Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

The NY license-plated cars at New Lebanon were mentioned in a letter to the editor last week, and they’ve been a hot topic for years.  These cars are not all dropping off kids that live in Port Chester.  People from Port Chester (my family included) move to Greenwich so their kids can go to school here.  They don’t necessarily (my parents didn’t) register their cars here right away because Connecticut taxes them based on registration; New York does not tax cars.  And it’s easy to leave your car registered at your old NY address if you still have family there.

 Drive through the streets of Byram late at night when everyone’s home and count how many NY plates you see.  I’m not suggesting that the schools should not investigate all allegations or evidence that a non-resident is attending school here.  I am suggesting that maybe the tax collector should be investigating these cars because if they are Greenwich parents dropping off Greenwich kids, they should be paying their Greenwich property taxes like everyone else. 

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

Many important districts, committees and officials have expressed concerns about the additional $9.8 million request for MISA that the RTM will consider on Monday.  You can read about those here.  The article also covers the obligatory rants that no one will ever move to Greenwich again if we don’t do MISA.  I have never understood what was so awful about the existing auditorium.  I also don’t understand how MISA can cost so much.

Another article this week showed what everyone should agree is an unacceptable cost of MISA – New Lebanon School is considering several options to address overcrowding.  New Lebanon is one of the schools with very high minority enrollment; it exceeds the town-wide average by more than 25% and puts the school in violation of State segregation laws.

One suggestion that it seems is being strongly considered is converting space in the media center into two classrooms at a cost of $150,000 and this article suggests that they may SEEK PRIVATE FUNDS to pay for it.

What an awful message it sends that our town may be funding $50 million for an auditorium, but in our minority district they may need to raise private funds to pay for classrooms – and give up the school library in the process.  No way.  Vote no for MISA unless there’s also money for New Lebanon’s overcrowding.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

Parks and Rec has done a great new newsletter. To sign up, go to the Parks and Rec page and send them an email with your info. Here’s a link to the April 10th edition. Pretty slick. To sign up go to the Parks & Rec web page and click the email link to send them your info and ask to be put on the mailing list.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

According to Chase’s website we already have 10, yes TEN Chase banks in Greenwich.  Tomorrow they are applying to P&Z to build another one across the street from the library.  Why would they need another when there are 3 within walking distance from that site?  Who goes to all these bank branches and what do they do there?  I should say that I worked for Citibank most of my life, and note that they get by with 2 branches in Greenwich but really, what do they need all those branches for?  Is it to keep other banks from opening?  That’s all I can figure.  I know Greenwich has a lot of lucrative private banking clients, but they don’t choose their bankers because of their office location.

Anyway, I’m all for the free market, it they can pay the rent the landlord should rent to them.  But the market goes both ways, so I wonder how many more Chase branches will go up before the people in Greenwich that bank there say enough is enough and close there accounts because they’re sick of all the great stores, restaurants and yes even service stations we lost so there can be another stupid bank branch.

I say boycott JP Morgan Chase!

Comments(3)

|

E-mail

|

Print

The Cos Volunteer Fire Police Patrol has to borrow money to pay for training because it takes so long to get reimbursed by the town?  Thanks to Fred Camillo for arranging it, but is anyone else embarrassed that our town’s administrative nonsense makes this necessary?  See the story here.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

An interesting letter to the editor in the paper on Sunday told the story of Greenwich Police ticketing”hundreds of vehicles” at the Staples/Greenwich game on Thanksgiving.  Evidently some were parked on the grass and side streets.  Oh my!  Seriously, is this necessary?  The Town has a history of relaxing parking rules for big events, the fireworks comes to mind, people park all over everywhere for that.  Why can’t the same be done for an event like the traditional Staples Thanksgiving game?  Why?  My guess is this is just another example of Town Hall not

Will they be ticketing cars at the Concours this year?

keeping their eye on the ball and actually thinking before acting.  Another question this raises is why did they build the stadium to all these people if they don’t have enough parking to accommodate them.  Really dumb, but not surprising.

Solution, apologize and void the tickets.  But I’m not holding my breath.

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

Very sad news, I’m sure the obit will be in the paper soon.  I just learned that Hotsy (Frank Bertino), former owner of the Oasis and most recently cooking his chile at Garden Catering in Old Greenwich, has passed away.  A lot of wonderful little things that made our town great have gone away, this is a big one.

Hotsy from a Greenwich Post article in 2011

Comments

|

E-mail

|

Print

Weekend at the Greenwich Train Station

The news articles and emails from our State reps weren’t very specific about the new Metro North trains, except to say weekend service is increased.  A closer look at the schedules shows some great news: Sunday schedule is now the same as Saturday!  If you’re a frequent weekend rider like me you know that trains are every 1/2 hour on Saturday and every hour on Sunday.  No more, starting at 11:12, trains leave Greenwich for Grand Central at :12 and :39 past the hour until 5:12, when they go back to hourly (:12 past the hour). 

Coming back to Greenwich from Grand Central, trains are every hour at :37 past the hour until 2:10, when they are every half hour (:10 and :37 past the hour) until 9:40, when the go back to hourly (:40 past). 

Another bonus, there are some 3rd trains every hour from Grand Central to Greenwich that are express trains – only a 39 minute ride (vs. the usual local train 51 minutes).  Those trains depart at :34 past the hour starting at 3:34 through 9:34.  Catch one of those if you can.