Around Town

‘No One Is Forgotten’: Officials Unveil Plaques Honoring Korean, Vietnam, Gulf Wars and War on Terror Veterans at Town Hall

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During the Vietnam War, Peter Langenus had what he recalled on Saturday morning as “the honor and privilege” of commanding a rifle company. The Third Battalion, Seventh Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade was, the New Canaan man said, “200 18- and 19-year-old kids with rifles, machine guns and grenades.”

“They are the soldiers that carry the burden,” Langenus, commander of VFW Post 653, told about 100 residents gathered in the new northern entrance to Town Hall for a special dedication following New Canaan’s annual Veterans Day ceremony at God’s Acre. “The grunts. The war fighters. The gunslingers.

Government

Officials Dedicate ‘New’ Town Hall with Ribbon-Cutting, Tours [VIDEO]

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1st Selectman Rob Mallozzi Cuts Ribbon on New Town Hall 9 12 15
Uploaded by Michael Dinan on 2015-09-12. Scores of New Canaanites ventured downtown Saturday to attend an official dedication of the newly renovated and expanded Town Hall, a widely anticipated project totaling about $18 million that in recent weeks has seen municipal departments reassemble under a single roof for the first time in nearly two years. Members of the volunteer group that steered and oversaw the project to its completion, Town Hall Building Committee III—Michael Anthony, Chairman (and new father-in-law) Michael Avgerinos, Neil Budnick, Kathleen Corbet, John Goodwin, Vice Chairman Randy Salvatore and Rob Mallozzi—officially welcomed the community to its spick-and-span government building with a ribbon-cutting out front. Mallozzi, New Canaan’s first selectman, called it a “fabulous day for our community.”

“Lots of smiles on display,” Mallozzi said. “The celebration of the preservation and addition to our Town Hall will be a special memory for all of us.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan’s annual ceremony honoring and remembering those lost in the Sept, 11, 2001 terrorist attacks will return to the front steps of Town Hall this Friday, Sept. 11 at 9:55 a.m. Attendees are welcome to join town officials for refreshments following the ceremony, at the New Canaan Firehouse across Main Street, Fire Marshal Fred Baker tells us. ***

Congratulations to 2002 NCHS grad Katherine Pembrook Avgerinos, looking beautiful in these photos on occasion of her July 5 marriage to Ivan Jose Docampo Esmoris in Glyfada, Greece. Here are excerpts from the wedding notice, supplied by her mom:

The Rev. Harold E. Masback, III, former senior minister of the Congregational Church of New Canaan, officiated at the service.        

The bride is the daughter of Michael and Linda Avgerinos, formerly of New Canaan and now residing in Norwalk. The bridegroom is the son of Hilario and Maria Jesus Docampo of Carballo, Spain, in the northeast region of Galicia.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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We got a heads-up on Twitter from New Canaanite Peter “The Bushman” Bush of The FOX 95.9 FM about a recently redecorated roof of The Veggie Barn on Cross Street. Looks like town resident and Veggie Barn owner Santo Silvestro supports Donald Trump in ’16. Silvestro wasn’t immediately available for comment. The rooftop likely will be visible to any planes passing overhead. As Bush later Tweeted: “A little something for the Donald to see from 10K.”

***

While Peachwave on Forest Street did close last weekend as planned (though the team there decided last-minute to extend by one day, through Sunday), company officials tell us now that a reopening is possible.

Government

At Public Hearing, Locals Agree That Norway Maple at Town Hall Should Come Down

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Though New Canaan’s tree warden hasn’t yet made a formal decision, and opinions range on what landscaping is best long-term for the front lawn of the renovated and expanded Town Hall, the consensus among those attending a public hearing Tuesday night regarding the Norway maple tree there—including a town woman who originally had objected to the tree’s removal—was to take it down. Tree Warden Bruce Pauley’s idea of removing the Norway maple and planting a sugar maple on either side of the main path up to Town Hall appeals to Dave Hunt, a town resident for nearly 40 years and one of more than 50 people who attended the hearing. Hunt said his first reaction on hearing that the Norway maple was slated for removal was that he hates to lose a big old tree, “same as in my yard.”

“But then I think about [how] we have this quintessential town, and we saved the façade of Town Hall—we really did all the right things, in my mind, to keep that perfect little New England community—and the idea of putting in quintessential New England trees like two sugar maples just seems to fit that to a tee,” Hunt said at the hearing, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. “Especially given what I am hearing tonight about the issues with this tree.”

Those issues—outlined mostly by New Canaan’s Andrea Sandor, whose objection to Pauley’s posting had prompted the hearing—include that the tree is non-native, appears to be brittle and breaking and has suffered from soil compaction. “The tree has to be taken down—it is hazardous,” Sandor said, citing the “structural opinion” of a master arborist she had retained.