[weesy68]

We moved to Stratford and I would like first of all to thank everyone who gave advice and comments during our search for a house.

For newcomers considering this area I wanted to leave a few comments that I hope will help others. We moved here almost two weeks ago from the Bronx, so it was quite a change for us. In terms of quality of life, living here so far is just wonderful. There's no graffiti (a pet peeve of mine), no garbage on the sidewalks, everyone we have met has been incredibly friendly and welcoming. The pace of life is slower than in NYC, the vast majority of drivers have manners (a true miracle after NYC), there's less of a rushed feel to life. Our older child got into a wonderful school, Lordship Elementary, which we had no control over, the BOE for Stratford placed her there. She was attending a school with 1650 students and 8 kindergarten classes with an average of 25 students per class before, now the school has 215 students with 16 in her class. She plays in the grassy playground daily, there was no outdoor recess in her previous school.

The commute by train to NYC for my husband is long, I drive on I-95 daily and traffic can be a real pain in the neck if there is an accident, but some days I get to the Bronx in 45 minutes.

One thing I can't stop raving about to friends is how there is so much to do here, what with two beaches, the parks, Roosevelt Forest, the fantastic library, and the amazing number of services. The shopping is just incredible and convenient. There's lots of big box stores such as Home Depot and Walmart, if you drive 15-20 minutes south there's also some very cute individual shopping too. There's a huge mall in Milford 15 minutes from here, and route 1 has a great variety of businesses.

So, if you are considering a move here I would highly recommend it. What's the down side you may ask? One end of Stratford is rough, and it's hard to tell where it ends and Bridgeport begins. Our welcome to Stratford event was the first time my husband parked his bike at the train station, someone stripped it of it's seat, lights and pump, all of which we had bought the day before. But we're not going to let it discourage us, we just lock our doors when we go out the way you have to do pretty much everywhere these days!

If you have any questions I'll be happy to try and answer them. Thanks again all..

p.s. We get parrots in our trees, they live wild here, which is incredibly cool. My neighbor handed me a huge praying mantis this morning from her lawn, a squirrel ran into the kitchen (and ran straight back out when it saw the cat) yesterday, a turkey flew right over my car into the trees on the Merritt Parkway, and raccoons raided our garbage already...so if you love nature this is the place for you!

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Glad to hear things are going well for you, aside from that one incident. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon to hear about petty property thefts(not robberies/muggings) in the train station parking lot.