The city has added siltation fence to the other side of the stream. They have additionally added loads more traprock (ugly and NOT natural to the locality) along the trench bed and up the sides to slow down erosion. They did not widen the trench to a reasonable width but instead choose to go with their original size. However, they did attempt to minimize the potential for erosion.

Most of the expected torrential rainfall hit the rest of the state and Danbury was spared the worst of it. The trench was able to handle what did come. However, the rain flow did almost max out the trench, as the water during the height of the storm was 1 foot from the top.

A number of ponds and depressions have formed in the bulldozed area due to the loose quality of the new soil in the old stream bed. Mosquitos will likely be an issue come Spring of next year due to the stagnant water that will accumulate in those depressions.

The neighbors and I will be watching this as the season progresses. Winter provides a different set of challanges as the percolation rate of the surrounding soil changes and more water will run off to the stream due to soil freezing.

I am still concerned for my homes safety and am saddened by the loss of what was a lovely ,diverse and functioning wetland and watercourse. It is now simply a trench and a poorly constructed storm management nightmare.

The mayor assembled Irish, Jewish, black, Lithuanian and Ecuadorian leaders (among others) to the Green Thursday afternoon to speak out against what he called a hate group’s divisive fuss over the flying over the Mexican flag on the Green.

The flap started last weekend. The city held a “family day” to celebrate and promote its immigrant-friendly municipal ID card. A dozen out-of-town opponents of the card, organized by a group called the Community Watchdog Project (CWP), rallied outside. (Click here to read about that event.)

The protesters discovered that the city was flying the Mexican flag below the American flag on the pole on the Green. That outraged them. CWP founder Dustin Gold subsequently sent an email to supporters decrying the sight of the Mexican flag.

The city raised the flag to commemorate Mexican Independent Day. It has for decades regularly flown the flags of Italy, Ireland, and other nations on the Green to mark dates important to local ethnic communities.

“On Saturday, CWP members arrived at City Hall around 8:45 am. To their surprise the POW flag, that usually flies below the American flag on the New Haven Green flagpole, was replaced with a Mexican flag,” Gold wrote to his list of supporters.

“We are calling on all Veterans, soldiers, and patriotic Americans to call our Governor, Mayor, Attorney General, and Congressman to share your disgust with this treasonous act.”

Following that email, hostile emails and phone calls from around the country came in to City Hall.

Mayor John DeStefano read aloud some of those messages to the ethnic group leaders and to reporters assembled on the Green Thursday afternoon. (Click on the play arrow to the video to watch highlights.)

A sample email:

“Subject: Burn the Mexican flag, don’t fly it

“Mayor,

“You need to get your head out of your proverbial rectal area and become an American and represent Americans.

“Get rid of any flag, the Mexican flag and fly it in mexico if you like so much. It’s not our flag and we’re sick of paying for illegal aliens and all their babies and having their kids overrun our schools and downgrade our country.

“Kick them out and you go with them.”

Among the people joining DeStefano to decry the campaign and to support flying the Mexican flag were representatives of the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, the Knights of St. Patrick, the new Ecuadorian consulate in town (pictured: Troya Patricio and Raul Erazo), and Lithuanian, Puerto Rican, Italian, Polish, and Peruvian organizations.

DeStefano said that for decades, at least, the city has flown the flags of nations whose descendants in town wanted to mark important holidays — the flags of Ireland, Italy, Poland, etc. This is the first time he knows of that people have raised a fuss.

“This Mexican flag is doing nothing different than other flags representing people who live in this community have done,” DeStefano said. “I’s important when hate language like this occurs to call it out and point it out and point out where it’s coming from, in this case the Community Watchdog Project.”

In a phone interview, CWP’s Dustin Gold defended the effort.

He claimed he has no problem with the Mexican flag flying on the Green as long as it’s on a pole separate from the American flag. Putting them together violates federal flag-flying guidelines, he claimed.

Asked why he hasn’t objected to other nations’ flags, he said he hadn’t noticed the problem until Saturday’s rally. He also raised concerns about the POW flag being removed to make way for the Mexican flag.

“If there’s a flag up there for another country,” such as on Columbus Day, he promised, “we’ll be complaining.”

U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District, said Wednesday any economic rescue package he votes for must have strict protections for the taxpayer including strong restrictions on pay of CEOs who participate in the program.

"There needs to be a strong, bi-partisan oversight board that directs and regulates this program," he said.

Fresh from a financial services committee hearing with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, Murphy spoke to reporters by telephone from Washington. He reviewed the economic recovery plan currently before Congress and gave it a thumbs down.

While negotiations continue, the Congressman stressed provisions he believes must be in the recovery plan: taxpayer protections, a return on future profits of rescued companies for the taxpayer and limits on executive compensation for leaders of companies who benefit from this plan.

Murphy said Paulson and Bernanke's economic rescue package was met with skepticism by House members.

"Both [men] have done a pretty terrible job of explaining the rationale for their bill and the parameters surrounding it," Murphy said. "No doubt Republicans and Democrats need to come together, but the lack of willingness by the President and the [Treasury] Secretary to put into the bill real taxpayer protection is troubling to many of us."

About accountability, Murphy said, "We need to put real regulations on people originating mortgages in a way that we haven't done. The subprime mortgage market was the Wild Wild West of Wall Street. We need to put basic underwriting criteria through regulation that applies to prime and subprime mortgages. For example, we need a requirement for all lenders making loans that the borrower has a reasonable ability to repay the loan."

Murphy added that "we also need to do a much better job of flagging the subprime exposure of secondary investors. Legislation moving through the House would define prime and subprime loans so investors can better judge how much exposure they'll have."