By John H. Palmer
I’ve finally had a chance to catch up on some sleep after the late night assault that a 4.5-hour public hearing can have on a reporter’s circadian rhythms, and I’m both humbled and encouraged by the turnout I saw at Westport Town Hall last Monday night. Yes, that was me you heard tap-tapping away at my keyboard until 1 a.m. in a Norwalk hotel to get the story up by morning.
As most of you know (because basically all of Westport showed up), there were about 400 people packed into the main auditorium to hear the developers of the proposed Hamlet village sell their newest iteration of Saugatuck City.
I’d say at least 50 people (I lost count) stood up at the podium to voice their opinions either way about the development, and I think we can all give the Planning and Zoning Commission a round of applause for keeping the crowd under control and moving the proceedings along expeditiously
Save, of course, for a group of people who hired a lawyer to try to commandeer the first 45 minutes by skirting the 5-minute rule with nine speakers who weren’t individually signed up to speak. That was dirty pool.
And did I detect a tinge of muted welcome for the new Hamlet plans? Most people seemed to at least be open to considering some form of redevelopment in that area of town as long as the density is cut down and they take care of the parking and traffic issues. ROAN Ventures makes no bones about the fact that they want to make money, but they are willing to listen to the concerns of residents. Although, someone needs to explain to me which “offsite” parking lot in Norwalk or Fairfield or wherever they plan to shuttle their employees from. Westporters need more information forthcoming.
Thanks for the welcome
First, a word about humility. While I’m the editor of this site, I have always tried to keep a low profile throughout my 30-year career as a reporter, and I never want to feel like I’m in any way recognized when I show up to cover something. Still, I couldn’t help but feel warmly welcomed to Westport when I walked into the auditorium. It was my first public outing in town as editor, and was almost instantly overwhelmed by people who recognized my face from this column, or had very nice things to say about the coverage that they have seen lately on the Journal’s site.
Considering that a column about my dog’s ears was about the most compelling things I had written about that day, it was nice to be reminded that readers are paying attention to what we do as community journalists. I consider small-town journalism to be a dying art, and anything we can do to apply a defibrillator to the struggling existence of public discourse is our obligation and pleasure.
So, thanks for reading and supporting our efforts.
Public meetings are a town’s lifeblood
One of the things I’ve always loved about covering small towns is getting a sense for the the hubbub and excitement that surrounds public hearings – even the long ones – up to and during the meeting itself. I like to get there early and sit quietly for a little while, taking in the chitchat amongst neighbors and elected officials, and feeling the general tone and mood of what is going on.
I’ve covered these meetings in small towns like Ridgefield and Darien, and it’s always an energizing feeling to know that so many people take time out of their lives and away from their families to sit in an auditorium with lots of body heat, until late at night, to let their opinions be known about things going on in their town.
I’ve made it known a few times that I support complete access to town meetings, and that Westport, and for that matter all municipalities, should ensure that meetings are always accessible not only in-person but also electronically whenever possible so everyone gets a chance to show up and be heard. In today’s fast-moving and increased inaccessibility to government doings, may we never forget how important it is to gather with our fellow townspeople and have these conversations – and yes, arguments. This is what leads to cooperative progress in town.
A word about Mom
Lastly, it’s Mother’s Day next Sunday, and one of my favorite days, because my mom is my hero. I have many wonderful memories growing up in Norwalk, in a house that had a front yard filled with beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees that came to life around this time of year. She worked very hard to give my sister and I that beauty.
From a young age, she was our watchdog. She was the one pulling the covers off our bed when we didn’t want to go to school, letting us know there was no other option. She made sure we got our homework done, and was the one who always knew where we were (and when we snuck out to see our friends at night).
She was, and is, always my most vigilant copywriter. Even today, she keeps a close eye on me from Florida, reading my stories and letting me know when I’ve spelled something wrong, left out a gerund, or committed the grammatical sin of the dangling participle.
I’m lucky to still have her, and I encourage you all to spend as much time as possible celebrating your mothers on their special day.
John Palmer is editor of the Westport Journal, and has covered community news in Fairfield County and Massachusetts for over 30 years. He can be contacted at jpalmer@westportjournal.com.
