Greenwich Roundup: Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Greenwich teacher uses art to illuminate math
Cos Cob School art teacher Susan Striker recently created a display of iconic artworks that illustrate basic math concepts.

As a grade-school student, Striker hated having to go to math class, detested the homework and dreaded the quizzes. And as an art teacher, math has long been among the furthest topics from her mind.

So when Cos Cob's principal, Kimberly Beck, recently handed her a copy of the school's math curriculum and pointed out how much it overlapped with her art lessons, Striker was at first incredulous.

"My first reaction: she was nuts," Striker recalled of the encounter last year.....
Comment?

Psychic pleads not guilty, vows to fight charges
One week after police charged a Norwalk psychic with fabricating a story about being assaulted outside her Greenwich Avenue office, the longtime fortune teller vowed to fight the case.

Janet Lee, 35, of 143 Wolfpit Ave., Norwalk, is charged with making false statements and interfering with an officer for allegedly lying to police about the circumstances of her attack. She pleading not guilty in state Superior Court Wednesday.

Despite the charges, however, Lee said Wednesday she was shocked by her arrest....
Comment?

Town was unable to help laid off employee who missed dental payment
By John Crary
I must take this opportunity to comment on Mr. Ennio De Vita's letter to the editor that appeared in the Oct. 1 edition.

Beginning in September 2008, it was clear that the town of Greenwich, like the rest of the state and indeed the entire country, was facing a new and difficult fiscal situation. We could clearly see that the revenues that the town expected to receive were falling rapidly and that unless some action was taken the town would be facing a significant deficit at the end of the fiscal year in June 2009. The town's leadership elected to address the problem head on and reduce our costs now to reflect the new economic realities. Due to the cost structure of government service, we had to reduce our payroll to ensure that our expenses matched our revenues. Mr. De Vita's position along with 23 other full-time and 20 part-time positions were identified for elimination. This was a very painful process and we all regretted that many loyal and good employees had to be let go.

However, once the decision was reached we agreed that it should be done with as much compassion as possible within the constraints of our governmental responsibilities. A prolonged process was viewed as being cruel to the affected employees and it was decided that all layoffs should occur without delay....
Comment?

Greenwich to get some cash help from state for Ham. Ave. project
Greenwich will receive some long-awaited financial relief from the state for costs incurred during the delay-plagued Hamilton Avenue School rebuilding project, state lawmakers said.

The state legislature, including all four members of Greenwich's General Assembly delegation, last week approved a bill that commits millions in reimbursement money for school construction projects.

The legislation includes more than $6.2 million in state grants for the Chickahominy school project, which was supposed to have been completed within 18 months, but instead took more than three years....
Comment?

Thumbs up -- Thumbs down
Thumbs down " and up " to public school enrollment figures. They exceeded original projections for the school year, but not by as much as educators had feared.

Greenwich officials early last month expected enrollment to exceed their initial projections by more 170 students. The reality turned out to be less than half that figure.

In terms of the entire system, that is not a catastrophic challenge. But educators still have to keep watch on class sizes. The school board last spring "relaxed" is class size rules, making them guidelines instead of hard limits....
Comment?

New water gauge will help alert Greenwich residents to possible flooding
First Selectman Peter Tesei speaks with the media in October 2008 regarding the funding for a water gauge that will go under the Comly Avenue bridge in Pemberwick.

A stream flow gauge was installed at the Comly Avenue bridge over the Byram River near Pemberwick Road on Sept. 28, said Conservation Director Denise Savageau.

"It gives us better information about water levels compared to what we had before," Savageau said. "Now we will have data that we can look at and when we get -- say a heavy rain -- we will know based on the data whether the river could overflow its banks...."
Comment?

Letters from our Readers - Paper advocates socialism
In the Sunday edition of Greenwich Time, you advocated in your editorial the building of more senior housing in Byram.

You also rant for more "affordable" housing in this town, which, according to you, has not done a very good job of providing.

