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RTM ousts chair from Greenwich P&Z panel
GREENWICH — Residents came looking for blood from the Representative Town Meeting Monday night, and got it when the body chose not to reappoint Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Richard Maitland to a new term.
Maitland, an architect, has been a member of the commission for 18 years, chair since 2016, and had been renominated for a new three-year term by the Board of Selectmen. However the RTM defeated that nomination by a vote of 72 in favor and 98 opposed with 12 abstaining after several speakers strongly objected to another term for Maitland, citing objections they have had to the commission's policies and decisions.
"There is an institutional bias on the (commission) favoring development without consideration of the quality of life or the effects on neighbors and the devaluation of their properties," Ted Walworth II, president of the Northeast Greenwich Association, said, the sentiment repeated by many. "It has now come to the point that neighborhood associations need to come together to form an organization to protect the taxpayers of the town from its own P and Z. With that in mind, it is time for a change a the top."
Resident Doreen Pierson added, "Mr. Maitland is not the person we want to chair the board any longer. We feel that he's very soft on developers and is not taking the best interests of Greenwich taxpayers and neighborhoods to heart."
Maitland's term ends on Oct. 31. The selectmen will now replace him from one of the commission's three alternates and then find a new alternate. Maitland said Tuesday he will not attend the next scheduled meeting on Oct. 30, saying the next member of the commission should not have him still around to complicate things.
"It's part of life," Maitland said. "As an architect there were many times I tried to get hired for a job and I was rejected. I can accept it as the will of the RTM. Of course I'm disappointed but it's part of the process."
Objections were raised about, among others, the commission's consideration of a plan to increase allowable school sizes in residential zones, which could lead to a day care center being approved for Greenwich Academy, and the proposed project to build a new synagogue on Mason Street. The commission has not approved either project, but several speakers voiced forceful objections to them, and to past developments on Milbank Avenue and elsewhere in town.
Projects that did not go forward, including a rotary expansion and proposed apartment complex in Old Greenwich, were also cited by speakers objecting to Maitland's reappointment, who said too much already had been done to hurt neighborhood character through development.
"Some of you may think that this is a case of 'not in my neighborhood' and many of you may not have been affected by these projects," said Charlotte Walker, a town resident. "All I can say is, with this commission, I think our experience will be that this is coming to your district very soon. And, by the way, (you can't say) 'not in my neighborhood' because it is, it's the neighborhood of Greenwich and it affects all of us and it affects our property values."
Walker added the commission should have done more to insure town land use laws followed the intentions of the Plan of Conservation and Development, instead of granting special permits to allow projects to proceed over neighbor objections.
"I really cannot see how our current Planning and Zoning Commission has done the town of Greenwich any favors in these last many years," Walker said, accusing the commission of being "deferential to developers and deaf to neighbors."
Maitland was not at Monday's meeting but his commission colleagues Margarita Alban and Andrew Fox were. And after the vote, Fox expressed disappointment.
"I think it's unfortunate that the town lost such a dedicated member of the commission," Fox said, adding that he felt a lot of the comments at Monday's meeting were misinformed, based on a misunderstanding of the commission's process working with town regulations and the 10-year Plan of Conservation and Development.
Fox also noted that many of the complaints expressed by people were about applications that aren't even before the commission yet.
Town Director of Planning and Zoning Katie DeLuca also criticized the RTM's decision on Tuesday.
"Richard's contribution to the town over the last 18 years is beyond what most will offer in their lifetime," DeLuca said. "This is a stark reminder that it can truly be a thankless voluntary position. The irony is that the POCD, which is adopted by the RTM, gave the directive to the commission to preserve and support neighborhood fire stations, schools and religious institutions, most of which have been fixtures in our community well before the residents who believe these uses are destroying them."
Maitland's defeat took many by surprise and was done over the objection of the Board of Selectmen. Selectman Sandy Litvack spoke at Monday's meeting and urged the RTM to support another term for Maitland, saying his board took the issues raised very seriously.
"Mr. Maitland has lived here for years," Litvack said. "He has no bias for developers. He has bias for what's good for the town."
Litvack added his concern that voting the nomination down would make it harder for the selectmen to find candidates to serve in what is already a difficult-to-fill position.
"Lest you think there are people lined up to do this, let me assure you there are not," Litvack said.
Maitland also had several defenders on the RTM who spoke out at the meeting to praise his ability and experience.
"I think he's done an outstanding job," said Arline Lomazzo, chair of the RTM's Public Works Committee. "What I'm hearing tonight is that individuals have concerns about zoning matters that are very particular to them but are holding Mr. Maitland responsible for what the commission decides. That is grossly unfair."


