A public-private partnership at the Transfer Station is saving the town money, officials say. The Swap Shop, organized and operated by Planet New Canaan with support from the Department of Public Works, has helped New Canaan become more green-friendly by keeping many items out of the municipal waste stream. That also has helped reduce the town’s bill for disposing of waste, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “We feel this is a successful program,” Mann said during the May 21 Board of Selectmen meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “I still think it’s saving money.”
Although some donated Swap Shop items ultimately become garbage because they’re not claimed, “it’s less than what we would have received having not had the Swap Shop,” Mann said.
National planning expert Jeff Speck has spent his career studying what makes cities thrive and has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. From economists, epidemiologists, and environmentalists to preservationists, planners, and parents, all agree that walkable communities are better in just about every way. Speck explains why walking is useful, particularly regarding land-use, zoning, transit, and parking, and then focuses on how, by sharing examples of places where walking is safe, comfortable, and interesting.
Members of the New Canaan Pollinator Group gathered to dedicate a new pollinator garden to the late Cam Hutchins at Bristow Park in New Canaan.
One of New Canaan’s most unique and active nonprofit organizations is hosting its major fundraiser in about two weeks. Planet New Canaan’s Green Gala will be held 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14 at the Carriage Barn Arts Center (tickets here). Sponsors include Walter Stewart’s Market, Northeast Building Supply, Karl Chevrolet and NewCanaanite.com.
We put some questions to the nonprofit organization’s president, Robin Bates Mason, ahead of the event. Here’s our exchange.
This week on “0684-Radi0,” our free podcast (subscribe here in iTunes), we talk to Robin Bates Mason, president of Planet New Canaan, about efforts to install a pollinator garden dedicated to the memory and legacy of former Conservation Commission Chair Cam Hutchins in Bristow Park. Those efforts include a matching grant from Sustainable CT for which advocates for the Cam Hutchins Pollinator Garden currently are fundraising (details for donating here). Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:
