NY Times: Economic Hard Times Hit Westport Too

The New York Times Sunday Connecticut section focuses on the effects of the weakened economy on Westport. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo
In a front page story and pictures filling half a page, the Sunday New York Times Connecticut section says the effects of the battered U.S. economy are being felt in Westport too.

Under the headline “In a Wealthy Town, ‘It’s Not Like It Was,” the newspaper said, “For a while, this wealthy town on Long Island Sound seemed insulated from the nation’s economic woes, but all that changed six weeks ago with the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent tsunami on Wall Street.”

The Times added: “Merchants in this posh community 47 miles from Midtown Manhattan are feeling the low rumblings of an economy that is readjusting to the events of the last few weeks.”

The 1,300-word story with four pictures noted that with a median family income of $152,894 — well above the state median of $65,521, according to the 2000 United States Census — “Westport exemplifies the good life, one that has been largely financed by profits on Wall Street.”

The Times said almost 20 percent of Westport’s work force is in the sector of finance, insurance and real estate, according to the census.

Among those quoted was Sarah Kaplan, the owner of Dovecote, a home furnishings and jewelry business on Post Road East near Main Street. She said she has received at least 10 bad checks from customers in the month after the Lehman shakeup.

“She doesn’t recall any other bounced checks in the six years she has had her store here,” the newspaper said.

Kaplan, whose interior design fees sometimes reach $500,000, has also had clients suspend their makeovers midstream, the Times said.

“Everybody is afraid,” Kaplan said. “They want to wait till things settle down.”

The Times said “60-minute express trains to New York, renowned schools and an active arts community draw well-to-do, educated families to the community of 26,200. But a pall — however slight so far — is beginning to settle over the town’s business district.

“Along the brick sidewalks of Main Street, for example, where upscale retailers like Brooks Brothers and Williams-Sonoma vie for investment dollars, pedestrian traffic is lighter and parking spaces easier to come by.”

The Times said the effects of hard times in places like Westport will trickle down to nearby areas.

“Reduced income and spending in Westport could mean less income for Bridgeport, for example, which sends baby sitters, house cleaners, painters and day laborers to the rich towns to its west,” the newspaper said.