Valley Independent Sentinel
Communities
Follow Us
ValleyIndy - about 15 hours, 56 minutes ago.
@ElwoodBluez @SeymourCTK9 insane and depressing, right?
ValleyIndy - about 16 hours, 5 minutes ago.
@angryneary I'll do it! Who can I contact? I'm at eugenedriscoll @gmail.com
ValleyIndy - about 16 hours, 15 minutes ago.
@EMT_in_CT hey my family had a great time at the bike safety event. It was awesome
We Read…
- Ansonia Football
- Beacon Falls News
- Branford Eagle
- Clearly Derby
- Coach Class
- Courant Alumni
- CT Art Scene
- CT Capitol Report
- CT Law Tribune
- CT Mirror
- CT News Junkie
- CT Post
- CT Watchdog
- CT Weekender
- Damned Connecticut
- Fireground Images
- First Due Fire Photos
- Fox 61
- Fun With Carbs
- Hartford Courant
- Hawkins House
- La Voz Hispana
- Lazzari On Sports
- MinnPost
- Mod-Blog
- New Haven Independent
- Nieman Journalism Lab
- Not Your Mom’s Music
- NVL FOOTBALL BLOG
- Oxford Patch
- Poor Tony’s Blog
- Poynter
- Register Valley Page
- Sean Henri
- See Click Fix
- Shelton Trails
- Smartpill Design
- SportingNewsCT
- The Laurel
- The Shot By Ron
- Valley Gazette
- Voice of San Diego
- Voices
- WTNH
Government
Community
- 203 Photography
- Ansonia Nature Center
- Ansonia Rotary
- Ansonia Salvation Army Corps
- Area Congregations Together
- BHcare
- Boys & Girls Club
- Center Stage
- Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
- Derby Elks Lodge
- Derby Historical Society
- Derby-Shelton Rotary
- Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce
- Griffin Hospital
- Housatonic Council, BSA
- John H. Collins Post # 24
- Katharine Matthies Founation
- Literacy Volunteers
- No Vet Left Behind
- NVHD Lead Program
- Osbornedale State Park
- Oxford Historical Society
- Oxford Special Olympics
- Parent Child Resource Center
- Rape Crisis Center
- Red Cross
- Renegade Knights Battalion 2
- Seymour Historical Society
- Seymour Lions Club
- Seymour Videos On Demand
- Shelton Historical Society
- Shelton Jaycees
- Shelton Land Conservation Trust
- Shelton School Readiness Council
- Shelton Youth Service Bureau
- TEAM
- Valley Arts Council
- Valley Community Foundation
- Valley Council Health & Human Services
- Valley Early Childhood Task Force
- Valley Regional Adult Education
- Valley Squares
- Valley Substance Abuse Action Council
- Valley United Way
- Valley YMCA
- Wesley Village
- YEP
Fire Departments
- Charters Hose (Ansonia)
- Citizens Engine (Seymour)
- Derby Fire Department
- Eagle Hose (Ansonia)
- East End Hose (Derby)
- Echo Hose, Hook (Shelton)
- Fountain Hose (Ansonia)
- Great Hill Hose (Seymour)
- Hilltop Hose (Ansonia)
- Huntington Fire Co. (Shelton)
- Oxford Center Fire Co. (Oxford)
- Pine Rock Co. (Shelton)
- Quaker Farms Fire Co. (Oxford)
- Riverside Fire Co. (Oxford)
- Storm Engine (Derby)
- Webster Hose (Ansonia)
- White Hills (Shelton)
School Districts
Connecticut Magazine Kicks The Valley In The Shins
by Eugene Driscoll | Oct 26, 2011 8:40 pm
(16) Comments | Commenting has expired | Send link to a friend | E-mail the Author
Posted to: Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton
A magazine for hot-tubbing rich folk says the Valley is an unenlightened place, existing in a state of intellectual, moral or social darkness.
Actually, list-crazy Connecticut Magazine called us “benighted,” but we’re poor and dumb Valley residents who had to look up the word in a dictionary.
Darn you Connecticut Magazine for employing so many English majors!
The following description is posted on Connecticut Magazine’s website, as part of its “Rating the Towns, 2011.”
“And speaking of rivers, it’s hard not to notice that the Naugatuck River Valley remains a benighted place as far as these surveys are concerned—and has been since our first one in 1992.
From Plymouth and Thomaston, through Waterbury and Naugatuck, down to Derby and Ansonia, the unemployment rates remain stubbornly high and efforts at redevelopment have been spotty at best and non-starters at worst (like Naugatuck’s highly touted “Renaissance” project, which has gone nowhere in the five years since it was announced).
