[ProudFairfielder]

Originally Posted by allanny13

This specifically states "Connecticut Commuters," are we sure it's not only looking at within CT?

I imagine it is only stating CT commuters. It would be interesting to see how many go to NY. But I think option B still stands. To me it still feels like a college town (even more so recently with the Barnes and Noble downtown turning into the Fairfield U bookstore)

[dazzleman]

I'very been in Fairfield for.21 years. It seems the New York influence has increased in that time. Still, it has a nice New England feel with it town green, neighborhoods and church spires.

I commute to New York. A commute to Bridgeport would be a dream.

The New York/New England influence seems to be generational. Older people who have been in the town longer are more likely to have New England ties, including to Boston. Younger people who have come more recently are often from New York. Many who grew up in Fairfield can't necessarily afford to live there as adults. The town used to be more middle class. Even when I first moved here in 1995, there was a decent amount of middle class housing. That is no longer the case.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

The NY Influence extends well into New Haven County, right up to New Haven, IMO. Milford is way more influenced by NY than Bethel.

Yes, having lived in both Danbury/Bethel and Milford, this is true. The fact is Milford has a faster, more direct train line than Danbury. Any town on the New Haven line has plenty of NY influence.

But I would argue that it extends up into Roxbury, Washington, Kent, etc. where so many former NYers or wealthy weekenders have homes.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by ProudFairfielder

1) Just because it's the New Haven Line doesn't mean that people use it to commute. It's called the New Haven Line because it ends in New Haven. NYC commuters don't even make it on the list of top ten commuter groups in New Haven. http://cteconomicdevelopment.com/dwnld/newhaven2009.pdf
2) What metric are you using for "influence?" What are you defining influence as? Also, many areas out in the West don't have major sports teams (like North Nevada). So, they root for either NY or Boston. Are you saying North Nevada has NY/Boston influence, and therefore identifies more with it than LA or Vegas??http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...-baseball.html
You might want to take a look at how close the Celtic/Knicks line is to NYC:http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...asketball.html
Also, when given a choice CT will root for CT teams... http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...41.489,-72.819
3) I use commuters as A) it's an easy, countable number. B) people care a lot about where they get their money from. Also, please don't use personal experience for evidence. Just because You identify with NYC doesn't mean that everyone (or even the majority) does.

I do wonder how accurate the data for commuters is on CERC...

[jxzz]

It is hard to put the clear cut line on the NYC influence. Hey, I live in Guilford and commute to Uptown every day.
from my personal perception on the daily commute crowd, I would put milford as the last town for the NYC influence.
This is simply my personal observation that majority of CT commuters in Metro North are between Milford and Stamford stations. In fact, in the morning, there were not many riders in west haven nor new haven, the crowd starts from Milford. at night return trip, in fact most the riders were gone after Bridgeport.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by jxzz

It is hard to put the clear cut line on the NYC influence. Hey, I live in Guilford and commute to Uptown every day.
from my personal perception on the daily commute crowd, I would put milford as the last town for the NYC influence.
This is simply my personal observation that majority of CT commuters in Metro North are between Milford and Stamford stations. In fact, in the morning, there were not many riders in west haven nor new haven, the crowd starts from Milford. at night return trip, in fact most the riders were gone after Bridgeport.

True, but a lot of those Milford riders are getting off in Norwalk and Stamford.

[Lalalally]

Originally Posted by Stylo

I do wonder how accurate the data for commuters is on CERC...

It's not at all accurate -- CERC no longer tracks/counts out-of-state commuters. If you look at Greenwich's CERC page, you'd think that no one in that town works in NY either... I think CERC used to pull data from census information, but if you recall the last census was ridiculously short... All of the about five questions related to your race and the number of people who lived with you. There were no questions about HH income; no questions about where you work/how far from home; no questions basically other than what is your race, sex, and how many people do you live with. The last time a long-form census was sent was in 2000, which included questions about HH income, place of work, miles you travel to work, highest level of education, etc. But that info. is now almost 17 years old which is probably why CERC no longer includes it -- it's stale by now. In-state commuters the State of CT has access to, but tracking the out-of-state towns where CT residents commute to is probably too complicated to attempt to determine, and so it was just dropped. That's my guess at least..

[Henry10]

I agree with many points ProudFairfielder made:

1- influence is a gradient. Even that is not totally accurate. As Stylo pointed out - how does that gradient explain Sharon, Kent, New Milford etc.?

2- Influence may mean different things to different people. For example a few weeks ago I went to a show in West Hartford, and was influenced greatly by NYC.

3- Personal accounts are useful, but stats are more important. My cousin who lives and works in Branford for example has season tickets to Yankees. He is in the city often. Can I say that Branford has also a NYC influence?

[ProudFairfielder]

Gradients, are, by definition, not perfect. A gradient can either look like this (fig 1), or this (fig 2). Fig 2 is obviously more realistic and is the case here.

Also, can we PLEASE define what "influence" actually is??

[Raider111]

Originally Posted by ProudFairfielder

I imagine it is only stating CT commuters. It would be interesting to see how many go to NY. But I think option B still stands. To me it still feels like a college town (even more so recently with the Barnes and Noble downtown turning into the Fairfield U bookstore)

As a current resident, I don't get the college town feel at all, sorry. A handful of students downtown or at the end of Reef Rd doesn't cut it. It's far from an Ann Arbor type.
Bottom line, it's a NYC/Stamford influenced bedroom community (albeit a very large one) whether you like it or not.