If I had to guess, at the very least, you do not live in Greenwich and know little about "us." The reason I say this is because you seem to be short on facts. The western section of town has more than its share of affordable housing. How about we spread the "honor" of more housing, to the eastern section or the backcountry? Additionally, you say, that by state statute, Connecticut requires us to have "at least" 10 percent affordable "hosing" (your spelling, not mine, maybe a Freudian slip? Possibly you meant housing?). I would like you to state chapter and verse, where it says those words in the statutes....

....Why would you state, "56 new units of senior housing is not going to have a drastic impact on the Byram area."? Did you research your topic or merely haphazardly decide we need more housing and it should be in Byram?

The Housing Authority was asked by the selectmen to present the town with a Master Plan of Affordable Housing for the entire town and present it to the neighborhoods and the selectmen.

The only area that the Housing Authority has planned for is at the McKinney Terrace. There never was any smart planning by the Housing Authority for the citizens they serve and the community. If there was, Greenwich would have fulfilled its quota to the state for affordable housing.

It is time we demand more from the Housing Authority and the candidates did just that.
Jo Conboy
Comment?

Call out for more cuts to Greenwich workforce
The No. 2 member of the Board of Estimate and Taxation is calling on the town to make further cuts to the size of its workforce or come to terms with what he said will be inevitable tax spikes, increased borrowing and delayed funding for critical infrastructure projects.

Republican Robert Stone, who is retiring at the end of the year and is the BET's vice chairman and a member of its Budget Committee, isn't going out with a whimper.

Arguably the most fiscally conservative member of the bipartisan board, Stone is specifically advocating that the town shed 20 to 30 positions from its 1,000-person non-school workforce when the next fiscal year begins July 1, 2010....

....Selectman Lin Lavery, a Democrat opposing Tesei for first selectman, lamented the talk of additional cutbacks.

"It would be sad and unfortunate if we had to lay off anyone else," Lavery said.
Stone emphasized that he would be looking for the town to eliminate positions next year, after the "no-layoff" clause expires.

An unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for selectman, Stone disagreed with the statement that the town is in better financial shape than it was earlier this year. "The real basic point is if they follow the (current) model, I think they're deluding themselves," Stone said......

...."We think it's a sound policy," Walko said. "Obviously, we've had to modify it as a result of the current economic conditions. We will continue to modify it and we will continue to take necessary action to ensure there are modest and predictable (tax) increases."

Walko said Stone needs to come up with a specific plan on which jobs and services should be cut.
Comment?

Greenwich Health Department set to take over for doctors who don't give H1N1 vaccine
Doctors are getting first crack at the H1N1 vaccine when it's shipped out later this month, but not all physicians in town are planning to administer it.

Dr. Raymond Sekiguchi registered with the state as a provider of the H1N1 vaccine, but didn't place an order and is most likely not going to give the shot.

His office manager, Yuki Nakamichi, said she doesn't know how many doses the Greenwich family practice would get, and thinks it will be very difficult to prioritize among the office's 5,000 patients.

"If we have a little number of vaccine, it's going to cause a panic for our patients," Nakamichi said.....
Comment?

Greenwich High School neighbors want limits on light, traffic, height in auditorium project

Light pollution, traffic back-ups and building height were chief concerns voiced by neighbors of Greenwich High School Tuesday during a public feedback meeting on the school board's plan to renovate and expand the GHS auditorium.

Architects with Manhattan-based Perkins and Will gave more than a dozen neighbors an hour-long slideshow presentation, complete with graphic renderings and schematic layouts, on the construction plans for the auditorium and art spaces Tuesday at GHS.

The school board has long been planning to replace the current auditorium with a new, larger structure with additional seating. The rehab would include larger practice and equipment spaces for the GHS chorus, orchestra and band programs.

The new auditorium would stand more than 50 feet above ground level, and cover the area adjacent to the current science wing now used for parking....
Comment?