The solution, as always, is threefold: jobs, jobs and jobs. Maybe Gov. Malloy can make the Naugatuck Valley the lab for his much-awaited jobs initiative.”
Man, that’s a lot of words to throw at us, Connecticut Magazine.
Visit the magazine’s website for a description of how the magazine came to its conclusion.
Every town in the Valley Indy’s coverage area does poorly in the magazine’s ranking, with the exception of Oxford, which manages to be mediocre.
Towns filled with wealthy people seem to do better on the magazine’s survey.
The magazine likes money, according to its advertising page.
Average net worth of subscribers: $1,318,000
Also, 8 percent of their subscribers own hot tubs.
We have a feeling that 90 percent of the cops and firefighters who protect those nice subscribers are from the Valley, along with 50 percent of the tradesmen they call to do work on their homes and 60 percent of the nurses who care for them when they’re in the hospital.
THE VALLEY FIGHTS BACK
Many of the towns here are still struggling to recover from the loss of the industrial base that once powered the local economy — but, “benighted?”
Come on!
Here is what our neighbors are saying on the Valley Indy Facebook page about Connecticut Magazine’s words:
NOTE: We cleaned up grammar and typos, since many people were typing from cell phones to post on Facebook.
Steve Lonergan: “Rest easy fellow Chargers, Raiders, Hawks and Wildcats (heck even you Gaels and Wolverines). This is a for profit magazine that panders to it’s advertisers and the communities they exist in. The scoring system awards a high cost of living, therefore the most expensive places to live get the most positive points. It stresses the importance of standardized testing which colleges don’t care much about anyway (but people love to obsess about). Lastly they cite library budgets (can we really compete with New Canaan here?) and the number of “good local restaurants” which if you read their “Best of” food issues is highly questionable. If you subscribe to this rag, cancel it and send the Valley Indy $10.”
Teresa Gallagher: “Not every Connecticut town can be pseudo-quaint and overly precious.”
Helen Beattie Witalis: “Well, I’m slightly offended. Did i spell that right? Since I don’t get out much and I’m a moron, I’m never sure.”
Antoinette Tworkowski: “To me the Valley is a multicultural hub full of . . . ethnic diversity. In other words, it’s family . . . home . . .CT Magazine hasn’t a clue.”
Mike Kellett: “That is an odd way to describe a place where people come together across property lines, city lines, county lines and rivers to help each other and our communities.”
Kristine Princevalli: “Screw you, CT Magazine! There are some extremely intelligent and moral people in the Valley! I’ve lived here all my life and wouldn’t change that for the world!”
Jenny Ames: “Not to mention there are a ton of great kids here in the Valley (esp. Derby!).”
Alexis Gazy: “Proud to be a valley girl!!!! like, TOTALLY!!!”
Richard Armstrong: “We all can’t be Westport!”
Valley Independent Sentinel: “Steve Lonergan for president!”
The Valley Indy’s three-member staff lives in Derby, Seymour and Shelton.
In defense of our home towns, we offer:
A typical weekend for Valley volunteers.
DAN WALESKI.
The inscription on the monument honoring PFC Frank P. Witek at Derby’s Witek Memorial Park.
Us.
Comments
posted by: Judy Ferris Bosco on October 26, 2011 10:55pm
I live in Monroe but own a home in the “Valley”. My brilliant kids grew up in the “Valley”. Offended, a little, but it shows their ignorance. As far as the Naugatuck River is concerned, I cannot believe how wonderful it is doing considering what it looked like in the 60’s & early 70’s when I was growing up.
posted by: Christopher Bowen on October 26, 2011 11:16pm
I got one more: this may be a ****hole, but it’s MY ****hole. And I love my ****hole!
posted by: Matt DeRienzo on October 26, 2011 11:20pm
As a Torrington resident (a city I love, but which also doesn’t get any love from “Rate the Towns” features), I think you’ve got a lot of valid points here. Would love to see a “Defense of the Valley” published in Connecticut Magazine and the New Haven Register.
posted by: Kimberley Shelton on October 27, 2011 4:51am
If being “benighted” means I don’t have to be a stuck-up snob, then I am proud to be “benighted.”
