The letter writer, right, with his partner Erica.
I had to put down my copy of “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Jane Jacobs (which I borrowed from the Derby Neck Library earlier in the week) when I read the recent op-ed by mayoral candidate Carmen DiCenso.
I’m not a Derby homeowner. I moved into town about a year ago. But so far, I like the city.
There’s a ton of potential here.
However, as a 33 year old with a fantastic partner and a wonderful dog, we don’t have to stay in town when it’s time to buy our home, and that time is coming sooner rather than later.
So when I read his op-ed, I became convinced that I could not vote for him.
By hitching his wagon to the Wal-Mart shopping center and its developer while criticizing the mayor for her inability to find a tenant, Mr. Dicenso showed me that he’s arguing on the wrong side of history.
The Wal-Mart Plaza isn’t a sign of Derby’s failed economic policy, as Mr. Dicenso claims.
Rather at over 95,000 square feet of retail space, it’s
anachronistic and far too large for today’s retail environment.
We live in a world where people increasingly buy things they once bought at department stores either online through retailers like Amazon or small-footprint specialty stores such as REI or Tractor Supply Company.
The desire for small footprints is so great that when Homegoods decided to come to Ansonia, they didn’t lease a new building or even an existing one.
Rather, they split the space their corporate sibling already leased and put 2 signs on the front of the building.
But more importantly the question that always pops into my head when I talk to my neighbors and other locals about downtown is simple: who exactly do they want the city’s economic development to be for?
When you talk to developers, you find that there’s two large groups of buyers for any city’s downtown mixed-use developments.
Empty nesters are older residents with adult children who don’t need or want large houses with large yards to maintain.
For them, not having to shovel in the winter and having a coffee shop, a small convenience store, and a greenway without having to get in a car and drive provides great appeal.
The other is young couples like myself, who favor many of the same things, but also vibrant, walkable neighborhoods we can live/work/play in.
So as I learn about what the Dugatto administration has brought to the city, from luring in vibrant new businesses, to cleaning up the disasters of the past, to ensuring the types of ideas consistent with a successfully executed downtown make it through the design and planning stages intact and into the
final plans (often at a political cost of being seen as taking too long to an already-weary city), I’m optimistic that Derby understands who our future is for and could be a good fit for us.
Meanwhile, listening to Mr. DiCenso get lost in divvying up who gets how much credit and for what in a more fair manner than the mayor and hitching his fortunes to a 20th century shopping plaza leaves me wondering if Mr. DiCenso knows the right answer to that question.
The writer lives in Derby.
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