Mirror - Vol. 34, No. 23 - March 26, 2009

              WEEK OF MARCH 26,2009
Vol. 34, Iss. 23- 16 pages
FREE - Take one M WWW.FAIRFIELDMIRROR.COM
The independent student newspaper
of Fairfield University
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Train station project stalls due to
financial troubles
BY KRISTEN MCMANUS
Peter Caty/The Mirror
Plans to build a new train station in Fairfield to alleviate park-ing
problems and overcrowded trains may not come anytime
soon due to town financial difficulties.
Attention Fairfield student-interns: Relief from
peak hour train rides into New York City and lack of
parking may be postponed due to the current financial
status of the "Fairfield Metro Center" project.
Fairfield citizens present at the Residential Town
Meeting (RTM) at Osbourne Hill School Monday
night voiced their concerns to First Selectman Ken-neth
Flatto and Town Attorney Richard Saxl that the
tri-partite project to build a third train station off lower
Black Rock Turnpike may be stalled indefinitely due to
BlackRock Realty LLC's recent financial troubles.
A third train station, according to a meeting hand-out
from Selectman Flatto, would reduce traffic, reduce
accidents on 1-95 and promote economic development,
among other positives.
The project is financed by the state, town and
private developer BlackRock Realty LCC. BlackRock
is a joint venture between Wittek Development LLC
and Rugby Realty Company Inc.
Flatto recently sought about $28 million in stimu-lus
funds from Connecticut designated for mass transit
projects. The money "would go to pay for Black Rock's
portion of the public project, as well as the town's costs
to build the 1,500-space commuter lot," according to
a March 13 article in the Connecticut Post.
Flatto said, however, that Gov. Jodi Rell's office
would be allocating these funds and "the money
would be used to build the road, parking lot and
drainage for the train station," and not for commercial
use by BlackRock, according to a March 14 article in
the Connecticut Post.
In January, TD Banknorth moved to foreclose on
the Metro Center property owned by BlackRock due
to the firm's halting of payments on a $20 million loan
from the bank.
Kurt Wittek, principal of BlackRock Realty, LCC,
appeared before the RTM Monday night to address town
concerns that his company would not be able to continue
financing the project.
"This time in our history is different than all others,"
he said. "This in no way renders our ability to do this
project. I'm absolutely certain we can resolve the issues
before us; we possess significant financial resources.
We have invested $28 million into this project and we
won't walk away."
The original plan called for a 1.1 million square foot
Metro Center train station on 35 acres of land. Currently,
the state Department of Transportation (DOT) is build-ing
the bridge as part of the project, but the commercial
development remains at a standstill. The contract for the
project says that the town will build the road and park-ing
lot on land donated by BlackRock, according to the
Connecticut Post.
Under section 6.3 of the contract, BlackRock com-mitted
to building a train depot within five years and to
post a $500,000 letter of credit to the town in case it failed
SEE "CITIZENS" ON P. 2
Wise:
Racial disparity
still exists
despite Obama's
election
BY MIKAELA TIERNEY
Egan Chapel was packed full of people
— they stood by the doorways and sat on the
windowsills, craning their necks to see the
speaker at the lectern.
Tim Wise, renowned anti-racism speaker
and author of four books, spoke at the Universi-ty
on Monday, March 23. Numerous University
departments and organizations contributed to
assist in bringing Wise to Fairfield, another stop
in his national speaking tour. He drew a diverse
audience; not only were students, faculty and
administrators in attendance, but citizens of
the greater community from as far as Stamford
helped to fill the room's seats.
Wise's latest book, "Between Barack and
a Hard Place: Race and Whiteness in the Age
of Obama," was just released and was the
main focus of his lecture. Upon beginning
SEE "WISE" ON P. 2
JUST CLICK rr!
www.fairfieldmirror.com
Jon Ollwerther/The Mirror
Gary Zemola, left, and John Pellegrino, right, are all smiles at the Super Duper
Weenie grill. Having just been guests on Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins and
Dives" who wouldn't be happy? Super Duper Weenie is located at 306 Black Rock
Turnpike, across from Syms, and the business' truck is on-campus behind the BCC
every Wednesday from 11 a.m. til 2 p.m.
Hot doggin' it
ONLINE:
VISIT
WWW.FAIRFIELDMIR-ROR.
COM
TO SEE
SUPER DUPER
WEENIE'S
FOOD
NETWORK SEGMENT
BY MICHELLE MORRISON
Do you like big, juicy weenies?
The Food Network's Guy Fieri clearly does, as he featured
Fairfield's own Super Duper Weenie on the March 16 airing of
his show, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives."
SEE "SUPER" ON P. 4
THBMOMOMHmB
"Stag pride on Fridays ... or
lack thereof" — Why hasn't
Fairfield Fridays caught on?
See p. 5
Who is Spencer Thibodeau?
Meet next year's Senate Vice
Chair. See p. 8
"CD sales may be going
down, but the real issue isn't
in the numbers." See p. 9
•
46
"Safer at home" — Cover-age
of baseball. See p. 16
Watch this week's
"Word on the Street"
video on students'
thoughts about parking.
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