Sigrid Schultz
They want to put the Gunn-House in the Baldwin municipal parking lot;
even though it will result in a net loss of 60-76 parking spaces. In light of the current parking issues this is insane.
Even though the house will be completely gutted. Nothing of the original will remain, just the ugly shape.
Even though they had to resort to “spot zoning” to make it happen. (Which is a no no)
Even though planning and zoning staff recommended against the move.(ask Larry Bradley)
Even though it is not a good example of Victorian architecture.(by anyone’s account)
Even though some expressed the feeling of “being held hostage” by the developer during the lease negotiating process.(quote from P&Z)
Even though the building will be placed right up to the road with no set back. (nobody else gets to do that)
Even though the precedent that it sets for the P&Z will have negative long term effects.
Even though there is no way for the town to get the land back for 99 years, even if the house burns down the lease holder can build whatever they want there.
Even though the town spent decades tearing down houses for the parking lot.(Schultz’ house)
Even though the house belongs on a residential lot.(bridge to commercial zone is b.s., this is spot zoning)
Even though it’s placement will create an ugly claustrophobic canyoning effect, whenever they print an artist’s rendering of what it will look like — they never show the building right across from it – modern, this is going to look real weird, the perspective of how it will look is not accurate in their synthesized representations. (the height proximity and perspective give a false impression)
Even though some have in mind a higher purpose for that land – munificent parking for everybody.
Even though the RTM unanimously approved overturning the P&Z ruling to make this happen, I don’t see that as a good thing, I see it as everyone being afraid to go against the superficial call for preservation(in this case).
This is a superficial move and the fact that not one RTM member was against is scary because it means they are all willing to throw common sense out the window to stay in office. (You’d think one would be against) Gives me chills. You see — the P&Z staff aren’t elected – so they can say what they really think. The mistake was made by letting the house go from it’s current spot.
Even though only one person stands to gain from this. — Dave Waldman called me a couple days ago, sent me a long email, maybe I would come over for a chat because he was “reluctant to go on the record” — bla bla bla and he questioned my motives. No Dave just respond on my blog, I don’t have time for chats, it’s called the comments button! I’m ready to go item by item …….my motives? My motive is to inform the general public about the subtle nuance. –Getting back to the even thoughs…
Even though from an economic standpoint this is the worst decision of all time. The 15 grand per year in rent to the town is a joke. The property is worth tens of millions and this is the ace location on the property. The most ace .13 acres of public land in all of Westport. Not to mention the opportunity costs( just got an A in my economics class at FU.) (last year.) I could work up a 100 page report about how the town could make more money.(see my blog Gunn Case Triggers Negative Equity Concern)
Even though the town is now stuck with this lease for 99 years so that we can save one ugly piece of wood with no real historical value. The historical value is in it being in its current location. Like so much of history it is about context.
In summary: I am detecting a trend towards superficial monument building. The Levitt looks a little over cooked, I’m sure the architect did a great job, I just wonder how it will age. The library plans seem like a lot of glass, crazy amounts(25million in glass), like Gorham Island. Everybody wants to build monuments to themselves. Dave told me he is going to name the Gunn house after his father. I can respect his wanting to change the name, but it starts getting personal, a little too personal for public land.
I think(and I’m very important) we need to be more objective with the downtown projects. We need to take ourselves out of the projects for a moment, look clearly at the underlying conditions.
Plan for new library
Gorham Island is shiny. The plans for the new library look shiny. The new Levitt looks shiny. What’s with all the shiny stuff? Westport used to be so earthy and real.
When I sold my first million records they gave me a golden plaque. I hung it on the wall so that whenever you walked into my studio that’s what you saw. If it got a little dusty I would shine it up, at night when no one was around; polishing and shining, and positioning it just so.
Then one day I was listening to the radio. A song came on, I can’t remember who the artist was but the lyric went something like this, “there’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.”
I grabbed my gold records and threw em in the garbage. Meaningless worthless pieces of crap. Was my studio a place to make music or a place to worship gold painted plastic discs. So — Westport has achieved gold status now — and people want to start putting up their gold records. “Look I saved the Gunn House”
Last chance on the 13th at 830 in the morning at town hall. Let’s see if anybody has the balls to do what’s right! So far I see Larry Bradley(P&Zstaff), Cathy Walsh(P&Zformer chair), Roger Leifer(actual building owner downtown) and Drew Friedman(building owner downtown). Everyone else just rushing to get on board a superficial cause. I think everyone in town feels guilty because of the thousands of buildings that have been torn down in recent years. But this cause actually does more harm to downtown. I will let Drew Friedman explain the legal ramifications on Wednesday morning — I didn’t bring any of those up. If only we had spent the year we had looking for a residential lot for this home everybody loves so much. If it was so great how come no one offered to take it away when Waldman offered it for free. We have wasted so much time.
Now back to Hitler! Sigrid Schultz interviewed Hitler on multiple occasions. The very same Sigrid Schultz who lived at 35 Elm Street for decades.(the same property the First Selectman is about to lease to Waldman) She(Sigrid Schultz) helped the OSS with the psychological profile(of Hitler). She is my model of an investigative reporter. To be sure I am not an investigative reporter, and Westport is not the Berlin of the 30′s. But if there is one thing she taught me – to be thorough!
From the Chicago Tribune – The Dragon Lady by Julia Edwards. From the book “Women of the World”
It was agony for Schultz to sit at her desk in New York while American troops invaded France, and by early 1945 she was back in Europe for The Tribune, McCall`s magazine and Mutual Broadcasting. Assigned to the 1st Army, she advanced into Germany with the troops from Belgium. While other women correspondents had difficulty getting permission to reach the front, she was admitted to a select group of correspondents the Air Force flew to important battle zones.
“We were the first pressmen who landed near Weimar and entered the corpse-strewn concentration camp of Buchenwald. When our plane flew into Leipzig where the battle was raging, we nearly got trapped by SS guards in a big building we examined,“ she recalled. Fortunately, they did not go into the basement where, they later learned, SS guards stood ready to shoot them.
They were in Nuremberg the day of victory in Europe; from there, Schultz raced back to Berlin. The Western world remained dubious of reports that Hitler had actually committed suicide in his bunker until she found a dental assistant, Frau Kaethe Haeursemann, to identify two of Hitler`s dental bridges found in the remains of the bunker. After the war she covered the Nuremberg war crime trials.