[andthentherewere3]

Originally Posted by JViello

Avon has a higher median income than Greenwich ($124,132 vs $108.800)...and pretty close to New Canaan and Darien with a much lower cost of living. Just sayin...

Originally Posted by JViello

andthentherewere3: Your figures are all over the place. Your using 2005 figures which don't match and then comparing them to 2008 figures etc etc. Avon actually shows families have greater purchasing power ($105,734 vs $101,157 for 2007) I.E. They are less in the "high earning poor" class and have more disposable income not dealing with the inflated real estate market Greenwich has.

In reality I would go so far as to say Avon has more "average wealth" vs Greenwich which has gazillionaires and low income earners as well. Avon is pretty steady across the board. That's just my opinion after spending much time in both cities for work.

The bottom line is, Avon is a rich town - not a poorish small city like Willimantic. Comparing the two is stupid. End of story.

I guess you missed my point. Comparing Avon to New Canaan/Darien/Greenwich is "stupid", to borrow your word. And how in the world does Avon compare to Darien/New Canaan?

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by JViello

To answer both posts, I used what I thought were 2007 data from CNN Money Magazine. Looking at the 2005 figures for Greenwich, perhaps they had the wrong data for that or I misread something. I can't find Greenwich for 2007 on CNN again but the Avon listing I posted is there. Either way, as Rich said, both towns are "money". That's hard to argue.

andthentherewere3: Your figures are all over the place. Your using 2005 figures which don't match and then comparing them to 2008 figures etc etc. Avon actually shows families have greater purchasing power ($105,734 vs $101,157 for 2007) I.E. They are less in the "high earning poor" class and have more disposable income not dealing with the inflated real estate market Greenwich has.

In reality I would go so far as to say Avon has more "average wealth" vs Greenwich which has gazillionaires and low income earners as well. Avon is pretty steady across the board. That's just my opinion after spending much time in both cities for work.

The bottom line is, Avon is a rich town - not a poorish small city like Willimantic. Comparing the two is stupid. End of story.

JV - you completely missed my point. When I was saying Greenwich is nothing like Avon, I meant that Avon is new money (still upper middle class) while Greenwich is old family money, trust fund kids, etc etc. Avon is mostly two white-collar working parents, doctors, lawyers. Greenwich has a lot of Wall St/hedge fund influence.

You can compare their incomes, but you can't compare their wealth.

Even if andthentherewere3 was using 3 year old data, simply look at the difference in home prices - over $1m in Greenwich, and about 1/3 of that in Avon.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by andthentherewere3

I guess you missed my point. Comparing Avon to New Canaan/Darien/Greenwich is "stupid", to borrow your word. And how in the world does Avon compare to Darien/New Canaan?

It doesn't. Avon is more similar to Woodbridge, Redding and Easton - all beautiful affluent towns. Trying to compare Avon to some of the most financially powerful suburbs in the country (and the world) is laughable.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by ctcoldplay11

I don't know exactly where you get off trying to lower my credibility simply because I am a college sophomore

Attempting to lower credibility by pulling the "you're only in college" card is just a way for people to feel better about themselves.

[goldenband]

It seems to me that this entire debate could be cut, a la the Gordian knot, if both sides can agree to the following things:

first, that Willimantic has a reputation for being (or "having become") a trashy town with a major drug problem, specifically heroin, and that that reputation is not entirely undeserved;

second, that Willimantic is still less dangerous and "stressed" than many of Connecticut's other small cities, and that it has enough in the way of assets -- some nice real estate/buildings, some areas that aren't overrun by strung-out junkies, good location -- that a recovery seems very possible.

Can everyone live with that?

[Uconn97]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Attempting to lower credibility by pulling the "you're only in college" card is just a way for people to feel better about themselves.

Or running around taking potshots at others all the time is another

And yes, Goldenband that is a good assessment!

[brasscitybluenwhite]

goldenband,

I think the issue was over on the first page. There's too many points of view here. JViello, who grew up in Waterbury and has lived all across the state, is trying to say that you can make the point that not everyone is looking to live in a high class area.

To me, people that live in Avon make 1,000,000,000,000 and the people in Greenwich make 1,000,000,000,002. The differences are soo close, it doesnt matter. The point is that in Willimantic, they make considerably less.

People have to live with the fact that because there is a diffence in income in Willimantic, the will be a difference in lifestyle (you'll see drugs there, like any other low income place in the country.) In my Waterbury state-of-mind, that doesn't bother me because I don't do drugs. But some people grew up with the idea that they must stay as far away from drugs as possible. Maybe those people should stay away from Willimantic.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Uconn97

Or running around taking potshots at others all the time is another

Oh, I see you've read JViello's posting history.

[JayCT]

Enough of the arguing already. Get back to the original question. Jay

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by goldenband

It seems to me that this entire debate could be cut, a la the Gordian knot, if both sides can agree to the following things:

first, that Willimantic has a reputation for being (or "having become") a trashy town with a major drug problem, specifically heroin, and that that reputation is not entirely undeserved;

second, that Willimantic is still less dangerous and "stressed" than many of Connecticut's other small cities, and that it has enough in the way of assets -- some nice real estate/buildings, some areas that aren't overrun by strung-out junkies, good location -- that a recovery seems very possible.

Can everyone live with that?

Thanks for this...finally someone else who can see it as it as. Bravo

As for the OP - some great towns around Willi are Columbia, Coventry, Andover and a bit more expensive will be Tolland. All are great towns, fairly rural and have a high quality of life. It is one of the least expensive areas in CT.