Around Town

Friday Evening: Women’s World Cup ‘Viewing Picnic’ Planned for Pop Up Park

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Though plans to install the Pop Up Park downtown permanently through the summer have been indefinitely suspended, one local organization is moving forward—with blessings from all parties—with a Women’s World Cup “viewing picnic” to be held Friday evening at South Avenue between Morse Court and Elm Street. The New Canaan Soccer Association is encouraging locals to wear red, white and blue and attend the event that it organized and for which it secured town approval last month. Three big-screen TVs will air Australia vs. Nigeria at 5 p.m., followed by the United States vs. Sweden at 8 p.m.

“Please bring your own food and drink,” the association says.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan on Thursday put a lien on the Forest Street property cited for violating the town’s blight ordinance. Signed by Blight Officer Brian Platz, the town’s chief building official, the 1829-built multi-family home at 74 Forest St. is deteriorating and its .3-acre property is unkempt. The “Blight Lien and Certification of Continuing Lien” notice in the Town Clerk’s office says that $9,800 was owed as of May 22 and $100 per day additional is to be assessed as of that date (bringing the total to $11,500 as of Monday, June 8). ***

More than 40 residents attended NewCanaanite.com’s inaugural Community Coffee on Friday, and the sole topic of discussion for the hour-long talk was the Pop Up Park downtown, suspended by the committee that created and managed it after some merchants raised concerns about traffic and the makeshift plaza’s effect on business.

Business

Organizers Suspend Pop Up Park after Some Merchants Raise Concerns

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The committee that developed, managed and advocated on behalf of the Pop Up Park downtown—recently securing approval to keep it in place through the summer—is suspending those plans indefinitely after a group of merchants in town voiced opposition. According to a letter obtained by NewCanaanite.com that’s signed by 16 business owners downtown—most of them retailers, including Elm Street Books owner Susan Rein and Pimilico owner Jill Saunders (see full letter below, as well as those who added their names to it)—the Pop Up Park in occupying the final block of South Avenue at Elm Street obstructs traffic, blocks parking and displaces an important loading zone. While complimenting Pop Up Park Committee members for their passion and diligence, these merchants say, the park itself “hampers business” because its visitors do not patronize local shops and restaurants. “If it continues much longer, the small-town charm of New Canaan’s downtown is going to be overrun by big box chains just like many other towns in our area,” according to the letter, dated June 1. “The look of the Park does nothing to enhance the visual appeal of town,” the letter said.

Business

Approved: Pop Up Park Downtown To Remain in Place from End of School through Labor Day

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On the condition that additional details are presented within the next few weeks, officials on Wednesday unanimously approved a proposal to keep the Pop Up Park downtown in place through the summer. Overseen by a volunteer committee since it launched on a test basis three years ago, the Pop Up Park on the last block of South Avenue will run for three straight weekends starting May 30, then remain in place from the end of school (June 19) to Labor Day (Sept. 7), following a 3-0 vote by the Police Commission. Commissioners called the Pop Up Park a successful and well-run effort whose next logical step—and for the volunteers who have spent time and effort setting it up and breaking it down every weekend these past two summers, only viable step—is to try it on a semi-permanent basis. “I have not heard really much grumbling at all,” Commission Chairman Stuart Sawabini said at the group’s regular monthly meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.

Around Town

Pop Up Park: Volunteers Needed To Keep It Going This Summer

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The Pop Up Park downtown—a community gathering space that advocates want to remain in place through the summer this year—needs volunteers to help in order to keep it going, according to its organizers. The committee that oversees the Pop Up Park—setting it up, promoting the space, arranging for entertainment and weekend themes and breaking it down—intends on May 20 to apply to the Police Commission to keep the space in place from the end of school to Labor Day, said New Canaan’s Tucker Murphy, head of the committee. Yet without volunteer stewards who could, for example, make sure it’s tidy or that, in the event of heavy rain amid high winds, see that umbrellas are safely stowed—it isn’t feasible for the volunteer committee that has run it to continue doing so with no help, Murphy said. “If the Pop Up Park is going to happen this summer, we are going to need some help from the community,” she said. Launched on a test basis in the summer of 2012 and evolving each year since into a more regular fixture downtown, the Pop Up Park at South and Elm—host to activities year-round including World Cup Weekend, family gatherings, outdoor concerts and showcases for local eateries—has garnered positive feedback from residents, businesses and town officials.