This week, the Long Lots School Building Committee provided updates to the Boards of Finance and Education.
In the weeks ahead, they plan to meet with Long Lots neighbors. The LLSBC will
“listen to all questions, suggestions and concerns from the neighbors and discuss the current school design. We will restate that water management, both during and after the project, is a key priority for the LLSBC and the town. We will acknowledge that the project will be disruptive for the neighbors and affirm that we will do our best to mitigate the disruption and listen to the neighbors throughout the process.
The LLSBC will also meet with the Long Lots PTA, to “discuss the project and listen to parents’ questions, suggestions and concerns about the design of the new school including parent and bus drop offs, project timing, safety, and efforts to minimize disruption for all parties during construction.
In a meeting with the Planning & Zoning Commission, they provide an update on the project.
The LLSBC and design team will also meet with the members of the Westport Community Gardens. They will “listen to questions and seek input and suggestions about the construction of the new relocated Community Garden. The new garden is currently forecast to be ready, along with the new athletic fields and parking lots, the year following completion of the new school building.
“Currently the first planting season in the new relocated garden would be in the spring of 2028. We’ll reaffirm that this growing season (2024) will be the last for the current garden as mobilization and construction is forecast to begin in the spring of 2025.”
They will “also highlight that the First Selectwoman met with the Garden Steering Committee in late August and offered to work with the gardeners to move them to the Baron’s South property adjacent to the Senior Center. This move would allow the new gardens to open significantly sooner than the spring of 2028, which was the main impetus for the LLSBC to suggest this in our initial recommendation in October of 2023. The discussions between the First Selectwoman and the Garden Steering Committee regarding a move to Baron’s South are outside the scope of the LLSBC and the construction of the new Long Lots school.”
Plans are moving ahead for construction of the new Long Lots Elementary School.
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With less than a month to go before the presidential election, political signs are popping up all around town.
Some are for Harris/Walz. Others tout Trump/Vance.
They’re not generally noteworthy. But one on Saugatuck Shores caught our eye.
It wasn’t the message. It was the messenger.
The sign belongs to Betty Lou Cummings.
The 90-year-old and still very active volunteer is well known in town. In nearly 50 years here she founded the long-running Apple Festival, organized fundraisers like the Riverwalk and Westport Library River of Names, advocated for the Senior Center advocate, and served on the Representative Town Meeting.
She is also a former 2nd Selectwoman.
A Republican 2nd Selectwoman.
Betty Lou Cummings. Back in the day, she was a Michigan State cheerleader.
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Tickets to Staples Players’ “Elf: The Musical” go on sale tomorrow (Saturday, October 12, 10 a.m.). Click here to purchase.
Performances for the family-friendly show are November 15, 16, 21, 22, 23 at 7 p.m., and November 16, 17, 23 at 2 p.m.
“Elf” tells the story of a suspiciously oversized elf named Buddy who has been raised by Santa in the North Pole. Overhearing the news that he’s actually a human, he embarks on a journey to New York City in a quest to find his father, who, he soon discovers, is on the naughty list.
Buddy’s own half-brother also doesn’t believe in Santa. Buddy decides to change the outlook of his new family and bring the true meaning of Christmas back into New York City. Along the way he discovers friendship, romance, and his true identity.
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A rare sighting on the Saugatuck River yesterday at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 399 stirred excitement: the arrival of dredging equipment.
The last previous work there was 20 years ago.
Dredging operations are expected to begin today.
(Photo/Phil Delgado)
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Twenty current and former members of Westport’s Representative Town Meeting celebrated Restaurant Week yesterday, with lunch at The Boathouse.
The annual Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce event — actually 2 weeks — ends Sunday. Click here for a list of participating restaurants, with links to their menus.
RTM members lunch locally, at The Boathouse.
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Ken Feinberg — who as special master of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund was responsible for the disbursement of over $7 billion dollars — is the special guest at next Thursday’s “Common Ground Conversation” at the Westport Library.
