Never been to Bridgeport, but I have driven through Fresno and Bakersfield if only on the interstate. Can’t say I saw much blight from the four-lane. I will say parts of Barstow looked like it had been hit by a squadron of B-52s. Boarded up/half destroyed homes, and trash everywhere on the approach coming in from Victorville.
Riding past it in the 1970’s on the turnpike... it was a dirty place.
I guess like NJ, they simply surrendered their city areas a long time ago.
Surrender does not win.
Cities need to be clean up.
First the people’s morals.
Then they ( a moral people ) will clean things where the live, starting with corruption and crime, then going on from there.
Crime does not have to win. The local people just have to vomit it out from their town. It takes a concerted effort to change hearts and minds of everyone.
I don’t even like taking the train through Bridgeport to get to NYC.
Got lost there once, 17 years ago. Was a scary experience. Many streets cut off by jersey barriers to keep drug buyers from having a quick in and out. All marked by gangs to show ownership of their neighborhoods.
Just kept looking down so as not to make eye contact with the many gang-bangers hanging out and finally found our way back to the highway where we got the heck out of there.
I worked there for 4 years, lived next door to it for 28 years. The city has no redeeming features. It’s the armpit of the northeast, but a shower won’t help it.
Bridgeport and Detroit....about 100 megatons should take care of both.
The first English settlement on the west bank of the mouth of the Pequonnock River was made somewhere between 1639 and 1665 and was called Pequonnock. The village was renamed Newfield sometime before 1777. More people settled further inland and to the West and the area officially became known as Stratfield in 1701, likely due to its location between the already existing towns of Stratford and Fairfield. During the American Revolution, Bridgeport was a center of privateering. In 1800, Newfield village was chartered as the borough of Bridgeport, and in 1821 the township of Bridgeport, including more of Stratfield, was incorporated. Bridgeport was chartered as a city in 1836.
As of the 2010 census, there were 144,229 people residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city residents was 39.6% White; 34.6% Black or African American; 3.4% Asian; and 4.3% from two or more races. A total of 38.2% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Non-Hispanic Whites were 22.7% of the population in 2010, compared to 74.6% in 1970.
Demography is destiny.