Not everything old is worth saving. Our town has been battling to take down an old brick theatre building. The owners don't have the money to fix it up (it's been neglected for a long time), but insist it should be saved. The area needs more parking space and the building's ugly.

zomg
change is bad

BURN HIMMMMMM

The Greater Good.

in unison: The Greater Good

Elliot said Campanaro, his professional engineer brother Robert, and Guilford architect Robert Mangino had followed virtually every one of the HDC's recommendations for revising the plans.

New design:

Approves!

It's getting to the point where you need a permit and five completed application forms stamped and signed in triplicate just to blow your nose.

Bureaucracy at its best. All elected officials seem to be good at is "stopping things from happening".

It's silly to preserve places just because they're old. Save them if they're significant, sure, but age alone is ridiculous.

I live in CT and I had to check Google Maps to find out where Clinton is.

Hope it's not casualty to ignorant domain.

Meanwhile, the same Connecticut politicians who make it damn-near impossible to build a new house shed big crocodile tears over how our state's losing population because nobody can afford to live here. I remember a town council meeting I had to cover at my last newspaper job: item two on the agenda was to make zoning codes stricter, so that new houses had to be built on much larger lots, and item five involved trying to figure out a way to increase the amount of affordable housing in town.

Rootus:It's silly to preserve places people just because they're old. Save them if they're significant, sure, but age alone is ridiculous.

Like this guy:

tukatz:Not everything old is worth saving. Our town has been battling to take down an old brick theatre building. The owners don't have the money to fix it up (it's been neglected for a long time), but insist it should be saved. The area needs more parking space and the building's ugly.

A parking lot is NEVER preferable to any other use. Stand-alone lots give minimal utility and tax revenue, and parking structures offer increased pollutants and runoff with low revenue and income. Pretty much anything else -- ideally fixing up the cool old building -- would make more sense. Street-facing parking means a gap in foot traffic, advertising and retail/office space in the most accessible placement.

Here's hoping someone can work with the owners to improve the building; we've had movie theaters turn into office space and alternative retail space in our town. I live half a block from a converted theater that now houses a photographer's studio.

stiletto_the_wise:All elected officials seem to be good at is "stopping things from happening" _{until they get paid}.

Can't wait for the sniffy bastards in the other 6 hosues to come over once a day to measure his lawn.

Who the fark wants to live near a bunch of people whose pinnacle accomplishment is a snooty zip code?

Goofball_Jones:Rootus:It's silly to preserve places people just because they're old. Save them if they're significant, sure, but age alone is ridiculous.

Like this guy:



FTFY!

overzealous:in unison: The Greater Good

I'm glad somebody came with me on that. Just watched it again last night.

MSD:I live in CT and I had to check Google Maps to find out where Clinton is.

I wonder if there are a lot of Clinton's. There is a Clinton here in Ontario and with the exception of the century-old downtown core and some old original neighbourhoods somebody could tear down the whole town and I don't think anybody would give a rat's ass. Since I lived there in the late 80's, the down has had a pretty significant downward draw. Very few young families move to Clinton, it is mostly just older people that move there now to be near the hospital and the elderly care centre right beside the County Health Board.

natedogtx:Elliot said Campanaro, his professional engineer brother Robert, and Guilford architect Robert Mangino had followed virtually every one of the HDC's recommendations for revising the plans.

New design:

apparently someone ignored my advice on how flaming the paint should be.

st.theresa:A parking lot is NEVER preferable to any other use. Stand-alone lots give minimal utility and tax revenue, and parking structures offer increased pollutants and runoff with low revenue and income. Pretty much anything else -- ideally fixing up the cool old building -- would make more sense. Street-facing parking means a gap in foot traffic, advertising and retail/office space in the most accessible placement.


Let me guess; you live within walking distance of most places you want to go, bike or take the bus to work and only use your vehicle to visit relatives/cabin, and you think anyone who doesn't live like this is stupid and irresponsible.

Connecticut, the toxic dumping ground for New Jersey yuppies.

NE = rustbelt, not quaintness.

/Owned a 'quaint, historic Victorian' once. Shoulda burned it and installed a double-wide with insulation and decent wiring.

I think we can all agree: townies suck.

Connecticut is filled with old 'quaint' towns with absolutely nothing to do except for aging hippies decorating their lawns with gnomes and such.

Why do the exclusively elite and rich hate America?

iaazathot Quote 2008-07-06 06:05:48 PM
Why do the exclusively elite and rich hate America?

Because they're Democrats!

iaazathot:Why do the exclusively elite and rich hate America?

Because the ill-educated poor can barely hold a job, let alone keep their pants up.

crash logan:Let me guess; you live within walking distance of most places you want to go, bike or take the bus to work and only use your vehicle to visit relatives/cabin, and you think anyone who doesn't live like this is stupid and irresponsible.

In high-density older areas of a city, yes.

they major league screwed up when they messed with an old stone wall in connecticut. it's a major statewide construction no no. especially if the wall is on a property line.

devioustrevor:MSD:I live in CT and I had to check Google Maps to find out where Clinton is.

