[mzb]

We are moving to CT from the south and visited in fall. We liked New Haven for its urban feel,dining,museums and theatre scene but with a four year old are vary of living in a city with such a high crime rate. Our best bet seemed to be Hamden- more affordable, scenic, close to new Haven and good schools.
Here's the problem -my husband will be working in Bridgeport and though we ruled out staying in Bridgeport itself the neighboring towns like Milford Trumbull, Shelton are not only expensive but too suburban for us.
Affordable housing ( rent in the $1500-$1600 ) and a great preshool(not a glorified daycare!) are prerequisites.
Is the commute to Bridgeport going to be a killer? Anyone knows of really good preschools in New Haven, Milford, Hamden?

[seymourct]

Depends on what time of day your trying to get on the Merritt parkway or I-95. If your on the road before 7am, it shouldn't be too bad. You'll have to test your commute. Leaving 5 minutes earlier and being ahead of the crowd can save your 20 minutes plus of frustrating bumper to bumper driving.

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Out of curiosity, why aren't you considering Stratford? The demographics of the town are quite similar to Hamden, IMHO.

[eschroth]

There are lots of fantastic preschools in New Haven....Leila Day, Children's Preschool, Edith B Jackson, Calvin Hill, United Preschool, Neighborhood Music School.....and in Hamden Mishkan Israel has a good program - I'm sure there a lots of others too.

[JayCT]

Hamden is about 25 miles from Bridgeport so without traffic it would take about a half hour. During rush hour it will take about 10 minutes longer. The worst of the traffic is normally past Bridgeport. The worst traffic that your husband will face is some slowing on Route 15 through Stratford and on Route 8/25 as you get near I-95.

I too must ask, "Why Hamden"? Don't get me wrong, Hamden is a very nice town. But it is just as suburban as Milford or Shelton or even Stratford for that matter. I understand you want to be closer to New Haven but for an occasional visit, New Haven is not that far from the other towns mentioned either and minimizing your husband's commute would be best in the long run by saving time and commuting costs. JMHO, Jay

[Jpierpont]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Hamden is about 25 miles from Bridgeport so without traffic it would take about a half hour. During rush hour it will take about 10 minutes longer. The worst of the traffic is normally past Bridgeport. The worst traffic that your husband will face is some slowing on Route 15 through Stratford and on Route 8/25 as you get near I-95.

I too must ask, "Why Hamden"? Don't get me wrong, Hamden is a very nice town. But it is just as suburban as Milford or Shelton or even Stratford for that matter. I understand you want to be closer to New Haven but for an occasional visit, New Haven is not that far from the other towns mentioned either and minimizing your husband's commute would be best in the long run by saving time and commuting costs. JMHO, Jay

I think Hamden is a good deal nicer than those three towns, Stratford in particular.
My girlfriend does the reverse of the op's question and it isn't too bad.

[mzb]

Ideally I would like to be in East Rock New Haven but finding a decent living accomodation for $1600 is going to be almost impossible. On my visit to CT I happened to visit Hamden hall and Calvin Hill schools and really liked them. We drove around Hamden and found it very scenic and the rents were more affordable too.The fact that it was minutes from Yale helped too.
I wouldn't mind being on the other side of New Haven(closer to Bridgeport) but can't seem to get any info on preschools- I have a really bright 4 yr old(he is already reading fluently at 2nd grade level amongst many other things )and I can't see him enrolled in a daycare running as a preschool.
For us school first , housing next and poor hubbies commute last!
Any one in Education on this board-pl help

[usmcfamily]

Hi MZB! Welcome to Ct. I moved up here 18 mos. ago from SC. I can't really help you with preschools because my kids are a lot older. However, keep in mind, your son will only be in preschool a year or two but will be in the public/private school systems a lot longer. I would check out the school systems in the places you are interested in, make sure they have programs you would like for your child, etc. We moved many times, and we always picked the school district first, as well. Good luck!

[maak1]

Welcome!! We lived in Hamden for 6 years and liked it. Beautiful hiking paths, nice people. Yes it is affordable and we do have a friends who commute to bridgeport and a number of them to stratford from Hamden. The commute is tolerable but do remember that it can be icy and snowy here (perhaps from end of Dec to March.) Hamden has alot of rentals, it is affordable perhaps as it is a bit far for people to commute to NYC and there is a number of colleges in the area and it seems like the vacancy rate is low lately. We currently live in West Haven right on the water and pay $1900 for a very nice 2 bedroom. We have a preschool age child and I can tell you that here you have to apply about 6 to 9 months before to get in to the more popular preschools (but occ can get in later if on a waiting list). One of the most popular is Bethesda in New Haven but the others mentioned above are also good. I just heard about Goddard school in Orange. We were looking at Westville community preschool. The cities w the best rep for public schools are Orange, Woodbridge and Guillford in the area but there are many wonderful private schools.
Do check out downtown Milford area, not alot of rentals but we almost rented there at Spinnaker property as it was close to lovely green and downtown area w small town feel, walkable and close to the water and a nice park. This is a great area to live in midway between NYC and Boston so much to do and great kid things.

[mzb]

One of the reasons I liked Calvin Hill and Hamden Hall was the fact that we could get in our child in preschool and continue all the way to kindergarten (at Calvin Hill) and higher (at Hamden Hall). We will be in CT for about 3 yrs and I don't want to have to move schools a lot. Most public schools don't have a preschool and a lot of times the private ones can break your bank. I will definately check out Orange, Woodbridge and Guillford.I recently got in touch with Spinnaker-thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. Keep them coming!