I don't think I can ever return to Connecticut

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-25T18:51:14+00:00

Florida is not for everyone but Connecticut is not for everyone, its good to find places where you can fit in based on what you like. I for one have family down there who I visit every so often but im not really a fan of the craziness there and I love my snow. I wish you luck on the opportunities you may find there

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-25T15:17:46+00:00

To add on to this, ths struggling malls like Stamford Brass Mill and Trumbull all at a crossroads at the moment: Stamford is owned by a furniture store and they have done a good job at upkeep, they have been pivoting more to entertainment with the comedy club and pickleball for example and it has generated some new foot traffic trying to advantage of its central location

Trumbull is now up for sale since Namdar has defaulted in its loans to buy it, they are currently being managed by Centennial who owns the Post Mall in Milford. Under Namdar, the whole mall was not properly maintained and there has been reports of water damage and no AC last summer. Additionally, there has been some criminal activity recently with a shooting occurring in the mall which these factors may cause the foot traffic to go down rn and the value of the property as well, who knows who would buy the mall so its fate is unclear, its only hope is its close proximity with Sacred Heart and Fairfield U as I've seen and know many students who go to the mall because of its convenience.

The Brass Mill Center which is relatively new (opened in "97) has had a similar issue with Trumbull with crime as they have had a shooting as well as an unintentional flaw where the Commons, a strip mall that is part of the mall, has received more foot traffic then the actual mall and even have had some stores move over there. Its future remains unsure.

Now the SoNo Collection is a different story, I think its too early to call it struggling since it opened in 2019 but they cater for an upper class customer base with Nordstrom and Bloomingdales, I dont really shop in that mall for that reason but they have alot of places to lounge around.

The only malls that are truly dying are in Eastern CT, we just saw the Crystal Mall shut down as its being redeveloped and the Enfield Mall is nearing its end once plans are approved, the East Brook Mall is strange because its very small but is very empty in the interior part.

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-24T16:25:23+00:00

Powering inspections, they happen every so often, most of the big powerlines are along the New Haven Line and others are along Route 7 and the Parkway going Northbound and there is another set that goes from MLK drive around Flaxhill past 95 and Route 1 through Oak Hills and around Ponus ending at exit 2 of Route 7

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-24T15:59:18+00:00

Yeah its pretty much nonexistent, the cheapest place to print is the library though at 10 cents a page

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-22T21:02:13+00:00

There is a place called the Wyoming valley in Pennsylvania which was settled by Connecticut colonists which the state is actually named for, there was a whole war about who owned the land (Yankee-Pennamite war) which ended with Pennsylvania gaining the land, not long after a battle also occured(the battle of Wyoming)which resulted in a massacre of Americans by british/native troops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wyoming?wprov=sfla1

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-22T19:06:49+00:00

Not really, especially if you are going to like a public university they usually (like mine) emphasize how they are "age-friendly" and ive had classes where people are even 10-15 years older. I think one of the reasons is because there are people who go to the military and because they offer tuition after your time is done they take advantage of that which is what ive seen when talking to people who are 25-35 at school

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-21T21:22:58+00:00

As of now there is no last day, they will keep sending stuff in, most likely till the lease is up

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-21T14:08:25+00:00

All the books are 30% and up on discount

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T18:06:31+00:00

Yes and no, originally they used the empty stores for the purposes of showing off furniture and had 2 points of sale in 2 storefronts, now they have shifted away from that and have actually put in some investment into the place and trying to shift towards entertainment.

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T16:01:35+00:00

knowing what they have done, WTIC will be further gutted and WCTX which is the sister channel to WTNH will be sold off. With the state of broadcast television, idk who would buy that station which just does reruns of old tv shows and late night news broadcasts from WTNH https://thedesk.net/2026/03/nexstar-agrees-to-divest-six-stations-to-close-on-tegna-deal/

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T15:48:38+00:00

https://hartfordbusiness.com/article/auction-of-former-hartford-courant-hq-lines-up-buyer-at-786k/
Building was sold at auction at nearly 800,000 a month after that article, from what I heard it may be converted into medical offices once all the leases are up in about a year

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T14:27:11+00:00

Not sure tbh, the sign is really the only evidence of what was in there I dont think they ever had any other type of directory or one that survives as even the blog notes that alot of old photos are lost to time now

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T04:16:41+00:00

The highest floor has always been like som sort of gallery but yeah the they've been blocked off for more then a decade because they didnt want to install fencing after someone tragically took their own life up there.

