Monthly Archives: April 2020

Talking Transportation: What is Connecticut’s Transportation Future Post-COVID?

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Jim Cameron

When it comes to transportation, Joe McGee is often the smartest guy in the room. If I want a vision of our state’s mobility future, he’s the first man I turn to.

McGee served as then Gov. Lowell Weicker’s Commissioner of Economic Development. For years I worked with him on the Connecticut Metro-North Rail Commuter Council. And until recently he was the Fairfield Business Council’s VP for Public Policy, specializing in the intertwined issues of transportation and economic development. Sadly, that group recently announced its closure after 50 years of service.

True, McGee and I have sparred in the past, especially over his uber-aspirational 30-30-30 plan for speeding up rail service. But nobody is a better advocate for our state’s transportation future than McGee, so in this dismal period I turned to him for inspiration.

“We will get through this,” he says. “There will be life after this and now’s the time to start planning.”

You’ll remember that McGee and the Business Council led the charge for tolling on our highways, rejecting Republican proposals that we instead dip into the state’s “rainy day” fund. Wasn’t that prescient?

“Lamont is looking so good through all of this (crisis). He’s handling it so much better than he dealt with the legislature,” McGee said with a smile.

Sure, transit ridership is down. But he’s confident it will come back.

“I’m old enough to remember the days of polio when people evacuated cities. Same thing with HIV,” he said.

Despite their new-found success with telecommuting, McGee is confident that once the virus is gone workers will return to their jobs in New York City.

“The city brings vitality, creativity and job opportunities. People feel isolated now. They need face to face physical contact to really be connected.” McGee predicts that some companies may open new offices in the suburbs but will still maintain a presence in Manhattan.

And to get there they will need the trains.

“The trains are the economic backbone of our state,” he says. And he means the branch lines as well as the main line. McGee says he’s worried about CDOT’s recent decision to replace Waterbury line trains (which have seen a 95 percent drop in ridership) with buses for four weeks … both to save money and to accelerate construction of sidings.

“The (Naugatuck) Valley’s economic future depends on those trains,” he says. With better train service will come jobs and economic growth, tying the Valley to both Stamford and New Haven. “It’s a regional economy,” he says.

Trains mean mobility and higher real estate values. In New Jersey when they opened the new Secaucus line, communities offering a one-seat ride to New York City saw a 14 percent jump in home prices.

Just look at the twin communities of New Canaan (served by a branch line) and Darien (on the main line of Metro-North). Housing prices in Darien have remained much stronger because of better access to the trains.

In the short run, the railroad’s huge deficits will need Federal assistance. MTA is already seeking Federal money to cover the $125 million they are losing in each week in lost fares. “No one state (or agency) can handle this,” says McGee.

Now is the time for all the towns and states to work together, not throw up literal roadblocks to out-of-staters.

We will get through this.

Posted with permission of Hearst CT Media.

About the author: Jim Cameron is founder of The Commuter Action Group, and a member of the Darien RTM.  The opinions expressed in this column are only his own. You can reach him at CommuterActionGroup@gmail.com  For a full collection of  “Talking Transportation” columns, visit www.talkingtransportation.blogspot.com

A la Carte: Asparagus & Tomato Frittata Tempts the (Locked-Down) Tastebuds

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Since this shelter-in-place began in March, I have been frantic about getting tested. I knew it might not do much good, but without being tested, there was no yardstick to find out how many people might be sick. Our illustrious president, at the beginning of his press briefings, said anyone who wanted to be tested would be. Of course, he was lying.

But a couple of weeks ago, Groton paired with PhysiciansOne Urgent Care to test 200 people who would, online, answer questions and give their insurance numbers, a credit card and their social security number. I did it, even though I was nervous about it. After I was accepted. I called our mayor, Patrice Granatosky, and asked if I’d done the right thing. She called me back a few minutes later and said the company was a good one and was sure everything was fine. 

I did get tested in my car at Fitch High School at 9 a.m. on Sunday. It was just the nasal swab, not the finger stick that would tell me if I had had the virus, but something is better than nothing. There were no lines, it took no more than 30 seconds, and I will get the results in a few days.

But here is the great thing about living in this city. I told Patrice I had gloves (whenever I have a doctor’s visit, I nab a few to take home; when I cut hot peppers I use disposable gloves), but I had ordered masks two weeks before and my California daughter was sending me one, but I didn’t have a single one to use.

Half an hour later, Patrice called me from my condo’s parking lot; she had found a mask her neighbor made. Who has a mayor who would go out of her way to do that, I ask? I gave her a banana cake with candied ginger, hazelnuts and chocolate chips. 

Let’s face it, that’s all I can really do: bake and cook. I found this recipe in an advertisement for Kohl’s. I am looking for lots of food that contain vegetables and protein. I had lots of eggs, grape tomatoes (love ‘em), potatoes and asparagus. I think it will feed four, but I ate it in two days.

Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Frittata

1 pound cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound asparagus spears, cooked
2 shallots, finely chopped (I used Vidalia onion)
1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch cut, cooked*
10 eggs
4 ounces shredded Parmesan, Romano or Gruyere

Preheat oven to 425. Toss tomatoes with oil and salt. Spread onto a sheet pan and roast until blistered, about ten minutes. Reduce heat to 350.

Reserve 1 spear of asparagus. Chop remaining into ½ inch pieces. Heat a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add shallots and a little salt. Cook until golden, 5 to 6 minutes. Add chopped asparagus and potatoes. 

In a medium bowl, beat eggs with a little salt and pepper. Pour into skillet. Stir until eggs thicken. Top with tomatoes and reserved tomatoes and reserved asparagus spear. Bake in oven 14 to 16 minutes. Top with cheese and cut into wedges.

