Looking for a gift idea idea, try The Works: Anatomy of a City by Kate Ascher. Using NYC as an example, it takes a super detailed, illustrated look at everything that goes into what makes a city run, from moving mail to the many type of manhole covers, from potholes to poop. It was one of my X-Mas gifts last year and I can still find something cool inside to flip to every time I pick it up.
Perfect article from the Onion on the night before Thanksgiving, an event just as relevant, if no more so to young adults than the actual face-stuffing, football watching, family tolerating event that follows.
26-Year-Old To See Every Asshole He Ever Went To High School With On Night Before Thanksgiving
In the cutthroat world of URL acquisition I wonder what kind of death match our city government had to prevail in to obtain a generic web address like www.boardofreps.org for Stamford's Board of Reps. Are we just that far around the bend of the technological curve that the CTW is digitally transparent ahead of all others or is the Maple Hill Vermont Board of Reps laying in a pool of blood somewhere?
UPDATED: Yes, I missed the Blog n' Grog after getting stuck at work a state away. Sorry kids.
I'm finally making an appearance (or my best attempt at an appearance) at tomorrow's Blog n' Grog at SBC from 6-10p. I've had random encounters with Stamford Talk but yet to meet any of the other characters. Without a .com of your own? I assume groupies are welcome.
Soundbounder, a new comrade in the local blog-a-verse with an eye towards "local Long Island sound coastal access" wonders why the disparity in pertiness between Cove Island Park & Cummings Park in his first post. Go give the new kid your comments... then give me some too.
Having actually spent some time at Cove Island yesterday I'll say my opinion is the park's "niceness" is more the work of natural beauty than anything specific the city does to upkeep it. They do a pretty good job of keeping the place neutral - it's not getting crapped up, but I can't really point to anything other than the occasional donated bench as an example of investment in the park. Unless I'm really missing something, my guess is the the most significant recent upgrade was bike cops becoming Segway cops. 
Random aside, this summer we were eating in the little pavilion at the Cove and were witness to how technology can go from cool to pathetic in a split second. I sat on this antidote because I genuinely felt bad for this dude. Gizmo Duck wheeled into the pavilion to soak in some adoration from the two limbed losers condemned to hoof it across a few acres or parkland. His attempt at a fancy spin dismount left him with one foot lodged in the chariot. The Segway started spiraling with ever increasing speed as he hopped around it with his free leg until the possessed personal transport device finally broke free. The Segway sent his host a few feet up in the air then down in a rather ungraceful landing on his back. The machine continued the other direction into a pillar where it brought apart into 3 or 4 pieces like a cheap toy.
But I digress.
I think Cummings Park isn't kept up any better or worse than any of the city's parks, its just tidal marshes and bluffs look much nicer than parking lots and a bath house with all the charm of a bomb shelter adjoining a sandy beach. Unfortunately people in the burbs usually don't demand nice public spaces beyond a well groomed soccer field since yards are viewed as everyones own private park.
The Stamford edition of Kitchen Nightmares aired last night but it is already up on Hulu (amazing site if you’ve never been).
I sadly did not make the filming cut. I think Stamford Talk did though (am I reading that comment right?) and already has a pretty healthy talkback going on about it with her post.
I’m not even through the whole episode and all I can say is WOW! What a shithole this place was before. What does everyone think, will the episode help his business? Half way through watching my guess was no - people like to slow down and look at car wrecks, not jump out and hang out in one.
The episode had a happy ending (or atleast it was editted to). Then again there hasn't been any increased traffic it seems before the airing so my guess is word of mouth on the changes hasn't been stellar. Hell, they haven't even finished painting the doors they started 6 months ago with big white patches still showing. Laziness on something that small doesn't bode well overall.
Another planned building picture find with a little assist from Google. This time we have a 337 unit apartment building from the South End's transit oriented redevelopment project, Harbor Point, in their "Commons" neighborhood. (Location of the building is in the red square on the map below) Phase I of development is primarily centered around “The Square” with a hotel, office, & retail, space. Aside from some condos in the hotel this park adjacent complex is the only residential component currently in construction in a plan that ultimately calls for 4,000 new housing units.
Hopefully the construction time can wait out the bad economy and mix of uses can smooth over any dips in a specific segment of the market to help Harbor Point get some kind of foothold from Phase 1 and ultimately fully execute on the plan. 
First look I've seen of what Trump looks like from the mean streets.
The Sabatiello's episode of Kitchen Nightmares will air on November 13th on Fox. Should be interesting, I ate there during the filming and I'm curious if I made the cut.
Stamford went decisively for Obama yesterday. Maybe we were just retuning the love for the president elect's props to Stamford as "a shining example of a community that works and leads the nation in best practices".
What tangible change will a new president have all the way down on a city level for Stamford? I was happy to see that Obama has recognized smart growth as a key piece in a comprehensive energy policy:
Build More Livable and Sustainable Communities: Over the longer term, we know that the amount
of fuel we will use is directly related to our land use decisions and development patterns, much of
which have been organized around the principle of cheap gasoline. Barack Obama believes that we
must move beyond our simple fixation of investing so many of our transportation dollars in serving
drivers and that we must make more investments that make it easier for us to walk, bicycle and access transportation alternatives.
Reform Federal Transportation Funding: As president, Barack Obama will re-evaluate the
transportation funding process to ensure that smart growth considerations are taken into account.
Obama will build upon his efforts in the Senate to ensure that more Metropolitan Planning
Organizations create policies to incentivize greater bicycle and pedestrian usage of roads and
sidewalks, and he will also re-commit federal resources to public mass transportation projects
across the country. Building more livable and sustainable communities will not only reduce the
amount of time individuals spent commuting, but will also have significant benefits to air quality,
public health and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
BlogStamford sourced by the Advocate? It almost makes up for this.
As a potential precursor to tomorrow, we also learn Sticker Sarah has been sandblasted from the public realm.
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