Letter to the Editor: Naughton, Mackle and LaGattuta for Board of Education

Editor,

It’s caucus time again and as George Orwell once said "there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics...All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.” (He was probably thinking of the Town Council when he wrote that.) Fortunately for New Canaan the contested race for the Board of Education contains none of those things. We have 5 excellent candidates for the 3 seats. Here are the 3 most excellent picks. I’m voting for Bob Naughton, a father of 4 who I have known many years. Bob has experience in both technology and in the Educational Assessment field, two critical skills that should be quite useful to this board.  I’m voting for Julie Mackle who I’ve known since we graduated New Canaan High School in 1985. Julie was the smartest in our class and now has 30 years more perspective on what makes our schools great. I’m voting for Daniel Lagattuta because he also hails from the education field. He runs a small business providing professional development for teachers. His financial experience running a business and understanding of teacher development is a powerful combination that no other candidate provides. 

John Engel III

Chairman's View: New Canaan's Town Meeting (May 9, 2019)

Chairman’s View: New Canaan’s town meeting

MAY 9, 2019 BY NEW CANAAN TOWN COUNCIL CHAIRMAN JOHN ENGEL

We have a special thing going on in New Canaan that no other town has. It’s a conversation by the people, about the town, that penetrates every decision made at Town Hall and more than a few decisions in Hartford. I’m taking about the Advertiser Coffee. Every Friday morning for the last 20 years the last four editors of the New Canaan Advertiser have hosted a community conversation called the Advertiser Coffee. What began as a relatively quiet conversation among 20 townspeople at Garelick & Herbs on Main Street has swelled to more than 60 people representing a great range of interests. Sometimes it gets loud. Democracy is a messy business.

The conversation used to be hyper-local, New Canaan only, parking spaces and cell towers. The conversation has evolved to include a bit more of Hartford, possibly a reflection of the fear that Hartford politics are intruding on our local decision-making, what we hold dear, home-rule, and that there is an increasing threat to the “Great Schools-Low Taxes” paradigm that New Canaan needs to stay competitive. Insights by representatives Tom O’Dea, Lucy Dathan, Will Haskell, Alex Bergstein, Scott Franz, Toni Boucher and Fred Wilms are invaluable, and yet Hartford sausage-making reports are strictly limited to 20 minutes so we can get back to parking, cell towers and the occasional real-estate report.

On any given Friday you will find our first selectman and the Democratic selectman having a spontaneous debate (from opposite ends of the room) about the issues. FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) rules prevent those two from ever having a conversation outside the public eye, which makes these conversations in front of us all unrehearsed and so much richer. It usually begins with Kit asking Kevin about something she learned in this week’s press briefings, such as the sale of Waveny land or the police station. She might say, “When was this discussed?” And he might say, “We’re discussing it now.” Let’s applaud them both for being so accessible. Their exchange is a fascinating look at where we differ and where we agree.

Represented every week is a majority of the Town Council, members of the Boards of Finance and Education, department heads such as the chief of police, the fire marshal and public works. Keith Richey, no shrinking violet, defends the latest controversies coming out of the Parking Commission while Lazlo Papp speaks with authority for Planning & Zoning except when he teases us saying “No comment on pending matters.” Tom Butterworth and I generally play nice in front of the room over budget cuts, we prefer to trade editorials in the newspaper during budget season. The conversation often comes around to the projects of our largest taxpayer and developer, Arnold Karp.

Our commissioners are there: the Conservation Commission, the Tourism and Economic Development Commission. Leadership is well represented including the Community Foundation, Land Trust, Board of Realtors, Chamber of Commerce, Grace Farms, the Ram Council, The Glass House, The Nature Center, Summer Theater, Scouting, The Preservation Alliance, our historical society and our library.

Join a slice of Americana, a true town hall meeting where everybody gets to speak and laugh and listen, at the New Canaan Historical Society every Friday from 9-10 a.m.

John Engel is chairman of the Town Council. The Chairman’s View represents only the views of the chairman and not necessarily any other council member.

Chairman's View: New Canaan's Fourth Estate (November 15, 2018)

Op-Ed: New Canaan’s Fourth Estate

NOVEMBER 15, 2018 BY JOHN ENGEL AND ROBERT DORAN

We live in challenging times for news. The Internet and the information age, professional pundits, fake news and 24-hour news cycles disrupted the old paradigm of trust and integrity in news organizations. Morley Safer of ‘60 Minutes’ said, “So much crap passes as information that not only does the audience sometimes miss the distinction between news and crap, the editors sometimes miss the distinction.”

To be a successful editor you not only have to find the story, you have to get it right. People have to want to read it, and they must trust it. We have been very lucky with the New Canaan Advertiser. As an essential source for all aspects of local news, the Advertiser has thrived under Greg Reilly’s editorial leadership.

For almost 100 years the New Canaan Advertiser was the only source for local news. No longer. To get our attention and break through the clutter of available news sources requires the skills of a great editor. Greg Reilly has lead with trust and integrity throughout his tenure at the Advertiser. 

