Hyper Local News Pages

Friday, January 23, 2009

01/23/08 Greenwich Time News Links


TOP STORY:


Problems slow Byram Shubert Library renovations



The Byram Shubert Library renovation project encountered some unforeseen delays that have further pushed back this month's projected opening, the project's manager said.
The $3.8 million renovation project of the library, at 21 Mead Ave., began in 2006 and was originally slated to be complete in September 2008, but due to a window delivery delay, it was pushed back until December.

This month some last-minute details and miscellaneous issues popped up, which have pushed construction completion back further, according to project manager Jason Cea, of Westchester-based Marco Martelli Associates, which is responsible for the renovation.

"There were things beyond our control," he said.

For example, he said, additional lights for the main library took longer to be delivered from the manufacturer than anticipated. Building officials also haven't install fire alarms yet, he said.

Building department officials said there was still a lot to be done before the library can open, including scheduling a final inspection, Planning and Zoning Commission approval, fire inspection and other hurdles to opening a new facility, according to John Vallerie, deputy building department official.

"They still have a ways to go," he said. "There is a lot that needs to be done to meet the standards......

.....Barbara Ormerod-Glynn, the acting director of Greenwich Library, said the project is on track.

"We are pleased with our progress," she said.

She said there was no firm date for when the facility is expected to open.

"It's going to open soon," she said......
COMMENT:
ONCE AGAIN GREENWICH TIME MANAGING EDITOR
BRUCE HUNTER HAS ALLOWED REPORTER
TO FILE A ONCE SIDED AND INCOMPLETE
NEWS STORY:
Why aren't there any comments from the long suffering library patrons who have not had library services?
Why aren't there any comments from the mother's of Western Greenwich School Children who have the lowest test scores in town and need full library services?
Why aren't there any comments from the Byram Neighborhood Association who has repeatedly spoken out about the repeated failures at the Byram Library Site.
Why aren't there any comments from Byram RTM members who are repeatedly told over and over that you will meeting in a month or so at the "NEW" Byram Library.
When School Superintendent Betty Sternberg Minimized The Mold Infested Hamilton Avenue Modulars And The Green Kitty Litter Liner Just Regurgitated Board Of Education Press Releases While Ignoring Parents.
It Was The Parents And Not A Greenwich Time Reporter That Got Independent Test Results That Showed That Failed School Administrators Were Lying To The Single Family Homeowners Of Greenwich.
When The Hamilton Avenue School Contraction Screw Up Was Getting Out Of Hand, Because The Green Kitty Litter Liner Was Ignoring Parents And Not Holding Public Official;s Accountable It Was Greenwich Citizen Journalists And Bloggers Who Repeatedly Started Highlighting Frank Mazza's Management Failures.
When School Superintendent Betty Sternberg Delayed And Then Refused To Release The Communities Assessment Of Her Performance To The Taxpayers Of Greenwich. It Was Citizen Journalist And Blogger Bill Clark, And Not Greenwich Time Education Reporter Colin Gustafson, Who Filed The Freedom Of Information Request That Forced Sternberg To Release The Report To Parents.
When Sternberg suddenly Resigned A Week Later The Clueless Greenwich Time Reporter Was Reporting About How Shocked And Surprised School And Town Officials Were.
When Water Leaks Were Once Again Causing Mold To Form In The "NEW" $30 Million
Hamilton Avenue School. The Green Kitty Litter Liner Ignored Parents Who Got Inside The School And Took Pictures Of The Extensive Water Damage And Mold.
When Frank Mazza Said The Mold Was Old Green Paint. It Was A Greenwich Post Reporter, And Not A Greenwich Time Reporter, Who Took A Sample That Proved Frank Mazza Was Lying To The Taxpayers.
Will The Bloggers, Citizen Journalists And The Free Weekly Newspapers Have To Once Again Do The Heavy Lifting For The Greenwich Time Editors And Reporters At The Byram Library Construction Fiasco.

Stamford police get new guns
STAMFORD -- About 80 percent of the city police force has been outfitted with new firearms since they began being phased in earlier this winter, and officers are training on them in the department's fire range.

Dems OK hike in DOT work week
HARTFORD -- Despite the fiscal crisis, Democrats on the legislature's Appropriations Committee found a way Thursday to increase the hours of 875 transportation workers from 35 to 40 a week without debating cost.

Schools brace for more cuts
Town budget officials are expected to call for new reductions to the education budget, a move that would likely force district administrators and school board members to consider further cuts to programs and services in the 2009-10 school year.

Critically injured Norwalk woman improves as Greenwich police investigate crash
The condition of a Norwalk woman critically injured in a car crash on King Street last week has improved, but is still serious, officials said.

Residents angry McNamee allowed to bid on bridge
The town's decision to allow the same construction company that walked off the job on the problem-plagued North Mianus sewer project to bid for a bridge replacement contract is drawing the ire of homeowners who received the hook-ups.

