This week a story came out that Greenwich and Fairfield County were number one in the nation. One of the cool things about Greenwich is that we are frequently number one for a variety of measurements. This time the Stamford-Norwalk-Bridgeport metro area had the biggest percentage drop in inventory of the 200 largest metro areas in inventory.
As everyone knows, inventory is low, really low, but this survey by ResiClub Data Analytics said our metro area was No. 1 in drop in inventory. Our metro area went from 4,653 listings in February 2019 to 895 listings this February or a drop of 80.8%. In Greenwich, we went from 500 listings at the end of February 2019 to 93 listings at the end of last month. This was a drop 81.4%, so we dropped even further than the rest of our metro area.
Inventory consists of two parts; the number of new listings being added and the number of houses that went to contract (or in the pre-Covid days, expired unsold; now not many expire.) This week let’s talk about two of the less discussed reasons why so many people want to live in Greenwich and so few want to leave.
Just saying the phrase, “Greenwich People” probably brings to mind a picture of a smart successful, publicly minded person. At least it does for me. We have a lot of accomplished people that do a lot of interesting and important things. I love going to Greenwich receptions and cocktail parties and meeting new people. (My wife says I shouldn’t just walk up to people and introduce myself, but you meet a lot interesting people and made new friends when you do.)
Our people are VPs, CEO’s, heads of foundations, professional and Olympic athletes, volunteers, entrepreneurs, local shopkeepers and people whose families have lived for here for generations. They all have interesting stories, if you ask the right questions. It can take a few questions as many our folks don’t wear their accomplishments on their sleeve.
People who are caring and giving make Greenwich a great place to live. Organizations like the United Way, Meals on Wheels and dozens of other organizations are there when we have difficulties. Our churches and synagogues play a big part two. Supporting all of these organizations are our givers.
Our residents give thousands and even millions of dollars to support these institutions. Greenwich Hospital, the Land Trust, the Red Cross and others have a long list of Greenwich benefactors. It’s not just private institutions. A lot of our parks came from donations to the town or from sales at bargain prices.
Government
Our people are great, but our town government does not get enough thanks. I just spent a week in Town Hall listening to property assessment appeals for the Board of Assessment Appeals. I interacted with a lot of our town officials and employees. They were a pleasure to deal with and did their jobs well. Most have years of experience and deal with us politely and efficiently, even when we’re wrong. They often go out of their way to help us.
Sure we had some Town Hall issues, even scandals over the last few decades, but things tend to run well. Much of this is due to our town citizens, who serve on dozens of town boards and agencies and on the RTM. Most of our elected town officials get years of training in the Greenwich way of doing things on these boards, before they ever run for office.
Our largest training ground for higher office is the Representative Town Meeting which is one largest legislative bodies in the country. If you want to make your voice heard, you can serve on the RTM. You can also probably get on quickly as there are 230 members divided among 12 districts. To earn that right, you have to show up at the committee and district meetings and show up. You not only can speak out, but you can actually vote for the ideas that you believe in and sway others to your side.
RTM members run on an affiliated basis and when I was on the RTM, I often didn’t know what party affiliation a member was, if any. In the last 15 years, we have seen more partisanship, with people voting more often on party lines. The problem with party lines votes is that people may put party above what they think is best or not fully explore an idea from the “other” side.
Most people in town have their own opinions and are happy to share them with you. We almost always do it a civil, thoughtful and respectful way. When I was an attorney for the water company, I went to town meetings and met with boards all over western Connecticut. It made me appreciate the levels of skill, expertise and courtesy that our local volunteers, town employees and elected officials bring to the job.
Besides good people, we have really nice beaches, excellent schools both, public and private, good libraries, restaurants of all types, police and fire departments that make this one of the safest places to live, different types of housing for a wide variety of renters and homeowners, golf courses, ball fields for kids and adults, a great museum, a dedicated symphony, low taxes, both a historic commission and society, good transportation, lots of marvelous shopping, innumerable clubs and organizations and mostly folks with good taste, so we have very few really hideous buildings.
Greenwich it’s a nice place to live for a lot of reasons. Too often we focus on a very small hole and not the luscious doughnut that we have here in Greenwich.
