Oh yes, got new pad!
Pokhara Nepal
I was just arranging things in my new pad; putting them away, setting up the computers and all the equipment. I have certain requirements; I like to be close to town; surrounded by nature; quiet at night—deep quiet.
But, I have to admit, I had considered other towns besides Westport.
- Pokhara Nepal was a serious runner up. Pokhara sports spectacular views of the Himalayas. Lodging is plentiful and cheap—5 bucks a night. You can rent a scooter and go cruising around exploring. It is very hilly and some of the cheaper scooters can’t make it up the hills—too steep! It is quite close to Katmandu (200k), so— it has that vibe of being not too far removed from the big city.
- Prague Czech Republic was a contender. Praha wasn’t bombed in WW2 so the medieval city centre is relatively intact. There is all kinds of stuff going on there; film making or what have you. For me it has all the allure of being on the other side of the iron curtain—obviously the curtain has come down and the people are busy rebuilding their economy. But dollars go a long way. Being just a hop and a skip away from Vienna or Berlin is nice. I’ve made it over to Austria a few times but only for quick hops through the mountains. More Eastern Europe is big on my agenda for future exploration and I considered moving there this time around.
- Boulder Colorado was looking real good. Boulder has everything that I am looking for; mountains, pretty girls and it’s close to Denver. It is actually warmer than Westport and sunny 300 days per year. The have a University, tons of jobs and laid back peeps. But I don’t know, Westport is nicer—maybe.
Romania is in the centre of everything and has none of the problems of Ukraine. Romania is developing well—coming along fine. But I don’t know, they do have beautiful mountains.
That’s what I’m getting at; there are no mountains in Westport; hill and dale yes, jagged peaks no; no medieval ruins or castles. Westport is not even a proper New England town, established in 1835 – what the hell is that. Have you ever noticed that about downtown? Downtown is organized like a ramshackle trading hub—it’s so different from any other town in New England because of all the unique things that went into it coming about. New England charm—ha ha—how about onion wharves with cement huts and a trolley to Bridgeport.
Of course everything changed when the artists took over the farms. And all the cement huts on Main Street turned into cool mom an pop shops; all those unique little individual shops like they have in New Canaan now.
I wouldn’t go back to the old days, no, once they put the plan into effect to change downtown—it will be a new downtown soon. We’ll still have Jesup Green as the only undeveloped spot. Wow, just think what will it be like!
1. Dave Waldman will develop the Famous Artist School Building, the old Young Men’s Christian Association building—along with the old fire house, the property where the Classic old Gunn House is now. He will move the Gunn House over to the municipal parking lot where they tore down Sigrid Schultz’s house. All of Church lane will be his development as it sweeps out a little further into the Post Road all the way around on to Main Street.
2. The new fancy Levitt will be finished within months.
3. The Library will become updated with a more contemporary design from the brick look that it has now. It will boast stunning views of the river and host concerts at it’s new Great Room.
4. The guy who owns the Empire State Building will conjoin Francois DuPont, Kate Spade and the Westport Pizzeria into one large unit to be rented/ leased to multi-national big-box.
These, ladies and gentlemen, are our mountains, no reason to move.
5. The Baron’s land south will become mecca for low income housing—adding to the the diversity of the place over all.
This is all even without the new downtown plan—soon to be unveiled. We paid for it—180 grand. Not that much when you think about what it has been tasked to accomplish. 100S of millions of dollars are about to be spent on our town center. The planning firm has received input from all facets of the community and taken into account all the development projects on the books already; they’ve studied the parking and traffic conditions and are prepared to bring us into the future with broad sweeping ideas.
Until now Westport has been built up haphazardly—no more—the layout will finally make sense. Like my new pad everything will be organized perfectly!