Monday, March 15, 2010
The third-annual event benefits the Westport Youth Film Festival.
Despite the storm damage, high school student staff members of the Westport Youth Film Festival (WYFF) gathered Sunday morning at the Westport Arts Center for their annual "Breakfast With Tiffany" fundraiser fashion show. This is the third year WYFF has teamed up with Tiffany & Co. to put together a fashion show to raise money for the student-run organization. Lucky Brand Jeans in Westport also got involved this year, providing clothing for the WYFF staff models to wear along with Tiffany & Co. jewelry. WYFF was founded seven years ago by Weston High School students Chris Casey, David Burstein and Emma Wiseman and is unique because it is one of the only film festivals run by high schoolers for high schoolers, giving young artists an …
41.138694
-73.363735
Westport Arts Center
51 Riverside Ave
/articles/wyff-students-take-tiffany-co-to-catwalk
23965
/locations/307857
Monday, March 8, 2010
The inn's future is uncertain.
The Inn at National Hall closed its doors today, according to inn manager Marco Degl'Innocenti. "The owners have decided to shut down," he said of Antares NH LLC, a Stamford real estate firm that purchased the hotel in 2006. Antares said today it would not comment on the inn's future at this time. The opulent hotel occupies all but the ground floor and is one of five buildings in the town's Historic Design District Zone, located at Post Road West and Wilton Road. In addition to the hotel, Antares purchased three other buildings in the historic district in 2006. The company has suffered severe financial problems as a result of the worldwide downturn in real estate values. In December, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a zoning …
41.140791
-73.363897
Inn at National Hall
2 Post Rd W
/articles/inn-at-national-hall-to-close
23600
/locations/303223
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Biannual pay raises and increased company contributions to health insurance and pension fund won in collective bargaining.
NEW HAVEN — In a pep rally atmosphere Sunday morning, an elated Brian Petronella, president of Local 371 of the United of Food and Commercial Workers union, shouted out the results of contract negotiations completed yesterday with Stop & Shop supermarkets. With about 275 union members attending a contract ratification or rejection meeting in the Omni Hotel, Petronella listed the highlights of what he called a "great contract," including, for fulltime employees, an immediate $750 bonus, a $10 per week pay increase beginning August 1, and increased payments by the company to the union's health insurance policies and pension fund. Employees will receive subsequent pay increases over the course of the three-year contract and partners of …
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Westport-based union local says company's "playing hardball with its 15,000 grocery workers in Connecticut."
As Stop & Shop supermarkets faced a labor stoppage by five New England union locals Thursday, its Dutch parent, Royal Ahold NV, released its fourth quarter and full year 2009 results. In a statement accompanying its release, CEO John Rishton said the company delivered a "solid performance" in the fourth quarter "in a challenging environment." Rishton said fourth quarter sales and margins were impacted by deflation, customers trading down in product prices and increased promotions. Bloomberg.com reported shares of Royal Ahold NV rose the most in 10 months in Amsterdam trading after it raised its dividend by 28 percent and said it will buy back 500 million euros ($683 million) of shares. Bloomberg said the Amsterdam-based company advanced 44…
41.138311
-73.301411
Stop & Shop Florists
1790 Post Rd E
/articles/with-stop-shop-strike-in-offing-parent-firm-releases-2009-results
24872
/locations/301289
After eight years, a popular dress shop closes its Westport location.
There was a time in the not-so-distant past that if you were looking for a special occasion dress you booked an appointment at Seychelles on Post Road in Westport. Now if you're looking for a glamorous gown or cocktail dress, and want the personal service and attention to detail that Seychelles built their reputation on, you'll have to make the drive to their New Haven store. "We loved being in Westport, but due to the economic downturn, we've decided to consolidate," said Seychelles owner Pansy Croft. Seychelles' New Haven boutique on Chapel Street is the flagship store and has been operating there for more than 20 years. When the time came to renew the lease for the Westport store, the owners decided to consolidate and focus on the …
41.141164
-73.357258
/articles/seychelles-boutique-says-goodbye-to-westport
24273
/locations/301039
Supermarket chain has said it could use temporary replacement workers to keep stores open.