At “Civil Discourse to Resolve Complex Disputes,” the October event (7 p.m.)
Feinberg will share his experience and expertise in bringing people together to analyze, understand, and resolve complex disputes. Steve Parrish will moderate the discussion.
The Common Ground initiative will also be livestreamed. Click here for the link.
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Speaking of the Library: How much we know about our environment and how we interact with it is the theme of their newest Verso Studios podcast, “Real World.”
A collaboration with Marisa Manley, the goal is “to explore, celebrate, and help listeners understand and possibly improve the built and created environment which surrounds us,” she says.
“We examine what the world is made of, how it came to be this way, and how it functions — in sometimes surprising ways.”
Episodes focus on everything from high-rise buildings and street signs to leggings and rocking chairs. Manley explores how they were designed, how they can be improved, and how they benefit all of us.
The podcast debuted Wednesday with 3 episodes, each 15 minutes long. An additional episode drops every other week.
It’s available on the Verso Studios podcast page, and through podcast distributors like Apple and Spotify.
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Two of our town’s most exciting groups of people — StartUp Westport, and creative Staples High School graduates — join forces on November 25 (Westport Library, 6:30 p.m.).
The public/private partnership for our tech and innovation community hosts the first Young Innovators Forum. It’s a celebration of the groundbreaking innovations developed by remarkable alums.
Staples’ computer science program has nurtured a generation of young entrepreneurs. Visionary founders — all under the age of 26 — have launched transformative technologies and startups that are reshaping industries and attracting significant investment.
They’ll speak about challenges they’ve faced, solutions they’ve found, funding and investment, and the future of innovation in Westport.
Panelists — all from Staples — include Dylan Diamond, co-founder and CEO, Saturn Technologies; Max Hammer, co-Ffounder and CEO, CrowdVolt; Josh Karol, co-founder and CTO, CrowdVolt, and Jack Sharkey, co-founder and CTO, Whop
Staples alum Molly O’Shea — a venture capital investor and founder of Sourcey, will moderate.
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On Monday, “06880” reported that Pure Salon has closed.
Despite a “Retail Space For Lease” sign in the window, the Taylor Place shop remains open.
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Staples boys soccer fans were excited yesterday by the Wreckers’ 7-0 defeat of St. Joseph, at Wakeman Field.
But no one was more thrilled than several dozen boys and girls from Luis Marin Elementary School. The Bridgeport youngsters — participants in the Lighthouse program — have been mentored this year by members of the Staples team.
Among the project leaders: senior Alex Kuster. He also donated 1,200 childhood books to the program.
They took a special bus trip to Westport yesterday, to cheer on their idols. They were greeted before the game. At halftime, they participated in a penalty kick contest.
And afterward, they celebrated with the teenagers who this fall have become their friends.
Staples players and Luis Marin students, after the game. (Photo/Mike Beebe)
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Speaking of sports: This weekend, the Staples rugby team starts its fall touch program. It runs from 9 to 10:30 a.m. on Sundays through November 24, at Staples’ Loeffler Field, for 8th-12th graders — and parents. No experience is necessary.
An open house is set for October 20, to answer parents’ questions.
Staples High School rugby team.
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In the interest of safety and efficiency — and to accommodate commuters and school traffic — the milling and paving project of Long Lots Road will be conducted outside regularly established days and hours.
Work will be done on two Saturdays — tomorrow and October 19 — and this Monday, the Columbus Day holiday.
Work will begin at 7 a.m., and end at 3 p.m.
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Daisies in the morning Compo Beach light are the focus of today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature.
(Photo/Celia Campbell-Mohn)
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And finally … today, in honor of National Coming Out Day for the LGBTQ+ community:
(Happy Coming Out Day! To celebrate, please click here and make a tax-deductible contribution to “06880.” We could not publish this hyper-local blog without reader support.)