Government

‘Greenwich Wine and Food Festival’ Founders Propose Three-Day Event in Waveny

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The founders of the Greenwich Wine and Food Festival say they’d like to move their popular annual event to Waveny and hold in the park over three days this coming fall. Held in a harbor-front park in Greenwich since its inception, the festival has had its last two installments canceled due to the pandemic, according to Suni Unger, CEO of the publication company that owns Serendipity magazine, which puts on the event. 

The renamed “Serendipity Wine and Food Festival” would be held on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday with about 600 people in attendance each of those days, preferably in the final weekend of October, Unger told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their Jan. 12 meeting. Waveny itself is “central for our attendees,” who come from Bedford, N.Y., New Canaan, Darien, Westport and Greenwich, Unger said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “But that’s really our core area and then there are a lot of people—I don’t know whether it’s scaling back in size—but we do draw a lot of national attention, mostly because of the chefs,” Unger said.

Government

Town Forgives $150 Ticket Issued for Parking in Disabled Space

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Town officials last week voided a $150 ticket that had been issued to a New Canaan woman who parked in a disabled space on Elm Street. Shohah Drakos told members of the Parking Commission during her Nov. 4 appeal hearing that the sign indicating a “handicapped” space on Elm just above the intersection with Main Street was obscured by a hanging basket, and that she didn’t see the blue-painted symbol in the road because she backed into the space while parallel parking. 

In addition, a blue line painted in the street marking out the spot did not “look like an official” line, Drakos said during the hearing, held via videoconference. “I parallel-parked into the space and saw that I had a two-hour parking OK, what I assumed was OK, and went on way and did a few errands and came back to find that I inadvertently had a ticket because I’d parked in a handicapped parking space which I would generally obviously never do,” she said. “I work with the elderly and I know what it’s like when you are counting on having a handicapped space that’s available and it’s not and it’s being taken up by somebody else.

Drew Magratten

Town Upholds $30 Parking Ticket Issued for Obstructing Two Spaces

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Officials last week upheld a $30 ticket that had been issued to a New Canaan woman on a Friday afternoon in October for parking in two spaces at a lot downtown. The driver, Eryuan Huang, told members of the Parking Commission at her appeal hearing that when she first tried to pull into space number 152 in the Playhouse Lot around 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 15, a big SUV to the right was already so close to the line that her passenger—a friend from Greenwich—couldn’t get out. “I felt like the other driver, if he opened the door, he could potentially just touch my car,” Huang said during the hearing, held Thursday night via videoconference. 

“I actually backed out several times just to think about it, and then I went in,” she said. Huang added, “I would not take another space if I could, this truly went through my mind.”

Yet she did not take a photo of the offending SUV, commissioners noted before voting 3-1 to uphold the ticket.

Government

Town Upholds $25 Ticket Issued for an Unpaid Space in Morse Court

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The Parking Commission at its most recent meeting voted unanimously to uphold a $25 ticket issued to a Ridgefield woman for an unpaid space downtown. Caroline Whelan told the Commission during a Sept. 9 appeal hearing that she tried to use the meter machine at Morse Court but that each time she pressed the ‘Start’ button “the screen just flashed ‘action forbidden.’ ”

“I inserted my card probably five or six times, pressing start and I saw a couple of other people around me who seemed like they were facing the same situation that had been trying to pay but just didn’t,” Whelan said during the hearing, held via videoconference. “And I was also late for a meeting, so I just kind of gave up. And would also like to note that the next time I parked there was on Aug.

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Town Upholds $25 Ticket Issued to Man Who Had No Money To Pay for Parking

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Town officials last week upheld a $25 ticket that had been issued to a motorist who didn’t pay for his parking space in the Park Street Lot. Lucia Pinho told members of the Parking Commission at their Sept. 9 meeting that her son didn’t take his own car to a dentist appointment in New Canaan because it was in the shop. Instead, he took his parents car and there was no money in it to feed the parking machine, Pinho said in appearing during an appeal hearing, held via videoconference. “He was rushing as normal to go to his dentist appointment that we tried to fit in before he went back to college,” she said.