News

Town to Enter Negotiations to Buy 60-Acre Shoreline Estate, Now on Market for $100 Million

At New Jersey Gas Stations, Attendants Will Serve Your Fuel: It’s the Law

CT Gas Tax Cut Shows the Mediocrity of Our State Legislature

From a Vehicle Parked at Darien Train Station: Latest Catalytic Converter Theft

Darien DPW Looking Into Drainage, Flooding Problems on Certain Streets, Expect to See Orange Vests Next Thursday

On Friday, March 18 Corbin Drive Yet Again Closed to Traffic From Post Road, 9 AM to 3 PM

YWCA Darien/Norwalk Seeks Nominations for This Year’s Women of Distinction Awards

Home on Woods End Road Burglarized While Family Away

Thieves Steal Cars Being Repaired at BMW of Darien Dealership

In Ukraine, Railroads Are a Flexible Tool, Quickly Flexed — If Only We Could Do That Here

Police: Man, 46, Refuses to Leave Darien Residence, Physical Altercation Results

Garden Walk Buffalo: Join America’s Largest Garden Tour, Online, This Thursday Night, March 17

Hearing Monday on Proposals to Strengthen Penalties for Juveniles Committing Crimes, Including Car Thefts

‘The Addams Family,’ Presented by Theatre 308, Runs March 17 to 19

After Police Find a Fingerprint in a Stolen Car, They Charge a Man, 26, With the Theft

Real Estate

By David Gurliacci | April 4, 2022

Cameron on Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | April 4, 2022

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | March 29, 2022

Public Safety

By Darienite.com Staff | March 17, 2022

Darien Department of Public Works 2022

By DARIENITE.COM | March 16, 2022

Public Safety

By DARIENITE.COM | March 16, 2022

Community Organizations

By DARIENITE.COM | March 16, 2022

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | March 15, 2022

Public Safety

By Darienite.com Staff | March 15, 2022

Talking Transportation 2022

By JIM CAMERON | March 14, 2022

Footer Featured Widget

By David Gurliacci | March 13, 2022

Darien Library

By DARIENITE.COM | March 13, 2022

Public Safety

By DARIENITE.COM | March 11, 2022

Education

By DARIENITE.COM | March 11, 2022

Public Safety

By David Gurliacci | March 10, 2022

Local news for Darienites.

Great Island aerial views from Douglas Elliman website

Darien’s town government will enter negotiations to buy the 60-acre shoreline estate on Long Neck Point peninsula, one of the largest pieces of private land in lower Fairfield County, the Board of Selectmen unanimously decided Monday night. The Great Island estate, owned for more than a century by the Ziegler family and now the Steinkraus family, went on sale in 2016, with an asking price of $175 million, now reduced to $100 million. The Board of Selectmen, after meeting in executive session for about an hour, authorized First Selectman Monica McNally to enter into negotiations for the property. McNally said the board has discussed the value of the land and potential uses the town might have for it. McNally described the tract as “the last and best property of its kind that is available on the East Coast of the United States.”

You can pump your own soft-serve ice cream at trendy yogurt shoppes. But you still can’t pump your own gasoline in New Jersey. Why? Once again, lawmakers in Trenton have killed an effort to save motorists money at the pump, allegedly in the name of safety. Self-serve gasoline has been allowed across the country for 73 years, ever since the first pump-your-own gas station opened in California in 1947.

Gas Pump Gas Prices Gasoline Gas Station Pump

Attention all chiropractors and physical therapists! Please report immediately to the state Capitol to treat the sore muscles of lawmakers who’ve twisted themselves into a pretzel, patting themselves on their backs for cutting the gasoline tax! What a surprise (in an election year) that lawmakers voted unanimously to cut the gasoline tax 25 cents a gallon from April 1 to June 30. What a massive sense of relief for money-short taxpayers to save — what? — $25 per car this spring.

Sometime between 3 p.m., March 11 and 11:30 a.m. the next day, the catalytic converter on a vehicle parked at Darien Train Station was stolen, the victim told police. The victim said he discovered the theft after he started the vehicle and determined the loud noise coming from it was the result of the theft. He called police at 11:48 a.m.

The theft was the latest of a spate of similar thefts in Darien and beyond. See also:

—Two More Catalytic Converters Stolen from Vehicles in Darien Parking Lots (Feb. 25)

—More Reports From Around Town of Catalytic Converters Stolen From Parked Cars (Feb.

Darien DPW saw horse Department of Public Works Department

No need to be alarmed or even suspicious when you see people with orange vests looking around and walking on several streets next Thursday, March 24, the Darien Department of Public Works says. They’re working on a project. The DPW “is investigating drainage and flooding issues,” on or near those streets, the department said in an announcement.. “You may see consulting engineering personnel with orange vests in these areas on Thursday, March 24, 2022 (pending favorable weather),” the DPW announcement says. “No action is necessary by public.”

