A few weeks ago, my sig other and two of my children decided to take a staycay to Clinton Crossing in Clinton, Connecticut. It took us a little over an hour and when we arrived, the parking lot was crowded but we did find a space. I want to tell you, my sig other and I were really impressed with this shopping center.

Now mind you, we felt the parking, which was not head in, it was a normal parking lot layout, was not adequate. And we know the parking over the holiday season at Clinton Crossing was inadequate. But, my sig and I thought the setup was a LOT NICER than what is being proposed by W/S Development for Cheshire.

Sans the parking lot, this entire facility really did look like an old time village. There is a lot of greenery and it seems very homey. In fact, when I was looking at the Clinton Crossing website and clicked on other locations throughout the country,  operated by Chelsea Premium Outlets who own Clinton Crossing, I happened to recognize the Outlet Stores in Flemington, New Jersey which I visited years ago. That is also reminiscent of an old time early American village.

The reason I am bringing this subject up at this time is because we all should be seeing some sort of site plan from W/S Development in September. Now, I do like the Shoppes at Canton, I have been there several times. The two things I DON’T LIKE is that head-in parking. It is just too congested, trying to back your vehicle out of the parking space while other vehicles are trying to go down the “street.”

I know W/S feels this type of parking has an old time downtown feel, but I believe they should nix this for a regular parking lot. Frankly, the traffic pattern in Canton is too busy for my liking. It seems you have to have eyes in back of your head–traffic seems to be going in every direction and then on top of it, you have to watch for people backing up. It is too much.

The other thing I didn’t like about Canton was the way the Kohls, Shaws and Dicks Sporting Goods was set up, almost like an afterthought. It really does not fit in with the rest of the layout.

Now at Clinton Crossing, they have a bridge that crosses over to another parking lot with some more retail shops. These shops are like a strip mall or a small shopping center. There are some nice stores there and no, it does not follow the same setup as the old time village at the main shopping area, but it IS SEPARATED by the bridge, so you really do not notice and it doesn’t look out of place.

Instead of having a bridge that would connect to the residential, I suggest a bridge to some additional shopping. Those stores seemed to be a little less “expensive” if you get my drift. Also, the bridge was nice. It was not just a footbridge, it had places for you to sit and relax and eat your lunch. Well thought out.

I am including a link to the Woodbury Commons website which is a cousin of Clinton Crossing. Woodbury Commons is located in New York.What struck me about Woodbury Commons is the “phony Town Hall” that is in the center of the photo. This is what the Town of Cheshire should have done with West Main Street. They should have redone the Cheshire Town Hall to look like the Town Hall or Town Center in the Woodbury Commons photo and the “street” should be West Main Street. Boy is this NICE!!

I will also add a few links to their other outlet stores throughout the country. I must admit, some of the outlets look a little “outdated” but the new ones are nice. See for yourself.

Click here for Woodbury Commons

Click here for Clinton Crossing

You can navigate the map of the other store locations and see the different styles.

In other news: the Convention is heating up. My contacts are gearing for Hillary Clintons speech to the delegates. It seems there are many who will just not give up the fight to have Hillary nominated. We will have to see what happens. But I think the Hillary supporters should bite the bullet and go with Obama. I know how they feel. I really supported Al Gore in 2000 and LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!! The CHEATER got in instead. Maybe after Sept. 11 Al Gore was happy he was not in the White House, I don’t know.

A few of you wanted to know if I will be “covering the GOP Convention. Are you off your rocker? OF COURSE NOT!! I DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE IN MY HOME TO WATCH ANYTHING GOP INCLUDING THEIR CONVENTION. If I catch my husband trying to watch it on Fox News with O’Liely, I make him shut it off immediately. And, since I pay the cable bill, I have all the say. There is no democracy in my home when it comes to politics. I know I have brainwashed three out of the four to be Democrat. The youngest is a little Derfette unfortunately. Oh well, three out of four ain’t bad!!

Also, this BobCop post I did seems to be very popular. It is receiving a lot of hits. I hope the Town Goverment will look into this program. I was surprised when I got a response from the people who put this together. It was great to hear from them. The big plus with this BobCop is that officers can complete their reports FROM ANY LOCATION!! So, let us nix the software upgrade and this nonsense that if more that a few officers are filing a report the system goes down, and look into this system PLEASE!!