[CTDex]

Originally Posted by Mike 75

Hence the calls for "regionalism."

Completely against the idea. We do not need another level of government, especially being such a small state.


CT cities can be turned around by altering the demographics. Stamford is on it's way and doing quite well and in coming decades the same can be done others as long as the negative elements are kept strongly in check.

[howdydoody342]

I think the "CT, u are 2 hours away from the great cities" is such a BS reason why CT is great. CT is a quaint state, i dont think its ever going to be anything different. The people with money in this state, i doubt really care what happens with CT's cities as long as they can live in their mansion in some back country neighborhood.

New Haven probably has the best chance of reinventing itself.

[BPt111]

Originally Posted by howdydoody342

I think the "CT, u are 2 hours away from the great cities" is such a BS reason why CT is great. CT is a quaint state, i dont think its ever going to be anything different. The people with money in this state, i doubt really care what happens with CT's cities as long as they can live in their mansion in some back country neighborhood.

New Haven probably has the best chance of reinventing itself.

//www.city-data.com/forum/city-...-quirkier.html

[RunD1987]

New Haven has the best chance. Providence can still trounce any city in CT.

[Sigequinox]

Originally Posted by howdydoody342

I think the "CT, u are 2 hours away from the great cities" is such a BS reason why CT is great. CT is a quaint state, i dont think its ever going to be anything different. The people with money in this state, i doubt really care what happens with CT's cities as long as they can live in their mansion in some back country neighborhood.

New Haven probably has the best chance of reinventing itself.

Totally agree about the 2 hour thing. Admittedly, I'm not much of an urban guy, but I do love food and not once in the last 5 years of living here have I said "lets go grab dinner in NYC or boston". It's too far for anything casual. It's too far to commute to for work. It's basically a small trip. It turns into a weekend trip and for the money it costs to weekend in either of these cities, you can easily go farther. If I have 600 bucks burning a hole in my pocket you'll see me snowboarding in vermont or maine for the weekend before you'd ever see me in NYC for brunch and a day at the museum of modern art. Yes, different folks different strokes, my point though is that expensive cities two hours away aren't something most people can frequent regularly and therefore, as you already mentioned, using them a justify the greatness of some place in the middle is, BS.

[RunD1987]

I have to say CT is a great gateway to the North. I mean I hope they close less park's open new park's revamp old park's build more urban park's with biking/walking paths. I know Waterbury wants to create a biking path from Shelton to Thomaston.

I am still holding out on that trail from Hartford to New Haven.

[ansky]

Originally Posted by HumpDay

Connecticut is like New Jersey. It's just one of big suburban sprawl with mixes of rural and urban areas. New Jersey is squeezed between Philadelphia and New York City while Connecticut is squeezed between New York City and Boston. I consider Connecticut to be a state stuck between things people care about. So many people drive through our state and don't stop because Boston and New York City are so close which already offer more than our cities.

I lived in CT for 20 years and have now been living in NJ for the past 15 years, so I can offer a pretty good perspective on this. NJ is somewhat like CT, but the difference is it is much more accessible to NYC and Philly than CT is to NYC and Boston. In NJ, you can easily commute into NYC from anywhere in the northern half of the state. You can just as easily commute into Philly from the southern half of the state. The problem with CT is that NYC is really only accessible to NYC from Fairfield County (at least for commuting). And it's really not accessible to Boston at all in terms of commuting (I have never heard of anyone commuting from CT to Boston, at least not in large numbers).

The other advantage to NJ is that it seems to have a lot more job opportunities than CT, especially the northern and central parts of NJ ( southern NJ, not so much). This is the primary reason I have not considered moving back to CT during my career.

[BPt111]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

I have to say CT is a great gateway to the North. I mean I hope they close less park's open new park's revamp old park's build more urban park's with biking/walking paths. I know Waterbury wants to create a biking path from Shelton to Thomaston.

I am still holding out on that trail from Hartford to New Haven.

What about Bridgeport, New Britain, New London/Norwich, Meriden, Danbury, Middletown, Ansonia/Derby ?

[HumpDay]

Originally Posted by ansky

I lived in CT for 20 years and have now been living in NJ for the past 15 years, so I can offer a pretty good perspective on this. NJ is somewhat like CT, but the difference is it is much more accessible to NYC and Philly than CT is to NYC and Boston. In NJ, you can easily commute into NYC from anywhere in the northern half of the state. You can just as easily commute into Philly from the southern half of the state. The problem with CT is that NYC is really only accessible to NYC from Fairfield County (at least for commuting). And it's really not accessible to Boston at all in terms of commuting (I have never heard of anyone commuting from CT to Boston, at least not in large numbers).

The other advantage to NJ is that it seems to have a lot more job opportunities than CT, especially the northern and central parts of NJ ( southern NJ, not so much). This is the primary reason I have not considered moving back to CT during my career.

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.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by ansky

I lived in CT for 20 years and have now been living in NJ for the past 15 years, so I can offer a pretty good perspective on this. NJ is somewhat like CT, but the difference is it is much more accessible to NYC and Philly than CT is to NYC and Boston. In NJ, you can easily commute into NYC from anywhere in the northern half of the state. You can just as easily commute into Philly from the southern half of the state. The problem with CT is that NYC is really only accessible to NYC from Fairfield County (at least for commuting). And it's really not accessible to Boston at all in terms of commuting (I have never heard of anyone commuting from CT to Boston, at least not in large numbers).

The other advantage to NJ is that it seems to have a lot more job opportunities than CT, especially the northern and central parts of NJ ( southern NJ, not so much). This is the primary reason I have not considered moving back to CT during my career.

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