@CTRebbe
You do not know which small town in Fairfield County I live in. But, the crime rate is extremely low, mostly car theft, etc in the area closest to the nearby ‘big’ city.
It is not a ‘bedroom’ town on the rail line to NYC for commuters, it wasn’t developed as a suburban but was a small colonial town, settled in the times before we were a nation.
It doesn’t have filth, in fact a few times a year civic groups organize for a tidy up day, and clean up any debris along roadways, parks, etc.
I know Waterbury and have for more than 6o years. My father had businesses there, so did I. I still own commercial property there. I would not send a teenager to live there. Boys leave the dorm and explore, even if it is going to the corner store for a soda.
None of my comments have any reflection on the quality of the Yeshiva.
I ask you this, since you are so gung ho on Waterbury……why the move and development in the rural farming community of Durham, when buildings were available so cheap in Waterbury? Some people didn’t want their youngsters living in the city.
Lastly, how long have you had an association with Waterbury??????????
I remember when it had a Jewish Center (that went bust and had to be sold to Post University) (I paid for a room there), had 3 Synagogues on or right off Cooke St, had a thriving Day school, kosher butcher and bakery. Do you remember any of this.
All the small mill towns along RT 8 had Jewish communities and synagogues that started out at orthodox in the late 1800s….Naugatuck, Torrington, Derby, Waterbury. Between the death of northern manufacturing, downtown shopping districts, white flight the Jews abandoned these places and a group of frum Jews saw an opportunity to grab housing and shul buildings for next to nothing and leave NYC for a different life.
In New Haven, where I was born and grew up, Catholic churches have closed with white flight and lack of funds. Chabad which had previously taken over the failed Young Israel, spent many millions buying the large St Brendan’s RCC and it’s school building for a new Yeshiva complex and dormitory. But for safety, the boys live within a fenced, protected ghetto abutting a neighborhood full of crime,