Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

CoarsePage t1_itx7gtp wrote

Reply to comment by ThePermafrost in How can we incentivize real discussions around solutions to home affordability in CT? by otter_spud

Buddy, I wouldn't call all these places blighted or undesirable. Sure there are run down areas, maybe the occasional abandoned property, or old factory, but calling these communities blighted is ridiculous.

Furthermore the whole state needs to carry the burden of providing housing for all workers in the state. We've seen what happens when poverty is concentrated in a few areas. State disinvestment followed by the greatest ills of poverty.

3

ThePermafrost t1_itx8jaq wrote

Those areas are definitely blighted. The median income in each of those towns is just about minimum wage. I’ve toured a great deal of properties in all of those towns and can definitely see the disparity between them and the Farmington Valley.

3

CoarsePage t1_itx9uhs wrote

Yeah, there's poverty out here, but that does not mean blighted. Blighted has a legal definition, there are municipal departments that deal with that. It does not mean that it needs to match your aesthetic ideals.

Out of all those towns only new Britain and Hartford have noticeably low median household incomes. The other towns and cities hover around the state median household income.

2

ThePermafrost t1_itxc71m wrote

As someone who has toured huge swaths of real estate in these towns, I can safely say they are blighted. There is an absurdly high number of vacant and derelict properties in these towns specifically. They are not towns people generally choose to live in when provided other alternatives.

Sure, there are small nice parts of these towns, but that doesn’t offset the general blight these towns suffer. The median income of Rockville is $25k. Bristol is higher and less blighted (it’s gotten much better the past decade). And Bloomfield is just the suburbs of Hartford, so it’s affected by Hartford’s Blight, though does ok on its own.

4

CoarsePage t1_itxgvyj wrote

I'm in Bloomfield every day it's not blighted. It's where the headquarters for Cygna are. It's just typical suburban Connecticut. By blighted, do you just mean that poorer people live there.
Where are you getting all these vacant properties from, just looking on Zillow I can count the number of foreclosures for all of these towns on just my two hands. Are you some kind of wannabe slumlord trolling real estate boards and complaining when all there is to buy is slums?

2

ThePermafrost t1_itxus89 wrote

I’ve invested in a number of these towns and have seen the housing inventory. When you have to literally crawl on your hands and knees to reach the toilet in your apartment.. and that’s the standard for housing in the area, I’d call that a blighted area.

Bloomfield I would consider retracting from the blighted list. It’s not blighted be like those other towns.

2