AUGUST 5, 2019 VOL. 55, No. 31
westfaironline.com
Traffic backs up through downtown Stamford as crews work to remove a Route 1 bridge on June 1, 2019, that spans I-95 at Exit 9. Photo by Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media.
INSIDE
‘Connecticut in crisis’ SHU PROF’S BOOK EXAMINES STATE’S PROBLEMS
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RETAIL SUCCESS
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COMMERCIAL MARKET
BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com
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onnecticut may have a new-ish governor, but it’s still facing the same stubborn problems that it has for years, according to a new book by Gary L. Rose, professor and chair of the Department of Government at Sacred Heart University. As its title suggests, “Connecticut in Crisis: Policy Challenges and the
2018 Contest for Governor” (Academica Press) doesn’t just recap the gubernatorial race but also examines five key, nagging problems: the perception of Connecticut as a state that is generally inhospitable to business; the heavy tax rates imposed on residents and private companies; cities strongly in need of revitalization; a crumbling infrastructure; and the negative effect that entitlements have upon the state budget. “There are a number of
crises the state is facing,” Rose declared. “Taxation is a huge issue — we’re one of the most heavily taxed states in the country, which is one of the reasons that business is down in Connecticut.” The author of 10 other books — including the weighty, 800-page “Haywire: A Chronology of the 2016 Presidential Contest” (Ox Bow Press) — said that entitlements, in the form of the state’s multiyear pacts with the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) and the Teachers Retirement System (TRS), are especially onerous, with $21.2 billion and $13.1 billion in unfunded liabilities, respectively. “People are entitled to their pensions,” Rose said. » CRISIS
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LA CRÉMAILLÈRE OWNER, ON VERGE OF SELLING FAMED FRENCH RESTAURANT, ARRESTED BY BILL HELTZEL bheltzel@westfairinc.com
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a Crémaillère, the famed French restaurant in Bedford, was on the verge of selling the business for $2.5 million when a bankruptcy judge approved a trustee to investigate possible fraud after the FBI arrested co-owner Barbara Meyzen on accusations of cooking the books. “Management has lost all credibility,” attorney Andrea B. Schwartz wrote in a request for appointment of a trustee to manage the restaurant and real estate for creditors. Meyzen has been implicated in “rampant financial fraud,” according to a state-
ment issued by U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. Her criminal attorney, Kerry Lawrence, said, “We look forward to resolving the charges against her.” “Ms. Meyzen and her husband and family have owned La Cremaillere for decades,” he said, “and it is truly one of the great French restaurants on the East Coast.” La Crémaillère is housed in a 1750s farmhouse on Bedford-Banksville Road, on the Connecticut border, and for many years it has been acclaimed as one of the finest examples of French country cooking in the Northeast. Barbara Meyzen, also known as Bobbie, and her husband, Robert Olivier » LA CRÉMAILLÈRE
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