Editor, It’s caucus time again and as George Orwell once said “there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics…All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.” (He was probably thinking of the Town Council when he wrote that.) Fortunately for New Canaan the […]

Chairman’s View: Honing our zoning MAY 23, 2019 BY NEW CANAAN TOWN COUNCIL CHAIRMAN JOHN ENGEL In 1982, New Canaan matriarch Mabel Lamb is quoted in The New York Times as saying, “There are two reasons why people want to live in New Canaan — zoning and schools.” We talk a good deal about schools, but zoning […]

Letter: Second opinion needed on reval MARCH 7, 2019 BY LASZLO PAPP  Editor, Advertiser: In his biweekly column in the Advertiser, Chairman John Engel suggested that nothing is wrong with the condo revaluation, but rather he questions if our zoning laws “adequately address an affordable condominium solution.” Having more than 30 years of involvement with our zoning laws, I […]

Letter: Library is ‘thinking smart’ DECEMBER 10, 2018 BY ROBERT BUTMAN PRESIDENT, BOARD OF TRUSTEES NEW CANAAN LIBRARY Editor, Advertiser: This letter is in response to the Setting Priorities opinion column by John Engel, recently published in the New Canaan Advertiser. We appreciate the early support for the Library that John is voicing in his column. We […]

The Town Council on April 4th approved a Total Expenditure Budget of $150.94 million for fiscal year 2019-20, representing a decrease of 0.43% over the current fiscal year’s amended budget expenditure of $151.58 million. This is the first decline in more than a decade. The funds to be raised by taxation declined to $139.23 million […]

Letter: Calling for buildings sensitive to downtown district JULY 24, 2018 BY MIMI FINDLAY Editor, Advertiser: In response to John Engel’s recent opinion piece (‘Expect a high density development on Pine Street,’ July 12, p. 5A): I love to drive down Pine Street — the little brick buildings on the left, one with lovely grass and enormous […]

By: MICHAEL DINAN | November 5, 2017 Seven candidates—four Republicans and three Democrats—are vying for six Town Council seats that are up for election on Tuesday. For reasons listed below, I am endorsing three Republicans—John Engel, Rich Townsend and Tom Butterworth—and three Democrats—Sven Englund, Colm Dobbyn and Liz Donovan. Two candidates, incumbents Engel and Englund, most clearly have earned […]

#HomeIsNewCanaan The new video intended to capture the intangible and ungoogleable characteristics of the town of New Canaan is now public. Click below and watch the three-minute version of #Homeisnewcanaan. Make sure your volume is on and not muted. #Homeisnewcanaan  #workNYCliveNCCT #lifelikeapostcard

Architect James Evans discussing the Evans House with future architects from Roger Williams University Last week I hosted 3 architects from Aamodt Plumb along with 15 students from Roger Williams University as we took a tour of 4 of New Canaan’s best midcentury Modern houses. We saw the Philip Johnson Boissonas House of 1958 and learned what […]