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Apostolic Work
A branch of the Apostolic Work was established in the parish in 2011. The role of its members is to support theChurch's Mission abroad both spiritually and materially. Material support would traditionally involve making vestments and providing Sacred Vessels etc. While this still forms part of the support, fund raising is the primary focus today. The distinctive feature of Apostolic Work is that their support is given directly to the Missions through applications from Priests and Sisters working there. In return the missionaries will give an account of how the monies have been spent and how their projects are developing.
The late Bishop Cahal Daly, summed up the association as " a great Irish women's missionary force". We try to live up to this. The group meet once a month in the Committee room of the Church and would welcome new members at any time. Details of forthcoming meetings will be published in the Parish Bulletin. Just come along.

subset: commoncrawl


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Gallup is a well-respected polling group, with a long history of non-partisan, independent polling dating back decades. Polls run by George Gallup have returned accurate and insightful results since the Roosevelt upset of 1936, and the Gallup organization continues this tradition today.
In recent polling, Gallup introduced a new set of questions into the mix, to determine the third-party effect. The results look bad for the presumptive Republican nominee.
While the third-party candidates themselves are not polling incredibly high (the highest being Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson) they do sap away the figures from the two major party candidates. What is more telling, however, is now much they take away. Obama they found lost a half percentage to Green candidate Jill Stein, but Romney was the real loser with the added factor taken into effect. Without it, Obama and Romney are within the margin of error of each other. But with it, Romney lost five percentage points, split between the Libertarian candidate, Constitution candidate Virgil Goode and Ron Paul as a write in.
If, however, these numbers carry forward, the real story here is how the Libertarians, which had a grand total of 0.4% of the vote in the last election, increased their polling percentage by over 800%. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is polling very strongly for a third-party candidate in several key states. In his home state of New Mexico, for example, he was pulling 12% back in June against the two major party candidates. And former governor Johnson is pulling even higher polling results since the Gallup results earlier this month, getting 5.3% just last week.
Even more interesting is Virgil Goode, former six-term congressman from Virginia. In polling released last week, Goode was pulling in 9% in his home state. With the two major candidates being split less than 4% without his inclusion on the ballot, and with Goode's base being considered for Romney primarily, this looks even worse for the presumptive GOP candidate.
The pre-convention counter-convention being held by Ron Paul fans in Tampa, the Paul Festival, is a clear example of this division in the right-wing ranks. In the middle of the festival, on Saturday the 25th, Gary Johnson will be there to speak to the crowd of Ron Paul supporters. After being frozen out of the Republican debates, Johnson is making his pitch to the supporters of the Texas Congressman just before the Republican National Convention. Already these supporters of Dr. Paul have sued to free up their votes in the convention. The results of this lawsuit are anticipated the week before the convention, and will be fresh in the minds of these supporters when the Libertarian candidate speaks to them.
With the inability of Romney to connect with average voters, and the near collapse of several state Republican parties, it is inevitable that some will start to look away from the party boss selected candidate and to alternative messages. If Romney cannot pull his campaign together soon, he might find himself in a death spiral which could take his party down with him.
This whole time echoes the last time a major political party in the US entered its death throws, the Whigs, which solidly won for decades only to then collapse over a period of a few years, going from a surge in 1850, to ruin one election later due to internal schisms caused by the growth of the know-nothing movement, an eerie echo of the current Tea Party. If the GOP cannot divorce itself from this anti-intellectualism poison, it too will suffer the same collapse as the party they replaced, the once grand Whigs.