Greg comes by it honestly. He has been a reporter, editor or publisher since high school. He studied Journalism at Syracuse University and when he saw a need he created New Canaan Matters. He honed his craft running the Stratford Star before returning to run our beloved New Canaan Advertiser with great distinction for the past three and a half years.

Greg has in many ways been the voice of New Canaan. As our editor, he has been our chief storyteller, a steward of our town culture, and a voice of the people –– using his power as editor for checks and balances with Town leaders. He is often the last one in the room late at night when an important public meeting takes place –– asking tough questions and getting the story right before returning to his desk to put the weekly edition to bed.

Greg has never been afraid to take a position, but he has never been a contrarian. His great gift, as evidenced by his hosting the packed Friday morning Advertiser Coffee, has been listening to the people. He has promoted awareness of every important organization in town. He has moderated debates. He has been a pillar of the community. 

Greg Reilly has held himself to the highest standards of journalism, held people to account and at all times he has embodied and celebrated what is best about New Canaan — Community. And we are better because he was here for a time.

Chairman's View: Advertiser, Hersam's Served New Canaan for a Century (Nov. 21, 2018)

Op-Ed: Advertiser, Hersams served New Canaan for a century

NOVEMBER 21, 2018 BY BY JOHN ENGEL

‘A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself’

— Arthur Miller

The New Canaan Advertiser has certainly come to embody that ideal. We are a community talking to itself through our local newspaper. Whether you see evidence of that at the Friday morning coffees, or in our spirited letters to the editor, in the many events and vigils and gatherings has promoted in the paper throughout our town, and in the editorials, the New Canaan Advertiser is part of the essential fabric of our town.

That is why I did not want to let this moment pass without recognizing the soul of a paper which has become the soul of our town, to take just one a moment during this period of transition to new ownership, and recognize the Hersam Family for their success and steadfast stewardship of a newspaper that has not only reflected but formed the soul of our community for well over a century. Since John E. Hersam’s single sheet in 1908 and his motto, “Grow or Go” both this town and our paper have grown beyond his wildest expectations.

Consider the changes that the Hersams have navigated. We may have had a railroad when the Hersams started this paper, but we were nothing special, just another simple shoe-manufacturing town connected to New York City by a branch of the main railroad. No port, no highway. Exactly one hundred years after the Advertiser started (2008) New Canaan would claim the highest median family income in the country, the best public school system in the state and 3rd best in the nation. So much has changed and yet since 1919 we still carol on Gods Acre every year, Rick Franco still shovels his own sidewalk and we all look for the Advertiser every Thursday. 

The Internet disrupted the news business and newspapers in particular, and yet New Canaan has always relied on the Advertiser as the best and most consistent source for local sports reporting. How many of us scan the pages each week for a mention of our children and the familiar names of our friends? So too for most of our lives we’ve relied on other sections School, Obituaries, Opinion, Around Town, Arts, Real Estate and Classifieds as the only way to really understand our community.

In this town you probably aren’t really dead until the Advertiser prints your obituary and the community that loved you can appreciate you and mourn your passing. Your Advertiser editorials have been our collective conscience, prodding us to action for over a century.

We are a community talking to itself and The New Canaan Advertiser, now in its 110th year is by any standard not just a good newspaper but an excellent one, both in the quality and depth of its reporting, the range of topics it covers, and the breadth of its influence on our town.

Thank you Hersam Family for an excellent first 110 years of the New Canaan Advertiser, and we wish the Hearst organization every success in following your example.

"New Canaan Made Plain" (my column for the New Canaan Advertiser)

This column is making good on a promise of transparency. As your bow-tie wearing Town Council Chairman, rarely accused of being shy, it’s my charge to let people know what is going on in New Canaan.

Bankwell is quitting the residential mortgage business. Based on Bankwell’s tremendous history and visibility here in New Canaan (sponsoring just about every non-profit event in town) this is a shock. It reflects how competitive the residential mortgage business has become. It’s a funny time to leave the business, just as rates are about to tick up and the business could become more profitable.

The Town Council confirmed Board of Finance nominees: Colleen Baldwin returns; Todd Lavieri is new. When the BOF issued their guidance last month setting a cap of 2% on all budgets and the First Selectman reaffirmed that guidance we set the expectation for a tough budget season.

Town Council announced subcommittees last night. We had huge interest in the Infrastructure and Utilities Subcommittee where we will review potential cell tower sites on town properties (note new cell tower P&Z regulations are in draft for private properties), the roll out of gas service and the newly released Buildings Committee recommendations. Penny Young and Cristina Ross chair our subcommittee with Sven Englund, Joe Palladino, Tom Butterworth and Liz Donovan. New Canaan signaled low appetite for school and park sites. Private cell sites may now emerge.

The Town Council is beginning a new tradition: start each meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance led by local Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts. Good for the scouts, doubly good for the adults. We will stand.

