The Power of the (Blogger) Press

Your scribe happened to see young Kerrin Kinnear yesterday, who gave him the gladsome news that her erstwhile worthless Greenwich Dollars have (finally) been redeemed at par by a red-faced Chamber of Commerce.

Such a pity that we no longer have the stocks on Greenwich Common, so that we could all be treated to the sight of the unspeakable Mary Ann Morrison being humiliated publicly for her shameless attempt to stiff Kerrin and the rest of the unwary citizenry who were so unwise as to believe that the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce had any credibility worth taking to the bank.

Let us hope, dear reader, that the redemptions came straight out of Mary Ann's bloated salary, and that the Chamber's board of directors will now take a long collective look in the mirror at themselves. The amount of harm that Mary Ann and her minions have done to this Town is incalculable, and the amount of good, if any, microscopic. And yet, say your scribe's sources, the dues are going up?! Eventually our local merchants will start to smarten up, one hopes, if only for their own good. Not to mention that of our long-suffering Town....

Is There Going To Be Anyone At All Left?

From the Norwalk Advocate, via Greenwich Roundup:

Hearst Corp. cut 44 jobs at its Connecticut newspapers on Friday and plans to eliminate another 80 positions within three months as part of a consolidation and cost-cutting effort.

At this rate, new editor David McCumber won't have anyone left to supervise at the Local Rag, aka Yellowwich Time. Sounds like the practice of making bricks without straw wasn't confined to the ancient Egyptians and their Hewbrew guest workers.

How do you run a newspaper without employees, however illiterate and incompetent? Sounds to your scribe as though the paperless version of the Rag is getting closer by the day....

Can David McCumber Save the Local Rag?

In the revolving door of local newspaper management by the Hearst media chain, the Local Rag, aka Yellowwich Time, so known for the color of the journalism it has historically published, will have a new editor as of April 27. And for a change, it appears that he may be a winner.

David McCumber comes to Greenwich from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the venerable Left Coast newspaper that recently ceased to issue a printed version and became an online-only viritual newspaper. Although moving to the Local Rag sounds like a fairly substantial demotion to your scribe, he is nonetheless impressed with Mr. McCumber's resume, which includes being a published poet and author. "I'm not so much focused on dollars and cents but [sic] on good journalism," he is quoted as saying recently. Well, his grammar may be a bit weak, but the sentiment is laudable.

But can he save the Local Rag, with its motley staff of retreads and also-rans? Will he be able to get his underlings to start checking their facts and getting their stories straight, as it were? Your scribe wishes him well, but it's a little bit like trying to cleanse the Augean stables. There's an awful lot of horse manure still cluttering up the place.

Or, on the other hand, is Mr. McCumber here to preside over the transition of Yellowwich Time, too, into a virtual newspaper? Maybe he has been given a certain period of time in which to try to pull up its socks, after which he may be put in charge of cutting it off at the knees. Time will tell.

The Greenwich Tea Party

Yes, dear reader, we had our own version of the Boston Tea Party right here in Greenwich yesterday, some 236 years after the one in Boston Harbor. The only problem is that then our ancestors were protesting the taxes and economic policies of an overseas government. This time, we are stuck protesting the taxes and policies of our own government, the same one we allegedly elected after throwing off the trans-Atlantic yoke. Your scribe isn't sure the analogy works.

However, upwards of 100 people were there, mostly out-of-towners, since Greenwich was picked as the venue for the southwestern Connecticut party. First Selectman Peter Tesei graciously welcomed the throng to the steps of Town Hall (not his own personal choice for the gathering-place, but in the event everyone was well-behaved, even if the promised tea and cucumber sandwiches never arrived). State Rep Livvy Floren also bid them welcome, while BET member Leslie Tarkington looked on but held her peace.

Your scribe chatted with Scott Stewart, who had brought his own tea bag but no hot water to steep it in, and Peter Malkin, father-in-law of State AG Dick Blumenthal. Later, fellow-blogger Chris Fountain joined the crowd, and rumor has it he even spoke after your scribe became bored and left. Had Chris spoken earlier, the scribal boredom would no doubt have been more readily forestalled.

All in all, the Greenwich Tea Party was much less stimulating than its pre-Revolutionary predecessor. No one was dressed as an Indian (or whatever the PC term might be these days), and no tea was dumped into the fountain in front of Town Hall, probably for the very good reason that there isn't one. As tea parties go, it seemed a rather weak beverage, like trying to squeeze a third cup out of Scott's teabag. But at least the weather was pleasant, and so were most of the people your scribe encountered. Pity about those cucumber sandwiches, though.

Life in Greenwich Just Keeps Getting Crazier...

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A friend writes:

We have just been notified (4/7/09) by the Town of Greenwich that our street number is being changed. This change in Cos Cob on U S 1 is from Salem Street to the Mianus Bridge. My new street number will be 646 instead of 215. The town has given less than 30 days notice and it takes effect May 1, 2009. But the Town has scheduled an open meeting for April 30, 2009 to hear from us. The day before the change. Are they for real?????????? The Post Office will not deliver mail after that date unless the new street number is correct on all mail.

Your scribe had always thought that odd numbers belonged on one side of the street, and even numbers on the other. How can an address change from odd to even without moving across the road?

On the other hand, it is fair to say that understanding the numbering system along Putnam Avenue in this Town has never been easy. Perhaps this is an attempt on someone's part to clarify the hodgepodge system that has been a part of our lives for well nigh a century in Greenwich. But to hold a public meeting to request comments less than 24 hours before the change is to take effect? That's just nuts.

Not to mention refusing to deliver mail to an address that's been valid for longer than most of us have been alive. Surely there should be some sort of grace period - six months or a year, perhaps?

Yes, dear reader, life in Greenwich just keeps getting crazier. And no one seems to be doing anything about it.