Here's something you don't see every day: Four candidates for an elected board meet to debate a controversial issue, and all four agree with each other.
The issue: The Greenwich Housing Authority's desire to expand its McKinney Terrace senior housing complex in Byram.
Many in Byram are opposed to the idea, and the candidates this week agreed with them during a debate sponsored by the Byram Neighborhood Association.
"I don't think it's the right area of town for our seniors," said First Selectman Peter Tesei, a Republican, who is vying to keep his position against Democratic Selectman Lin Lavery.
While we credit the candidates for taking a clear stand on the issue, all four are wrong in this case.
The town needs more affordable housing. It needs more senior housing. Expanding McKinney Terrace will not get the job done, not by a long shot, but there is available space there to make progress on the problem, and 56 new units of senior housing is not going to have a drastic impact on Byram.
In short, Greenwich's record of creating affordable hosing is a bad one. By state statute, the affordable housing stock in a town should be at least 10 percent. Greenwich is at roughly half that. It needs to become more aggressive in closing that gap. The McKinney expansion would be a step, one whose plusses would outweigh any potential minuses....
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Residents 'Go Wild' for land trust
On a beautiful autumn day, one day after a thunderstorm drenched the area and kept people indoors, Old Greenwich resident Chad Messer relished the chance to take his three daughters outside Sunday.
He decided there was no better place than the Greenwich Land Trust's annual fundraiser, "Go Wild!"
"It's a good cause and it's great to get out of the house," he said as he held 16-month-old daughter Lindsay as his two other daughters Caroline, 5, and Hartley, 7, waited for a pony ride.
It's the 10th year the land trust has held the popular fall event....
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Japanese school opens its doors to all for cultural festival
In a quiet area of Greenwich just off one of the town's main thoroughfares, Japanese culture bloomed on a fall day as leaves fell to the ground.
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Marina receives funding in drive to improve water quality
A town marina received just under $10,000 as part of drive to keep Long Island Sound clean.
Beacon Point Marine in Cos Cob will receive $9,750 for operating and maintaining a marine pumpout facility. Boaters can have their sewage pumped out at the facility instead of dumping it into the water.
Rick Kral, the marina's owner, said the station has operated for the last six years and the state provides an annual grant to offset some of the operating costs.
"It's a free service (to the boaters) so the state provides the grant. If we charge for it they won't do it," he said.....
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Sales up but prices down for houses in region
Sales of single-family homes in Fairfield and New Haven counties increased in August compared with a year ago, although prices continued a downward slide.
The median price of a home sold in Fairfield County in August 2009 was $490,000, down 13.35 percent compared with a median price of $565,500 in August 2008, according to the monthly report by The Warren Group of Massachusetts. The Warren Group, which tracks real estate trends in New England, said 642 single-family homes were sold in Fairfield County in August of this year.
The Warren Group noted in a statement that August was the second month in a row that showed higher sales of single-family homes than the same month a year ago....
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Tesei has earned second term - Letter To The Greenwich Time Editors
Peter Tesei deserves a second term as first selectman. Firstly and most importantly, he has been a terrific leader of our town, a performance I have witnessed up close.
Secondly, he has the financial background that we will so critically need during the next two years. He was on the Board of Estimate and Taxation for 10 years, the last six as chairman. As first selectman and in spite of the negative impacts caused by the recession, he maintained a 3.5 percent mill rate increase, far smaller than most other towns in Connecticut.
His opponent, Lin Lavery, has done a commendable job as selectman, especially on the environment. Let's keep her in that position.
Please join me on Nov. 3 in voting for Peter Tesei.
Peter Crumbine
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No need for fences with neighbors like these - By Bernie Yudain A Former Greenwich Time Editor
Reviewing the various domiciles we occupied in a fairly peripatetic life, I thought how important a part neighbors played in that adventure.
For the most part, we were lucky. Indeed, we made some strong friendships. The few clunkers we suffered were a passing annoyance but nothing more.
One family we cherished lived in one of our Georgetown situations. We had rented a small row house on O Street NW, across the street from Rose Park.
Settling in, I addressed the tiny patch of garden in front of the house, which was overgrown with weeds and a few skeletons of neglected shrubs. I picked up a bushel basket on the sidewalk and stuffed the debris into it.
Next day I found a terse note stuck in the door from my next-door neighbor informing me I had scarfed his bushel basket.....
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Greenwich Roundup's Comment:
Bernie Is Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Boring......
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