Ex-driver for Kissel pleads not guilty in Greenwich murder case
Carlos Trujillo is escorted into a courtroom in handcuffs for an arraignment in March in connection to the murder of Greenwich real estate developer Andrew Kissel.

Carlos Trujillo, 48, of Bridgeport, is charged in connection with the killing of Kissel, who was found stabbed to death in his backcountry mansion in April 2006.

Earlier this summer, Trujillo's cousin, co-defendant Leonard Trujillo, 23, of Worcester, Mass., pleaded guilty to reduced charges of manslaughter and conspiracy to commit murder. Leonard Trujillo is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison following the trial of his cousin.....
Comment?

Enrollment jump in Greenwich schools less than expected
An anticipated spike in public school enrollment has turned out to be less severe than projected just over a month ago, but some elementary classes remain oversubscribed, according to district's latest update.

Nearly 60 more students than projected enrolled in Greenwich Public Schools this school year, according to school system's annual enrollment report, released Monday. That figure is less than half of the more than 170 students who were expected to exceed initial projections, as of Sept. 1, the day before the 2009-10 school year began.

Since Sept. 1, however, the overall head count has declined from a peak of 8,828 projected for kindergarten through grade 12, to 8,716 today, according to the enrollment report, to be presented the Board of Education this Thursday.....
Comment?

Court rejects age claim in Greenwich cop promotion case
The state's highest court rejected a police lieutenant's claim that it was unconstitutional to have a retired judge rule on his promotion lawsuit.

In a 5-2 decision released Monday, the state Supreme Court decided against Lt. Gary Honulik's claim that Supreme Court Justice Barry Schaller should not have ruled on Honulik's appeal of an earlier court decision because he had turned 70, the retirement age for judges, during the case.

Honulik suffered a second blow Monday when the court -- by a 4-3 margin -- affirmed the Feb. 9 decision by five members of the court that ruled in favor of the town and reversed a lower court decision that backed Honulik's claim. In 2007 state Superior Court Judge Michael Shay ruled that Honulik was unjustly passed over for a promotion to police captain in 2003....

...First Selectman Peter Tesei welcomed the decision and hoped it would put to rest a case that began when former police chief James Walters decided to bypass Honulik for a captain's position in favor of now retired Capt. Michael Pacewicz....

....But the decision doesn't immediately mean there will be promotions to senior managers, Tesei said. The department is considering a reorganization that will replace the current management structure of two deputy chiefs and two captains with four positions of major, Tesei said.

That reorganization has yet to be approved by the town's Board of Estimate and Taxation.

Police Chief David Ridberg is on vacation and was unavailable for comment.
Comment?

Prices slashed at both ends of the spectrum in Greenwich real estate market
Want to own property in Greenwich for around $250,000? How about a backcountry estate for more than half off the original $125 million record asking price? This is the low and high of the Greenwich real estate market right now, and while the two listings are leagues apart, they both tell the story of how far a buyer's money can go in this town.

This is the low and high of the Greenwich real estate market right now, and while the two listings are leagues apart, they both tell the story of how far a buyer's money can go in this town.

Dunnellen Hall, the 521 Round Hill Road estate of late hotelier Leona Helmsley, is the priciest property on the market, for $60 million. But it could be considered a relative bargain. The 40-acre manor-style property was listed by David Ogilvy and Associates for $125 million when it hit the market in early 2008. It was reduced to $95 million last fall, and was later cut to $75 million.

Ogilvy declined to comment for this story....
Comment?

===================================
Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

Greenwich Roundup

Hyper Local News Pages

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

10/07/09 The Raw Greenwich News Feed: This Just In .....

10/07/09 PRESS RELEASE: MORE PHOTO OPS

10/07/09 Go To Topix If You Want To Comment On These Greenwich Time News Stories

10.07.09 The Raw Greenwich News Feed:Evening Edition

10/07/09 Reminder: Greenwich Real Estate Pro Kate Friscia Gamble's Birthday (October 8 )