CT Democrat state trooper tells black candidate campaigning door-to-door that she needs a peddler's permit

Never mind, I blame Trump and his racist supporters

“A state trooper who stopped an African American Republican candidate while she was door-knocking was a driver for the campaign of Susan Bysiewicz, the Democratic lieutenant governor nominee.

In response, Bysiewicz said she fired Trooper Larry Morello, whom she characterized in a statement Thursday as an “occasional volunteer driver.”

Rev. Ernestine Holloway, who is running for state representative in Meriden, was recently handing out campaign literature with volunteers in Middlefield when she was stopped by Morello, the Hartford Courant reported. Morello was responding to a possible burglary in progress, when he addressed Holloway and told her she needed a peddler’s permit to campaign.

Holloway ceased campaigning and went to Town Hall to see if a permit was required. It was not.

“I’ve spoken to Ernestine, and I’m appalled by what she experienced,” said House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, in a statement Thursday. “Everyone in this country has the undeniable right to run for office regardless of race, gender or ethnicity, and all candidates must be allowed to do what is necessary to run a campaign without fear as they express their ideas to residents they hope to serve.”

The State Police, through a spokesman, asserted a thorough investigation of the incident will occur. Dora Schriro, the Commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection which oversees the State Police, personally called Holloway to respond to the incident, said Kelly Donnelly, spokesperson for the Governor’s Office.

Holloway did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Theresa Tillett of Windsor was the treasurer’s for Holloway’s 2017 mayoral campaign and discussed the incident with her.

“It is very clearly a case of driving while black,” she said. “She’s had people say things. It’s despicable that here it is 2018 and we are still dealing with racism.”

Bysiewicz said she was “deeply disturbed” by the incident.

“As the former Secretary of the State, I believe in fair and open elections, and I have zero tolerance for any group or person who would hinder our democratic process,” she wrote. “As soon as the details were shared with me, we severed ties.”

Holloway is running against Democratic state Rep. Emil “Buddy” Altobello of Meriden.”

It seems obvious that the offending trooper was acting on his own, and his racist violation of the First Amendment was not part of any Democratic Party strategy, but imagine the media’s reaction to this story had the political parties been reversed.

Oh, just shut up

PETA and Bloomberg: stop eating meat, immediately, or the world will end in 22 years (doomsday has apparently once again been postponed, but never mind).

In fact, according to CNN, among others, the world going completely vegetarian would be more harmful to the environment than our present carnivorous diet. Between the increase in agricultural fields that would require the destruction of woodlands, and those pesky plants themselves: rice is a huge methane producer, we’d probably destroy the earth in less than 22 years.

News you can use

Prince Charles has a servant iron his shoelaces each morning

“The Prince of Wales, 69, has reportedly earned a special nickname among the staff at Clarence House: The Pampered Prince. That’s because, according to Amazon Prime’s new documentary “Serving the Royals: Inside the Firm,” Charles needs help doing just about everything.

“His pajamas are pressed every morning, his shoelaces are pressed flat with an iron, the bath plug has to be in a certain position and the water temperature has to be just tepid,” Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, revealed in the documentary, per Yahoo.

Burrell even said that Charles “has his valets squeeze one inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush every morning.”

The butler’s duties reportedly extend to fetching items just a few feet away from the prince. “On one occasion, he rang me from his library and he said, ‘Oh Paul, a letter from the Queen seems to have fallen into my wastepaper bin. Would you pick it out?'” Burrell claimed.

… [He - or, undoubtedly one of his flunkies] brings his own toilet seat with him when he travels, changes outfits five times a day, only recently discovered what Saran wrap is and never shows up to a dinner party without his own food.”

Aren’t you glad we won our revolution? For decades, this pompous twit, scheduled to be the next king of England, has hectored the rest of the world on the need to lower our standard of living and return to the pre-industrial age, all so we can save the earth from global warming, and ensure that his pheasant hunts aren’t disturbed. Perhaps the guillotine is a tad excessive, but a return to the English tradition of ridding the country of pestilent kings — Edward II comes to mind — by locking the fool in The Tower and thrusting a red-hot iron bar up his rectum might meet with great approval by his subjects.

Pending on Sumner Road

49 Sumner Road, last asking $1.399 million, reported as pending. The listing notes that any sale is “subject to third party (that would be the foreclosing party) approval, but the fact that it’s “pending”, rather than under a contingent contract should mean that that approval has been granted.

I find these cases very sad — a displaced family, a loss, and economic trouble are nothing to gloat over. But that’s always the danger with mortgages. My own father was born in 1905 and lived through the depression, and never took out a loan. Of course, that meant he sold his brownstone on W. 11 Street for $50,000 in 1954 when he pulled up roots and moved us to Riverside. I believe that brownstone last traded for $20 million a decade or so ago. Sometimes, leverage can be your friend.

