The rainbow over Trump Tower

The rainbow over Trump Tower

This shot was posted on the Stamford Advocate website. It's so lovely, we wanted to share.

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DSSD in the news.....Stamford FourSquare Badge? - Stamford411 - The Advocate

Do you spend a lot of time hopping around the city of Stamford? Well, if the city’s Downtown Special Services District gets its way, you’ll soon be able to enjoy a digital reward for your gallivanting, courtesy of Foursquare, a social media website that enables users to “check in” to their current location.
The DSSD is campaigning to earn a Foursquare badge for the city of Stamford. Foursquare badges “are little rewards you earn based on your check in habits (for example, frequenting too many karaoke bars, eating lots of pizza, taking your kids to the playground).”

Earlier this week, Foursquare made this announcement in a blog post:
As part of President Obama’s announcement to boost tourism in the U.S., the White House called on folks around the country to share what makes their city or town a great place to visit. Well, we want to know too! Inspired by the #visitUS initiative, we’re putting out a call for foursquare lists with all the best spots in your city. We’ll pick the three most amazing ones and creating foursquare city badges for them!
read more at:
Stamford FourSquare Badge? - Stamford411 - The Advocate

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Save a life...celebrating 5 years today!

Save a life...celebrating 5 years today!

napa & co.

   

1/25/07

Five years today...I was a kidney donor to my friend Seth Berger.

I've never been one to stand on a soap box about this topic because I always felt it was a personal and private decision. However, I am so excited to celebrate five years that I wanted to take a moment to celebrate the gift of giving. It was such a rewarding process that perhaps someone else might be inspired to do the same.

It hit me this morning as I was driving my daughter to school what an awesome feeling it was to give someone life. It was so empowering. She asked me to recall the event as she saw the reminder come up on my phone "Happy Anniversary!" She was 5 years old at the time and I explained I gave both my girls a bath that night and spent some time explaining that mom was going into the hospital in the morning but I was not sick. I was going to help a friend that was terribly ill and had two young boys just like my little girls. I described that I had two kidneys and would be giving him one and my little 5 year old said, "But you have two kidneys because you have two girls." I smiled and said, "Yes, but one day someone will do the same for me if we ever need one."

In October of 2006 (during construction of Napa), I heard both of Seth's kidneys were failing and in serious condition. I spoke to his mother who explained that several family members were not a match. His blood type was a difficult match and the odds were 1 in 5,000 that he would find a match. Seth was not family nor was he one of my best friends but he was a friend...period. I couldn't stand by and say, "Good luck on the wait list. I hope it works out for you." I didn't quantify our friendship. It wasn't about how well I knew him or how many years. He needed help. It was and always will be that simple. My instinct was to start the testing process and let the results speak. On December 6th, I got the call.

I was a match. 

It was snowing that morning and it was scary. What if something happened? I had gone through MRI, CT scans, endless blood work, tissue match, psychological testing and interviews to get to this day. The surgeon said to me, "Up until that last second you can back out. I will make up a reason for you but don't ever feel you have to go through with it." That wasn't an option to me. I followed my instinct from day one.

I was released in two days and back to work in 4. It has resulted in zero changes to my lifestyle and my health. It has resulted in infinite feeling of pride and satisfaction to see him happy and healthy today. Second to having my children, it was the most rewarding experience of my life. Seth gave me a gift this day 5 years ago. There is no better high than the gift of giving. 

Thank you Seth.    

FYI: 350,000 people in the United States are on the wait list for a kidney. 67,000 people die every year of kidney failure while waiting for a donor.  

- from Mary at napa&co. 

    Click to learn about becoming a kidney donor

Click to find where to donate blood

 

 Click to become a bone marrow donor

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Annual Hot Stove Report with Boston Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine

Annual Hot Stove Report with Boston Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine  Sunday, January 29, 2012
5:30 -7:30 PM; Doors open at 4:45 PM
Rippowam Middle School (building where Bobby went to high school)
381 High Ridge Road
Stamford, CT

Win Red Sox tickets, autographed items and more!

