Seen and Heard in Norwalk: A BJ’s near you?

NORWALK, Conn. – Here are some items of interest that were seen or heard recently in Norwalk:

BJ’s maintaining Norwalk presence

The application to build a BJ’s Wholesale Club in Norwalk may have been pulled, but the company is soliciting customers here anyway.

Thursday’s mail produced a free 60-day membership card for the BJ’s store in Fairfield, a NancyOnNorwalk reader said.

“This seems like a strong signal that BJ’s is planning to come back with another zoning application to put a store in Norwalk,” she said.

Crazy suspicions

Some suspicious Norwalkers have a theory: Mayor Richard Moccia is holding back the criminal investigation of missing money in the town clerk’s office until after the election.

“I think it’s kind of crazy for someone to think anything that occurred under Democrat Andy Garfunkel would be held back for the election,” Deputy Corporation Counsel Jeffry Spahr said.

Spahr said an audit had been dropped off to the corporation counsel office by a police officer three or four weeks ago. He hadn’t seen the audit, he said.

Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik confirmed that an audit had been done.

“The investigation is ongoing,” he said in an email. “We were waiting on the audit to further the investigation

“The audit is also part of the overall criminal investigation and we would not release it at this time.”

Last movement on the case was in June. The case came to the public’s attention in March

Press release 1 for English, press release 2 for Spanish

It didn’t take long to see what a little diversity at the top can mean to city government.

A press release received Thursday from Norwalk Public Schools was printed twice — once in English, once in Spanish.

Board of Education Chairman Mike Lyons confirmed Friday night that this is something introduced this year under the leadership of Superintendent of Schools Manny Rivera.

Rivera is Norwalk’s first Latino superintendent. People of Hispanic and Latino origin comprise between 15 and 20 percent of Norwalk’s population. A recent report indicated that, last year, nearly 30 percent of high schoolers taking the SAT College Board tests were Hispanic, up from 24 percent a year earlier.

We think the thee idea of bilingual press releases is muy bien.

Is there an election coming?

Moccia responded to comments from Democratic mayoral candidate Harry Rilling this week suggesting that a street sweeper truck is patrolling Sono just because Nov. 5 is getting close. That response was added to the story in question about a day after it was posted, so just in case you missed it:

Moccia said he has no control over the street sweepers. The DPW sets the schedule, he said.

“So here we go again, if no sweeper goes out, I am not doing the job,” he said in an email. “If the DPW sends it out, it’s because of the election. Also shortly before the November election!! Not sure when he saw the sweeper, but even from today there are 32 days until November. Not exactly shortly before an election.”

Duff: NEON wasn’t in big trouble then

State Sen. Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) reminisced briefly with NancyOnNorwalk about his time as a NEON board member in 2009.

“The questions were different than they are now,” he said. “There were financials that were given to us, whether or not they were as complete as they needed to be or as accurate as they should be, but that was a different time. There was a CFO, Chip Read. There was never a mention at the time of audits.”

But Duff was busy, with children in school and state business to tend to. When Gov. Dannel Malloy was elected, he resigned.

“You’re talking to a guy who literally went to two meetings,” he said.

State Senators to hold town hall meeting at, well, Town Hall

That’s Darien Town Hall, where Sen. Bob Duff (D-Norwalk, Darien) and Sen. Carlo Leone (D-Stamford, Darien) will hold office hours from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7. The pair intends to answer questions and discuss statewide and local issues with all interested members the general public. It’s free and open to the public. Darien Town Hall is located at 2 Renshaw Road, Darien.

Dancing in the Street

Tim Currie is expecting a little extra juice in the crowd when his Motown Review Band cranks up the sound tonight (Saturday, Oct. 5) in the parking lot at Currie’s Tire, 599 West Ave. Showtime is 7:30 p.m., and it’s free.

Currie, whose tire store is celebrating its 85th year as a Norwalk staple, says he has invited Democratic mayoral candidate Harry Rilling to stop by and say hello at the show.

Rilling is hoping Norwalk voters will say he is “My Guy” and has spent hours going door to door to tell them all they need to do is “Reach Out I’ll Be There.”

Incumbent Richard Moccia is confident the city will be singing “I Want You Back” on Nov. 5, but “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” — a Republican grapevine, no less — that it’s not that cut and dried and that Rilling could be the one who will be “Signed, Sealed Delivered.”

Tim Currie’s Motown Review Band is scheduled to play from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Feel free to bring your own chairs.