[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Would you really want to see a 8 story garage at Milford station? I and most people wouldn't. Remember this is not New Jersey. Jay

It depends upon the community. The state had a GOLDEN opportunity 10/15 years ago to build a monster garage at the Stratford station in such a way that it wouldn't have impacted the aesthetics of Stratford Center or any residential areas. It's still possible to do it, but it would now cost significantly more to obtain that property(western corner of Stratford Square).

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Why shouldn't there be more stations along the line. It is the busiest train line in the country. When you look at the station spacing of the western end, the stations from Fairfield on down to the Greenwich town line are closer together than they are from New Haven to Fairfield. The difference is that 50 years ago people using the trains to commute were not using them east of Fairfield. Now that has changed. With your logic they should close all the secondary stations like Southport, Greens Farms, East Norwalk, Noroton Heights and all of the Greenwich stations. All because you don't want to wait a few more minutes on the train. Also keep in mind that if you did what you and SVTJayC say, you will need massive garages at each station. That is not what most of these towns are about. Would you really want to see a 8 story garage at Milford station? I and most people wouldn't. Remember this is not New Jersey. Jay

Only 4 of our stations have Garages , and 8 if you include the PATH and PATCO and Bus system... Most stations have small lots or no parking at all...

[SVTJayC]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Why shouldn't there be more stations along the line. It is the busiest train line in the country. When you look at the station spacing of the western end, the stations from Fairfield on down to the Greenwich town line are closer together than they are from New Haven to Fairfield. The difference is that 50 years ago people using the trains to commute were not using them east of Fairfield. Now that has changed. With your logic they should close all the secondary stations like Southport, Greens Farms, East Norwalk, Noroton Heights and all of the Greenwich stations. All because you don't want to wait a few more minutes on the train. Also keep in mind that if you did what you and SVTJayC say, you will need massive garages at each station. That is not what most of these towns are about. Would you really want to see a 8 story garage at Milford station? I and most people wouldn't. Remember this is not New Jersey. Jay

Enough with that backward thinking. It doesn't matter what "looks nice". You are standing in the path of progress.

And just so you know, it's perfectly doable to build a garage that has some level of aesthetic appeal. You can make them look like old factory buildings, a la the old steel plant in Fairfield. I've seen it done in NJ, and NH. And if a town like Fairfield really cared about "preserving" history, they wouldn't have bulldozed all the old buildings downtown, and replaced them with strip malls. What are you preserving exactly? The Chase Bank? The revolving door restaurant of the week next to the tanning salon? The bookstore of the month? What exactly? As for Milford and Stratford, you'd be doing their train station surroundings a FAVOR.

The answer is parking, not stations.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by SVTJayC

As for Milford and Stratford, you'd be doing their train station surroundings a FAVOR.

Wow, loaded statement there. I can't speak for Stratford - but the area around the train station in Milford is really nice. I wouldn't mind a parking garage in the right place though.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by SVTJayC

Enough with that backward thinking. It doesn't matter what "looks nice". You are standing in the path of progress.

And just so you know, it's perfectly doable to build a garage that has some level of aesthetic appeal. You can make them look like old factory buildings, a la the old steel plant in Fairfield. I've seen it done in NJ, and NH. And if a town like Fairfield really cared about "preserving" history, they wouldn't have bulldozed all the old buildings downtown, and replaced them with strip malls. What are you preserving exactly? The Chase Bank? The revolving door restaurant of the week next to the tanning salon? The bookstore of the month? What exactly? As for Milford and Stratford, you'd be doing their train station surroundings a FAVOR.

The answer is parking, not stations.

To you it is backward thinking. To others it is perserving the character of the community. Fairfield does not want to be a city and a massive garage would scream city. If that is what you want them move back to the city. Norwalk has a lovely large garage. Jay

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Wow, loaded statement there. I can't speak for Stratford - but the area around the train station in Milford is really nice. I wouldn't mind a parking garage in the right place though.

Where exavctly would that be? Overlooking the green? Adjacent to the residential neighborhood to the north? Come on, really think about it and look around. There is no place near Milford station that a multi-story garage could be built without a significant impact to the character of the community. Jay

[SVTJayC]

Originally Posted by JayCT

To you it is backward thinking. To others it is perserving the character of the community. Fairfield does not want to be a city and a massive garage would scream city. If that is what you want them move back to the city. Norwalk has a lovely large garage. Jay

Have you been to Fairfield in the past 10 years? I'm being serious. What character do you think you'll be damaging? It's 1 street of strip malls, revolving door restaurants, banks, tanning salons, and an eyesore of a train station. They bulldozed any buildings with character, and that's MOST of Fairfield county, ironically Norwalk being the only town that actually stood up to that and preserved some of their historic buildings. I love hanging out downtown, but it's sad. It looks more and more generic everyday. Soon the community theatre will be gone, again, because backward people won't do what needs to be done to keep it around. What are we holding onto here?

[Beeker2211]

How about increasing bus service so one could conceivably leave the car at home?

Or.. in my perfect world reinstalling the tram system Connecticut once had would be pretty efficient.

But I agree with JayCT, garages are probably needed but ultimately futile because having them everywhere would cripple the aesthetics of most of the towns as well as the eventually the garages won't be enough. Then what?

[SVTJayC]

Originally Posted by Beeker2211

How about increasing bus service so one could conceivably leave the car at home?

Or.. in my perfect world reinstalling the tram system Connecticut once had would be pretty efficient.

But I agree with JayCT, garages are probably needed but ultimately futile because having them everywhere would cripple the aesthetics of most of the towns as well as the eventually the garages won't be enough. Then what?

Yeah, nothing adds to the aesthetics of a town like a bunch of buses crawling around.

It's bad enough I have to use the train, I'm not also riding a friggin' bus.

[Beeker2211]

Originally Posted by SVTJayC

Yeah, nothing adds to the aesthetics of a town like a bunch of buses crawling around.

It's bad enough I have to use the train, I'm not also riding a friggin' bus.

Buses are fine, and the new ones actually look fine on the outside and are fairly comfortable interiors. It's cheaper than building then maintaining garages, and is a much better use of land. I do admit the buses can be slower than driving but there are ways to help that.