Around Town

New Canaan Week in Review: ‘Keep Right,’ ‘Closing Soon,’ ‘Download Now’

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A tense week for local U.S. soccer fans that started Sunday evening in the Pop Up Park with a draw against Portugal ended in relief after a one-goal loss to Germany pushed the Americans through to the World Cup’s knockout round (they play Monday versus Belgium). Meanwhile, public safety officials issued important reminders to residents this week—the chief of police urged residents to understand pool safety after a near-drowning two towns away, while the fire marshal warned about fireworks safety. (This year’s New Canaan Family Fourth Celebration at Waveny will be held right on July 4—this Friday—here are some more details.)

Police also said they would run a DUI checkpoint in New Canaan some time within the next two weeks. Many thanks to our summer intern, Alex Hutchins, for some great contributions this past week. Here’s the Week in Review.

Around Town

Week in Review: Graduation, Demolition, Celebration

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NCHS graduation 2014
As spring turned to summer this weekend, New Canaan saw one of its best—or at least most consistent, at long last—weeks of weather roll through town. A sunny and warm day saw thousands gather at Dunning Field for the New Canaan High School Class of 2014 graduation ceremony Tuesday, just as the NCHS highly touted (and hugely popular) internship program for seniors wound down and we at NewCanaanite.com welcomed our own summer intern, NCHS junior Alex Hutchins, to the publication. Here’s the Week in Review. Town Talker

A shovel is finally in the ground as the widely discussed retail-and-residential complex at 21 Forest St. is expected to start taking shape over the next several months, and completed in about one year.

Around Town

New Canaan Week in Review: Housing, Screening, Rocking

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As the school year winds down—New Canaan High School graduation will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Dunning Field—and coyote sightings continue into June, we watched our youth baseball teams this week begin wrapping up their spring seasons (including some titles won) and the town turn attention to matters such as single-stream recycling, affordable housing, land use and capital projects. We also saw Karl Chevrolet team up with Splash Car Wash to give away a 2014 Stingray Saturday to one very surprised and excited-looking winner. Here’s the Week in Review. Town Talker

With the Plan of Conservation and Development all but in hand, many New Canaanites are focused now on the several major guiding principles for the town’s future that it addresses: housing, traffic, parking, the downtown and open space among them. Affordable housing has emerged as one focal point in the discussion, and in particular the way that New Canaan will address—in both the short and long terms—a potential problem in coming up short of a state guideline whereby 10 percent of the housing stock in each Connecticut municipality should qualify as “affordable.”

New Canaan is about one-quarter of the way there and some who run the town doubt it will ever get all the way to 10 percent.

Around Town

New Canaan Week in Review: A Community in Mourning

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In what began as a quiet summer week, New Canaan is a community in mourning this weekend, as many seek to offer hope, support and comfort to those most and forever pained by what our highest elected official is calling “a terrible tragedy”: A car backing out of a driveway on Friday afternoon accidentally struck a 2-year-old boy. He succumbed to his injuries. Two town leaders, First Selectman Rob Mallozzi and Police Chief Leon Krolikowski, offered words that express what many in the community are feeling, and they’re worth repeating here. In putting out a statement Saturday that included official word that the boy had succumbed to his injuries, Krolikowski said: “We ask that the family is given the respect and support they need during this very tragic time. The family is in our thoughts and prayers.”

That afternoon Mallozzi, who has served as a firefighter with New Canaan Fire Company No.

Around Town

Week in Review: Memorializing, Preserving, Demolishing

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New Canaan tradition and memories of things past anchored the news this past week, a short week for many work-wise with Memorial Day on Monday. We had fine weather for the wonderful, annual parade on Main Street—here’s a video and here’s a slideshow of it—and the always moving ceremony honoring our nation’s fallen servicemen and women in Lakeview Cemetery. The ceremony absolutely is one of the defining community gatherings of New Canaanites and it’s always an honor and privilege to attend and hear from our guest speakers—this year was Gary Macintyre of New Canaan, a U.S. Navy veteran. We additionally were honored to have the home, memories and photo albums of one prominent New Canaan family, the Conner Leflers of Douglas Road, opened for us in recalling two fallen servicemen in their own family, one killed in combat and another during his time of service (both NCHS grads, classes of ’41 and ’60). The balance of the week saw a hodgepodge of local news: We had a Park Street cat bite its owner, we saw the town take one major step toward addressing a parking concern downtown, we saw a longstanding complaint about a garbage enclosure rear up again in our historic district, and the week was capped with a great fundraising event at New Canaan Library.