Teens cause stir on Greenwich Avenue.
Two teenagers caused quite a stir on Greenwich Avenue Thursday afternoon after police received word of a possible robbery in the area, which later turned out to be a shoplifting incident, police said.

South Norwalk station better, mayor says
Recurring complaints about crime, lack of security and parking at the South Norwalk train station are unreasonable given recent improvements, Norwalk Mayor Dick Moccia told rail advocates.

Greenwich zoning board denies water company's expansion plans
Aquarion Water Company of Connecticut officials seemed undeterred in their plan to expand a mid-country treatment facility Thursday, despite a Planning and Zoning Commission vote against it.

Students' eyes opened to lives of slaves
It's one thing to read about the history of American slavery in a textbook. It's quite another to experience slaves' everyday lives firsthand, as 32 Greenwich Academy students did Thursday.

Stamford train station voyeur investigation expands downtown
STAMFORD - A former Stamford train station janitor charged with voyeurism now is accused of recording women in the bathroom of a delicatessen in Stamford and videotaping beneath women's skirts while they waited on the train station platform.

$750,000 sought for new Greenwich civic center roof
Home to a wide range of activities from sports camps to antique shows, the Greenwich Civic Center in Old Greenwich could be forced to shut down if the building's leaky roof isn't replaced sometime soon, town officials are warning.

Greenwich zoning board again reviews Russian tycoon's mansion plans
The mid-country drama surrounding the proposed mansion plan of a Russian billionaire's wife lives on.


If majority Democrats in the state General Assembly aren't going to change state law to defer action on arbitrated state employee contracts, then they must take up-or-down votes on the 11 pacts that are expected to come before them during this session.

With the state's projected budget deficit increasing daily and possibly heading into the $800 million to $1 billion range for this year, it's only fair to taxpayers that they know where their representatives stand on increasing state spending.

Assembly Democrats lost a golden opportunity last week when, along party line votes, they dismissed Republican attempts to postpone action on forthcoming state employee pacts until the current session's end, when all sides will have a better bead on the budget shortfall predicament.
Once a pact is arbitrated, the assembly has the option of approving or rejecting it, or taking no action on it within a 30-day period, after which the settlement automatically becomes effective.

At the center of the debate is a three-year pact approved by an arbitrator for nearly 5,000 Department of Correction employees. It awards raises of 3 percent this fiscal year and 2.5 percent in the next two fiscal years, though the union sought more. The cost of the contract's first year is $89 million.

No doubt, correction employees perform difficult and tough work, risking their lives daily in the state's prisons and jails. They have been working without a contract since last .... BLAH ..... BLAH ..... BLAH ...... BLAH ...... BLAH ....... BLAH ....... BLAH ...... BLAH ....... BLAH .....
UPDATE:
01/23 /09 - 10:11 AM

LOOK AT ALL OF THIS ONLINE GREENWICH TIME NEWS
NOW THAT GREENWICH ROUNDUPGAVE
HEARST NEWSPAPER EDITOR
BRUCE HUNTER
A COUPLE OF SWIFT KICKS
IN HIS REAR END .


GOOD JOB BRUCE !!!!
NOW KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK !!!!

Staff Writer
Posted: 01/23/2009 07:29:48 AM EST
Fourteen months after her breakthrough victory in the selectman's race, Democrat Lin Lavery is leaving the door open to running for the town's highest elected office this fall.
"I haven't ruled anything out," Lavery said in an interview.

Lavery, 60, said she will wait until the spring, however, before she makes up her mind on her political future, including whether to challenge Republican incumbent First Selectman Peter Tesei in November.

"The term of office is only two years. This is a local campaign, and I think it should be short," Lavery said. "I have things I have vowed to accomplish and I want to get them done."

Among those goals, Lavery said, is raising environmental awareness through a citizen-led task force that she helped to create, planning for a new community pool in Byram and collaborating on public service projects.

"I'd like to respond to what President Obama said and have a call to service," Lavery said. "If there's evera time when we need everyone to come together and help each other, it's now."
Tesei, 39, announced in November that he will seek re-election.

At the time, Lavery gave Tesei mixed reviews when asked for an assessment of his first year in office, fueling speculation that she might be laying the groundwork for a run for first selectman.
A former president of the Junior League of Greenwich, Lavery burst onto the political scene two years ago with her strong showing in the selectmen's race.....
.....Crumbine, 70, who followed that latter path to earn a fifth term on the board two years ago, has said he will announce his future political plans at the Feb. 25 Republican Town Committee meeting.
Michael C. JulianoStaff Writer
Posted: 01/23/2009 07:43:16 AM EST
Thursday's nearly cloudless skies were most fitting as state and local officials met for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the relocation of Blue Sky Studios from White Plains, N.Y
"In this economy, that's amazing and a true testament to the company," said Gov. M. Jodi Rell of the move that brings 300 jobs to the area.

