Around Town

Quiet Heroes of New Canaan: Izzy Kaufman

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James Marks didn’t hire New Canaan High School senior Izzy Kaufman at Greenology—she’d been working for a predecessor fresh foods provider in the shop, located at the corner of Main Street and East Avenue. But he says now, “I wish I could have more of her.”

One of the most impressive things the teen has done at the organic, plant-based and natural foods provider is establish a successful food scraps program. 

WIth support from Marks, Kaufman established a program where the local Oak Forest Farm picks up scraps every day from Greenology—and it’s already seen about 2,000 pounds collected. “We have quite a bit of food scraps making juice, all the pulp and rind that’s left over,” Marks told NewCanaanite.com. “We easily fill a garbage can of that stuff.”

Asked what Kaufman is like as a worker (Marks launched Greenology is November 2020), he said “fantastic.”

“If she wasn’t in school she’d be a manager right now,” he said. “I’d have her managing a shift.

Government

‘People in This Town Don’t Like To Walk’: Officials Advise Commission To Leave Loading Zone Unchanged

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New Canaan shouldn’t relocate or otherwise alter a frequently abused loading zone on Main Street, police said this week, because doing so would only move the problem elsewhere and risks an exacerbating intervention by the state. 

Instead of making the loading zone at the East Avenue intersection shorter—or moving it, or changing the times at which non-truck-driving motorists are fined for parking there—the town should do all it can to notify drivers that it’s trucks-only from 7 to 11 a.m., authorities said during Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Police Commission. The loading zone itself does get used sporadically throughout the day, New Canaan Police Community Impact Officer Kelly Coughlin told the appointed body. “It does get busy on that upper half of Main Street,” Coughlin said during the meeting, held via videoconference, referring to Main between East and Locust Avenues. 

“So I do notice that parking fills up, but the other thing I’ve noticed is the other half—the lower half, south of that intersection—there are quite a few spaces right by Connecticut Muffin, in front of Gofer, on both sides. A lot of those businesses aren’t open until 11 o’clock or in COVID times, even 12 [p.m.] or later, but a lot of people don’t seem willing to cross over the crosswalk or go a little bit further. People want the convenience of parking right in front of the store.

Government

‘It’s Busier Than People Think’: Officials Re-Examining Main Street Loading Zone

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Municipal officials say they’re collecting data to help determine whether to change the parking rules or configuration in a long-discussed area of downtown New Canaan that’s seen a rise in recent years in service-oriented businesses. Members of the Police Commission are asking an officer assigned to the downtown beat to observe the area of Main Street just north of East Avenue in the mornings. Officer Kelly Coughlin will gather information for police and parking officials so they can better understand how heavily a 7 to 11 a.m. loading zone there is used by delivery trucks, and whether those seeking to patronize businesses in the immediate vicinity have ample on-street parking spaces further up Main Street or across it, in front of Town Hall. The main focus is a two-hour window from 9 to 11 a.m., when parking enforcement officers are patrolling downtown New Canaan and several businesses that front the loading zone—including greenology and StretchLab—are open and busy serving customers and clients. “It’s busier than people think,” Coughlin told the Commission at its Jan.