Merry Christmas!

Fairfield County Weekly Is No More

The Fairfield County Weekly is no more, victim of online personal ads and blogs. Which means that for the first time in decades, the region is without its own independent weekly.

It was absorbed and rebranded by the corporate daily newspaper Harford Courant as an insert called CTNow, which only covers events, bars and clubs.

Gone are the liberal or countercultural features, and most regrettably, Jim Motavalli's Green Wheels column, which you can still read online, at least for now.

The local indie press has all been replaced by glossies, like the Fairfield County Beat,  the Moffly Media family of tawdry monthlies, and other assorted wealth porn titles.

Many of the cover articles published by the Fairfield Weekly were in fact syndicated stories running all around the country.

If you go to the Association of Alternative Newsmedia website, you will find them all, like the Village Voice, Phoenix New Times, San Diego Reader or L.A. Weekly.

One Second With Cara Delevingne

“In one second, I could screw up everything I have… it’s like the big red button [sound effects] and everything explodes!” - Cara Delevingne

Weston Fog

Darien Whole Foods Customers - LEARN TO READ!

See this sign, and the signs below... well, not a single car parked in that section is a fuel efficient vehicle.

I think Whole Foods should either enforce their own policy, or just take the signs down which simply make customers feel guilty.

Small Colonial Shows Off Staples High School "puny" Solar System!

 Token solar panels on the roof of Staples HS in Westport

The way residential SHOULD be done! Bravo!!!

(private residence in Wilton)

Explain why an $83 million High School renovation can't afford much more than a small colonial?

Lots of roof top room left, don't cha think?

Puck's At Freshii

Puck's all natural soda with real cane sugar from the two brothers ex-Boylan Bottling Company founders, on tap at Freshii in Westport. Puck's has no online presence, no website, no facebook or twitter page. It's only sold through deli's and franchises.

Welcome To Historic South Norwalk

Brechin Morgan's mural on the side of Donovan's that spurred the renewal of South Norwalk's Washington Street in the 80's is curiously in bad need of a touch up. Who at Norwalk City Hall is in charge of these things?

Why Do Only White People

Fun title but the premise is totally wrong... In fact the UFO sighting which started the entire contactee craze in the 60's was a mixed couple:
Betty & Barney Hill

Rad Soap

What is soap coming to?
Rad Soap sold at Whole Foods

Rowayton Flea

Rowayton Flea

Live Green CT This Weekend

Live Green CT is held at Taylor Farm Park by the beach in Norwalk, CT... still on tomorrow, Sunday.

eco-dude!

Raised beds by ...

In 1999, Frito-Lay asked its suppliers not to use genetically engineered corn. As of 2013 they still cannot guarantee their product is GMO free. According to Food Babe, Fritos is not GMO free, except in countries where GMOs are against the law. Frito-Lay is being sued in court for misleading its US customers. Substitute Trader Joe's Organic Corn Dippers.

Catching a few winks...

Kevin Feighery of Spanking Clean Auto Sound & Security.

Leo Cirino, President of the Westport Electric Car Club.

The Green Party of Connecticut giving away books donated by E The Environmental Magazine.

Philips 60w equivalent LED, Now $9

At Home Depot

Sassafras Closed

One of the oldest store on Washington Street in South Norwalk
Closed!

Norwalk Rainbow

Today in Norwalk

Saugatuck Grain and Grape

Miniature chairs made with champagne tops!

Go see them in person at 40 Railroad Place in Westport

www.saugatuckgrainandgrape.com

Puppies of Westport targeted by Massive billboard!

(click to enlarge)

Somebody has a sense of humor... Driving down the Post Road today this is what I saw, a shut down puppy mills double billboard (no less) from the Companion Animal Protection Society, just a hundred feet away from a real puppy mill, Puppies of Westport. They must be thrilled, and so must Models Against Pet Shops and Puppy Mills.

Photo Credit: Hopes Angels Models: Hasmik Shaw, Nina Shaw, Maggie Parks, Kiley Wirtz Jennings,  Brooke Tobolka, Anna Theunissen, Emily Williams, Natalie Quintanilla.  Simon Lopez, Photographer and Retouch Artist; Zack McDowell, Videographer; Kimber Yanks, Head Clothing Stylist; Leah Peev, Clothing Stylist; Candace Henry, Clothing Stylist; Yvonne Coan, Makeup Artist; Nicole Webber, Makeup Artist; Lana Adams, Makeup Artist; Aaron Reeves, Dog Handler; Bryn Durham, Dog Handler; Ann Lopez, Set Crew Member; Levi Jennings, Kiley's Husband and Chief Caterer.

