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Old 12-31-2015, 01:41 PM
 
Location: Connecticut
34,687 posts, read 56,476,753 times
Reputation: 11162

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Quote:
Originally Posted by HumpDay View Post
This is why New Jersey has an advantage over Connecticut. Nearly half of its state is in close proximity of NYC and a good chunk of the southern half is close to Philadelphia and even Wilmington, DE. I feel like Northern New Jersey attracts the workers of NYC and Newark because it's much quieter living in Northern Jersey than parts of Downstate NY and Western Long Island. You have cheaper housing (for the most part) and taxes are a little lower in NJ than the NYC area. CT has Fairfield County and that's pretty much it. It's the only part of the state that isn't flat or declining. I've noticed NJ has been vetoing certain tax increases which I favor much more than CT's way of thinking which is finding more things to tax. NJ is continuing to grow because it's in the outskirts of 2 major cities which are doing well. As the NYC orkforce grows, then these workers will find a place to live which is in either Fairfield County, CT, Northern New Jersey, or Downstate NY.
As I noted in my post above, Connecticut has a better employment market than New Jersey right now and has for quite a while now. Christie talks a good game but he has not really delivered on all his promises. Also it is arguable whether northern New Jersey is quieter than Long Island or Westchester, at least those areas closer to Manhattan. You have to go out pretty far, to western Bergen County, western Passaic County, Morris County or Somerset County to find nice quieter suburbs. That makes for a pretty long commute. Also northern New Jersey is very pricey, as expensive as LI and Westchester in comparable towns. And taxes can rival any of those areas as well. Makes Connecticut taxes look like a bargain in comparison. Jay
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Old 12-31-2015, 01:43 PM
 
Location: Northeast states
13,987 posts, read 13,765,378 times
Reputation: 5133
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayCT View Post
As someone who lived in northern New Jersey for several years and still has very good friends there, I have to argue a few of your points here. Much of the commuting into Manhattan from New Jersey involves changing trains to cross the Hudson River. This adds significant commuting time and is a royal pain in the a** to do since you are doing it with literally thousands of other people. From Connecticut, you get on one train and it takes you right into Grand Central. Governor Christie's sort-sighted cancelation of the ARC tunnel assures that New Jersey commuters will face decades of having to keep changing trains to get into Manhattan. Plus New Jersey trains go to the horrible Penn Station which is way too small for the amount of commuters it serves. Hopefully Penn Station will move to the old Farley Post Office and give commuters the size and type of train station they deserve but have been denied for the last 50 years. Also, you can easily get to New York from New Haven County as well. There are stations with direct trains in New Haven, West Haven and Milford. If you are willing to change trains once you could also add the towns along Shoreline East to that list only commuting from them would be very long.

Also New Jersey may seem like it has more jobs but remember it has approximately double the population of Connecticut. The unemployment rate in New Jersey was 5.3% in November, Connecticut's is 5.1% which is darn close to the US average of 5%. So in reality Connecticut residents have a better chance of finding a job in Connecticut than those do in New Jersey. Jay


NJ 8.938 million CT 3.597 Million top of that NJ is bit bigger than Connecticut in term of size
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Old 01-01-2016, 09:48 AM
 
8,404 posts, read 4,456,316 times
Reputation: 9606
Some Providence RI attractions:

Providence Performing Arts Center
Seats 3,090-hosts concerts and traveling Broadway shows



RI Veterans Memorial Auditorium
Seats 1,900 - home to the RI Philharmonic Orchestra and concerts



Trinity Repertory Company Lederer Theater
Home to the Tony Award winning Trinity Rep


RISD Museum



Roger Williams Park and Zoo
427 acre park with an arboretum and what many consider the best zoo in New England


Providence Historic sites
There 162 properties and districts in Providence on the National Register of Historic Places
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation...,_Rhode_Island



Colleges and Universities
Providence is home to the main campus of five colleges/universities (the first three located right downtown) - Brown, RI School of design (RISD), Johnson & Wales University, Providence College, and RI College. It is home to satellite campuses for URI and Roger Williams U.


