the Town of Greenwich by Frank Trotta

This is the best explanation of the financial woes
of the USA….(courtesy of Peter Crumbine)

* U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
* Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
* New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
* National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
* Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000

Let’s remove 8 zeros and pretend it’s a household budget:

* Annual family income: $21,700
* Money the family spent: $38,200
* New debt on the credit card: $16,500
* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
* Total budget cuts: $385

Living without electricity for a week made me realize I am not grateful enough.

The conveniences of modern life at the push of a button or flip of a switch we take for granted until we don’t have them. One blessing I try never to take for granted are the women and men who put their lives on the line for us — the military, police, firefighters, EMS.

Well, on this Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11 when some many first-responders made the ultimate sacrifice there is a way to show the Greenwich Police, Greenwich Firefighters and GEMS how much we appreciate them. You can go to the Inaugural First Responders B-B-Q Benefit & “Touch a Truck” Event, the brainchild of retired police officer Frank Kelly and others.

The event, starting at 1 p.m. at the Greenwich Polo Club on North Street at Hurlingham Drive, includes food and a Polo Match which starts at 3 p.m. (There is a cash wine and beer bar.) According to the announcement, the proceeds benefit the Greenwich Police and Fire Departments and Greenwich Emergency Services.

People are urged to buy their tickets in advance because only a limited number of tickets will be available at the door. Tickets ($50 for adults; $20 children 6-12 and free children 5 and under) can be purchased at the Greenwich Police Department (11 Bruce Pl.); the Greenwich Fire Department (75 Holly Hill Lane); GEMS Headquarters (1111 East Putnam Ave.) or any of the three CORBOS Delis (138 E. Putnam Ave., 59 E. Putnam Ave., 470 W. Putnam Ave.)

I hope to see you there.

FROM THE GREENWICH POLICE

Some concerns have arose concerning the Dam behind Direct Media. Emergency Management Director Warzoha informed this office that a request has been made for The State of Connecticut Dam Inspection Team to respond to evaluate the current state of this Dam. The State has acknowledged that they have received this request and will hopefully be able to respond in an reasonable amount of time. Their office has received numerous requests to inspect Dams throughout the state due to the high volume of rain recently.

Important to realize that this Dam was constructed with “Weep holes” built into the wall of the dam. These holes are designed to alleviate the water pressure during times such as these, so what some might think is cracking in the dam could in fact be the “weep hole” releasing water to alleviate the pressure.

The Dam will continue to be monitored by town officials and if its condition becomes a major concern, Director Warzoha will activate the reverse 911 system to inform area residents of any possible emergency

P R E S S R E L E A S E

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 2, 2011
4:00 p.m.

First Selectman Peter Tesei convened a meeting of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) today to review the status of the restoration effort and to discuss our plan for the next twenty four hours. As of 1:00 p.m. today 2,358 CL&P customers (8% of all customers) in the Town of Greenwich are without power. Yesterday at 2:00 p.m. the number was 4,865. CL&P has deployed 22 power crews towards the restoration of power and 15 tree crews to remove trees and limbs that are obstructing their work. The Town has also deployed its tree crews and personnel and equipment from the Department of Public Works to remove trees that block roads or partially obstruct traffic or pedestrian movement. The State of Connecticut has also supplied equipment and personnel to assist in this effort CL&P continues to report that they expect to restore 99% of all electric service in Greenwich by Saturday at 11:30 p.m.

The Town has consistently followed a priority list that addressed life/safety issues as the most important area of concern. Other priorities include road closures, safe routing for traffic and pedestrians, and the resumption of electric service for the largest number of residents. As of this afternoon 10 roads are partially blocked. At the height of the storm the Town had 381 road blockages. See the list of existing (as of 1:00 Friday) blockages at the end of this release.

For those residents who have found Connecticut Light and Power’s (CL&P) response to be insufficient complaints can be made to the Public Utility Regulatory Agency (PURA) of the State of Connecticut. PURA complains may be lodged via a toll free phone call at 800-382-4586 or on-line at http://www.ct.gov/dupc/cwp/viw.asp?a=3352&q=404030.

The EOC continues to receive reports of citizens who are utilizing generators for electric purposes or are operating their personal vehicles to charge electronic devices in such a fashion that carbon monoxide gas is entering their living quarters. Please operate all such equipment in a well ventilated area and exercise extreme caution that you do not poison yourself and your family.

The Greenwich Main Library will be open for extended hours on Saturday, September 3rd from 9:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m.

School will be open on Tuesday, September 6th for sixth and ninth grade orientation. Greenwich High School and Western Middle School will also hold orientation for students new to the District on that same day. School will be open for all students on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011. Please monitor the Board of Education website for up-to-the-moment school news at www.greenwichschools.org.

As the Town moves from restoration to clean up please refrain from placing your yard waste and storm debris in the right of way. Public Works Department will not remove debris from private property.

The Holly Hill Transfer Station will continue to remain open through Saturday from 7:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. to permit homeowners and their contractors to dispose of yard waste that has been created by the storm.

The Red Cross has prepared a Cleanup Kit for homeowners with damage. The kit may be picked up at the Red Cross office at 99 Indian Field Road on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Their phone number is 203-869-8444.

Important Service Phone Numbers

CL&P 203-286-2000

Verizon 800-922-0204

AT&T 611 or 800-288-2020

Cablevision 800-868-9040

For additional information please contact Caroline Baisley, Director of Heath at 622-7836 (cbaisley@greenwichct.org) or Dan Warzoha, Emergency Management Director at 622-2222 (emoc@greenwichct.org).

Blocked or Partially Roads

View Street Field Road Sunset Road

Lake Ave. (upper) Husted Lane Dublin Hill

Park Ave. (downtown) Lang Horn lane

Butler Street Walwyn Road

There are also a number of other minor roadway obstructions that are being tracked and will be remedied as time permits.

Hurricane Recovery Update

As of September 1, 2011 at 4:00 pm

Roadway obstructions reported: 381

Roadway obstructions remaining: 71

CL&P Power Crews Working: 15

CL&P Tree Crews Working: 15

Town Tree Crews Working: 2

Current percentage of Greenwich CL&P customers without power: 15%

31 Towns/Cities across Connecticut have 61% or more of their population without power.

New Canaan is 63% without power.

Darien is 25% without power.

Ridgefield is 62% without power.

Stamford is 6% without power

The Town of Greenwich continues to aggressively remediating roadway closures and partial obstructions. The State of Connecticut has provided a front end loader and four dump trucks (all with crews) to assist Town recovery operations.

CL&P has announced that they expect 99% of Greenwich power customers to have their power restored by 11:30 pm on September 3, 2011 (Saturday night).

The Town of Greenwich is focused on returning normalcy to the community as rapidly as possible.