright,
1957 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1913-1960)

03/26/08 - Things that make you go "hmmmmmmmmm?"

Beat The Press

Smooth Move Leslie !!!

Leslie Pulls A Fast One On The Local Media

Why did Leslie Moriarty wait until the media had left the Facilities Meeting last night to announce that she is about to hire a forensics expert regarding the modulars?

Just a few more things regarding a number of educational issues.

There Is No Cover Up Here

Why didn't she publicly state that her plans include having the Town Attorney do the actual hiring so that all information then becomes client-attorney privilege?

One can only assume by forensics expert she means the maintenance records investigation, etc.

Why is Betty "You Can Trust Me" Sternberg pushing the BOE into purchasing used modulars from Stamford, when there is no guarantee of proper maintenance and upkeep?

Why does the Board Of Education want to use Carp Building, the same group that put the modulars together on site, the same group they accuse of doing it wrong and being responsible for the mold issue, to put together whatever modulars are purchased for Glenville?

Why are there no contingency plans for Hamilton Avenue if the new building is not complete? Why are they taking a wait-and-see attitude?

Why is Frank Mazza denying mold in the new building, when Peter Tesei is stating Mazza told him there was mold?

Why is Sternberg pushing to weaken the Board Of Education's mission statement? By doing so, there is even less accountability for student failure.

The Board of Ed needs to stop trying to distract the parents and the public with such non-issues as the mission statement re-do and new report card formats that are harder to interpret and gives less information on student achievement.

All the Board Of Education is doing is trying to keep the single family home owners and taxpayers from getting the accountability for the modular fiasco.

The Board Of Education promised accountability to the parents and taxpayers in early March.

=============================
Please send Comments To
GreenwichRoundup@Gmail.com

“The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. [For] to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves-and the better the teacher, the better the student body.”

Warren Buffett quotes

03/26/08 - Hot Off The Press - Breaking News From The Greenwich Post

Delays at Hamilton Avenue School have pushed back the completion date for renovation from September 2007 to May 31. Now that deadline is in question too.
— Ken Borsuk / Greenwich Post Photo

Worth-less deadlines?
Building committee anticipates more setbacks at Hamilton Avenue

Another deadline threatens to elude workers in the construction of the new Hamilton Avenue School.

Though the project’s contractor, Worth Construction, has not confirmed the latest set of delays, it was revealed at a meeting of the project’s building committee this morning that the project’s latest completion date of May 31 will likely not be met.

Frank Mazza told the Post today there was no representative from Worth at the meeting to give an explanation for the latest delay on a project that was supposed to have been completed by last summer.

“What’s delaying them now? I don’t know,” Mr. Mazza said. “They keep saying there are issues that can’t get resolved, but we’ve been working to resolve those issues. We’re not holding them back. They’re holding themselves back.”

Ongoing communications issues between Worth and Swanke Hayden Connell Architects have been cited for many of the previous delays. URS was brought in as an independent mediator last year to try to settle these disputes, and while progress was made, representatives from Swanke Hayden appeared at Tuesday’s meeting to say issues remain unresolved and work is not being done quickly enough by Worth.

Parents have been clamoring for an ironclad date to be set in writing so people can be held responsible for missing deadlines. While the May 31 date had been used to try to assuage them, parents wanted more after so many previous Worth deadlines were missed. Mr. Mazza said the committee is looking at mid-June right now, but others have said it could take into July.

“Worth is still standing by its May 31 date, but we don’t think they’re going to be able to make it,” Mr. Mazza said. “Right now we don’t know what kind of revised date is going to be set.”....


....“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done here and not enough labor,” the source said, echoing a concern from parents that not enough people have been assigned to the project.

The source also reports there is a mold problem at the construction site because of water that has leaked into the basement.

Parents have had concerns about mold, but it has been dismissed in the past as rumor. Mr. Mazza said Tuesday the building committee has never received any reports of mold and urged anyone who knows about it to speak to the committee.

“If someone were to say something to us about that, then we will check it out,” Mr. Mazza said. “There are so many rumors out there right now that it’s getting ridiculous.”

Parents in the Hamilton Avenue community have grown impatient with delays, especially since the recent discovery of mold inside the modular classrooms the students have been in since 2005. Since then, Hamilton Avenue students have been sent to other schools in the district for the rest of the year. The parents have demanded accountability, and several have called for the resignations of Mr. Mazza and Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg for not doing more to get the project completed.

Last year the building committee discussed removing Worth Construction from the project but decided not to because doing so would place the entire project on hold with likely litigation.

