[RogerAnthony]

New Haven vs Fairfield

Milford vs Old Saybrook

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Danny K

Round 8:

Deadline: Friday May 29th at 8:00pm Connecticut Time.

New Haven vs Fairfield

Milford vs Old Saybrook


So there we have it with the final four towns, and this round will decide the two towns that will make the Final. Who is READY to VOTE in Round 8!!!

Boy, this is going to be tough. All four of these have so much to offer.

New Haven is such an interesting and historic city with great dining and entertainment options that it makes it a good choice. On the other hand New Haven is a big noisy city that also has several tough neighborhoods. I don’t think I’d ever want to live there.

Fairfield is my hometown and my family has lived there more than 100 years so I may be biased. Objectively though, Fairfield has a lot to offer. There’s a wide range of housing options, everything from modest apartments all the way up to grand waterfront estates. Few affluent towns offer that. It has a long history and is incredibly charming with beautiful areas like Southport, Greenfield Hill and the Town Green. Also the schools are excellent and there are a lot of great parks including five town owned beaches on Long Island Sound and a lake. There’s a lot of good shopping and a ton of restaurants. It’s also pretty quiet. Hard to beat all that. That said Fairfield is pricey and parts of it feels crowded.

Somewhat similar to Fairfield, Milford is also a great town. It has some of the best, if not the best, shopping in the state with the state’s largest mall. There’s a lot of great restaurants as well. The schools in Milford are decent and it does have a lot of great parks and beaches. In fact Milford has the longest shoreline in the state. The town green and downtown are charming and historic. All that said though, Milford does have a lot of cheaper tract housing and it’s zoning seems to be oddly mixed with industrial area in the middle of, or adjacent to residential neighborhoods.

Old Saybrook is the duisitental beach town. There are tons of beach cottages and second homes which helps keep taxes low. As a tourist destination, there are a lot of good restaurants and stores. It’s a quiet town with a lot of beaches, unfortunately many are private and for use only by neighborhood residents. If I had to leave Glastonbury for retirement, I’d seriously consider living there. Heck, if Old Saybrook was good enough for Katherine Hepburn, it’s good enough for me.

All of this leads to my choices. I’ve got to think of this as where I would want to live and raise my family. For that I have to go with Fairfield and Old Saybrook.

[Danny K]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Boy, this is going to be tough. All four of these have so much to offer.

New Haven is such an interesting and historic city with great dining and entertainment options that it makes it a good choice. On the other hand New Haven is a big noisy city that also has several tough neighborhoods. I don’t think I’d ever want to live there.

Fairfield is my hometown and my family has lived there more than 100 years so I may be biased. Objectively though, Fairfield has a lot to offer. There’s a wide range of housing options, everything from modest apartments all the way up to grand waterfront estates. Few affluent towns offer that. It has a long history and is incredibly charming with beautiful areas like Southport, Greenfield Hill and the Town Green. Also the schools are excellent and there are a lot of great parks including five town owned beaches on Long Island Sound and a lake. There’s a lot of good shopping and a ton of restaurants. It’s also pretty quiet. Hard to beat all that. That said Fairfield is pricey and parts of it feels crowded.

Somewhat similar to Fairfield, Milford is also a great town. It has some of the best, if not the best, shopping in the state with the state’s largest mall. There’s a lot of great restaurants as well. The schools in Milford are decent and it does have a lot of great parks and beaches. In fact Milford has the longest shoreline in the state. The town green and downtown are charming and historic. All that said though, Milford does have a lot of cheaper tract housing and it’s zoning seems to be oddly mixed with industrial area in the middle of, or adjacent to residential neighborhoods.

Old Saybrook is the duisitental beach town. There are tons of beach cottages and second homes which helps keep taxes low. As a tourist destination, there are a lot of good restaurants and stores. It’s a quiet town with a lot of beaches, unfortunately many are private and for use only by neighborhood residents. If I had to leave Glastonbury for retirement, I’d seriously consider living there. Heck, if Old Saybrook was good enough for Katherine Hepburn, it’s good enough for me.

All of this leads to my choices. I’ve got to think of this as where I would want to live and raise my family. For that I have to go with Fairfield and Old Saybrook.

Jay, you are very spot on, and I totally agree with pretty much all that you said! Someone earlier on this thread in a previous round was mentioning that Milford's coastline is the longest in the state. I was wondering, is it longer than Greenwich and Stonington? The 3 of them look very similar in size to me.

I gotta say that I LOVE Milford, and as I mentioned earlier, when I relocate back to CT, it will likely be Milford or New Haven. I always wanted to experience living in New Haven, but because we are used to a little more suburban places and need more space and convenience as well, it might end up being Milford, which I would honestly be very pleased about. The only thing about Milford though is that due to arguably the best shopping in the state, many people from out of town that live in the surrounding towns and possibly even as far as Fairfield, Wallingford, or Madison often go into Milford to do their shopping. Route 1 gets very congested during rush hour times and it can be a nightmare. Not even close to as bad as I-95 in Fairfield County, but it can take a while to get out of Milford on Route 1. The rest of Milford is way less crowded though.