$40 in advance; Tickets available at Bobby V's Sports Gallery Cafe in Stamford or online at http://www.fans4thecure.org/

$50 at the door

For more information contact:

Ed Randall at 917-856-7545

John Lupton at 914-525-0463 or via email at jlupton07@optonline.net

   

For more information about Fans for the Cure go to: http://www.fans4thecure.org/

ED RANDALL'S FANS FOR THE CURE-MISSION

Through the world of sports and athletes, increase the awareness of prostate cancer in men and educate them and the people who lovc them about the most current techniques in treatment, prevention and early detection

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Stamford Downtown and the South End in the news.....

We've been getting alot of questions about what is happening in the South End, so here it goes....

Op-Ed: Master Plan, not DSSD, says no full service hotels in South End

Sandy Goldstein, President of the Stamford Downtown Special Services District.

Published online 04:11 p.m., Friday, January 20, 2012 and printed Sunday January 22, 2012

The headline in last Sunday's Advocate calls the differences in positions between the Downtown and the South End vis-à-vis hotel development a "civil war." This headline might sell papers, but distorts a respectful difference between two important parts of the city: the Downtown and the South End.

Stamford Downtown is very pleased with the development occurring to the south of us and realizes that it will benefit the entire city. And I believe that the South End is equally pleased with the vitality that is part of its northern neighbor. As a matter of fact, on Jan. 3 the principals of Building and Land Technology and the Downtown Special Services District met, at Stamford Downtown's request, to articulate and understand each other's positions. After lengthy discourse, we amicably agreed to disagree.

One may ask, "Why is the DSSD in opposition to BLT's desire to build a full service hotel in the South End?"

The answer in a nutshell is.....

that the Master Plan, the city's blueprint for development, establishes that the Downtown will be the area of the city with the most intense development. This position was affirmed in 1977, reconfirmed in 1984, again in 2002 and again in 2007. For the past 35 years, this plan has been consistently upheld by city land use boards and has in turn greatly contributed to the successful downtown we have today. Adherence to the Master Plan ensured that a critical mass of offices, entertainment, full service hotels and retail would create a strong city center and prevent the fragmentation that cities like Norwalk, Danbury and those in southern New Jersey have experienced.

A full service hotel, designated by the Master Plan exclusively for the Downtown, is one of the prohibited uses in the South End. Smaller, boutique hotels like the Marriott Courtyard (with no banquet facility) are allowable. There are 150 other allowable uses in the Zoning Regulations designed to activate the South End. However, a full service hotel, i.e. a hotel with a convention center/banquet facility (ballroom), is expressly prohibited. Yet, this use was slipped into a site plan approved in 2008, when the Zoning Board mistakenly approved a prohibited use.

Now that BLT is requesting a major change to its 2008 plan, asking for seven additional stories to the hotel and 50,000 more square feet of space, it is time for the Zoning Board to say, "No." The Zoning Board should insist that all developers play by the same rules. BLT could choose to return to the Zoning Board and ask to amend the regulation that prohibits a full service hotel on the site.

It has been claimed by some that the DSSD's concerns are anti-competitive and intended to protect Downtown hotels. Once again, I refer you to the city's primary land use document, the Stamford Master Plan, which enumerates where full service hotels can and cannot be located. In 2008, when a full service hotel (the Ritz Carlton) was proposed for Atlantic Street in the Downtown, the DSSD was a vocal supporter of the application; as was every other hotel in the downtown. The difference between the Ritz Carlton's application and the South End application is that under zoning regulations the one in the Downtown is allowable and the one proposed for the South End is not.

Please remember, it is not the DSSD or some Downtown property owners who determine the type and location of hotels that can be built. It is the city of Stamford's land use regulations that govern such use and placement.

Sandy Goldstein is president of the Stamford Downtown Special Services District.

 Read more: 

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