Allan Appel Photo
Jittendra Shah.
It’s not every management team meeting that begins with an explanation that yamunaji is at an aspect of Krishna.
Thus began Wednesday’s gathering of the West Hills-Westville community management team.
The evening’s topic at hand, though, wasn’t religion. It was traffic.
Some 30 neighbors convened by the entrance to the Wilbur Cross Parkway at the Shree Nathji Haveli temple on Pond Lily Avenue, the new occupant of the old Belvedere banquet hall.
It was hard to imagine a greater contrast to the usual meeting place of the team, the small drab room of the police substation on Valley Street, than the temple’s incense-filled corridors and gold and orange hued art that lined the walls.
Local businessman and temple member Pauli Shah spoke to Orefice in front of a portrait of Yamunaji. Temple President Harry Patel said the figure was “another pose of Krishna.”
The temple was established in November when local Hindu families who hail from the western Indian state of Gujarat purchased what had been the Belvedere restaurant. They brought in two Brahmin priests and two caretakers to help conduct seven 30-minute services a day
One of those caretakers, Jittendra Shah, conducted a tour of images of the Gujaratis’ philosopher and teacher Vallabh Acharya before the team went downstairs and began business.
As is the custom at the temple, everyone removed shoes before entering. City government neighborhood worker Elaine Braffman said that she had urged Beaver Hills Alderman Tom Lehtonen to wear socks without holes. The alderman said he had only one such pair, greys, which were on prominent display during the meeting.
As Beck settled into her seat in the large dining and ballroom area downstairs, she said, “It’s very wonderful here. It’s good energy.”
Beck and others came to the meeting concerned about traffic, speeding, and sign-running. She and her partner Tess Beck get sideswiped by speeding cars as they turn into their driveway on Green Hill Terrace near Amity Road. A neighbor’s daughter got winged as she rode her bicycle.
Neighbors complained of cars trying to shortcut the ongoing construction on Whalley down to Fountain, turning the small quiet streets of West Hills into raceways.
Another neighbor Debbie Lovely testified that she’s lived on Lawncrest Road for 25 years and the situation has never been so perilous. “We are absolutely sick of it. Traffic is out of control on Lawncrest,” she said.
The featured speaker of the meeting, City Engineer RIchard Miller, and District Manager Lt. Martin Tchakirides both addressed the concerns.
Miller was on hand to explain the city’s pending upgrade of the dangerous intersection where Lawncrest and Ramsdell meet Fountain between Cooper Place and Lowin Avenue. At that nexus a CT Transit bus stop attracts pedestrians around a confusing mix of signs, out-of-date signals, and broken or absent sidewalks.
Miller said that the two granite islands between which the bus sits at its stop will be replaced, and the shelter and bench salvaged. New sidewalks are planned for Fountain and a section of Ramsdell and crosswalks with pedestrian buttons will be installed to cross Fountain and to provide refuge for people boarding and leaving buses. The signals will also be upgraded
“It’ll be much more pedestrian friendly,” Miller concluded. The project is slated to cost the city $430,000, $175,000 to be covered by a federal grant. It’s pending before the Board of Aldermen.
While the plan was generally well received, it was far from perfect and it wasn’t quite good enough for Tess Beck. She said that she and Suzanne do a lot of walking in that area and they find that the Yield sign, which the plan calls for preserving at Lawncrest as it enters the intersection is not sufficient. She suggested a full stop or perhaps a light. Without a hesitation Miller said, “I’ll look into that.
When he left, he was applauded, even though, to a reporter’s eye, he had failed to take off his sneakers before entering the temple.
Lt. Tchakirides asked Suzanne Beck specifically where the speeders were on Green Hill Terrace. When she explained, he said,“I’ll come out tomorrow morning.”
As Beck left to go to another gathering downtown, she gave a thumbs up to her first combined visit to a management team meeting and Vaishnav temple. “I feel as if we were being listened to. He [Tchakirides] really listened. I’m gonna look for him.”
Did she think the meeting having been held in the temple was a factor in the quick responses offered?
“The psychic energy goes around,” she said.