Stew Leonard's Barbie Cake

Barbie Cake at Stew Leonard's

New Mrs. Green's in Wilton

14 Danbury Road, Wilton CT

Gateway Shopping Center

15,000-square-foot

open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

From: http://www.privco.com/private-company/mrs-greens-natural-market-inc#Narrative 

Mrs. Green's Natural Market was founded by Harold Hochberger in 1991. Starting in Scarsdale, New York, the company saw significant growth in the next 15 years, expanding to nine other locations in New York and two locations in Connecticut. By 2007, the company has a respectable foothold in the tri state area. While still not nearly as big as conglomerates like Whole Foods, it had an impact on the market to attract the attention of others.

On July of 2007, Mrs. Green's was acquired by the publicly traded Canadian natural food supermarket company Planet Organic Health Corporation. Interestingly, Mrs. Green's revenue in 2006 was over $36 million, which was higher than Planet Organic's $32 million. To fund the transaction, Planet Organic had to lend a considerable amount of money from investors, the most notable of which being Catalyst Capital Group. At the time, the decision was seen as a bold gambit for Planet Organic to enter the U.S. market.

Chestnut Farm in Weston

227 Lyons Plain Road, Weston CT

Farmstand open Wed, Fri & Sun

Norwalk Wheeled Blue Bin Hell

The City of Norwalk has gone insane again... they are taking away all (stealing?) all the blue buckets and replacing them with giant bins on wheels. It's fine for a residential homeowner, problem is they've been doing this with all the business people as well, or apartment dwellers, where people live or work up a flight or more of stairs and have no place to store their new bin on wheels anywhere.

This wasn't thought out... it's a complete mess, creating new hardship for thousands of Norwalk residents. Result, now I guarantee you most of them will just stay on the side of the street, becoming a massive eye sore everywhere, because nobody will know where to put them or what to do with them. They will just take their recyclables to the bin and drop them in, it's already that way, you see them everywhere now, because nobody has anywhere to put them except leave them curbside!

Right now, at Fat Cat Pie, a very popular restaurant, the narrow street that leads down to the parking lot to the Yacht club, is lined with a dozen of these things, one for every tenant in the buildings. Not only is it ugly, it also makes it very difficult for delivery trucks to maneuver what was an already tight situation. I'm sure similar problems are arising everywhere.

There's a lot of other issues associated with single stream recycling, but this isn't what this is about. One size fits all bins are not adequate in an environment where most people don't need such large wheeled bins for the amount of recyclables they generate every week. It means tenants will have to learn how to consolidate their recyclables into fewer community bins rather than each tenant having their own, there just isn't enough room on the street for so many wheeled bins, most of them less than half empty anyway! It's overkill!

What the city did, is replace every blue bucket with a blue wheeled bin... People were in the habit of carrying their blue buckets down the stairs to the street, and brought them back into their kitchen, wherever they kept it inside their apartment or business. We cannot do that anymore! Now we have to find a place to keep this giant wheeled bin outside somewhere, while still keeping recyclables indoors until we take them out. These new bins with lids are great to keep things out of the rain, which has been a big problem for paper getting wet. But now businesses and apartment dwellers need to re-organize some form of community recycling for their buildings, so that we can reduce the number of wheeled bins which have been delivered, or rather dumped on everyone!

Another article... showing pictures of how the trucks lift and dump these wheeled bins: http://www.nancyonnorwalk.com/2013/07/city-carting-norwalk-need-time-to-work-it-out-director-says. Trust me it's going to get tedious for these guys who are quickly going to opt out of the automated lifting arm and go back to using their own muscle strength, especially with so many bins now at the curb.

Ah... "Alvord and Committee Chairman David McCarthy said smaller, 35-gallon carts are available, but they’re not handing them out yet."

Another good point being made by a comment, is that there are a lot of people collecting returnable bottles from blue bins, redeeming them for cash, who now will either stop doing this, because it will become too time consuming, or go through the large wheeled bins by dumping them out to sort through paper and everything else, leaving a mess.

- ugly overkill! -

Sally's Place Closing

Sally's Place will be closing at the end of the summer. The shop in Westport has been an institution since I was a kid. It's one of the last standing independent record stores in Fairfield County. Even though owner Sally White doesn't like to carry rap or metal because of the language, she stocks a lot of jazz and hard to find sounds. Over the years, the internet changed buying habits, as fewer people listen to music on CDs, record stores vanish. Old timers and even young jazz aficionados are going to miss Sally. I know I will.

Market driven solutions are not symbolic gestures!

Market driven solutions are not symbolic gestures. They work where nothing else works. Just ask WildAid and the amazing work they are doing in China and Africa! Nobody said it was the one and only way. Targeting environmental organizations for trying new strategies is not only pointless, it’s destructive and counterproductive! It’s just plain dumb and opportunistic. Promoting an extreme anti-corporate agenda where natural capitalism fits society’s existing model is like trying to slam a square peg into a round hole!