People keep asking me what is happening in our real estate market and how will it affect our budget. As of December 1 the number of single-family home sales is up 36%. The median sale price is exactly $1.5 million. Sales below $1.5mm are up 41% while sales above $1.5mm are up 32%. The bottom half took off early this year, sales under $1mm were up 147% in October. Now, we see strength at the higher end as confidence moves up-market. Four sales this year over $5 million with another 2 sales pending is a good sign for the New Canaan market.

All 4 performances of the NEAD Nutcracker sold out last (snowy) weekend, 3000 tickets, the first ever with a live orchestra. Bravo. There’s one (charity) show this Saturday.

www.ncadvertiser.com

November Market Report for New Canaan and Fairfield County

We are having a very good Fall market here in New Canaan, not just in comparison to 2016. This chart makes it apparent that 2014 and 2015 were exceptional years and that 13 sales is more typical.

This chart of cumulative house and condo sales over the last ten years is a more sobering view. 216 single family house sales and 43 condo sales is fairly typical and last year was particularly poor here.

279 Active House listings is too many. This number has doubled from 145 back in 2000 and about 220 in 2013. The number of people in New Canaan has remained unchanged in the last 20 years so why has the number of active listings doubled? A good deal of this has to do with the financial and tax situation in Connecticut. There are many more opportunistic sellers than there were 10 years ago.

The number that jumps out on this chart is the number of closings under $1 million, up 147% year over year.  There is always a buyer for a relatively inexpensive home in this market, given the high quality schools and low taxes. So why did that number jump this year? One factor could be the relatively low number of inexpensive rentals on the market. When faced with limited options to rent many people opted to purchase instead. A second factor is the increase in inventory. Given the record levels of inventory, and the relative stability of prices and low interest rates, buyers did respond.

There is still 6 years of inventory above $5 million. This has to come back into balance. The number of active listings under $1 million is only 41 which makes it unlikely that we can sustain the current level of sales of 52. In the $1-2 million category we have about 1 year of inventory and that is a balanced market. 

Ah, condominiums. The condo market follows the housing market. When houses are selling then it produces buyers for our condo market. As we can see in the chart above there are sales at all levels in the condo market, and the current level of about 4 condo sales per month is consistent with condo performance over the last ten years. We expect that the increased volume in the housing market will result in higher median prices in the condo market.

What's wrong with Greenwich? Nothing. A 5% drop in volume is statistically insignificant because they had a relatively strong year last year. Prices are now $300,000 higher than New Canaan and Darien and this could account for the drop in volume. As I recall the prices were much tighter between the three towns a year ago. What is significant are the large increases in volume in 4 markets and small increases in volume in another 5 markets.

Inventory keeps climbing. While it is true that we're having a brief respite after hitting new records again in 2016, inventory levels are still much too high and reflect a whole generation of opportunistic sellers. Rather than settle into a home for 20 years people are much more willing to regard their primary home as an investment (and take a profit when it is presented).

This chart shows the seasonality of the number of listings is still a factor, with the peak number of listings in June before all of the pending Spring transactions have cleared.

The volatility in the November December months comes from houses coming off of inventory for the Christmas holidays. 

The absorption rate dives between November and January as people take a break from the market and pull their houses off with the expectation of re-listing in February or March. By May everything is back on the market and the number of sales outpaces the addition of new listings.

Ninety five percent is typical for the ratio between listing prices and selling prices. We have found that buyers will not typically make credible opening offers below 90% of asking price and prices tend to settle at the mid-point of the bid and the ask, 95%  What is far more instructive is the ratio to original list price which is consistently below 90% for the first time in recent memory.

Planner envisions new mixed-use building on Elm Street By Greg Reilly, New Canaan Advertiser

Planner envisions new mixed-use building on Elm Street

By Greg Reilly on January 29, 2016 in Business News, Latest, Latest News, Lead News, Lead News, News, Real Estate, Town Government · 0 Comments

This parking area adjacent to the Unimin office building and across the street from Karl Chevrolet is targeted by the Town planner for new mixed-use commercial building. — Greg Reilly photo

Town Planner Steve Kleppin has a vision of a new, mixed-use commercial building in part of the commuter parking parking lot on Elm Street, across from Karl Chevrolet.

The lot, known as the Lumberyard Lot, provides parking primarily for commuters, and it is next to the Unimin office building, which is on the corner of Elm and Grove streets.

Kleppin, an employee of the Town of New Canaan, told the Advertiser that he is requesting funds to do a preliminary study with drawings of what the area could look like with a structure for retail / office space possibly with residences. He imagines it would be built similar in style to the nearby office building at 220 Elm Street, which is on the same side of the street closer to the train station.

Kleppin’s vision includes building a two-level parking facility behind the would-be new building, closer to the train tracks. The parking facility, he believes, could add “a minimum” of 100 new parking spaces for commuters and others.

In Kleppin’s plan the land parcel needed for the commercial building would first be sold by the Town to a developer.

A likely hurdle to the the plan, he anticipates, will be designing satisfactory traffic flow.

Tags: new canaan, steve kleppin

Read more: http://ncadvertiser.com/68004/planner-has-vision-for-new-mixed-use-building-on-elm-street/#ixzz3yknUdIwp
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