Say Cheese !!!!
Beauty technician Lana Miller, top, uses a face rejuvenator on Inga Zotov of Greenwich recently at Allura Salon & Day Spa on West Putnam Avenue in Greenwich.
(Bob Luckey/Greenwich Time photo)
Town residents still love to be pampered, but day spa and salon owners say the financial crunch is forcing people to rethink the need for such luxuries as facials, manicures and pedicures.
The dozens of day spas and salons across Greenwich are reporting declines in business - one by as much as 70 percent - as the economy slides deeper into recession and people choose to either go longer between services or go without.
"Like anybody else, I have felt a slowdown," said Nassrin Shams, owner of Quintessence spa, 280 Railroad Ave., one of many independently owned spas in Greenwich. "I've definitely felt a decline in business, but to be honest, I've felt it for a year. It has been gradual."
Shams estimates business is down about 30 percent over last fall.
Empy Constante, owner of Empy's Day Spa, 179 Hamilton Ave., has seen about a 70 percent drop in business from last year.
"Thank God we have loyal clients," said Constante, whose full-service spa has been in business for 23 years. "It's been very hard for everybody, even more so in this town. A lot of our clients are very successful people."
Some of her clients have called to cancel their appointments to cut expenses, Constante said, while others are limiting their number of visits.
"Clients who were coming for two blow-dries every two weeks now come for one," said Constante, whose services include $38 blow-dries and a $58 manicure-pedicure package. "They wait a little more for their appointments.
Securities and Exchange Commission investigators discovered in 2006 that Bernard Madoff had misled the agency about how he managed customer money, according to documents, yet the SEC missed an opportunity to uncover an alleged Ponzi scheme.
The documents indicate the agency had Madoff in its sights amid multiple violations that, if pursued, could have blown open his alleged multibillion-dollar scam. Instead, his firm registered as an investment adviser, at the agency's request, and the public got no word of the violations.
Harry Markopolos - who once worked for a Madoff rival - sparked the probe with his nearly decadelong campaign to persuade the SEC that Madoff's returns were too good to be true. In recent days, The Wall Street Journal reviewed emails, letters and other documents that Markopolos shared with the SEC over the years.
When he first began studying Madoff's investment performance a decade ago, Markopolos told a colleague at the time, "It doesn't make any damn sense," he and the colleague recall. "This has to be a Ponzi scheme."
COMMENT:
Why Hasn't Hearst Newspapers Given Greenwich Residents Any Local Coverage Of The Madoff Ponzie Scheme ?
Why Hasn't Greenwich Time Managing Editor Jim Zorba Not Asigned A Reporter To Report On Walter Noel And Greenwich Fairfield?
Greenwich defends sewer decisionIn the aftermath of Friday's sewer main break, which caused raw sewage to be diverted into Long Island Sound over four days, town and state officials say they responded as quickly and as well as possible.
"The reality is that there was no other option," said First Selectman Peter Tesei Wednesday, a day after contractors repaired the ruptured sewer main at Cos Cob's Sound Shore Drive, resuming delivery of sewage to the Grass Island Waste Water Treatment Facility.
After Friday morning's burst, sewage was pumped into the Mianus River at three separate points in Riverside and Cos Cob, including Cos Cob Harbor, until repairs were completed at about noon Tuesday.
Tesei said, "It's not something you choose to do, it's something you're forced to do."
The town will defend that position in a report to the state Department of Environmental Protection to be filed within the next few weeks. Due to the discovery of a natural gas line running adjacent to the sewage pipe on Saturday, the leak took longer than planned to fix.
Work to remove the dangerous section of the gas pipe did not begin until Monday evening. Tesei and Connecticut Natural Gas spokesman Bob Brennan each said they were waiting for word from the other before beginning work on the pipe.
"We were just waiting to get the go-ahead from the town," said Brennan, adding that Greenwich had finally granted that Monday morning.
STAMFORD - Wasn't there supposed to be a honeymoon? Making one of his first major public appearances since his victory last month, Congressman-elect Jim Himes morphed into the role of chief trouble-shooter Wednesday night during a town hall-style meeting at Stamford's Yerwood Center organized by the Democrat's transition staff and several community groups.
Woman's Club holiday party
A Frosty the Snowman holiday party will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday at The Woman's Club of Greenwich, 89 Maple Ave.
The party is open to club members and their guests.
For more information, call 869-2046.
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Skate with Santa
at Dorothy Hamill
Santa Claus will join ice skaters during public sessions from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink on Sherman Avenue.
Santa will be skating, talking to patrons and giving free candy to children. All Greenwich residents and their guests are invited to skate with Santa. Regular admission fees will apply.
For more information, call the rink at 531-8560.
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Longest Night
service at church
A "Longest Night" worship service will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday at the First United Methodist Church of Greenwich, 59 E. Putnam Ave.
In observance of the shortest day and the longest night of the year, the Rev. Kenneth Kieffer will offer words and consolation and comfort to those for whom this may not be a season of joy and merriment. Under the direction of Bruce Kimball, special music will also be shared. All are welcome.
For more information, call 629-9584.
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Film critic Masterson
to lead series
Film critic and lecturer Robert Masterson will lead a film series, presented by the Greenwich Art Society in collaboration with the Greenwich Arts Council, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Wednesdays from Jan. 7 to March 25 at the Greenwich Arts Council, 299 Greenwich Ave.
There will be no classes on Feb. 18 and March 4.
For more information and registration, call the Greenwich Art Society at 629-1533.
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Former anchor
to discuss book, career
Former reporter, editor and anchor Al Primo will discuss his new book, "Eyewitness Newsman," and his life as a TV news innovator at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 8 at Greenwich Library's meeting room, 101 W. Putnam Ave.
Primo, an Old Greenwich resident, will sign copies of his book, which will be available to purchase through Diane's Books. The program is free and open to the public.
Primo, creator of ABC's "Eyewitness News," has worked in television since the 1950s.
For more information, visit www.greenwichlibrary.org or call 622-7900.
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Toy donations invited
for children in need
The Bank of Greenwich, 165 Mason St., is serving as a drop-off center for Toys for Tots. Donations of new, unwrapped toys for newborns through teens may be dropped off at the bank through Tuesday.
Desire and effort. Those are the intangibles that have been the cornerstone of Brunswick basketball throughout the last half decade as they've they've stood atop the FAA.
A special General Assembly investigative committee has issued a blistering report on the taxi industry in Connecticut that cries out for action in the upcoming legislative session.
The report, compiled by the legislature's Program Review and Investigations Committee, concluded that the state's taxi industry has abnormal accident rates, and inconsistent and lax inspection procedures, which are supervised by state agencies.
In one eyebrow-raising finding, committee staff said the taxi cab crash rate is quadruple that of passenger car rates for Connecticut.
As part of its investigation, the committee also had personnel from the state departments of Motor Vehicles and Transportation perform spot inspections of taxis at the two busiest rail stations on the New Haven Line - Stamford and New Haven - and at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks. The results? Of 43 vehicles inspected for operational safety, 41 failed the inspection, and of those 41, six were so unsafe they had to be towed from the sites.
The committee undertook the probe earlier this year because of complaints from taxi riders and even taxi cab drivers about the conditions of the vehicles. Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said he had reports of problems in the aftermath of DOT retirements.
Clearly, such results are unacceptable and need to be remedied by lawmakers to ensure adequate oversight. We dislike having to point this out, but the situation represents another instance ..... BLAH ...... BLAH ...... BLAH ....... BLAH ...... BLAH ....... BLAH ...... BLAH ...... BLAH .....
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