See more at: http://submedia.tv/endciv/2010/07/08/green-is-the-color-of-money

Green Business Associations Against Nuclear Power

Show me one no nuke organization getting any kind of visible/public money or support from a green company. Why is the civilian nuclear power industry supported by all the business associations in reactor hosting communities?

My answer is that the anti-nuclear community has become too anti-corporate to handle the positive changes of green business, and so have failed to solicit the participation of solar and wind companies in endorsing No Nukes activism.

The other side of the coin is that green businesses have become apprehensive/cautious of the OWS anti-corporate streak now prevalent withing the No Nukes community, and fear the potential backlash from extreme left wing elements who are accusing all green companies, without distinction or nuances, of green washing! Result, the divide gets wider and wider.

The environmental movement used to be the marketing arm of the green jobs movement through cause marketing, like Ben & Jerry's once upon a time supporting peace groups... Now green entrepreneurs know to steer clear of socialist radicals not to undermine their own chances of success. It's a sad situation, born out of stupidity and intransigence, which is bad for everyone.

So rather than organize green businesses of which there are many now, in reactor hosting communities, to join and tip the balance of existing local business associations, in favor of shutting down reactors, the nuclear power industry gets away with sponsoring local business associations to become paid mouthpieces for their pro-nuclear agenda!

It's a failure of the anti-nuclear community to "respect" green business and the aspirations of decent working people, not of the green community being unsupportive of anti-nuclear issues!

For further discussion on this topic join the Green Business for a Nuclear Free Future facebook group.

Start A Green Political Action Committee!

Greenburbs searched OpenSecrets.org and found this info about PACs which could help green political candidates as well as environmental activists. 

A list of environmental PACs:

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/industry.php?txt=Q11&cycle=2012

A list of miscellaneous energy PACs (not oil and gas):

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/industry.php?txt=E07&cycle=2012

Solar Energy Industries Assn PAC (SolarPAC):

Contributions to Federal Candidates (gave to Dems and Reps):

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2012&cmte=C00421982

homepage: http://www.seia.org/act-now/solarpac

American Wind Energy Association PAC (WindPAC):

Contributions to Federal Candidates (gave to Dems and Reps):

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2012&cmte=C00259572

homepage: http://www.awea.org/issues/windpac

Sierra Club Contributions to Federal Candidates (all to Dems, none to Reps):
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00135368&cycle=2012

League of Conservation Voters Action Fund
Contributions to Federal Candidates (gave to Dems and Reps):

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2012&cmte=C00252940

homepage: http://givegreen.zissousecure.com/about

Fund for Green Values (Pennsylvania):

http://www.fundforgreenvalues.com

(Research provided by David Bedell)

Nature Conservancy CEO Sunday May 19 New Canaan

New Canaan Country School
635 Frogtown Road
New Canaan, CT
Sunday May 19, 2013
4:30 pm

www.facebook.com/pages/Elm-Street-Books/92497391178  

www.elmstreetbooks.com
www.marktercek.com

Stop and Shop Tiki

Tiki torches at Stop & Shop

Romanacci

Back in January a new artisan pizza place has opened up in Norwalk, which I didn't notice until yesterday when I walked in after buying the New York Post next door at the newsstand... and went wow! I was struck by the obscure, exotic all-natural Italian sodas they carry like Lurisia Chinotto & Baladin Spum Nera, both succulent.

I tried their margherita slice, they sell by the slice, what a joy... it was wonderful, real house-made tomato sauce. The pastries look sinful. Indulged in the chocolate cheesecake, there goes my commitment to lose some weight. The espresso was pitch perfect.

Ok, I don't ever write about food or restaurants on this blog, but in their case, because it's on the Westport/Norwalk line on the Boston Post Road, 250 Westport Avenue, which I travel just about every day, I wanted to give them a plug. The view isn't all that interesting, but the outdoor tables and genuine atmosphere make up for it.

The restaurant has two facebook pages, I don't know why really but here they are:
https://www.facebook.com/RomanacciCafe
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Romanacci/324446544326590

Romanacci is owned by brothers Graziano and Maurizio Ricci's Osteria Romana, the full service Italian restaurant opened in 2010 three doors down:
https://www.facebook.com/OsteriaRomana

Moja Cramped Mojo

Get it together! This is taking FOREVER!!!

Moja Cafe is this great new restaurant in Westport, with a beautiful bar overlooking the Saugatuck river, outdoor tables on the boardwalk. They serve organic sake and are ready to party! But this endless, senseless construction is cramping their style, ruining the pleasure of enjoying drinks by the water. What's the hang up? We never see the equipment moving, seems like all construction has come to a stand still. Moja was promised the work completed by First Night... It's been THREE months!!! Whoever this may concern? DON'T SPOIL OUR SUMMER!

Update: April... May... June... July... August...

Moja Kaput! R.I.P.

- August 17, 2013 -

- January 13, 2014 -
Alas, but too late for Moja!