As I watched 5 Norwalk Police cars drive up Washington Street in SoNo with nary a glance at the vending cart parked in a no parking zone in front of the switch tower museum, I realized that hot dog sales were indeed out of control here in Norwalk. Hot dog [...]
State Senator Andrew McDonald has questions about the recent Rell announcment that Connecticut interstate service plazas have been awarded to a Subway restaurant franchiser in a 35 year contract deal that starts December 7th, 2009. These service plazas are located along I-95, the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways and I-395. [...]
[ December 10, 2009; 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. ] The Norwalk Human Relations Commission has designated Thursday December 10th as International Human Rights Day. The day has been celebrated in Norwalk since 1991 and this year Joe Mann, President and CEO of NEON will give the keynote address. This [...]
Number of comments: 5 NEW HAVEN — At a meeting of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council Wednesday night it was announced the first pair of new M-8 rail cars for Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line are expected to arrive in Baltimore Dec. 2. The cars are aboard a cargo ship that departed from Kobe, Japan.
Speaking to [...]
Number of comments: 9 Results from the Norwalk Police Department’s ”Click It or Ticket” enforcement effort Thursday, checking that motorists were wearing their seatbelts on Westport Avenue from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.:
12 infractions for failure to wear a seatbelt
5 infractions for operating an unregistered motor vehicle
1 summons with two charges: operating an uninsured motor vehicle (misdemeanor) and operating [...]
Number of comments: 2 The Connecticut NAACP must have been dredging the pool for this one:
State Rep. Bruce Morris, D-Norwalk, was honored as one of Connecticut’s 100 influential blacks at the 44th annual state convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, held this month at the MGM Grand hotel at [...]
Number of comments: 7 Jeffery Spahr zings another pithy summation to the latest lawsuit against the City of Norwalk, saying it’s the low tide of litigation. The Hour reports:
At approximately 10:45 on the morning of May 17, David Legere was attempting to load his boat onto a trailer at the Transient Boat Dock and [...]
Number of comments: 10 Dear Board Watchers,
Writing you here is a call to action for you all. You represent people who held office who decided to arbitrarily not communicate to the public via a forum that was available 24/7 and permanently. So we begin our conversation by pointing out that had you supported greater [...]
[ November 19, 2009; 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. ] November 19, 2009
5:30 - 7:30 PM
Columbus Magnet School, 46 Concord Street
Norwalk, CT
Please join us for a celebration of the arts, business and our city?s
youth. This month features the collaborative music,movement and
visual Arts work of Columbus Magnet School HOT students.
Catering provided [...]
Number of comments: 6 [ November 28, 2009; 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. ] Community Notice:
When: Saturday November 28th 2009
Where: American Legion Hall – Downstairs at the left of the building 60 County Street, Norwalk CT
Time: 11am to 3pm
For more information,
Contact Campaign Coordinator
Joanne Romano at:
joanneromano@ymail.com
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
STOCKINGS
From Santa
To our [...]
Number of comments: 10 Who knew that the first board of education meeting (BOE) would create more controversy than the Common Council meeting? But even though Nick Kydes threw a temper tantrum and threw Joanne Romano’s stuff down the dias so that he could site next in Laurel Lindstrom’s old spot, the night of [...]
Number of comments: 9 Common Council MTG 11/17/09
Attending: Romano, Mount, McQuaid, Bonenfant, Tobin, Kydes, Straniti, , , Moccia, Maslan, Hempstead, Bondi, , Conroy, Hilliard, Jaeger, King, Simms, Lindstrom
They all get sworn in, but Taber Hamilton didn’t know that he won the election.
Public Participation:
Richard McGregor asks that when the council members don’t turn the pages [...]
Number of comments: 10 Holy Civil Rights era, Batman, the racist vigilantes have struck again. It seems that here in 2009 there are those that still believe that a persons ability is determined by the color of their skin. The vilagantes are coming out over the Norwalk Board of Education recent election results. Two [...]
