That’s a tough one.

There’s decades of poor planning and urban renewal damage to undo.

You’d have to build a massive amount of apartments and have all new neighborhoods built with street level retail.

It would also help to bury 84, maybe 91 too. But that’s not going to happen.

I always knew New Haven would gentrify, even in its worst days, because it had great bones. There’s a large continuous walkable area that has a traditional street layout (downtown, East Rock, Wooster Square in the heart of it). Not too many office plazas that reduce usable street front space. Not too many parking lots, and the ones left are mostly being redeveloped.

Yes, you have problem neighborhoods still feeling the urban renewal challenge, like the Hill and Fair Haven, but compared to downtown Hartford, it just has a better layout.