All five New England locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union negotiating with Stop & Shop have given their 24 hour notices to terminate their contracts with the supermarket chain. On Wednesday, Local 371 gave its termination notice to Stop & Shop. The president of the local, Brian A. Petronella, sent a notice to his members on Thursday saying that as of noon the other locals had done the same. Petronella is also international vice president of UFCW. The UFCW's contract with Stop & Shop expired Feb. 20. "We are continuing to negotiate," said Petronella, "and we are not on strike at 3 p.m. as some rumors have stated." On its web page, Local 371, which is based in Westport, says Stop & Shop is "playing hardball …
Monday, March 1, 2010
Solar Panels are to be installed soon at Staples, but will there be more such projects in Westport as the Governor looks to tap clean energy funds for deficit borrowing?
With our state swimming in red ink, and an economy still struggling to get up off the mat, Governor M. Jodi Rell has again proposed raiding the state's Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) and Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF) to balance the budget. Her plan is to use these monies to fund borrowing for a period of at least 10 years. The energy funds are the backbone upon which all clean energy and efficiency programs in Connecticut are built, including some in Westport. Despite the lack of fanfare and attention the governor's move has gotten, it is fraught with peril for our community and state, endangering green jobs. It's ironic that a year ago, these are the very jobs Governor Rell (along with 11 other governors) lobbied President Obama about in a …
41.15364
-73.33128
Staples High School
70 North Ave
/articles/the-sustainability-corner-red-ink-endangers-green-jobs
23582
/locations/298847
Westport farmers and teachers are encouraging backyard gardens in a new library series.
Rachel Carson is widely revered as a visionary champion for the environment and author of the book Silent Spring, a pioneering masterpiece on pesticides and other poisons in the environment published in 1962. A film celebrating her life is the subject of the inaugural event in a film-lecture series on sustainable food, which is scheduled for Tuesday evenings at the Westport Public Library, beginning at 7 p.m. March 2. The series is co-sponsored by the library and the non-profit organization Green Village Initiative. David Brown, a toxicologist and professor of environmental ethics at Fairfield University will introduce the series and the film about Rachel Carson. "In Silent Spring, Carson warned that technology misused would threaten our …
41.140813
-73.361557
Town of Westport Library
20 Jesup Rd
/articles/sustainable-food-subject-of-film-lecture-series
24615
/locations/298905
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Westport native talks about her latest book that earned rave reviews from The New York Times.
Question: Who can get away with calling Westport "Purgatory" and still be adored by Westporters? Answer: The novelist Cathleen Schine, who was born and raised here and graduated from Staples High School. "Purgatory," defined as a place of temporary banishment to atone for sins, is the word a leading character gives to describe Westport in Schine's eighth and latest novel, The Three Weissmanns of Westport. Indeed, the attitude is shared by the book's author, who dared to tell a standing-room-only crowd gathered at the Westport Library last week to hear her read from the book on Wednesday: "You couldn't pay me to live here full-time!" "I would go into teenage mode," confided Schine, a twinkle in her eye, recalling her teenage years when …
41.140813
-73.361557
Town of Westport Library
20 Jesup Rd
/articles/westport-is-character-in-new-novel
24615
/locations/297941
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Five-plus years, $178 million to restore 23 locations.
NORWALK — Ever imagine visiting the service plazas on interstates 95 and 395 as destinations that appeal to travelers and local residents alike, offering a mini-mall experience with attractive restaurants and shops? No? The state says you should know that a North Haven company is about to demolish, redesign and rebuild the 13 plazas on the interstates, and extensively refurbish the 10 plazas along the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways, which comprise Route 15. The plazas are in "deplorable condition and getting worse," said Paul Landino, president of Project Service LLC, during a presentation Thursday before the South Western Region Metropolitan Planning Organization. Speaking at the organization's February meeting in the Norwalk Transit …
I am so sad for this news! The Inn at National Hall is a beautiful property. If only someone would take an interest in it and operate as a real Inn or B&B! more ›