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Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching, and already our household is in a flutter. We had a strategic meeting last night where we determined the full menu that lies ahead of us, and planned out our baking. We're fortunate in that the Cap'ns live right down the street, so we essentially have two kitchens to play with. I'll be doing the bulk of the baking on Wednesday (apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan-chocolate torte, dinner rolls, cinnamon bread, cranberry chocolate tarts) and then on Thursday the true fun will begin.
Cap'n Raspberry gamely volunteered to "take care of the turkey," and I wish him the best of fortune in that endeavor. I wasn't actually that fixated on turkey, mainly because I usually find that people over cook it and underseason it, resulting in a dull and bland meal. But the Cap'n wanted tryptophan, so turkey it is. He's also taking care of stuffing and gravy, which leaves me mashed potatoes, baked yams, top secret brussels sprouts, grilled corn, and salad with Puff.
I was a vegan for number of years, and have always been amazed and amused by Thanksgiving, because it's such a meat-o-centric holiday. I've had many delicious vegan Thanksgivings, utterly turkey free and perfectly fun, but I admit I am kind of looking forward to making a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal. The turkey is the centerpiece of an overindulgent meal, with ravenous hordes beating down the table for seconds. It's the one holiday that I take very, very seriously, because it involves food on a scale which causes my heart rate to accelerate. And all of the food is relatively easy to make, not like these complex and insane meals that I construct most of the time. Sure, there's a lot of stuff on the table, but all of it flows so nice and easily that in a way it's a very relaxing holiday for me.
So how about that turkey.
This year there seems to be a growing interest in heritage and heirloom turkeys, which The Ethicurean's Dairy Queen has explained in more detail here. Go on, read it, I'll wait. It is a very informative look at turkey nomenclature, which can be dizzying to the uninitiated. For consumers trying to be conscious, food labeling can be deeply confusing, and I know that I for one wish there was more standardization in all these terms being tossed around, willy nilly, like so many giblets.
I think that more and more consumers are finally starting to connect meat with animals, and are feeling concern and perhaps even empathy for their food. I am pleased to see this, in a world where factory farming is so dominant. It is my ardent hope that consumer awareness will terminate the process of factory farming, that all of us will end up eating less meat but that it will be healthy, sustainable meat. The way in which we raise food animals is wrong.
Of course, many upscale markets like Whole Foods have begun to realize the potential sales value of sustainable farming. Consumers will pay more for food which they perceive as ethically more justifiable, and Whole Foods is happy to help with labeling like the Animal Compassion tags that are starting to pop up on meat products.
While I make fun of the capitalists for seizing upon the commercial value of humane meat, I think it is a very positive step in the right direction. After all, McDonald's caused major reforms in chicken farming due to consumer outcry. In a capitalist nation, you've got to harness the man to achieve your goals. The growing popularity of sustainable meats is a really positive sign in the market, and I encourage all of you who haven't already made your Thanksgiving arrangements to think about getting meat that makes you feel good while you eat it.
If you don't have access to a local farm, pester your butcher. Find out where the meat comes from, and do some research on their farming practices and what the labeling on your meat actually means. Make a decision based on concrete facts rather than claims on the package. Not only will the meat be of a higher quality, but you will be able to sleep in a tryptophan induced peace, knowing that the animal you consumed for dinner was ethically and sustainably farmed without the use of harmful substances. It went outside during its life, and got to scratch around in the grass. It was handled with respect and love before it reached your plate, and you are supporting a humane farming industry by purchasing it.
Goodwill to dinner: all the cool kids are doing it!


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I have to customize Contacts Module create and record views. I'm working in SugarCRM Enterprises version 188.8.131.52.
The situation is I need to just show Salutation if contact_type (custom field) value "Company" and if the same field value is "Person" I will display Salutation, First Name and Last name.
I tried with dependency framework but it only works with "full_name" and hides all field (i.e. Salutation, First Name and Last name). It doesn't work with only first_name or last_name fields. And my dependency action code is:
'name' => 'SetVisibility',
'params' => array(
'target' => 'full_name',
'value' => 'not(equal($aud_contact_type,"Company"))'
this.getField('first_name').show(); also doesn't work for First Name and Last name fields in sidecar (custom/modules/Contacts/clients/base/views/create/create.js) .
Any Help will be appreciated. Thanks.