Also Old Saybrook is probably my favorite town in the whole state for almost all the reasons you said. I didn't actually know that many of the beaches there are private. I knew two of them that were private but didn't know more. With that said there are many beaches there, and I haven't been to all of them.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by Danny K

Ahh I see. I know what area you are talking about, and I've driven through there a couple times, but really haven't spent much time in downtown Milford then. The places I've really spent time and am very familiar with is the Route 1 stretch throughout the whole town and the Silver Sands Park/Walnut Beach Area. Otherwise I've driven through different parts but only briefly and didn't really spend time in the other areas.

You haven’t seen the best parts of town then!

[jdhall1]

Fairfield and Milford

[BrtRcTmNE]

Round 8:

Deadline: Friday May 29th at 8:00pm Connecticut Time.


Fairfield

Old Saybrook

[Danny K]

Stylo,

I must say that I was looking on google maps today and thinking about the downtown area of Milford that you were talking about today and yesterday, and I came to a conclusion that it really is a hidden gem in the town. Honestly this might make Milford one of my favorite towns in the whole state. The waterfalls, duck ponds, and nature does look really beautiful and I really do LOVE the nature. I'm afraid it won't make me choose Milford over Old Saybrook, but whichever town Milford faces in the Final Round, I will probably vote for it over New Haven and Fairfield.

Gosh, I was really thinking about many of the towns and much of my choices throughout this tournament and the past tournaments, and I must also say that I feel a few of my preferences have really changed and I even regret a few votes during this tournament as well although if I changed any of the ones I rethought, it wouldn't have changed the final results anyway. Also just with me getting older, I gotta say that I have really started to appreciate convenience and amenities close by a lot more.

I'd say here are my current ranks of all the towns:

1. Old Saybrook: Still number 1 for me, for many reasons.

2. Milford: Now that I know about the nature of the downtown area, that plus the nice beaches, and the convenience really make it a great town. Also it is very affordable for much of CT standards.

3. Stonington: The whole borough, lord's point, mason's island, mystic area, and pawcatuck, really make this town very special. Each area has different feelings and its hard to imagine all of it in one town.

4. Fairfield: My hometown, and just has so much going for it as well as really nice beaches and great restaurants. The missions base is a plus as well.

5 & 6. New Haven / Guilford: These two towns are really a toss up for me. Really depends what mood I am in. New Haven because it is such a great city with lots of great food and history. Guilford because the green is the best and as Stylo pointed out something I wasn't aware of that many beaches there are quite scenic and pretty like Maine.

7. Madison: I used to LOVE this town a lot more due to the stunning coastline and the surf club, but really it does have a huge lack of convenience. Only a Stop & Shop, and a couple restaurants that are not even that great. It still has a very pretty downtown though even thought it is small with not much to do.

8. East Lyme: Again, I used to LOVE this town so much more and it used to be one of my favorites, but after really thinking about it, I feel much of my LOVE for it came from memories there and it used to be our family reunion home until a few years ago when we switched to having it at Old Saybrook. Still a great town with Niantic area and the Nehantic State Forest but it is ordinary and probably not as special as I made it out to be in the past.

9. Branford

10. Westport

11. Glastonbury

[BrtRcTmNE]

My top ten - not in order.


Westport

Bridgeport (Black Rock)

Easton


Guilford

Madison


West Hartford


Middletown

Old Lyme


Kent

Washington



I have kids in elementary school, so for schools, activities, community - probably West Hartford, Guilford, Madison, or maybe Lyme/ Old Lyme.

EDIT - (top 11) I forgot Stonington

final edit - top 13. Lyme, and East Lyme. I love that entire area.

[HariR]

New Haven vs Fairfield

Milford vs Old Saybrook

[dazzleman]

Deadline: Friday May 29th at 8:00pm Connecticut Time.

New Haven vs Fairfield - I keep hearing about all the great things there are in New Haven, and it seems to be emerging as a vibrant urban center of the kind that Connecticut has been sorely lacking in recent decades. But I have to choose Fairfield because I think it offers a higher quality of life for most people to live in, and while New Haven can be a great place to visit, I wouldn't necessarily want to live there.

Milford vs Old Saybrook - This was a hard one, but it's unequal for me because I know Milford much better than I know Old Saybrook. If all I knew of Milford were the strip centers along the Post Road, I would definitely vote Old Saybrook. But I know what Milford has a charming downtown, some very nice residential centers, and a nice coastline. So that has tipped my vote in favor in Milford, though I know Old Saybrook is a charming town.