Westport
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
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EverythingWestport.com Wednesday, September 7, 2011
"The
robbery and vandalism down there is unbelievable," East Beach Residents
Association president Carol Novo told the board. "And there is a bottleneck
of cars from rubberneckers and sightseers." East
Bridge Road is closed to through traffic, but is open to the all the road's
summer residents so they can gain access to their lots. Some
trailers have returned to the northwestern end of the battered road, and
electricity has been restored to the entire area. Residents
asked for signs at the intersection of Hixbridge
and Horseneck Roads, and on Drift Road to divert needless traffic from the
area. "It
(Horseneck Road) will remain a dead end until further notice,' Fire Chief
Brian Legendre told selectmen. Residents
were also concerned about washed up material from their lots being used to
repair the road, and asked that the highway department not to remove any
excess stone and sand from the area, but leave it for residents to rebuild
their oceanside lots. Nine
waterside lots on the far eastern section of East Beach Road have lost most
of their lot material. No
material would be removed and brought to the town barn, select board chairman
Richard Spirlet told residents. "The
highway department will not rebuild the lots, but would pile any excess
material removed from the road at the front of the lots for residents to
use," Spirlet said. The
rebuilding of the lots would fall under the purview of the town's Conservation
Commission. The
summer residents, to a person, had high praise for the efforts of the safety
personnel and the highway department in dealing with the tropical
storm-ravaged road. Most
of the asphalt has been removed from the area, Legendre said.
Left: the
highway department pushed back the washed out material to the front of the trailer
lots. Right: tropical storm Irene demolished the eastern waterside
lots, as clearly seen in this photo, washing them away and exposing
foundations and septic tight tanks. The tanks have subsequently been condemned
by the Westport Board of Health. East
Beach is eligible for FEMA emergency assistance which would reimburse the
town 75% of their costs to provide emergency assistance during and after the
tropical storm. This assistance could include rebuilding East Beach Road, but
not in improving it, according to Legendre. Fire, police and highway emergency
services would be included. Bristol
County has not been declared a disaster area as of yet, and any work done,
such as building a seawall or locating boulders along the eastern section of
East Beach Road to break the storm
surges would not be eligible for assistance. Estimates
to rebuild East Beach Road are approximately $300,000. Building a protective
seawall would be over a $1million. Spirlet expressed that it
doesn't make sense to rebuild the road only to have it washed away with the
next storm, and that some type of protective seawall should be constructed. East
Beach Road is a secondary state evacuation route in case the Route 88 bridge
should become disabled in an emergency flight situation. Therefore the road
must be kept open.
Above: an unidentified visitor from
Florida, photographs what little remains of East Beach and 750 feet of washed
out East Beach Road. 202 Drift Road house must go, Selectmen
say. In
other business, Selectmen took matters into their own hands and unanimously
passed a motion to safely secure 202 Drift Road within 30 days, and fund a
rat treatment program after hearing from the Town's Building Inspector, Ralph
Souza, and Board of Health Chairman, Dr. John Colletti. The
Westport home was savaged by fire July 4, 2010. 24-year-old Shannon Pearce
was saved by quick action from Westport firefighters. > > Dramatic early-morning rescue saves woman from burning,
smoke-filled house.
Left: July
4, 2010 photo by Lucy Tabot. Right:
current photo EverythingWestport.com The
house has since fallen into ruin and, for all intent and purpose, has been
abandoned, prompting numerous complaints from abutters. The owners and the
mortgage company have failed to respond, according to town's legal counsel. Selectmen
unanimously approved Antone Vieira's motion to proceed
with the ultimate demolition of the house, with a lien placed against the
property to recover the cost. Two
members resign from Conservation Commission. Two unexpected resignations from the Soil Conservation Board & Conservation
Commission brought the board dangerously close to losing a quorum for public
meetings. The resignations
are sure to change the makeup of this volatile board. Both Vice-Chairman
Lucy Keefe and Jeffrey LaValley, both
appointed last year, resigned for different reasons. Selectmen quickly
and unanimously approved the appointment of Matthew Camisa to fill one of the vacancies, but rejected by a vote of
2-3 the appointment of Richard Lambert,
who had previously served for 19 years on the board, but was not reappointed
last year. "He has valuable experience serving on
this board and should be appointed," said selectman Antone
Vieira. A required 30-day evaluation period was cited as the reason. More applications will follow in the next
two weeks, and selectmen will try to bring the board to its full strength. Other
news. Arthur Caesar was unanimously appointed to
the Registrar of Voters - Republican open position A couple of one-day liquor licenses were
granted, one to the Holy Ghost Club and the other to Buzzards Bay Brewery. And Kimberley A. Fernandes resigned from
the Zoning Board of Appeals; the Selectmen will thank her for her service in
a letter to be sent this week. Lights, camera, roll film, and . . . action! EverythingWestport.com Thursday, September 08, 2011
Ryan
Reynolds and Jeff Bridges’s “R.I.P.D.” is the
big-budget movie filming in Massachusetts this fall. After a remarkable string of Bay State
productions that included Oscar nominees “The Social Network,” “The Fighter”
and “The Town,” production slowed last year after lawmakers - led by Gov. Deval Patrick - considered capping film tax credits at
$50 million. Fortunately the move failed. But
there’s a smaller project on the local film roster that’s already begun
production in Westport. Work started Monday for “Frank the Bastard,” a gothic
thriller that will be filmed primarily in New Bedford, Dartmouth and Westport,
but will take place in Maine. The
movie stars Rachel Miner, who has been on “Californication”
and was Carrie Bradshaw’s twenty-something fan on “Sex and the City”; “The Shawshank Redemption”’s William
Sadler; and Chris Sarandon, who had Colin Farrell’s role in the original
“Fright Night.” “Bastard”’s producer, Ged
Dickerson, tells EverythingWestport, that the movie will shoot locally for 30
days. "It's
an independent film," said Dickerson of NY Productions, "and we'll
have to sell it at the (film) festivals to get it off the ground." For
most serious independent filmmakers, film festivals is where they hope to
find a buyer for their film. They still
have a long way to go to get this film completed. "The
weather has delayed us a few days but we'll make it up." Crew members
were busy Wednesday at a house on Horseneck Road setting up outside studio
lights to simulate the not-to-be-seen sunlight to allow filming to continue
inside the house (that's for sale, by the way!) being used as a studio set. A
police detail is controlling traffic noise and rubberneckers while the crew
is shooting. Expect a few delays if traveling down Horseneck Road. Look
for them early next week to be shooting in the Harbor area near the Nubble.
Above: Producer
Ged Dickerson (left) expects the picture to do well
at the film festivals, and is hopeful film production won't be affected by the remnants of the two recent hurricanes that
hit Westport. © 2011 Community Events of Westport. All rights
reserved. EverythingWestport.com |
