I do construction estimates professionally, so I theoretically know where all the money is going, but god damn, I can still not believe what it costs to build stuff. And the inflation is nuts, a structure like that probably would've cost less than a quarter as much 20 years ago.

I kind of have a philosophy re: public works projects that, hey, the money isn't getting flushed down the toilet, it's all going to workers getting paid the prevailing wage, engineers, contractors; all that money is getting spent in the economy, it all works as economic stimulus so ultimately, whether that stimulus is $10 million or $47 million, you still have a parking garage at the end.

But still $47 million, ugh, why. It's a pile of concrete.

The city's goal for the surface lots is to put real development on them, at which point it will need more parking structures than it has now. Whether this is putting the court before the horse, eh, I dunno, but other commenters do say they've had difficulty parking in the area.

Yeah, once again, when somebody tells you something like this, review the list of the states with the highest taxes and the states with the lowest taxes, and then consider where you want the state you live in to be on the list.

You think that to avoid paying $7k in taxes (on your house that has probably appreciated by 50-100k in the last 5 years), it would be justifiable to... stop paving roads???? Let me tell you, buddy, ain't no truck lasting 26 years in your unpaved conservative fantasyland.

I'm only half-kidding when I say I enjoy the experience of only being able to travel in three cardinal directions.

Haha, oh my god yes, whenever I leave the northeast I have to make a conscious effort to be friendlier to people or I feel like I come off as a jerk just by acting CT-normally. Glad you can tolerate us enough to like it here. ☺️

Also, I badmouth the weather but from, say, May 1 to October 31, there's almost no place I'd rather be than the CT shoreline. I love our warm months. Gets a little hot and muggy sometimes sure, but it's beautiful.

Yeah, probably a good 90% of "Connecticut sucks" sentiment is driven by a delusion that anywhere else doesn't have almost all of the same problems, and a lot of others on top.

The other 10% is the weather.

Skunk apes, gators, forget it - it's those invasive Burmese pythons that people got as pets and threw out when they got too big for their terrariums. That's what'll get ya.

Oh yeah, and the humans. Florida Man is the most dangerous game.

Fair enough. It sure is extremely common. Big waste of money, too.

But still - what did the union do? (Was this a non-union school?) I've known a bunch of teachers who got in much more serious physical dust-ups and didn't face any disciplinary action.

I agree with you on that one. I'm a big fan of Gen Z. My niece and nephew are so much cooler than my sister and I ever were.

In 2016 I had a new (used) Dodge Charger. Loved that car. I don't like to speed too much (like, I go up to 80; I know that's fast to a lot of people but it's pretty standard CT left lane), but one day I was driving back from the cool new job that allowed me to get the car, and not paying a spectacular amount of attention, and I drove onto the Gold Star Bridge (speed limit: 50) going 86. Cop right there. Nothin'.

I was never quite sure if he wasn't watching, didn't care, or saw a silver Charger go by way too fast and just assumed it was another statey. I could've been arrested, technically.

Oh all right! I'm glad things worked out for you. I just totally gave into all that academic pressure in school, and I have ended up with good degrees and a good job but my entire 20s was a mental health disaster. We make things pretty hard for kids.

Rants against millennials are always silly as hell, and I downvoted you, but I have to give you props for at least realizing that they're the parents of kids now; most curmudgeons are just still calling anyone under 30 a "millennial" even though one hasn't been born in over 25 years.

That's not systemic, that's a specific bad administrator. There is absolutely no reason under any state regulation that that teacher should've been forced to resign. What did the union do?

>I was one of those kids the parents shadowed and bullied through school.

This sounds pretty bad, could you elaborate on this at all? I'm not sure I understand; if I had to guess they thought you were a danger to the other kids, for Columbine-y/sexual orientation reasons? Sorry you had to go through that.

That was the day after my then-girlfriend's birthday, and I worked with her friends and family to set up a whole treasure hunt around Middlesex and New London counties, ending with a proposal (which she accepted and we have now been married for six months!)

I certainly remember being very surprised that I ended up having to do this event in a heavy coat, and I remember the flurries. Thanks for the nice memory. ☺️

I mean we're probably okay, but just be ready for anything until tax day. Just three more weeks.

They're usually teachers, but she's not a teacher, she's just some chick at the beach.

Thanks for the explanation, certainly more specific than my "whatever."

I'm an easterner so I always get sticker shock whenever I look anywhere in the 203, but it's always seemed like a great place to live from the train.

Another 100 of these and we'll be on our way to being a state where renters don't have to shovel half their income to their landlords...

Yes, there are only 37 "affordable units," according to whatever stupid regulation that gets them their tax break for shoe-horning them in, but every unit of housing that gets built ultimately works toward making housing more affordable for everybody. (My wife and I make six times the poverty level and would still appreciate cheaper housing!)

It's in a great walkable area, accessible to transit... really you couldn't ask for a better new development than this - at least under the current status quo of all development being undertaken by private enterprise.

I grew up in Montville, just north of New London, and have lived in Norwich, Waterford and New London proper.

If you're used to urban living (it sounds like you lived in some decently dense cities in the UK) and want to be able to walk to literally anything, and enjoy things like coffee shops and live music, just move to New London. It's a cool place and the only thing resembling an actual city in this part of the state, considering how hollowed-out and economically depressed Norwich is.

If you're moving to near downtown, try to stay east of Jay/Huntington Streets. If you're looking for a more suburban residential area things are pretty nice south of the hospital. Those aren't ironclad, of course, but it's probably a good place to get started with your search. Depending on your tolerance of crime/vagrancy/squalor you can expand your search from there.

Montville, Waterford, Groton, Ledyard, East Lyme... meh. They're all pretty much the same from where I'm standing. All perfectly decent car-reliant suburbs.

Could've stopped after "literally know nothing." This guy is just regurgitating dumb tropes and obviously has no knowledge of the actual situation in the classroom.

Ridiculous overgeneralization. What, did you go to Choate or something?

US public schools actually perform very well, comparable to Western European schools (if not quite Finland quality) in states (like CT) that invest in them - the national averages are dragged down by places like West Virginia and Mississippi. (CT K-12 public schools are ranked #3 nationally.)

Now, our large urban school districts aren't doing great, but that's because the way schools are funded (with local taxes) is absolutely unjust.

I understand the theoretical benefit of backing into a parking space, and it is on the road test. (And yeah, I learned the second method, taking driver's ed in Groton.) But. I never do it, and I never feel like doing so would provide any benefit. Parallel parking is a much more critical skill, which doesn't get tested at all for most (all?) CT drivers.

I would remind people who DO like backing into spaces that you should NOT back into angled parking spaces! That just makes things harder for you! Drives me crazy when I see it.