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.
