Life in SoFa: Cheap Labor, Traffic, BMWs

There’s an interesting article in the Fairfield Weekly called "White Wash: An artist-housecleaner sounds off on the Fairfield County wealth gap." The gossip Jodi Strmiska dishes on her clients is ordinary, but I liked hearing a personal story about commuting down here to do service-related jobs.

A few things about Stamford jump out at me. First of all, notice how our beloved Stamford is left off her map: In coastal Fairfield County, the line between rich and poor is drawn along a south-north axis. The highest concentration of wealth exists in southern towns like Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan, whereas the highest concentration of poverty and near-poverty exists in northern cities and towns like Bridgeport, Stratford and Shelton.
Stamford, you're an anomaly, and I like that about you. I want you to improve some of your problems while retaining your "I'm different" attitude. Let's work together to be a place in SoFa (oooooooooooh I just made that up!!!!!!!!!) that retains a diverse population. As many readers commented in last week's post "What's the Biggest Issue Facing Stamford?", ordinary people have trouble affording homes in Stamford. Even families making well over $100,000 a year find it hard to buy a home comfortably and are forced to move to Norwalk. Hence another post I have planned, "Can Stamford Talk afford to stay in Stamford?"

I find the rich-poor divisions Strmiska portrays depressing, but I know they're true. It's the nature of the FC: The service economy, which employs the majority of working poor in Fairfield County, insures the perpetuation of the suburban gated-community and the urban ghetto. They have to commute to Greenwich or New Canaan to their jobs as nannies, housekeepers, landscapers or contractors, and come home to underfunded Bridgeport or Stratford, towns that often mean one thing— a bedroom— to the day-laborers who are the backbone of the service sector in Fairfield County.

Yup. We can bitch about day laborers and traffic on 95, but those are natural results of the way this area works. C.R.E.A.M.! ("Cash Rules Everything Around Me," Wu-Tang Clan song) I hate to say it, but sometimes it feels like cash rules a whole heck of a lot down here. I think one of the area's biggest challenges is how to live here and not get
a) too focused on material goods
or
b) too down that you can't afford the beautiful things other people have.

I never thought I was a material person, but now that my Civic and I are getting older, I find myself craving a BMW 6 series. I can't afford that car, but I want that car, because I see some beautiful ones in my gym's parking lot at 6am. That car has started to look normal- and, in my fantasies, attainable- to me. That car is not normal, and this area is not normal. We have some very, very, very rich people around here, and we have a lot of poor people. I'm in the middle and I feel pretty damn lucky about that.

If it's hard for adults to keep perspective, it must horrible for kids. If I were a poor kid in Stamford, I'm not sure how I'd deal with seeing other kids driving nice cars, using their iPhones and talking about fancy vacations. If you have money, this area is awesome; there are so many ways to spend it. If you don't... well, you're stuck on 95, living in an ugly apartment, and unable to enjoy a lot of the activities around here. Thank goodness Stamford has some beautiful parks, the free summer concerts, and... uh, that's pretty much all the free stuff around here, right?

Can you imagine living in this area with no money?


Related Stamford Talk posts:

March 3, 2008-- Illegal Immigrants: Not Job-Stealers, but Subject to Raids and Arrests in Danbury

February 24, 2008-- Stamford Day Laborers= Criminals?

February 22, 2008-- Day Laborer = Illegal Immigrant?