=============================================

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free”

Franklin D. Roosevelt quotes

(American 32nd US President (1933-45),
cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US president. 1882-1945)

03/26/08 - The Domino Effect - Don't Cover Up School Administration Failure By Over Stessing A Few Positive Achievements

Letters from readers

To the editor:

Your front page story of March 16 gives a false impression of minority student performance at Greenwich High School by focusing on the scores of one set of tests taken by black students. While these scores indicate that measures to seek improvement should be undertaken, a difference picture of student achievement emerges when scores of another student minority group are observed.

As you state in the article on page 4, Hispanic students at Greenwich High who took the same set of tests ranked second in the state with regard to the small achievement gap between them and the rest of the students. This is something to celebrate.

At 13 percent of the student body, there are about 350 Hispanic students at GHS, while black students number only 89, or 3.3 percent. Your article should have stressed the positive achievements of this far-more-numerous minority group.

Andrea E. Kirkman

Riverside

Dear Andrea,

When the school system fails one child, they fail all of the children in the schools.

If this achievement gap is not aggressively addressed it will spread to the other minority group and eventually to poorer non-minority students.

Years ago, National News Magazines were ranking Greenwich High School as one of the top schools in America.

No one could question the "know it all" school administrators about the educational failures in the Western part of town, because the "know it all" school administrators had a top preforming high school.

Well the educational problems in the Western Greenwich Schools have slowly crept into Greenwich High School, because the "know it all" school administrators ignored Western Greenwich.

Elementary Schools That Fail "No Child Left Behind" leads to "Achievement Gaps" at Greenwich High School.

Achievement Gaps cause Greenwich High School NOT to be one of the top ranked high schools in America.

Next Boys and Girls from Riverside will apply to Ivy league schools only to get beat out from students that come from America's Top Ranked High Schools.

If you let failed school administrators ignore a child in Byram, then latter a child will suffer in Riverside.

Just like if you let failed school administrators ignore mold in Byram, then latter a family in Riverside will pay much higher property taxes while there local school becomes over crowded.

Andrea, like it or not, we live in the same town and are interconnected.

==========================================

Please send coments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of [achieving] a free society.”

Felix Frankfurter quotes

03/26/08 - "It's an embarrassment," Lavery said. "Children should be able to swim in the sunshine in a pool during the summer."

Selectmen mull funds for pool

By Neil Vigdor
Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

In an initiative that appears to be quickly gaining momentum, the Board of Selectmen could vote as early as tomorrow whether to accept as much as $75,000 in private donations for the engineering and design of a new community pool in Byram

Selectman Lin Lavery is pushing for the town to enter into a public-private partnership to build a new 50-meter swimming pool at Byram Park to replace an existing residential-size pool there that dates back about 70 years.

The Byram pool is the only public pool in town and is limited by health regulations to 40 occupants, forcing swimmers to wait on line to use it and leave after a short period....

But Wait There Is More From The Town Administrator That Hindered The Fake Beach Pass Investigations By Not Immediately Reporting The Felony To The Greenwich Police Department Detectives...

.... Joseph Siciliano, the town's parks director, said the prospect of building a new pool in Byram had been under discussion before Lavery took office in December. The town has earmarked $2 million in the 2011-12 fiscal year of its long-range capital plan toward the project.

"I think at this stage, Lin is looking at raising all of the money," Siciliano said. "Of course, that would expedite the project's schedule drastically if the money was to be raised all privately."

Siciliano said a new Byram pool would become an instant attraction for residents.

"Obviously, being that it's the only public swimming pool that the town has and is not attached to a school, there's been a desire out there to look at an upgraded facility," Siciliano said....

...Oh Joe, Please don't act like you are worried about the high taxes that the single family home owners and seniors have to pay, as a beach pass counterfeiter is running around Old Greenwich with pockets full of money that should be on deposit in the Town's Bank Account....

.... Throughout her campaign for selectman, Lavery said she was a firm believer in public-private partnerships and cited her experience as former president of the Junior League of Greenwich. The women's philanthropic organization has partnered with the town on a number of projects, including the installation of playground equipment in Bruce Park. Lavery said she hopes the pool project will only take a few years.

"It's way overdue," Lavery said. "Families have waited too long for this site to be restored and a pool built."

============================================

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“The mission of the press is to spread culture while destroying the attention span”

Karl Kraus quotes

(Austrian Journalist, Critic, Playwright and Poet, 1874-1936)

03/26/08 - Retired Stamford Police Officer, Vito Colucci Predicts A Guilty Verdict For Leonard's Murder Charge And A Not Guilty Verdict For Carlos

Leonard Trujillo, 21, of Worcester, Mass., is led into Greenwich police headquarters yesterday by weDetective Pat Iorfino yesterday. Trujillo has been charged in the 2006 killing of Andrew Kissel.

