Coach Calhoun Readies For UConn Season — With Chamber Talk

As the fall is upon us, so is the start of college basketball. University of Connecticut head coach and three-time national champion Jim Calhoun this morning to our sold-out chamber breakfast meeting. Coach has always visited our chamber prior to the start of his season in October and he will have a lot to talk about this morning.

He is fresh off of his third national title and—weeks ago—landed the top recruit in the nation in Middlsex County’s own Andre Drummond. As I said, the meeting this morning is sold out, but I would like to make a special welcome to all of the students from area schools in attendance. 

Calhoun is a great role model and always gives our young people priceless advice.

The Westbrook Division had a great meeting last week at Lorensen Toyota.  There was a lot of energy in the room, which was probably a result of the excess capacity of energy saved by Lorensen Toyota’s new state-of-the-art energy-efficient building. It is a testament to the vision and commitment to excellence that its owner, Jon Lorensen, puts into everything he does. 

Despite his best efforts, however, the Westbrook Zoning Enforcement Officer disagreed with his interpretation of the town’s zoning ordinance concerning signage and has asked him to apply for a variance. After Jon described the situation, the Westbrook Division led by Chairwoman Darlene Briggs approved a motion to support Lorensen Toyota’s efforts to bring his existing signage into compliance. 

Jon’s original application had everything he stated he was going to do in it and was approved by the town’s regulatory bodies. This is in effect a reach back and in our opinion unnecessary. We will keep you posted as this matter unfolds.

On the other hand, there was much to celebrate as we learned earlier this week that the Captain Stannard House, owned by Mary and Jim Brewster, were successful in beating back efforts to handcuff their ability to operate their bed and breakfast. As responsible proprietors, the Brewsters run a first-class operation and needlessly had to defend themselves against frivolous accusations. 

While frustrating at times, the process worked and now the Brewsters can get back to focusing on what they do best: tending to their business and guests.     

The chamber continues to get out in front of issues that impact or members and their ability to effectively do business. Another of these issues has been the ongoing Arrigoni Bridge repair situation. Last week, the chamber continued its monthly Arrigoni Bridge Committee meeting schedule and the outcome was positive.

Committee members were able to bring the ongoing traffic congestion issues directly to state DOT officials, who were all in attendance.

The committee asked DOT to, again, look at Washington Street at Route 9 for possible northbound access because of traffic gridlock. Also, we were told construction is 14 to 16 days behind schedule and nighttime work has been added to speed up the process. 

Last week was also a re-welcoming of two businesses in the Middletown community and the Middlesex Chamber: Stylz by Q and Middletown Vein Center. Stylz by Q has been in our community for some time, and we welcomed owner Quana Aikens and her team to a new location for the business on William Street. Also, Middletown Vein Center and its leader, Dr. Jeffrey Takahashi, upgraded to a new location at 57 South Main Street.

Congratulations to both of these businesses for the success that led them to new locations.

Business growth usually goes hand in hand with job growth; we can see that in our county. I am looking forward to attending Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s economic summit on Thursday to talk about economic development in our state.

The summit will provide the latest info on the nation’s economy, best practices for economic development, a summary of the jobs tour and more.

Our Business to Business Expo on Oct. 28 will also have seminars that key in on these topics and will also include what I think is the best way to develop our economy: a job fair. The event will be, as usual, at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Cromwell and is shaping up to be the best-ever Expo. There will be more information to come on the great activities that we will feature.

For information, contact Matt Fraulino at matthew@middlesexchamber.com or (860) 347-6924.