'Time to Reinvent Stratford'

Editor's note: This is the first blog post by longtime Stratford resident and former Bridgeport Post reporter .

It is the start of the new year and now is the time for town residents to come to the realization that the town makeup is changing.

Gone are the days when a town resident's grandfather or grandmother worked at Sikorsky Aircraft or Avco, and the job or the chance to get into either was good if a member of your family worked there.

Grandfathers handed positions to sons, who handed them to their sons or daughters and that was the military tax bases and steady employment the resident of the town for many years seemed to enjoy.

Those days are gone forever.

Avco is now a vast wasteland in the town's South End and the , which are expected to get larger and larger.

Your president, not mine -- I am a Constitutionalist and do not believe that the person, under the constitution, is qualified to be commander in chief -- has decided to make major cutbacks in the military in the next few years, which will have a deep impact on the residents of this community.

The town has one of the largest senior citizen communities in Fairfield County. Now is the time for a change. We need to bring fresh blood into the community. This fresh blood needs to come from along the gold coast in Fairfield and the New York area.

The proposal to and the recent state grant for in the area of the train station is the correct step in the right direction.

Mayor John A. Harkins and several of the lawmakers including Rep. Laura Hoydick have given their full support to the project. There is an old saying that figures do not lie, but liers can figure.

Some people in this town who do not approve of the Keating Ford plan need to spend less time throwing meaningless figures at people and more time trying to help grow the community.

The town needs to cater to people who work along the gold coast or in the city and are looking for a good place to live and raise a family. The proposed apartments on the property would go a long way to helping commuters move into the town.

The transit grant will also help to get people who now commute from the town to benefit more from the area around the train station and the area covered by the grant.

One of the major changes which needs to be done is the removal of the so-called from the building on the eastbound side of the Metro-North tracks. The museum is opened only half of the year and is a dust-covered display of plastic aircraft and one ancient cockpit of a Sikorsky helicopter.

Move it to the school of aviation at Sikorsky Airport or to Boothe Park where it will be at home in an historic venue. Mayor Harkins' people need to take a long hard look at who owns the building, the museum and the property. I have been told that moving the facility is a major problem because of deals and promises made by former city fathers.

Worst come to worst, take the facility under eminent domain. There is so much than under the proper management, the town or private, that can be done to the building to make it at least a stopping off point when residents both new and old get off the train.

Commuters are in need of clean restrooms, and baby changing stations, when they get off the trains. Stalls, similar to those in the lowers level of Grand Central Station could be constructed to sell items produced by local restaurants and merchants to commuters when they get off the rails.

Flowers, takeout food, adult beverages, and grab-and-run household items could be purchased by the commuters.

along with the adjacent coffee shop on the westbound side of the tracks should be the centerpiece for the development of the area. The other restaurants, , (the only restaurant in the area which had expanded it's dining area in the past several years) along with the and Steven's Pub, need to reach out to the commuter community with specials for the folks getting off the train.

, when it opens, will also be a benefit to the community.

It's time for the residents of the town to realize that Stratford is no longer a military-based community.

We need to draw singles and young families into the area of the central business district so that can walk and enjoy both the sights and the town fare.

Links to related content on Stratford Patch have been added to the original post.