Mention
Greenwich, Connecticut, anywhere and chances are people will
have heard of it. Most will have a vision of stately country
homes and waterfront estates occupied by the famous and successful.
While this reputation is well deserved, Greenwich is much more.
In addition to a healthy number of service industry workers,
town residents are engaged in a wide variety of occupations
and professions. Greenwich is home to artists and writers, actors
and sports figures, top- to-middle corporate executives and
leaders in the world of finance. In 1990 the town celebrated
its 350th anniversary. The history of our country's development
sice pre-revolutionary days is reflected in the lives of generations
of vital and interesting Greenwich residents, who continue to
be the town's greatest asset.
WHAT ATTRACTS
PEOPLE TO GREENWICH?
Physical
Amenities
Geographically
blessed, Greenwich extends over 50 square miles from the rolling
hills, woods and meadows of backcountry dotted with lakes and
wetlands, to its 32 miles of shoreline, coves and tributaries
on Long Island Sound. Town residents enjoy nearly 1,500 acres
of park land. They include a large Audubon Center, two islands
on the Sound with beaches served by town ferries, and Greenwich
Point with a beach, boating and picnic facilities and woodland
walks. The town also owns and operates an 18-hole golf course,
dozens of paddle and tennis courts, a skating rink and marinas.
There are four private yacht clubs, eight golf clubs and a tennis
and squash racquet club. Year-round recreation is offered by the
YMCA and YWCA and, for children, a Boys & Girls Club, a teen center,
and the very first chapter of the Boy Scouts of America, founded
by Creenwich's Ernest Thompson Seton.
Cultural
Organizations
Heading
the list of cultural assets is Greenwich Library, stocked with
300,000 books and 14,000 audio and video cassettes, plus an extensive
periodical section. Cited as the busiest town library in Connecticut,
it incorporates a 368-seat auditorium and a large exhibition gallery.
There are also branch libraries in Byram and Cos Cob, plus the
Perrot, an independent affiliated library in Old Greenwich.
The 87-year-old
Bruce Museum was recently rebuilt from the inside out with a $4.5
million addition. Its permanent exhibitions of art, historic memorabilia
and well-displayed wildlife panoramas attract people from throughout
the tri-state area.
The Historical
Society of the Town of Greenwich is headquartered in the pre-Revolutionary
Bush-Holley House, which later became the home of the famous Cos
Cob school of American Impressionists. The Society's William E.
Pinch, Jr. Archives building houses a rare collection of pictures
and docments pertaining to Greenwich.
Art, music
and theater are very much a part of Greenwich community life.
The Arts Center in the old town hall displays contemporary artists.
The Greenwich Symphony Orchestra conducts five concerts a year
as does the 120-member Choral Society. The Pops Concerts in Roger
Sherman Baldwin Park on the Sound are popular summer outings for
the whole family, and two playmaker groups entertain fall, winter
and spring.
A strong interest
in horticulture is natural for a community with so many fine houses
and estates. There are five garden clubs, including three that
are accredited members of the Garden Club of America.
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Education
Rated
among the best public school systems in the state, Greenwich has
a modern high school, three middle and eleven elementary schools.
In addition, there are twelve private schools, two of which offer
first- to twelfth-grade education. Athletic facilities of both
public and private schools are extensive, assuring students of
a well-rounded curriculum. The level of acceptances at the colleges
of their choice is high for graduates of Greenwich schools.
Transportation
Metro
North provides rail service from four stations: Greenwich, Cos
Cob, Riverside and Old Greenwich. Express trains make the run
to Manhattan in less than an hour. There are morning and evening
shuttle buses between Greenwich station and offices in central
Greenwich, while regular bus services connect Greenwich with neighboring
Stamford and Port Chester. All three major New York area airports
can be reached in 45 minutes to a little over an hour by car or
scheduled limousine. The newly enlarged and modernized Westchester
Airport offers scheduled airline services to many U.S. cities
and is just 15 minutes from central Greenwich.
Shopping
Greenwich
Avenue is the largest and best known of the five major retail
areas in the town and offers a wide variety of quality boutiques
as well as major regional chain stores. This variety, plus the
small town atmosphere attracts many shoppers from neighboring
towns. Other Greenwich shopping hamlets are in Byram, Cos Cob,
Riverside and Old Greenwich. All together there are more than
600 retail and service firms in Greenwich.
Restaurants
To
meet the dining-out trend, there has been a significant increase
in fine gourmet restaurants offering many international cuisines.
Excellent restaurants and conveniently located sandwich and coffee
shops serve the needs of both shoppers and local business employees.
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Health
Services
Greenwich
Hospital has served the town for more than 90 years. Its medical
staff and facilities are rated at the top of community hospitals
in the area. A newly built oncology center is the first step of.
a renovation and remodeling program that will meet rapidly changing
health care requirements now and in the future.
Town
Government
Greenwich
has a Representative Town Meeting/Board of Selectmen form of government.
The First Selectman is nominally the CEO, but shares authority
with the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET), which is responsible
for the town's fiscal affairs. The BET has adhered to a healthy
pay-as-you-go policy and as a result the town has incurred no
operating debt.
Taxes
Property
taxes in Greenwich are based on assessments statutorily limited
to 70% of property market value. The current mill rate of 18.55
establishes residential taxes at a lower level than most Westchester
and Fairfield County towns, yet Greenwich provides an unusual
number of quality services to its residents. This is made possible
by the town's conservative fiscal policy and a tradition of volunteerism
that has been cited as an example for communities across the country.
Media
The town is
served by a daily news-paper, Greenwich Time, by Greenwich News,
a suburban weekly newspaper, local radio station WGCH, and the
monthly four-color Greenwich magazine.
Environment
for Business
The age of
telecommunications and the computer has placed Greenwich milli-seconds
away from New York, hub of national and international commerce
and the world's largest financial center. In fact, finance is
the town's largest industry with more than 50 firms trading and
investing billions of dollars annually. Many executives have moved
their headquarters from Wall Street, finding it just as easy to
conduct business in Greenwich, enjoy a more casual lifestyle,
and by avoiding the hour's commute have more time with their families.
Twice as many
people today commute into Greenwich - long considered a bedroom
area for New York - to work than the reverse. Commercial space
is still available in modern office buildings especially suited
for small- to medium-sized business operations. Greenwich offers
a home and office environment particularly appealing to mid- to
upper-level executives.
GREENWICH
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
21 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830
Tel: 869-3500 Fax: 869-3502
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