About 8 minutes before the shuttle blasts off: At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis and crew are nearing liftoff at Launch Pad 39A, prepared to begin the STS-129 cargo-delivery mission to the International Space Station.
Number of comments: 10 To clarify what was asked for and who signed the letter:
To the Editor:
The voters of Norwalk have just elected five Democrats to the 15-member Common Council. To respect the will of the voters, the makeup of the council committees must reflect this proportionality. This means two Democrats and four Republicans [...]
Number of comments: 4 The Hartford Courant posts a piece noting that a group of 42 towns (currently part of the seventy-town Mid Connecticut Project) whose 20-year contracts with CRRA are due for review, are seriously investigating other alternatives.
This is about something more fundamental than tipping fees:
They are looking for more direct control — [...]
Number of comments: 10 The post election all flunkie circuit was in high gear this past week, with various events to be seen engaged in the community, or something like that. Top questions floating in the conversations were about what the election meant. I don’t think there’s any good answer. Incumbent Democrats didn’t fare [...]
Number of comments: 1 [ November 13, 2009; 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. ] Come check out the latest exhibit at the Maritime Garage Gallery. Parking is $1 in the garage after 5pm all night.
11 North Water Street, Norwalk. 5:30 - 7:00 PM [...]
Number of comments: 1 You might think that today is officially Veterans Day, day where we honor the service of our military veterans. But the day started out back in 1918, as the end of the war to end all wars when Allies of World War I (United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire) signed an armistice [...]
Number of comments: 10 With the municipal election concluded, we now focus on the real issue facing Norwalk for the upcoming year. Money. Rather, the lack of it filling the general fund. Chief Finance Director Tom Hamilton outlines the problem thusly; pension funding is going up, state aide likely is going to be less [...]
We have a statement by Rob Simmons and a statement from the spokesperson of Sam Caliguri that they are sticking to the Senate race courtesy of the Courant.
“There has been speculation that in the event of Gov. Rell’s retirement, I or other Republican U.S. Senate candidates may enter the race [...]
Number of comments: 3 The Courant is reporting that there’s a market for stolen chewing gum. Who knew.
“We’ve had a number of larceny cases recently involving thefts of substantial amounts of chewing gum,” New Britain State’s Attorney Scott Murphy said Friday. “What the motive is, we don’t know. But gum thefts are increasing.”
Gum thievery [...]
It is way too early in the morning but I figured I'd check for the latest Quinnipiac poll results for the Connecticut Governor's race: In an early look at the 2010 election for Connecticut Governor, Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz runs best among possible Democratic challengers, trailing Republican incumbent [...]
Number of comments: 6 In Kelo v. New London, the Supreme Court decided that economic development was a valid reason for eminent domain takings. The market though, got the last laugh. The Courant today broke the news that Pfizer’s New London research center, the one that fueled the economic argument that housing need to [...]
Heidi Keyes and John Tobin can breath easy now, the weekend recount added votes but didn’t change the outcome. Keyes, a Democrat joins the three parents not politicians as new members of the baord of education (BOE.) Tobin rounds out the Republican sweep of the at-large council seats.
The final numbers:
BOE
Heidi [...]
Number of comments: 9 The race for the Governor’s office in Connecticut is wide open now. M. Jodi Rell announced officially today that she would not be seeking re-election. This means that the scramble for the Republican nomination is wide open. Lieutenant Governor Mike Fedele has said privately that he intends to seek the [...]
Number of comments: 10 Politico released the 2010 Congressional Democratic candidate survival guide. Highlights from Harrison Hickman’s post:
3. Get back to basics. Hard things win campaigns, not exotic technologies or clever messages. Don’t look for silver bullets. There are none. Raise lots of money. Knock on doors. Return calls. That stuff.
4. Get in touch. [...]
Smash mouth political commentary from Linda McMahon and Rob Simmons: "Isn't it sad that after 30 years in Washington, Chris Dodd is still writing letters and putting out press releases after the fact,'' Ed Patru, spokesman for Linda McMahon, said in a press release. "The H1N1 shortage didn't just [...]
