The first day of the Occupy Darien demonstration got off to a slow start at a wet Tilley Park in Darien on Wednesday morning with about 10 protesters coming out for the event…Tommy Fox, a veteran of several Occupy Wall Street protests, came from New York to take part in the event. He blamed the low attendance on the wet weather and lack of coordination between event organizer Margaret Rague and occupiers in New York. He said he has been trying to spread the word, and that more people may show up Thursday. [The Daily Darien]
Connecticut
Why does Southern Connecticut get everything? Why does it get to lay claim to all that is great in this world? A short-list includes Steve Cohen’s Cummings Point Pleasure Dome, a guy who’ll park his car on your roof, a group of asset managers who will be more than happy to do whatever you ask, be it bury a hooker you killed or claim your lotto winnings, Cliff Asness’s doll collection, The Largest Trading Floor In The WorldTM, the No. 1 Candy Theft Prevention Team in the U.S., the Great Toilet War of ’08, Paul Tudor Jones’ Christmas Spectacular, Heights and Lights (“a 20-year Stamford tradition that features an acrobatic Santa Claus rappelling down the side of of a building on his way to a local tree lighting”) and now this? Continue reading »
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Confidential To Connecticut Commuters: Bypass Parking Lot Purgatory And Still Be Able To Look Yourself In The Mirror
By Bess Levin
How does one know when they’ve made it in Connecticut? Is it when their net worth is north of $5 billion? Is it when news of their impending arrival downtown causes workers to roll out the fleece carpet? Is it when the Radio City Christmas Spectacular becomes known as the poor man’s version of the holiday light display on their front lawn? Is it when they can finger a horse and no one says anything? None of the above, peasants. One knows they’ve made it in Connecticut when they can board the Metro North train without having to walk 12 miles to the platform in the morning and the same amount back after getting bombed on the way home at night.
In the Metro-North parking lots along Connecticut’s Gold Coast, the haves and the have-nots aren’t defined by their clothes, car or even their net worth. Here, it’s about whether they have a flimsy green piece of paper visible on their dashboards. A public parking pass in this and other towns along the Long Island Sound has become a precious asset. The waiting list for a Fairfield Parking Authority permit has 4,200 people and stretches past six years. In another town, Rowayton, the annual permit sale is an epic frenzy similar to that surrounding the release of a new iPhone, with residents camping out overnight to ensure they get a $325 pass.
Think it’s no big D? Think again. Most people would sell their first born into White slavery for one of these elusive bad boys. Continue reading »
Two Greenwich sisters were issued summons for third-degree disorderly conduct after police were called to a town residence on a report of a domestic dispute. The sisters, ages 14 and 16, were involved in an argument over computer usage. Police said one of the girls interrupted the other’s computer usage, causing her to shove her out of the room. The girl shoved out of the room then cut off power to the computer room, causing a physical fight. The sisters were referred to juvenile court and will appear there on October 4. [Police Blotter]
From a memo sent this afternoon: Continue reading »
Back in June, we discussed the possibility of UBS moving out of its Stamford, CT building, which houses the largest trading floor in the world), and into New York City. The bank, which has not been doing too hot of late, seemed to be of the opinion that leaving Stamford would be a panacea for all its woes which, according to UBS, boil down to no one wanting to work in Connecticut (rather than no one wanting to work at a place that doesn’t pay and yells at you when you ask if this month’s check will clear). After several months of talks with developer Larry Silverstein about a possible deal at 3 World Trade Center, which conveniently has 5 trading floors located in “Tower 3,” UBS announced that it’d looked over its finances and realized it wouldn’t be able to come up with the money for a new place, and ditched the plan, while still moving a bunch of employees south and leaving the door open for a move to midtown, an idea that struck absolute terror or delight into the hearts and plums of everyone directly or indirectly related to UBS. Continue reading »
