Lincoln's Log

Go to Zillow.com, the No. 1 trafficked web site for real estate in the United States.

Then type in “Greenwich, CT” and click on any listing. There, you will be directed to information about the schools in Greenwich. Ultimately, you will be linked to even more detailed information on a site called education.com. And there you will see an important metric for how to compare schools: teacher-pupil ratio.

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The same is true for other school comparison sites.

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Whether we like it or not, this is one of the major benchmarks for measuring education performance. And education performance has an indirect impact on home values. Why else would every real estate web site on the planet link to education information?

It seems to me that common sense would dictate that a smaller teacher-pupil ratio would result in better education. There is copious research to support that. There is also research showing the the biggest difference comes in lower-income areas.

In its unanimous support last week to remove hard caps on minimum classroom sizes in Greenwich, the school administration and the school board said they would not use their new-found flexibility to increase classroom sizes significantly but to only temporarily manage down the onerous effects of having to hire expensive teachers when classroom sizes increase by one or two students.

So why do I have this palpable unease?

Greenwich is a noisy town, owing to its location and density.

Three major highways bisect Greenwich, I-95, I-684 and the Merritt Parkway. It is on the flight paths of multiple area airports. And if those weren’t enough to test our aural sensibilities, Amtrak and Metro North are here to give some of us a very early wakeup call every day.

But by far the noisiest elements of town are those that we can control. For more than two months last year our neghborhood in Riverside was assaulted on a daily basis from dawn to dusk by the jack-hammering of ledge in a “tear-down” construction project. The jack-hammering part of the construction was projected to last three weeks, but like virtually every project, there was more ledge than expected and it went on for 10 long weeks. The impact on the neighborhood was immense, but neighbors were caught in a Catch-22. We could complain to the building department. But once it started, we wanted the construction to end as soon as possible.

I was reminded of this recently when I heard the sound of another jackhammer projecting over the entire area of Greenwich Point. What a dissonant sensory experience. It was a beautiful early May day, and the waterfront at Greenwich Cove was particularly inviting. The chirping of migratory birds could be heard – until the jackhammer went at it.

I managed to find the construction site on Meadow Road and captured the noise on video.

Between the construction noise and the explosion of leaf blowing in the spring and fall, our bucolic neighborhoods have taken on the characteristics of an amusement park.

Having suffered through such an experience, my recommendation would be that the town allow the contractors to bring in multiple pieces of equipment in order to compress the time. This is not allowed right now, because the noise ordinance forbids the increasing noise projected by multiple jackhammers. But this is a tradeoff I am willing to make. Since we can’t stand in the way of enterprising contractors – and we shouldn’t – we should at least try and minimize the disruption to the rest of us who actually live here.

It’s official. The town’s new motto is “never mind,” as in: “Remember our plan to move the farmer’s market to Field Point Road? Well, never mind.”

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Or, “Remember our plan to re-number the addresses in Cos Cob? Never Mind.”

Or, “Remember our new waterfront mooring plan? Never mind.”

That last about-face actually had another about-face: “Remember when Peter Tesei said we were going to put the mooring plan on hold? Well, never mind.”

Who’s in charge here?

Never Mind.

The concessionaire at Greenwich Point has added a hot dog stand at the outer reaches of the massive park. A hot dog with the works costs $3.25. Dog with chili is $3.75.

The juncture of art and commerce can too often result in crass exploitation. Las Vegas comes to mind.

But the marriage of art and a place with its own strong aesthetic identity can produce a compelling and felicitous experience. Greenwich Avenue is such a place. The fine works of 120 artists who are in this year’s Greenwich Art Council’s ART to the Avenue come alive in some unexpected ways with retailers who understand their true value.

At its best, the art combines a store’s own strong design sensibility to create a new experience in the enhanced storefront environment. The result can be breath-taking. This year, many efforts are worth noting. We should be grateful to the arts council for sponsoring this creative and mutually beneficial partnership – for both storeowners and artists.

And we should be grateful to retailers, such as Sleepy’s at 159 West Putnam Ave., for giving opportunity to local artists like JoAnn O’Hara whose seascapes of Greenwich Point are spiritually uplifting.

The show ends on May 31. The arts council is at 299 Greenwich Ave. Call 203-862-6750 to purchase art.

The following are my favorites:

BEST OF SHOW, LF Stores, 319 Greenwich Avenue, Monika Nicolle artist

I defy anyone to walk by this store without staring back at the two eyes that appear to penetrate our inner souls. It’s kinda creepy. Actually, it’s very creepy. I have a weakness for strong, dark, angular art forms, and this certainly fits the bill. I’ll take Goya, Picasso (his blue period) any time over the muted impressionists. To my mind, Monet was just an average gardener who couldn’t find the primary colors in his paint box.

The artist is a Mamaroneck resident. The core of her painting is focused on faces and colors, with a particular fascination for eyes. For her, “Eyes are like an entrance to the inside of a person; a transparent door to one’s soul”.

BEST WINDOW DISPLAY, Richards of Greenwich, 359 Greenwich Avenue, Ellen Hackl Fagan and Amber Maida artists

Unfortunately, my pictures do not do these displays justice (I could not get the glare out). You’ll just have to run down and see them yourselves. They are beautiful renderings of works by two artists juxtaposed by the high-end fashion of the street’s most elite retailer. I particularly liked that Richards had someone hand-paint “ART of the Avenue” on its windows instead of just sticking a piece of paper on them. It demonstrates an extra level of commitment. Click on the names of the artists above and go to their web sites for better renderings of their art in better lighting.

