[JimG2]

The thing is, is that the rest of CT that is not Fairfield County, doesn't think of Fairfield County as really being CT. Almost nobody from the 80% of the rest of the state ever goes to FFC. No real reason for us to. I used to use the boat ramp in Norwalk once or twice per year but haven't in over a dozen years. I had to go to a trade show during a blizzard in NYC a few years back. Got a room in Branford and then took the train in from New Haven.

[Siberiaboy]

Originally Posted by JimG2

The thing is, is that the rest of CT that is not Fairfield County, doesn't think of Fairfield County as really being CT. Almost nobody from the 80% of the rest of the state ever goes to FFC. No real reason for us to. I used to use the boat ramp in Norwalk once or twice per year but haven't in over a dozen years. I had to go to a trade show during a blizzard in NYC a few years back. Got a room in Branford and then took the train in from New Haven.

Fairfield, Connecticut made it big with The show Hansen vs Predator sequel to Dateline To Catch A Predator. This is one reason to avoid Fairfield if you don’t like police stings or if you fear it’s a place that attracts the wrong people. Though this stuff can happen in any community.

But if you get caught in a sex crime sting in Fairfield, your bail can be as high as $750,000 for a crime that in Kentucky has a $50,000 bail. Maybe that’s a plus of being an expensive state? I don’t know.
https://youtu.be/vxo1aQcUbcY

[ayoskillz]

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

My family has been considering a job offer on and off for the last year in SW Connecticut, so I've done a lot of reading about CT's problem. Here is my solution:

Leverage your best asset, and that asset is proximity to NYC. There are a lot of millenials in NYC that are starting families and will soon be looking for good schools, safety, and a little bit of grass for the kids to play on. CT has all of those things but needs to make some tweaks.

Do what is necessary to speed up the trains. Make it easy to commute back into NYC for the bigger pay check. Also, the quicker times will allow people to live as far away as New Haven and work in Stamford.

At each rail station negotiate more density in exchange for faster train service. No, not skyscrapers in Westport. Just more density. I was amazed to see SFHs across the street from Milford's train station for example. Allow by right 3 story apartments/townhomes/condos within walking distance of Milford's station. Townhomes or similar close to the more residential stations like Green's Farm. In Stamford let them go as tall as they want. The 1-2 acre lots are nice, but most young families don't want to be that isolated. Density will allow for more retail,restaurants, libraries, etc, and those things are like crack to young families.


Anyone who sells this to the state as part of a multi million dollar consulting gig owes me a cut!

ETA: CT needs to grow it's way out of this mess.

It needs a alot more than just faster train service which is many many years away because that will require alot of tracks to be redone which is alot of money.. i dont see making it faster to get out of ct a problem. Ct needs jobs. Not shipping everyone to another state for work

[hvexpatinct]

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

My family has been considering a job offer on and off for the last year in SW Connecticut, so I've done a lot of reading about CT's problem. Here is my solution:

Leverage your best asset, and that asset is proximity to NYC. There are a lot of millenials in NYC that are starting families and will soon be looking for good schools, safety, and a little bit of grass for the kids to play on. CT has all of those things but needs to make some tweaks.

Do what is necessary to speed up the trains. Make it easy to commute back into NYC for the bigger pay check. Also, the quicker times will allow people to live as far away as New Haven and work in Stamford.

At each rail station negotiate more density in exchange for faster train service. No, not skyscrapers in Westport. Just more density. I was amazed to see SFHs across the street from Milford's train station for example. Allow by right 3 story apartments/townhomes/condos within walking distance of Milford's station. Townhomes or similar close to the more residential stations like Green's Farm. In Stamford let them go as tall as they want. The 1-2 acre lots are nice, but most young families don't want to be that isolated. Density will allow for more retail,restaurants, libraries, etc, and those things are like crack to young families.


Anyone who sells this to the state as part of a multi million dollar consulting gig owes me a cut!