… and like clockwork, my Mom reached out from Florida to let me know that it’s “my sister and me, not my sister and I.” I knew better. I stand corrected and apologies to my readers!
John, I believe you were correct, it is “my sister and I”,
Though lots of people say “me”, “I” is in fact correct in your sentence.
Thank you for keeping us all so well informed on important community happenings.
No, his Mom is right. The way to test the sentence is to take the other person out and see if it sounds correct. It would not be correct to say “and give I that beauty”.
I must say I did not hear much support for the Hamlet ( at least not in its current iteration) at the Town Hall. It seems that those few who may lean toward it are worried about the alternative option of affordable/ low income housing. Why the citizens are being forced to accept such a choice is the real question here. Hartford now gets to tell every town in CT. what kind of town they will have. It is not enough for the laws to protect people from unfair discrimination ( which is, to be clear, the law of the land). No, now you may not discriminate based on ability to pay the market rates. Maybe, the restaurants should have to feed anyone who wants to eat and the clothing stores should have to give you “affordable” designer clothes. And BTW, I am still waiting for my waterfront mansion to provided.
This week I witnessed two elderly Caucasian women searching the parking lot looking for empty cans ,bottles to cash in for 10 cents. While we invite Ukranians and an unmarried couple from Norwalk to live in ” affordable housing ” at 122 Wilton Rd driving MB and Lexus Suvs ,our own elderly residents are reduced to this. And as for building a Hamlet across from the nightmare that is paralyzing traffic at the Westport train station,are you kidding me ?
I’m with you, Sharon.
I did not hear much support except for speeches from investors. The supporters never admitted to being investors until they left the hall and spoke to others whom they knew. Very sneaky, although they didn’t fool anyone!
I do not agree that the needle is moving in favor of the development as proposed. I think those few with a financial stake, directly or indirectly, voiced strong support for the project.
I believe there were far more who spoke against the project AS PROPOSED. Residents, business owners, and many elected officials expressed many varied and significant concerns. I did hear nearly universal agreement to redevelop— but to do so differently.
In my own comments I spoke favorably to the idea and intention of remediating this brownfield site and redeveloping. But size, scale density matter. The current plans are simply too big, too much, too complicated for an area that is contaminated, prone to flooding, and serves as the main transit hub for the town.
Anyone who hopes to develop this area will have to remediate the contamination, and is likely to get significant pass-through state funding to do so. Our town does not need to be coerced by the threat of 8-30g development to get this right.
And were the area not to be developed why is it ok to have contaminated soil beneath what is presently there?
Hi John,
I appreciate your coverage of this important issue. But maybe some clarity will help…
The P & Z meeting was initially promised as an in-person public hearing – agreed to only after lobbying, writing emails and submitting petitions calling for it. It was supposed to be for the public-only to speak. Most Alliance members arrived early and signed up to speak early. However we were told we could not speak in a block- which hurt continuity with a slide presentation, so most of us deferred speaking once the chair changed his mind and said we could speak in a block later. After ROAN was given ninety minutes to rerun sales videos we have all seen many times, the Saugatuck Alliance was delayed and delayed until finally an audience member called out “We want to hear what the Westport Alliance has to say.” After reluctantly agreeing, the chair then called a break, ensuring that many of our members with young children finally had to leave to put them to bed
With this in mind, we certainly didn’t plan for our presentation to dominate the time frame allowed. The Alliance for Saugatuck was only recognized to speak at 8.45, when half the meeting time had already expired.
I’ve heard many people, young and old, say they feel shut out of the process by scheduling meetings late into the night. I think many people who wanted to speak in support of the project, were frustrated, as we have been on many late nights, that they were shuttled to late in the evening.
Once all the reports are in, the committees have met and there is final data to comment on, we hope the P and Z will finally live up to the expectation for a full public hearing.
Please keep attending these important meetings. Part of our town is at stake.
(And as a follow on- there certainly is a story to the several scathing peer reviews presented at P and Z on this past Monday.)
I heard it was not a good night for the Hamlet.
Slowly but surely the facade is coming asunder. It was just a matter of time.
Must have been an almost record number of residents – 400 who showed up to voice either support or opposition.