Roger Williams Culinary Arts Museum
https://www.culinary.org/

RI Children's Museum
Providence Children's Museum - Home Page

Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
Home | Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology

Providence Antheneum (founded 1836-present home opened 1838)




Providence Restaurants
Being home to the prestigious culinary arts program at JWU, it is not surprising that Providence is home to an usually large collection of restaurants regularly making the list of best food cities in the USA. It is home to an entire restaurant district with the Little Italy Federal Hill neighborhood just blocks from downtown






Downtown Providence by Drone

Last edited by MMS02760; 01-01-2016 at 10:08 AM..
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Old 01-01-2016, 10:04 AM
 
Location: Chicago
5,559 posts, read 4,603,663 times
Reputation: 2202
Quote:
Originally Posted by RunD1987 View Post
There's no real attractions to Hartford, New Haven, or any big cities in CT. I mean you have the big cities like NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, LA, and Chicago. However, cities like the Twin Cities, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Rochester, Cleveland, Charlotte, Raleigh, Providence, and so forth offer more to see and do.

Is there a reason why CT is not strong in regards to growth. I mean out closest smaller city be Providence I feel it is a safer area than Hartford with a more vibrant culture better lay out and offering more attractions to see.

What's your feedback.
It's the people who live here, their priorities, and the way they wish to lead their lives. Not to my taste but it is what it is. Nothing will change it. The people who temporarily move here for a variety of reasons will shortly leave if it is not to their taste. If they like sleepy suburbia, as many do, they will stay.
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Old 01-01-2016, 11:15 AM
 
Location: Connecticut
5,104 posts, read 4,788,410 times
Reputation: 3636
Its not fair to compare CT cities by population numbers to other cities IMO because of the separation of cities and towns here. It would be more fair to use county population numbers.

Hartford county population is approx 900k which would make it the 12th largest city (by population) in the country.

New Haven county population is similar at approx 860k.

I would compare these counties to cities such as Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Indy, ST Louis, basically any city between 500k-1mm in population.

Both Hartford and New Haven counties have the population to support and create anything they want, may it be sports teams, museums, or national parks, etc. The lack of support and/or agreement on attractions is IMO due to the separation of the cities and towns here.

Someone who lives in Glastonbury doesn't think of themselves as being from Hartford county, but they are very much a part of the county whether they like it or not. I don't think this will ever change, but you never know.

IF you want to have some fun. Next time you go to a party where you don't know any one and are mingling among the crowd getting into random conversations tell every one you live in New Britain, Meriden, Hartford, New Haven, etc, and note the reactions and comments.

IMO the biggest thing CT lacks is a pro sports team. Doesn't matter what sport as along as it's pro. The amateur teams and college teams don't count IMO. We lost a huge asset when the Whalers left.

I would add though that if we need to provide financing for a pro team I would be against it even if it was for the Whalers.

Hartford will never see the numbers of people at night downtown again that the Whalers provided.
If the Whalers where playing the Rangers or Bruins or even the Sabres that was a guaranteed 15k people downtown. Only a handful of concerts can provide those numbers downtown now. Remember the Whalers played 41 home games each year.
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Old 01-01-2016, 11:27 AM
 
Location: Northeast states
13,987 posts, read 13,765,378 times
Reputation: 5133
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrGompers View Post
Its not fair to compare CT cities by population numbers to other cities IMO because of the separation of cities and towns here. It would be more fair to use county population numbers.

Hartford county population is approx 900k which would make it the 12th largest city (by population) in the country.

New Haven county population is similar at approx 860k.

I would compare these counties to cities such as Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Indy, ST Louis, basically any city between 500k-1mm in population.

Both Hartford and New Haven counties have the population to support and create anything they want, may it be sports teams, museums, or national parks, etc. The lack of support and/or agreement on attractions is IMO due to the separation of the cities and towns here.

Someone who lives in Glastonbury doesn't think of themselves as being from Hartford county, but they are very much a part of the county whether they like it or not. I don't think this will ever change, but you never know.

IF you want to have some fun. Next time you go to a party where you don't know any one and are mingling among the crowd getting into random conversations tell every one you live in New Britain, Meriden, Hartford, New Haven, etc, and note the reactions and comments.

IMO the biggest thing CT lacks is a pro sports team. Doesn't matter what sport as along as it's pro. The amateur teams and college teams don't count IMO. We lost a huge asset when the Whalers left.

I would add though that if we need to provide financing for a pro team I would be against it even if it was for the Whalers.

