Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs up
to the town’s efforts to diagram traffic patterns in Glenville. Though the timing of the study is appropriate given the possibility tolls will return to the Merritt Parkway and Interstate 95, this study is overdue. Congestion in the small commercial area has been an issue for years, and pedestrian passages could be improved. The study, which is funded by a $2 million federal grant, will be completed by an Aug. 1 deadline.
Thumbs down
to the Town of Greenwich’s surreal resistance to releasing documents to Bart Palosz’s family as part of a lawsuit over his suicide almost six years ago. A judge ruled that evidence related to abuse of Bart in Greenwich schools must be turned over, but the town attorney is challenging the decision, claiming the paperwork “does not accurately characterize the facts” of the case. Bart’s family deserves a measure of closure, but so do other town residents.
Thumbs up
the hundreds of people who filled the Islamic Cultural Center of NY-Stamford Friday in a show of support for local Muslims in the wake of the recent deadly shooting at a mosque in New Zealand. Many worshipers reportedly avoided the Stamford mosque after the massacre due to fear, but the passage of days transformed it into a rallying site.
Thumbs up
to the growth of the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, which drew the highest number of competitors — 720 — it has seen in its 42 years. Though the tournament left Stamford for eight years after the 2006 documentary “Wordplay,” New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz appropriately declared that the Stamford Marriott “feels like home.”
Thumbs up
to the New York Mets revealing plans to honor Tom Seaver with a statue as well as a name change of 126th Street bordering CitiField to Seaver Way. Seaver, a longtime Greenwich resident, led the Mets to an unexpected World Series championship 50 years ago. His family recently announced that he was retiring from public life due to dementia.
Thumbs down
to Connecticut losing 400 jobs in February. To make matters worse, the Labor Department also revised its hopeful January report from a gain of 1,000 jobs to put 2,500 in the loss column. Pete Gioia, economic adviser to the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, called the numbers “a little scary.” The only hopeful sign we see is that it’s hard to put too much stock in the Labor Department’s numbers given the wide discrepancy.
Thumbs up
to efforts to fight gerrymandering in Connecticut, even as activists say it’s nowhere near as big a problem here as elsewhere in the United States. Gerrymandering in the process where elected officials draw district lines that are more likely to include their voters and keep themselves in power, and it’s an insidious assault on representative democracy. Voters choose their representatives, not the other way around. It’s good news that Connecticut has a functioning system, and a nonpartisan commission to draw new lines after the next census could help ensure it stays that way.
Thumbs down
to an odd scene that saw an NCAA tournament game in Connecticut tip off in front of a nearly empty arena. With men’s games held in Hartford and last year’s winner, Villanova, in town, it should have been a great time for basketball. But a series of events conspired to give organizers too little time to show out fans from the first batch of games last Thursday, clean the arena and let in tens of thousands of new fans. As a result, the Villanova-St. Mary’s game got started with hardly anyone in their seats.