Number of comments: 10 By Michael Mushak
Unknown to most Norwalk residents and officials, there are numerous tent settlements of homeless that have sprung up in the densely wooded areas around town, on both state and city property. Most are along highway ramps, and in wooded areas including until recently at Mill Hill almost across the street from City [...]
Number of comments: 1 Great job goes to Joanne Romano and Diane Cece for organizing this. A thank-you from the organizers to all that helped:
Last November we thanked Norwalk voters for their generous support of an impromptu Election Day food drive that resulted in collecting over 1200 pounds of food. Our hope then was [...]
Number of comments: 1 Gov. M. Jodi Rell on Thursday announced she’s ordered more than $34 million in budget cuts under her power to reduce expenditures at executive branch agencies, boards and commissions.
In a news release, Rell said her action is intended to reduce a projected state budget deficit of nearly $400 million.
The release [...]
Number of comments: 6 The very crowded field of Democratic challengers to M. Jodi Rell’s invisible re-election campaign just got one more candidate. Shortly after the ink dried on the municipal elections dried, Ned Lamon announced his candidacy. New Haven Independent’s Paul Bass broke the story, which is a story within a story of [...]
Number of comments: 9 With the Republicans wresting a council majority in a primarily Democratic city, what does that mean for the next two years? First, we analyze the tea leaves for what the council committees are going to look like.
For the Common Council president, the man most chomping on the bits to get [...]
They came, they sat, they chanted: 8 Protesters backing a universal health care system briefly occupied Sen. Joe Lieberman's office this morning.
Protesters were arrested, one by one, and dragged out of his office amid chants of "Everyone in and noone out, universal healthcare now!" and "Represent'" [...]
Number of comments: 3 Tonight the BET will announce the results of the teacher’s contract that went up to arbitration a short while ago. The gist is that there is a zero percent increase for the next three years however step pay raises remain. In previous years, yearly pay increases and step raises were [...]
Number of comments: 3 Just when you thought the Norwalk Municipal election was over, it continues. Due to the automatic triggers of the 1% rule, an automatic recount of the board of education (BOE) and at-large common council races has been triggered. The recount will be held at 10 am at City Hall in [...]
The British government -- spurred on by European regulators -- is forcing Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Northern Rock to sell off parts of their operations. The Europeans are calling for [...]
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, …”
I assume they were not discussing welfare payments for high ranking military officers when they mention "promote the general" [...]
Number of comments: 1 Voters rendered an unprecedented outcome in Newtown’s municipal election on Tuesday night, where Democrats lost virtually every contested seat to a combination of Republican and Independent Party of Newtown (IPN) candidates. The lone exception was incumbent Councilman Dan Amaral in the third district, who lost the machine total, but prevailed [...]
Number of comments: 1 The people of Norwalk have spoken, an re-elected Republican Dick Moccia to a third term along with handing him a majority on the Common Council. Friends and party faithful were on hand at the Norwalk Inn to congratulate Moccia early in the night as votes started trickling in. In a [...]
Number of comments: 9 Unofficial winners
The Race: Mayor
Dick Moccia -R incumbent
The Race: Town Clerk
Andy Garfunkel -D incumbent
The Race: at-large Common Council
Fred Bondi -R incumbent
Doug Hempstead -R incumbent
Rick McQuaid -R incumbent
Joanne Romano -R challenger
John Tobin -R challenger
Without Absentees trailing by 100 votes is
Anna Duleep – D incumbent
Too Close to Call at this type
The Race: Common [...]
Number of comments: 7 Reports from the field indicate that turnout is low throughout Norwalk and especially at Columbus school. About 5000 people had voted by noon today, putting Norwalk on track for a total voter turnout of between 10k and 11k. [...]
Number of comments: 8 No endorsements or Team Turfgrrl this year. Instead a recap of who is running and a short summary of why you may or may not want to vote for the candidate. Some candidates have a “pretty good” chance, which just means that I think they will likely win, whereas most [...]
