Please follow us on Gab, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, Gettr, Truth Social, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram
The zoning case that won't go away has been slowly moving along in the appeals process at Connecticut Superior Court. Oral arguments are scheduled for July 23 and 2PM, and then hopefully a decision will be made soon.
Readers will recall the chaos and scandal reported through summer 2024 regarding this case, widely reported in the Connecticut Centinal and across Connecticut media.
During 2024, amid the high-profile zoning scandal, the Tremaine Foundation provided substantial support to equity-focused Sustainable CT, including $660,000 for general operating support and $400,000 to support the Community Match Fund, totaling $1,060,000 in current grants. That's on top of the $210,000 previously awarded to grantees in support of Sustainable CT. These commitments are listed on the foundation’s public grants page, with additional multi-year funding reflected in their IRS filings on ProPublica.
In December 2024, the Architect's Newspaper listed the Madison Neighbors vs. Tremaine Foundation case among its top architecture controversies of the year, after an Epstein architecture scandal and Saudi worker deaths.
The briefs at the CT Superior Court have focused on core zoning issues but the pretext of the controversial project centered on the site being promoted with a Philip Johnson-converted barn design. Johnson was a notorious American Nazi supporter, visiting Germany and interacting with Nazi officials before WWII, and even Rachel Maddow wrote and spoke about him.
In addition to Madison, and the notorious flagship Glass House in New Canaan, Meriden is also plagued with a tainted Johnson design, which can be seen driving on Pratt Street from I-691 to the court house and turning left onto Center Street. This site and its context are the subject of a critical 2017-25 artwork made in Europe by R. J. Preece with high-profile, international artist Mischa Kuball from Germany. Both have dealt with critical Nazi-era history in recent years, out of Germany and supportive American contexts in business and the social set.
"Note that along this route were a number of former companies, most with demolished buildings since," says senior international arts writer and Connecticut Centinal contributor, R. J. Preece. "That history is still basically still buried for the public with no plaques or anything, but their designs have since entered collections in museums and historical societies across the US and Canada, and into Europe. Some are celebrated these days."
To see the latest developments in the court record, see here.
+++
Connecticut Centinal readers will be familiar with the zoning battle in Madison from 2024, and the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation’s colorful founder:
+++
Also see Preece's four letters in 2024 to Madison PZC copied into the CT Superior Court record: May 13, 2024; June 18, 2024; July 3, 2024; July 11, 2024, and research documentation at www.artdesigncafe.com. (Other letters, over 100, regarding the Madison PZC case are here.) Preece: "With [her close proximity to] US Naval Intelligence, Emily] might be an unlikely American hero assisting in that effort-- or not. It's not known yet exactly and confirmed with specific declassified military intelligence."
Preece currently has a public call to declassify Nazi-related intelligence in the San Francisco District archive presumably with details on Emily Hall Tremaine's history, in relation to her contact with the top US Naval Intell officer on the California Nazi beat (both Armed Forces Press).
Stay updated with the latest in the Constitution State with The CT Centinal
