Wow. I am sure the windows were not cheap and you probably had to strip the siding off to do it because of damage but why would any commercial property owner leave a structure looking like this and put a "FOR RENT" sign in front thinking they'll get a tenant with the building torn apart like that!?

Heck, I believe there is still an empty spot or two in the Big Y plaza a stone's throw away. Why would someone locate a business HERE. I would hope the city would say "Um, thanks but you need to finish the work". You can't have an eyesore like this sitting there for months.

This deteriorating condition of the entire Ansonia Town Center is a perfect reflection of how outsiders perceive Ansonia CT as expressed in this cut & paste link many years ago:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g29152-r13074296-Ansonia_Connecticut.html

Nothing has changed in years reflecting this point of no return to normalcy. HELLO MS. ENVIROMENTAL BOARD GENTILE & Ms SHEILA O’MALLEY is there anyone willing to take a Cassetti Construction WRECKING BALL TO ALL THE INDUSTRIALIZED ANSONIA BLIGHT and return it to a greener state of affairs.

.

Welcome to Ansonia, home of blight, high taxes and crappy schools! Might as well call it "Little Bridgeport"!! Thought a new mayor would change all this, guess not! Just another politician lining his pockets with taxpayers money!!!

I recently was speaking to friends from outside the area and got two reactions.

1. A cringe when I said I was from Ansonia. (Nice!)
2. Another said "You know, for some reason Ansonia has developed a very nice restaurant scene downtown". I agreed.

Thanks for that photo "A TOWN ALARM". The fact that Crave thrives on the "trashy side of Main Street" is a miracle. If Ansonia wants more businesses to locate downtown they best clean up the "Farrell Disaster" that remains.

The Sad issue here, the new nostalgic lamp post and West main improvements will probably rust and subsequently overgrow and deteriorate faster than the industrialized blight can simply cave in on itself.

Agree : LEVEL Farrell Blight, American Brass & Payoff politicians to side track HUD subsidized living is key to Ansonia's future success. 60 percent is covered by Brownsfield project Money and the rest will unfortunately be covered by the Tax payer $$$. HUD will always remain a backroom deal and must be handled only by someone with a creative law degree. Ansonia has a long standing record as a dumping ground for Apartment bursting at the seams with 12 occupants when designed for a family of 5 max.
This is not a discriminatory statement but a fact post 1955 flood event. WAKE UP Ansonia….you been asleep at the wheel since the flood and never recovered from your own drowning and advancement into the 21st century…..

How do any of you Ansonia complainers help your city? Are you involved? Do you serve on a board or commission? Run a neighborhood group? Attend any meetings? No, I'm guessing you just @#$% and moan on a website and post phony reviews on TripAdvisor.
Do you really think one politician or two city employees can bring about the change you want?
For any city to improve the entire community must get involved and be willing to invest.
We always see posts that say "look at Shelton" or "look at Seymour". These are communities with large, active groups of volunteers and businesses who support our officials and volunteer huge amounts of time. THAT's why we are turning around our downtowns! Not because we elected a new CEO or hired a new employee. Shelton purchased many of the buildings on Canal Street, knocked them down and cleaned up the contamination. That is the only way to change privately-owned buildings. Were you willing to buy Farrels when it was for sale? It was only $1 million. Cheap.
The real question for all of you complainers is how much time and money are YOU willing to invest? Don't blame your Mayor if you're not willing to make the investment. Redevelopment ain't no free lunch!

I guess you really don't have any life. Still spending your days in mom's basement with your computer and video games annoying people who care about their communities?
I just provide advice to people trying to fix problems. Unfortunately you get off making phony posts and annoying good people who are just trying to solve community problems.

Don't forget to change your underwear and wash the Cheetos stains off of your face.

Planner,

I feel your frustration and agree the posts above yours are not productive. However, I think (if I were to try and decode that mess) is people in Ansonia and Derby who post here see themselves paying taxes and do not see progress.

It's funny, I happened to spot the Mayor of Ansonia this morning on Main Street. I had to get to an appointment and don't like to ambush people but since his office called this site "a valuable resource" I wanted to ask:

1. Does he read this site daily?

2. Why is his staff not on the list of those notified of a post any longer. I am certain they were.

3. Has the city met with See, Click, Fix to look at the product they offer to municipalities and, if so, what is the status? This site can be VERY helpful in showing problems in a community on a map so resources can be sent to them or they can be marked for discussion in an upcoming meeting.

The Farrel buildings are a HUGE problem. Like Olsen Drive they soil Ansonia's reputation when people drive through. There needs to be a solution to them and other major blight.

Planner and I don't agree on everything but I agree that if you don't want to be involved in the community IN SOME WAY, just don't complain. I hear complaints all the time in here, but people will not even find out who their alder-person is. The city of Ansonia has a decent web site and there is enough information to find out who their alder-person is, complete with phone numbers. If you don't have time for that, then you don't have time to complain!

You see, I disagree with the whole "alder whatever" system.

If you call the mayor's office or your alderman how does the public (other citizens) know what complaints have been filed? How do we know when? What accountability is there for the city to take action with random phone calls?!

Here problems are documented, the aldermen can view this daily if they care to to see what in their "ward" (I can't believe in 2014 we're using "wards" still) needs addressing and what comments have been made.

Fast. Easy. Open to the public. Posting here IS contributing and trying to improve your city.

To Clarify- my last post was in reference to a deleted threat by the poster-with-a-thousand-aliases to hack my IP and key-log me and offer this hacker access for sale.

In reference to your questions:
2. The City of Ansonia officials who were being notified were from the Della Volpe Administration
3. The Valley Council of Governments made a joint presentation with See-Click-Fix in Sept 2013 to the Valley towns proposing to license the SCF dashboard as a single unit to formally acknowledge and respond to valid issues. VCOG proposed to assign a central person who would operate the dashboard and forward the complaints to the proper town agency, then do the follow-up. The cost would have been about $11,000 per year plus the part-time staffer. The towns expressed interest but had no funding available to license the site from SCF. No action was taken.

Thanks Planner!

1. Sounds like the new administration in Ansonia best add themselves to those notified of posts here. We'll need to keep an eye out for that.

2. It's been a long time since September 2013 and this site has become the place for reporting problems in the valley, among other places. I would hope the Valley Council of Governments has it on their agenda to revisit this proposal. You don't need a part time worker to monitor the dashboard. I am certain there is someone in City hall that has time to check and forward e-mails once a day. This site is not used to report buildings on fire.

I believe they were just re-assigning existing staff to cover this part-time during a pilot period. COG employees must bill each hour they work to an eligible project- their salaries are not appropriated at the beginning of their year- they must actually earn their salaries. (I used to be on the board there when it was the VRPA, before the mayors took it over as a COG)
Not sure they will re-visit unless the towns ask for it.

Sadly, I see this burned out building remains untouched. Beyond an eyesore, I can't imagine what serious business owner would want to lease space in this condition. I trust there is a parking lot in the rear?

closed