The meeting is said to be scheduled for 3PM, leaving the staff, Beamers girls, Morton’s bartenders and the guy who “sells a whole lot of brown-bagged bottles of liquor to UBS employees every evening” plenty of time to freak out that they’re going to potentially told the bank is leaving the state. Alternatively, those who dream of a giant Costco taking over the 100,300 square foot space will have the entire day to salivate over potentially pillaging delicious and moderately priced cheesecakes every day after work. Continue reading »
Last month we discussed the possibility of UBS moving out of its Stamford, CT building (which houses the largest trading floor in the world) and into New York City. The bank, which has not been doing too hot of late, seems to believe that leaving Stamford would be a panacea for all its woes which, according to UBS, boil down to no one wanting to work in Connecticut (rather than no one wanting to work at a place that doesn’t pay and yells at you when you ask if this month’s check will clear). Until recently, the talk has all been very casual, though it got kicked up a notch to semi-serious when word got out that senior execs had been speaking with developer Larry Silverstein about a possible deal at 3 World Trade Center, which conveniently has 5 trading floors located in “Tower 3,” causing more than a few people to flip out over the idea of a UBS-less Stamford. Still, though, the bank will more than likely be sticking it out for the next few years if not longer and may simply be playing games in order to get city/state officials to sweeten their stay. To that end, the news that 50 “cash trading” employees were moved to New York today shouldn’t be too distressing. Or should it? Continue reading »
A couple weeks back, an 8-foot long, 160-pound mountain lion started hanging around Greenwich, Connecticut and its nearby towns. News stations noted that a cat that size hasn’t been seen in those parts in 100 years; residents and people who work in the area were more than a little freaked the fuck out. Now testing of evidence found last week has revealed everyone should be doubly worried. Continue reading »
Last week we discussed the possibility of UBS leaving Stamford, Connecticut, where the bank built the largest trading floor in the world back in the 90′s. While their lease is not up until 2015, talks with developers like Larry Silverstein, about a possible deal at 3 World Trade Center, which conveniently has 5 trading floors located in “Tower 3,” have recently moved from very casual to semi-casual, and considering that management is of the opinion that the firm’s recent issues are merely a matter of no one wanting to work in CT, the idea that they would leave is at least somewhat plausible. On Friday, a bunch of Stamfordians were asked how they’d feel about living in a city in which UBS didn’t exist and the responses ranged from confused to angry to devastated (on the flip side, one employee deemed the potential move and $300/month he’d save “awesome” and another commented “What’s the big deal? So we move out, and a nice big Costco moves in. Life goes on.”) According to Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia, however, the tears are for naught. Continue reading »
Earlier this week, we discussed the possibility of UBS moving out of its Stamford, CT building (which houses the largest trading floor in the world) and into New York City. The bank, which has not been doing so hot of late, seems to believe that leaving Stamford would be a panacea for all its woes which, according UBS, boil down to no one wanting to work in Connecticut (rather than no one wanting to work at a place that doesn’t pay and yells at you when you ask if this month’s check will clear). Some staff have already been transferred with plans to move more later this summer but talk of moving the whole shebang, until recently, had been very casual. Once word got out that the bank has been speaking with developer Larry Silverstein about a possible deal at 3 World Trade Center, which conveniently has 5 trading floors located in “Tower 3,” they got upgraded to one step up from casual and got the people of Stamford freaking the fuck out.
Take Danny Ryan, a bartender and waiter at Morton’s. For the past fews days he’s been struggling to answer one simple question- why?
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” said Danny Ryan, a bartender and server at Morton’s The Steakhouse, which is alongside the gleaming 700,000-square-foot UBS building. “Why would they build this stunning building with the biggest trading floor in the world, and then leave?”
Dino Sakakini, owner of Layla’s Falafel was less philosophical and more blunt. “Stamford will be crushed,” he told the Times. “Plain and simple. We’ll become a ghost town.”
Peter Charpentier, who “sells a whole lot of brown-bagged bottles of liquor to UBS employees every evening,” was just plain pissed, both at CT officials and whoever’s making the decisions at the bank, who apparently forgot about a little thing called 9/11. Continue reading »
