Sunday, December 28, 2008

Stamford Talk's 2008 in Review

This year didn’t start off well for the city. Marco Paoletta was killed on Vine St. on Jan. 3 and the murder remains unsolved despite there being a photo of the suspect on the surveillance camera at the JCC.

In February, the reality show Kitchen Nightmares filmed at Sabatiello’s, a foundering restaurant on the corner of Bedford and Forest. I signed up to be on the show and it was a hoot.

March was a little dead, but I ate a lot, and reviewed Market, Napa and Co’s $24 burger, and steak options in Stamford (note: Dunn's Loft now closed). March also included posts about immigrants, crazy soccer moms, headless chickens, cheese spills on I-95, robberies at Stamford Mall, "Stuff White People Like," and the TV show Lost. Hmm. I guess a slow news cycle leaves more time for writing fun posts.

In April, star sightings began in earnest: DeNiro, Isla Fisher, and movie sets all over town. Fatigue with the school redistricting mess set in.

Mid-May, I finally spotted stars myself. I got to watch DeNiro on set, then I saw the stars of another movie strolling on Summer St.
Meanwhile, Trump Parc was being constructed on Wash Blvd. Evidently it felt like its spotlight was being stolen by movie stars, because the next day, we had the FIRST of of a series of 4/5 falling debris incidents.

June kicked off a very successful Alive at Five season with a crowded Blues Traveler concert. We had our second Trump incident- more metal stuff falling 20 or so stories onto a vehicle.

In July, we had, unbelievably, another Trump incident. Malloy shut down the site until it put in some better safety measures. I took some photos of the new measures, which worked pretty well for, oh, just over a week.

In August, Trump delivered its fourth and fifth debris incidents in grand fashion. During a heavy storm, my friend’s car got hit by debris and a mail truck got skewered by a piece of lumber. I mean, that's just silly.

In September, we had our second murder. In October, a fancy cupcake store opened. Yes, Stamford is a city of extremes.

In November, the Sabatiello’s episode of Kitchen Nightmares made it to television, and I made the cut. Readers had very strong opinions about the show. Stamford got new blue holiday lights- to mixed reviews- and my husband’s favorite restaurant burned down. It was arson, but it was not me. I have an alibi.

In December, Sabatiello’s bit the dust. Trump almost managed to make it to the end of the year without another incident, but on Dec. 22, a plank of wood fell 15 feet into the street below. Fifteen feet is better than 15 stories, but it still could have hurt someone. I'm sure the people at Trump are not trying to kill us on purpose, but getting bashed in the head by accident would still be pretty UNCOOL. I was pulling for Trump Parc to get itself together, but I guess we've got to keep looking out for ourselves in the new year.

In 2009:
--Will we get a Stamford Dog Park?
--Will we get more movies filmed in town? Or will the bad economy/actor's contract problem ruin one of my biggest sources of frivolous excitement in Stamford?
--Will Trump Parc redeem itself by going incident-free and/or throwing us a big party/open house with free wine?
--Will Barcelona Tapas and Wine Bar open on Summer?

5 comments:

Streets of Stamford said...

I never heard about that last Trump Parc incident! What the heck is with those people????

Unknown said...

Now for the scoop, there was plywood blown off the Trump Tower a couple of weeks ago!

Unknown said...

maybe the plank and plywood are the same????

Melina said...

I want a dog park!!
If NYC can put one in Washington Square Park and numerous runs in Central park etc...and they stay relatively clean and well managed, then whats the problem with Stamford?
I put a fence up here, but my dogs are afraid of the roosters ....oh, I won the rooster case BTW, considering that it was the guy trying to sell his house who complained...and he sold it and left...meanwhile I had solved the problem. So all he did was cost my 98 year old grandfather 3 grand for something that he didn't even have to show up for and something that he never complained to me personally about...BUT I had rehomed most of them anyway by the time he had complained...He was a really nasty character. Passive aggressive and called the city because of my recycle bins...but would never talk to me face to face.
Anyway...the end of that is that my dogs wont go in the front yard because the one rooster attack them.
Regarding the builder; if this Trump builder cant get it together they should not be allowed to build in this area! THIS Stuff is not happening in NYC or other large urban setting, or we're reading it in the paper and they are paying huge fines and not working...Why is this company SO bad and continued to work here?
Who do they know in power that is allowing this to go on?
I guess someone has to die before we get action.
All in all, its ben a pretty quiet year here...i think that the fie department issue deserves some attention and, because I spent alot of my year writing politics (now, Im not sure, but Im goign to be writing a blog about Parrots at least and the rest will become clear as time goes on) the fact that we got rid of that ass Bush and that other ass Shays deserves some notice.
And Im afraid to say that even the non-political Stamford Talk will see the effects of the last 8 years on the fun quotient in this area...and in that even the rich are cutting back we will see alot of restaurant/store closings and house foreclosures...
Hopefully a new administration can get us back on track, but we have bigger problems than can be solved with a simple stimulus....
Its going to be a time of change and this area could be hard hit because we are sort of spoiled in how we live.
good luck to us all!
and lets all think of those out there who have less than us ...lets get our old coats, shoes and whatever works to the charities (person to person is fantastic...goodwill, etc...)

Anonymous said...

Coming to your BLOG, I feel a good start!