Marzullo applies for Accelerated Rehabilitation

Damn, I was hoping to hang him!

Our Third Selectman (okay, whatever they call that position now) has applied for AR for his recent arrest for shoplifting. Cases like his are exactly what AR was designed for: people who screw up and are unlikely to do so again are diverted from the criminal justice process for a year and, if they keep their nose clean, do community service, or whatever the judge orders, their arrest record is erased and they can continue with their lives. And it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: there are no second servings.

I have absolutely no sympathy for Marzullo's politics, and his stance on gun confiscation is particularly galling, but that doesn't mean I can't feel for him as a person, and wish him well. His actions that day don't seem to be part of a pattern of behavior, like those of a certain Hollywood predator, for instance, but rather some sort of weird, out of character acting-out. I don't know what's going on with his life right now, but I hope it works out. God bless, Drew.

Junior League vs Sam Bridge Nursery tonight, 7:15, Town Hall (UPDATE: Bridge 1, Jr. League 0 )

Junior League President Debra McLaughlin and her wrecking crew; look pretty harmless, don't they? Wrong.

From Sam Bridge: 

Dear Friends,

Thank you all for your patience and continued support. We are hoping that all of you will join us for [tonight's] P & Z Meeting at Greenwich Town Hall in the Town Hall Meeting Room at 7:15pm. We are first on the agenda. We are looking forward to putting this unfortunate situation behind us and are hoping for a positive outcome. 

Today a few of us sat in on the preliminary P & Z meeting. It is clear that the Commission is mistaken regarding our point of view. We DO NOT support any changes to Section 6-94(a). Anyone wishing to speak, we ask that you keep your comments brief, relevant and respectful. 

We ask that the Commission DOES NOT vote for any of the proposed language in Section 6-94 (a), instead leaving it as is. We vehemently oppose any changes to the special exception. We specifically take issue with lines c) and d).

Sec. 6-94. PERMITTED USE BY SPECIAL EXCEPTION OR SPECIAL PERMIT. 
c) self-adjusting backup alarms shall be installed on all equipment that requires backup alarms in accordance with applicable safety standards; and
d) inventory delivery and commercial machinery shall only be used on the property, weekdays between 7:00 a.m. and 6 p.m., and Saturdays, between 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. No Commercial machinery shall be used at any time on Sundays or holidays. 

Subsection c is already covered in the Town of Greenwich Noise Ordinance chapter 6B and is therefore redundant. Furthermore, our business is excluded from these types of restrictions according to the exclusions in chapter 6B:

Sec. 6B-7 Exclusions.
(e) Sound created by safety and protective devices. 
(f) Farming equipment or farming activity. 
(g) Backup alarms required by the occupational Safety and health Administration or other state or federal safety regulations. (Bd. of Health, 2/8/1984.)

The proposed changes to Section 6-94 will place an undue hardship on ours and other businesses that operate under this special exception. Due to the nature of our business, in rare instances we are forced to take inventory deliveries and are required to use machinery outside of the aforementioned hours. As a nursery, the majority of our products are perishable goods. Leaving perishable goods on a truck for too long results in un-saleable inventory. 

The green industry is largely seasonal. Growers have small windows of time to finish and ship their perishable goods. As a small grower ourselves, we deal with small local independently owned growers. Occasionally weather determines when plant material can be shipped, i.e. late season snow storms, freezing temperatures, etc. This sometimes requires us to receive plant material on the weekends, albeit infrequently.

Plants do not take Sundays or holidays off. Although we are closed for business on Sundays and 6 of the federal holidays, we still work on these days. Plants must be maintained. Unforeseen weather conditions, like a spring freeze may cause us to have to operate machinery on a Sunday to protect our inventory (move large trees and shrubs inside). 

Irrigation is a vital element in farming. If an irrigation pump stops working on a Sunday, we have to use a tractor to pull the pump from the pond. Without water, our crops will wither and die. In an industry where margins are so thin, the loss of even a single crop can have a catastrophically negative impact on a company. Such an impact that it can affect a company for several years. 