Hartford will never see the numbers of people at night downtown again that the Whalers provided.
If the Whalers where playing the Rangers or Bruins or even the Sabres that was a guaranteed 15k people downtown. Only a handful of concerts can provide those numbers downtown now. Remember the Whalers played 41 home games each year.


and Fairfield County ?
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Old 01-01-2016, 01:48 PM
 
1,231 posts, read 2,675,756 times
Reputation: 582
Quote:
Originally Posted by RunD1987 View Post
There's no real attractions to Hartford, New Haven, or any big cities in CT. I mean you have the big cities like NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, LA, and Chicago. However, cities like the Twin Cities, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Rochester, Cleveland, Charlotte, Raleigh, Providence, and so forth offer more to see and do.

Is there a reason why CT is not strong in regards to growth. I mean out closest smaller city be Providence I feel it is a safer area than Hartford with a more vibrant culture better lay out and offering more attractions to see.

What's your feedback.
Ok.. Part of the problem is your choice of the word "growth". Reminder, CT was one of the original colonial settlements. Growth happened in a meandering pattern over the last 300 years. You can't go back and "city-plan" now, especially not when CT is full of less than perfectly thought out infrastructure, and less than perfectly planned developments, and buildings that are already here and "privately-owned" on nearly every available plot. Available acreage that's not designated forest, land-trust, or -ick- "brownfields", is very limited. People can create growth/development within the bubble boundaries of the real estate they purchase and then repurpose, but ONLY if the local zoning board approves, and neighbors don't complain you're changing the character of the area.

That said, do we need more developers to try and spur growth? Yes. Will they? I don't know. I'm reminded of the fact that even master developer Mr. Trump walked away from his plans in Bridgeport in the 1990's.
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Old 01-01-2016, 02:26 PM
 
1,231 posts, read 2,675,756 times
Reputation: 582
Quote:
Originally Posted by MMS02760 View Post
Some Providence RI attractions:

Providence Performing Arts Center
Seats 3,090-hosts concerts and traveling Broadway shows



RI Veterans Memorial Auditorium
Seats 1,900 - home to the RI Philharmonic Orchestra and concerts



Trinity Repertory Company Lederer Theater
Home to the Tony Award winning Trinity Rep


RISD Museum



Roger Williams Park and Zoo
427 acre park with an arboretum and what many consider the best zoo in New England


Providence Historic sites
There 162 properties and districts in Providence on the National Register of Historic Places
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation...,_Rhode_Island



Colleges and Universities
Providence is home to the main campus of five colleges/universities (the first three located right downtown) - Brown, RI School of design (RISD), Johnson & Wales University, Providence College, and RI College. It is home to satellite campuses for URI and Roger Williams U.


Roger Williams Culinary Arts Museum
https://www.culinary.org/

RI Children's Museum
Providence Children's Museum - Home Page

Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
Home | Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology

Providence Antheneum (founded 1836-present home opened 1838)




Providence Restaurants
Being home to the prestigious culinary arts program at JWU, it is not surprising that Providence is home to an usually large collection of restaurants regularly making the list of best food cities in the USA. It is home to an entire restaurant district with the Little Italy Federal Hill neighborhood just blocks from downtown






Downtown Providence by Drone
Loew’s Palace Theatre | After the Final Curtain

Poli Palace theatre and its twin sister Poli Majestic Theatre are in Bridgeport. Each one I think holds about 3,500 - 3,600 seats. Complete stages and Movie screens. There are hotels above them. They are listed on the National Registry of historic buildings....they are glorious inside from the pictures I've seen and stories I've heard from my parents; they should be repurposed! Southern CT has no school for symphony, fine arts, theater arts, and ballet. The hotel room for sure could be classrooms, dorms, offices, and practice rooms. Problem... Biggest one is there is no parking. 2nd Problem... is a reputation for the spirit of a murdered traveling salesman who's death in the hotel was not solved.. 3rd Problem.. Desire of the locals to visit local productions. 4th problem.. Bringing it up to code.

Find someone willing to tackle these gems of history... Then you've got something!

Last edited by seymourct; 01-01-2016 at 02:38 PM..
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Old 01-01-2016, 02:53 PM
 
9,845 posts, read 7,597,481 times
Reputation: 2469
Well technically Southwestern CT has a music school. Just built an entire new building in hopes to retain CT youth to a university in CT and not NYC.
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Old 01-01-2016, 02:59 PM
 
1,231 posts, read 2,675,756 times
Reputation: 582
WestConn? what draw do they get for that? How big is their venue? Does it look inside the same as the Palace and Majestic?
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