I wonder if there are a lot of Clinton's. There is a Clinton here in Ontario and with the exception of the century-old downtown core and some old original neighbourhoods somebody could tear down the whole town and I don't think anybody would give a rat's ass. Since I lived there in the late 80's, the down has had a pretty significant downward draw. Very few young families move to Clinton, it is mostly just older people that move there now to be near the hospital and the elderly care centre right beside the County Health Board.

Clinton is full of rich snobs just like their neighbors in Guilford. They haven't seen a brown-skinned man since their grandparents bought one.

CT is full of insufferable pricks.

tukatz:Our town has been battling to take down an old brick theatre building.

There's an old abandoned and burned out theater downtown here. First few years I was here I wondered why they never rebuilt it, why did they just keep the facade intact. Then I realized that inside the empty space they had put in dumpsters for the rest of the adjoining buildings. And I think the outside air conditioning units.

Dick_Hertz:iaazathot Quote 2008-07-06 06:05:48 PM
Why do the exclusively elite and rich hate America?

Because they're Democrats!

0/10

How about tear it down and put nothing. Do we need to cover every square inch of this planet with something. Geez. Love people, but I don't need to see them with every turn.

tukatz:The area needs more parking space

For those cars only the ultra-rich will be able to afford to drive in a few years... yeah. Our short-sighted car-only planning is really going to screw things up when gas means most of us can't drive no matter how much we want to.

makebusy7:devioustrevor:MSD:I live in CT and I had to check Google Maps to find out where Clinton is.

I wonder if there are a lot of Clinton's. There is a Clinton here in Ontario and with the exception of the century-old downtown core and some old original neighbourhoods somebody could tear down the whole town and I don't think anybody would give a rat's ass. Since I lived there in the late 80's, the down has had a pretty significant downward draw. Very few young families move to Clinton, it is mostly just older people that move there now to be near the hospital and the elderly care centre right beside the County Health Board.

Clinton is full of rich snobs just like their neighbors in Guilford. They haven't seen a brown-skinned man since their grandparents bought one.


So it's essentially the opposite of the Clinton I lived in which is in almost the dead-center of a county physically bigger than the state of Rhode Island (but with only about 70,000 people) and populated mostly by blue collar types (farmers, miners, truckers, construction, etc.,).

crash logan:Let me guess; you live within walking distance of most places you want to go, bike or take the bus to work and only use your vehicle to visit relatives/cabin, and you think anyone who doesn't live like this is stupid and irresponsible.

Nah... they're just in for a lot of pain if gas prices keep going up. Car-only people fear what rising gas prices might mean, a life without a car is a truly frightening thing to people who've never tried it... it explains why they last out so angrily on the internet.

jiaxiaobo:How about tear it down and put nothing. Do we need to cover every square inch of this planet with something. Geez. Love people, but I don't need to see them with every turn.

For a few years between a tear down and new building, we had a corner of a major intersection downtown completely undeveloped. Maybe it had stairs and a small sidewalk through it, but it was a nice spot to just sit and have popcorn during a break, right in the heart of downtown.

A few years later a super popular hamburger place burned down ("someplace else") and they put in a parking lot. It only holds about 10 cars, and I'm pretty sure it's for the use of specific tenants in one of the nearby buildings, so it doesn't really help retailers or anything. And it's kind of stupid looking because it's only about 25 feet wide.

Again, parking facing the street looks unattractive, especially when there's foot traffic at all in the area. if you have to have parking, put it on the back-side of the development.

I was brought up there for the most part.

The article fails to point out that the historic area is within 300 feet of Amtrack freight and commuter lines. It also abuts the Boston Post Road which is a main throughfare and is situated across from a small, down on it's heels shopping center/strip mall.

It's only exclusive if you paid to join. Each "home" comes with a view. . . down the nose.
In the seventies all the heads would hang out on the "Historic Green" and get wasted.

Something about prostitutes getting god and what not.

Can't stand the place, could you tell?

Clinton is not "exclusive" by any means. Sure, it's on the Connecticut shore and there are certainly wannabes in town, but there are way more exclusive places 'round that neck of the woods - Old Lyme, for example. Any town that the Post Road runs through doesn't get to say it's exclusive...

trianglerock:Clinton is not "exclusive" by any means. Sure, it's on the Connecticut shore and there are certainly wannabes in town, but there are way more exclusive places 'round that neck of the woods - Old Lyme, for example. Any town that the Post Road runs through doesn't get to say it's exclusive...

*sigh* Exclusive.

That means it "excludes" certain people.

Which people? Poor people? Brown people? People with domestic cars? People who don't have a huge pillow of family cash to sit on?

I think a lot of exclusive people in exclusive areas would be astounded at how few of the people they slavishly exclude would give two shiats about losing their exclusionary status long enough to hang out with a load of self-important wankers with granite counter tops, Sub-Zero built in fridges and terminal cases of "Oh, dear. We're so fortunate.".

