[ProudFairfielder]

Originally Posted by SteveM85

Yeah there is, tons of it, literally, all over the country and then some. May I introduce you to my former neighborhood out west.
Though CT does have immense income disparity, the rich are rich as hell, Bridgeport and Fairfield on the border are indistinguishable and Fairfield's not even the richest town. It's in the B division.

Great points.

I have even more examples:

Saint Louis, MO and many of its suburbs (town and country for example)

Hartford and West Hartford

Chicago and Northbrook

Scarsdale and The Bronx

...

Need I go on?


And, also, I hate that narrative because it imagines someone from Fairfield as incredibly wealthy. 72% of the town's population lives the eastern 50% of the land area, and this area is predominantly middle class. We're normal people, not McMansion owners. And by parts of the border near Black Rock the BPT side actually looks NICER than the Fairfield side.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by CTREInvestor

The banning of annexation circa 1900 was one of the biggest mistakes the Connecticut legislature made. New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford would be far larger today as they were all fantastic prior to the roaring 20s.

Abolishing county governance after Brown vs Board of Education made the problem even worse.

The state government can however reverse many of these, or in the case of Hartford and New Haven, abolish home role. Look at what Birmingham has done with the University of Alabama Medical Center. It is ranked by Forbes as the #1 place to work.

Connecticut can do this in two places - UConn in Hartford and Yale in New Haven.

I will disagree with most of this. Bigger is never better, I don’t care what you think. Just because New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford MAY have had more people, that doesn’t make it truly better. It just means that their statistics would be watered down by including more affluent suburban areas. Every major city in our country has good areas and bad. Connecticut cities are no different, it’s just that our cities tend to include the dense urban core so our statistics look worse. Doesn’t mean they are or things would be better. It’s simply a numbers game.

I’m not sure why you think that Connecticut eliminating counties was a bad thing. Connecticut is a very small state. It has no unincorporated areas. It does not take a long time to drive from one end to the other. Counties were just another unneeded level of government that taxpayers would need to pay for.

I also do not know why you think counties would have made a difference in our states education. Brown verses the Board of Education was ruled on in 1954. Connecticut did not eliminate its county governments until 1960. Connecticuts education structure, with smaller school districts was established long before then. Connecticut has one of the best public education systems in the country. Massachusetts has a similar system and it’s also always considered among the very best. I see no reason to change it. Again it’s just a number games.

I also have to ask you why you think Birmingham is better than New Haven. Have you seen what is going on in New Haven? It is one of our country’s largest biomedical research centers spearheaded by Yale. It’s created thousands of well paying jobs in the city. New research facilities are being built or expanded there. Not sure how or why you don’t see that.

As for UConn Medical, it is located in Farmington, not Hartford. It joined with Jackson Laboratories in 2014 in developing a biomedical research center there. It’s also been very successful. Again not sure why you think otherwise.

People here need to stop criticizing our state and thinking things are better other places when facts show otherwise. Are we perfect? No, but no where is either. If you look at facts however you will see our state is as good, if not better than most. Jay,

[CTREInvestor]

Originally Posted by JayCT

I will disagree with most of this. Bigger is never better, I don’t care what you think. Just because New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford MAY have had more people, that doesn’t make it truly better. It just means that their statistics would be watered down by including more affluent suburban areas. Every major city in our country has good areas and bad. Connecticut cities are no different, it’s just that our cities tend to include the dense urban core so our statistics look worse. Doesn’t mean they are or things would be better. It’s simply a numbers game.

I’m not sure why you think that Connecticut eliminating counties was a bad thing. Connecticut is a very small state. It has no unincorporated areas. It does not take a long time to drive from one end to the other. Counties were just another unneeded level of government that taxpayers would need to pay for.

I also do not know why you think counties would have made a difference in our states education. Brown verses the Board of Education was ruled on in 1954. Connecticut did not eliminate its county governments until 1960. Connecticuts education structure, with smaller school districts was established long before then. Connecticut has one of the best public education systems in the country. Massachusetts has a similar system and it’s also always considered among the very best. I see no reason to change it. Again it’s just a number games.

I also have to ask you why you think Birmingham is better than New Haven. Have you seen what is going on in New Haven? It is one of our country’s largest biomedical research centers spearheaded by Yale. It’s created thousands of well paying jobs in the city. New research facilities are being built or expanded there. Not sure how or why you don’t see that.

As for UConn Medical, it is located in Farmington, not Hartford. It joined with Jackson Laboratories in 2014 in developing a biomedical research center there. It’s also been very successful. Again not sure why you think otherwise.

