@OldTimer: That makes WAY too much sense where Mr. Alvord is involved. If he were a surgeon he'd propose exploratory surgery for a paper cut..... (BTW, sure to be a bid award to Tighe and Bond Engineering, who, in the words of the great Arlo Guthrie, are sure to produce "27 8×10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence " and all KINDS of fancy-schmancy engineering type drawings and then finally determine a bowling ball or a frozen turkey or an air conditioner is blocking a pipe. Yup, those are all true findings circa 2001-2006) View Comment

We have no "city planners". View Comment

And the $5 million doesn't even get us a retail store, apartment or office - it funds a garage..... affordable housing for cars?? LOL View Comment

They almost had to have been timed so poorly on purpose - otherwise we'd know they have absolutely NO competence. The left turn signal from East Ave to East Wall allows more than 11 cars through, and there is no intersection beyond it to clear. Conversely, the left turn signs from East Ave on to I-95 South allows 3-4 cars through, and routinely gridlocks East Ave as far back as St. Thomas Church!!! Brilliant. View Comment

Outstanding initiative (though long overdue apparently) - proactive, productive and constructive. Norwalk needs WAY more of these civil, cooperative dialogues. Good job guys and gals! View Comment

CT Ave., East Ave @ I-95, Cross and Main, East and Westport Ave, Rte 7 Connector and Main, lights are timed so poorly and lack of opposing left turns means gridlock at almost all major intersections..... View Comment

No doubt - the flooding that leads to road closures started just after Norwalk completed pipe work at the Fitch retention pond, and other storm water "improvements"..... coincidence? maybe. worth looking into? absolutely! View Comment

Old Timer - likely the drawings get a date that corresponds with the latest revision? But to your point, of course the plan was in the works for more than 4 weeks, and when I complained to Hal that the first markings looked too wide and didn't take into account a utility pole that juts out into the road, the engineers took a look and re-did the plan.....in August....hopefully using an engineering design and not ye old WAG (wild-assed-guess) system.... View Comment

@ East Norwalker: I can't ever pass up the opportunity to comment on Customer Service..... Perhaps Norwalk City Hall should follow Greenwich's lead in instituting a government-wide Customer Service training initiative. Having been certified in service training for the manufacturing sector, I can tell you first-hand that the processes in place now at City Hall lacks compliance with even the most basic of service principles and practices. Can't blame the employees, really. It's the administrations and stagnant leadership & management that either can't see the forest for the trees, or are in denial that improvements to the process would yield better results (improve efficiences, increase resident, visitor and business experience and satisfaction). Customer Service training costs almost always pay for themselves by helping to identify bottlenecks and redundancies - or just by having happier customers! In my 30+ years of customer service, I can tell you that corporations, non-profits and municipalities should seriously consider the cost of NOT having properly trained employees and customer-friendly technology, and not so much on the cost of implementing it. I once proposed hanging a signs in every office and meeting room at city hall reading "How Are We Servicing Our Customers Today?" and 'How Can We Make This Better for The Public" as a friendly reminders..... I even drafted a joint resolution for the Council to consider that acknowledged the importance of public participation...folks on both sides thought it had merit, but none willing to work together to advance for discussion - very discouraging..... Perhaps I will once again offer to develop a service training plan for the city and do the training myself! View Comment

Thank God for the swift action of the police! Nicely done, guys! View Comment

Yup....you'd think.... View Comment

The lack of reasonable communication plans and disrespectful treatment of citizens by the DPW Department Director has been allowed by the current administration for years. Our Mayor likes to let all know that he is in charge of his Department Heads, so I guess we can conclude that he approved of this kind of sarcasm and unprofessional remark. Not just by the current administration, but prior, as well. As to Mayor, once again, no reply to my emails. Many folks are hesitant to voice complaints against employees - however uncomfortable as it may be, you are probably right that little will ever change unless people voice their concerns through the proper channels. City Hall should take a lesson from other communities who pay more than lip service to Customer Service (customer service is an oxymoron here?) View Comment