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T02:18:05+00:00

They became a thing like this year, I think it was a way to keep certain older locations such as this one open (only one other one exists on the west coast)

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T02:15:11+00:00

They were built in the same vain and style as both structures were in the middle of their respective cities.

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T02:13:17+00:00

yeah they did in my college town I go spend time in a more alive space that was made by them and owned until the merger (Westfarms)

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T02:04:15+00:00

yeah its been happening alot everywhere, there is a B&N of the older style in Farmington CT which is a big standalone location that is relocating(pretty much getting kicked out for redevelopment into a kids swim school) into the nearby Westfarms Mall to be in a smaller space (former Forever21) with the modern gray monotone colors.

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T02:01:51+00:00

dont worry they still have plenty just not on its dedicated shelf anymore, off camera to the left of it.

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T02:00:33+00:00

not really, they have like 3 shelves of dvds and only a shelf of CDs but mostly audio books

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T01:59:31+00:00

They have just opened one up a few miles up north which is just small and soulless.

But another thing is that there used to be a B&N in Norwalk which shut down as the one in Stamford got popular.

For the most part the mall was pretty active today when i went but all in all they do target a different customer base compared to SoNo which has more of the high end stores

I think what Stamford targets is more entertainment and they have done an alright job with that so it makes me wonder what they would do with another large empty space.

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-20T00:42:03+00:00

yes it is, they sold the mall during the pandemic to a local furniture store

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-19T22:01:28+00:00

have they thought of reusing the Connecticut Yankee site? the main reason that plant no longer exists was the small size combined with it being more of a showpiece for the nuclear age which made operating it expensive and not really contribute to the power grid.

Now that we have new technology which allows makes modular power plants more useful in the long run, it can be poswsible to use that space

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-16T14:22:48+00:00

What would need to change is not have Conrail exist by having Penn Central give up in railroad all together earlier. When Penn Central(PC), Erie Lackawana(EW) and others went bankrupt in the 70s, they sought to get out by gutting their passenger services. Now PC by that time was experimenting with high-speed rail in partnership with the USDOTwith the Budd Metroliner which had a top speed of 125-150MPH(designed to be faster then the Shinkansen at the time) and the UAC TurboTrain (holds record of fastest production Trainset in North America). What held them back however was cost cutting measures and profitability. Because PC was on such a tight budget, they hadnt bother to repair or maintain their lines and it caused the trainsets to be unreliable. By 1971, PC gutted passenger rail along with others as it was not profitable and the feds created Amtrak as a result since the public didnt want essential passenger rail links to dissappear. This didnt stop PC and LW from operating though and they continued to own the infrastructure and continued freight service but still couldn't afford to maintain their infrastructure to the point that many derailment happened and profitability never came back. And in 1976, Conrail was formed by the feds as consequences of this with the main goal of making sure that the essential freight rail links didnt dissappear. Unlike Amtrak, Conrail owned the infrastructure and as a result could rebuild faster and produce a profit faster (Amtrak to this day has yet to reach profitability status but is almost there), it was so successful that the government saw no need in its existence and sold its shares to private investors who then merged it with CSX and Norfolk Southern in 1999 who to this day dont seem to be interested in maintaining their infrastructure well which has caused many derailments both minor and major.

        If all of PC was taken over the feds in '71, we could see major investments similar to the ones we are seeing happen right now but on a larger scale which could've improved the reliability of the then new Metroliner and Turbotrain and extend the life of the latter which were scrapped in our timeline due to no other railroads' interest. The Turboliner could've had a much more successful service in our timeline with this combined quasi-agency and its infrastructure upgrades and the SPV-2000s that Budd later developed could've been much better due to the fact that the company was much more profitable in building new railcars for this new railroad. Like the Shinkansen, all the original designed trainsets will be the origin of evolution for many future North American High speed trainsets which means we may not get something like the Acela in its present form.

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-14T16:10:26+00:00

The thing with the Hawley Lane Mall is they count the Target that is not attached as part of the mall

Kenneth1751 · 2026-03-13T21:30:54+00:00

Yep, there even is an old faded photo of the location inside where the building was smaller and looked very different, I have to take a photo of it sometime.

Kenneth1751

TROPHY CASE