Fagan has this to say about her work:
“I seek to complete 100 paintings per year, fully exploring the language of paint, color and surface. Like jazz music, improvisation rules. When composing the panels for site-specific installations, I juxtapose like or unlike images together to generate dialogue between the paintings … When installed, the paintings function polymorphously; as words on a page, or sculptural elements with the wall acting as foundation, integrated into the conversation. The blank spaces activate the space, emphasizing the weighted areas where paintings are clustered together.”

Amber Maida’s statement says her “acrylic and mixed media paintings embody fluidity with structure. Her background in dance as an award winning choreographer gives her a unique perspective, a heightened awareness of shape and form with an essence of movement that is apparent in her work.”

BEST GREENWICH ARTIST, TD Bank, 235 Greenwich Avenue, William P. Grant artist

I broke my own rules in selecting this painting because I liked it so much. It is of the insides of a garage in Glenville that no longer is there. The painting was done in 1984. TD Bank didn’t do much with it except put it in its window front (The bank deserves a shoutout though. Not too many chain stores or national outlets supported the program this year). The artist is a longtime Greenwich resident who summers in Nova Scotia and works with both oil and acrylic. I noted a Hopperesque quality to the painting and particularly like the ambient light effect. The artist does not have a web site. He has several pieces in the bank, including some work from Nova Scotia. I identify with William Grant since I have been going to Mt. Desert Island in Maine for 25 years. Mt. Desert is directly across the Bay of Fundy from Nova Scotia.

BEST USE OF HUMOR, Horseneck Wines and Liquors, 25 East Putnam Ave., Victor Spinelli artist

This photograph made me laugh. I can see the water polo teams emptying a keg after the match. How apt is it for this to be in a liquor store? The framing of the photo by the bottles is perfect. Miro would have approved. The photographer is New York based. He has done some spectacular portraits, including photos of Michael Phelps and other members of the 2008 U.S. Olympics team.

The White Plains native has also shot numerous celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Chris Rock, Billy Bob Thornton, Angela Bassett, Natalie Cole and Amber Heard. Click on his name above to go to his web site.

BEST USE OF ART TO DRESS UP A LAUNDRY

Star laundry, 364 Greenwich Avenue, Donna Borchers artist

How does a laundry get respect in a tony neighborhood? Dress it up with some art. Who wudda thunk looking at this picture that racks of clothes hanging and washing machines are right behind the windows.

I could not locate a web site for this Cos Cob artist.

BEST OVERALL ARTIST

Lynnens, 278 Greenwich Ave., Susan Lamy artist

Susan Lamy is an incredibly versatile artist with a studio in Norwalk. In addition to her paintings, she works as an interior designer. I wish I owned about six of her pieces of work. I would like to visit her studio and see some of the works in person, particularly her paintings of scenes in France.

She and her French husband are superlative craftsmen – they range from “painters to artists, wall upholsterers, wall paper installers, tile installers, etc., and even a small job handyman service round out Prosperity’s team.”

OTHER NOTABLES

Betteridge Jewelers, 117 Greenwich Ave., Karen Schmitz artist

I thought this was one of the more successful blend of work by the artist and the retailer’s offerings. Of course when the wares are in the form of beautiful jewelry, it makes the combination that much more powerful.

Manfredi Jewels, 121 Greenwich Ave., Nancy Pindrus artist
I was taken by the single photograph, “Tricolor Dragon,” in this small but effective display

What are your views? Do you have a list of favorites? If so, do not hesitate to comment and contribute to the conversation.

Funeral of Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin Millstein, U.S. Army veteran of Vietnam, Korea and WWII, at Arlington National Cemetery in June 2004.

I am thinking of you, dad, and all the veterans on this weekend. Thanks for serving. Thanks for giving us the great life of a military family.

If you are planning to have a heart attack in Old Greenwich, I strongly suggest scheduling it on any day of the week except Saturday.

With all the focus on the traffic issues on Greenwich Avenue and the perennial debate over Greenwich Finest’s staffing of the intersections, someone should take note that the worst traffic problem in the town is in Old Greenwich.

One a recent Saturday, there was a Chicken Joe charity run, multiple games at both Binney Park and Old Greenwich School, where soccer moms and dads treated “no parking” signs as if they were mere suggestions, and the usual army of Greenwich Point devotees all colliding on Sound Beach avenue and turning it to Time Square. I have moved around a lot easier on Nanjing Road in Shanghai than I do in Old Greenwich on a Saturday. Of course, where there is traffic there is opportunity – as evidenced by all the GHS teams that stake out Old Greenwich School for their fund-raising car washes.

Snaking through all this requires the skills of Mario Andretti and the mental focus of Tiger Woods.

Imagine trying to get emergency equipment to south of village amid all this chaos. There is also the question of the environmental impact not to mention psychic impact. It’s time for some bold discussions about solutions – synchronized scheduling of events, use of buses to Greenwich Point, etc. All
ideas should be considered to ensure that Old Greenwich retains its village atmosphere.