What is considered a holiday? Some 'holidays' are essential for our business. We absolutely have to operate machinery. It would simply be impossible to give 500 children free hayrides on Columbus Day without the use of our tractors. President's day falls just before the spring rush. Veteran's Day falls just before the Christmas rush. It is common for us to receive deliveries on these holidays. Our business is heavily seasonal. There are only certain times of the year when we have an opportunity to generate revenue. If we cannot be prepared for busy seasons we cannot run a successful seasonal business. 

Some of our inventory arrives via FedEx and UPS. We have no control over when those deliveries arrive. It is quite common that they arrive on some of the holidays we are open. 

These are just a few examples of how changes to Sec. 6-94(a) directly impacts our business and other local businesses similar to ours. While the Commission will be voting on proposed language and proposed language only, we would like to point out that if this language is voted into code it very much affects our ability to conduct a profitable business both now and in the future. This very much is a Sam Bridge issue. 

We do however support the new definition for commercial nurseries, Sec. Sec. 6-5(a)(11).

Stand up for local business. Stand up for families. Stand up for history. Stand up for green space. Stand up for farming. Stand up for community. Stand up for Greenwich. Stand up for what's right. Stand with Sam tomorrow. 

Warm Regards,

The Entire Bridge Family

Sam Bridge III, Ron Bridge, Mary Jo Bridge Palmer

Sam Bridge IV, Maggie Bridge, Nick Bridge, Bill Palmer, Rich Palmer

Riverside sales price disclosed: $6.460 million

114 Cedar Cliff Road. That's quite a bit, but substantially less than the $10.750 originally asked in 2014. As our Greenwich Association of Realtors likes to do, this is being recorded as having been on the market "just" 561 days. In reality, it was allowed to expire in December, 2015 and brought back to life in January, thereby restarting the clock. By my math, that would be 571 days, 2014-2015, and 561 days, 2016-2017, or 1,132 days.

But that would hurt our cheerful statistics.

Two more contracts

26 Spring Street, Riverside, asking $1.870 million, gone in mere days. Sheesh.

And in Havemeyer, 25 Stuart Drive, at $1.050, also has a contract. I assume it's a land sale, but maybe a complete re-do.

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly"

FAA looking into complaint about an Arkansas turkey drop. What, no one in Arkansas ever watched WKRP?

Two-lot land listing in Riverside

35 Hidden Brook Road, at $3.395 million. That's an absurd price to pay for the existing house, of course, but it has two legal building lots and, if actually buildable (you always want to confirm these things), then somewhere between $3 and $3.395, for this street and this neighborhood would seem reasonable. 

Well, dang, I was wrong on this one

When 70 Sumner Road, up Rogues Hill Road approaching Bedford, came on the market in April priced at $4.295 million, I predicted a quick sale: 

70 Sumner Road is new today at $4.295 million. That would ordinarily seem an aggressive price for this street, as far removed from town as it is, but look here: it's got everything that today's buyers demand. I predict a quick sale; maybe a bidding war?

It had the Zebra, the Orange, even a modified version of the Chair, but none of those worked; today the house is listed with a new broker, with a new price: $3.295 million.

You just never know.

(It's also possible, I suppose, that would-be buyers were turned off by this: "EXCLUSIONS: GARDEN POTS AT FRONT DOOR AND POOL TERRACES." Unless those pots contained the created remains of beloved ancestors, I'd think that someone might be turned off by a seller seeking $4.3 million while insisting on keeping her flower pots. Let go and let live.)

A couple of large contracts reported

5 Indian Head 

5 Indian Head Road, Riverside, $4.995 million ask. Not my particular cup of tea, but we've discussed that before. Good location.

526 North ST

526 North Street, asking $3.895 million. It started off at $4.250 in February, 2016 and met market residence, but the sellers pretty-much held their ground, and have prevailed. De gustibus non disputatum.

I probably should have saved at least one load of #6 birdshot yesterday, for today

Happy Halloween!

How one mother helped her 5-year-old learn about cultural appropriation and Halloween costumes

Sachi Feris

My five-year-old, who I had successfully shielded from Disney princesses until recently, finally figured out that “Let it go” (which she had been singing with her friends for a over a year), was from the movie “Frozen.” My daughter promptly demanded to see “Frozen” along with “Moana,” inspired by a Moana-themed birthday party favor (sunglasses). We saw both films within the month and, in early August, she declared that she wanted to be “Elsa” from “Frozen” this Halloween, and “Moana” the following Halloween.

