Correction 11:23 a.m., Live Green has been at Taylor Farm yearly since 2010.
NORWALK, Conn. — Live Green Connecticut has been authorized to be one of four non-profits to rent space in the newly redone Fodor Farm house, but not without some pushback.
“Live Green is neither a grass roots effort, they’re not based in Norwalk, the event is not Norwalk-specific,” Diane Cece said last week as part of a vain effort to get the Common Council Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs Committee to think it over.
The committee voted unanimously to rent Live Green office space for $150 a month for 5 to 7 years after Cece and Diane Lauricella spoke against the move. Their sentiments inspired three others to get up as well, including David Rinaldi.
“The issue here at hand is that it is not a dictatorship. … People need to understand the space is available, understand what options are on the table,” Rinaldi said, echoing thoughts expressed by Lauricella and voicing support for Live Green.
“I know people in Norwalk who are Norwalk citizens, who have been around a long time, that were contemplating the possibility of being in this building or some other city building, but if there is no process other than the director calling people up or giving them the heads up, and there’s no real transparent, democratic – small d – process, it’s not fair to Live Green Connecticut, it’s not fair to me and some people who are thinking of approaching you all to have some space,” Lauricella said, asking that the committee table the item and come up with a written process.
“I have serious concerns,” Cece said. “… It seems to me that the idea was you would consider local nonprofits and grassroots nonprofits in Norwalk to have that space and at a very reduced rate in terms of what people would be able to get on their own.”
Live Green, which has held an environmental festival yearly since 2010 at Taylor Farm, was co-founded by Scot Weicker of SBW Events Group, based in Old Greenwich, according to the Live Green website and Daphne Dixon.
“Live Green has had a direct effect on Norwalk environmental issues and the way we view environmental issues,” Church of the Good Shepard Pastor Kevin Mullins said. “… There had been a real impact on Norwalk-based activity around environmental issues.”
“Live Green Connecticut is basically me,” Dixon said. “We don’t have a big staff; I run that event with Scot’s help.”
It’s a very small organization, not a corporation as Cece had suggested, and doesn’t rent space in Norwalk because it can’t afford it, Dixon said.
“We do that festival to educate people on environmental issues. It doesn’t really make any money. It’s more a labor of love,” Dixon said, adding that there’s “hours and hours” of hard work.
“I live in Fairfield, but I feel that my heart is in Norwalk because of the tremendous effort and love I have given to this city and to that event,” Dixon said.
Mike Mushak approached the lectern and announced that Lauricella had told him he couldn’t speak.
“They closed the public comment period. If they didn’t, then you should speak,” Lauricella said.
Committee Chairman Travis Simms (D-District B) said that the public comment period had not been closed.
Live Green Connecticut is Norwalk-based, using Taylor Farm to educate people about such things as e-bikes, Mushak said.
“To pretend that this is a big corporation taking advantage of Norwalk, it seems to me there is a little bit of jealousy there more than anything,” Mushak said. “If someone else wanted to rent that space they could have stepped forward and asked for it. Everybody knew about it. This is a mountain in a molehill.
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