Wither - apologies, my reference was to Mr. Linnartz (also a .....oops, never mind!). Having said that, I DO think the Mayor should at least be courteous and professional enough to respond to my emails to him.... View Comment

NwlkCityZen- very sorry to hear that it's already happened to others, especially where a new traffic pattern clearly impacts your quality of life and "quiet enjoyment", legal and literally. I absolutely think yours was a case where the city should have notified you well in advance of the approval of the plan - all this stuff starts as ideas and plans, but none should be approved or finalized without resident's input. Here's what's not nice about the city: I bet you that if you complained about not being notified of the one-way change and change in traffic flow that they would have told you "well, we posted it on the agenda for the traffic commission". Yeah, right. The letter of the law, but never the spirit of the law. And then they tell you to "get a life" if you actually read the agendas and attend the meetings! And even if it was posted for discussion and approval at Traffic Commission, guess what? They meet on a Monday at 4pm, during work day, at police headquarters, and until last month, did not allow public comment! That is SO not playing nice...... View Comment

@Wither: your comments are well-considered - thanks for that. To answer your question, the plan that was explained to me and ONE neighbor did not even align with the street markings, so even having plans in hand when we returned from City Hall, and standing in the intersection, it was difficult to discern the changes. Nevertheless, good sports that we are, I waited for the pdf from Dick and sent a copy to the neighbors who first contacted me, and to the others for whom I had emails. I figured, as discussed with Dick, that we'd give them a chance to take a look, and then book a meeting for any questions or concerns. From the time we got the plan, to the time the markings were done and the work apparently scheduled was less than 4 business days! Had we known we'd have days or hours rather than weeks or a month, I would called an emergency meeting of the neighbors and the neighborhood association and the city to expedite the process. Three times I asked for an estimated start date - three times I got no answer. Here are the questions at least one neighbor had Sunday night upon learning the work would start in the morning: Why is this project scheduled? What purpose does it serve? How it will improve or further aggravate the residents of Olmstead Place? They go on to suggest a Q&A with neighbors. Others had more questions than I had ever even considered while meeting with Dick. View Comment

@Ken P: and that's an insult to third graders everywhere (ba doom doom, or whatever the comic drum roll is :) View Comment

At least 48 hours notice of the start would have been decent, but I hope you agree that for a project of this size, at least 2 months notice of the project it itself should be required! The entire intersection won't even resemble what it looks and drives like today. The project was already approved, engineered, bid out, surveyed, and marked before Olmsteaders "learned" of it by seeing call-before-you-dig marks and survey stakes! Fait accompli. Repeated requests to get information on who, what, when, where, why went unanswered. A simple request to Mr. Alvord for a 30 minute meeting with the project engineered was answered as (we're too busy this week and have no plans to meet with the public). Attempts the following week failed. and so forth. Finally, we DID get a copy of the plan by going to city hall during walk-in hours at DPW, waited 40 minutes, and got one copy of the plan, and not even the one that was representative of the road markings! Can you believe the final markings were done on Friday (I didn't see them until my Sunday walk) and the road crews were there Monday morning. PS: a no parking zone there in the morning, but I have to tell you I feel sorry for anyone who left for work with their windows open down there! Yuck. View Comment

@Wcracka: Improvements?? From your lips to God's ears. At this point we can only hope that what they're doing to our road won't actually make it worse! View Comment

Thanks Bkind - perhaps in the future we can prevent this from happening to other residents and neighborhoods by requiring at least 48 hours notice to everyone on the afffected street. I recently asked the Mayor's Neighborhood Preservation Committee to consider hosting a discussion on how the city can better keep residents informed of major projects that impact them (new development projects, zoning regulation changes, master plans, construction, traffic initiatives, road closures, etc). Hard to believe, but the Mayor was adamantly opposed and wouldn't even consider a discussion on the matter, much less any action steps! Customer service claims no manpower, Zoning points to legal notices, etc). View Comment

Apparently not - but it only goes on because we allow it to, Tim. View Comment