Editor, New Canaan Patch
Amy Jeffries:
New Canaan First Selectman says CL&P crews are available but, "systems to dispatch them and get them to the right places seem to be broken."
—Twittered
1 hour ago
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New Canaan residents find shelter, comfort and electricity after the storm.
With power still out to much of the town, and other community hangouts shutdown by storm damage, the New Canaan Library is the place to be, and it's open until 11 p.m. tonight!
Columnist Laurie Cantillo took the kids and fled to the nearest hotel past downed wires and flooding streams Saturday night.
My kids and I are holed up in a Norwalk hotel, refugees from last Saturday night's storm that blew across New Canaan, leaving downed power lines, flattened trees, and creeks swollen over their banks. After flickering on and off much of the afternoon, our power finally called it quits about 7 p.m. Saturday night. I good-naturedly broke out the candles, flashlights and board games, preparing for what I hoped would be a brief outage. As the temperature began dropping and radio reports projected more than 30,000 Connecticut homes without power, worry crept in. I decided to pack up the kids in the height of the storm and head for a hotel. We threw an overnight bag in the car and were off on our little adventure. Getting out of the Benedict Hill…
Oscar viewers are in limbo, waiting for Cablevision and WABC's parent to make amends.
The clock is ticking down to the annual Hollywood love fest known also as the Academy Awards, and Cablevision customers are nervously wondering if there will be a broadcast on WABC-TV at 8 p.m. tonight. If you pick up a Cablevision remote and surf the offerings today you'll notice that instead of your favorite programs on Channel 7, you'll find an advisory that WABC programming is no longer available, as an elaborate game of chicken continues between Cablevision and ABC's parent company, Disney, over rights fees. The companies issued dueling press releases this morning, each blaming the other for the impasse. "Cablevision has once again betrayed its customers," says a spokeswoman for Disney and the ABC television group. "Cablevision …
State Sen. Toni Boucher favors proposals to help control state spending.
To the Editor: The General Assembly responded to the state's budget crisis in 1991 by creating the personal income tax, and calmed fears that this new tax would lead to out of control spending and irresponsible tax increases by promising to adhere to a spending cap. But the General Assembly has repeatedly disregarded the will of the more than 80 percent of Connecticut citizens who voted in favor of ratifying our constitution to establish such a spending cap. If the legislature had enacted the constitutional spending cap when required, it is possible that government spending would now be more in-line with the state's flat employment and population growth, and Connecticut would not now have a structural deficit. That is why I recently …
New Canaan Patch's newest columnist says monogramming is the secret to putting an individual touch on preppy fashion.
I'm mad for my MCM monogram. As a proud preppy, I'd choose my initials over a logo or brand name any day. I have MCM embroidered on bath towels, etched on picture frames, and even stitched out in nautical flags on a needlepoint belt. Coach's C's and Louis Vuitton's LV's can come and go as trends wax and wane, but my initials never go out of style. Part of the reason a monogram is so appealing to us preppies is because there's not a ton of variety in classic, conservative clothing and accessories. Preppy men wear khaki trousers, blue button downs, and navy blazers day in and day out. That can get old and blah quickly. But adding three discreet little letters can take that standard uniform and make it all yours. Initials embroidered on …
NCHS Junior Taylor Parsons takes over his mother Laurie Cantillo's column for the week.
A snowstorm is sometimes the answer to your prayers. Last Thursday night I sat staring at a mountain of homework, dreading tests the next day. Granted, I'd been procrastinating a bit during the week, but on top of that came unexpected homework from sadistic teachers. A few unplanned after-school obligations added to my stress level. I've been spending a lot of time with some friends who are seniors, and I, as a junior, have caught their senioritis". I knew I should be cracking a book, but I was torn, with word that the "storm of the century" was on New Canaan's doorstep. Should I study anyway, just in case the storm was a bust? I knew that even with a 90-minute delay, the tests would be postponed until Monday. All that work would be for …
The president of the police union responds to the First Selectman's comments about a particular budget line.
Dear Editor: The New Canaan Police Union supports the continued funding of the second captain's position. Your article, "Police Ask for Personnel, Patrol Cars", reported First Selectmen Walker saying, "he didn't believe the department needed another captain, as there had been no input in favor of such an appointment from the rank-and-file or the police union." If the union had been asked for our official input, the town would learn that we support the position. The Captain of Staff Services position directly supports all aspects of department operations. Records, property management, training, recruitment, testing and selection, maintenance, accreditation, fleet and facility management, and special projects are just some of the major …
Rob Mallozzi says the New Canaan Toy Store's all-hands move was a welcome throwback
To the Editor: Anyone walking or driving by Park and Elm Streets early in the evening last Saturday witnessed the closest thing I have ever seen to an old-fashioned barn raising. "A barn raising in downtown New Canaan?" one may ask. Yes, albeit a modern version of such. Years ago, neighbors would gather together and help build a fellow community member's barn. The work was long and hard, but with many helping hands the barn would be built, the farmer would have a place to safely store his crop and the community would further prosper. That is a very similar effort to what I witnessed while the Kilbane family were helped by so many of their friends, neighbors and former employees as they moved their New Canaan Toy Store to it's new …
Columnist and newcomer Laurie Cantillo sees through the fancy façade of New Canaan's waste disposal rituals.
Before I moved here a year ago, I'd never heard of a "transfer station". Out West there's a similar place we called, bluntly, the "dump". Here in genteel New England one describes the disposal of the weekly collection of smelly stuff as "carting" the "refuse" to the transfer station. In Colorado where I came from you hauled your trash to the dump in a pick-up truck. The location of the New Canaan Transfer Station is similarly discrete. Even with a good map, it took me three attempts to find it. There's no sign off nearby Rt. 123, clearly, the town does not want outsiders to know there is a dump here. But now that I've found it (conveniently close to the local cemetery, another transfer station of sorts) my Saturday morning routine …
State Sen. Boucher reminisces about a time when a party-balanced legislature balanced the state budget.
Chris Powell, editor of the Journal Inquirer, wrote "Connecticut is collapsing under the weight of a government that has grown all out of proportion to the state's long-stagnant population and job growth." Mr. Powell echoes a sentiment I have repeatedly shared with you, which is that Connecticut has a serious spending problem. If current spending trends continue, you can expect at least $3 billion per year in deficits through 2014. Last year, the General Assembly's majority pushed through a state budget that called for tax and fee increases, as well as massive borrowing against future revenue streams, to pay current expenses. As businesses and our neighbors flee the state, our tax revenues are vanishing. Would you be shocked to know that …
Senator Bouche has left out what cuts she plans to put forward to State Senators salaries , benefits and perks. As well as the fact that the state did not even apply for the more than a billion dollars in education grant money from Race to the Top. It is not just a matter of cutting union salaries, it is starting at home with what she gets. As well as doing your part to be sure that we don't … more ›
Taylor. Great job! It's reassuring to know kids still build snow forts, and have spontaneous snowball fights. Happy snow day! more ›