Government

Residents Ask Town Officials To Slow Drivers on Parade Hill Road, East Avenue

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Concerned after she saw an accident two weeks ago very close to a bus stop on Parade Hill Road, a New Canaan woman is asking town officials to consider repainting the road at its eastern intersection with Rural Drive. Mary Maechling, a mother of three young boys, told officials with the Traffic Calming Work Group at their June 25 meeting that a “choker affect’ could be created by painting a curb white or with reflective paint so that motorists—especially those traveling southbound—pay more attention to a curve in the road and slow down instead of crossing momentarily into an oncoming traffic lane in order to maintain their speed. “People are coming fast on Parade Hill Road, up and down, they speed up speed and it’s a straight shot up the hill,” Maechling said at the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. “Because of the natural curve of the road, it forces southbound cars to really cross over a line, but there is no line there because of the intersection,” Maechline told the group, which includes members of the police, fire, public works and emergency management departments. “So when cars are coming southbound they naturally go over the center line because they think it’s the road, then they correct themselves.

Around Town

Residents Call for Safety Measures at Complicated Locust Avenue-Route 123 Intersection

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Saying ill-timed traffic signals at Locust Avenue and Route 123 are prompting motorists to speed and run red lights, residents of the area are calling for town officials to boost police enforcement and ensure pedestrian safety. An increased number of families with young kids live in the area—there are five bus stops on Locust alone between Cherry and 123—and cars at peak times back up as far as Cherry Street itself, according to third-generation New Canaanite Lauren Cerretani, of Locust Avenue. “There are more people running red lights and I can stand on the corner and see the close calls,” Cerretani on Thursday told the Traffic Calming Work Group. The administrative team includes members of the police, fire and public works departments, as well as CERT, and fields requests for traffic calming. “It is just very dangerous there,” Cerretani said.

News

New Canaan Police Honor 15 Officers, One Civilian; First-Ever Lt. Stephen W. Wood Memorial Officer of the Year Award Given

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Though he passed away nearly four years ago, Lt. Stephen W. Wood, in ways that are profound to those who worked with him, has remained with the New Canaan Police Department. Addressing a room full of New Canaan police, their families and town officials that gathered at Lapham Community Center on Thursday morning—including Pat Wood, widow of the 33-year NCPD veteran—Capt. Vincent DeMaio said “his presence is felt pretty much every day.”

“I think of him often, and I think his memory is firmly in place with every officer worked with him,” DeMaio said during a ceremony that saw 15 police officers receive awards—including a new, special award dedicated to Wood’s memory. The Lt. Stephen W. Wood Memorial Officer of the Year Award in its inaugural dedication went to the highly respected figure’s own son-in-law, NCPD Officer Aaron LaTourette. Asked at the event what she thought and felt about the award, Pat Wood said: “It’s an honor. He would be honored.”

His daughter Kim, who was on hand with her sister Kelly, as well, said: “He was a say-it-like-it-is, do-it-like-it-is kind of guy.

News

New Canaan Woman Re-Launches ‘Slow Down In Our Town’ Campaign

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Kimberly Norton remembers the first time she spotted the iconic ‘Slow Down In Our Town’ image in New Canaan—five years ago, just after she’d moved here, in the parking lot at New Canaan Library. Printed in Rams black-and-red and encircling the silhouetted tree of our official town seal, ‘Slow Down In Our Town’ for years has graced street-side signs and bumper magnets throughout New Canaan. Its message soon struck a chord with Norton, who had lived in New York City for 20 years prior to moving to Green Avenue—accustomed to walking everywhere—and she began noticing how fast people drove here and sought to teach her kids pedestrian safety. “I heard that we had seven pedestrian accidents last year, and started hearing about people not crossing in the crosswalks,” Norton said. After a close call where a motorist nearly struck her husband, a commuter, on his walk to the train station in the morning, Norton sought to educate pedestrians and urge motorists to be more mindful at the wheel.

Government

Town to Leave Newly Re-Paved Thayer Pond Road Free of Double Yellow Line

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Saying the number two complaint from homeowners with respect to road projects—after “When will you get to this road?”—is that people don’t want road striping painted back on a newly paved street, town officials are opting to forego putting a double yellow line back on Thayer Pond Road. On a recommendation the assistant director of public works and town body that oversees traffic calming—and despite one resident’s objection—the Police Commission decided to let the newly re-paved road that borders Wilton stand as it is. The 10-year accident history of Thayer Pond Road shows that has no accidents and that striping “on a small road like that is not necessary and not required, by any means,” Police Capt. John DiFfederico said at the commission’s Dec. 17 meeting. “It is a double-yellow in Wilton over the town line, so where it begins in New Canaan there is no yellow line,” DiFederico said at the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.