Quantcast

Rilling unveils Mayor’s dashboard

A Norwalk webpage accessible through the Mayor’s dashboard.

Updated, 3:35 p.m.: More information. 

NORWALK, Conn. – A glistening array of municipal information is now available for you on the City’s website.

The Mayor’s dashboard, unveiled Monday and prominently displayed on the website’s homepage, is described as “an interactive look at the information and statistics that help guide the city” and will reportedly evolve in response to community feedback. Although such dashboards are a developing trend around the country, this one is one of a kind, developed by in-house staff at no cost, Mayor Harry Rilling said. Continue reading Rilling unveils Mayor’s dashboard

Advertisement

Norwalk BoE looks to move Kendall plan forward

Norwalk Superintendent of Schools Steven Adamowski, at the Board of Education retreat, July 26 in the Cranbury Park bunkhouse.

Updated, 4 p.m.: PDF added; 3:34 p.m.: Clarification as to meaning of vote.

NORWALK, Conn. – The proposal to make Kendall Elementary School a groundbreaking year-round educational program, with longer school days and shorter vacations, is set to be voted on Tuesday by the Norwalk Board of Education.

Kendall would become year-round in 2020-21 under the “Above the Bar” proposal. The concept would be approved if the Board votes yes; full implementation approval will come later. In a related discussion, the Board is expected to chose which of two district-wide 2020-21 calendars it prefers; both would overlap with Kendall so that Kendall’s breaks will coincide with those in other schools.

The Kendall proposal, though lauded by Norwalk Superintendent of Schools Steven Adamowski and Kendall Elementary School Principal Zakiyyah Baker, has generated opposition from the Norwalk Federation of Teachers. Continue reading Norwalk BoE looks to move Kendall plan forward

Advertisement

Norwalk BoE ponders enrollment projections

A computer shows Wolfpit Elementary School enrollment statistics, July 26 in the Cranbury Park bunkhouse, during the annual Norwalk Board of Education retreat.

Updated, 10:33 p.m.: More information.

NORWALK, Conn. — Norwalk’s shifting demographics might soon negate the need for a magnet school in South Norwalk.

So observed Board of Education Chairman Mike Barbis recently as Norwalk Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Thomas Hamilton unveiled 10-year enrollment projections and the need to shift puzzle pieces to avoid lopsided enrollments at the middle schools.  It’s also a problem that enrollment is dipping below 300 children at Wolfpit and Naramake Elementary Schools, he said, leading Board member Bryan Meek to suggest that Wolfpit be closed and its community merged into a new Cranbury School. Continue reading Norwalk BoE ponders enrollment projections

Advertisement

South Norwalk Library celebrates Mayor’s Summer Youth students

Joy Futaba DeJaeger talks about the history and culture of Japanese culture using popular culture
to hightlight her discussion and to dispel myths. From left are Arielle Robert, Abigail Robert, Hailey Roy, Kamil Bryan, and Darlene Young (foreground). (Sherelle Harris)

Correction, 7:40 p.m.: Kamil Bryan will be a high school senior. 

NORWALK, Conn. – Each year the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program students who are sent to the South Norwalk Library help with library duties in addition to being assigned to create a project on their own. They are given one to two hours a few days a week to meet and work on their project.

This year, students Kamil Bryan, Abigail Robert, Arielle Robert, and Hailey Roy created the program An International Evening, held Tuesday at the South Norwalk Library. The evening entailed crafts, a guess the flag game, speakers from Ecuador, India, Jamaica, Japan and great food.  The food included empanadas from Latin America, quimbolitos from Ecuador, banana pudding African American style, curry chicken and rice and peas from Jamaica, tacos from Mexico, black rice and fried plantain from Haiti, Rice and Beef from the Dominican Republic, kesari from India, and more. Continue reading South Norwalk Library celebrates Mayor’s Summer Youth students

Advertisement

A Norwalk photo

NORWALK, Conn. – It’s been suggested that NancyOnNorwalk occasionally post a feature photograph. NancyOnNorwalk looked at Dan Woog’s website Tuesday and decided to emulate the way Woog does it on his “06880.”

This photo was taken in ZIP Code 06851: it’s off Allen Road. See the deer?

Advertisement

Opinion: Greenland is melting and that ain’t good

David Holahan.

