My Hood

So here I am in Stamford, Connecticut, pop. 110,000, about an hour northeast of New York City. The guidebooks told me this was the most prosperous city in the wealthiest county in the wealthiest state in America. Quite the city.

I recall driving down with my family along the sunny, scenic canopied Merritt Parkway, and as we exited there were the tree-lined streets and the nice cars and the nice houses. Then we approached the city, towards downtown, and the surrounding area got progressively more sketchy. Then I stepped out of the car, looked at my new 10-storey abode, and across the street and there’s the Salvation Army Thrift Store and the Liquor Shop and Amir’s Market and the Latin American Express and the brothers chilling on the street corner. And as the clouds rolled in and the rain drifted, and an immense sense of dread began to overwhelm me. What had I got myself into?!

But I’ve been here for a few days now, I’ve got over my initial mortal fear, and I’ve grown acclimatized to this joint, crappy weather and all - I moved in on Thursday and I still haven’t seen the sun since arriving here.

Living downtown, though, has its perks. I’m within 15 minutes of the office, the mall, a number of banks, and the library. There are quite a few eateries and bistros around my area, and the diversity of culinary choices is surprisingly good. There are a lot of office parks and office highrises around. Stamford and Waterloo are comparable in size, but the city feels a lot bigger in scale than its population of 110,000 would suggest. It’s only about an hour from New York City, and a lot of companies have established their corporate HQs in Stamford, my firm included. I’m thinking this city started out as a bedroom suburb for the well-to-do who worked in Manhattan, than morphed into its own mini-NYC over the economic boom of the past 15 years. Uptown Waterloo sure doesn’t compare.

All the same, this city has a sort of grittiness to it – well perhaps perceived grittiness, because I spent the last four months in safe, clean, placid Waterloo, Ontario. But it’s something I rather like because it adds flavour and character – this place is real. Stamford is purportedly one of the 25 safest cities in America. And now that I think about it, this city is actually not too bad – the inner-city is grittier than pretty much every Canadian city I’m sure, but absolutely genteel by American inner-city standards.

The city is a lot more diverse and immigrant-heavy than I imagined it to be, though the ethnic mix is different from Canada – more blacks and Hispanics, and a lot fewer Chinese and South Asians (though they are around). Downtown, it seems that Hispanics (Mexicans? Puerto Ricans?) are in the plurality, which is quite a change because there are scarcely any in Canada. I don’t see many white people around my area – well not nearly as many as I had been led to believe - and I suspect it’s owing to that I’m in the inner-city.

It’s the juxtaposition of private wealth and public decay that really hits you – though that is not to say this is a city in decay by any means. But this, like much of Connecticut, is a city of extremes - the upscale Stamford Town Centre – host to Saks Fifth Avenue, Abercrombie & Fitch etc. - shoulders Target, a Wal-Mart type discount department store. Stamford looks like another American city in which white flight has taken its toll, their migration to the tony suburbs to the north. And while it does look, though, like this city is in its initial stages of gentrification, you will see the massive white flight in and out of downtown during rush hour; you will see the white-collar boys in their BMWs and Lexus and Mercedes-Benz lined up on Atlantic St., where you find Goodwill and thrift stores, en route to the uber-rich suburbs of Fairfield and Ridgefield and Greenwich and New Canaan. But this is no surprise, because Connecticut is a state of socioeconomic extremes. The disparities are very stark and in your face – that’s when you know you’re not in Canada anymore.

All the same, it’s an interesting change and hopefully it will be an interesting and illuminating experience, one that’s good for my personal growth. The key to getting used to this place is to stop thinking like a Canadian, stop expecting everything to be Canadian - get used to the ubiquitous flags, the high decibel media, the nasal accents, and the racial and socioeconomic disparities. I see myself as a sojourner, in America but not of it, and that gives me a unique perspective for commentary. I’m hoping to explore this part of America and immerse myself in this environment learn a lot about it over the 4 months that I'm here.