Where's The Love for Where We Live?

I think that one of the best ways to promote one's online presence is to make it a point to include your local area in your blogs. I've noticed that many of the more popular bloggers have some sort of line, link or reference to their city or town.

So why hasn't anyone done this for Waterbury yet?

This reminds me of a comment that my friend Karriem made when I went back to visit UPenn in 1998. "What's great about Waterbury?" His comment made me start and look around my city in a whole new light. Now, let me answer that 11 year old question by giving it a different spin:

The top five reasons why Waterbury is a great place to live:

1) The right size. Waterbury is not so large that you can't get from one side of town to the next in under 15, 20 minutes tops, and it is not so small that you have to wait 3 minutes before you see anything remotely resembling civilization.

2) You can actually see the sky, unobstructed. Waterbury happens to be nestled among seven major hills, with the Naugatuck River running somewhat west of the center of the city. Even in the lower parts of the city, you can look up and see the clouds and sun during the day, and the moon and stars at night. The view from East Mountain, Bunker Hill, Bucks Hill, and West Side Hill is absolutely breathtaking. Can you say that about any major city, unless you're in the outskirts?

3) The right atmosphere. Low crime rate, great neighborhoods, a comparatively decent school system and the feeling of suburbia with a touch of urban charm make Waterbury the ideal place to raise a family. It's one of the many reasons why I went back after 4 years of college.

4) The diversity. Sure, almost every city can boast about that - but I'm not only talking about diversity in terms of ethnicity. The neighborhoods are about as different from one another as you can possibly get. Some have mostly multi-families, others have only single-family homes, still others have mixtures of both single and multi-family housing, and condos. Unlike my college town, with its scores upon scores of rowhouses (seriously, all over the city, almost nothing but rowhouses - it was the one thing I hated about the place).

5) The birthplace of Timex. That was the answer to my friend's flippant comment about Waterbury being a "nothing, nowhere, unimportant" town. Who hasn't heard of Timex? What started out as The Waterbury Watch and Clock Company in 1854 became one of the most trusted and reliable makers of personal time pieces throughout the world.



Now for the best part: Any fellow Waterburians want to add to the list?