News

Teen Arrested After Late-Night Fight in Country Club Parking Lot

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Police after midnight on Saturday arrested an 18-year-old Stamford man following a reported fight in the parking lot at the Country Club of New Canaan. Officers were dispatched to the club at about 12:15 a.m. on June 18 on a report of a possible fight in progress, according to a police report. There, at about 12:43 a.m. they arrested the teen following an investigation, charging him with first-degree reckless endangerment and disregarding an officer’s signal. It isn’t clear with whom the Stamford man had been fighting, what prompted it or whether any of those involved are connected to the country club. The arrested man was released on $500 bond and scheduled to appear June 28 in state Superior Court in Norwalk.

Business

Karl Chevy Awards Corvette Stingray after Hole-in-One at Waveny LifeCare Network ‘Swinging for Seniors’ Fundraiser

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In the days prior to hitting a hole-in-one on the 174-yard seventh at the Country Club of New Canaan a few weeks back, John Polera had told his friends what a nice job he thought Chevrolet had done with their Corvette Stingrays and that one day he’d like to own one. It so happened that on Monday, May 18, Polera was part of a foursome playing in a fundraiser for the Waveny LifeCare Network, where the special prize on that par-3 hole was a new, black Stingray. “After I struck the ball [with the six iron], I saw it was going right toward the flag and I said to myself, ‘This could be a pretty good shot,’ thinking it would be close,” Polera, an attorney from Armonk, N.Y., recalled Friday afternoon from the showroom floor at Karl Chevrolet on Elm Street, his friend, professional client and fellow member of that foursome Jim Darling standing nearby. “And it landed on the green, took one bounce and rolled right into the middle of the cup. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I said, ‘It disappeared.

Around Town

Young Locals Plan Paddle Tennis Fundraiser for AmeriCares, a Global Nonprofit with Deep New Canaan Roots

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Even before last fall, Rob Blosio Jr. held an abiding respect for community and volunteerism. The 2007 New Canaan High School graduate had volunteered as a New Canaan Lacrosse Association coach, did the same with NCHS fall league ice hockey, gave of his time with the Red Cross and mentored inner-city kids as a University of Richmond student-athlete. Over time, the 25-year-old town resident—a business analyst for Conair and Realtor in New Canaan—decided to help youth while directing his energies to helping in disaster recovery. “If I cannot make big monetary contributions, then I can start something that will lead to that,” Blosio Jr. said. Enter global health and emergency response organization AmeriCares, a nonprofit agency founded in New Canaan in 1982 by the late Bob Macauley.

Government

New Canaan Grand List Up $84.5 Million; Top-10 Taxpayer Accounts

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Despite fears that changes to New Canaan’s taxing structure would harm the town’s finances, the total value of taxable property here—including homes, commercial properties and motor vehicles—increased by $84.5 million from 2013 to 2014, officials say. The $8,136,949,551 total represents a 1.0489 percent increase, according to the New Canaan Assessor’s office, which compiles the town’s Grand List. Asked what the news means to local taxpayers, First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said two things:

Panic about a potentially decreased Grand List following higher taxes on homes in the $1 million range and lower taxes on those in the $3 million to $4 million range were off-base; and
Robust building activity and new construction—much of it to accommodate new families with school-age children moving to town—will help offset the cost to New Canaan of providing high-quality services to those and other residents. The increase is “a wonderful indication about where the town is in terms of desirability,” Mallozzi said. “The Grand List being healthy and growing is what you want in a community,” he said.

Around Town

Sen. Chris Murphy at New Canaan League of Women Voters’ Luncheon [VIDEO]

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The nation’s youngest senator—a fourth-generation Connecticut native on both sides of his family—on Friday told a room full of New Canaanites that the nation’s biggest challenge is its lack of investment in itself. The United States is at an historic low when it comes to government investment as a percentage of gross domestic product, U.S. Sen Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said during an annual luncheon organized by the League of Women Voters of New Canaan. “We are spending less than 3 percent of our GDP on non-defense discretionary spending—that’s basically education, transportation and science,” Murphy told more than 50 attendees gathered in the ballroom at the Country Club of New Canaan. “And if you want to know what the worry is that keeps me up at night, it’s that we are going to fail to recognize the true greatness of this country which has been this wonderful marriage between public sector investment and private sector ingenuity. Put money into your schools and your roads and your bridges and into science, and the private sector will do awesome things with those investments—create jobs, make new innovations, lead the world.