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A region cannot change overnight, but huge things have happened in the lower Valley towns in the past decade, mostly in Seymour and Shelton; old factories being torn down (Seymour) or renovated to be turned into loft style apartments (Shelton/Beacon Falls). Public housing where a lot of crime occurs is being removed (Ansonia). All of this is slowly changing each community for the better. Seymour and Shelton have really been booming. The Valley is in a fantastic location, being extremely close to major employment centers like New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury and not far from Norwalk/Stamford.
As for Oxford, it never really suffered from the high unemployment and "rusty" image that the other Valley towns are currently trying to shake. It has always been middle to upper middle class, and today I would consider it an affluent town. The schools there perform very well too.
Seymour has really become a desirable town as well. I was there last weekend visiting a friend who just purchased a house near Botsford Rd. The area is gorgeous. We went downtown and walked around a bit, and you actually feel like you're in a Gilmore Girls setting. It really is a cool downtown - it's a shame they built the highway right overhead. The schools I would consider average for CT (above average for the nation), but I think that will change in the next decade as the town continues to attract people from 20 miles southwest.
As Jay said, Derby really screwed up with their plans to revitalize downtown. They let buildings crumble so they had to be torn down...and these were buildings with amazing architecture and potential. They allowed the neighborhoods behind downtown to become a hotbed for crime. I do not see Derby improving in recent years, in fact, I see it declining. There are nice sections of town near Orange and on the "hilltop". The residents of town are not outspoken enough. I saw someone mention the "land of steady habits" in another thread and I think that is the case in Derby - residents are afraid of change, and many just don't care enough.
As for restaurants, however, those "dives" in Derby you speak of are absolutely fantastic. Some of the best food I have had in CT is in Derby. Roseland's "Apizza" is a place I will go out of my way to get when I'm in the area. Same with Marco's Pizza. Dew Drop Inn has, hands down, the best chicken wings I have ever tasted - the ugliness of the exterior should not fool you. Smoke N Bones has excellent ribs and pulled pork as well. All are dives, and if you're pretentious, don't go. But you're definitely missing out on some amazing grub.
Roseland and Dew Drop Inn are awesome. Smoke N Bones is decent too.
Agree. I went to DDI a few weeks ago for a beer with some buddies. I got the Honey BBQ and chili-butter (dry rub) wings. Needless to say, I had to work it all off on Sunday, and Sunday is my off-day for the gym. Lol...
I've never had Roseland. I've heard its great. Marcos is excellent. Smoke n Bones is another place we like too. As some of you know, we live in Derby......but right at the Orange border. I don't spend any time in the so called "bad" section except to go to the library. Since we work in NY five days a week, we spend the weekend cleaning the house,laundry and shopping...... Which is almost always in Orange or Milford and that's because there is every store we like on route 1.We do like to go to a great antique place on 34 past Apollo Pizza. I've often wondered why they didn't try to make nice loft style condos out of the old buildings. We have only been here four years and we find the valley people very nice. We came from NY......Westchester county and a snobby area. We are not snobs by the way. I don't like pretentious snobby types. I don't have any issues with Derby right now. We have a great home and nice quiet working class neighbors and as I mentioned before, the backyard is on a farm. This area of Derby is different than others I guess. We kind of like the small town feel and glad there are not a ton of retail stores congesting the area.
By the way, speaking of food, Crave in Ansonia is absolutely awesome if you like Spanish fusion type places.
Really simple .. The entire tract of land behind Stop &shop is private property owned by the Haynes Stoneyard family. On it sits another closed factory, basically out of business (I believe) since the flood of 55 or not long after, not sure though. I've heard many times that they'd love to see it developed. It would take the building of a road; therein lies one of the rubs. There was a plan for a 67/42 connector with a greenway, that was being studied by the state that would've run thru there. It would need state approval as it would connect 2 state roads. Also heard that the old regime under the old First Selectman had lobbied against most developments and zoned a lot of land as undevelopable forest. A road that long would be very expensive.
There is/or was a lawsuit involving the other half of the Walgreens property. Neighbors upset that the developer developed his commercially zoned land, are/were fighting the noise of construction. Haven't seen any updates on this.
Update.. At the most recent Board of Selectman meeting, the First Selectman hinted that there are plans in the works for the Haynes property behind Stop & Shop!
It's coming along slowly, since each town is building their own part and prioritizes the project according to the town's needs. Also some of the towns are already pretty built up around the river between roads and Rt. 8, so the greenway isn't just a matter of paving some river bank.
Update.. At the most recent Board of Selectman meeting, the First Selectman hinted that there are plans in the works for the Haynes property behind Stop & Shop!
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