*I might use frozen hash browns, instead, and cook them with the shallots.

Lee White

About the author: Former Old Lyme resident Lee White has been writing about restaurants and cooking since 1976 and has been extensively published in the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant.  She currently writes a cooking column called A La Carte for LymeLine.com and also for the Shore Publishing and Times newspapers, both of which are owned by The Day. 

Happy Earth Day! Old Lyme Open Space Co-Chair Suggests, “Go Outdoors, Reflect On Everything We Have”

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OLD LYME — Fifty years ago on April 22, 1970, Denis Hayes, a Harvard graduate student and Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-WI), joined by Rep. Pete McCloskey (R-CA), organized the first Earth Day.

“They were there with raised hands,” said Amanda Blair, Co-Chair of the Old Lyme Open Space Commission, adding sadly, “We’re here with hands in prayer.” She continued in a phone interview with LymeLine.com yesterday, “I think of all that energy back then [that went into organizing the inaugural Earth Day] and wonder what they’d think about where we are now.”

That initial celebration inspired an estimated 20 million Americans — at the time, 10 percent of the total population of the United States — to attend rallies and other events coast-to-coast.

In following years, America saw the Clean Air Act strengthened and the creation of the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Asked what the message of Earth Day 2020 is for the residents of Old Lyme, Blair responded, “The virus has shut us down, but that gives people an opportunity to walk our trails and take time to reflect on everything we have … and really appreciate it.”

She said, “It’s also a reminder that ‘Every Day is Earth Day.’ We all need to do what we can to keep our planet’s environment safe, now and for our children’s future.” Blair notes that walkers and hikers can help the environment on any day — not just Earth Day — by taking a bag with them to pick up litter and she urges folk walking their dogs always to clear up after their four-legged-friends.

Blair mentioned that a third trail will be opened in the next few months on the recently-acquired McCulloch property.  She said she has been “blazing the trail” with three students from Lyme-Old Lyme High School in the past few weeks and together they, “have seen and heard so much.” Commenting that the students had been “wonderful,” she noted, “When you’re clearing a trail, you take time to stop, pause and look,” saying they had seen salamanders in vernal pools, new growth everywhere, and listened to the sound of peepers.

In celebration of Earth Day, the Old Lyme Open Space Commission encourages everyone to go outdoors and enjoy the Spring’s fresh air, flower blossoms and nature’s renewal, but Blair stresses, “Please remember to observe Governor Lamont’s executive order to wear a cloth face covering if you cannot maintain a distance of at least six feet from everyone.”

Commenting that the Commission’s planned activities for the spring and summer have all been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Blair said she hoped the Hiker Happy Hours planned for the fall might yet be held.  “They are such fun and take place at the best time of the day.”

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has tips for Earth Day and every day on its website.

Great walks throughout Old Lyme may be found on the Old Lyme Open Space Commission’s website and the Old Lyme Land Trust’s website.

Join a Free Earth Day Backyard BioBlitz Today, Educational Fun For All Ages

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Join a Backyard Blitz with RTPEC and CT Audubon on Earth Day, this coming Wednesday. Photo by Bob MacDonnell courtesy of CT Audubon.

LYME/OLD LYME — Why not explore the nearest natural area while you’re staying safe at home – your own backyard!

Join the Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center (RTPEC) and Connecticut (CT) Audubon Society online for a family BioBlitz on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, to answer the question “What’s in my yard?”

A BioBlitz is just a fancy name for an organized effort to find as many different kinds of living things as possible. This one is taking place in one day and you can participate for any amount of time.

To make it special, RTPEC and CT Audubon Society have selected the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, April 22.

The event is free and it’s fun, and the organizers will help you with the tools you’ll need to identify what you find.

Whether you’re in the town, or a more rural area, there are dozens of birds, insects, flowers, trees, and other things to see.

The Earth Day Backyard BioBlitz is free but you must register at the link on this page to participate.  There is a great deal more information about the event on the same page.

 

Lyme Ambulance Association Honors First Responders at Annual Awards Night

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Pictured at the Lyme Ambulance Association Annual Awards Night are, from left to right, Deputy Chief of Service Ariana Eaton, EMT Paul Ahnell, EMT Carter Courtney and Chief of Service Steve Olstein. Photo by D.Hampton-Dowson.

LYME — Just before social distancing went into effect, Lyme Ambulance Association held its annual awards night at Hamburg Station in Lyme to honor the work of its volunteer crew members and support staff.

On the evening of March 9, Chief of Service Steve Olstein recognized the outstanding service of the following top responders in 2019:  Carter Courtney, Paul Ahnell, Ed McCusker, Steve Olstein, Tom Darna, Jason Zelek, Will Bartlett, and Heidi Bill.
The Chief also recognized four newly certified Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) — Annie Bill, Will Bartlett, Lisa Simiola, and Jason Zelek — and thanked Emergency Medical Responders (EMRs) George Mooney and Kelly Smith for renewing their licenses. Other members were recognized for their distinct contributions.
Lyme First Selectman Steven Mattson and Lyme Fire Company Chief John Evans offered their congratulations and appreciation for the service which Lyme Ambulance provides.
The Lyme Ambulance Association provides Emergency Medical Service to the town of Lyme.  It is an independent, non-profit ambulance service, relying on state-certified volunteers and annual donations from town residents for support.
The Association invites all townspeople to donate or volunteer. Many types of positions are available and training is provided.  Interested parties should contact Paul Ahnell at 860-434-2438.
For further information, visit http://www.lymeambulance.org.