Stamford CT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We would preferably like something that has a small town family feel if possible. From what I read Stamford is more like a big city right? Is the crime bad or is it pretty safe? It sounds like it has changed and developed a lot over the past decade or so.

It is pretty safe, but it's definitely not a city. There are some office buildings and a few blocks of reatauranta and stores. Public schools aren't good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We would preferably like something that has a small town family feel if possible. From what I read Stamford is more like a big city right? Is the crime bad or is it pretty safe? It sounds like it has changed and developed a lot over the past decade or so.

It is pretty safe, but it's definitely not a city. There are some office buildings and a few blocks of reatauranta and stores. Public schools aren't good.

Uh, the population is over 120k people.

That being said, the schools are really bad.

[Anonymous]

Yea good public schools would be very important to us. What other areas have good schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yea good public schools would be very important to us. What other areas have good schools?

All the towns mentioned here except Stamford and Norwalk really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yea good public schools would be very important to us. What other areas have good schools?

No one is listening to my advice about Ridgefield!
You can get to Stamford by cutting though NY state on backroads -- no route 7 or I-95, maybe one exit on the Merritt. The commute is pretty and turns out to be roughly the same length of time, but without the traffic.

Ridgefield is a quintessential CT town without the snob factor of Darien, Westport and especially Greenwich. Those towns are built on NYC money -- we are talking people with incomes of millions of dollars. Ridgefield is more affordable -- most people there commute to Stamford, Fairfield and across the state line to Westchester County -- but has perhaps the best public schools in the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Supposedly per the person he talked with the hours would be better than big law. More info to come but it is definitely an interesting offer and something we would have to consider carefully. Big law has a lot of stress and long crazy hours which we were prepared for but any job with similar or better money but better hours would be a perk!

Yea DC summers are horrible!

Born and raised in So CT here. The summers were horrible my entire time there, 20 years, 70s to 90s.

[Anonymous]

We have friends on North Stamford and they love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yea good public schools would be very important to us. What other areas have good schools?

No one is listening to my advice about Ridgefield!
You can get to Stamford by cutting though NY state on backroads -- no route 7 or I-95, maybe one exit on the Merritt. The commute is pretty and turns out to be roughly the same length of time, but without the traffic.

Ridgefield is a quintessential CT town without the snob factor of Darien, Westport and especially Greenwich. Those towns are built on NYC money -- we are talking people with incomes of millions of dollars. Ridgefield is more affordable -- most people there commute to Stamford, Fairfield and across the state line to Westchester County -- but has perhaps the best public schools in the state.

+1 about most of this regarding Ridgefield, though I call it IBM land. Lots of IBM execs there that commute to Somers and Armonk. I did the reverse, lived in Stamford and drove to Somers, NY. You won't find a prettier commute anywhere, especially in the fall. It will take 45 minutes, though.

I lived in the Shippan area of Stamford. You may be able to find a fixer upper in Shippan. I live in a great NoVa town now, but would return to Shippan in a heartbeat. That being said, I didn't have a child while living there and would have to explore the schooling options. At the time, it was zoned for an IB elementary. No idea, now. I think Stamford is a great small city with a lot to offer.

Darien is also very cute, as is New Canaan, but they are super wealthy and VERY white. Might as well add Greenwich to the bunch. These are some of the wealthiest towns in America. Stamford can be a nice compromise.

[Anonymous]

I think of Ridgefield as people who could not afford to live on the shore..

[Anonymous]

OP,
These places are all white save for Stamford and Norwalk. Rowayton in Norwalk is lovely.
Is the job close to the turnpike or the parkway?
Let the commute guide you!
Do you boat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think of Ridgefield as people who could not afford to live on the shore..

Me too. Kind of like Gaithersburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP,
These places are all white save for Stamford and Norwalk. Rowayton in Norwalk is lovely.
Is the job close to the turnpike or the parkway?
Let the commute guide you!
Do you boat?

Not sure exactly where the job is. Somewhere downtown Stamford.

Yes we do boat! Sailing and power boat!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think of Ridgefield as people who could not afford to live on the shore..

Me too. Kind of like Gaithersburg.

-1

People in Ridgefield -- much like people, well, everywhere -- do not think of Long Island Sound as "the shore" -- particularly the end around Westport, Greenwich, etc where it is so stagnant and narrow.
As for the Ridgefield/ Gaithersburg comparison...no. But thank you for demonstrating my point about the brainless elitism of "the shore."
OP, it all depends on how you want your kids to grow up.

[Anonymous]

What are my options for how I want my kids to grow up?

[Anonymous]

Westport/Bethesda resident here.
- I do not think Westport is snobby.
- There are some nice areas in Norwalk.
- Ridgefield is lovely. G'burg comparison is dumb.