View from the Green

Distracted Driving   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo We’re all guilty of it. You’re in the car, bored as hell on your fourth trip to Torrington in three days, and your phone pings, or chirps, or whistles at you, and you simply must know what information is coming in . . . immediately. So you check […]

Construction Begins on Affordable Housing Units

Groundbreaking ceremony held on April 20   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo The weather on April 20 served as the perfect metaphor for the decade long endeavor to bring affordable housing to Norfolk. The morning began with a cold, plodding rain, but the skies brightened as 11 a.m. rounded the clock and the official groundbreaking ceremony […]

Board of Finance Struggles to Keep Spending Down

Increases outnumber cuts   By Wiley Wood On Monday, April 24, the Board of Finance held its annual budget hearing and presented a provisional budget for the next fiscal year. Despite a general effort to keep costs down, spending will go up slightly in the coming year and the mill rate will increase from 22.09 […]

City Meadow Finally Ready for Its Makeover

Construction to start in late June   By Wiley Wood The City Meadow project cleared its final regulatory hurdle at a public hearing on April 25 when the Planning and Zoning Commission approved an application for an earth excavation permit, as required by town statutes for projects of more than 250 cubic yards. The construction […]

Our Native Wildlife Needs Native Plants

  By Shelley Harms Ah, spring in Norfolk! Frog choruses, birdsong, green leaves and . . . burgeoning invasive plants. It’s time to pull up the garlic mustard and chop out those invasive shrubs like honeysuckle, barberry and burning bush. Alien invasive plants are spreading all over town—they are probably growing in your own backyard. […]

No Car? Try Hopping the Bus!

  By David Beers For whatever reason, you find yourself without access to a car in Norfolk. Should you stay home until you have access to a car again? Should you beg friends and family to borrow their car, or at least to give you a ride? This is a disconcerting prospect in a small […]

Through the Garden Gate

May, Signs of Spring   By Leslie Watkins Signs and symbols can be found everywhere. A magnificent red cardinal appears at the bird feeder… more than just another bird visitor, cardinals are also regarded as messengers from our dearly departed. Considered in that way, we may be reminded to take a little time in our […]

Norfolk’s Newest Foundation Begins Work on ‘Norfolk Hub’

Pedestrian access, arts events and coordination between nonprofits are group’s focus   By Wiley Wood For a new kid on the block, the Norfolk Foundation (NF) has an outsized presence in town. Incorporated as a nonprofit in fall 2015, it now owns two key pieces of commercial real estate in the village center: 6 Station […]

Historical Society’s Summer Exhibit

“Norfolk in the Great War” opens May 27   On April 6, 1917, the United States entered the Great War, and life in Norfolk changed quickly. The Eldridge Gymnasium (now Town Hall) became an armory and the setting for outdoor drills with a rifle range set up on the rocky ledge behind Fox Hill, home […]

Norfolk’s March 2017 Weather

  Back to winter   By Russell Russ With February’s record warmth, you would have thought March would follow suit and spring would be just around the corner. The first day of March was warm, the warmest day of the month actually, but it was back to winter after that. There were some nice early […]