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.

Board of Selectmen

‘Courtesy Is a Two Way Street’: Emails Reveal New Details in Ethics Investigation

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Hours after New Canaan’s highest elected official publicly denied her request for a meeting date change, Selectman Kathleen Corbet contacted the chair of the Ethics Board suggesting that the denial might have been retaliatory, documents show. An ethics complaint already had been filed against First Selectman Kevin Moynihan at the time of the Board of Selectmen’s Nov. 16 meeting. There, Moynihan said honoring Corbet’s request to move a scheduled meeting in December back one day would “be a very bad precedent.”

According to an email that Moynihan sent to the selectmen about 45 minutes prior to the meeting—an email that forms part of an ethics investigation file available at Town Hall—the first selectman said Corbet’s request “may be an Ethics Code violation.”

“We know when our Regular meetings of BOS are well in advance and we should act accordingly,” Moynihan said in the meeting. “Sometimes you may have to miss a meeting if you have personal business that is more important that the Town’s.”

Corbet made Moyhinan’s denial public during the selectmen meeting, and then emailed Ethics Board Chair Tucker Clauss just after, saying, “Not sure if this is retaliatory … I requested a date change over 30 days away from this meeting which would keep it as a Regular meeting.

Around Town

Top-10 Most-Read Articles of 2021

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The 10 most-read articles of 2021 cover a wide range of local news. The first full year of the COVID-19 pandemic saw traffic on New Canaanite exceed 2.2 million views, up more than 5.5% from 2020. 

Here they are, headlines and ledes:

10. Health Director: New Canaan Woman’s COVID-19 Complaint About Local Restaurant Unfounded (Jan. 3) “Municipal health officials said a New Canaan woman’s complaint last month that a restaurant downtown had been violating COVID-19-related rules was determined to be unfounded. According to a complaint that Tucker Murphy lodged with New Canaan’s highest elected official, the White Buffalo bar and restaurant  was ‘not following the Sector Rules’ on the night of Friday, Dec.

Board of Selectmen

ARPA Funds: Selectmen Recommend Giving Darien Company $60,000 for Marketing [UPDATED]

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Update 2:30 p.m. Tuesday


NewCanaanite · Town Councilman Cristina A. Ross at Dec. 14, 2021 Joint Committee Mtg
The audio recording embedded above is Town Councilman Cristina A. Ross speaking in favor of the “Live New Canaan” effort during a joint meeting of Town Council and Board of Finance committees held via Zoom on Dec. 14, 2021. Ross called the article below “a disparaging attempt” from this news outlet because “more and more people are getting the word out” through “Live New Canaan” and so the marketing effort is “competition.” Original Article

Town officials on Tuesday will meet to consider recommendations on allocating more than $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, including $60,000 for a little-known marketing effort launched three years ago.

Billy MacLeod

‘Something Is Not Adding Up’: Owner of New Canaan Valet Seeks Clear Answer on Forest Street Proposal

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The Police Commission at its most recent meeting put off a yes-or-no vote on a proposal from a New Canaan business owner seeking to operate a valet stand on Forest Street on weekend nights for a trial run, saying there could be legal reasons for denying the request. 

Commission Chair Paul Foley during the appointed body’s Oct. 20 meeting that he’s uncomfortable with the idea of “giving up public parking spaces to a private company.”

“I can’t go along with this, because I cannot give up public parking spaces on our street to a private business,” Foley said during the meeting, held at police headquarters and via videoconference. “I think it works great at a Roger Sherman Inn. I think it works great at a private party, and I think it works great in a parking lot where you have a restaurant and a private parking lot, if you will, at a mall or something where you pull up, you get out of your car and they valet your car. Or you pull up to a hotel, they valet your car.