posted by: Charles Monagan on October 27, 2011 8:57am
I should probably point out, as the editor of Connecticut Magazine, as the person who recalled that word “benighted” from a high school vocab test (or maybe from an old Jethro Tull album), that I am a lifelong resident of the Valley myself. Born in Waterbury, raised there, live there still. I feel like I know it back and forth, up and down, inside out, and it it as disheartening to me as to anyone that these towns finish near the bottom of our survey every year. But as I said, jobs are the answer to a lot of local ills and I hope the state focuses its efforts here. In the meantime, there are lots of way to react to not-great news like this. I like the way you did it, and the people who responded did it. Here’s the way some people in Bethany responded. Hope you enjoy it. And I hope we can continue the dialogue.
http://www.connecticutmag.com/Blogs/On-Connecticut/September-2011/B-Town-1/
posted by: Christopher Bowen on October 27, 2011 10:57am
Uh, you know Waterbury isn’t the Valley, right?
posted by: Judy Szewczyk on October 27, 2011 11:27am
That’s terrific Mr. Monagan. You insult our Valley and now you are feeling sorry for us because we just don’t measure up. You may live close to the Valley, but you do NOT know the Valley; that is pretty obvious.
posted by: Thomas Harbinson on October 27, 2011 5:57pm
Is this the same Ct Magazine that said, just last month, that the “Best of CT” for Apple Pie was Oronoque in Shelton, and the “Best of CT” for Buffalo Wings is Archie Moore’s (one of which is located in Derby), and the “Best of CT” for cheescake was Stockbridge in Shelton, and the “Best of CT” for for Saketini was Asian Bistro (one of which is in Shelton), and the “Best of CT” for Fresh pasta was Pasta Fina in Shelton, and the “Best of CT” for Soup was Liquid Lunch in Shelton, and the “Best of CT” for Wine was Jones Winery in Shelton. For these “Best” to locate in the Valley, means they are patronized by customers who appreciate quality and demand excellence. And those type of folks are in - the Valley.
posted by: Modgi Cat on October 27, 2011 8:46pm
Having been born and raised in a town which often ranks near the tops of these lists, I actually have to agree with CT Magazine on this one. Go down to Wilton, Ridgefield, or New Canaan. The towns are simply a lot less trashy. Even going into a local grocery store, look around you and you can see the difference. The Valley schools are underfunded, there is rampant drug use (apparently by Aldermen and school administrators alike), and even yesterday a nice drug ring of crack, cocaine, and heroine was busted up. When I moved to the valley a few years back, I was amazed not only at the general trashiness, but also of the extreme racism I have seen around these parts.
The Valley was an industrial powerhouse. WAS. It’s time for the residents of Derby, Ansonia, and other towns to stop living in the past and realize that much of the industry is long gone, and to get the standard of living up in these towns they gotta clean up. Having lived in both the Valley and in a “top town” I can say that yes, it does seem like the Valley is stuck somewhere in the 1970’s and 1980’s, while the rest of the world has moved on. It’s almost like that crappy Tom Cruise football movie from the 1980’s, where the game is everything, and if he doesn’t get that scholarship he will be working in the mills the rest of his life. Except in the Valley, the mills are gone, so he will probably end up selling drugs. Go ask Yolande Gillard.
posted by: Eugene Driscoll 673 on October 27, 2011 9:07pm
Tom Cruise only made one football movie in the 80s. All the Right Moves. Craig T Nelson, baby!
posted by: William A Marganski on October 28, 2011 4:03pm
Unfortunately, I totally agree with Modgi Cat.
posted by: George Petrakopoulos on October 28, 2011 4:26pm
I also agree with Modgi Cat. I don’t think the article/list was attacking the citizens of the valley and it is no secret to what the criteria of the list is since the magazine clearly states them. It is simply saying that compared to other towns mentioned, the valley has the worst education, SAT scores, employment rate, crime rate, etc. It is a pretty objective list. Instead of being in denial, shouldn’t we face these problems and try to fix them?
posted by: Thomas Harbinson on October 28, 2011 5:59pm
Voter turnout statistics. Does it really matter the municipality population size? State avg: 78.14% Above that: Shelton. Below that: Seymour, Derby, Ansonia. Not sure it is the best indicator of civic participation in the electoral process.
http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/lib/sots/electionservices/electionresults/2008_election_results/turnout_statistics_by_town.pdf
posted by: Thomas Harbinson on October 28, 2011 6:07pm
OK, we lose on this measure.
Equalized Mill Rate, State Avg = 14.18.
Below:
Shelton 25th place at 10.63
Oxford 50th at 12.45
Above:
Beacon Falls 88th place 14.24
Derby 90th place 14.34
Seymour 100th place 14.96
Ansonia 110th place 15.40
169 towns.