In any case, this house is going. It needs a lot of work to bring it up to date, and Sumner Road is too far north for my and the general market’s taste, but if the new owner is getting it for a discount for the $1.399, it could make sense.

Sales price disclosed

37 Mooreland Road, new (2016) construction off Round Hill, has sold for $8.4 million. That’s certainly not the $11.950 the builder was hoping for but still, an impressive sale.

37 Mooreland is on 4 acres split off from an original 8-acre lot at 35 Mooreland. The entire eight acres sold for $5.675 million in March, 2015, so i assume there’s room here for the builder of 37 to pocket a tidy, if somewhat disappointing profit

Not every buyer hits a home run

37 Mianus View Terrace, Cos Cob, sold new in 2006 for $2,.050 million. Today, after quite a while on the market, it’s reported as under contract. Last asking price: $1.6

An impressive flip, unnoticed by me until just now

Because he so infrequently posts (about one month or so), I tend to forget to check brother Gideon’s own blog, Greenwich Bored and Razed, but I just did, and learn that I missed a $1,000,000 flip of 37 Tower Road in Riverside last August: There was $6.3 sale in April, and another would-be buyer paid that person $7.3 in August.

Lucky (former) owner. The builders didn’t fare so well: they priced their project at $7.995 in 2017, and finally settled for the aforesaid $6.3. But such is life. Flips like this don’t happen often, but in Greenwich, where wealth is unlimited, disappointed buyers do occasionally pay extreme premiums to get what they want (check the link to Gideon’s post for other examples).

. God bless them, says I.

Call me spoiled, but for three million bucks, I want a garage

And a better design. 19 South End Court, Old Greenwich, has been on the market since early 2017, when it began at $3.848 million and has slowly worked its way down to today’s price of $3.295. Nothing at all wrong with the street: easy walk to Old Greenwich village, the school, and the train, but I can see why this particular spec house is meting buyer resistance.

The exterior is, at least to my eye, unappealing. Of the claimed six bedrooms, two are in the basement, which, I hope, rules them out as full-time rooms for children, separate baths or not. Worst of all is the lack of a garage. A carport offers no place to hide bicycles from our persistent bike thieves who regularly visit from Stamford, and nowhere to store the usual accoutrements of suburban life: lawnmower, yard tools, etc. — garages collect junk and unnecessary items, true, but they can also shelter useful items.

Because of the tiny lots in so much of Old Greenwich and their subsequent FAR limitations, carports are increasingly common, even for houses priced in the mid-threes. I personally wouldn’t want such an expensive home if it came with just a carport..

Price cut in Harbor Point, Riverside

4 Highgate Road, now priced at $3.875 million, down from its original April, 2016 price of $4.995. Nice house, and for all my teasing of Harbor Point neighbors for their propensity to sue one another, the development is in fact an attractive neighborhood, with a private beach and even a communal dock.

Located in the AE flood zone, which is discouraging, and the description in the previous listing that it enjoys “seasonal water views” reminds me of the Ogden Nash ditty:

“I think that I will never see,

A billboard lovely as a tree.

In fact, unless the billboards fall,

I’ll never see a tree at all.”

Billboards, leaves; whatever.

I also find this bit a little off-putting: “Approvals & plans for raising roof height to 8+ft adding approx. 950 sq ft of FAR. Can open up back side of roof to add patio doors & outside deck area for water views”. I like the house as is, but this language might suggest to potential buyers that there’s something wrong with the design, and that they’re looking at a major construction project: at nearly $4 million as is, that’s daunting.

I might wait to suggest that possibility until a prospect was actually in the house, and not mention it at all unless an objection to these perceived deficiencies were raised.

How the mighty have fallen

188 Round Hill Road, which sold for $14.650 million in 2006 and put back on the market by the buyer in 2008 for $18 million, has ben reduced today to $8.750.

It sits on eleven acres but the house itself, if not a complete wreck, could use some serious work, both enlarging the existing 5,600 sq.ft. structure and a gut-renovation, so the property has been listed as land, as well as a residence.

The new listing claims that the place has now been “aggressively priced”, but given the decline of Rogues Hill prices, this property may require a step-up to a pit bull’s aggression, rather than the current dachshund’s.

An easy stroll to the round hill golf club, and to walter noel’s house across the street. (come to think of it, this house has been on the market since walter’s and bernie madof’s ponzi scheme EXPLODED — no link to the two events, so far as i know, but an interesting factoid)