Around Town

New Canaanites Gather at Lakeview Cemetery To Honor Veterans 

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Dozens of New Canaanites gathered at Lakeview Cemetery on Saturday to plant more than 1,500 flags honoring every locally interred veteran who has served the United States in both combat and non-combat positions. Organized on behalf of VFW Post 653 by New Canaanites Chris and Frances Wilson, the community event saw residents come together on a beautiful May morning to honor our veterans. “This is one of the greatest events the town puts on,” Post 653 Commander Mike McGlinn said. “There are about 200 people and 20 community groups who come together to help out the VFW… It’s a tremendous thing for a small town like New Canaan to have this done.”

The New Canaan Fire Department, New Canaan Police Department, Boy Scout troops 45, 31 and 70, Cub Scout packs 70, 45 and 7, Girl Scouts of New Canaan, SLOBs, Democratic and Republican Town Committees, New Canaan YMCA, New Canaan Chapter of the National Charity League, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Hannah Benedict Carter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The gravestones with flags is the setting in which the annual Memorial Day observance ceremony is held.

Government

‘It’s a Complicated Building’: Water Is Infiltrating Waveny House’s Walls

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Municipal officials are calling for a study of Waveny House after it was discovered that the iconic town-owned building is suffering from water infiltration in its walls. Town residents should “know the scope of the seriousness of this,” according to Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll. “I don’t think people realize, it’s a complicated building,” Murphy Carroll said at the May 1 Board of Selectmen meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “The ADA stuff’s complicated. It’s old.

Government

Carlson Proposes Paid Parking on Elm Street

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New Canaan’s highest elected official last week said the town should pursue a change in parking on Elm Street whereby spaces there are paid instead of free. First Selectman Dionna Carlson told members of the Parking Commission at their regular meeting that, at the same time, the town would “switch with Park Street to free parking,” an apparent reference to the paid Park Street Lot. “Most people understand that we have sort of a backwards system: Our most valuable parking is free and our least valuable is paid,” she said at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “And we’re seeing lots of people circling on Elm Street, creating more congestion, so it just doesn’t make sense.”

Town officials have looked at the prospect of switching Elm Street to paid and making the spaces at lots further from the very heart of downtown New Canaan free. In examining the idea 10 years ago, parking officials framed their reasons for the change in terms of downtown workers taking up the free spaces all day.

Government

‘Our Flagpole Should Not Be a Speech Mechanism’: Selectmen Pass New ‘Flag Policy’ for Town Buildings

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New Canaan’s highest elected official this week instituted a new “flag policy” for town buildings. 

First Selectman Dionna Carlson in introducing a draft policy Tuesday for the full Board of Selectmen to review noted that it wouldn’t apply to school buildings. Carlson said that during her first week in office she “had an individual come up to me and asked to fly another country’s liberation flag.”

“And I guess my predecessor allowed a week of flying that flag,” Carlson said at a regular Board meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“And I feel very strongly that the only flags that should be flown in municipal buildings are the American flag, the state of Connecticut flag and any town flag,” she continued. “I was thinking about school flags, and I really do believe that those should be reserved for the schools. The other thing that I’m trying to avoid is who gets to fly what flag when?…  If we did the school flags at the municipality, do we fly it for a football win? Then do we fly it for every debate [team] win?

Government

‘I Don’t Want Town Funds Being Used for This’: Carlson Pushes Back on Contract for Stanchion Repair

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Town officials decided Tuesday to wait for an insurance claim to be processed prior to repairing a low painted brick column that marks the start of a public road near the Merritt Parkway. One of the two columns located at the start of White Birch Road—opposite the off-ramp from Merritt Parkway Exit 37 northbound—was struck and damaged by a vehicle in December, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The “stanchion” is in the public right-of-way and helps delineate White Birch, a residential street, for motorists exiting the parkway, Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting by way of seeking approval of a $5,350 contract to repair it. Yet New Canaan’s highest elected official pushed back on spending taxpayer dollars on the project. “I’m just going to throw it out there: Why are we reconstructing this?” First Selectman Dionna Carlson said during the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference.