The beautification commission! How much are paying these guys? They need to focus in other ares that need improvement.The zonning board needs to be more focused on parcel c and other empty parking lots around town instead of worrying about a small business sign.

This article has some misspoken comments. Mr. Miele NEVER came to Beautification to ask about proper paperwork for the Spot that he was going to do for Giuseppe's.
Mr. Miele I was told went to the Streets Department, now again this is hear say, so like
this article it could be miss spoken. As the Co-Chair of the Beautification Committee, which is a NON paid Volunteer Committee not a COMMISSION, we have followed all the rules for the Adopt A Spot Program. All of our paperwork which needs to be approved for spots and signed off by the Mayor and John Ford was
approved by the BOB which the Town Attorney presented last year at their meeting.
Beautification signs were approved by the Zoning Enforcement Officer before the
program went before the BOB, so the Zoning Commission should have known that by his presence at their meetings. The sign which Mr. Miele had put up is NOT an approved Adopt A Spot sign, which I have stated several times to all that have asked of me and called me. The Adopt A Spot logo which was placed under the sign Mr. Miele did, was done without permission from myself and my co-chair, it was done to protect Mr. Miele from his wrong doing. I have spoken with many on this
from the Mayor, to Bob Neth, to the Zoning Officer to the Streets Department to the Newspapers, and the Zoning Chairperson. They all know that this is NOT a Beautification effort for the Adopt A Spot.

Linda Ramos, co-chair , Blight and Beautification Council and Adopt A Spot

I would appreciate if the Patch would contact me and my co-chair to relate the
proper way we do our Adopt A Spot program, so we can share our paperwork
and copy of our approved sign. Thanks much

Linda Ramos, co-chair , Blight and Beautification Council and Adopt A Spot

Let me correct myself not Beautification signs - it should have read Adopt A Spot signs

Once and for all, we would like to inform everyone that the Giuseppi’s sign WAS NOT installed as part of the Adopt-a-Spot program. Mr. Miele has continuously run amok around Town doing whatever he pleases with no regard to anyone else. It seems Town Hall is powerless to stop him, as they have tried. When everyone became up in arms regarding the sign, Mr. Miele conveniently used the Adopt-a-Spot program as a scapegoat. Naugatuck’s ZEO repeatedly asked members of the Beautification Committee whether or not that sign was our doing – and repeatedly was told under no circumstances were we a part of that sign. I don’t understand why the Zoning Commission is still even referring to Adopt-a-Spot regarding this problem. If it is such a huge deal – why is the sign still up?

The Adopt-a-Spot program had no prior knowledge of the Giuseppe sign because Mr. Miele did not even once approach us regarding an application or information. He makes it sound as if he approached us and was told nothing of requirements – not true.

We have had many other successful Adopt-a-Spots (people that follow the rules instead of making up their own) and we have had zero issues with signage at these spots. Our program follows the regulations – PERIOD.

We feel badly for Giuseppe’s for getting duped by Mr. Miele.

Please, everyone, no longer confuse the actions of Mr. Miele with the Beautification Committee’s Adopt-a-Spot program.

btw Juan - we are a group of volunteers - no pay and no funding from the Town. Would you like to join us in our efforts?

BJ I would love to but I don't have the time.Keep up the good work!If you run any fund raising I would be glad to help with a donation.We need more people like you in this town.

The easy solution to the situation that is causing so much time and effort to be spent here is to remove the unauthorized sign. This oversized "Advertising" sign was basically placed on town property without following any of the preset guidelines or doing any of the proper paperwork. Is there is some sort of power that Mr. Miele or Giuseppi’s holds over the town to keep them from removing this sign?
Either that or the rest of the businesses in town that would like a nice big advertising sign should just follow suit and throw them up as well if there are no consequences. A few plants and a weekly mow of the plot will be more than worth it.
If the case here is that Giuseppi’s as a business was not aware the sign was too big I am very surprised they just don’t replace the sign. It would make for much better relations with the town and the people reading about this issue. When I drive by and see the sign now I think of them pulling a fast one on the town, not how I would like to go buy lunch there.
There is no reason that Linda, BJ, and the other members of the Beautification Committee should have had to spend so much time and effort trying to remove which in essence is an illegal sign on town property.