The digital animation company, whose animated films include "Bunny" and "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!," moved from a three-story, 85,000-square-foot building in White Plains to a one-story, 106,000-square-foot space within the Greenwich American Centre at One American Lane.

The move was facilitated by tax incentives promoted by the Hollywood East Task Force in Hartford in an effort ....
The Associated Press

Posted: 01/23/2009 07:26:42 AM EST
ALBANY, N.Y. - Gov. David Paterson has picked Democratic U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to fill New York's vacant U. S.....
Staff Writer
Posted: 01/23/2009 07:30:25 AM EST
Playing its second game in as many nights and its third in four days, the Trinity Catholic ice hockey team had reason to be tired entering Thursday night's showdown against FCIAC rival Greenwich High School.
By Barbara A. Heins
Senior Writer/Arts
Posted: 01/23/2009 07:09:55 AM EST

Americana has strong appeal for younger collectors, Stella says. "It works well with children ... a little nick won't harm the value. Americana is wonderful for young families."

One of the trends collectors are bound to see this weekend is industrial furnishings.
"About 10 years ago, you didn't see any of that and I think because some of the antiques had increased so much (and priced some collectors out of the market), dealers starting taking things from the closed factories, the downton loft market. The industrial fits just marvelously ... it's fresh and new looking and it's new to the antique market. They've been redone ... stripped and polished."

Popular are work tables, architectural desks, architectural desk lamps, steel ....
The Associated Press
Posted: 01/23/2009 09:49:07 AM EST
NORWALK - Xerox Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings plunged as the printer and copier maker booked hefty charges for layoffs and other restructuring costs, and the company on Friday forecast first-quarter profit below Wall Street expectations.
WHEN GREENWICH ROUNDUP TYPES:
GREENWICH TIME MANAGING EDITOR BRUCE HUNTER LISTENS.....
NOW CHECK OUT THE NEW AND IMPROVED
GREENWICH TIME EDITORIAL:
A Desparate Editor Bruce Hunter Throws Up George Schiele Letter To The Editor And Makes It Appear To Be Today's "LOCAL" And "HARD HITTING" Official Editorial.
Mr. Schiele is a Greenwich resident since 1967, and has served in RTM and on various town volunteer boards and not a Greenwich Time Editor.
However, Mr. Schiele does a much better job than Bruce Hunter's pitiful editorial writters, Maybe Hearst Newspapers Should hire Schiele.
Opinion

By George Schiele
Posted: 01/23/2009 07:08:11 AM EST
Last week, for the second time in several months, it was my privilege to sit through five-plus hours of Planning and Zoning Commission deliberations. The two main issues in contention were the Aquarian water company expansion of its facilities adjacent to the reservoir and the proposed major expansion of the Stanwich School; it was my proximity to the latter that had brought me to the meeting.
In addition to reinforcing my long-held respect for the considerable amount of time and effort contributed to the town by the unpaid volunteer members of the commission, it was on reflection my conclusion that the planning process in Greenwich has gone seriously awry, despite the presumably well-intentioned efforts of the members of P&Z and the Board of Appeals.
Although the projects in contention are disparate in nature, both share common questions of principle: Are they urgently necessary, are there alternative solutions, what really constitutes "progress," should significant conditions be attached, and, in the end, what kind of town do we want to have?

My own answers to those questions were quite different from those of P&Z, which voted to allow Aquarian to continue with engineering proposals, and, in the case of the Stanwich School expansion, granted final approval in the face of its substantial traffic and environmental impacts, which will overwhelm the capacity of narrow and limited access roads, challenge the ecology of much of Cos Cob and ........
PLEASE SEE:

OLD STYLE NEWSPAPER MAN DOESN'T UNDERSTAND
THIS NEW FANGLED INTERNET THING -A- MA-JIG !!!

Town mocks managing editor as computer illiterate

""Things have changed in the last 26 years, but Bruce Hunter hasn't."
Give Hunter an out-of-style suit, a disco ball, a clunky phone, an outdated computer and a Rubik's Cube and he he is a happy camper.

Our economy wouldn't survive without the Internet, and the cyber-world continues to represent the only hope of saving the Greenwich Time from becoming extinct

It's extraordinary that someone who is a Hearst Newspaper managing editor doesn't know how to update the the online opinion pages.

BRUCE OVERBOARD

Where's Bruce Hunter And
The "LOCAL HARD HITTING"
Online Greenwich Time Editorials ????

Online Readers At The Greenwich Time Wonder If
New Managing Editor Bruce Hunter Has Already Been
Thrown Overboard By Hearst Newspapers.

Just when you thought things couldn't get more bizarre at the Greenwich Time....
Chaos reigns at the Greenwich Time, where new Greenwich Time Managing Editor Bruce Hunter and his top two lieutenants have not updated the papers online Opinion pages since last Thursday January 15th - sparking rumors that they me feuding with their corporate owners at Hearst Newspapers.

On Friday January 16th a Stamford Advocate editorial was posted online at the Greenwich Time and it has remained there for the last five days.......
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