By: Arion Polozanii '24
Newtown is currently the second-largest town in Connecticut and holds over 27,000 residents. Despite this, the town still has some issues to be fixed. Sidewalks are incomplete and appear at random, leaving main roads with traffic as the main mode of transportation, the main park has multiple abandoned buildings, and some of the schools lack air conditioning. Still, there is hope left for Newtown, as long as the town fully commits to restoring its beauty.
An important issue is the lack of pedestrian amenities across town. The majority of sidewalks are on Main Street or Fairfield Hills. Although the Fairfield Hills sidewalks have minimal to no issues, Main Street is where it changes. The sidewalks are thin, not leaving room for more than two people walking side by side, therefore encouraging families to avoid walking in the area in general and resort to using cars. Besides the thin sidewalks, where they begin and end does not connect the town well. The area from Main Street up to Mt. Pleasant hosts many houses, all ofwhichm have to take a drive to Main Street due to the lack of sidewalks leading there even though the distance is short. Moving down to Church Hill Road is also a challenge for many. Right around the Holy Cow ice cream parlor, the Main Street sidewalks stop, not resuming again until you pass under the bridge. These two areas both hold major points of interest for locals, with the eastern section containing the Blue Colony Diner and Starbucks, along with the gas station, while the western half holds grocery stores and a connection to Main Street.
“If we choose to extend the sidewalks in Newtown it would make the whole town a lot safer, especially for middle schoolers who wish to travel past Holy Cow or up through Mt. Pleasant after school,” NHS senior Miguel Gutierrez said.
Further down Churchill comes the Sandy Hook Plaza, another important area for Newtown which requires a traffic-filled drive no matter how close you live. The Sandy Hook Plaza again holds many points of interest like Cover Two and the Foundry, as well as homes and the nearby Newtown High School. Despite the short distance between Sandy Hook Plaza and Church Hill Road, the most used way to travel between the two is by car. The lack of all of these sidewalks essentially requires anyone who wishes to travel between the areas to instead take a car, and build the traffic up more. The lack of sidewalks is so restricting to the point that the only people you might see walking around are the middle school students after a Friday.
One of the other main issues within Newtown is Fairfield Hills. Although it is used somewhat well now, the main area for improvement lies in the abandoned buildings sprinkled throughout the lot. The buildings belonged to abandoned mental wards in years prior, but have not been used for anything recently, and currently are there without a purpose.
If Newtown were to take these buildings and make good use of them, it would improve the area and businesses close by.
“One of the biggest ways we could improve Newtown would be to revitalize Fairfield Hills, as I think their architecture gives the town personality and would be a waste not to use. Places like Newsylum are just one of the many ways we can put these buildings to good use” NHS senior Sean Kaufman said. A new Fairfield Hills brings multiple opportunities, such as turning them into apartments bringing in new residents with new ideas, or turning them into commercial centers preventing residents from being forced to leave town to purchase anything, which has been a major problem due to residents being forced to leave for Bethel or Danbury for shopping or entertainment. The area is also near the high school, which would be a massive boost in sales after school lets out.
The last set of things are all simple, but still important nonetheless. Things like the Middle School still not having air conditioning, the abundant potholes strewn around the town, or what feels like the never-ending construction near the high school.
“Although we have larger issues around town like Fairfield hills, we need to make smaller changes like reducing the number of potholes, finishing up construction in some areas, and making the town safer for pedestrians,” NHS senior Roman Verna said.
One of the most important things to fix would be the flagpole in the center of Main Street. It is the source of a major amount of traffic in Newtown but could be fixed by making it an official roundabout. Changing this would keep the traffic constantly moving under most circumstances, while also reducing the number of fender-benders or scratches from people miscalculating when they should turn.
Although the issues may seem small and insignificant, making these changes will permanently improve the lives of Newtown residents, especially regarding travel, accessibility, and the overall well-being of the residents.