I had some reservations regarding both costume choices…about cultural appropriation and the power/privilege carried by Whiteness, and about Whiteness [capitalized?] and standards of beauty…and so our conversations began:

“Elsa is an imaginary or made-up character. Moana is based on real history and a real group of people…if we are going to dress up a real person, we have to make sure we are doing it in a way that is respectful. Otherwise, it is like we are making fun of someone else’s culture.”

Hearing me push back against her Moana choice, my daughter re-asserted her desire to dress up as Moana (for Halloween 2018!). I closed this initial “Moana” conversation by telling her: “We would have to do some research and figure out if there is a way to dress up as Moana that is respectful of her culture.”

Since her 2017 Halloween choice was, in fact, Elsa, I returned to this costume choice and shared: “There is one thing I don’t like about the character of Elsa. I feel like because Elsa is a White princess, and we see so many White princesses, her character sends the message that you have to be a certain way to be “beautiful” or to be a “princess”…that you have to have White skin, long, blonde hair, and blue eyes. And I don’t like that message. You are White, like Elsa—if you dressed up as a character like Moana, who has brown skin, you would never change your skin color. But I’m not sure I like the idea of you changing your hair color to dress up as Elsa—because I think Elsa’s character could also be a short, brown-haired character like you.”

Later, as my daughter continued her daily ballads/sing-alongs to “How far I’ll go” from Moana, I began doing some research of my own with regard to if/how my daughter, a White child, could dress up as Moana in a respectful way, in case her 2018 costume choice got bumped up.

I came up with three ideas:

First, I considered whether my daughter and I could find Polynesian artists that made traditional clothing and both learn about and support their work—but I wasn’t coming up with such artists…and, moreover, it still felt problematic to “dress up” as another culture, (even while trying to learn about and honor it). So much for idea #1.

My second idea, which I shared with my daughter, involved thinking about different qualities that Moana exemplifies, like bravery, strength, love of family, and caring for the environment, and using those qualities as inspiration to dress up as “Moana’s sister”.

My daughter was not impressed. “No! I want to be the real Moana!” she said with a scowl on her face.

.... “Anyway,” I added, “I don’t like the idea of dressing up using the same traditional clothing that someone from Moana’s culture may have worn because that feels like we are laughing at her culture by making it a costume. A child whose family is Polynesian could dress up using that type of traditional clothing but Moana’s culture is not our culture. If you want you could dress up as someone from one of your cultures, you could be a tango dancer from Argentina…(or as Che Guevara!). [Communist, executioner of political prisoners and homosexuals, fine: just don't wear a  coconut brassiere]  Otherwise, maybe you could be a modern-day Moana and dress up in the clothing you think Moana might wear today.”

After a few days of the same conversation, my daughter decided that she would, instead, dress up like Mickey Mouse for Halloween 2018.

“That is a great solution,” I told my daughter. “And with Mickey Mouse, we don’t have to worry about making fun of anyone or dressing up as a culture different from our own because Mickey Mouse is a pretend mouse! [Earth to Saschi: so is Moana, and so is Elsa and - hold on now, so are Halloween costumes!]

This brings be to my third “idea” on “how to dress up as Moana”…which was to tell my daughter she could not do so. In the end, my daughter came to this on her own.

Shouldn't someone be calling the child-abuse authorities on this woman?

Lost weekend

Shouldn't he be in his mother's basement, blogging in his pajamas? Why's he bothering US?

Busy stocking pheasants and serving as a Range Safety Officer for hunters wanting to sight in their rifles in anticipation of Maine's opening day, November 6th (? that Monday, anyway). Turned out that the nomads were more interested in seeing their Patriots almost lose to the Jets. Off to try to shoot some of those just-released pheasants this morning, but the blog should be active again by noon. when I'll report on any real estate news that may have arisen during the weekend. Don't hold your breath: we're moving into the dormancy period, which  is why I'm having fun in Maine this week..