EDITOR’S NOTE: This column is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.comA Superior Court judge ruled in September that—despite a full-court press by the powers that be and their flunkeys in town government—the Felician Sisters who run the Enfield Montessori School could keep their parking area. Curious comments were made in the aftermath.The most bizarre comment was made by Anthony DiPace, chairman of the Planning & Zoning Commission.“What we’re looking at is a safety concern—and that’s it,” DiPace told The Journal Inquirer.With this comment, DiPace exposed himself as a fake, a phony and a fraud.
DiPace The Coward never stepped forward when he had a chance to make the school parking area safer. DiPace had a chance to help when the Felician Sisters presented a traffic engineer’s report to the Historic District Commission, showing that a proposed looped driveway and parking area farther from Route 5 would prevent back-ups and lessen safety risks.Nor did any other town official appear to support a plan for improved safety. DiPace had chosen instead to file an anonymous complaint, falsely claiming that the existing dirt parking area by the highway was illegal. The town government—instead of protecting its children—sent Assistant Town Planner Roger The Stooge Alsbaugh to the Historic District Commission.Alsbaugh had told the zoning enforcement officer—incorrectly—that Enfield Montessori School expanded illegally within its existing buildings. He also carried water for Big Anthony Troiano, next-door neighbor and virulent foe of Enfield Montessori. Roger The Stooge argued that a parking lot toward the rear of the school would “reduce the areas of vegetation … and permanently change the character of the remaining site open space … “Historic vegetation has been a long-time and grave concern for Troiano.Big Anthony Troiano, as recently as this week, is reaching out to the media, inviting selected press to his cabana and pool area for a viewing of the Enfield Montessori School. Troiano is also – incorrectly – calling the improved parking plan an expansion. Will Big Anthony be offering a cigar to any special guests who might show up? Perhaps Big Anthony meant what he said to the Historic District Commission a couple years ago:“The school refused to accept the commission’s ruling. It’s like a teacher telling a child no. Why does the school continue to return again and again when they have been told that the application is not appropriate for the Enfield Historic District … Once this paving is accepted, no one can stop the school from fulfilling their intent to asphalt their backyard total. This is their way of coming back through the back door to the large addition to the school built.“The school made their own problems,” Big Anthony Troiano continued. “If you wish the school to grow as it has in the past, the most sensible thing to do is find another location out of this Historic District to build a brand new beautiful school. Or do the most obvious thing. Use the empty buildings across the street owned by the Felician Sisters.” The chairman of the Historic District Commission, attorney Richard Tatoian, is a close associate of Big Anthony Troiano and a board member of the bank Troiano developed, Enfield Federal Savings.How might Tatoian be conflicted in this case?The Historic District Commission’s denial of Enfield Montessori’s plan for a safer parking area is before the state Appellate Court. Troiano can thank Enfield taxpayers again for funding his cause.Attorney Ken Slater of Hartford’s Halloran & Sage is representing the Felician Sisters.