We Americans believe in perpetual progress. We want our children and grandchildren to be better off than we are. It is an admirable and long-held trait. A key reason we declared our independence in 1776 was so we could pursue “Happiness” with a capital H.

So why, one has to ask, are we the people intent upon leaving our descendants a diminished, degraded and dangerous world to inhabit? Continue reading Opinion: Greenland is melting and that ain’t good

Advertisement

Opinion: Want tolls? Ditch the gross receipts tax on gasoline

In his recent op-ed in support of highway tolls, Richard DeLuca fails to mention or makes just a passing mention of the raiding of gasoline tax revenue,  and totally fails to mention that we have the hidden gas tax called the Gross Receipts Tax or GRT.

The GRT Tax was originally created to award funds for proper clean up of underground gasoline storage tank leaks which if left unchecked would have created an environmental nightmare for Connecticut.  It should also be noted that the industry supported this fund with an all-voluntary board to award those funds. That board went further by punishing those that did not do proper clean-ups or had sloppy record-keeping — in some cases not awarding anything for clean ups.  I know because I was a non-paid member of that board. Continue reading Opinion: Want tolls? Ditch the gross receipts tax on gasoline

Advertisement

Three more for The SoNo Collection

The SoNo Collection, on Aug. 4.

NORWALK, Conn. – You’ll be able to shop for a good night’s sleep in The SoNo Collection, the mall expected to open in October.

Casper Mattress is among three retailers to have applied to the Norwalk Planning and Zoning Department for a tenant fit-up in the mall since the last time NancyOnNorwalk checked in on this process. Also on file Tuesday were iFix Station and Pretzelmaker. Continue reading Three more for The SoNo Collection

Advertisement

Wall Street music festival, a flea market and an architecture tour

Chris Yerinides & the Rough Edges headline the Wall Street Music Festival on Saturday. (Contributed)

NORWALK, Conn. – A Wall Street music festival Saturday, a flea market on Sept. 15 and the Norwalk Preservation Trust’s second annual tour of Norwalk mid-century modern homes on Sept. 22. Continue reading Wall Street music festival, a flea market and an architecture tour

Advertisement

Norwalk political notes: Action expected for Roselle; TTD and a SoNo bridge strike

A sad situation Tuesday in SoNo.

The election is Nov. 5.

NORWALK, Conn. – Here’s some Norwalk political notes for you:

  • Roselle optimistic that Rilling will ‘do the right thing’
  • Parkington rescinds resignation from Third Taxing District
  • SoNo over-height vehicle warning system expected next year

Continue reading Norwalk political notes: Action expected for Roselle; TTD and a SoNo bridge strike

Advertisement

Norwalk Council authorizes ‘menacing’ police vehicles

It’s not possible to buy two-tone police cruisers anymore, Deputy Norwalk Police Chief Susan Zecca said Tuesday. The all-black version sneaks up on people, Common Council member Ernie Dumas (D-District B) said.

Updated Aug. 15, photo added; 4:20 p.m.: Video added.

A Norwalk Police vehicle on Quintard Street in 2015.

NORWALK, Conn. — Norwalk citizens who object to black police SUVs will have to voice their concerns to the Police Commission.

The Common Council on Tuesday authorized the purchase and “emergency fit up” of 12 Ford pursuit-rated hybrid police SUVs in a 9-3-0 vote, with a note of controversy as opponents objected to the darkness of the vehicles: entirely black with gold lettering, or black with reflective black lettering. Mayor Harry Rilling, former Norwalk Police Chief, said the appearance of the vehicles is the Police Commission’s purview. Continue reading Norwalk Council authorizes ‘menacing’ police vehicles

Advertisement

Advertisement

First Taxing District’s drinking water called safe despite ‘low level’ presence of toxic chemical

A slide from a Connecticut Department of Public Health PowerPoint presentation.

Updated, Aug. 14: First Taxing District annual brochure added.

NORWALK, Conn. — You probably have PFAs in your blood.

What are PFAs? You may be thinking Perfectly Fine Asymptomatic Substance. Or Popcorn Facilitated Awful Stuff. The latter is more appropriate as PFAs – perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances – can be found in the coating inside microwave popcorn bags. They’re toxic and they’ve been discovered by the First Taxing District in two of its five wells, but your drinking water is thought to be safe. Continue reading First Taxing District’s drinking water called safe despite ‘low level’ presence of toxic chemical

Advertisement