Construction activity for the Corbin District project is again closing Corbin Drive to traffic from the Post Road, this time on Friday, March 18, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Darien police announced. “Vehicles needing to access Corbin Drive will be detoured to Center Street, to Old King’s Highway South, to the eastern end of Corbin Drive,” the announcement said. “Businesses, including the Post Office, will be open and accessible using the construction.” “Darien Police Department staff will be in the area in order to facilitate the safe and efficient flow of traffic. A large presence of construction vehicles, most notably concrete trucks, will be in the area during this time. Motorists not needing to access the area should consider alternate routes to their destination.”

Young Women of Distinction YWCA Darien Norwalk

The YWCA Darien/Norwalk is seeking nominations for women who epitomize leadership in the areas of racial equity, social justice, and/or have worked to strengthen our community. — an announcement from the YWCA Darien/Norwalk

If you know of someone who fits this description, please consider nominating them today! After nominations are received, the Women of Distinction Nominations Committee will review the submissions and select the honorees. The women chosen will be honored at the Women of Distinction Awards this Spring. The YWCA Darien/Norwalk encourages you to nominate women who are leaders, role models, agents for change, mentors and/or an inspiration to others.

Sometime before Saturday March 5, while a family was away from their home on Woods End Road, a thief or thieves broke in and stole several pieces of jewelry, police said. According to Darien police:

Police were called at 12:26 p.m. that day. An employee at the house told officers that a second-floor window at the back of the house was smashed. Checking inside the house, police saw multiple rooms on the second floor had been gone through. The homeowners met police the next day and told them the jewelry was missing.

At 10:44 p.m. on Monday, March 7, police were alerted to a burglary in progress at BMW of Darien, but by the time officers arrived on the scene, thieves had: cut the padlock gate, smashed a window at a garage bay, turned off the power at a circuit breaker panel, stole car keys and drove off in two vehicles. The dealership’s alarm company reported several alarm notifications to police, saying at least one person was in the building at 140 Ledge Road, police said. Darien police detectives have started an investigation, which is continuing.

In the waning days of World War II, the Americans sent a special unit into Germany to find one man, not to bring him to justice but to eventually put him in charge of the U.S. space program. His name was Werner von Braun. Now I think, whatever the outcome of the Ukraine conflict, a similar effort should be made to rescue Oleksander Pertsovskyi. Not familiar with his work? Well, two million Ukrainians are benefiting from his skills.

A 46-year-old Westport man got into some kind of physical altercation in a domestic incident after refusing to leave the property of a Darien resident, police said. Darien police gave this account of the incident, including accusations not proven in court:

At 10:58 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1, police were called to a home on Elm Street after a report of the altercaton on the lawn of the home. Officers spoke with the Westport man, who said he’d just been in the altercation. The man said he was invited to the residence by the victim. The victim told police that the man had been sending unwanted text messages and had been told not to contact the victim.

This St. Patrick’s Day, get in the green spirit with a virtual walkthrough of America’s largest garden tour. Garden Walk Buffalo is a tour that occurs each July, showcasing more than 400 ultra-creative and tantalizing gardens. — an announcement from Darien Library

This vast array of landscapes created by artists and gardeners alike have ultimately transformed urban neighborhoods in Buffalo, New York into a mecca of blooms. From a few square feet to entire backyards, the diversity and uniqueness of each garden is what makes this tour like no other. If You’re Attending …

The state Legislature’s Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Monday, March 14 on bills meant to strengthen penalties for juveniles who steal cars or commit other serious offenses, State Rep. Terrie Wood said in an email to constituents. You can get on the list of those testifying to the committee if you register online by 3 p.m., Sunday, Wood said. Police department officials in Darien and elsewhere have said weak state laws regarding juveniles charged with crimes has made it difficult to deter them from committing more. Full Text of Wood’s Announcement
Darienite.com received this announcement at 11:30 a.m., Friday:

There are two legislative proposals that are having public hearings early next week that are important to Norwalk and Darien as well as communities across the state. I encourage all interested to submit written testimony and/or give virtual testimony.

Darien High School’s Theatre 308 will present its spring musical, The Addams Family, with performances from Thursday, March 17 through Saturday, March 19 at 7 p.m., along with an additional matinee show at 2 p.m., Saturday, March 19. — an announcement from Theatre 308. The Addams Family, directed by Tim Sorensen, is a musical comedy that follows the well-known characters from Charles Addams’s original cartoons as they face Wednesday Addams’ coming-of-age and budding romance with a “normal” boy from Ohio. After secrets are revealed and both families are thrown into turmoil, The Addams Family tells a story of family, love, and embracing the comfort of one’s own darkness. Tickets can be bought online at Theatre308.org or at the door.

« August 2022 »

A 26-year-old man whose fingerprint was found in a vehicle stolen in Darien has been charged with first-degree larceny in connection with the theft, Darien police said. Darien police gave this account of the matter, including accusations not proven in court:

The vehicle was stolen on Feb. 6, 2021 then found in New Haven six days later, on Feb. 12. Darien police detectives examined the vehicle for evidence, and a state laboratory report indicated that a fingerprint from the vehicle belonged to Kelvin Solares of Hamden.