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Mary Gai PUSHes Housing
What does Mary Gai know that the rest of America doesn’t? The veteran real estate broker — a self-described “political junkie” who took economics courses in college — has watched banks across the...
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Walking The Walk
Two days ago, an “06880” reader suggested lowering the driving age to 14. Here’s another thought: Make ’em walk. It’s not my idea. I stole it from the New York Times, which reported on a town in...
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Retail Space Available
Do not read this if you are a commercial real estate owner. Or if you are prone to depression. Especially do not read this if you are a commercial real estate owner prone to depression. A friend...
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Smooth Sailing
Three people have mentioned it in the past 2 days, so it’s worth passing along: One side effect of the economic downturn is severely reduced traffic on I-95 and the Merritt. Morning or afternoon rush...
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Lending A Westport Hand
As a mother, Krista Bradford heard her daughter’s regular updates about friends’ parents who lost jobs. As a Westporter, Krista realized our town is better equipped than most to deal with an economic...
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Bye-Bye Balducci’s
Balducci’s is closing. Wait, wait — before you get all verklempt about your butternut squash and goat cheese ravioli, Bilinski chicken sausages and Caribbean pumpkin black bean soup, listen: It’s the...
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Bike Shop Blues
It’s hard to imagine a business better suited to today’s save-money, save-the-earth ethos than a bike shop. Its product is relatively inexpensive, easily maintained, environmentally vital, and it...
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Real Estate Roulette
The word on the treadmill is that New York Sports Club may leave Compo Shopping Center. An employee answering the phone three days ago denied the rumor. The Norwalk location closed March 31, she said,...
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In Good Times And Bad
I know we live in perilous times. I understand the reasoning behind demands for wage freezes for town employees — the police officers, firefighters, public works employees, secretaries and teachers...
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Uptick Time?
For every sign the economy is still sagging — the New York Times reports that an uptick in vasectomies means families are hesitant to grow (or else men want snippage before their insurance runs out) —...
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Crumbs Comes To Town
Caroline Purvins loves Westport. She says it’s “picturesque, quaint” — and when she looks out the window she sees “geese, not pigeons.” As a New Yorker, Caroline can be forgiven for thinking that...
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A Beacon Is Dimmed
Beacon Electronics — a granddaddy of Westport’s locally owned, hometown businesses — has turned off its lights. Perhaps time passed an electronics repair store by. But “06880” won’t let Beacon pass...
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Green Wash
Exactly 1 year ago, Westport Wash & Wax won a WeGreenWestport award. The car wash was honored for using biodegradable chemicals, recycling 70% of its water, installing solar panels, even taking...
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Omni Fitness Is Out
The web site of Omni Fitness blares: “Store Closing Liquidation! Everything Must Go! Hurry in for the best selection! Save 50-90% on all remaining treadmills, ellipticals, exercise bikes, home gyms,...
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All That Jazz
Sam Wilkes knows he’s strange. The Staples senior doesn’t like iTunes. “I want something tangible to hold,” he says. “And I like reading inlays. You learn a lot about music that way.” So Sam buys...
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Rally In The Rain
A little rain did not deter a diverse crowd of Staples students from massing in front of Town Hall this afternoon. The Stapleites — from all 4 grades, and groups ranging from Players to athletes to...
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The First Of The Season
After a long winter of dormancy, McMansions are sprouting again around Westport. The example above — prime new growth — was spotted on High Point Road. No surer sign of spring — and a reawakening...
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Navigating The Storm
The spring forecast is stormy. There will be continued turbulence, with dark clouds hovering overhead. That’s the economic forecast — not the meteorological one. Yet as Westport battens down the...
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Real Estate Reality
Realtors are hard-wired for upbeatness. And Karen Scott is among the cheeriest of the cheery realtors I know. But when I asked recently for her assessment of the current market, she did not bubble...
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Stimulus Studies
Will the government’s $787 billion stimulus package actually work? Who knows? Actually, 5 Staples students do. They’re the school’s Moody’s Mega Math Challenge team. Last month they spent 14...
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