Pass the Bat-Squeegee Robin

The night is young, but I think we already have the funkiest Halloween incident to go down in town. My girlfriend saw the window washers at Landmark Square today up high on the job dressed as Batman & Robin.

New, Albeit Brief, Bike Lane Cuts Through The East Side

What's this running in front of the newly completed Glenview House on the East Side? Could it be a bike lane?! Was that so hard Stamford? Can we all agree that a dedicated lane such as this is safer than leaving cyclists to fight cars on open road or dodge pedestrians on the sidewalks? From the angle in the pic on the right you can see the bike lane is even used to coral traffic lanes into a more modest, uniform width. It's a simple trick to slow speeding. Paint is much cheaper than speed traps.

Design New Haven reports that the city of (you guessed it) New Haven is developing "Complete Streets" legislation that strives to remake city streets safer and more inviting for pedestrians and cyclists.

Combine that with the type of "New Urban" development Glenview House & it's brother down the block, The Eastside Commons represent with mixed residential and commercial uses, improved streetscapes, and shallow setbacks and you end up with walkable, human scale communities that could serve as a model of neighborhood center development throughout the city.

Its funny how a Walgreen's is set to fill the ground floor retail space in Glenview House. It really sets up the project as the antithesis of the CVS project planned in Bull's Head, a one story retail building sitting in what amounts to a traffic median at the intersection of 6 roads where a hillside was blasted away to carve out an acre to pave over as a parking lot.

Trading 2 for $90 New Balance for a New Hotel

FD Rich may have delayed their Ritz Carlton Project but that doesn't mean they aren't out there looking to make some moves. Out goes the tiny sneaker store on Atlantic St and in with a 15 story expansion of the Courtyard Marriott Hotel. The building is also slated to have restaurant space and a rental apartments. Check out some of the renderings.

From Atlantic St looking South:


From Atlantic St looking North:


From Broad St:



While the Courtyard is going up, Rich's other project behind the east side of the mall looks to have been truncated. Haven't been drinking your milk I take it Luxe.

Before:


After:


What do you think? My first impression is the Courtyard might want to lend a few stories to the Luxe.

Street Art in the South End.

If you dip under one of the railroad bridges to somewhere there is some cool street art from Bille Kid in Stamford's South End. You'll find Vice President Mom is keeping the old Yale & Towne Factory safe from wolves & Russians along Henry Street.

John is lurking somewhere in the complex as well. Slow down there Mac! Remember who is just a heartbeat away!


Check out the rest of Billi Kid's work on Flickr.

Is the CTW in "Real America"?

From the top of the ticket down the GOP has begun to draw new Pro-American/ Real American borders. Are we Real America here in Stamford? I'm guessing their answer is no. The Avon Theatre is probably enough to disqualify us alone. If only we could capture more of the idyllic small town magic of Wasilla:

Black Bear

An update from the seemingly abandoned bar tour... no there is actually a freaking bear walking around town.

My dad left me a message saying he saw on Channel 12 news that the bear was seen as far south as Scalzi Park. He also saw that Fairfield thinks they totally have a shot at states this year.

And here I thought all our female Republican Governors were out there protecting us from encroaching wildlife with airborne firepower. Get your ass over to Sikorsky Rell.

Mill River Update

Major work on the planned Mill River Park and Greenway is finally set to start December. Green Seal Environmental has been awarded the contract to begin the 18 month long river restoration work. From the Mill River Collaborative’s Newsletter:

Green Seal bid $5.7 million to perform the construction which involves removal of the Mill Pond dam and walls and construction of a new river channel surrounded by native plants and trees. The work also involves restoration of two small salt marches, partial removal of an old dam under the Pulaski St. Bridge and removal of invasive plant species at several locations along the river…

The contractor will create a bypass channel for the river during construction by installing steel sheet piling the length of the pond 25 ft from the east wall. The new river channel will then be constructed to the west of the temporary channel and the west slope will be graded and planted up to the river path. Once the new channel is completed, the river will be directed into its new path and the east side of the flood plain will be completed.

The newsletter goes on to promise the majority of the park will be built by 2011.

The river restoration is the first of several major construction projects that will occur in the park over the next two years. On the east and west sides of the Mill Pond area, the Collaborative and the City are partnering to construct the largest portions of the park during and immediately following the river restoration work.
This will include a complete redevelopment of the Stage I park site between West Broad and Main Streets. It will involve a totally new topography with hills, and an undulating river valley where a series of pools and riffles will replace the old Mill Pond and where residents will have direct access to the water from banks planted with native vegetation.
The construction will include new path systems, hundreds of new trees and shrubs, a new cherry tree promenade, a new great lawn that can host events for thousands of people and new lighting, irrigation and utility systems. This construction will set the stage for the building of major park features such as the fountain, carousel and “porch” with its café, and grand vistas.

In addition there is a flurry of activity along the greenway corridor.

Recently the Advocate reported the Urban Development commission is finally making headway on a 5 story mixed use condo project that essentially sits in the park. (This is the fenced lot on Washington Blvd. our buddy JR points to in this post.) The building, which has yet to pass the zoning board currently includes in the design a lit entrance into the park and stores that can house visitor amenities.

