Recent comments in /f/StamfordCT

colenotphil t1_jbk6tdw wrote

Reply to comment by Ale_Pacino in What’s one thing you’d like to see the city do to improve quality of life? by EuphoricPepper3488

I don't necessarily know the ownership structures but there are plenty of non-massive-chain coffee shops in Stamford.

  • Lorca on Bedford appears to be a single location and likely locally owned.
  • Winfield St Coffee in the Library is not family owned but there's only 9 locations, it's better than the Starbucks it took over the space from.
  • Turning Point has 2 locations in town and roasts its own coffee, and I believe is locally owned.
  • Humbled Coffee on Hope Street is almost definitely locally owned.
  • BonJo on Elm St is also a local roaster and I believe locally owned.

Granted only 2 of these have prime downtown locations but still.

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lurktastic_ t1_jbk5wlb wrote

Reply to comment by owenbreen in What’s one thing you’d like to see the city do to improve quality of life? by EuphoricPepper3488

Heres a SA article with some info: https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Stamford-banned-motorized-scooters-in-2005-Now-17258043.php

There is probably some more detail in city ordinance you can look up. It doesn't seem like this is strictly enforced but having the ban on the books eliminates a scooter share system from being implemented in the city. Having recently been to a city that has a similar density to Stamford I found them to be extremely convenient way to get around, albeit a bit expensive.

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lurktastic_ t1_jbk0kk6 wrote

Reply to What’s one thing you’d like to see the city do to improve quality of life? by EuphoricPepper3488

Real bicycle infrastructure (not painted gutters or sharrows) in tandem with removing the e-scooter ban (& maybe bringing in a share system like lime).

The intended effect would be to reduce congestion by enabling trips that are just past walking range (e.g. 1-2 miles) to be completed without a car. Live in downtown and need to pop up to Ridgeway center? No more need to battle it out for a parking space. Train station? Don't have to park at the crumbling cash only parking lot. Any of the beaches? The list goes on.

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ruthless_apricot t1_jbjorje wrote

Reply to What’s one thing you’d like to see the city do to improve quality of life? by EuphoricPepper3488

Pedestrianizing the bottom part of Bedford Street (i.e. McDonalds to Tigin) would be awesome. Tricky to do in practice I know but that’s what town planners are for! Maybe make it timed access with rising bollards. Would be awesome for farmers markets and outdoor dining in the summer. Incredibly common in Europe and they make it work so we can definitely do it too.

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BenVarone t1_jbja5yb wrote

Reply to What’s one thing you’d like to see the city do to improve quality of life? by EuphoricPepper3488

I think more green space is always good, but there’s already three parks within walking distance of downtown, so that feels like a hard sell. Maybe there’s open land or abandoned property in the more urban sections of the city that could be turned into community gardens and/or parks though, I just don’t know the spots that need it most. I’d like better variety in the restaurants, but there’s not really much control the city has over stuff like that.

I would like to see Stamford set up its own utilities. We all hate Eversource, so why not have a public power company to maintain the lines & hold down generation costs? While we’re at it, Optimum also sucks some serious shit, particularly downtown. It’s okay now that I’m in Westover, but downtown I only had the option of cable, and it was practically unusable. A municipal ISP would be great, or even just some laws to put the screws to them about upgrading their old cable whenever they decide to run fiber to the new luxury apartments.

What else…a public bank would also be cool. When cities can service their own debts, it often creates impressive efficiencies. North Dakota of all places has a public bank for the entire state, and it’s basically the only part of their government that’s worth a damn. Let them service low-cost businesses loans/mortgages & accept depositors, and we might also get some local growth.

Oooh! Here’s a thought: ban foreign ownership and corporate ownership of single-family homes. You want a house? Gotta be an actual person. Limit landlords to one rental property a piece. If you want to make rental money, you gotta go big & dense. Require all new developments to set aside some percentage of units as affordable housing, with none of that separate entrances bullshit so the bourgeoisie can avoid looking at their neighbors.

I’m warming up to this! Ranked Choice or Approval voting would be cool. I don’t hate Simmons, but I wouldn’t mind if city elections were more open to third-party challenges. I think we’re all pretty tired of the red vs. blue thing, and if it works here we can point to it at the state level and be like “See? Not so hard, is it?”

What else what else what else…that’s all for now. I do reserve the right to come back and inflict more of my ideas on you all though.

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Ale_Pacino t1_jbj406y wrote

Reply to What’s one thing you’d like to see the city do to improve quality of life? by EuphoricPepper3488

More retail/grocery options in downtown area that don't need accessibility by car - Target isn't cutting it.

Similar to the above, there needs to be more retail (or coffee, eateries etc.) in all the ground-floor areas of these major apartment buildings. Atlantic Station is finally putting in a Fresh & Co, but there's still a ton of open space left that's going unused, and the same goes for a lot of other buildings.

Main quality of life improvement would be less traffic congestion, but that seems impossible at this point.

Would also love to see more family-owned coffee shops open up.

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Shortchange96 t1_jbj2se4 wrote

Reply to Finding Roommates by [deleted]

Rent is surprisingly very expensive? What surprised you about rent in Fairfield county? Where are you coming from that rent is more expensive?

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