I was wondering what was up with that sign. It always seemed a bit out of place with the Beautification Committee's guidelines. So glad there are people like BJ, Linda, the Garden Club, etc. These volunteers make Naugatuck a much more pleasant community to live in. Also, I'm glad that it was clarified that commissioners are volunteers serving their community on their own time :) Keep up the good work ladies!

Thank you to John and Marcia and to Juan, for your words and help with our efforts.
Marcia has girl scouts and boy scouts who have adopted areas in Town to help
with the efforts of beautification. Juan, thanks for your offer of a donation, the
Beautification Committee is an established non-profit organization through the NEDC of Naugatuck, so you may make any size donation to us by making a check
out to us and mailing it to the NEDC at 195 Water Street - Naugatuck CT. We will always advise all those who donate exactly what the funds were used for, plantings,
mulch, plants for the projects we are planning. Thanks to Marcia and her Troops for
all their help with cleaning and plantings, not only does it make us more "beautiful" it has helped to teach children how to respect property and be careful with trash and not to expect others to clean when they can do it. May the Community jump on board with the efforts of Blight and Beautification and the Adopt A Spot for without
volunteers it would not happen. Watch in the Spring as more and more will begin
to adopt those APPROVED areas within Town to clean and take care of.

I would like to commend Mr. Miele for his efforts to beautify this town. He may have not followed the rules completely, but I believe more people should "run-amok' like he has done. He is responsible for cleaning up a major artery into town. He is constantly cleaning up that area, on his own time and as a "Volunteer" to the community. Instead of bashing his efforts, why not try and help him. This would lead to less confushion about the regulations and better looking borough.

Yes Jon, Mr. Miele does do all that and more, BUT he also has not followed the rules of what the Town wants us all to do. So, we do help, because we are the ones who swept Church Street every Sunday morning for one year and cleaned and planted and cleaned and planted. We are the ones who do the Flower Boxes at the Children's Village for all their Special Holidays and Seasons, we are the ones who help with those "spots" that need TLC with the help of the Businesses and Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts and Community that have Adopted those Spots and yes
we are all VOLUNTEERS all of US, but we need to have the correct procedures on how and what to do, otherwise we will have thousands and thousands of SIGNS
everywhere and that is not I am sure what Beautification is about. That is why we
have the Adopt A Sign with an approved sign. We did all our homework and the Town Attorney help us dot our i's and cross our t's, so if Mr. Miele wanted to do so much with the Community, he needed to just ask the Mayor's office or the Street Dept or the Town Attorney, that is the direction all take when they want to do a great deed in the town ask for permission. Thanks for the comment , but regulations are what is needed to be successful.

Is there any plans to repaint the back of the original BIG red sign? The paint has peeled quite a bit and is quite an eyesore. I will help if needed.

If you would like to place a call to the Maintenance Dept of Public Works perhaps
they can assist with a correct answer about that sign. As to who belongs to and who
is responsible for the up keep. That would be my best answer to that question.
Beautification would NOT be painting that sign. That sign does not belong to us.
I believe it is Town Property. Thanks for the question and what a great idea.

As if this town doesnt have bigger things to worry about...

Thanks Marcia, yes the Girl Scouts do have a field they take care of thanks to
Joan Reilly, sorry for the wrong credits.

The Naugatuck Zoning Commission is in the process of evaluating current sign regulations in addition to establishing a set of standards and procedures concerning the placement of signage on Borough owned properties. This may take several months to accomplish and during the course of evaluation there will be opportunities for public input prior to any decision(s) being made.

Enhancing the image of the Town of Naugatuck is foremost in everyone's mind and is a good thing. The Commission meets in Town Hall on the 3rd Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. and welcomes any and all contributions from interested parties.

Joseph Savarese, Chair - NZC

Harry, Please know that we the "Beautification Committee" are not a Commission.
Please know that we could care less about your business, we DO help to make the
town a more "Beautiful" place to live and work. We do our very best as VOLUNTEERS to create a Town where there is no trash, no garbage , no "stuff" in areas that would become eyesores. We have planted in the downtown Church St.
area we use money raise or through donations. We take care of the flower boxes at the Children's Village to keep that a good looking sight for those who pass by there everyday and what all the events that are done for the children and families of Naugatuck. Beautification is not only our job it's everyone's job, so next time you see something, do something. But Busy Bodies Wow , that was not a very nice
thing to say about Volunteers doing good for Naugatuck. Thanks, our next project will soon be noted in the paper, perhaps you would like to come and help.
Linda Ramos, Chair of Beautification and Adopt A Spot