People here need to stop criticizing our state and thinking things are better other places when facts show otherwise. Are we perfect? No, but no where is either. If you look at facts however you will see our state is as good, if not better than most. Jay,

What is different in Birmingham is 10 years ago it was almost as bad as Bridgeport, and now you can't find a house in any middle class neighborhood for less than $500,000. Using state police power to simply rapidly eminent domain whole blocks to develop a comprehensive mixed-use medical, multi-family and retail neighborhood has accomplished in mere years what New Haven has been striving for seemingly my entire life.

New Haven is astounding. I moved to Milford recently to be closer to New Haven as believe New Haven County has a very bright future. But it is one that could happen sooner if the state simply put an end to local incompetent governance.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by CTREInvestor

What is different in Birmingham is 10 years ago it was almost as bad as Bridgeport, and now you can't find a house in any middle class neighborhood for less than $500,000. Using state police power to simply rapidly eminent domain whole blocks to develop a comprehensive mixed-use medical, multi-family and retail neighborhood has accomplished in mere years what New Haven has been striving for seemingly my entire life.

CT has done this too. You know that right? Exactly that.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by SteveM85

CT has done this too. You know that right? Exactly that.

I know they have on a very small scale, but where specifically are you referring to that CT eliminated large swaths of property for development using eminent domain?

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I know they have on a very small scale, but where specifically are you referring to that CT eliminated large swaths of property for development using eminent domain?

You are kidding? There are examples of this in every major city in our state. Downtown Stamford was the poster child for such development. Most of those downtown office towers and Stamford Town Center are built on eminent domain acquired properties. Constitution Plaza and the XL Center in Hartford are others. Bridgeport’s Lafayette Plaza and New Haven’s Chapel Square were other examples. Downtown Crossing in New Haven is a more recent example. The Connecticut Convention Center and Connecticut Science Center in Hartford are others. The list goes on and on.

The SoNo Collection mall in Norwalk was built on property taken by emanate domain. You see others in Waterbury, New Britian and Torrington. New London had the classic example with the legal challenge of Kelo verses New London (New London won). Even Downtown Derby is currently being redeveloped with eminent domain properties. I know this is scattered but there’s so many that come to mind, it’s hard to write them down in a smooth sounding order. Jay

[SteveM85]

Stamford rapidly eminent domained whole blocks to develop comprehensive mixed-use medical, multi-family and retail neighborhoods Downtown, on the Westside, and most of all Harbor Point. That's the big one.

Most recently , Norwalk, not just rapidly but almost overnight eminent domained whole blocks to develop comprehensive mixed-use, multi-family and retail neighborhoods in the Sono Water St. area. Then they put out the welcome mat for half of Darien and New Canaan downsizers so those personnel could be closer to their boats in slips across the street and enjoy rooftop pools with views. It's not major city like Stamford and Birmingham but they did this in CT nevertheless.

CT did exactly what AL did in Birmingham in multiple locations. To a T.

[norcal2k19]

Originally Posted by CTREInvestor

What is different in Birmingham is 10 years ago it was almost as bad as Bridgeport, and now you can't find a house in any middle class neighborhood for less than $500,000. Using state police power to simply rapidly eminent domain whole blocks to develop a comprehensive mixed-use medical, multi-family and retail neighborhood has accomplished in mere years what New Haven has been striving for seemingly my entire life.

New Haven is astounding. I moved to Milford recently to be closer to New Haven as believe New Haven County has a very bright future. But it is one that could happen sooner if the state simply put an end to local incompetent governance.

Birmingham is not connected to the Northeast Corridor, which is a tremendous asset for New Haven. Also, UAB, while a good institution and definitely an anchor in Birmingham, is not comparable to Yale besides having strong academic medical research functions.

New Haven is firing on all cylinders with building new housing and both cities have relatively young and earnest mayors (I like Birmingham's Mayor).

[mdovell]

You can have redevelopment under a quasi authority, this is nothing new. Tax incentives and zoning can change all the time. It might become more complicated but yes you can develop areas. Lowell mass was pretty bad in the 90's. UMass Lowell changed much of it. Urban areas can easily ban things. Springfield ma banned new pawn shops. Ok so other things developed. the state banned vaping so vape shops closed and now there's a juice bar there.

Can we have places with political cliques that block things? Absolutely but that can be anywhere in the country. I could literally post links all day long to stories about that, it's nothing new.

[CTREInvestor]

Originally Posted by SteveM85

CT has done this too. You know that right? Exactly that.

Every state has, but I am unaware of anything current.

Now, we're not talking about standard eminent domain for say, roads. We're talking about risky and controversial massive projects. The UAB Medical Center is separated from some Catholic hospital by several rows of blocks that are/were public housing. A very similar situation to Yale. UAB bought the hospital.

The state is razing all the blocks between.

I can't imagine Connecticut doing that, even though the area around St. Rapheal's is still pretty dodgy.