Around Town

New Canaan Man Bicycles 4,000 Miles for Charity

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On Aug. 29, 58-year-old New Canaan resident Mark Thorsheim completed a 4,000-mile cross-country bicycle journey, successfully raising over $100,000 and counting for local charity Career Resources Incorporated. 

Starting his trip in Norwalk, Thorsheim would bike across 15 states, ascending 125,000 feet of elevation before reaching his final destination, Journey’s End Espresso, a coffee shop located in Astoria, Ore. “In the back of my mind, I’ve always wanted to ride across the country,” Thorsheim told NewCanaanite.com. “I started riding actively again when I turned 50, I used to play a lot of soccer, and just probably wore a few too many joints down. I had my knee replaced a few years ago and my hip replaced in February.

Arthur Conley

Silvermine Residents Call for New Traffic-Calming Measures

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The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Carriage Barn Arts Center. Residents of Silvermine said last week that additional traffic-calming measures are needed in their neighborhood, as frequent speeding in the area creates a public safety issue. In 2017, the speed limit on Silvermine Road was reduced from 30 to 25 mph. However, residents such as Mark Thorsheim say it is not enforced frequently enough. Motorists speed and even pass each other on the narrow roadway, creating a hazard for the area’s many pedestrians, Thorsheim told members of the Police Commission at their June 21 meeting.

Around Town

May Fair 2021 Canceled Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

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May Fair has been canceled this year due to the pandemic, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church officials said. Though the town has made “outstanding progress” on vaccinating residents and the state is permitting fairs to operate at 50% capacity, “we carefully discerned that it is still too early to attempt such a large, multi-faceted gathering,” according to a letter published by St. Mark’s Senior Warden Stan Twardy, Junior Warden Mark Thorsheim and event Chairman George Wright. “We believe that the joyful spirit of May Fair is rooted in the joyful Spirit of God,” the letter said.

Government

‘I Fear for My Life’: Silvermine Residents Seek More Substantial Changes To Slow Motor Vehicle Traffic in Neighborhood

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Though officials two months ago lowered the speed limit on Silvermine Road from 30 to 25 mph, motor vehicle traffic still whizzes through the neighborhood and its increasingly popular, pedestrian-oriented commercial area, residents said last week. Describing Silvermine as unique in that it has its own market, arts center and soon-to-reopen inn and restaurant, residents told members of the Police Commission at their regular meeting that more must be done in order to reduce the speed of cars and trucks to safe levels. Mark Thorsheim said that reducing the speed limit hasn’t changed the behavior of drivers. “There need to be physical infrastructure changes beyond the 25 mph,” he told members of the Police Commission at their June 14 meeting, held in the New Canaan Police Department’s training room. “Silvermine, the road, the neighborhood is different than other roads.

Government

‘We Are Angry, Sick of It’: Silvermine Road Residents Seek 25 MPH Speed Limit, Single Yellow Line

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The speed limit along the mile-long stretch of Silvermine Road that runs down from Route 106 to the market and arts center should be reduced by 5 mph and it should have a single yellow centerline, rather than a double, homeowners told town officials last week. The existing 30 mph speed limit is out-of-step with other, similar roads in town that have 25 mph limits, and Silvermine Road has become “is a speedway for contractors racing back and forth between Norwalk and New Canaan,” Mark Thorsheim told members of the Police Commission at their regular meeting on Wednesday. Silvermine is very much a “walking community” and “pedestrian neighborhood” with “pedestrian activities” at the Silvermine Arts Center and with the market and eventual tavern re-opening, Thorsheim said at the meeting, held in the training room at the New Canaan Police Department. “We are angry, sick of it,” he said of the 30 mph speed limit. With that request, Thorsheim and other residents of Silvermine Road asked whether the newly repaved street surface could go back to a single yellow centerline.