The new RBS headquarters is slowly wrapping and includes a riverwalk & kiosk open to the public along the rear of their property. A block over on the east side of the river, RBS has purchased and boarded up nearly all the multifamily homes. No one knows quite what they intend to do yet, but the city is on record saying they won’t approve any use that doesn’t incorporate an extension of the greenway.

North of Broad St. the city has taken tentative steps toward forging a connection to Scalzi park. I saw they were bidding on a foreclosed property on Hanarahan St. with the intention of eventually acquiring all the houses on the street and replacing them with a river park. I even noticed on a run recently the shady road that runs along the river connecting Scalzi to the middle school got a major clean up possibly in anticipation of some upgrade into a more formalized connection into the park.

Despite some recent controversies, Harbor Point in the South End is chugging along and the developer has been required to complete many of the parks in Phase 1 of the overall 10 year construction project. The developer also has an office tower project along the river & tracks called Gateway that will most certainly include some greenway incorporation in the vein of RBS’s contribution. Both projects will help string together an albeit discontinuous greenway all the way to the sound.

Three Boobs Are Better Than One

This past week I noticed an inordinate amount of teenage dirt bags in front of the Avon. I peeked my head around the corner to see what if any attraction had drawn them from their parents basements (no offense meant gentlemen - I was a basement dweller my teen years as well). What did I find... a Dawn of the Dead screening. Cult Classics at the Avon lives past summer!

Check out the schedule through the end of the year here. The only thing I remember from Total Recall (Nov. 20) is the lady with the three boobs so I may have to check that one out again. I'm also interested to learn in Invasion USA (Dec. 4) why Chuck Norris bothered to tuck his shirt in if he was just going to leave all the buttons undone.

It's Pat

The East Main St. Dunkin Donuts is now my favorite in Stamford. First off, I’m firmly in the Dirty D camp. Starbucks is too classy for me and I can’t feel like a man using pretend names for small, medium, large. Also, why am I paying to put in my own cream? I figure I might as well have brewed it at that point. On the other hand Donut Delight looks too ghetto. The natural state of a Donut Delight coffee looks to me to be sitting on a concrete stoop cold & half full with a cigarette floating in it.

That’s not to say Dunkin is not without its faults. They are always busy. It seems there are always 100 people behind the counter doing little more than slapping nuts together. There are 100 things on the menu now. You no longer have to worry just about being behind the guy deciding his proper munchkin ratio but whether he wants flatbread pizza, pannis, or something else decidedly non-donut. Most frustrating though is no one in Dunkin Donuts believes I don’t want sugar in my coffee.

“Large coffee with cream”

“Sugar?”

“No Sugar”

“”Just with cream then?”

“Yes”

“Ok, so cream no sugar”

“Right”

I’ve tried to be more specific to no avail.

“Large coffee cream no sugar”

“Ok, no sugar?”

East Main St. DD is different. East Ave has Pat. Pat is no nonsense. She works that crew like a conductor in front of a fine symphony orchestra. She is grabbing people and taking their orders, not content to just sit back and wait. Pat believes I don’t want any sugar.

Well if isn't...

..Robert DeNiro standing on Bedford St in the trailer to the new film What Just Happened?.

Temple Returns

SPY REPORT! SPY REPORT!

Our newest spy, Brooke C... Hmmm, that's too obvious. Let's call her B. Cognetta. She reports Temple will reopen as a lounge by Christmas. The former Irish pub has been long sitting in wait since Brickhouse seemingly ate their local crowd lunch and Dragonfly stole their "I'm a castle" gimmick. A group from New York has moved into to fill the void.

I always thought Temple would make a decent permanent comedy club and or small music venue. At least that was my assessment after I pretended to be a young mogul one Saturday afternoon and had a group doing some demo on the property let me treat myself to a tour.

Bike Rack Coming to Metro North

The Metro North will begin a pilot program to test bike racks on trains in the next few weeks. The racks that will fit 2-4 bikes per train will hold them vertically by the doors and probably look something like this to the left – dork not included. (Thank you Google Images you crazy freaking genie you that can conjure up a visual of anything we command)

No word yet on lifting the peak hour ban of bikes on trains. Design New Haven has a great thread tracking all the ins and outs of the Metro North bike saga.

Wedding Small Talk

"Where are you living?"

"Stamford"

"Nice, great weather!"

"Yeah, ok sure I suppose."

"What are you studying?"

"No studying, just working. We are the city of that. Did you think I said Stanford?"

"Yes."

"Ok."

Bike Meeting with DOT Tonight

Updated - Meeting is tomorrow not tonight.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation is hosting a public hearing from 5:30p to 8:30p tonight at the Stamford Government Center.

The Advocate featured the upcoming meeting last week which will apparently include discussion on where bike friendly improvements can be made throughout the state. The article also mentioned they may address the long on hold Merritt Parkway trail.

Maybe some of you can make it. I am off burning gas on a road trip.