Government

Local Leaders Urge New Canaanites To Attend Feb. 27 Hearing on Proposed Rail Service Cuts; Private Busing Arranged

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Saying there’s a chance that New Canaan will see rail service along its branch line dramatically reduced—a prospect that town officials and business owners have called devastating—local leaders are urging residents to attend a public hearing and makes their voices on the matter heard next Tuesday. A town resident has arranged for private buses to depart the New Canaan train station at 4:15 p.m. on Feb. 27 to bring those protesting the potential cuts in service to UConn-Stamford for a public hearing organized by the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The hearing will run from 5 to 8 p.m. and the buses will bring attendees back to New Canaan afterwards, according to Tucker Murphy, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. “While there are a lot of issues that come up in town that we say you have to be involved and pay attention to, this is one that really, really means it because of our sheer numbers of people show up,” Murphy said.

News

Record-High 94 Percent of NCHS Seniors To Enter Internship Program

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This spring, 289 New Canaan High School seniors will participate in an increasingly popular internship program that sends the students to work for the last month of the academic year at local and area businesses and organizations. The figure represents about 94 percent of the Class of 2018—marking a high point in the history of a program that launched with just a dozen NCHS seniors in 2011. Heather Bianco, coordinator of the Senior Internship Program, attributed the rise in popularity of ‘SIP’ its many benefits for students. “It just gives them experience out of school in a work environment that they don’t get in school and a lot of them have not had a job before, so it just gives a professional environment where they can get a real-life work experience,” Bianco, who is in her second full year of overseeing the program, told NewCanaanite.com. Here’s a look at its growth (article continues below):

 

Bianco took the reins from Sue Carroll, who as coordinator of the College and Career Center at NCHS had overseen the development and first several years of SIP with help from a volunteer steering committee.

Business

New Canaan Olive Oil Moving To Shared Space on Main Street Jan. 1, with ‘Against The Grain’ Furniture Shop

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New Canaan Olive Oil, a popular shop on Elm Street’s “50-yard line” for more than four years, will move into a shared commercial space on Main Street next month. Heidi Burrows, the business’s owner, said her lease is up Dec. 31 and that she’s moving the retail shop into Against The Grain at 91 Main St. There will be no disruption for customers, Burrows said. “We expect almost everything to stay the same, just in a different location,” she said.

Government

PHOTOS: Parking Bureau’s ‘Pablo Snow-Casso’ Wins Inaugural Snowman Contest at Town Hall

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Building on the success of last December’s “ugly sweater” contest, Town Hall workers this holiday season launched a new competition that saw municipal departments vie for the title of “Best Snowman.”

With limitations on height and prohibitions on working on the snowmen on town time or putting more than $20 into them, agencies from the Police Department and Parking Bureau to the Town Clerk’s Office and combined Health-Building-P&Z-Inland Wetlands juggernaut put their entries on display Monday. They’ll remain prominently displayed for the rest of the week in the Town Hall lobby, according to Cheryl Pickering-Jones, New Canaan’s human resources director. “I think it went great,” she said of the contest. First Selectman Kevin Moynihan called the snowmen “fantastic,” saying he was “so impressed by the creativity and imagination of our town employees.”

“It’s going to be a very close call for Tucker Murphy to pick a winner,” Moynihan said. He referred to the executive director of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce.

Business

Japanese Restaurant ‘Hashi Sushi’ Opens on Forest Street [PHOTOS]

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After nearly one year of planning and renovation, New Canaan’s newest restaurant opened Wednesday on Forest Street. Centrally located on the town’s “Restaurant Row,” Hashi Sushi is to be open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days per week, according to its staff. Owned by a group that has similar eateries in New York and New Jersey, the approximately 50-seat restaurant features a full bar and sushi bar with nine stools, and its menu is extensive and diverse. Lunch option include a full menu of Hibachi choices ($11 to $14), a two- ($11) or three-roll ($13) Maki Roll combination with a wide selection including California, tuna, salmon and yellowtail scallion, as well as shrimp, chicken, sweet potato and pumpkin tempura. The lunch combos include miso soup and salad.