Marcintosh:Can't stand the place, could you tell?

bunner:Who the fark wants to live near a bunch of people whose pinnacle accomplishment is a snooty zip code?

atlas spanked:Connecticut, the toxic dumping ground for New Jersey yuppies.

chu2dogg:Connecticut is filled with old 'quaint' towns with absolutely nothing to do except for aging hippies decorating their lawns with gnomes and such.

makebusy7:Clinton is full of rich snobs just like their neighbors in Guilford. They haven't seen a brown-skinned man since their grandparents bought one.

ClemsonChili:CT is full of insufferable pricks.

trianglerock:there are way more exclusive places 'round that neck of the woods

THIS THIS THIS THIS

Now y'all know why I left CT after the first 26 years of my life, and I now have a southern accent. It's so much friendlier, nicer, and cheaper down here in NC.

Old Lyme, for example.

LOL I'm not sure if that makes me one of them. Three separate family members have houses in Old Lyme--and two of those houses are on prime lots at Soundview Beach. I spent all my summers there.

Nah... they're just in for a lot of pain if gas prices keep going up. Car-only people fear what rising gas prices might mean, a life without a car is a truly frightening thing to people who've never tried it... it explains why they last out so angrily on the internet.

Most of the western world has paid significantly more for gas than the US for many years. You'll adjust. Cars and delivery vehicles aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Just because a select number of people can live without driving much doesn't mean the ones who service the buildings, live out of town, deliver goods, have multiple appointments that can't depend on bus schedules, have more than one job, go to school and work at the same time, etc. can work around the fact that there's no place within 5 miles of city centers to park.

bunner:

*sigh* Exclusive.

That means it "excludes" certain people.

Yeah. I just live in the state - I didn't say I agreed with it. We are moving far far away as soon as we can find my husband the right job...

crash logan:Just because a select number of people can live without driving much

Because the "select number" made life decisions based on not allocating time and cash on driving a lot. Some people really didn't want to be dependent on oil/cars/auto infrastructure/etc, so they chose to buy homes near jobs, or live near family, or stay near bus lines. It doesn't happen by accident.

Again, parking lots are eyesores. They interrupt foot traffic and they make for poor streetscaping. Parking lots should be behind or to the less visible side of a development rather than facing the highest foot and vehicle traffic because parking in and of itself doesn't attract customers -- "Hey, I just want to go downtown and PARK. That'd be SWELL."

or stay near bus lines.

Buses are ugly, use lots of gas, have to have bigger roadways to accommodate them and take up too much space. If you really cared you'd only go places you could walk to.

st.theresa:crash logan:Just because a select number of people can live without driving much

Because the "select number" made life decisions based on not allocating time and cash on driving a lot. Some people really didn't want to be dependent on oil/cars/auto infrastructure/etc, so they chose to buy homes near jobs, or live near family, or stay near bus lines. It doesn't happen by accident.

Again, parking lots are eyesores. They interrupt foot traffic and they make for poor streetscaping. Parking lots should be behind or to the less visible side of a development rather than facing the highest foot and vehicle traffic because parking in and of itself doesn't attract customers -- "Hey, I just want to go downtown and PARK. That'd be SWELL."

This. Paris has most of its parking underground and you barely see parking lots in the city. It's great. Of course it's more expensive to do that but anything that encourages alternative means of transport is a good idea. Maybe it's time to go back and re-read Jane Jacobs.

I used to live in Clinton and that whole area they are talking about is ugly anyway. A while back some lady who lived/worked in one of the houses or very near by got in trouble for painting one of the house different colors ono all four sides. Clinton is rediculous but Madison (next town) is worse.

crash logan:or stay near bus lines.

Buses are ugly, use lots of gas,...

You have some numbers, or are you just spouting?

Clinton (it was called Kenilworth at the time) was founded by my family. I'm willing to bet that most of the historic homes in this neighborhood were built by relatives of mine. So some Italiano goomba moves in and tries to do whatever the fark he wants to do. Put him in jail. If you think that hostory is stupid then build your McMansion somewhere else.

trianglerock:Clinton is not "exclusive" by any means. Sure, it's on the Connecticut shore and there are certainly wannabes in town, but there are way more exclusive places 'round that neck of the woods - Old Lyme, for example. Any town that the Post Road runs through doesn't get to say it's exclusive...


Niantic pricks are the worst.

jmsvrsn 2008-07-06 10:41:35 PM
Clinton (it was called Kenilworth at the time) was founded by my family. I'm willing to bet that most of the historic homes in this neighborhood were built by relatives of mine. So some Italiano goomba moves in and tries to do whatever the fark he wants to do. Put him in jail. If you think that hostory is stupid then build your McMansion somewhere else.


So they didn't stay in your family? Couldn't have been terribly important then, eh?

/hostory
//I'm sure there was a tribe there before your relatives founded the city that felt the exact same way