(Bob Luckey Jr./Greenwich Time Staff photo)

The Police Had Better Try And Talk To Unemployed Massachusett's Murder Suspects Wife, Because She Already Started To Spill Her Guts To The New York Post

Man accused of killing Kissel is returned to Greenwich
Stamford Advocate - Stamford,CT,USA
By Martin B. Cassidy

GREENWICH - A Massachusetts man was turned over to Greenwich police yesterday and charged in the 2006 stabbing death of convicted real ...

---

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“The reactionaries are in possession of force, in not only the army and police, but in the press and the schools”

John Dewey quotes

(American Philosopher,
Psychologist and Educator, 1859-1952)

03/26/08 - "I think it'll play better, and I think, visually, it's going to be extremely pleasing," said David D'Andrea, course operations manager

New Golf Course Hazard

Griff works to ease drainage at sand traps

By Neil Vigdor
Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

It'll take more than a sand wedge to get out of the green-side sand traps on the par 3 11th hole at the Griffith E. Harris Memorial Golf Course.

Try a backhoe

========================================

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people.”

Alexis de Tocqueville quotes

(French Historian and Political scientist. 1805-1859)

03/26/08 - The reason this is being done now is because the bridge is substandard because of state requirements. There’s no safety issue.

The Indian Field Road bridge is slated for repairs by the state.
— Ken Borsuk / Greenwich Post Photo

Governor seeks money for Indian Field Road bridge

Gov. M. Jodi Rell is seeking $8.4 million from the state’s Bond Commission to do needed work on the Indian Field Road overpass to Interstate 95.

The project, which would lift the overpass up higher to allow larger trucks to safely travel underneath it and widen the structure, would be paid for entirely with state money if approved by the commission. The commission is set to meet tomorrow to consider the money as part of an overall agenda of nine bridge projects, with a total price tag of $45 million, throughout the state. The commission will also look at $30 million for five state road projects.

According to the state’s Department of Transportation, there are structural deficiencies because the concrete deck is beginning to deteriorate and a section of the steel beams has “been exposed to the elements and [is] beginning to exhibit wear.”

However, town Commissioner of Public Works Lloyd Hubbs told the Post on Monday that drivers should have no concerns about driving the heavily used connection to I-95. ...

============================================

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal.”

Donald Rumsfeld quotes

(American Secretary of Defense)

03/26/08 - The exhibition briefly addresses the history of printmaking in America, and discusses fine art printmaking techniques such as etching......

The Art Scene

20th Century American Prints Exhibit at The Bruce Museum in Greenwich

Fairfield County Online - Bridgeport,CT

The Bruce Museum's new exhibition, 20th Century American Prints from the Collection features twenty-four fine-art prints spanning the 20th century by Childe ...

---

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“Freedom of expression - in particular, freedom of the press - guarantees popular participation in the decisions and actions of government, and popular participation is the essence of our democracy.”

Corazon Aquino quotes

(Political leader and president (1986-92) of the Philippines, b.1933)

03/26/08 - “We don’t want any Americans to miss out on their economic stimulus payment,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman

IRS reaches out to Connecticut residents on Saturday

The Internal Revenue Service and scores of its partners nationwide will open hundreds of locations on Super Saturday, March 29, in an effort to reach those Americans who are eligible for the economic stimulus payment but who normally are not required to file an income tax return.

=================================================

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“Criticism of government finds sanctuary in several portions of the 1st Amendment. It is part of the right of free speech. It embraces freedom of the press.”

Hugo Black quotes

(American Jurist, Lawyer and Politician
best known for his absolutist belief in the
Bill of Rights as a guarantee, 1886-1971)

03/26/08 - "As soon as I went on my first build, which was in Bridgeport, I fell in love with it," Courtney Fogwell a Greenwich teenager said.

"She's one of our stars," Greenwich High School Headmaster Alan Capasso said.

Students honored for community service
Greenwich Time - Greenwich,CT

By Hoa Nguyen

Greenwich High School senior Courtney Fogwell remembered the first time she volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, working side-by-side with a ...

... Greenwich High School student award recipients were Lauri Ng, Sarah Wilbanks, Brendan Martise, Cassandra Rizzo, Ines Sheppard and Sidney Beaty. Also recognized were middle school students Matilda Pecover, Kim Rogers and Victoria Leto.

The elementary school award recipients were Matthew Lamanna, Alec Oropall, Bruna DaCunha, Paulina Fernandez, Natalia Hartwell, Hailey Biagi, Kristen Ragusa, Tyler Pastore, Veronica Prezioso, Natalie Anibal, Antonia Valencia, Patrick Feuerman and Nathalie Chan. Educators who were asked to personally recognize each recipient said the students as a whole distinguished themselves in their service to the community both in Greenwich and the greater world....

================================================

Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

“The press is like the peculiar uncle you keep in the attic - just one of those unfortunate things.”

G. Gordon Liddy quotes

(American Politician, b.1930)