ETA: CT needs to grow it's way out of this mess.

CT also needs to capitalize on the fact that Millennials are moving to small towns in droves. Hipsters don't mind the acre zoning because it means they can have chickens and goats.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by ayoskillz

Ct needs jobs. Not shipping everyone to another state for work

That is why I hope Bridgeport gets a major casino. We need to absorb a big chunk of the labor pool w/o requiring them to commute to either Stamford or NYC.

Bridgeport-Fairfield just 30 years ago had dozens of manufacturers-each employing hundreds-which meant each had 50+office jobs. A casino has a different mix of positions, majority not as good, but still it beats what exists in Bridgeport-Fairfield corridor now.

[BPt111]

Originally Posted by JimG2

The thing is, is that the rest of CT that is not Fairfield County, doesn't think of Fairfield County as really being CT. Almost nobody from the 80% of the rest of the state ever goes to FFC. No real reason for us to. I used to use the boat ramp in Norwalk once or twice per year but haven't in over a dozen years. I had to go to a trade show during a blizzard in NYC a few years back. Got a room in Branford and then took the train in from New Haven.

FFC is extension of New York State the NYC economy affects the area also

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by JimG2

The thing is, is that the rest of CT that is not Fairfield County, doesn't think of Fairfield County as really being CT. Almost nobody from the 80% of the rest of the state ever goes to FFC. No real reason for us to. I used to use the boat ramp in Norwalk once or twice per year but haven't in over a dozen years. I had to go to a trade show during a blizzard in NYC a few years back. Got a room in Branford and then took the train in from New Haven.

Well, they should, because 50% of the state’s population lives in the NYC metro.

[brown_dog_us]

First, Southwest Connecticut is a great place and has a lot to offer. Sure, it's a bit cold, but the LI Sound, the beautiful downtowns, solid schools, etc make it an easy sell to young families if there are jobs.

The jobs is the tricky part. Companies aren't lined up wanting to move to CT, so the best CT can do is provide easier access to the jobs in NYC. As people move to CT they remodel the house, they need daycare, and they are another person paying taxes. The rising tide raises all ships.

Also, speeding up the train times won't be easy or cheap. It'll take getting a lot of Federal money and arm twisting.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

First, Southwest Connecticut is a great place and has a lot to offer. Sure, it's a bit cold, but the LI Sound, the beautiful downtowns, solid schools, etc make it an easy sell to young families if there are jobs.

The jobs is the tricky part. Companies aren't lined up wanting to move to CT, so the best CT can do is provide easier access to the jobs in NYC. As people move to CT they remodel the house, they need daycare, and they are another person paying taxes. The rising tide raises all ships.

Also, speeding up the train times won't be easy or cheap. It'll take getting a lot of Federal money and arm twisting.

My other half was just saying the same thing - because people aren’t flocking to CT for jobs in CT, they state should invest in more efficient transit to NYC from central CT.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

The jobs is the tricky part. Companies aren't lined up wanting to move to CT.

Ct had a tremendously larger group of corps 30 years ago. But we led them away via horrific anti business actions. Raising taxes many , many time, and regulations many, many times.

Go to your local library and look back at the Connecticut (then Bridgeport) Posts Sunday classifieds from the 80s, and count how many large employers , paying very high amounts for large box ads, are gone. Not all are gone from the US-but gone from Ct. Think about the ROOT causes of why they left Ct,

Look back at the reactions of GE, AETNA, and many others to Malloy's last tax hike before GE chose to flee.

We need to stop pretending tax hikes and regulation additions lack destructive consequences to our internal job base.

At some point, much of Wall St flees NYC, as back office stuff need not be there. They just lost Alliance Bernstein (> 1k jobs) to Nashville, and that same city has more UBS jobs than Stamford has UBS & RBS jobs combined. Relying on Wall St, at its present size, to save us, long-term, is reckless.


We were far more self sufficient 30 years ago. We should build towards more self-sufficiency.