Business

Two J. Crew Employees Appeal Parking Violations

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New Canaan’s Parking Commission voted at its most recent meeting to either uphold or void recent parking violation fines issued to two employees of J. Crew after one woman claimed that the parking machine wasn’t functioning properly, while the other claimed that her violation was an “honest mistake.”

Martha Small told the volunteer commission that prior to her shift at the Elm Street retailer, she drove up to a parking machine at Morse Court at around 1 p.m. and paid for time with her credit card, but didn’t receive a ticket. She said she noticed that tickets were being printed out at the adjacent machine, but figured that her transaction was completed anyway. “This has happened [to me] before, but I’ve always been able to check my credit card or my cell phone [to confirm the transaction], but I was in a hurry and there was a line, so I went on into the store,” Small said at the May 11 hearing, held at Town Hall. She continued: “I was going to check my cell phone after I punched in at work, but then I discovered that I didn’t have my cell phone that day. So, I just sort of convinced myself that it would probably work like it usually does, and I even spotted [officers] out there at around 1:30 or so checking tickets, but I didn’t even worry about it.”

Small then said that when she went out to pay another $2 to keep her parking space, she accidently entered the wrong parking space number into the machine.

Business

New Parking Machines to Be Installed Thursday at Downtown Lots

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If you frequently park in downtown New Canaan for work, shopping or dining, there’s good news: New parking machines are being installed Thursday at Morse Court and Park Street lots (two apiece), with single machines going to Locust Avenue, the Playhouse and Center School lots. The solar-powered Parkeon Strada Pal Rapide model machines will be a significant improvement over the old machines, according to New Canaan Parking Bureau Superintendent Stacy Miltenberg. “They are an improvement because the instructions are right on the screen and walks people through each step, the screens are larger, in color and will be easier to see even in direct sunlight,” Miltenberg told NewCanaanite.com. “Since [the parking machine company is] located in New Jersey, communication from the machines will be quicker as well as contact with the company will always be done during regular business hours. I believe they will be more user friendly overall.”

Miltenberg added that the new machines will still take coins (nickels, dimes and quarters) as well as credit cards. The 7-inch screens will show the rates, the maximum amount of time each vehicle is permitted to park in the lots, minimum coin and credit card amounts, and enforcement hours.

Government

New Canaan Woman Loses Parking Appeal Following Dinner Date Disaster

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New Canaan’s Parking Commission upheld $95 in parking tickets issued to a town woman who claimed that she had been unable to retrieve her car, which was parked on Forest Street overnight at the instruction of local police officers, due to a lack of money and transportation. Sheryl Moroch told the volunteer commission during its May 11 meeting that she was having dinner with a companion at Tequila Mockingbird on March 29 when her date had to leave abruptly. She said that she was wearing heels that night, which is rare for her because of previous knee and ankle injuries, and as she was leaving, she slipped and fell on the sidewalk. “Someone witnessed [the fall] and called the police and they said, ‘I think someone’s intoxicated’ and by the time I got to the car, I was sopping wet and it was really coming down and I just wanted to get to my vehicle,” she said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. Moroch went on to explain that before she fell, she only had two glasses of wine with dinner that evening and although she didn’t believe she was intoxicated, she had already made the decision to call her 19-year-old son to pick her up because she’s afraid of driving in heavy rain.

Government

Residents Clash with Utilities Commission Over Cell Tower Proposal

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More than 100 New Canaan residents gathered at Town Hall Monday night to express their thoughts and ask questions regarding the Utilities Commission’s preliminary proposal to build cell phone towers at Irwin Park and West School in efforts to improve service in the north and west sections of the town. The meeting, which opened the floor to the public and was in session for more than three hours, was at times tense and acrimonious as residents and commission members clashed over how the process has gone thus far and how it could affect the town in both the short- and long-term. Utilities Commission Chairman Tom Tesluk opened with a presentation extensively detailing the plans for the proposed cell towers, but stressed that the purpose of the meeting was to garner feedback from residents and provide an opportunity for the consultants hired by the town for the project the chance to answer questions. He also reiterated that the official decision on the construction of the towers would ultimately be up to the Town Council and not the commission. “There has been a certain sense in this town, at a point, that maybe this is a done deal, maybe there’s been a Pearl Harbor sneak attack of powers, but I promise you there hasn’t,” he told the crowd.

Business

‘InstaGroom’: Area Woman Turns Love of Dogs Into Mobile Grooming Biz

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Though her dog-centered business is brand new, Marie Maguire’s love of “man’s best friend” goes back decades. A yellow Labrador retriever, ‘Sammy,’ arrived in the Maguire family’s home on the north side of Dublin, Ireland when she was 13. Sammy was “a perfect yellow ball of love and licks” who would “talk” with Maguire and her four siblings on the phone when they were away from home,” Maguire, 43, a Stamford resident, recalled on a recent afternoon. Maguire and her brothers and sisters—Susan, Patrick, Ciaran and Roisin—considered Sammy a “fifth sibling,” she said. Though the beloved yellow Lab has passed, Maguire’s abiding love and respect for dogs has endured, and after eight years of laying the groundwork—with a few detours along the way— she’s recently launched her own mobile dog grooming business.