NEIGHBORHOODS
What’s going on in your part of Greenwich
The Hibernian Association’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade will soon return to Greenwich Avenue.
Thirteen bands will march in the parade, including the Sound Beach Community Band and the Greenwich High School Jazz Band, according to First Selectman Fred Camillo’s weekly newsletter. There will also be 60 community groups in the parade.
The parade is on March 17, starting at 2 p.m. at Town Hall, 101 Field Point Road. The parade will head east on Field Point Road, turn right on West Putnam Avenue and then take another right and march down the length of Greenwich Avenue.
Thomas Byrne, longtime former moderator of the Representative Town Meeting, will serve as the grand marshal of the parade this year.
There will also be a ceremony to raise the Irish flag at Town Hall on Friday at 9 a.m. ahead of the parade.
Visit the Greenwich Hibernian Association website for the parade route and additional details.
Greenwich
First Selectman Fred Camillo has formed an anti-hate and antisemitism task force, with leaders from Greenwich schools, religious groups, community organizations and local government.
“Task force members will develop a phone and web reporting system for people to report acts of hate as well as find out more about education and awareness resources and community solidarity events,” the town wrote in a statement. “Bigotry and hate, in any form, have no home in Greenwich. This task force is designed to bring the Greenwich community together.”
Camillo said on his weekly radio show last Friday that the idea for this group came from a resident.
The group met on Thursday, Camillo said, and their work is in the early stages.
“It became apparent to us that people just don’t know who to call (about hate incidents),” he said. “I think it’s our job to make this process clear and to show people what they can do and who to contact.”
He also said the task force can hopefully serve as an educational resource and talk to the schools and community groups about how to combat hate in Greenwich.
Visit the town website for a full list of people serving on the antisemitism task force.
Riverside
The Department of Public Works will host a series of community forums this spring to talk with residents about their road and pedestrian safety concerns. The first meeting is next week, starting with people in Riverside and Old Greenwich.
DPW, along with representatives from the police and fire departments and the Planning and Zoning Commission, will meet with different neighborhoods in an effort to better understand their concerns about traffic in their areas.
These meetings will take place in the evenings, both online and in person, and there will be an additional daytime meeting for anyone in town.
The first meeting, which is specifically for people in Representative Town Meeting districts 5, 6 and 12, is on March 18 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Town Hall in the meeting room, 101 Field Point Road.
The other meetings for the remaining parts of town will be held in April and May. See the town website for more details about the upcoming forums and for links to listen in virtually.
Midcountry
The Friends of Nathaniel Witherell, a nonprofit organization that raises money to support the town-owned nursing home, has a new chair of its board of directors.
Jeff Aldrich, the president and CEO of the Aldrich Group, was named the chair of the Friends board as of Feb 21.
“I love the very idea of the Friends as a charity — giving social enrichment and joy to people in the transitional stages of their lives — and as a business and value-added adjunct in service to The Nathaniel Witherell,” Aldrich said in a statement.
Alrdich, a Greenwich native, replaced David
Ormsby, who founded the Friends in 2007 and spearheaded the Project Renew capital campaign, which raised millions of dollars to update and modernize the Witherell.
“I believe this is a true public-private partnership, one I wholeheartedly embrace,” Aldrich said. “It’s one of the things that distinguishes the Nathaniel Witherell from other skilled nursing facilities.”
Additionally, the board elected four new members: Michael Guido, Beth Krumeich, Blaise Punturo and Sally Van Leeuwen.
Alrdich said his goals as chair are to expand the Friends revenue base by cultivating and soliciting corporate, foundation, and other funders as well as expanding the nonprofit’s internal staffing.