#1: ZT Car Crazy (xixi, very expensive hobby) from wsj (1787 reads) 作者: ceo/cfo, 时间: 2007-3-30 周五, 20:15 — 作者：ceo/cfo 在 海归茶馆 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
Greenwich, Conn., used to be a classic walking town.
People strolled down Greenwich Avenue to shop for French linens, wine or British riding boots. They took trains to work. The town center was defined by its famous traffic bobbies — white-gloved keepers of the pedestrian peace who would stop rush-hour traffic to let even the lowliest shopper cross from Lynnens Inc. to the Petit Patapon.
But the new generation of fast money in Greenwich has brought along a new generation of fast cars — lots of them. Hedge funders, Wall Streeters and other money men have moved in with their own private auto fleets, clogging up Greenwich Avenue and filling the town’s parking lots.
A recent New York Times story by Peter Applebome (here, via Times Select) says the traffic has gotten so bad that the town is even considering replacing the bobbies with traffic lights, since the stop signs used when the cops are off duty aren’t sufficient to regulate traffic.
Now, an article by Christopher Keating in the Hartford Courant gives us sneek peak into the garages of Greenwich to see just how many cars the residents own. Greenwich has 61,972 people, according to the article, and 66,000 vehicles — more than one car per person. That includes:
In other words, one in 10 people in Greenwich own a BMW or Mercedes.
As with any town, some Greenwichers have bigger fleets than others. According to the Keating article, hedge-funder Paul Tudor Jones II, of Tudor Ventures, owns 15 cars. Steven Cohen of SAC and his wife have 13 registered in their name. But designer Tommy Hilfiger and his family get the prize with 20 vehicles, including a red Enzo Ferrari valued at $1 million.
Yet even common Greenwichers have four or five cars, according to the article.
“Anybody who has two teenage kids over 16 — right off the bat, you have to have four (cars) for a family of four,” one Greenwicher tells the Courant. “And then maybe one toy car.”
While the Courtant article focuses a controversial plan by the Connecticut governor to elimate the personal property tax on cars, I don’t think Greenwichers will care. The total amount the town would save in car taxes is $5.5 million — enough, perhaps, to almost fill Mr. Hilfiger’s garage.
